Trip West Continued....

Our tip continued.....

One of Benjamin's favorite people, Uncle Tim.  Uncle Tim added to the spy theme by buying the kids spy glasses and hats.  Here he is reviewing Benjamin's lego guy book.  Ben spent most of the time in the car creating in his sticker book.

My in-laws have a cabin in the mountains.  The kids were enjoying the day at the cabin.  We spent most of the day at the lake on the paddleboats and on the slied and enjoyed dinner on the back porch.  It was 100+ degrees in Boise and the cabin was perfect, we wished we had more time to enjoy it.

Getting back from the lake, we were chasing a lizard under the woodpile. 

This picture was taken in Nauvoo Ill.  We toured the visitors center and spent a couple of days there enjoying the pageant and all that Nauvoo has to offer.

After a wagonride

Joseph on stilts

Benjamin trying to manuver stilts

heading to the Nauvoo pageant

At Liberty Jail

the kids at the visitors center

One of the best parts of the trip was to meet the rest of my family at Kenneths home in Kansas.  We were all together and had a great time.  We spent 4 days and got to see their home and just enjoy time together.



This is a picture of the family complete with spouses.



I sure love this group!

Trip West

This summer we decided to drive to Idaho. We had a bunch of fun and were so glad to have the chance to see several people we love and visit some fabulous places. Here are some of the highlights.

The kids were so excited.  I made bags that helped them have activities to do and things to color and explore.  They were so excited to open their bags that they were in the car way before it was officially loaded.

We stopped in Chicago at Legoland.  The kids loved all the exhibits and we were all facinated at the ingenuity of some very creative people.  We were glad after a full day of driving to have two nights at the hotel and be able to play in the pool.  Many thanks to the Hales for their travel tips.

There were several themed sections in Legoland.  The kids loved the stop.

Turbo

Lily loved the play center.  She looked so cute in her overall outfit.

This was Alec's favorite lego exhibit.  It was just his size.

We had to get one of Daddy. 

Lily had just lost a tooth.  She also was growing her hair our. 

I'm glad that this was the first stop.  We had a great time and it was super relaxing.  Because we were their on Saturday we were then able to spend Sunday doing a bulk of travel and stopping over at Winter Quarters.

One of the items in the kids bags were mustaches.  The kids put them on in Iowa and went into the convenience store as secret agents.  The cashiers and most of the customers loved it.

I hope that he never has a real one.

Did I mention secret agent?  They also got Daddy and Mommy to put on mustaches when we showed up at Grandma and Grandpa's house and hide claiming a secret agent mission.

I loved the red rocks.  The kids wanted to hike and by this time in our trip so excited to get out of the car.

What a cute bunch!

School Days

Alec is sure excited about going to school. He gets up with the bigger kids and struggles to find things to do from the time Lily gets on the bus and his bus comes. His little legs manuover right onto the bus and he doesn't look back.

Alec's backpack is almost as big as he is. He is our little tazmanian devil.

The other day I had ward council and Joseph got the kids ready for church. They looked lovely. They sure clean up well.

These two just need a monkey and tin cup and maybe some music and they could make some money.

We went to Niagara Falls a few weeks ago. The day was lots of fun. We had Tyler and Ashley with us from Utah. The kids loved the day and Benjamin was spellbound with his trip on the Maid of the Midst. He renamed it the Minow and wanted to meet the Captain. He's such a cutie.

I can't believe I haven't posted all summer long. Stay tuned, as I'm going to try to do a catchup post of the summers adventures.

Kindergarten Kid

I think this is the cutest Kindergarten Kid I have ever seen!  Thankfully, Benjamin likes school and getting up to meet the 7:02 a.m. bus hasn't been as hard as I thought it might be.  When I took this picture he had just assured me that he needed to go to school and continue to grow up.  His current plan is to marry Sara (our 18 year old neighbor) and build a house in the back yard.  He wants to be a policeman and catch bad guys.  How I love this little guy!

Minions

It's Alec's Birthday. We celebrated with Minions. Santa brought him Despicable Me for Christmas and we fell in love with the little guys.

This was his birthday present from us.  He needed a new bike that he could troll around on.  He was in love at first sight.

We had Conner and Andrew and Ella and Addy join the birthday party.

This past weekend we went to Niagara Falls. We had a grand time. Tyler and Ashley loved the time spent there too. We were so happy to have them join us for the last week.

I had a great mother's day.  Part of the festivities included this Menu prepared by my husband.  (Have I mentioned he's the best?  He certainly cracks me up.)


Mother’s Menu

It’s your day to choose from these delightful treats!
Please notify your server of your wake-up time. He’ll be glad to bring these to your bedside with children in tow.

⇨ Three Oranges Peeled on a Platter

⇨ Cereal Served with 2% Milk. Choose from a variety of flavors.

⇨ Toast, Banana, Milk, and One Orange; A little of everything!

⇨ Waffles a la Bisquick; Served with Maple Syrup, Powdered Sugar or Both

⇨ Pancakes a la Bisquick;   With Real or Fake Maple Syrup. Kiss the Cook for Bacon on the Side.

⇨ Oatmeal;  With Honey for My Honey

⇨ Pop Tarts; Both of them!!

⇨ No, Thanks. It scares me when you’re in my Kitchen.

Ouch!

Poor Alec .... he has a hard time walking because he is always looking backwards.  He took a tumble yesterday that looks terrible.  He's being a good sport and I'm trying to keep it moist and clean.  It's a good think that these kiddos heal quickly.