Family Time - July

It was great being home for some of the summer. Being near the nieces and nephews is always a treat. This summer was no different. Here are a few highlights from the end of July.

Wilson being his cute self. He usually pushes or crawls all over the cart. This time Uncle Erik helped him take a ride.

Typical boy avoiding a kiss. (Who could blame him in this case? Scary!)

Ethan has gotten so big the last month. He loves 'talking' at people. He's getting pretty good at it. He is now making all sorts of different noises. He hardly ever cries and loves to smile.

Whitney holding cousin Ethan.

The kiddos reading a book. They like to do this a lot. Sariah is good and usually reads to them. Wilson sometimes wants to turn the pages too soon, so he usually ends up reading his own book.

Wilson eating an ice cream cone. He loved it.

Whitney after eating her ice cream cone. Not so messy.

Summer Trip - Stage 6 - Winter Quarters

On our way home from Nauvoo, we stopped in Omaha to go to the Winter Quarter's temple. Omaha was out of the way, but we never knew when we'd get a chance to go again. The temple is in an old and random part of town. Glad we had Atty (Ms. Attitude, aka GPS) so that we could find it easily.

The inside setup reminded me of the St. Paul temple...small. There were beautiful windows depicting different pioneer things. Beautiful.

After going to the temple, we went to the visitor's center across the street. It was a great way to end our trip.

Summer Trip - Stage 5 - Nauvoo Temple

Mom and I were able to attend a session at the Nauvoo Temple. What a special treat! The wood throughout the building was amazing. The locker rooms were even out of wood rather than like normal locker rooms. Gorgeous! It was surprisingly small. I kept expecting it to be like the Salt Lake temple (aka huge), but the rooms were about the size of the Billings temple. One unique thing was the large meeting room where they used to hold conferences and such. It was neat to see things that I'd only ever seen in pictures.

The view from the front of the temple. You can see the Mississippi in the distance.

Me by the plants. I couldn't believe how large all of the foliage was in the area. I guess that humidity is good for something.

Summer Trip - Stage 4 - Carthage

Carthage, the prison where the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum were martyred, is only about 1/2 hour from Nauvoo. (I'm lucky my pictures turned out. My camera did not like the muggy air.) The tour started with a movie at the visitor center. Then one of the missionaries takes you into the actual house/jail.

This is the room where they stayed. The window is the one that Joseph fell out of while he was shot by the mob. It was a very small room. It was air conditioned for us. I could only imagine how hot it would have been for them.

This is mom looking out the window that Joseph fell through.

This is the cell that the men stayed in for the first few hours. There is only a tiny window in the room and it got above 100 degrees while they were in here. The owner of the jail took pity on them and allowed the men to stay in his family room, which was the next room over (the one pictured above).

Another picture of the cell.

The top window is the one the prophet fell out of.

The whole tour was neat. It felt like we were a little rushed because of all the people there wanting to go through, but I'm glad we had the chance to go.

Summer Trip - Stage 3 - Nauvoo Pageant

The day we got to Nauvoo, we were a little late to visit any of the sites (they all close at 6 p.m.). We went over to the visitor center and walked around in the cool Women's Garden outside. They have various statues of women. We then went and waited for the pageant to start. I am not made for muggy weather. As we sat waiting, an elderly gentleman came up to us and started giving us a survey. He then shared information about the pageant, such as it's the only pageant to be commissioned by a prophet (Pres. Hinckley) to be written. He then moved us to some great seats that are reserved for mission/temple presidencies and their guests. Very good view. It was an amazing experience. We went again a few nights later. It was just as good then.

The view of the temple from where we sat.

During the pageant, they build a miniature model of the temple on stage. This is the first part.

Second part

And it keeps getting bigger.

The cast was huge. There are 5 different casts that are each there for 2 weeks. Some of them stay for the whole summer, many of them families.

Pictorials de mi Familia

Over July 4th weekend we were able to get our family pictures taken (THANK YOU KRISTIN!!!). We try to do this every year so we have updated pictures to send out at Christmas. This year we took them a little earlier than normal this year, which is A-OK. Except that we'll have a new little one by the end of the year (Bryan and Chelsey). Here are a few highlights.

Mike & Nicole's family

Erik and Sandy's family

Bryan and Chelsey family
The girls

Another of the girls

Grandma and the kiddos

Me and Boy #3

Momma and me

The whole familia (pretty darn cute!)

Summer Trip - Stage 1.5/2.5 - Isanti

My mom and I were able to visit her sister Laretta in Isanti, MN (an hour north of the Twin Cities). The day we got there, they got major tornado warnings. My cousin Mandi and her family were at a campground nearby so they also waited it out at Laretta's house. We headed down to the basement to wait it all out, so I didn't get to see/hear much of the storm. We did go out to look at the wall cloud, but quickly headed back inside.

This is Mandi and her daughter Ella on the steps leading downstairs.

Laretta and Mom playing it cool in the basement.

We also had the opportunity to go to the St. Paul temple on a Tuesday evening. I had never been inside a small temple before. It was VERY small, but of course still beautiful. It was nice to go with family, even though there were only 3 of us.

Laretta and Mom outside the temple.

Mom and I outside of the temple.

After we were done we went to Olive Garden and had some VERY delicious food. I had to text Lauri Jo (Laretta's daughter) every so often because we wanted her with us. It would have made the trip that much more enjoyable.

One thing about Minnesota that I LOVED was how green it was. On I-90 headed east, the freeway was lined with corn and soy beans. Every piece of land was used for crops. After a while it got monotonous, but it was still beautiful.

Summer Trip - Stage 2 - Duluth

While in Minnesota, Laretta had us drive up to Duluth, which is on Lake Superior. It took us a while to find the downtown area because all of the exits were closed. We ended up on the wrong side of town. Plus, we ended up crossing a big bridge over into Wisconsin. I had never been there, so it was nice to be there...even for about 5 minutes.

Our friend Atty (aka Miss Attitude, aka the GPS) finally got us to where we needed to go. There were lots of fun shops, a nice bridge to walk over, and lots of light houses to see. Plus, it was cooler since it was on the lake.

This is Laretta and Mom walking across the bridge.

Mom "holding" one of the lighthouses.

Me sitting on a moose (who was copping a feel) outside one of the shops downtown.

Mom getting comfy with a monkey in one of the shops.

Me standing in Superior.

Mom, Laretta, and I sitting next to Lake Superior.

Mom and Laretta by Mr. Moose.

As everyone there said, have a Superior day!

Summer Trip - Stage 1 - Gillette

My mom went on a trip the middle of July. Our first stop was Gillette to visit my brother and his family. We spent 2-3 days there before heading to Minnesota.

We had to make our stop at Perkins for dinner. This is Hayden and Hannah enjoying dessert (cookies) outside. They can only handle the inside for so long.

We went and got pedicures. Hayden and Hannah were pretty good considering we were there for over an hour. They even soaked their feet with us for a while.

Hayden took over his own chair, thinking he was all that.

Hayden towards the end. He was keeping us entertained.

The Mountain

The day after the big 4th weekend, I went to the mountain with my brother and his family as well as my cousin and his family. We had a picnic (a very windy one) and then went on a small hike down a little canyon.

This is Whitney by some snow. She thought it was pretty cool. We later had a small snowball fight--really, it was more Mike throwing them at me.

Elle and BrookLynn posing for me at the bottom of the small canyon. It was so green and pretty on the mountain.

Mike and Wilson climbing the rocks we ate by.

Such a cute picture! Elle and Whitney exploring around the rocks.