Midwest Vacation

Summer means Vacation time and we decided to make it a Midwest vacation since we now live in the Midwest. Our location also enticed my parents and brother and his family to join us. We hit the majority of the church sites like Far West pictured above and Carthage, watched a White Sox/Royals game, explored Mark Twain's cave, rode a river boat, rode 10 roller coasters in 2 hours, rode to the top of the Gateway Arch, visited Daniel Boone's home, saw the Budweiser Clydesdales', watched the play "Meet me in St. Louis at the U.S.' largest outdoor theater, and ended with the Nauvoo Pageant. It was a great vacation especially because it was spent with family.

Brindi and Mom at the White Sox game in Kansas City. Below is our nephew Daxton at the game.

One of our first church stops was Liberty Jail. It was a really cool place to visit and be reminded of some of the great revelations Joseph recieved in Liberty.

Above you can see what the Jail looked liked when Joseph and others were held captive. Below is a picture of the front of the building.

Grandpa and Brindi hanging out at Far West.

Overlooking the Adam-ondi-Ahman valley. It is crazy to think of this valley being filled with all those of the world who have held keys. I think Brindi was also pretty impressed.

We were also able to go swimming one night where we introduced Kari to Chicken Fighting. Can you believe she has never played it before? Afterwards as we were relaxing in the Juccuzi, the hotel management came in to tell us the water had been contaminated with a poopy diaper. I thought it tasted a little weird!

While at Independance, Brindi loved playing in the kids area. Especially with this horse.

Once we arrived in St. Louis we went to Grant's Farm which is the homestead of Ulysses Grant and is owned by Anheuser-Busch which is one of the breeding sites for the famous Budweiser Clydesdale.

We also visited the Gateway Arch which represented the Gateway to the West and was near where Lewis and Clark started their quest to the pacific. I have to admit it was a little wierd riding in these small capsules to the top of the Arch, but it has some great views.

We visited Hannibal which is home to Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. We saw a few cool exhibits about his life and his books. We also took a Steamboat ride up and down the Mississippi and explored the cave that is mentioned is the Tales of Huckleberry Finn.

We then made the drive up to Carthage to visit the famouse jail. It was a humbling experience being there. Something really special.

Out front of Carthage Jail in front of the statues of Joseph and Hyrum. My mom and dad were also determined to get Brindi walking by the end of the trip. Sad to say it didn't happen, yet.

Grandpa also thought he would help by dressing Brindi one day. She wasn't much a fan of the tube socks:) Below is also a picture of Brindi and Dax. She loved being around him and depending on her mood would want to hold him and hug him. It was really cute.

Brindi loved this stature in Nauvoo because the girl was her exact size. Also as you can see we try to imitate the sculpture, except Brindi would only walk towards Celeste.

We also thought we should try to imitate it for my mom and dad.

We visited everything we could in Nauvoo and saw several little plays and vignettes but the highlight for me was the pageant. It was amazing. Really well done.

First Fruits

This was the first year we were able to plant a garden and Celeste and I were so worried that it would not produce. So you can imagine our excitement as things started to grow. As you can see, Brindi was excited to get her hands on the first fruit of the season.

Her New Thing

Two days ago we were hanging out in the living room watching some TV and Brindi was playing with her toys. Then the next thing we see is her taking all of her toys out of her basket and then she blobs herself down in her basket. As you can see from above. We thought it was the cutest thing. She seemed so happy and content just sitting in her basket.So the next morning I woke up and was doing some work on the computer and Brindi was next to me and started moving towards the basket. As soon as she got to it she emptied it again and climb on in. Its her new thing.
Her other favorite thing to play with is the ping pong ball you see above. Brindi loves playing with any type of ball. We will sit across from each other and roll balls back and forth to each other. This is her attempt at throwing the ball to me while sitting in her basket. She noticed that I toss it to her underhand and so she tries to throw it to me underhand. What a smart little girl we have. She is a cutie.

Bringing in the Harvest

It’s a beautiful thing. The unique first in - first out design will cut down on expired food and, therefore, wasted money. The Harvest means less mess, less hassle, and fewer bruises from cans that fall all over the place if you look at them the wrong way. And the best part of all?

Shelf-reliance is giving away a Harvest 72" on Friday June 26th at Noon. There are 5 ways to enter the contest for the chance to win one for yourself. Just visit their blog at the following web address to find out the details. http://www.shelfreliance.com/blog/

NC Runaways

Liz and the boys stopped by our place on their way to Utah this week. It was the first good challenge our house has had and it think it held up pretty well. We had kids scattered all over wrestling, playing dodge ball, making pizza, watching movies, catching frisbees, eating hot dogs, falling in the lake, high fevers, watching basketball, and visits to the zoo. It was a great couple days. I had to work most of it but was able to play with them at night. Celeste and Brindi on the other hand loved the company. Brindi wasn't sure about sharing her toys with the boys but always had to be in the same room as them. She is kind of a social butterfly that one. It is always fun seeing family. Thanks for stopping by and we will see you on your return trip:)

Making our Bagel Pizzas

Bath time for the little ones.

Hang'n with the Penguins

Brindi and Celeste loving the family visits

What a good look'n Man

The boys loved telling me about the Giraffes, Monkeys, Bears and Zebras they saw at the Zoo

Relaxing on the trolley ride through the Zoo

Arizona, Graduation & My Parents

Brindi and I were lucky enough to get to fly out to see my baby brother graduate from SJHS. We had a great time. Brindi got see the cows, chickens, and Ethan's 4-H pig. She also got to ride Shorty and drive the tractor with Uncle Trent. She absolutely loved Uncle Trent and Aunt Adelle's dogs Sadie and Duke. She wanted to follow them everywhere they went. She and I went and spent a day at the cabin with Uncle Trent and Adelle and even planned to stay the night, but ended up coming home that evening. She loved playing in the tent and playing in the dirt. She also did pretty good at going to all the LONG graduation festivities. She fell asleep right when Uncle Brennon was singing at graduation...so either he was very boring or has the perfect lullaby voice. Either way we were happy. After a week at being in AZ we headed back to MO with a couple of stowaways. We were so excited that GrandDad and Grammy Hancock could come stay a week with us. We even got to go to a baseball game. Brindi loved all the mascots and the turtle. Joe turned down the girls to do a game in between one of the innings so I got to...he was pretty sad I didn't win because we would have gotten free Buffalo wings...but I guess it was his fault since he didn't want to do it!:)

Our Graduate!Grammy...I am not too sure about thisTractor riding with Uncle TrentPlay'n at the CabinReady for bed momLov'n Arizona!Try'n to win some wings7th Inning StretchMrs. Rascal (Buffy) kind of scared Brindi. She wasn't too fond of being that close to her.