September 2012

 We started our month out with a camping trip to

Clinton Lake!

It was our first time camping with Rae

and she did fabulous :)

We went with our stake and Madi was more
than thrilled that all her "big sisters"
would be there to play with!

Rae really enjoyed the chocolate and marshmellow

part of the evening :)

Poor Trev, I totally blinded him with the flash!

Here are a few of our friends from

other wards.

Stephanie and Sarah are in the same ward

and Roseanne and I are in the same ward as well.

We had a few other friends from another one, 

but they weren't so sure since it

had been raining earlier in the day.

In the above picture you can see that my hair

magically grew 18 inches!

I decided to get hair extentions

while I was going through the awkward 

stage of growing out my hair.

I loved them!

The next morning we went down to the lake

and were saddened but how gross

the beach was.

There were dead fish up on the mud on one side.

We found a decent spot and the kids clearly didn't mind at all.

Trevor and I decided to leave

and luckily on our drive out we found

the REAL beach and called our friends over!

Here is Wyatt, Madi and Raelee 

either playing house or dinosaurs!

(That is what they always choose to play)

Here is one of my bestest buds out here,

Roseanne and I soaking up some rays!

We didn't want to miss the Huff 'n Puff

this year,

so after camping we got washed up,

picked up a pizza and headed down

to Lake Shawnee for the hot air balloons!

We are so glad we didn't skip out this year!

We had so much fun and enjoyed getting

to know Dave and Holly a little better.

They had just moved in to start their first year

of school.

Dave and Holly

On September 11 

we got together with our fellow

JRC members, as well as local fire fighters, cops and paramedics

 at the local food pantry.

We were able to tour all 

the different vehicles and learn more about what they do.

Afterwards we had a little pow-wow 

taught by the food pantry and one of my good friends Renee,

who works for the red cross!

The girls riding on a real bike!

Hopefully we never have to take a real ride

in one of these!

Madi, Wyatt and Rylee.

Madi and Wyatt on the firetruck!

This is where everyone started up the service project.

They had an amazing line up and got so much done!

What they did was fill backpacks with food

to send home with kids over the weekend

that wouldn't get enough food.

It was a really cool experience to see all these

guys working together for an amazing cause.

There is Trevor in the green striped shirt in the middle!

It was SO hot in there, I felt horrible for these guys.

We left feeling very blessed for what we do have,

and were happy to teach Madison

a great lesson and showing her 

how to help serve others!

My friend Roseanne had a birthday this month!

AND she also found out the sex of her baby

ON her birthday!

Talk about a sweet gift.

Well, technically she had the tech text our

other friend so she could make a cake

with either blue or pink inside

and THEN she would find out what she is having!

Great idea right?

Someday I will probably have to steal this idea!

We played a bunch of games guessing what she was going

to have.

We also tried mixing up weird names

to name their baby.

It was hilarious and such

a fun way to celebrate her birthday!

Here she is with her hubby Zach and son Wyatt.

We are singing just before she finds out!

And it's another boy!!

Zach was right!

We are so excited!!!

Camping again!

We seriously went camping every weekend

this month.

It was fabulous!

This time it was just our little family.

Here is daddy cooking us some incredibly delicious

breakfast.

These two were happy as clams just

digging away at that dirt!

Here was our view of Lake Perry

Trevor and I were kept up all night

by a raccoon and a skunk! 

They kept coming right up to our tent

and we were so nervous they were going to get into

a fight and we would get sprayed!

Luckily the only bad thing that happened was

just a little lack of sleep!

Heading down to skip some rocks.

This NASTY spider we found was only a few feet from our tent!

Can you imagine if that thing got inside.

YUCK!!

I LOVE HER LIPS!

Not only does she give great kisses,

she makes the cutest faces!

My sweet baby dolls!

I did it all alone this year,

but I was determined to put up some peaches!
I chatted on the phone with my Grandpa so it was
 like he was here right?

They weren't as good as our regular Brigham City 

peaches, but they worked :)

Someone enjoyed a little alfredo

while watchin' mama work!

In the middle of waiting for my bottles

to finish boiling out back,

Trevor came dashing into the house

with the most terrified look on his face.

The girls were at the table eating and

he sternly insisted I go out front with him.

He had been mowing our front yard

( out here you have to do it TWICE a week cause it grows like crazy )

and the grass was extra long this time.

As he was going along he all the sudden heard

screeching and a bunch of little creatures scatter

from the mower.

He instantly killed the mower and observed

a tiny burrow in the middle of the yard!

It wasn't even a HOLE, 

just some dirt scootched to the side with

grass laid down in the bottom.

There was still one tiny bunny inside,

thankfully alive!

Together we looked all over and found three,

we did find a fourth hiding behind the tire of his car
 after the picture was taken.

I made a few phone calls and was instructed to

place the bunnies back in the burrow

and cover them back up with the grass and place

an X with yarn over the top so we knew if the mother

had come back.

The mother only comes at dusk and dawn to feed

so we had to wait till morning.

She came and luckily these little guys

grew and were big enough to go out on their own

just after a week!

The girls had fun going out every morning

to see if they were still there.

Poor Madi was sad when they were gone,

she really wanted to keep them as her own!

We went with Roseanne and Wyatt to the nearby fruit

farm for apple slushes and cider donuts!

Madison wanted to make her

own birthday card for Granny Tanny this year!

I loved it!

She drew Grandma as a queen!

She also wrote a get well card 

for Grandpa.

He had a horrible kidney stone.

The picture shows Grandpa in bed and Grandma

and Madi are there serving him cookie soup!!

Grandpa and Madi have a thing with cookies :)

One morning during breakfast we noticed some 

hot air balloons passing through our backyard!

Great way to start our morning and end our month!!

August - part 2

We LOVE having visitors at our house

if you couldn't tell!

Our sweet cousin Darcey came to visit

us for a week!

We decided to make an adventure out

of it and headed over to St. Louis.

We took a well needed break

half-way there and discovered

a cave called "Devil's Icebox"!

It was starting to get late so we knew we

had to hurry before nightfall.

The maps ended up being too confusing

and we walked around forever 

and didn't end up getting to the cave.

Don't worry - we stopped on our

way home from St. Louis

and made sure we found it!

Those pic's are toward the end...

I tried to go in order this time :)

We had an up close and personal

view of the Arch from our hotel room!!

The girls had so much fun being so high up in the air!

I was scared to death one of them 

was going to fall.

We skipped out on quite a few

naps and we explored this new city!

There was so much to see and so much to do.

My sweet girls kept taking turns passing out

in the stroller or on one of us.

I was AMAZED.

My kids seriously never fall asleep anywhere

except their beds!

I was very grateful for Darcey's extra

helping hands!

Just over the hill past the Arch

was a huge staircase that led down to 

a bunch of horse carriages and hot dog stands.

They had music and dancers 

and they also had a ferry that went up the Mississippi river.

Madison and Darcey stamped some pennies.

Madi thought this was the coolest thing ever.

These are also some views from our hotel.

Here is the baseball game that was going on!

And the Arch at night.

It was so gorgeous!

We tried to keep our eating to 

local diners and such

to really get the feel of where we were.

We love to do that as we travel.

All the ladies in this place googled

over the girls.

We weren't in the south,

but they were your typical southern folk.

Some random guy acted like a pro photographer

and wanted to take our picture....

not so pro eh?

I think he asked for money after.

There was a museum underneath the

ground when we went to tour the Arch.

They had a bunch of history about the area in one part.

Of course we had to get a picture with the Madison River!

Here is the tiny bomb shell that we all

squished in to travel to the top of the arch!!

Everyone take your last deep breath!

You had to LAY on the side to see out the tiny windows!

At first it really freaked me out.

It was such an amazing view.

Daddy and Rae checkin' it out.

Madi kept asking me where the Arch went?!

Sweetie - we are IN the huge arch:)

We visited the City Museum.

This is probably the most random museum

I have ever been in.

As we pulled up we were a little nervous.

It was in a sketchy part of town and the building

looked worn down.

It literally looked like a recycled garbage dump.

We were daring and went in anyway,

and boy are we glad we did!

Recycled was the right word.

They had reused a bunch of different stuff

and created this humongous play house!

The floors had crazy designs

throughout the whole place.

Madi and Trevor crawled and climbed through the

craziest places.

This is them up in the ceiling trying to figure out which way to go.

After two floors of fun,

there was still more to do outside!!

Madi had the time of her life!

If we are ever in this neck of the woods again,

we will be hitting this up for sure:)

Daddy was a serious trooper!

His knees were killing at the end of the day

from crawling all over creation.

There was a "cave" part that you

had to walk through small spaces and tunnels

sometimes with very little light.

It was so fun,

except for when daddy scares you....

I didn't do much of the crawling

since I stuck with Rae most the time.

But I was quite exhausted after this part!

Madi getting ready to catch me as I slide down the ramp!

We found a kiddy corner where we all

sat and relaxed for a few while

Raelee went wild!

Daddy helped Madi scare the rest of us this time!

On the very top floor they actually

did have museum stuff.

So, the kids still get to learn

while having loads of fun!!

The bathroom walls were made up of

old bread pans!

They made wonderful drums and sounded

great!

And this is proof Madison loved this place.

Poor girl did NOT want to leave!

Of course we couldn't resist the fountain!

One of my very favorite things to observe in life

is watching my girls play and laugh together.

That face spells pure JOY!

Every one enjoyed the the relaxing break from

running all over.

As you stepped on these squares a bell of 

some sort rang out.

Nothin' better than bouncing and making music!

Pinocchio lives in St. Louis!

We also visited another museum of sorts

called the House of Magic.

Here is daddy teaching Madi in the pretend

school section.

We climbed Jack's beanstalk!! 

And yes, I did make it out alive.

Art center

We thought these next few were 

quite appropriate:)

This place was filled with the most creative stuff.

We could have spent a couple days in here!

I think we sat and stared at this wall for at least

10 - 15 min.

They had these soft balls that you would put in

one opening and it would suck it through

these different tubes and pop out another end.

Everything happened so fast you had no idea where it went.

There was also a lever that you could pull and would switch

the tube that it popped out of.

There was a gardening area up on the roof.

Raelee had picked all the veggies out of the ground!

They had a play house as well that they could cook up

all the food in.

Construction!

They did have hard hats,

but who really wears those right??

The chairs actually made music as you sat

on each one..

Trevor made the biggest bubbles I'd ever seen!!

Madi is always "fixing" her bike,

so she was pretty stoked to be able to

really work on a car her size!

There was a little tykes water play area.

Thank goodness for the water proof aprons

or we would have been soaked.

Daddy forgot to take off his glasses!

I could not stop laughing....

she has some serious hair!!

We really wore her out.

We hadn't even left the parking lot yet and Rae

had passed out!

St. Louis temple

One of the many cool bridges we crossed

My kids NEVER took binkies.

13 months, finds it in the bottom of

the diaper bag and NOW decides she knows

what to do with it.

( don't worry it was the only time she used it! )

Stopped on our way home at Devil's Icebox,

and this time we actually found it!

As you climb down these last stairs you feel the

temperature drop 20 degrees instantly!

It was really hot out,

so if felt FANTASTIC!

It was pitch black down there, 

good thing we had some flashlights.

We found a teeny bat!

I seriously couldn't even see Darcey

cause it was so dark.

We were laughing so hard!

We sure do miss her!

We were only allowed to hike in one area.

The other side you had to have a guide to go through.

From the pictures it looks so awesome!!

We are planning to come back again and take 

the real tour!

Back in Topeka we visited

the Combat Air Museum.

My grandpa would love this place!

They had stuff dated so far back

and it was so cool to see the different aircrafts!

They had shut down the highway because

they were bringing a really old plane in.

So this is us chillin' while we waited to watch!!

We had such fun exploring some new places

and we were so happy to have Darcey come visit!!