Our Whirlwind Move

The last couple of weeks have been a little crazy.  Two weeks to get our house on the market and pack up- but we did it!!  Iowa was good to us.  We loved the short commute, great schools, the lessons we learned, and our home.  We are excited about our new adventure, but we will miss it.

Cookie Competition

Our summer bucket list begins!  We enjoyed today's cookie competition - Taylor baked a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie...

...and Dakota experimented with a huge chocolate chip cookie.

 Both were delicious and we had a great afternoon learning about measurements, fractions, cooking, hygenie, and preparing for the event.  

Nebraska!

We knew over Memorial Day Weekend we wanted to visit the temple - so to Omaha we went. Our "big" boys were in Spokane, but we still had a great time. We began our Nebraska trip with the zoo. My favorite quote of the day was Dakota, about 5 min. into our zoo visit. "Ok, Mom, I'm ready to go." "Alright Dee, let's go see the next exhibit." "No Mom, I'm mean I'm done. I'm done with the zoo. Can we go now?" After a couple of hours she changed her mind and decided the zoo was fun. She loved the bounce house, slide, and water sprayer, and Camryn's favorites were the barn and giraffes.

After we had seen everything the girls wanted, we left hot and sweaty for the temple. Camryn insisted that she change into her clothes for the temple (new skirt and shirt), and we followed suit. Camryn was so excited to touch the temple doors, and as the girls approached the doors, I couldn't help but sing in my mind, "I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday." We felt such peace and power at the temple even though we never went inside, and we were so grateful we could be on the grounds and touch the temple.

We also visited the Mormon Trail Center where the kids enjoyed dressing up as pioneers, and we walked through the cemetery where one of my ancestors is buried. I felt so grateful for the burning testimonies of the pioneers and the growth that has come to the church as a result of their faith.

Our last stop for the day was the hotel and the kids were excited for the pool. (We stayed the night in Omaha to meet up with Bryce who was flying in late.)

We had a great fun-filled day and look forward to the next time we visit Nebraska.

Our New Addition

Meet Sprinkles!  The fuzzy, black caterpillar Dakota found on our Mother's Day walk.  He is still alive and always has friendly visitors.  

Mother's Day Walk

How grateful I am to be a mother.  

Taylor's Baptism

Such a great day. Hard to believe our family is old enough for a baptism!  

A candid moment Emmy captured while we watched the font fill.

Taylor said he was a little nervous beforehand but as soon as he went under the water he said he felt calm and the Holy Ghost comforted him. By the time he came up he wasn't nervous anymore.

Taylor chose Bryce to baptize and confirm him.  

Taylor bore a sweet testimony and was excited to have friends and family in attendance.  

It was great to have Grandma, Grandpa, Emmy and Jake be here for the special day.

 

Ming and Shan and Ming's parents came to celebrate as well.

Donuts summarize Camryn's baptism experience. We served donuts after the baptism, and while Taylor was in the font being baptized Camryn was in the kitchen: "I was sneaking donuts." She was.

Great to be Eight!

Taylor had an especially fun birthday with family and friends in town for his baptism which was the next day. The party started with lunch at Jethros, and after school we celebrated with decorations, presents, Don't Eat Taylor, a birthday dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, brussel sprouts, spinach salad, and cupcakes. We had a great time and it's hard to believe that eight years have come and gone. Happy 8th Birthday Taylor!!