A Happy 4th

What could make one of the best holidays better? Nana brought Cole & Kylie up for 6 whole days to play, play, play! We love our cousins!

We played at the pool at least twice

Went to Firehouse Pottery

The boys each painted a little bowl that is now their 'fravwrit' cereal bowl in the mornings

Cole painted a dinosaur & Kylie painted a little heart-shaped box. They all turned out so great! I was impressed & I think Jeremy & I will be going back for a date soon.

Lots of fun at home (of course)

One night we were crazy enough to let them have a sleep over in the living room after a movie night. I don't think it was quiet out there until 10:30!!! (that's late for our kids but they had so much fun)

New addition to the family (I love the big screen! I would love it more if I would figure out how to work the new programs)

Bass Pro Shop & Andy's (as usual)

4th of July!!!

I really wanted to go to a parade this year because it was one of my favorite Ann Arborish things we did but it was soooooooo HOOOOOOTTTT!!! So stinkin' hot! The parade was at 5pm & little shade so we opted to make flags & hats & march up & down the street in the less hot morning hours. Then I threw candy at the kids & they couldn't have been happier. We all know that was the reason they wanted to go to the parade. (Don't tell them I threw it all away after the first pieces were eaten-old Christmas & Valentine's candy)

We ended the evening celebrating with fireworks with friends

Lamberts restaurant, where the drinks come in ginormous mugs, the food comes in skillet's & if you want a roll it's thrown from across the room. Good times.

Branson-rode a trolley around & enjoyed Orange Leaf frozen yogurt. We would have done more or stayed longer but it was so miserably hot that day. This summer is seriously killing me! The other day it was 109 degrees according to the thermometer by the hospital. It's been over 100 too many times for me & it's just July. Oh help me.

Come back soon!

Cosmic Bowling

Happy Father's Day! (we like to celebrate on Saturday)

A little cosmic bowling & Andy's makes for a perfect celebration.

Isaiah

What a beautiful promise: Isaiah 59:20-21

"And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression...this is my covenant with them, My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever."

Reminded me of Elder Dallin H. Oaks (Apostle) conference talk this past April (so, so good, go read it!) when he quoted Elder Neal A. Maxwell:

"When people are described as 'having lost their desire for sin', it is they, and they only, who deliberately decided to lose those wrong desires by being willing to 'give away all [their] sins' in order to know God. Therefore, what we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity."

I can't think of a better motivation than these guys!

Vacationing in KC (and Springfield)

We had my parents for a visit for 6 whole days & it was so nice

(and we miss them so much already!)

We met them up in Kansas City so we could see some of the church history sites. We started off with Liberty Jail-where Joseph Smith was wrongly incarcerated for 4 months but where he also received some of the most beautiful revelations found in D&C

We also visited Independence (where the early members of our church lived for a while) & the visitors center there. They had a great area for the kids to play.

This is not supposed to be a butt shot promise :) I stole this picture from my Dad of me holding both babies hands while on a walk

We saw the Kansas City temple!!! I had no idea it was so far along in it's progress. I'm very excited as this will be our new temple. One of the missionaries said it should be completed this winter & probably dedicated next spring. Beautiful!

We had a little swim time at the hotel. I was amazed at how brave Hyrum was! He has been scared of water for a long time but he spent the whole time out in the deep end with Pa & didn't want to come out of the water. I would put the kid in swim lessons if I felt up to that this summer with the twins but probably next summer. Or maybe Pa could fly in for private lessons once a week?? :)

Em wasn't sure about the cold water thing. And it was freezing! I didn't blame her, I spent my time in the hot tub

We went downtown for a day & had lunch at Fritz' where they deliver your food by electric train. Um, cool!

We went to the old train station downtown & they had these awesome miniature electric train displays. The kids loved them (and so did the adults).

Pa bravely took the boys on some hikes in the Nature Center by our house. The first day it was just Hyrum & Pa & I think they hiked 3 miles or something. The next day the Bug joined them & they went almost as far.

Reading a few books with the boys

Dancing Turner style

We have our very own AA baseball team here in Springfield & this was our first time at a game. I loved it! The stadium is really small so every seat is great (being so close we really did have to watch out for those fly balls!) & they did fun activities in between each inning. Justin & I even made it on the big screen with him waving 'hi' to the cameraman. And my Dad caught a free T-shirt. Luckily we had two rows to ourselves so we could really spread out & we actually lasted through the 7th inning.

The kids didn't go to bed until about 10 -they were so hyper when we got home, squealing (that was mostly Emma) & chasing each other around the house.

We also went to the zoo. The best was feeding the giraffes & riding the train.

I love having my parents visit & to see how attached my kids get to them. Come back soon!

Here is a video proving that Emma is part monkey (I knew Jeremy had fleas!!)

Chair twirling skills

Dancing skills