Some things never change

Some things never change, isn't that great!!  This weekend I got to meet up with my old college roommate and her family.  It had been about 8 years since we last saw each other, but before we moved apart, we we nearly inseparable.  :)  Its amazing to me how so much time can pass, and it doesn't seem to matter.  We stayed up much too late catching up and reminiscing.  I think that must be what heaven will be like.  Good friends sharing their joys and trials and what they've learned.  Here's a few pictures from our adventures in Nauvoo, IL where we met up.

Our families have expanded quite a bit in the last few years.  The kids got along great, which made the whole weekend that much more fun.  It was rewarding to see the kids bond the way we had years before.  :)

And Nauvoo was just as fun as it has been every time we have gone. The kids love the pioneer pastimes area. 

 

 The group went on a wagon ride without me, since I've developed an allergy to horses that has only ever manifested itself on that same wagon ride in the past.  Call me a party pooper if you will, but I prefer breathing to a wagon ride anyday. 

We were afraid the pageant was going to be rained out.  I teased Benson that it looked like the Heavens were not as happy with this new pageant.  We came to expect miracles there, the sky's always seemed to clear in time for the show.  Well, it may not be the City of Joseph pageant, but I suppose the Lord is happy with this new pageant as well because the sky cleared just in time for the show to go on. 

We also visited many of the pioneer homes.  We stopped by the blacksmith's shop and got our prairie diamonds and the brick yard to get our Nauvoo brick.  I always enjoy hearing the history the missionaries share.  Those pioneers went through so much during that time.

On Tuesday we went to Carthage. 

There is always such a special spirit there.  My kids are blessed to claim both survivors of that day as ancestors.  Willard Richards saved John Taylor's life... and it is through their lineage that we are here today.  Pretty cool.

So Nauvoo was cool and spending time with my good friend was priceless.  Hoping its not another 8 years before we can align the stars and meet up again.  Thanks for a great weekend Mer!!

Catching up a bit

So, I didn't post about our family gathering last month.  My brother came to visit us with his 4 girls...  So we had 17 of my parents 24 grandkids in town.  :)  So much fun.  So, one of our big adventures was to take everyone downtown  to the Museum of Science and Industry.  It was so much fun.

They had a few areas like this where you actually interact with the image they are projecting.  In the picture above, if you hold your hand still enough, one of the butterfly's will actually land on your hand.  In another one, some balls would either gather into your arms, or fall to the ground below based on what you were doing.  Very cool.

Twister was completely intrigued by the ball suction thingy.  He went back and forth grabbing the balls and watching the vacuum suck them up up and away.  :)

Cinderelly was pretty entranced by the floating ball.  No barriers were going to stop her!!

The baby chicks hatching were pretty amazing to watch.  They know the exact gestation of the eggs, so they put the eggs in the public incubator on the day they are scheduled to hatch.  Could've spent all day there watching them, truly miraculous.  :)

The weather science area was really fascinating as well.  They have this neat vortex thing that looks like a giant tornado.  At one point, a few of the kids were invited to stand in it!  Very cool.

There were a lot of other really neat random things as well.  The raining fog here made a really neat effect.  Eventually all good things must come to an end.  And there was no exception here:

We pushed the kids to their limit and it was time to head home.  They slept beautifully through the huge traffic jam as we headed home.  I feel so blessed to have the family that I do.  The kids LOVE their cousins, they are really best friends.  I can't wait to see how they interact as they head off to college and stuff in the future.  :)

Anyway, since they left, its been back to the summer grind.  We play outside in the heat, and hide inside when we can't take it anymore.  We've made forts, camped in the backyard, caught lightning bugs, played at the park and more.  Life is never dull with 5 kids.  :)  And since I can't leave this post with such an unhappy picture, I'll leave you with this: