My gift to society

Lets take a moment, shall we, to look at these kids. Adorable, aren't they? I mean, really, have you ever seen such enchanting children?

Such lovely eyes and engaging smiles.

Filled with infectious laughter and a love for life.

And their charm goes so much farther than just physical appearances. They are quite brilliant, too and brimming with talent- so much talent. Their singing voices are magical, their dancing abilities are awe-inspiring. And talk about athletic prowess- they are bound to set records. And they're polite too, witty, and thoughtful. Yes, I think its safe to say these just might be the most perfect children the world has ever known. I'm just as surprised as you are, but it seems that my husband and I have have some magical combination that produces incredible offspring. The only real tragedy is that there are only two of them. Heartbreaking, really. It just doesn't seem fair that in all the world there are only two perfect children, so after some soul-searching my husband and I decided to grace the world with one more perfect child. It seems the right thing to do. Its entirely selfless of us, I know, but the world has been good to us, so it seems the least we could do.

The expected arrival of the next perfect child is June 29th. I am 18 weeks along and so far, everything seems to be healthy and normal. This particular child, seems to be even more thoughtful than the other two- with a less sickness-laden first trimester, and for that I am grateful. Lynette is thrilled beyond measure and asks me at least 10 times a day if the baby is still growing, if it is sleeping, or if it is awake. She is quite determined that this baby will be the little sister she's been longing for. Trevor is happy that Lynette is happy. I just started noticing the baby kicking this week, so that has been fun, and we eagerly await our ultrasound in two weeks.

I know you will rejoice with us in this news and I promise to keep you updated on the progression of this latest perfect child. You're welcome.

Nauvoo Take 2

Its the middle of January and terribly cold. To distract myself from the chill, I decided to post about the hottest days we had during the year- which were spent outdoors in Nauvoo. It makes sense to me, and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I am 6 months behind and don't want to go out of order. And since this blog is more of an archive for me anyway, here we go.

When visiting the Nauvoo pageant, always be sure to get there at least an hour early for the pre-show entertainment. There's stick-pulling...

I'm not sure who won this one...

The kids, enjoyed getting into it, well, Lynette did. Trev was just confused.

Lynette's grand victory!

You can also pull a handcart.

Do some sack races.

Go, Lynette, go!

At the kiddie center they can color and learn how to use a pioneer yo-y0.

It really is a super fun time, even in 100 degree weather.

There's also pioneer pastimes center where you can learn to make rope by taking three strands of string and using this thingy, twist it together...

And once you have three separate strands of stronger string, you reattach it to another thingy and spin it together...

Keep spinning...

Until you get a nice, scratchy piece of rope.

You can play with pioneer dolls.

And try on hats...he's such a good sport.

And give some attitude while trying on hats.

There's a play sheep you can ride on, adorned with real wool.

And outside the visitor's center is the Women's Garden, or Relief Society Garden or something like that. This was our first stop as you can tell by the fact that we are less sweat drenched than in later pictures.

Trev did us the honor of waking up for this part.

Lynette really liked all the statues.

I love how dated they all look, so 70's, but the workmanship really is beautiful.

And the Christus Statue in the Visitor's Center. What a great trip!

Grrrrr

So I recently changed my background page, not only because Halloween is over but also to stop my son from begging me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at least ten times while I check my blog. Don't get me wrong, I love singing it for him since it makes him so happy, but it makes my time on the computer a lot longer and more distracted. Anyway, after changing it and changing my template I found that all of the my sidebar items had been moved down to the very bottom of the page. I find this really annoying and I've looked all over- especially on "layout" to try to fix it but to no avail. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Its really starting to bother me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Nauvoo

One of the many perks of living in St. Louis is that historic Nauvoo is only 3 hours away. We try to get up there at least every summer, particularly during the pageant, there is so much to see and do, we always have a good time. The one downside to being there during the pageant is it's usually during the hottest part of the year so you may notice we are a bit sweaty and drab in all the pictures. But don't let our appearance fool you, we had a great time.


The pageant really is spectacular. Its incredible to think all of those extras only had 2 weeks to learn all the music and their places. Its touching, fun, and really speaks a testimony about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the highlights about the updated show is how they build this make-shift temple on stage, which is torn down after the saints have to leave, but at the very end of the show they light up the real temple which is back in the distance to show its resurrection. Its pretty cool.

I just had to get a picture of this bridge. After waiting 10 minutes for a train to cross we entered the bridge just in time for it to shut down for 20 minutes for a barge to pass through. I will say, though, that the bridge was interesting. Instead of lifting up as many do, there is a main pillar in the middle of the bridge that the whole middle section swings out 90 degrees from. Interesting, annoying, but interesting.

I believe this was Heber C. Kimball's home

More historic homes.

This was an adorable little kid show called "Just Plain Anna Amanda" you typically have to reserve tickets at least a week in advance, but luckily we got in at the last minute. Super cute.

Lynette meeting Anna Amanda. She was so delighted.

Trev in his pioneer garb. I love that hat, I want to get one.

Lynette dolled up in hers. The kids liked the clothes, but it was so blasted hot they couldn't keep it on for long. At least we got a picture of it.

This section was called "Pioneer Pastimes". It was an area where you could play old pioneer games and the kids could make-believe they were pioneers. We all had a good time. Trev found a horse.

Michael found some mind games.

Trev loved the play houses. He wanted to go really authentic so he decided to take his shoes off.

It was sweltering in those houses, but Trev didn't care- he was having too much fun starting fires, cooking, and playing school.

Lynette tried her hand at hand washing.

And water carrying. Good times had by all.

Summertime Fun

I love summer. I just cannot get enough of the sun. I'm a junkie. And this year we spent a lot of time basking in the rays at a friend's house. Everyweek she'd pull out all these fantastic slip'n slides and three different kiddie pools and the kids had a blast while we ladies did what we do best. Sit around and talk. So fun. And what a great way to get to know new friends from our ward.

Lynette and her new buddies.

She could not get enough of the swing.

Trev wasn't up for much sliding but he did like splashing around a bit...until he got too cold. This boy is definitely my child.

And though he wouldn't slid he still enjoyed sitting by the slide and playing with the water. We just had to keep an eye out to make sure none of the kids whacked him as they slid past.

Lynette dove right in.

I love summer!