Our drive home.

We started back home on the 12. We made it as far as Kearney NE. After a few mishaps with the car we pulled into our hotel around 10pm and took the kids swimming so we could have a little fun.
The second day of our trip home it was H's 1st birthday. We celebrated by visiting Nauvoo IL. Here is H on her birthday. We also celebrated by getting some yummy homemade custard! Here is the beautiful Nauvoo Temple.

This is the home of Lucy Mack Smith. Mother of Joseph Smith. We only made it in one of the homes because a certain child of mine couldn't keep his hands off of everything :)

We did go to the brick yard. They should us how the bricks were made and gave everyone a small brick that says Nauvoo to take home.

By the third day of travel everyone was getting very tired. Here is K in her "zone". E took this picture for me.

We made it to Indianapolis to stay with my sister. After replacing the brakes on our van in the morning we made it there by 6pm. We had a big birthday party for all the birthdays in August (there were 4 there that had birthday's within a week). We were able to see my brother Bret and his family while we were there. It had been a while since we had seen them.

We were able to spend a little bit of time outside and E came in with this beautiful crown of Queen Anne's lace.

We finally pulled up to our house on the 15. One day shy of a month being gone. We had so much fun on our vacation, but we are so glad to be home!

Happy 4th

To celebrate the 4th we headed down to Maryland to visit with Nathan's cousins. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone and eating lots of good food! Here are some pictures from the day.

This is J being a soldier with a gun over his shoulder.

Milestone

H sporting her new look. The first ponytail is a big thing for a girl!

In his element.

One of Nathan's favorite things to do. Even if he is post call (meaning he has worked all night).

So You Think You Can Dance?

"Mother said I was a dancer before I could walk...."

"My feet are happy..."

"I could have danced all night..."

She definitely doesn't inherit any innate dancing skills from me.

What do you think?

Look closely at the pictures. Don' t you think H looks exactly like Nathan?

They are both cuties, but I am a little biased :)

Odds and Ends

May was a very busy month for us. E and J had soccer every Saturday. J had swim lessons every Saturday. Nathan worked every Saturday (at least it seemed like it).

I attended many school activities and meetings. Took the kids to and from practice and games.

Nathan and J had a father's and son's campout at the begining of May. The girls watched a movie and had a party.

Nathan turned 31 on June 4. To celebrate we had a wonderful roast beef dinner then hurried off to J's last soccer game, then came home for cake and icecream. No presents were opened, because Nathan opened his one present 2 weeks early. He got a Weber Smokey Mountian. He is loving it!

E finished school last week. J still has a couple more weeks.

K is so cute. Here are some of her saying lately..

"Is is bednight?"

Instead of singing Fe Fi Fiddli I Oh she sings "Nephi, fiddli I oh!"

H is getting really close to being mobile. She reaches and scoots places. Loves standing and leaning up against the couch. She also started to clap today and waves goodbye. She is a doll. And if you look close enough you can see she has a tooth coming through!

We are getting close to our Idaho trip. We are excited to finally make it back west again. We hope to see a few of you when we are there!