Last days in Pittsburgh

There were so many things that we wanted to do before leaving PA.  I tried my best to squeeze in as many as I could.

IDLEWILD: This is an amusement park about 1 1/2 hours from the house.  It was a little tricky with one parent and 4 kids, but it ended up being a great day.  All of my pictures are on my phone though, so I will have to post later.

KIRTLAND:

I drove 2 1/2 hours to take the kids to Kirtland.  We stopped at the Kirtland Temple first.  While we were there they showed a video, and then took us on a 45 minute tour of the Temple.  It was torture.  The kids were tired, and William was making a scene.  Sadie and Samuel kept asking when we could leave.

Kirtland has changed as much Nauvoo.  Last time I went there was a small Visitors Center and the Newell K Whitney store.  Now there's like 5 different sites.  It took 2 hours.  This time William was fine and the kids were engaged.   I was so excited when each of the kids at different times leaned over and whispered "we learned about that in Nauvoo."  I guess dragging the kids around the country by myself was paying off.

Don't worry...the car wasn't on, but he sure loved being a "big boy!"

We also went to the drive-in and saw Toy Story 3. Once again William was a pill, but the other kids loved it.

Nauvoo (catch up from the end of June)

We got home from Salt Lake super, super late Saturday night.  I just couldn't get up for church Sunday morning...I JUST COULDN'T DO IT!  I'M NOT SUPERWOMAN.

Anyway.  Sadie went to school on Monday, Henry had an orthodontist appointment and I did laundry, cleaned the van, re-packed and we left for Nauvoo Tuesday.  The kids and I drove 7 hours to Joliet, IL.  The next morning I spent a huge amount of time trying to get earnest money wired for the FL house.  Then, there was a huge traffic jam, so I was late picking up Ben from the airport in Moline.  We got to Nauvoo just in time for dinner.  We were actually in Nauvoo for a smallish family reunion.  It was supposed to be my father-in-law's side.  However, it somehow shrunk to some of Ben's family, and some of his Aunt Robin's family.  Frankly, I didn't care who was going to be there, I just wanted to give the kids a chance to see Nauvoo.

By the Nauvoo Temple (courtesy Samuel)

The first day we were there we went to quite a few of the homes and shops.  There is a new (at least since I was there) area that showcases the different handicrafts of the era.  There was bread baking, wool spinning, etc.  The kids loved it.  They got to make rope.  

Every time that I have been to Nauvoo it has just been for part of a day.  This time we were there for 3 days.  We saw all of the shows, went on the carriage rides, walked the trail of tears, went to Carthage, went to the temple, walked downtown, went to more sites than I have been to before.  It was so fun and I am glad we went.

The kids LOVED it.  They just kept asking to see more buildings.  I think their favorite spot was the rope making and the "pioneer pastimes."  This was an area where you got to try out different games and clothes of the pioneers.

Lots of ideas

oh, so many ideas for the new house.  First things first though, things like getting all the boxes unpacked, getting the walls clean, and the floor, and the trim...etc.  When a house hasn't been lived in for 2 years, it's a little on the nasty side.  So far I have been concentrating on just cleaning out the areas where I am actually putting things.  The kitchen cabinets...clean, carpets...vacuumed, pool deck...swept.  Now, I have friends coming this week and it's time to get serious about the cleaning part.  Ugh!  Then it's off to the garage to open the boxes out there.  Everything in the house has been opened and for the most part unpacked.


Anyway, this is what I was contemplating at church today:

This is an ice cream sandwich bench.  Samuel want's one...it's $950.  Hmmm...could I make one?

Sadie's last day of Pre-school

Sadie and Ms. Susan

Sadie's pre-school meets sporadically over the summer.  We were able to make it for one day before we went to Nauvoo.  They weren't meeting the week that we were home after Nauvoo, so this was her last day.

Sadie and Ms. Sue

Crazy Summer post #1 UTAH

So, the day after school got out we headed to Utah for Ben's brother's wedding.  We are so excited for Matt and Janae.    Here are a few pictures of the Pittsburgh airport.

We landed late, late Friday night and the wedding was Saturday morning.  Ben's sister Jennifer and her boyfriend Matt watched the kids for us so that we could go to the wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple...thanks!  

Henry didn't get to sit with us on the plane ride to Utah.  He did however, get to sit between two sight impaired people, with their helper dogs at his feet.  I was concerned, as was he, since he doesn't really like animals.  At the end of the flight though, he said it wasn't so bad.  He even said that they were cute.


The kids got to go fishing with Grandpa and their cousins, aunts, and uncles.  They had a blast.

We got to spend a couple of days with my friend Elizabeth and her family.  It was so fun.  We went miniature golfing.  Please notice that Sadie carried her new swimming suit around the whole time.

We saw so many friends.  Friends from Florida, friends from Grand Jct, friends from college, and lots of family.  The kids were so good as I dragged them all around the valley visiting strangers.  

One of the stops was In-N-Out Burger.  I had to see what all the hype was about.  I still don't get it.

We also got to spend time with Melissa's kids.  Here's Sadie rockin' out with Landen's guitar.