Vacation

I've been home for 2 weeks from my trip and I'm still not back up to speed with LIFE! Only part of my trip was at the Moss family reunion. The other part was fantastic, in large part because of Rose, a dear friend of mine. My trip started by spending the weekend in Missouri with my Sis and from there I picked Rose up from the airport in St. Louis. From St. Louis we drove on country roads to Hannibal, MO for a wonderful tour. I read the kids an abridged version of Tom Sawyer about a week before we left on our trip in preparation for this stop. I had been years ago, but I wanted to return with the kids, but NOT by myself. That's why I enlisted the help of Rose, she got a break from the stresses of teenager-hood and I got a little relief...win/win!

Inside the Mark Twain Museum.

Sailing the high seas.

After we were through with Hannibal we drove up to Keokuk, IA for the night to get our rest before we hit Carthage and Nauvoo the next day. It was so fun staying in a hotel with Rose! She's absolutely great. From the moment she stepped off the plane she was a huge help and I will always be grateful for that. I think my kids appreciated it more, because I could be fun and nice instead of mean and grumpy.

Brotherly love at Carthage.

Jack was posing for the camera. Notice Luke's blankie, yeah it got pretty nasty on our trip. Nothing a good soaking in hot bleach water can't fix. He gets extra attached to it when we leave home. Since I had just gone on the Carthage jail tour this past April, I stayed out with the little ones so Rose could enjoy it more.

After Carthage we skipped on over to Nauvoo. That place never gets old to me. We did a bunch of things we skipped in April. Notice Luke staring at Rose...he instantly fell in love with her. Luke is a pretty picky baby too, he doesn't like just anyone.

Oh yeah, did I mention we had beautiful weather? Not too hot or humid, it was wonderful!

A rare picture of me on our trip. The wagon ride was wonderful. I highly recommend it!

The temple's in the horizon. This was the last thing the Latter-day Saint's saw before the great exodus west to the Salt Lake Valley.

I love Erin's bonnet, she picked it out as a souvenir in Hannibal.

The Nauvoo Temple is my favorite temple, it's so beautiful inside.

After a full day being tourists we decided to get another hotel. I like my rest!

This time we stopped in Davenport, IA. It is SO cute! Maybe we just got lucky and drove through the nice part of town, but I LOVED it! It's big enough that there are things to do, but small enough it still has charm. After our adventures in Davenport we decided that since we had plenty of time we would skip the interstate going to Wisconsin. We avoided it in Missouri and were not disappointed so we took the scenic route. I do not have GPS, just a good map. Call me crazy, but I love reading maps and figuring out my way.

We saw the smoke for miles and didn't know what it was until up popped two cooling towers out of the trees. Seemed a bit random and odd to me.

Along the Rock River in Illinois.

The interstates are so boring to me (especially in Illinois), this is the way to travel!

It was lunch time when we hit Beloit and lucky for us there was a Taco Bell on one side of the road and a BEAUTIFUL park opposite of it! It was our lucky day.

Cute..babies!

Rose helping with lunch.

The kids getting their wiggles out. We sat in the sun, because it was to chilly in the shade.

I'm a mean Mom. I failed to inform the children that there was a wonderful play area on the other side of the pond. Rose and I knew about it, but we thought that if we took the kids we'd be there all day. This was a road trip, not a park trip.

On July 5th we went to the ward party down the street from the Moss' home. Rose was with me again and really helped me have a great day. Being at a lake with my kids by myself just seems dreadful (I have 2 non swimmers, 1 okay swimmer, and 1 independent swimmer and I only have 2 hands). There was so much to do there and the kids just had a fantastic time.

Erin attempted to kayak, but it didn't work out very well. An older kid got in with her and rowed her around.

Rose kept Luke occupied for me. He's in my arms a lot, so it was really a relief to get a break and focus on the other children more.

Howie was so sweet and took Jack out on the kayak. What a good brother!

We got a boat ride around Silver Lake. It was my first time on Silver Lake and I can't wait to go back!

New Playlist

I just wanted to share with everyone a great radio station that I listen to here in OKC. It's called KLOVE and you can listen here. One thing I LOVE about the area is all the Christian churches, Christian radio stations, and lovely people. There's a church (or 2) almost on every corner, or so it seems. Sometimes you'll even see 2 or 3 different churches right next to each other. It's great! I really think Oklahomans are the nicest people in America. Anyway...my kids like this station and it's always uplifting. Music really can make an impact on our lives and I just wanted to share a few of my favorite songs. I have more favorites, but they weren't on playlist.com.

Enjoy and turn on your volume!

Dash

For those of you who don't know, we decided to keep Dash. Actually...we originally were going to give him back after the trial, because the kids were saying that I was right after all, "Dogs are a lot of responsibility." BUT, 2 days before I was to return Dash to his original home, I fell in love with him. In reality, I wasn't a dog lover...not at all! They're smelly, hairy, and get into trouble. BUT Dash just stole my heart. He follows me around (even right now as I'm typing, he's laying at my feet under the chair I'm sitting in). He snuggles so nicely, and he adores me.

Here he is getting his first bath at our home. Erin was my helper.

Snuggled on top of me in bed.

Out on the front porch reading. He's an alert watch dog, very protective of our family. I'm afraid he will bark Howard away when he returns.

He loves relaxing.

Snuggled up some more in bed.

awwww...

I only let him in my bed at night when I read and in the morning (between about 6-8am).

He slept in late this morning.

He was cuddled on me so nicely that I didn't want to disturb him. I called the cell phone and hoped the kids would answer. I didn't want to holler into the other room. Luckily Erin answered and I quietly asked her to bring me the camera. She sure helped me out with that!

Totally Random Stuff

This is all totally random, and mostly for Howard as an update on the home-front.

Our completed front yard...Howard finished around the trees while he was here during his emergency leave. And yes, I mow my own lawn. It's not perfect, but a vast improvement when I first started. The first time I ever mowed a lawn, I was 21. Between age 21-25 I think I mowed the lawn 3 or 4 times. Once Howard had his surgeries (3 in 2 years) and has now been gone 2 summers in a row, I've had to step up to the responsibility. I'm actually quite proud of my accomplishment, for a city girl and all.

The plants have really exploded with life! Notice my garden flags. You can read more about the blue star flag here. It'll come down when Howard returns home.

Love it!

Notice the patio furniture on the porch. Howard picked it up while he was here. It really saved me the hassle of having to get a sitter for the kids just to pick it up, since it would fill just enough of the van that the kids wouldn't fit. It's amazing how simple tasks become difficult when 4 kids and no husband are in the mix.

Here's a better picture of Erin's hair (not wet). I curled it under for church this morning, although there was a little part that just wanted to flip out.

This was Luke during his morning nap (sorry the picture quality is poor). Looks like he's getting a little long for his mini-crib. I'll switch him to our toddler bed when he complains.

This is to show Howard how I hung our new picture frames. Ever since we moved to Oklahoma we haven't had the kids pictures up because I haven't had 4 matching (or even coordinating) frames that looked decent. Their pictures have been tucked safely away for the past year (and we've even been going faithfully getting updated pictures). I finally broke down and bought some frames.

Howard-If you can think of a better way to hang the pictures you can change it when you get home. Also, our family picture is on the adjacent wall to the left. I plan on doing more with that wall, it's a little sparse.

Howard's really good at helping me decorate. I'd definitely have to say that Howard collaborates with me extensively on our home decor. I love it that he takes an interest in those things. Also, we plan on getting a more efficient desk, but we just haven't found the perfect match for us. We've waited years in some instances until we found the right item, so we are obviously in no rush.

Our Sweet Pea

Happy Birthday Erin!

The big '7'

"Do I have anything in my teeth?"

Jack was crying hysterically because he didn't want his picture taken. He was TIRED!

Why did I feed him chocolate cake after bath time? Not one of my brightest moments as a mother!

Erin got her big birthday present a day late...an iPod shuffle. It's because I was a slow poke and didn't get around to ordering online until last week. But all is well...she received her two other presents early. An alarm clock and a used barbie house. I got the house for really cheap off of craigslist last week and didn't feel like taking the time to coordinate hiding it at someone else's house. That's just too much effort for me right now.

On her birthday (July 19th) we spent the afternoon at Chuck E Cheese, followed by dinner at Red Lobster. Once we got home we played on the triple slip 'n slide in the backyard. We're learning that Dash doesn't like to play in the water. He hid in the corner of the yard while we played.

Dash(er)

The kids have literally been begging for years to get a dog. They love them so much, but all I see is a hassle. My heart is softening and Howard and I have been privately discussing the possibility of getting a dog for several months now. This little Dachshund is 6 months old and is super sweet. We are having it in our home for about a week as a trial to see how the kids and I can handle a dog. The kids don't know that we may possibly keep him. They just think we're dog sitting. We've had him 2 days now and my mind is still not made up yet.

Meet Dasher, but we call him Dash.

This is how he prefers to lay, he does it all the time!

Awwww...so cute!

A Real Haircut for Erin!

Erin got a really big hair cut today. We've trimmed it regularly and have even chopped off about 8 inches (twice in about 3 1/2 years).

Here she is when she was 3 1/4.

Beautiful!

After a few years of begging I finally gave in, especially since Howard wasn't home to say no.

It's a little wet still in this picture from her shower, but it dries nicely and doesn't look messy anymore. We're both really happy with how it turned out!

Family Reunion

It's been a long time since we've seen a lot of the Moss family. We just went up this past April, but only a few of the families live there. Calvin and Rosemary are Howard's Uncle and Aunt who raised him his teenage years. All of his good traits, hard work, and faithfulness come from these two people. We're so glad to have them as family and they consider him one of their own. They had 8 of their own children and when Howard moved in, he made 9! That's a lot of mouths to feed! Here's a little bit of what we did over the reunion. I'm looking forward to the next one, hopefully Howard will be able to attend.

Calvin and Rosemary enjoying dinner together.

Trampoline fun

Three legged races

Relaxing and talking

Organized children's activities.

Water balloons.

Silly faces!

(Back L-R) Hunter, Alden, Abby, Hannah, Issac, Jake, Nick, Jessica, Jed, Megan, & Ethan

(Front L-R) Trevor, Caleb, Grace, Olivia, Laurin, Matt, Erin, Rachael, Howie, Luke, & Jack

Unfortunalty we were missing 3 grandkids and 4 adults. :(