Alana's Car Wash -- now open!

One of Alana's best trait is knowing how to make work fun!

I'm confident that this conatgious trait will last her whole life through!

A Sister is a Childhood That Can Never Be Lost

Some have soul sistahs.
Others have wicked step-sisters.

Fortunately for Cheri, she has me.  And I have her.  But this post is about me.  I'm the author.  Me.  And I'm a good sister (she told me to say that).

What else would elicit such titles other than offering to swoop in and give two of her girls the vacation of a life time so she could stay home and pack for --yet, another-- move.

After Nauvoo (yes, the post from oh, so long ago) I kidnapped her two oldest girls (who are my two oldests' exact ages) and brought them home with us.  With 5 kids in the car (all 5 and under) and two parents (significantly older) we looked like a great Honda Odyssey commercial, completely utilalizing all the space!

 And this began one of the best weeks of the whole entire summer.

So what did $19.95 deposit get her?  (no $ actually exchanged)

Two 3+ hour road trips

Two childrens museums

A day at the zoo
Creative Bedtime routines

Parks and Playgrounds

 A get-in-the-splash-park-in-your-clothes card with a don't-tell-your-mom clause attached, just for humor's sake

 A bday party for Grandpa

A Marshmallow Roast in the backyard

Backyard Forts

Lots of Make Believe:

She plays his game in Tool Time

and he played right along in her Princess & Royal Knight Wedding

But most importantly, the smiles and friendships that last forever.

Something magical happened with all these kids.  For the whole time they were together, they LOVED each other, with no bickering or arguing, or other behaviors typical of, say, my kids by themselves.  It was enough for Steve and I to look at each other and ask, "Why are 5 kids so much easier than 3"? 

Anyway, we sure loved the GREAT cousins time we had a few weeks ago!  Does anyone else feel that kids just have an insta-bond with their relatives?

Their Royal Wedding

Please join Carter & Keara's imaginary audience and witness the Princess and Knight's Royal Wedding
It's outside, so hard to hear...turn up your volume all the way
And stay tuned until the end...a guaranteed laugh!



Keara: "This is a wedding outside of the temple"
Carter: "And after we are going to have a show party! ...ow..I meant to do that"

Carter whispers: "Let's go let them touch our clothes" --this was influenced by the children's play they saw in Nauvoo, when we got to meet the cast after, and they let us touch their costumes.

...so Carter and Keara go and let the audience look at and touch their costumes...you can hear Keara saying "Would you like to feel it?"

Carter: Isn't it time to leave the temple yet?
Keara: Wait, we have to get married.
Carter: Did we get married yet?
Keara: No, we have to do stuff.

(to audience): I love you all, and I want to dance with my HUSBAND! Goodbye!
Carter: Goodbye!
Keara: And we are going to get married now.

Keara: Say, do you take this dance?
Carter: What
Keara: Say do you take this dance?
Carter: Yes

Then Keara shows him HOW to dance..etc..

and Keara does the BEST CARTOON Princess roll down the hill I'd ever seen in real life!

Carter's Gender Generator

So my friend is in the hospital about to have her baby!!
She doesn't know the gender of the baby, so I turned to Carter.
"Hey, Carter, do you think Ashley's going to have a boy or a girl?"
"It's going to be a boy."
He was so matter-of-fact about it, I had to ask, "How do you know?"
"Well, you know, Mom, because it goes boy girl boy girl", seeing as yes, they have an oldest boy first, followed by a princess girl.
Not to burst his reasoning bubble or anything, but I had to add"But that's not what happened in our family."
Recognizing the gap in reasoning, he quickly flipped to the next logical solution. "Oh, right, then I'll need to go check weather.com right now," and off he fled.

Does he know something we --or the Chinese calendar-- don't?

Wobble-Gobbles

Meet Addison's Wobble-Gobbles.

Hey, If I were making up a new name for goggles,

Wobble-Gobbles would definiltely be it.

Good thinking, Addison!

So if I accidentally call our goggles

Wobble-Gobbles

next time we're swimming together,

just smile and nod, and think of our sweet little Addison!

Nauvoo, Nauvoo, Nauvoo, Nauvoo, NAUVOO!

We camped.

We met Cheri's and Shaun's families there!  WOOHOO for cousins, Aunts, and Uncles!

We were the mosquitos' Thanksgiving Feast, and are now Caladryl's #1 customer.

And we became really grateful for our brother's hotel pool come Saturday afternoon.

Alana with her cousin, Avery

Addison, Taryn, Carter, Keara, Alana

For some must push, and some must pull, and some must sit back and relax

Carter got a turn to turn the big wheel to twist twine into rope

Beautiful.
But let's not ignore the hazy look--yes, it was THAT hot and THAT humid

All of us at Carthage Jail

Funniest line we've heard so far...

As dinner guests at a friend's house, we were trying on out our "Best Manners" skills.

Emphasized by the fact we hadn't seen them in a few years, so were really trying.

All was reverent during the prayer.

Nicely done, Kids.  Nicely done.

But we had to BREAK UP LAUGHING when after the "Amen", Carter leaned over to the host and whispered,

"I licked your plate!"

Come to the Temple

As we touch the temple and love the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation. The temple provides purpose for our lives. It brings peace to our souls—not the peace provided by men but the peace promised by the Son of God when He said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”                       ~Thomas S. Monson, Blessings of the Temple

^{The temple is an important part of my life and for my family.  So to help our kids feel of its importance and to get acquainted with the temple, we scheduled time to spend on the temple grounds during our trips.  Each time we found it to be very special, and hope that our kids can feel our love for the temple, the peace that it brings to us, and that they can feel that it is a very special place.}

As a loving parent guided a boy or girl to the large door of the Salt Lake Temple and the little one reached out and up to touch the temple, I could almost see the Master welcoming the little children to His side and could almost hear His comforting words: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.                                                      ~Thomas S. Monson

We hope that our children will gain an appreciation for the House of the Lord and will yearn to go when they are older.

"As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us."              ~Thomas S. Monson

These have been wonderful times, and I've loved living close to temples here in Illinois, too.  Like the Nauvoo temple this past Saturday:

and a picnic at the Chicago temple this afternoon:

If you do the math, that's 8 temples in 15 days.   We do Love to see the temple.

Utah To Do List, Kerri style.

Visit Sweet's Candy Factory in Salt Lake City and feel like an Oompa Loompa as you walk the factory's floor in your hair net.  This was FASCINATING!

Check out Kennecott Copper Mine, the largest man-made object that can be seen from outer space (plus the great wall of China).  The trucks are as big as a house (a fact, not exaggeration).  See the wheel that's 25 ft tall and ways 10,000 lbs?  Oh, and sadly, intervene and get the cops involved when you see a pretty severe child abuse case in the parking lot.

Try on the "Tongue" costume from the YouTube Sensation, Orabrush:

Take the kids Glow-in-the-Dark bowling at Fat Cats.  Sign them up online first, so they bowl for free.  On yeah, and call the cops later when you discover a one-way mirror in the ladies' restroom.  Yes, this means having 2 cop-cases in one day.  (Turns out it was completely boarded up and safe, so it's all good, but better to be safe).

Hike a Water Fall. Boast that you did this in Puerto Rico so you are SO getting under it...FREEZE up like crazy once you get to the base and realize Utah mountain snow water is NOTHING like the water in Puerto Rico!

Definitely visit the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove and the Wild West Jordan Playground in West Jordan.  hands down coolest playgrounds of the nation (ok,fine, outside of Disneyland).

Visit 5 LDS temples (Salt Lake, Provo, Mt Timpanogus, Bountiful, West Jordan).  Go see another 3 in the next week since you get home (Winter Quarters on our way home, then Nauvoo and Chicago).

Watch the BYU Accapella group Vocal Point film a music video at Temple Square.

Take your kids to the Conference Center to see where the Prophet speaks to us on General Conference.  Watch their eyes light up in recognition.

Go to your Grandparents 90th Birthday Party!  And while you're there, play Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata for the crowd.  (And don't go easy on the banana splits, either). 

The 4 Generations of Amazing Women



Let your kids use their Grandpa's Water Balloon Launcher, Potato Gun, and Rocket Launcher.

 Let them shoot mini marshmallows through Tauna's homemade guns. 

Then laugh when the 3year old cousins eat nearly all the ammunition.

Don't be astonished when on your way home you see a Hot Air Balloon land right next to you.  Utah's just like that.

If you have a trip like that, then all the way home you will hear your kids say they have the BEST grandparents and great-grandparents ever, and you'll decide this trip was totally worth it.