Here's some of what we've been doing in August

Sigh... I live life with my nose barely, just barely, above water. You all know that right? It might help if I didn't try to dabble in 10 different things all at once, but I do, and consequently, life is just one constant state of whirl wind chaos. And so with that, I share pictures from weeks ago, not days like the original plan, but weeks...

The girls have been in school, all day ... both of them ... for two full weeks now. Sam and I are learning to adjust to all this time together. Some days it's fun, and other days neither one of us knows what to do with the other. On the second day of us being home together all day long, he asked me to play store. Store. I had to ask how, cause I didn't have a clue. He patiently dealt with my lack of gusto and imagination and then decided he'd just wait for Emily to come home - that was going to be much simpler and a lot more fun.



Friday, Sam and I get to visit preschool, take in our supplies, see his new room and see his teachers (same as last semester Mrs. M and Mrs. S) and see his friends again. This time he's going to the Methodist Church's preschool, but the Director and many of the teachers are the same ones the other kids have had (we are so grateful!), which makes for needed continuity and stability.

The weekend before school started we spent four days in Nauvoo, IL with my mom's family. It was the first of many family reunions to come and we had such a wonderful time with all of the cousins. There were 24 adults and 23 kids, and we were missing 1 aunt, 7 cousins, three spouses and three second cousins. We rented three huge, beautiful homes with backyards that opened up to each other and had a great time talking, playing football, catching toads, playing relay and water games, eating great food, sharing stories, seeing the sites and sounds of Nauvoo and making plans for the next reunion. I have thousands of pictures I could share, but I'm going to keep it to these few.

First a fun and a bit silly picture of the entire group snuggling in for one last picture (photo taken by GR):


Saturday morning we filled a carriage ride with half our group and saw parts of the old town Nauvoo country side and Mississippi River. After the carriage ride and just before lunch, we joined a small group of cousins on a 1 mile (but GR swears it was at least 2) hand cart trek. The pioneers would have filled their hand carts with 200-250 pounds of provisions and belongings, ours was empty, except for 20lb Alex and a lone water bottle rattling around. It was hot, hard work through trails that were very rough, bumpy and surprisingly authentic. It made all of us grateful for the sacrifices of those who had come before us, and grateful for the many blessings we have been given.



And now random pictures from the whole visit:


Top: one of many family football games in the backyard.
Row 2 left: 2nd cousins Stella, Izzy and Alexandra playing pioneer dress up
Row 2 top right: 2nd cousins Sam and Joseph go head to head in a stick pull game
Row 2 bottom right: Cousins Alyson and Kathleen
Row 3 left: GR's newest postcard shot, a nighttime picture of the Nauvoo temple with statue of Hyrum and Joseph, taken by GR.
Row 3 top right: 2nd cousins playing with a parachute.
Row 3 bottom right: All the 2nd cousins stand in line patiently waiting their turn and watch Jared start an afternoon of slip-n-sliding.
Row 4 left: Shrinky Dink key chain mementos of our reunion, sporting the monogram of the family name. This was a great craft project that involved everyone regardless of age, was inexpensive and gave amazing results!
Row 5 left: This picture is for my sister. It captures one of the things we love most about my Aunt Judy. She makes everyone around her feel special, like they are the most important person in the world. She is playing catch with Sam. She has the football in her right hand, and in her left, is a carton of eggs. Judy is the only person I know who would stop and play a quick 5 minute "game" of football with her great nephew while holding a carton of eggs, and not bat an eyelash at it.

We had such an amazing visit and we miss everyone dearly. GR and I both were just a little taken a back when Rebecca, Emily and Sam were all in uncontrollable sobbing tears after all the final hugs and kisses were given and we had to wave goodbye to everyone.