More Summer Vacation

We left Minnesota on Tuesday and drove to Waterloo, Iowa that night.  We had some time in the pool and then the next morning got up early to head to Maquoketa to visit my grandmother and my aunt and uncle.  I love being in Maquoketa.  It's where my dad grew up and where we spent some time living when I was in elementary school.  It's a small, quaint town and I always have the greatest time visiting when we are there.  There is so much Edwards family history in Iowa that I just want to soak it all in!  Grams and Bonnie and I can chat and visit and laugh.  They love being around the great-grandkids and always have yummy food and special gifts for them when we come.  We visited about the family and genealogy and politics.  Uncle Steve loves politics so we always have interesting discussions with him.  It was just the best visit and I was so sad to leave.  Grams is 88 years old now and she is as cute and spry as ever.  Bonnie and Steve take good care of her but it was hard to say goodbye.

On Thursday morning we drove to North Platte, NE to stay for the night.  There wasn't much excitement happening in Nebraska but on Friday morning we drove to Salt Lake City to visit with my sister Tracie.  She bought a new home last fall and we had yet to see it.  There were a lot of things that we wanted to do while we were there.  We arrived on Friday evening and had a great dinner with her and visited until bedtime.  Unfortunately, about 1:30am Samantha started vomiting. :(  She was hit pretty hard with the flu which was NOT good timing for us.  Mark went out in the middle of the night to find some medicine and some Sprite to help with the tummy ache.  We were hoping it would be a quick bug but she was still sick all day Saturday.  That meant that our plans had to change a bit.  Instead of all of us going out site seeing together, it was just Tracie, Emma and I going to see a couple of things.  We went to the Church History Museum to see the new children's exhibit and then walked through the new City Creek Mall by Temple Square.  It was gorgeous and there was lots to see.  Emma really liked the fountains that were there.

We stopped at the Deseret Book store and did some shopping.  So many things we would like to buy!!!  We also made a stop at the Disney store and bought Sam a special present since she wasn't able to join us.  Aunt Tracie was a good sport.  That evening she stayed back with Sam at the house and Mark and I and the other girls drove through Millcreek Canyon and over to Wheeler Farm.  Once upon a time Mark spent some time working there so we always try to make a visit when we are there.

Sunday morning was Father's Day and it was time for us to head home!  Tracie made a nice breakfast for us and then we hit the road.  We drove to Meridian, Idaho and stopped to visit with Mark's aunt Kathleen and his cousin Tim at his home.  Tim and Carol made a delicious dinner for us and it was great to spend some time catching up with them.  Kathleen is also so happy to see us and she loves to spend time with the girls, even in her 80's.  We said goodbye and within a couple of hours we were HOME!  Hallelujah!  It was wonderful to walk through our front door and straight to my bed.  Oh how I missed it! :)  We survived 18 days, drove through ten states, and put nearly 5,000 miles on our van.  Thanks to all of our family who helped make our trip memorable - we love you all!

More Summer Vacation!

Well, we managed to make it to Sauk Rapids on Wednesday afternoon.  Our main reason for making the trek to Minnesota this year was to help Mark's mom get set up in her new apartment.  She moved to Sauk Rapids a week or so before we got there and there was LOTS of unpacking and sorting to do.  Mark's job was to clear the storage unit and help Maxine go through her things and make her new home a comfortable place to live.  We got straight to work as soon as we arrived on Wednesday and spent all day as well as Thursday working, along with Mark's sister, Karen.  Karen was such a sport and took Emma and Samantha with her most days so Mark and I could work at the apartment and get errands done.  However, on Friday, we took a day off and drove to Minneapolis to the Mall of America!  We had promised the girls that the next time we went to Minnesota we would take them to the American Girl store at the mall.  Emma and Samantha are American Girl enthusiasts and both have their own doll.  They were so thrilled to be there!  This is a picture of them standing outside the store getting ready to enter.  Such anticipation!

The store was huge! It was very crowded with little girls and their parents looking at the fun merchandise and displays.  One thing Emma said to me was, "It's like my dreams have come true!"  They were just so happy to be there and their smiles were huge!  It doesn't get better than that!

There was a bistro on the second floor that we made lunch reservations at.  It was adorable.  The girls could bring their dolls and have lunch with them while the dolls sat in little high chairs.  It was very pink and very girly and Mark felt a little bit out of his element.  But he was such a sport and made sure his girls had a great time.  Lunch was yummy and then there was more looking around to do.

They each were able to find something to buy so this is a picture of them after making their purchases.  Sam bought some accessories for her Molly doll and Emma bought a mini doll of Felicity to match her full sized doll.

Of course, since we were at the mall we decided to look around a bit after leaving the American Girl store.  The mall has an indoor amusement park so we let the girls pick a ride.  They decided on the carousel.

Clara and I watched while the girls rode their horses.

We came home on Friday evening and Karen made a delicious dinner for us while Uncle Dan made a fire in the backyard for s'mores.  The girls ate their s'mores and jumped on the trampoline and had a wonderful time.  We worked hard on Saturday at the apartment and Karen and I took the kids to a splash park in Sauk Rapids while Mark did some things for his mom.  The girls had a blast playing with Amber in the water.  On Sunday after church we drove to Browerville to Mark's other sister's home.  Teresa was a great host with her family and we had a nice dinner with them.  Then we drove to the cemetery to visit Bob's grave.  Mark was the only one who from our family who was able to attend the funeral so this was the first time the girls and I had been able to visit.  We took a nice picture with everyone and read a couple of cowboy poems that Bob would have really appreciated.

On Monday we did some more work and then took a break to take all the kids to the Bounce Depot.  The girls jumped their little hearts out and as you can see, got hot and sweaty!  They had a blast but we needed to cool off so we went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.

Before we knew it, it was Tuesday morning and time to say good-bye.  We spent a little time with Maxine and had a tearful farewell.  The girls love being with Gramma so we were sad to leave.  But we got a lot accomplished and it was wonderful to visit with family that we don't see very often.

Next we are heading to Iowa......

Summer Vacation 2012 continued.....

Well, we left Byron on Monday morning and headed to Gillette, Wyoming on the other side of the state.  Mark's sister Joan lives there with her family.  They have two daughters similar in age to Emma and Sam and they always have a great time playing with each other.  The girls played games and looked after their animals while the grown ups visited.  We had a lovely dinner with them and then it was time to head to our hotel for the night.  Unfortunately, I spaced getting any pictures with them which was really disappointing.  I wish I had some to show.  On Tuesday morning we headed to South Dakota.  We have great friends, the Siebert family, who live in Minnesota.  Mark and Tami have been friends since high school and we always try to meet up with them when we head to their neck of the woods.  This time around they were doing their own family vacation through South Dakota.  So we met up with each other in a very small town called New Underwood.  We went to a park and visited for a little while.  It was very hot and windy but it didn't stop Clara from enjoying a ride in the swing.

Here is Mark and the girls along with Tami, Dave, Hawkeye, and Orion.  We had a fun visit and it was great to catch up!

Then we got back on the road and headed to our destination of Sioux Falls.  We had never spent much time there but it really is a pretty city.  Our hotel was nice and of course we had to take advantage of the swimming pool.  This was Clara's first time in the pool and boy was she happy!  She jumped up and down in the water and would squeal with delight.

Of course Emma and Sam had a great time in the water, too.  They love to swim!!!

After a comfortable night's rest and a good breakfast, it was time to leave town but before we did we wanted to make a stop at the falls.  They were really very pretty and there was a nice park surrounding them.  We took lots of pictures and the girls enjoyed climbing on the rocks and doing some exploring.

We would definitely like to come back to Sioux Falls and spend more time. 

Shortly after we left Sioux Falls on Wednesday morning we entered Minnesota and one the first little towns we came to was Clara City.  Of course I had to stop and take a quick picture.  It was meant to be!

More pictures to come!

Summer Vacation 2012

On June 1st we started out for our summer trip to Minnesota to visit with Mark's family.  We made several stops along the way to see other family members and friends.  We took 120 pictures throughout our 18 days of traveling - I promise to only show a few of our best on this blog.  The first stop we made was in Byron, Wyoming to visit with my sister Shellie, and her family.  Shellie and Joshua welcomed their first child, Jackson, back in November so this was our first time meeting him and we were soooo excited!!!  Clara and Jackson are three months apart but they took to each other very quickly. 

We went to the park so Emma and Sam could stretch their legs and burn some energy.  The babies just sat on the blanket playing with each other and letting us take their picture over and over. :)

On Sunday Uncle Joshua was a great sport and played board games with the girls.  This was them playing Sorry.

Uncle Josh is a proud papa - I suppose it helps that Jackson is just a miniature version of his daddy.

We went up to the Big Horn scenic area to spend some time.  It was a beautiful evening and the views were gorgeous!

We loved our visit in Byron and were sad to leave but we had many more stops to make along the way on our trip.  Fifteen more days to go - To be continued.....

Last Day of School

On May 31st the girls celebrated their last day of school!  They got out a day earlier than everyone else because we were leaving for our summer vacation.  Emma's class invited parents to come and listen to the children read stories to everyone that they had written and illustrated all by themselves.  Mark and I and Clara were very happy to attend and Emma did a great job.  She wrote a story about the things our family did during our Spring Break.

After class was finished, we picked up all of Emma's things to take home for the summer.  She had created a couple of posters over the past school year that were very special to her.  You can see that she put hard work into creating them.

This was her "ME" poster that shows all of the things that help make Emma who she is.

Samantha and Emma had a fun school year and they are looking forward to moving ahead to second grade and fourth grade!  Summer Vacation here we come!!!!

So Long - Farewell!

Recently my brother-in-law, Silila, accepted a new job in Houston, Texas.  While we are thrilled for their family and the opportunities that they are having, some of us (mostly myself) are a bit weepy at the prospect of the family moving so far away.  Our own little family has pretty much lived close to Stephanie's family our entire marriage and I have held each one of her five kiddos on the day that they were born.  I can't imagine not being able to see them on a regular basis and watch my nieces and nephew grow up.  Some of us were able to get together this past weekend to have one last family shin dig before they take off from Oregon.  Pictured is our family, Stephanie's family, Jonathan's family, and Gramma and Grampa.

Ashynne and Myah are teenagers now.  While most teenagers don't care much for anybody but friends, these two girls are so great.  They love their parents, their aunts and uncles, and take care of all their younger cousins.  They are smart, funny, athletic, super friendly, and, of course, very beautiful. :)

Christian, Kennidy, and Camryn are adorable!  They are sweet and loving kids.  Emma and Sam will probably miss them the most since they are pretty much the same age and play so well together. 

 We had lots of tears and hugs and kisses when we said good-bye.  We love them all so much!

We wish them the best in Houston and we hope to see the Perez Family again very soon!

Present

There is a nice gentleman in our ward who Mark home teaches.  Jerry lives in a care facility and isn't able to get out or come to church very often because of health problems.  But Mark sees him every month and sometimes takes Emma and Samantha with him since he doesn't have a home teaching companion.  Jerry is also an artist and sells his artwork professionally.  He does all kinds of art - painting, drawing, oils, etc.  Yesterday he asked us to come to his apartment because he had a surprise for us.  Previously Mark had commented to Jerry about how much we loved a painting that he had done of the Teton Mountains.  So Jerry did a mountain painting for us that is just absolutely gorgeous!

We were so impressed and touched that Jerry thought enough of our family to give us such a special gift - especially when his art sells for several hundred dollars.  Apparently he has had it done for a couple of weeks and has shown it around the care facility.  As we were leaving, one of the workers saw us carrying out the painting and remarked, "Oh YOU are the ones who get the painting - we're all so jealous!"

We came home and promptly hung it up in our living room.  We love it!

Swinging!

We have an old swingset in our backyard that we've had for several years.  Emma and Samantha have pretty much grown out of it except when they are monkeys and climbing around on the bars.  The actual swings don't interest them much anymore.  But now that they have a baby sister, swinging is fun to do, especially if they can hold Clara.

Clara really enjoyed her first swinging experience!!!

These are just a couple of recent photos I took of Clara.  Last week she finally started sitting up on her own for more than just a few minutes.  She still falls over occasionally but only when she's reaching for one of her toys and she loses her balance.

Her jumper is more fun for her now.  She jumps and jumps when she is in it, but she bounces on just her left leg.  It's so funny to watch.  Maybe that means she will be a lefty, like her mommy! :)

Happy 7th Birthday Samantha!

On Tuesday we celebrated Samantha's 7th Birthday!  It's hard to believe that seven years have passed since this sweetheart joined our family but she is definitely worth celebrating.  She started off having a great day at school where she was given her birthday crown and brought treats for her class.  Then Mark took a couple hours off of work to come home early so we could have some time at the park playing softball which was lots of fun.

We came back home to have birthday dinner and open presents.  Her first present she was thrilled about because her sister gave her a pack of Lip Smackers lip gloss!  She LOVED it as you can tell!

I guess her biggest gift was her new American Girl doll.  We picked out the Molly doll because she has glasses just like Samantha.  Now she can bring her doll when we go visit the American Girl Store in Minneapolis in a few weeks.

As always she was spoiled rotten and had a super day!  We love you Samantha!

Family Traditions

Twice a week the school guidance counselor comes to Samantha's classroom to teach little lessons such as manners, kindness, differences between good behavior and bad behaviors.  Last week the kids were asked to draw a picture of a family tradition and this was what Samantha drew:

She drew that her tradition was family prayer, morning and night.  I was so proud of her when I saw her drawing and I'm sure that not many kids in her class would have drawn a picture like this.  As a parent you worry so much that the things you are trying to teach your children are not going to stick and that we're not doing a very good job.  But this picture made me feel like we must be doing something right and that makes me feel so good!  Plus, it's a little reminder that we need to keep up on our "family tradition."  Thank you Samantha!!!

Anyone For Lefse?

Recently our ward had a Family History activity.  Part of our assignment was to bring a dish that reflected our heritage, or where our ancestors came from.  Since I am mostly English and French we decided to try to find a recipe from Norway which is where Mark's lineage is from.  We decided on making Lefse Bread.

We found a recipe that looked simple enough and we gave it a try.  I made the dough up ahead of time and then we got to work.  Unfortunately, it took WAY longer than we thought it would.  I figured it would be a simple frying process but it actually took us nearly three hours!  We were pooped afterwards and we still needed to get to the ward social.

Although they were very delicious with the cinnamon sugar that we added, I don't think that I will be making these regularly because of the time factor involved.  However, it was a good experience to go outside our comfort zone and connect to our heritage a bit better.  And the ward activity was super fun so it was well worth the effort!

Emma's Accomplishments

As I've mentioned earlier, Emma joined the Union County Children's Choir this past January.  On Monday she was able to participate in an all day music festival here at the University.  Children's choirs from all over the region came.  They learned alot about music and got to know other students from other schools.  Then that night they had their final concert of the season.  She did wonderfully and their choir sounded so sweet.  It's been such a good experience for her!

Several weeks ago all of the third grade classes in the district went on a field trip for Stewards Day and learned about water conservation.  All of the students were asked to draw a picture of some kind depicting the importance of conserving our water.  Emma came home yesterday with a new yearly calendar.  Twelve pictures were chosen to be a part of the calendar and Emma's picture was one that was used!!!  Her picture is shown in the month of November.  She was given a new T-Shirt, a calendar, and a bunch of candy as a prize!

Good job Emma!  We are so proud of you and all of your talents!!!!!