Summer, School, Family - Chapter 3 back to reality

Only a 'short' 20 hour drive from Southern Idaho to Central Iowa brought us from time with family and friends back to the reality of life. School started the day after we got back and work was busy as ever. But we did get the requisite first day of school pics of our spuds. You can tell the excitement the older they get!


With school starts new activities. We have a couple soccer players. One for the first season. She is pretty excited, and scored a couple goals in her first game. I think being with brothers has toughened her up for this scrappy sport!


Cole started playing the clarinet in band and is really doing well.


Kell and Abigail also started gymnastics and is something they really seem to enjoy.

We took a little road trip on a Saturday to see Nauvoo, Illinois. It is a special place in LDS history as it was a city built up on the banks of the Mississippi, and was once the largest city in Illinois. Unfortunately, persecution and mobs forced the saints out of the beautiful city. It is about 4 hours from our home, so an 'easy' day trip!
First we stopped in Carthage, Illinois, the place the prophet Joseph Smith and his
brother were martyred. It is a solemn place. Here we are in front of the jail they were held in.


We got to experience a 10 minute ox and wagon ride. What a ride it would have been to Utah on this!



We ended the day up by the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple, the most beautiful part of the daytrip.



With that I end the three part update of the Iowa Spuds. Maybe it won't be so long until I update again, but no promises.

Summer, School, Family - Chapter 2 the Idaho Story

The second week was spent in Idaho (mainly). It was timed for the Cassia County Fair and Rodeo, and although my cowboy dad was busy for most of it, we spent some great time with them. They spent time on the trampoline, in the trees, riding bikes, 4-wheelers, tractors, and spending time with family.





These pics turned out pretty good. I just couldn't get Campb in the tree with the kids to finish the foursome.

My kids got to be cowboys/girls and enjoy the best small town rodeo anywhere. We also spent some time with the most incredible mustachioed cowboy around.








These 4 are the greatest things in my life, aren't they great!

Summer, School, Family - Chapter 1 Utah

Well, again here comes the deluge of updates from the iowaspuds...
The big updates was our super trip out west. We went through South Dakota, saw the corn palace in Mitchell.


We didn't stop to see Wall Drug, but we didn't know when to turn off, they could have more signs along the way (note sarcasm)...

We spend a couple nights in Keystone, South Dakota, and saw Mount Rushmore and the beautiful Black Hills. The kids loved it, and it is definitely a place to see again.


From there we went to Idaho Falls to be sure my brother and his family were doing good, and the kids played hard with their IF cousins. We also stopped in American Falls to check on some friends we don't see nearly enough.

Then on to Utah! Sara and her family were kind enough to let us stay there and provide babysitting while Sherrie and I went to the temple.
While we were in Utah we went to two weddings and a sealing. What a great thing to be with family in the temple and see people make eternal promises to love and cherish one another. Congrats Tracey/Wade, Jeff/Allyson, and Kristie/Devin!

We took a sweet hike up to Timpanogos Caves. It was a tough hike, but we all made it. Kell hiked the whole way. Dad carried Campbell, and cousin Matt hefted Abigail the whole way on his back (oh to be 19 again). The boys loved the cave, and it is a neat stop.



We stopped by BYU and the kids got to see the ol alma mater. It was also Cole's Birthday, so we were able to spend that with cousins and family.


Our favorite Aunt Lisa stopped while we were at the temple one day, and the kids got to see her and enjoy being with her. She was also so nice as to let us stay at her house one night. She is the best. See if you can spot the antagonist in this photo...


This picture was from the last wedding, and is a little out of the timeline of events, but is part of the Utah fun. We went to Kristie's wedding in Bountiful. The kids loved it and it was so neat to be there with my little family and enjoy the beauty of the temple and those things most precious to me.