Best Vacation Ever!

We had so much fun on our vacation to the midwest. First we stopped in Hannibal, Missouri where we went to the Mark Twain Museum and got a gorgious view of the Mississippi at Lover's Leap. Next, we went to Nauvoo with the Adams family where visited old houses, watched the pageant, played at the pre-pageant games, visited the Carthage Jail and saw more corn stalks than I thought it was possible to see in a lifetime. After that we went to Kansas City where we stayed with the Pecks and had a fabulous time. They are the best hosts ever. We went shopping, waterparking, picnicking, baseball game watching and just had a generally great time with the family we don't get to see nearly as often as we would like. Here are some pictures of the highlights. Here is picture of the Mississippi from Lover's Leap. We could see a river boat and the bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois. It was breathtaking.

Cousins making trouble at the Nauvoo Visitor's Center.

Here we are taking the buggy tour around Nauvoo.

Heidi and Amber eating cherries while learning about church history.The beautiful Nauvoo Temple.

Holli, Heather, Aaron & Chad bonding over FaceBook.

Picnic at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. Did I even spell that right?

Heidi, Amber & Fiona cruising around the town.

Aaron & Slugger get acquainted at the Royals Game.

Slugger & Chad with the two shirts that he won. The first he got because we were among the first 20,000 fans to arrive at the stadium. He caught the second from the t-shirt flingers between innings. He had to fight off several other angry fans to get it, but he says it was totally worth it.

Kauffman Stadium is amazing. It makes Isotopes Stadium look pretty puny. On the other hand, you have to get out binoculars from these seats if you want to get a good look at any of the players. Luckily, they were not playing the Red Sox so I didn't miss out on an up close view of my boyfriend, Jonathon Papelbon.

Here's our little mermaid Miranda at the Great Wolf Lodge Water Park. She has wanted to go ever since she saw an advertisement in Family Fun magazine.

Amber playing in the water fountains.

Abby, Isabelle, Grace & Bethany having an icecream cone after a hard evening of playing in the park.

Worn out! After two weeks of nonstop cousin fun, Bethany & Miranda were done for. This is how they looked in the car on the way home.

So You Think You Can Dance

We're back from vacation everyone. More on that later. But first, we just want to share a clip of this sure to be Emmy winning dance routine with all our friends and family. We were so inspired by Tyce D'Orio's SYTYCD breast cancer routine that we had to choreograph a routine of our own. Please enjoy the body odor dance.

Scout Camp

In case you're wondering why it's been so long since I posted on the old bloggity-blog, it's because the boys were gone at scout camp all last week and they took the camera with them. So, make sure to check out the posts below this one when you're done. :)
Here is Aaron, the adventurer, earning his repelling merit badge. Isn't he brave? Chad tried it and quickly decided it was not for him. Wherever could he have inherited that kind of squeamishness?

Chad and his first fish. He even gutted it, cleaned it and ate it. Ew!

Here are all the scouts on their canoeing trip. They had a great time but got sunburnt and extremely bug bit. Aw, the perils of outdoor living!

Here is Aaron baiting his hook. He didn't think the whole killing fish thing was all it was cracked up to be. (He has fish of his own at home and he wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up.) He did it, but says next time, he will just throw his fish back in the water.

Here are the scouts doing their morning flag ceremony. Scout camp is fun but exhausting!

Fourth of July

Here is a picture of Bethany getting ready to be dunked at the Vineyard Neighborhood annual Fourth of July party. This is a highlight of every Independence Day celebration. Shortly after, Aaron let loose his fireball pitch and Bethy went down.

Here is Miranda trying to decide if she's up to the challenge of the dunking booth. At first she was too scared, but she eventually toughed it up and let the boys dunk her. She said it was really scary, but totally worth it.

Here are Chad and the Cunningham family. Chad & Reed had a sleepover the night before and spent a fabulous day of togetherness afterward at the ward breakfast, the neighborhood party, the evening barbeque and the grand fireworks finale. Thanks for entertaining Chad, Reed. You are not only the rockingest short stop in the city, but you are just a lot of fun to have around.

Davy Crockett

The girls took a musical theatre class this summer taught by the fabulous Miss Sharee. They performed the musical "Davy Crockett". The production was wonderful. When I get a copy of the video recording, I'll post one of the songs.

Here is a picture of the whole cast. What a bunch of cute, talented and very brave kids. We were all thorougly entertained.