Surprise! Something recent! Have a bit of time while the 3 little ones nap and everyone else is off exploring Nauvoo, so I decided to get something productive done.
This summer we decided to make a different kind of homemade ice cream every Thursday. And it hasn’t always happened on Thursday, but we have done it! Yea us!! This weeks flavor was strawberry kiwi. And summer is not the time to buy kiwis….they were 70 cents a piece! The other fun thing about this icecream is that it has a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. I almost didn’t put it in, but then decided to go with the recipe and try it at least once. You couldn’t really taste it, but I think it did help offset the sweetness, and gave you a little heat after. Kind of fun, and I would totally do it again!
Lucky for us Dianna and Alan had arrived that afternoon to stay with us for a day or two on their way up to Idaho and they got to enjoy it with us. Their boys fit right in with mine and they all enjoyed a rambunctious wrestling fight with Mark and Spencer on the living room floor. We also read books, shot foam rockets, played with flutes, magic wands, legos and the pretend kitchen food.
That night we had dinner and FHE together and Amanda and her family also joined us. Spencer gave us a super lesson on prayer from The Friend and had each of us think of something we don’t normally say in our prayers that we could add and encouraged us to find a special friend in Jesus as we pray.
The next day they went to Thanksgiving Point and then in the afternoon we played Sardines in the basement. So fun! Emma woke up early and I tried to rock her back to sleep so I missed most of the game, but the kids had a great time and even all squeezed into a big cardboard box we have for one of the turns.
That evening Naithan and his family joined us at the Splash Pad for dinner. So fun to talk and play in the water!
We stayed up late playing Quixx and laughing after they little kids were in bed. So wish we could live closer! Wednesday we cleaned like mad and folded five loads of laundry; then packed for our trip to Missouri.
The kids were fabulous in the car! Emma got car sick about and hour out. Jessie decorated Big Bertha before we left and that gave people at the rest stops something fun to talk about. Colorado was so pretty and green.
We stopped in Kansas for the night and even though it was 10 o’clock we took the kids to the swimming pool for half and hour. Poor Emma by the time we were in bed at 11 she was plastered! She and I enjoyed “sleeping” in the over stuffed chair in our hotel room four times that night…not a very restful night to say the least.
We only had six hours left of driving on Friday and were happy to get to Heather’s house. Emma is in love with their cat Mr. Pibb, and poor Spencer is glad when we are out and about so his allergies aren’t driving him crazy. After we got to Heather’s we walked to the park near her house and got out some wiggles before a delicious dinner of mexican chicken on quinoa.
Saturday we played in her backyard on the swing sets, made acorn soup outside and played a few games inside.
After lunch we went back to the park with the rocket launchers and had a war…Spencer against everybody. (Mark and Conrad were off helping Grandpa put up a fence at his house.) Jessie played with Emma on the swings and drew pictures.
Mr. Pibb followed us to the park and helped entertain Emma. This girls also made Karina into a mermaid in the rocks under the jungle gym.
We had a BBQ for dinner and tried Raspberry ice cream this time. Lucky for us we made 5 quarts of ice cream and so everyone had ice cream until they popped!
A group that size is never very timely so we missed the patriotic concert before the fireworks, but we did franticly make it to the fireworks.
Emma actually fell asleep in the middle of them but woke up as we were picking up blankets afterwards.
Sunday we went to the inner city ward my parents were called to serve at. The song leader for sacrament meeting was so fun to watch. It felt like we were in a gospel choir and it was so fun! And everyone really sang….I think that super tiny branch sang louder than our home ward.
After Emma’s nap we went over to the Visitor Center, man has it changed since I was a kid!
Most of the exhibits are interactive or you move from room to room. We first did one on the Family Proclamation, then we sat and enjoyed the the statue of Christ. Emma did NOT want to be inside so she and Ken missed the inside of the visitor center and walked around outside and went over to see the flags at the Community of Christ temple.
We went downstairs for a little history tour about pioneers and settling Independence. Over 12,ooo saints came to Independence making up a third of the population…which explains why the natives got to restless. They had a cabin to go into and a room about William Phelps printing press.
At the back there is a simple play room, but the kids had a blast!
Good times!
