The Summary

I periodically compose blog posts in my mind and assume that I actually posted them online. 

Somehow it never ends up miraculously written with every detail remembered as I would wish. It has been such a whirlwind but we have been trying to fit in lots of fun things along with the crazy.

We have been to Sara's Diner at Presque Isle and have enjoyed delicious American fare 

and silly tourist photo opts, it is a great little place to go after a stop over at the lake!

We made it to the Crawford County Fair and had a wonderful time trying out all the yummy food while watching all of the interesting people; the animals were amazing too! We especially loved the horses,  Spencer thought it was wonderful watching them go around the arena. The poultry section was wonderful as well, there was a great moment when the turkeys flipped out and sent all of the birds into wild hysterics. I was lucky enough to catch it on video, though I missed the part where Zach jumped out of his skin.

The prize winning pheasant- Gorgeous!!!

Labor day weekend was fantastic, we celebrated my 38th birthday and Spencer's 2nd birthday! On Saturday we took a drive, went to see the land lighthouse then we kept on driving and ended up somewhere in New York. We drove through Welches' grape territory and since it was only a few days before harvest, you could smell the scent of grapes in the air. The weather was perfect for us and we nearly hyperventilated from over-sniffing, we embraced the aroma as we stopped for some ice cream and shakes. Obviously our lives revolve around food- I think we have all gained a bunch of weight, we have had such terrible eating habits over this last little while, we really look forward to being settled. One day it is going to happen! 

Land lighthouse with the Minions and Waldo!

After our drive we went to Waldemeer which is the amusement park at the entrance of Presque Isle. It is a fun little family friendly place and it worked out famously that Eli was just tall enough to go on all the big rides and Spencer was just tall enough to go on all of the little kid rides. 

It is a shame that we didn't get any pictures of Eli having the time of his life on the log ride, we went on that a million times mostly towards the end of the night, soaking wet and savoring every minute. Eli especially loved it because his dad was just as excited to go on it with him. (Joe doesn't delight in amusement park rides- poor lad, motion sickness isn't fun at a place like that- but log rides he can do!) 

I also wish I had a picture of Izzi when she threw up in the car as the the roller coaster ride came to the end. Bwahahaha!!! Honestly we all felt like that, she just followed through with the deed. We now know that we will never ride that one again, even if it does go over the road and has an amazing view of the lake from the very top. I took all of the big kids on that one while Joe took Spencer on the train- they definitely had the better ride! Glad Joe missed out on that one- he would have been doomed.

Spencer adored all the little rides, Eli tolerated them, but was a good sport to go with him!

Sweet Becky, who we are staying with got us an ice cream cake to celebrate our birthdays. This is the only picture we have of the moment, but Spencer enjoyed the blowing of the candles!

Last weekend (a week ago saturday) while Zachary went canoeing with the scouts at Presque Isle, we took the kids to the zoo since they were celebrating 50 years and admission was $.50, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to go. Spencer called the alpacas "bawk, bawks" which is funny since that is what he calls the seagulls. We love seeing the Amish people at these random locations, drinking their Cokes and Orange Crush. We also saw a whole bunch of them at the beach one day, which was a surprising sight, mostly because it was at a beach where there was a wedding taking place.

Other news here on the home front... Zach and Kaija have joined the marching band at Fairview High School. The band director is fantastic and wants anyone who would like to participate to be able to do so. Zach is still playing trumpet and Kaija is playing vibes and piano (and the symbols in the stands). They have made some good friends there which I am grateful for.

Isabella has signed up to do fencing, and hopefully they get enough students to make it happen. Her favorite teacher is the coach, so she is anxious to try it out.

Eli and I are already on the 2nd Harry Potter book since school started. We read for a while between dropping Bella off for school and when he has to go. It is our favorite part of the day!

We spend time at the beach periodically and have been checking out the different beaches- we like certain things about each of them, we like the lighthouse beach, but most recently we have spent some time at Beach 1 with the cool crooked dock and great skipping rocks.

Perhaps you guessed that not only do I like sail boats, but I enjoy light houses as well!

And the major news is that we finally signed on the house. I will post some pics on that later!

Our Daily Bread

So truth be told, I love bread in all it's forms and I crave it like crazy. Obviously I should eat less of it and be much more selective with what I do choose to eat.  I just read this article and thought it was interesting. Our Daily Bread - you don't have to look far to find someone with wheat allergies; I have many friends who are sensitive to wheat, and this article is certainly food for thought.  What do you think?
I have to admit, some nice orange (cinnamon) rolls sound pretty good right now and I could use a good bakery close by! We were so spoiled in Lawrence KS with Wheatfields bakery, now I think I would like to try making some sourdough bread- anyone made it before with great success?

We Are Alive

This is our favorite image from Joe's work- it is on a time saver sander.

I know it would seem that we have fallen off the face of the earth, but we really do still exist and we are tremendously happy to be all together again. It would be an understatement to say that things have been a little complicated over the last little while. But we are going along day by day and finding joy in the moment.

First day experiencing the beach while Zach and Kaija were at Youth Conference

The Brigg Niagra docked outside of the library

Presque Isle Beach 9

I love how Joseph and Zachary are doing the exact same thing- like father like son 

Kaija trying to keep Spencer from swimming off in the sunset- he loves WATER!

This kid was meant to live on the beach

Here are some things we have been noticing:

• finding just the right house in a little amount of time is much harder than we wanted it to be
• people don't want to rent with us because we have "too many children"- they haven't even met them, I am sure they would change their minds if they knew them
• well...they might not Spencer has taken to making some ridiculously loud noises during the last few weeks
• the right house for us right now is going to be a very tiny place
• the taxes and fees and all the other little expenditures are alarming here
• the clouds are amazing here all of the time
• there are always beautiful sunsets as well
• we love living so close to the beach/lake
• even an hour at the beach relieves many stresses and worries
• there are lots of crows and seagulls here
• i love seeing sailboats- something about it just makes me happy
• we really enjoy seeing all the different flora and fauna around us and I spotted a Ginko tree just down the street from where we are staying- talk about happy!
• we are having fun meeting new people
• we are missing all of our friends and family (though Skype is a great way to stay connected- perhaps Facetime in the near future as well)!
• the traffic on Peach Street is hideous- notoriously and accurately called Peach Jam
• the checkout lines anywhere take considerably longer to get through- I am not certain why this is the case, but we have made note at nearly every retail location we have been to, who knew!
• we love/hate living with friends- love getting to know people on a more intimate level/ hate being a burden on others and living out of a suitcase and our cars
• we like having a dollar movie theater here- wish we could choose what films played there though
• we feel sad to not have Costco closer
• we feel happy to have everything else closer
• people now believe that Joseph did indeed have a wife and 5 children
• our children love television- which is why we will never have it!!!!!! There has been a lot of time wasting going on, but I can't blame them.
• I can find my way around really well- thanks to 8 months of studying the area via google maps
• even though I have studied the area so well, I still get all turned around in the area near the house we are in the process of purchasing- it's very strange

KC Temple Events

The last several months have been an absolute whirlwind, we have had so many events piled on top of each other and I am still trying to catch my breath.  Besides all the projects and challenges with the house and plans for moving, we were involved with the wonderful events of the temple open house, the cultural event and the dedication of the Kansas City Temple. 

It has truly been a spiritually stimulating and awe inspiring time in our lives.

The kids had so many opportunities to go up to the temple with our youth group as well as with friends and of course our family. The girls were able to do a special tour of the brides room as well. I had the opportunity to spend a day as an usher at the temple, which was a wonderful experience. I couldn't help but smile the entire day, it is a serious workout for the cheeks, but the greatest part was seeing people who we know, many from Lawrence and even the Wright's from Provo. 

My heart has just been filled with so much gratitude for this rich blessing in our lives, especially since our children got to be so involved.

This was at the cultural celebration at the Municipal Auditorium on May 5th as the youth performed for the Prophet. Zach is in the upper left corner of this photo. 

I think this one was from the church news article.

The kids had a blast learning the German Polka. 

Here is Isabella front and center and Kaija is off to the right.

All three of the kids are in the left half of the picture, Kaija and Bella at the bottom left and Zach in the distance at the top center left. Many Where's Waldo experiences trying to find them in all the pics!

The Young Women all wore their skirts to church the week following the dedication. They all thought the skirts were terrible, but they looked great for the performance!

What an incredible time we have been experiencing and we have been building some wonderful memories that we can carry on to our next adventure.

Hamilton House

Eli had a Birthday (like 6 weeks ago)!

It is completely amazing what can happen in six weeks: 

 Eli had a birthday! He turned 7 on April 14th. We did everything pretty low key, I took him lunch at school, later on he wanted to go to Cave Hollow Park (like I did with Zach on his birthday). We Skyped with Joe and Eli enjoyed getting Legos from his dad and grandparents.

Here he is with his BFF Shade Stewart at lunch (Sam too)!

Having some special moments with his gifts- classic Eli!

Cave Hollow Park

The scary part of the day was that Zach got his drivers permit and drove around the parking lot many times whilst we ate pizza and wanted to throw up; that was a really good time! Eli was glad when we could go hike up the trail!

We love our young master Eli, he really enjoys life and loves when he gets to have a moment to snuggle and read a good book like The Hobbit and Harry Potter, which we have been trying to fit in amidst all the other goings on around here. Honestly it is hard to remember where each day has gone sometimes (or always) I wonder how I could be working so hard every day and still feel so far from reaching the goal! I look forward to the time when this challenge will be behind us. But everyday we are realizing our blessings and I am so thankful for wonderful kids, I want to celebrate their goodness each day- they are truly my treasures and have been wonderful to pick me back up when I start falling apart. Hopefully the glue will hold for a little while! This has been the time that I want to remember the most, but don't have the time to record the millions of things going on in our lives. I am determined to add more on the blog, but right now I am going to go spend some time with the kids at the temple grounds- I think a picnic is in order!

So excited for the Temple

Here are a couple of stories from the paper in Kansas City:

Kansas City Temple Open House

Kansas City Temple



http://kcldstemple.blogspot.com/
This blog has some wonderful pictures of the temple as it was being constructed.

This is such an exciting time- Eli was thrilled tonight when I told him that we get to go inside tomorrow as a family. He thought that it was just me and the older kids who would be able to go, but when he realized that he gets to go in, he wanted to read all the articles and see the pictures and watch all the videos that he could. He said "Whoa, I have never been inside of a temple before, this is so cool"- I love that my children want to be there! This will be a very memorable time for our family. We certainly wish Joseph could be here to experience all of it with us! I have to try and not think of that though, because it makes me sad, I truly want him right by my side for all of these remarkable moments.

We have been so fortunate during the last 13 years to have been able to attend the Winter Quarters Temple and Nauvoo Temple open house/dedications since living in the midwest, it really has been quite spectacular!

I get to spend all day Tuesday helping out at the temple; I am so delighted that I will be able to have that special time there to feel of the Spirit and enjoy the peace that is ever present and to welcome and direct all the guests that come to see what it is all about.

It really is a blessing that we get to be a part of this before we move far away and have to drive 3 1/2- 4 hours to get to the temple again. (We will be in the Palmyra Temple district, but Toronto Canada is almost the same distance!)
We are going to take full advantage of having it so close- only 1 1/2 hours. That will be the closest we have been since living in Utah and having many near by to choose from (with the exception of the 5 month stint where we were 6 blocks from the New York City temple). I think though, that the distance helps us to realize just how grateful we are to have a temple to attend. Sometimes that extra sacrifice helps us to relish the experience even more, or at least in a different way!

Tomorrow is Kaija's first practice for the Color Guard that will be performing for the cultural celebration, she is very excited that she gets to be a part of that particular group. They have to learn everything very quickly, but I have no doubt that it will be successful!
We are all looking forward to the performance to be held on May 5th. I will have to be better about updating the blog so I don't forget any of these wonderful moments!