Nauvoo Family Reunion

To get the full story of our Nauvoo trip you will have to read my Nauvoo book that I will make. Here are a few pictures. We left Arizona July 25th, arrived in Missouri at night on the 26th, in Illinois from 28th-31st, back to Missouri for a few days, headed back to Arizona on August 2nd.

 The first night we had a family party and got to hit a pinata.

 EARLY morning wagon ride

 Lily petting the horse. (Do you see her little pointing finger. That is all she needed to touch.)

 I could not have made it as a pioneer.

 Sweet treat from the Fudge Shop!

 Everyone that was at the reunion (with two more little ones expecting)

It was a great trip and I am glad we were able to all be together. Each day was packed with lots of things to do.

Happy 6th Birthday Katelyn

Katelyn celebrated her 6th birthday driving to Missouri. Each time we stopped she would open a present. Then on Sunday we made cupcakes for Katelyn (July 26th) and Emily's (July 24th) birthday.

Page, Arizona

We found out that grandma Tenney's cancer had come back, so mom wanted to take her to Page one more time so grandma could visit friends before she got too sick. Mom decided 4th of July (Friday) would be perfect, so grandma could also see the fireworks over the dam. Kristen and I planned to visit mom and grandma in Page for a week. I needed to be at church for primary, so we planned to leave right after church. We didn't expect to get a call from dad saying that grandma's health had declined repaidly.

It all happened quickly. She was fine during the trip to Page on Thursday. Tired and slow moving, but she could still use her walker. Had a little pain in the area where the cancer can back, but was doing okay. Loved the firework celebration Friday night. Then the next day she was in a lot of pain in lots of areas. It took uncle jim and dad to get her to sit up in bed or in her wheel chair. Then it went to not being able to get out of bed from the pain and very out of it. Dad just wanted us to be aware before we got there.

While visiting I wanted to get some pictures of the girls in places that I had great memories off.. the swings, the fruit trees, the cool couch, grandpa's recliner.

 Lily and monkey swinging!

 Sitting under the apple tree enjoying the nice weather.

 My cute girls

 Lily loved her oranges!

 Practicing her time in great grandpa's recliner.

 Cooper, Lily, and Katelyn

 Grandma Otto made us sundaes! Yum!! These holders are from when she use to work at Dairy Queen.

 Grandma looks pretty alert here, but really she was only wake for about 5 minutes before she started falling asleep in her chair.

 Love you grandma! Saying goodbye before heading home.

Lily wanted to say goodbye too!

THERE ARE MORE UPDATED PICTURES- HIT OLDER POSTS TO SEE THEM ALL

New Van July 3rd

We knew we would need a new van once the baby arrived. The decision was wait until closer to December or get it now and take it on our trip. My little car was slowly falling apart. The last problem was a gas smell coming from the car. If it was parked in the garage the whole garage smelled like gas.
We decided to get the van now and have our road trip be in our new van. I test drove the Toyota, Sienna and the Honda, Oydessy. I liked them both, but I liked the price of the Toyota, Sienna better and it had low miles. They didn't have any 2010, so we ended up getting a 2011.  I really liked our sales agent and he answered all our questions. After we signed all the papers and was driving off is when I started feeling the anxiety of the big purchase. We really needed to get a van, but realizing that we now had monthly car payments again made me a little stressed. My favorite features are: the reverse camera when I back up, the middle windows roll down, the all the windows in the back have sunscreens built in, and of course the keyless sliding doors!

July Moments

July flew by quickly...

 We went to a new splashpad to try it out. Katelyn had a blast. Lily didn't like it spraying in her face. e stayed a little while and then decided to going swimming over at Aunta's house instead.

 Free food! If we dressed like a cow we got free lunch. We love chick fil a and headed over there. I forgot to grab Katelyn's black shorts so she is half a matching co.

 We stayed in line for an hour for a free balloon animal. Katelyn was hoping for a dolphin, but the balloon maker said he didn't make them. He listed different choices, so she choose Hello Kitty and Lily of course wanted a monkey.

 Free slurpees on 7-11

 Kristen and I decided to see Saturday's Warrior together. It was a cute performance. The mom is in the show is in my ward, so it was fun seeing Kristin Mabb perform.

We went to the doctor on July 11th  for our level 2 ultrasound. I was convinced it was going to be a boy, but I was wrong. Looks like baby #3 is a GIRL. Katelyn really wanted a brother. When we got home she said, "Maybe next month we can go back and it will be a boy! I told her no it's going stay a girl." She will get use to the idea.The cord had the three vessels and everything looked good. We walked away feeling relieved. Lily wanted it to be a baby, so at least one of the girls got what they wanted.

Lily's first time at the dentist. She did great!!

June Memories

Between swimming lessons 4 mornings a week and seeing a movie on Fridays our June has passed by quickly.

 Kowalski really wanted to go to swimming lessons!

 Happy Father's Day!!

 Free ice cream cones at Burger King. Yummm!

 Building lego creations at grandma and grandpa Strong's house.

Swimming Lessons 2014

Monday we started our summer swimming lessons. This is Lily's first year to have lessons. She is in the Sea Sprite group! I knew Lily would cry the first day, because everything she does usually leads to crying if mom and dad aren't with her. The teachers were patient and one of the jr lifeguards stayed with her the whole time. Today she did a lot better and only cried for the first couple of minutes.
Katelyn is back in the Sea Horse group! She loves the water and does great jumping right in! I am hoping this is the summer she really masters her techniques and can swim long stretches.