Birthday Number 31!

On June 13 I turned the big THIRTY-ONE...whoa!  The girls and I had a good morning playing around the house and running a couple of errands...then for lunch I got to eat with one of my very best friends...Kelly surprised me with an awesome bag of birthday gifts and lunch out at Tractors.  The coolest part was the Jared watched the kids for us so we could have some mommy time!

Thanks Jared and Kelly!

That night our family went to eat at Outback...I ran into one of my other besties parents who were celebrating their anniversary...so I had to snap a pic and send it to Emily!

We headed back to my mom's house for gifts and dessert.

The whole day was really special.  The older you get you realize it's not about a lot of gifts like you wanted when you were little, but just about feeling special.  The entire day my phone was buzzing with calls and texts and messages from family and lots of friends.  I went to bed that night just thinking how many wonderful people God has brought into our lives and how thankful I am for all of that.  Thanks to everyone for making it such a simple but special day!

New Cast and Soccer Camp

At the beginning of June Brynn had a doctor's appointment to check her wrist.  They decided it was healing well so they took off the longer arm cast and put on a new short arm cast.  She was really excited...she could finally bend her elbow!  HA!

Weird without a cast!

Tie-dye for the short arm cast...=)

Right after the EARLY appointment, it was time to head to the first day of soccer camp.  It was put on by the Jackson high-school soccer team and Brynn LOVED it.  Last year when she went to her first soccer camp she was so nervous and unsure about everything.  But this year was completely different...she ran right down and ROCKED it all week!

I got to hang out with my friends Lindsey and Staci and watch Emory play under the bleachers...HA!

These three had a great time together during soccer camp week...they all three had dance together too!

When I taught in Jackson I taught next to Jennie Pehle and I loved working with her.  We got really close and her oldest daughter is on the Jackson girls team...she was one of Brynn's teachers this week and was AWESOME with Brynn!  Thanks Grace!  I loved sending Jen pictures of them together!

Laura Ingalls Wilder House - Last stop of the Trip

Since the wedding was on a Friday evening, we packed up on Saturday morning and headed for home from all of our adventures.  But we had to make one stop first...the LAURA INGALLS WILDER HOME AND MUSEUM in Mansfield, MO.  

We have been reading the picture books and have the set of chapter books at our house.  Brynn and I read before nap and Ryan or I always read with her before bed, so about two or three months ago we decided to try the first Laura Ingalls Book.  She LOVED it.  We've really enjoyed reading a chapter at night with her!  Now she likes the TV show too, so we've been all about Laura Ingalls at our house.  When we realized that her home/tour was RIGHT on the way home from Springfield, we decided to give it a visit.  We spent the whole morning there and the girls (and Ryan and I!) were in heaven...it was so cool!

The front of Laura and Almanzo's farmhouse.  It was amazing how tiny all the little rooms were...they have a lot of different rooms, but they were all so small.  I feel like people were so little and petite back then or something...and in this house their bedroom had two little twin beds that they slept in!  Interesting...

A guide takes you on a tour of the farmhouse, and then you can walk through yourself in their "rock house"...which their daughter built for them (also on their 200 acre property).  It was much "bigger" and "fancier" than the farmhouse.  But after they lived in it for like 7 years, they spent the last few years of their life and moved back into their farmhouse because they liked it better!

The girls though the picture of their first car was so interesting!

We weren't allowed to take pictures in their farmhouse (and there was a guide watching) but I couldn't help sneak a few pics of the Rockhouse.

We came back to the museum (not allowed to take pictures) but it was SO neat...lots of their original stuff, etc. And then of course the girls were loving the museum store.  They wanted to get every book and every toy in the place...HA!

I'm really glad we got to spend the morning there...after lunch both girls fell asleep and slept the rest of the way home!  

We had an AWESOME trip to Chicago and Bolivar!  

Tori and Marshall's Wedding

We survived the rain and my cousin Tori and her man Marshall had a beautiful wedding outdoors at a BEAUTIFUL location!  Ty walking Grandma down the aisle...love the height differential here...=)

These girls loved playing around after the ceremony!

This is how Emory fell asleep on the way back to Morgan and Ty's...too funny!

Congrats Tori and Marshall...so so happy for you both!

Chicago to Bolivar

On Thursday, June 2 we got up, loaded up, and drove from Chicago to Bolivar, MO because my cousin Tori was getting married on Friday!  See you Chicago (and fun fact..see that "mansion" on the top of those four buildings...that's Elizabeth Taylor's mansion that she built on top of some big hotels!)

On the way to Bolivar we pulled off past St. Louis to see the house that Ryan's dad, Rick, grew up in.

We made it to Bolivar in time for the rehearsal dinner and then headed to get some custard at 3G's custard on the town square.

 We took a little driving tour of Bolivar (obviously we've been there many times before but Ty was showing Ryan some new stuff and some of the new medical offices, etc.)  Just seeing Ty make it into the back of the van was hilarious.

We stayed with Morgan and Ty and after we got Emory to bed, we stayed up later visiting and Brynn even helped Morgan make a breakfast casserole for the next day.

Chicago Vacation - Day 4

We woke up to a RAINY day on our last day.  We thought rain was probably in the forecast so we made sure to plan inside museums for the last day...and made sure to bring our umbrellas.  It was quite interesting getting to the subway stop in the RAIN!  

First stop - Shedd Aquarium

Our girls loved the penguin area!

Since we've been back we've seen Finding Dory, and it's so funny how many things at Shedd Aquarium were similar to the one on the movie.  The girls kept saying "remember when we saw that?"
Seeing the Beluga Whales..

Waiting for the Aquatics Show to start..

The weather was back to being beautiful when we got out and we grabbed some Chicago hot dogs from a vendor and sat right by the water to eat a little picnic lunch...SO FUN!

Then we hopped on a bus to the Museum of Science and Industry...didn't know how this one would be, but again...it didn't disappoint.  I bet we didn't even see 1/3 of the museum but they had lots of cool stuff for the girls and we were having a blast!  They had a huge room dedicated to this ginormous doll house...Brynn loved it!

Later in the afternoon Emory fell asleep in the stroller and we went into this "Kids Imagination Station" area...Brynn had so much fun working on different projects with Ryan.  It was so cool to watch them build things and solve the problems together.

One of my favorite things was touring a coal mine and learning all about coal mining...I don't think I took one picture but it was SO INTERESTING.  I can't even imagine what it would have been like to do that kind of work...WOW.

We ended the night (and the trip) with a visit to the American Girl store on Michigan Avenue..somebody had been patiently waiting ALL WEEK LONG to visit.

and one more stop for Chicago Deep Dish pizza...this time at Gino's, which was my favorite!

We also got another Sprinkles cupcake after dinner..HA!  It was so sad knowing it was our last day in the city...Brynn started singing this funny song about "Good bye Chicago" and Ryan was walking across the BUSY BUSY STREET videoing and it was hilarious.

If you are thinking about visiting you definitely should.  I can absolutely say it was an AWESOME week with our girls and one of the best trips we've ever taken!