Four Jingle Bells

This was the coolest structure at Niagra Falls and the kids just had to take a picture under it.  It was so beautiful! William wore his shoes so much that the bottom fell off! Brooke relaxing as we start out on our 50 hour journey out East.  Wish I could have been that cozy! Ohio is just beautiful.  Lots of farms and farmhouses like Iowa, but it was our first time in Ohio, so it was pretty exciting. We went to the John Johnson farm outside of Kirtland, Ohio where Joseph Smith stayed for a year.  He received the revelation for the Plan of Salvation.  He was also tarred and feathered here and their baby died because of the door being left open.  It was a neat spirit in there.  Through adversity, Joseph Smith always turned to Heavenly Father.  What an example. We came across a little shop and a train.  William was so thrilled because he loves trains so much.   Then we went to Niagra Falls!!  Woo hoo!!...

 I really loved this quote because it's so true. I hope I can make my prayers as sincere on good days as they are on hard days.  I love a purple sky!  Hailey was such a great helper.  She helped with flooring and painted with me like crazy!  Painting baseboards is not for the faint hearted.  We had a few late nights finishing some projects and still have more to go.  I tried to get home without using GPS and got lost. Luckily we found this great park.  It has a stagecoach and fort and they just love playing here.  Iowa is magical  We went to see Sandlot at the park.  It was our kids first time and it was such a great way to start the summer.  We went to an art festival and did some crafts, balloons and face painting.  It was a perfect day for it too.  Hailey even spent some of her money on some art in a kids only art tent.  Artists donate art and kids can choose anything they want ...

 Finally we completed this portion of the front room. No, the piano didn't stay there and now the wall looks different, but we did complete it within a month of moving in, so were pretty excited about that!  I love this boy and this reading nook.  This random photographer came up to us at the park and said he was taking pictures of red heads for a project.  After making sure he wasn't creepy (he wasn't), he got a few shots of us and I love them.  The only thing I am missing in this picture is Spencer who was off playing.   Hooray after the park we went and got hot dogs and ice cream at Dairy Queen with a gift certificate our realtor gave us.  It was nice to just have a fun summer day after working so much on the house! Notice Spencer in long pants and a jacket.  He loves warm clothes.  William fell asleep on me after we got back from ice cream.  We were reading a story with Brooke and he just fell asleep.  I ...