Nauvoo and Miscellaneous

This post is late, but that seems to be my life these days. First I'll do some random pics of the kids, since those never quite make it on here.
Talmage eating his lunch through the weird ball thing.
A perspective on how small Sadie's glasses are.
They even look cute on her favorite little lamb.
An update on the glasses, she does great wearing them!! She takes them off when she is tired because she gets frustrated that she can't rub her eyes and when she gets bored of sitting in her carseat. Other than that she totally leaves them alone.


A couple of weeks ago we took Kendall's parents to Nauvoo. It was a very quick trip, so we didn't really see all of the sights, but Kendall and his parents did a temple session while the kids and I played at the Family Living Center. We then drove around and looked at the houses and buildings and found the plaque of one of Kendall's ancestors who built the first member home in Nauvoo.We spent the night at a hotel in Keokuk, and the kids LOVED that. We got to swim in the pool and Talmage's very favorite thing was riding the "excavator" up and down. We could never get him to say elevator. Sunday we went to church and then went to Carthage on our way home. I always love the spirit at Carthage jail and I think I always come away with something new when I go there. Here is the family in the room where Joseph Smith was killed.
Avri and Talmage with Grandma and Grandpa outside Carthage Jail.
Siblings taking their picture with siblings. This was the best I could get, they wouldn't hold still!
After the jail we found a little park there in Carthage to eat some lunch and it was a really fun little park. I even rode on this tire swing and now I want one of these swings in my back yard.

As a side note, we changed our minds yet again, and we ARE in Utah now. Surprise!! We have no idea how long we will be here, but hopefully we can see everyone while we are here. We left at 9:00 pm on Thursday and just drove straight through the night to Utah. It was LONG but the kids were total troopers and didn't complain once! And we didn't even have to turn on the DVD played until half way through Nebraska!

Retraction

Sounds like Grandpa is getting quite a bit better. The trip may be on hold after all. But stay tuned!

Last minute trip

Looks like we are on our way to Utah! Kendall's grandfather is not doing well and will not be around very much longer. We will most likely be having a funeral this weekend or the beginning of next week. So we are going to be leaving as soon as we can get all of our bags packed and ready to go and we will be driving to Utah. We don't know how long we are staying, or when we will be getting there, but here we come!

Job Search

I've had a lot of people ask me lately how Kendall's job search is going. So here is the update... pretty much nothing new. He found one job that looked promising and then they had a hiring freeze, who knows if it was temporary or permanent. He's taken resumes to all of the granite shops around here but hasn't heard anything yet. He's been picking up a few little odd jobs here and there and donating plasma twice a week to give us the extra cash to work on our home projects that we want to do. Other than that, nothing is new. We still have plenty of projects to work on around here, so we are grateful for the time. But I think Kendall is starting to feel a little more antsy about finding a job soon. We are thankful to you all for your concerns and prayers. We really need them lately and appreciate them all!

Ward Luau

This weekend we had our ward luau. It was a lot of fun for the ward and turned out very festive and the food was great! I didn't get any pictures once the activity started because I was in the kitchen solving the food crisis, but here are the decorations. The food tables had pineapples on them made from pinecones.These were the centerpieces for all of the tables.
Here are some shots of the walls and other decorations. Didn't they do a great job on no budget?
The Tiki Club was where we served Pina Coladas.
I was in charge of food and spent all week cooking rice and Kailua pork for the ward. It was a bit hectic, but turned out very tasty.
We had a hula hooping contest (won by one of the men in the ward!) and limbo. Our bishop's wife is very supportive and always participates. Way to go Charity! We also had the young men and the missionaries do the haka and a sister missionary who did a beautiful Polynesian dance.
I really enjoy my calling on the activities committee but I will sure enjoy them more once I'm not running all over the place getting things in order. Kendall's parents traveled the furthest to come to the activity, flying in from Europe and driving straight to the church. They were a bit tired, but it was a good reunion.

Reminiscent Thank You

It was one year ago today that we took our family of five and moved across the country. This past week I was thinking so much about all of our wonderful Utah friends and family and how without them, the move would have never happened. I wanted to put another thank you out there to everyone who helped, from babysitting to meals, to packing boxes and trucks. We received so much help and appreciated it more than you know! We are really enjoying Illinois. We miss you all terribly, but are glad for the internet and technology that helps us keep in touch with those we care about. Here's to a great year!

What happens after the goose egg?

Three days after the goose egg you get this! Pretty ugly, huh? And no chance of actually covering it up. Hopefully it heals quickly!