June, Part 1

We had an awesome visit from Grandma and Grandpa.  We did lots of fun things with them.

Played lots of cards.  (A favorite of all of us!)

 Went fishing:

 The geese (or ducks?  maybe they're ducks) came to visit us

 Such a good big brother.

 Pretty lake.

The geese/ducks went away when they learned we weren't going to feed them.

   

 I love these pics of Caleb helping Grandpa!

 Nathan cast right into a tree.  

  

 Love this picture of Grandpa and Lydia.

 Elizabeth got bored and played with a caterpillar.

 More pics of awesome big brother Michael helping the kids.

 Lydia caught a turtle!  I've never seen that before, but apparently that's not all that uncommon.  I thought it was pretty amazing.  Lydia is an awesome fisherman (er, fisher-woman).  She's so determined and patient.  She stood there all night and would NOT give up.

 Playing some more cards.

 We went to Independence to the church visitor's center.  And then we went to Clinton Soda Fountain.  The first time Gma and Gpa came to visit, we took them to the Soda Fountain and Grandma's drink had issues and spilled all over.  Two year old Lyddy thought that was the funniest thing ever and said, "Grandma's drink sploded all over."  The kids have fond memories of that so they wanted to go back.

 Elizabeth and Grandma went to lunch at Panera.  Anna and Lydia drove back to Utah with Grandma and Grandpa at the end of their visit.  So this is Elizabeth spending some one-on-one time with Grandma. 

 Elizabeth started gymnastics.  She has been begging me to take gymnastics for a year, so we finally agreed.  She's SO excited and is really quite good at it!

  I don't have many details of Anna and Lydia on their trip to Utah.  As I mentioned, they drove back with Grandma and Grandpa and then spent a week with Blake's family and a week with my family.  They had a blast (except for the fact that they both got strep and felt icky, which made them homesick.)  Thanks to both our families for making their trip so enjoyable.  I have a couple pics of them with their cousins.  I only have the pics that they texted to me.

 And last, the kids got out my old bouncy ball collection.  It all started with my friend Janelle, when we were in high school.  We went to Fred Meyer (yes, Fred Meyer) and bought a couple bouncy balls out of the little machine at the exit.  We decided that one of them looked like Earth and since we had multiple balls, we named them "Earths" and were so proud of our name.  I told my kids this story and they found it hilarious.  

So for my friend Janelle, this picture is for you.  Lots of Earths!  :)