Worst. Blogger. Ever

It's been a while and we have no excuses. We will post more soon, we promise. :) Anyway, here are some highlights of the past few months until then.

*The four kids are growing like weeds. Sarah started 5th grade and Matthew started Kindergarten.
*Sarah played the violin during a special musical number at church and did great!!! She is preparing at school for middle school orchestra which will begin next year.
*Johnny still is not potty trained. He only goes when he wants a piece of candy. (So much for positive reinforcement). No clue on how long he will wear diapers solely to torment his parents.
*Hannah has broken so many pairs of glasses that our optometrist is working on building a monument in her honor. She has mastered her favorite phrases, "Help Me!" "Matthew!!" and "Up Please". Otherwise whe enjoys breathing and barking like a dog most of the time.
*Matthew's fall soccer league (AKA the Bad News Penguins).
*We made our first ever Thanksgiving dinner with guests who ate and everything!! There were no fires or instances of food poisoning. Yay!!!
*John has lost 25 pounds in spite of said Thanksgiving dinner.
*We bought our house and are really excited for our planned projects in the Spring.
*We'll be in Pennsylvania from Dec. 21 until January something if anyone wants to get together. That is, if any of our friends still live there.

Palmyra

We were blessed to be able to spend a few days in Palmyra NY last month and to attend the Hill Cummorah pageant. This was an incredible experience, I think it effected us all. We visited the Smith Farm, Sacred Grove, the printing press where the Book of Mormon was first printed, the Hill Cummorah and later we went to the Aaronic Priesthood restoration site in PA. Visiting these places has a way of reminding one of the value of the things he holds sacred, which I needed. Sarah was so escited to find out that she could be in the pageant some year. She is currently begging us to do this next year, but I think we'll have to wait until Hannah is older to volunteer our services. Being in the pageant involves 2.5 weeks of camping and a pretty rigorous schedule which doesn't lend itself well to small children. Hopefully someday we'll be able to do this for Sarah. Matthew says he'll do it if he gets to have a sword, that and he thinks I'd be good as King Noah. Wisenheimer he is! :)

Smith Farmhouse


Square Footage? We don't need no stinking sqare footage.



In the Sacred Grove, Matthew undertook to decide for himself where exactly the first vision occured. I tried to explain to him how forests change constantly, but he found a place and insisted upon it's validity.

Pizza@ Palmyra: The locals were unbelievably friendly and helpful, we were very impressed by them and their pizza.

At the Hill

Visitor's Center

Nautical Nonsense....

On our way to Palmyra for the pageant we made a detour to Niagara Falls. We had a great day enjoying the beauty of the falls and playing in town. The highlight was the Maid of the Mist tour which takes you under the falls, which is surreal. Our protective parental spidey senses were in full effect though, as the kids couldn't keep from trying to climb up on the guardrails. Pics Below:

Sugar Creek

We spent last weekend at Sugar Creek, which is in Ohio's Amish country. We met Kerri's parents there. It was a beautiful weekend and we all enjoyed being able to spend time together and even got chased by a mad cow :).

Johnny's First Campout.

Johnny went with us on May 4 for the Stake Father/ Son priesthood campout. I was worried about taking him at such a young age, but when Matthew and I were leaving he was devastated. It turned out to be a great night and I feel very blessed to have spent a great night with my two wonderful sons. The highlight for the boys was probab;y when I was asked to represent our branch as a judge in the desert contest,...meaning they got to eat all of the desert and tell me who to vote for.

Such fine young campers!

Spring Skip Day!

I'm a little late posting this, but pictures of our annual spring skip day follow. We all skipped school and work to hang out in the bustling Metropolis that is Toledo. We stayed at a hotel on Tuesday night where the kids got to swim. On Wednesday, we went to see the Mudhens beat the Yankees (boo!). After the game and lunch, we spent the remainder of the day at the zoo. We haven't spent much time in Toledo since we've been here. I always thought it was kind of a dump. However, there is alot to do and we had a great day!

Sweet seats. It was school appreciation day, so alot of kids were there on their field trips.



'Muddonna' The Mudhen

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Isn't she cute...

These statues surrounding the ball park are really nifty.

Our battery died shortly after we got to the zoo, so I didn't get any good aminal pics.

Quite a Lunch!!

SWING SET

It's finally put together!......Mostly.

Two neighbors started theirs after me and finished before me. Notice the WOODEN set in the background. He finished his in a day. As further evidence of my mechanical ineptitude, please notice that the sliding board is BACKWARDS. Whatever, it's safe and done..mostly. Johnny lost a screw that I need for the two seater swing. When I find that I'm done. The kids are happy with it.

Easter

We had a very nice Easter. Fast and Testimony meeting at church was awesome. We woke up early because I had meetings. The kids each got some treats with their baskets, and our family got a swing set for the back yard. The kids outfits are below:

10 Years!

We celebrated our Tenth Anniversary in March. 10 Years and 4 kids; Where has the time gone? I sure hope the next 10 aren't so fast! We went to PA for the weekend of our anniversary and actiually got a night alone. Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting. The following week we spent Saturday at the Detroit Temple thanks to some good friends. It was a great anniversary and we're looking forward to many more!

Hello

Haven't posted in a while. Is anybody out there??

Soccer Star

He looks so tiny among some of the others. Tonight was Matt's second soccer game at the community center. The score was 0-0 in this one. On Tuesday, he scored the game winner. I don't understand this sport at all, but it's good to see him having so much fun. Baseball season is right around the corner.

Hannah