Off to Illinois!

We took our big trip to visit U. Hans & A. Susie in May/June, departing Friday @ 9AM to drive to Spokane. We flew to Denver, had a couple hr layover, landed in MN about 10PM, had a quick sleep, and drove all day (10hrs) Saturday to finally arrive, refreshed and energized(or not)! :)  The trip went extraordinarily well actually, and we had such a lot of fun enjoying farm life in Illinois, for the next week or so. :)

 The kids got lots of stories read to them every day/night!

They had a big combine ride...

 and some Gator cruisin' time.

We also saw a few turtles meander through.

 We inspected this big old snapping turtle from every angle, since we have never seen one this big and old. :)

 It looked like  some kind of dragon when it raised itself up and crawled away, which I only have in a video.

We admired its long claws.

Then we poked and prodded it with a stick, until it snapped at us and made us all jump. :D Then we had to make it snap a few more times, just because it was so much fun. :)

 The girls debating if they should follow after their brother or not.

 He was wandering about, exploring the landscape.

 They joined, and toured the property.

 Then rested in the shade and checked on Mr. Turtle's well being.

He was looking like he could use some water.

 Going  down the driveway to check on Daddy's mowing progress.

 They spent a bit of time doing jungle crafts, and coloring and such.

 Spent more time on tractors in the field, of course.

 Watching the tractor make another round, and another round, and another round. :)

 Until the rocks became more interesting...

 Filling her sandals with them...

 And making her own dust cloud, just like the tractor's. :D

There was Picnic time!

 Swim time, almost every day!

 And we can't forget strawberry pickin' time!  Which also meant strawberry pie time, and fresh strawberry jam on bread or rolls just out of the oven time.  Oh so yummy!

Thanks for such a fabulous time U. Hans and A. Susie.  We hope we can do it again next year. :) (And we hope that you hope so too.:D)

On our way back home we spent a little time in MN with some more relatives! I took no pics but these 2, as my memory card was full at that point.  Instead we are counting on collecting some pics from Uncle R, one of these days, to remember our fun evening walks, the trip to the park and the zoo, and all the time the kids spent fighting er playing together, or whatever they did while  their 2 preggo mothers took naps and were generally spoiled by Aunt D. :)

 They can look like angels one second , and wild little hooligans the next. It just comes naturally. :)

It was a fabulous trip, but good to be home again, even if we did get home at 2:00AM and already had one sick kiddo.  :) It worked out great to have a late flight in that all 3 kids slept on the last leg of the journey...but how do 2 parents get 3 exhausted, sleeping, kids out of an airplane once you land. Well, it goes something like this... You wait until every one is off the plane, then when the flight attendant asks if they can help you, you have them stay with the semi-conscious child who is supposed to be waking up, while you carry the toddler out to the stroller waiting at the end of the ramp, which you somehow set up while holding a sleeping kid. Then you go back for the last child while Dad attends to the stroller and the other sleeping kid.  The oldest 2 actually staggered groggily through the airport with their rag quilts from Naomi tied around their shoulders like capes, once they woke up enough to stand without collapsing.  We went out and picked 35lbs of strawberries the next day, since I figured I'd be stuck at home with sick kids for the next week anyway.  It gave me something to do in all my spare time. Haha.   The trip took us a couple weeks to recover from, and by then all our sickness had come and gone and we had more company. :D

It's Weddin' Time Again!

  We headed out of ML on Sunday afternoon and spent the whole week before the wedding in the Portland/Vancouver area since Mr. Wise Guy was doing some training in Woodland Mon.-Thurs. That week was a crazy blur of good times, frantic times, and family time. We were all sensing that our brains were half fried by Thursday but it ended up that all 5 of us kids were at Mom and Dads for the evening for one reason or another. TOGETHER. Twas good times indeed! I DID mess up the brownie recipe I was making for the rehearsal dinner so we all got brownies unexpectedly and I DID put the ice-cream away in the fridge.  The ring bearers vest came out with NO back (after having been assured that it DID have one) and the bride spent the evening sewing a make-shift one. The mother of the bride was still getting the finishing touches done on her dress and certain family members still hadn't had a moment when one or the other of them wasn't with the bride so they could go over "The Song" together. Needless to say I got home much later than I had originally intended. It brought back alot of memories driving back and forth from Vancouver to Oregon at all hours of the day or night. :)  If it hadn't been for a certain wonderful Aunt in Vancouver I would never have been able to help the feeble amount that I did. I practically became a foreigner to my kiddos and they didn't even care they were having so much fun! Many, many thanks!  This day was as wonderful as we all hoped it would be! (Possibly with the exception of Grandpa D's mishap) Dad was amazing in spite of the fact that I'm sure he was in some serious pain from a little incident on the stairs while trying on his tux and shoes. It makes me shudder just to think of it. I always knew he was tough...but I was impressed that he could still walk and act normal!
Note: It is never a good idea to suddenly slam your full body weight against the lower end of your spine onto the ridge of uncarpeted wooden stairs.)

 So now, without further ado let us get on with the wedding!

Seeing  her in the dress for the first time!

Mr. Wise Guy never ceases to amaze me with his capabilities! :D  He handled the kids alone most of the day  and still got pictures and a video! And let me tell ya, Miss Aubrey is a handful and a half, and most days you'd think Elliott was deaf by the speed of his response to comands. (That kid is truly in his own little world 90% of the time.) Anyhoo, most of these pics are courtesy of my Man and my Mother. (yes, I mooched some off mom since we had a noticeable gap in the events of the day.)

Notice the smudges on the camera lense after being well handled by baby hands...hey, sometimes you just gotta go with whatever keeps them from hollerin.

Thank you Honey, for capturing this while I was captive in the backroom getting ready. I love it!

The arch in the background was an amazing piece of artwork by Grandpa D. made out of pieces of a Birch tree he cut over. Twas very intriguing watching him create it.

We actually did a photo shoot on Monday before the wedding with all of the nieces and nephews and sisters! Twas a lot of fun and I'm so glad it worked out! Thanks mom for putting up with all the extra hassel. And thanks Sistas for the extra effort. :)

 Aunt Susie and her Boys!
(Yes, my boy loves his pockets!)

Back to the actual wedding day... These ladies did a fabulous job on their singing!

I realize that only half of them are visible (sorry Bethany and Holly) but it was all I had. :)

The man of the Day.

He was pleased to be able to carry the actual rings on the pillow.

 Here comes the BRIDE!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day and the sunshine was streaming down on them through the windows by the time they were announced MR. & MRS!

Sjo did all the verse lettering  and A. Mary Jean did all the extended decorating.  It all turned out amazing!

Of course they were too sweet to do the stuff N smear to each other ! :D 

 A few extra random shots of little hooligans roaring around...

 And thats it folks!  We drug ourselves out of bed the next morning, groaning over the time change. Then came screaming home on Sun. afternoon to make it in in time for gospel mtg. followed by some  visitin with relatives before they headed on home to Aberdeen. I was happy I had stayed up most of the night before we left (the previous week) cleaning house...even if I was so tired I walked into the bedroom doorframe on my way to bed. :D Mr. Wise Guy's only comment when I told him later was "oh, is that what woke me up!" Bahahaha.
I spent the following week focusing on getting my kids and my class ready for our Sunday School Treat, which was alot of fun...even tho Mr. Wise Guy ended up stuck home with 2 of our kids sick and half of the class was missing to perform. We had to improvise a little to fill in the missing days of creation. And Naomi, if you're reading this thanks a million for finding that creation song you sent out back when you were the teacher of our tiny class. :)  It made my job a whole lot easier this year. :) Also, thanks for your patience with your silent student.;)  As the teacher myself now, I do appreciate the kids with voices. :D

 The End
P.S.  I actually have another post I am working on so maybe i'll post again before the year is over! :D