Boys and Guns

My cute little brother Bryan took the boys shooting on Devon's first full day out here. Manly stuff! I'm sure the boys had a much better time shooting than hanging out at home with a bunch of girls.

Conner takes aim.

Brennan with a big gun. I have NO idea what kind.

Thanks Bry, you're a great uncle!!

Oklahoma!

My Niece and Nephew arrived from Oklahoma this evening. (Brennan and Devon are going to EFY together!) The kids were so excited to see them, they could hardly wait. They had both grown up so much I could hardly believe it. It was good to see them. We went out to the airport with my Sister, Joanna and her children, to pick them up. We made it there just minutes before they arrived. It was a sweet reunion. Afterward,

everyone came over to our house to have pizza and salad. Ya gotta love Little Caesar's $5 pizza!

Wow! Meagan has turned into such a beautiful young woman. She reminds me of my sister, Susie soooo much!

Of course Brennan couldn't stay out of trouble for too long. He was just itching for a water-fight.

We are thrilled that Devon and Meagan are here with us. It's going to be an awesome 3 weeks.

Elephant Rock

On the 3rd of July, we decided to hike up to Elephant Rock. Brennan had a sore neck from Hockey, so he decided to stay home and take it easy, but the rest of the family hiked up to the large rock known as "Elephant Rock." We had been hiking just under a mile when I took this picture. If you look above the pine tree to the right of Conner's head you can see a grey splotch that is Elephant Rock. I was so proud of my little troopers! They did great. Especially little Ashlyn! She hiked the whole way with a backpack on and was cheerful the whole time. (About 6 miles round trip) She even made up a little song on the way back down......

"We are Hiking" (echo) "We are hiking"
"Nothings gonna stop us!" (echo) "Nothings gonna stop us!"
"We're running and jogging." (echo) We're running and jogging."
"Walk!" (echo) "Walk!
(together) "Walk! Walk! Walk!"
I of course was the echo. After a while I suggested we stop singing. Ashlyn said, "But we've only done it like 40 times!"

This is Conner and McKinley on the tip of Elephant Rock. I hiked down to the edge of the rock, but assigned myself baby duty, and stayed on firmer ground, watching Brooklynn. Will and Ashlyn climbed out onto the rock too!

You can see the view of the valley behind McKinley, as she climbs out onto the rock.

My little Ashlyn loves to pose for a photo. This was as close to the rock as I got.

Yeah! We all made it. Next time we will remember to bring a binki for the sleepy baby on the hike back down.

20 Year Class Reunion

Will had his Twenty Year High School Reunion a few weeks ago. We were in charge of the decorations. It was lots of fun going through all of the memorabilia and talking to people as we collected all the old "fashionable" styles of the time. We made up four display tables with a lot of the sports and activities featured on them. You should have seen the men's running shorts for track...there is a reason why they are called SHORT!

Joy and Aryln totally helped. We couldn't have done it without them!

We had a BBQ the night before for families. It was a riot seeing every ones kids. Lots of people looked pretty old. It's so strange. I'm sure we haven't changed a bit!

4th Presbyterian Church of Chicago

Will and I ran into this church in Chicago. It is almost right across from the American Girl Doll Store. If I remember correctly, it was the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. It was breathtaking inside and out. I didn't know how they would feel about me taking pic's inside, so I didn't take any.

It was peaceful and majestic all at the same time.

If I wasn't a Mormon, I would so totally go to this church!!! (just kidding)

Genealogy Nerd

This was the view from our window when it was raining. It was crazy, you couldn't even see the top of the buildings! Some people go to Chicago to shop at all the amazing stores, and there are a lot of them. I on the other hand, am a bit of a nerd, and didn't step foot in a department store. Two of my days were spent primarily here, at the Newberry Library. Wow. It was amazing, and they were sooooooo

helpful. I spent a full day charting the street changes for Northwestern Chicago. I could have never done it without their help. And, what a beautiful building.

This is Graceland Cemetery.

And this is where my Great Great Grandfather's Sister, Harriet and her husband Dennis are buried. It was one of the highlights of my trip to come and visit their graves. Fanny H. Foster is also my Great Great Grandfather's sister. (Her husband is Arthur) My mom and I have spent so much time trying to track them down. They were born in England, immigrated in 1885. We still don't know where my G.G. Grandfather or Grandmother are buried, but this is a good start.

And now you know the truth about me. I am a genealogy nerd.

May craziness and suprise Genealogy trips.

For all 3 of you reading my blog, I apologize for taking so long. May is just insanely busy with the end of school "everything." Those of you with children in school know what I mean. I had a great surprise this month. Will had a business trip to Chicago, and I got to tag along. (Yeah skymiles.) This worked out perfectly, because I've been doing genealogy, and I have family that I can't find from Chicago. I only had 5 days notice to get everything ready for my mom to watch the kids (Thanks mom) and to get all of my research together. (I spent about 5 hours at the Family History Library looking up and copying city directories.) My favorite restaurant there was the Grand Lux Cafe. Yum! It was so good we went twice. This was the view from our hotel window. At least when it wasn't raining. Which it did a lot.
The Graceland Cemetery was located just a few blocks north of Wrigley Field. We didn't catch a game, but we were there when one was being played. It was cool to be there.