rendezvous in old nauvoo

in july we headed down to nauvoo, illinois for a bastian family reunion.  everyone was able to make it with the exception of michelle and her family, tyler and mike.  they were definitely missed!  but it was so fun to see everyone who was able to make it.  it had been a while since i had seen some of my family members.  we stayed in some great cabins that were clean and lots of room, so it was perfect for all of us. 
our first stop on our trip was to carthage, illinois.  this was a neat experience and i'm so glad we went.  although i'd love to go back again some day when tanner was a little older and didn't feel the need to run away.

that window up above is the window where joseph was shot.

cousin fun.  i still can't believe we can see every kids face in this picture.  when you get that many kids it isn't easy to take a big picture of them.

later that afternoon half of our group went to the temple while the rest of us stayed behind to babysit and let kiddos nap.  here's grandpa pushing the grandkids on the swing.

later that night we braved not the heat, but the extreme humidity to join in on the pre-pageant activities.  this was so fun for everyone.  there was a ton to do and although the volunteers were dressed head to toe in pioneer clothing, they were all in good spirits and were very helpful at each station.

and this is proof of how sticky it was outside.  katelyn's hair was sopping wet from top to bottom. gross, i know.  katelyn looks sad in this picture for some reason, but she had a great time.

fourth of july

i just love the fourth of july, and i especially love celebrating it here in wisconsin.  the whole day is jam-packed with fun activities.

we always start off the day with a parade, as most people do.  i love that this parade has a nice home town feeling to it.
i think tan the man was tired before the parade even started.  he was zonked by the end of the parade.

the little girlies at the parade.  they all sat together up front waiting for people to throw candy at them.  whatever their strategy, it worked.  they all went home with a bag full of candy.

this is the group we have watched the parade with every year (plus or minus some).  the schows and jacobsons have been so nice every year to save room on their front lawn so everyone can join them.  it is the perfect spot to watch the parade.

after the parade we hopped on over to the annual ward fourth of july party.  there was delicious food, swimming and good friends.  we stayed a while this year and completely wore out our children. 

of course there were also water activities, one of them being a huge water slide.  tyler pushed tanner down the slide as hard as he could.  although it's hard to tell in these pictures, tanner loved it.

after the party we headed home where both of our kids slept for three hours.  it was a nice break fora ll of us.   then of course we ended our day by going to fireworks with friends.

the men.  we're always making them pose for pictures.

the women.  we rarely get pictures together, so we finally made it happen.

it was such a great day!

the first saturday we were back our good friends, the odells, invited us to join them for a day at the beach. this sounded like the perfect break together as a family and with friends, so we jumped at the opportunity.

this is katelyn's little best friend, eliza.  i'm sure i'll say this a million more times, but i will miss seeing these two together after we go.

tanner was trying his darndest to fill that watering can from the sand. 

our little cheeser.   he is such a ham and has the best smiles for everyone.

katelyn decided to dig a little road in the sand.  i decided to take a picture of it.  after about five pictures she finally looked up and said, "mom, stop taking pictures."

after seeing eliza get buried in the sand, tanner wanted a turn too.  but, after getting buried he realized it wasn't as fun as it looked.  he was more nervous than happy.

but he was still willing to stop and give me a great smile.

and of course katelyn wanted a turn being buried as well.  i'm not sure what's so enticing about having sand down your bathing suit.

tanner kept wanting to go in the water with tyler, so tyler turned it into a game.  they would walk out a ways, wait for a big wave, then run back before it got them.

katelyn wanted a turn as well, but she didn't want to run in the cold, cold water.  so tyler improvised by carrying her out, dipping her in and running back quickly. 

glad we could get out to the beach.  it was a beautiful day!  i can't believe i didn't get any pictures of the odells.  i guess we'll have to go again.

strawberry picking fun

right after we returned from utah, my sister camille and her little boy benson came up for a quick visit. her husband was out of town on a cub scout camping trip, so we were lucky enough to get to visit with her. although i do think we might have bored her a bit. we were recovering from vacation, so my kids were tired and cranky.  but we did manage to get out and go strawberry picking so we could make some fresh strawberry jam.

the kids enjoyed picking strawberries in the beginning. they were quite helpful dropping them in the box.

until we discovered that it was okay to eat a few strawberries here and there.  i'm pretty sure tanner considered this his job and took it seriously. we finally had to move the box from him.

aren't they pretty?  they didn't look that way the next day.  they were shrunken and discolored the next day.  the strawberries had a really hard time this year with the crazy weather.

the kiddos finally started entertaining themselves.

i don't know what silly benson boy is doing.  i told him i wanted to take a picture and this is how he posed.

our kids ran a little too far away, so tyler had to chase after them and carry them back.  they don't look happy about it, but they were smiling and having a good time.

our families after picking. i think benson ate his fair share of strawberries too.