Five Gifts from St. Louis

We had the wonderful opportunity to stay in St. Louis for two of the eight weeks David worked at SSM Physical Therapy. It truly was a great experience, for multiple reasons. First, We got to be a family every night! Second, His Aunt and Uncle we stayed with have a beautiful, organized, peaceful, spirit filled home, in a beautifully calm neighborhood. Third, they have two (well, four kids, but only two still at home) awesome kids we got to "help take care of" while their parents were out of town. We had the opportunity to pray with them in the morning before they faced the world and read and pray with them at night. They are responsible and were great examples to us. And we were able to see the examples of their parents faith and diligence in teaching the gospel shine through these two kids. Fourth, my kids had more toys than they knew what to do with! They had so much fun exploring the bins and bins of toys and puzzles and books. Fifth, we were able to see a little more of St. Louis. We decided it would be a wonderful place to live, but we wouldn't want to be "in" the city. We would want to be on the outskirts, like his aunt and uncle, but perhaps, out even a little more.

While we were there we took the kids to the St. Louis LDS Temple and had several great short discussions with them about the importance of the temple. We visited several parks as well. Here are some pictures from our time in St. Louis:

 Basketball with cousin JJ.

Playing with the bundance of toys!

Bedtime stories with Aunt Jana.

Playing at the park while the cousins are at mutual.

Fountain in front of the temple.

It is so beautiful there!

A Visit from Grandma Jo

Grandma Jo dropped everything and flew out to help our niece and nephew in Kansas City. That is a long story... I'll just say that they were both diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes a week a part from one another. Our niece is 6 and Nephew is 3... As you can imagine, their family needed some extra love and help at that time. Well, while Grandma Jo was out here in the Midwest helping them, she stopped by our place for a day. And we were so glad to have her. We sure love our Grandma Jo. The kids were so excited to see her.

Randomness

We have adjusted well enough to daddy being gone during the week. However, we anxiously await the end of his rotation in St. Louis. I have gotten in the habit of taking pictures of the kids and our various activities throughout the day so I can send several pictures to David throughout each day he is gone. Needless to say, this makes for a lot of pictures on my phone, and random ones at that. So I thought I would share some of the randomness with you all. Here it goes...

Mini-carousel at Walmart

Our neighbor friend was over and took this picture. 

Peter and his bike :)

Me

Hannah, reading a book after baths.

Preschool with Peter.

All three kids playing nice together!

Peter helping with the chores.

Hannah being too cute!

 Fun at the Park!

Hannah decided to cut six teeth at once!

Evelyn! Swimming at the Y.

We are ready for Fall!

I love the kids in beanies, but Hannah kept taking hers off...

And, I LOVE cozy sweaters!

The Calm Before the Storm

We had a nice two week vacation. David finished all of his Lectures and Labs! He will never have to take another course! He starts his first of four clinical rotations tomorrow. From now till next May he will be in the field learning on the job. It is an exciting chapter but also a little stressful. His rotations are in four different cities out here! Anyway... for the past two weeks we have enjoyed lots of time together, the calm before the storm. ;)

We took several trips to Springfield. We did some shopping and enjoyed the indoor play area at the mall for the kids. We checked out a new park in Springfield called Jordan Valley Park. It has a nice splash pad and water play area for the kids. It was a great way to keep cool on a hot day.

We spent some time at the park here in town. We accomplished some projects around the house. The kids played in our back yard/ dug in the dirt. We swam at our local YMCA...

We took a trip to Kansas City and attended a session at the temple. (Thanks to our amazing sister Kate for watching the kiddos and putting them down for that night!) We also got to spend a little time with our brother Robert and his lovely wife Paige and their kiddos. They were a little sick so we just had a quick picnic at the park. Another visit is in order!

Anyway, it was a marvelous calm. We thoroughly enjoyed it. But the storm has just settled in tonight. David left for his first rotation this afternoon :(... The next eight weeks will be the toughest... the following rotations should be a little easier. Life is an adventure!

Hannah Jo at 1 Year

Hannah had her doctor appointment for her 1 year check-up. She did awesome! Here are the stats:

Weight: 21 lbs. 3 oz. - in the 55th percentile (light weight)
Height: 30 in. - in the 80th percentile (tall)
Head: 18.5 in. - in the 95th percentile (big head!)

I took it upon myself to try to capture her at one year with my SLR camera (a Cannon Rebel, which I am still learning how to use). I actually got a few of her smiling! Here are some pictures: