A day in Nauvoo!

I was SO excited when we got invited to spend the day in historic Nauvoo, Illinois. My Aunt Diane went on vacation there with her son, Brig, and his sweet wife, Kim, and their awesome kids, Zack, Maddi, Natalie & Ben. We were thrilled that they asked us to come along! The kids and I left early in the morning and picked up Amanda, Ri & D and headed out for Nauvoo! It had been a long time since I had seen Diane and WAAAAY longer since I had seen Brig & his family. When we were kids it seemed like all of the cousins saw each other at least once a year - life happens though. It was awesome to catch up and goof off, not to mention all of the amazing sites we saw in Nauvoo. We went to a lot of the little shops, like the bakery, blacksmith & gunsmith. We made rope, learned how they baked bread, made pottery and barrels. McKenzie's favorite parts of the day were making rope and playing with her new best friend, Natalie : ) Braxton's favorite was the blacksmith because he got to take home the little horseshoe we watched the guide make. He tells EVERYONE about it and shows them his prize horseshoe. He was also in awe at all the "SWEET GUNS!" at the gunsmith (see picture below for his "in awe" face haha) Bailey's favorite part was hanging out with "Aunt Dianey". She didn't want me... she only wanted to sit on Diane's lap or hold her hand while we were walking. It was so cute! Melted my mommy heart! She just loved her Great Aunt! She really is a great aunt!!!

The spirit is so strong in Nauvoo. Even the kids could feel it! We watched a movie at the Visitor's Center and Kenz said, "Mom I felt the Holy Ghost in the movie!" We had a super fun picnic after site seeing and then we went to the Nauvoo Pageant! The girls and I loved it... Braxton, not so much. Ten minutes in he "whispered", in the loudest quiet voice possible, "MOM, IS IT ALMOST OVER?" Pageants are NOT his thing we discovered. Every 5 minutes or so he would moan... "uuuuuuuugh I am SOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOORED!" and then he rolled his eyes at me tearing up at the beautiful music. He was a trooper though. All good things must come to an end, unfortunately. We had a long, late drive home... totally worth it! Saying goodbye to everyone was no fun, especially since we have no idea when we will get to see the Asays again : ( Hopefully sooner than later!

Thank you so much Diane, Brig & Kim for sharing your vacation with us! We will always remember our incredible day in Nauvoo!

The 4th with Grandma & Papa BOWMAN!!!

We have been anticipating this holiday all summer but when we found out Grandma & Papa Bowman were coming... WE COULD HARDLY CONTAIN OURSELVES!!! We had such an awesome week with them! Grandma & Papa spoiled us rotten , as always! We saw Despicable Me 2 (LOVED IT), went geocaching (Rich got a tick - ew), went walking and exploring, had a picnic in Forest Park, saw fireworks and, of course, ate ourselves stupid! The highlight for the kids of course was... the "f" word... FIREWORKS! They were driving us NUTS all week (just like Rich, Stef & Andy used to back in the day) asking when we were going to get fireworks. We finally created a rule... if you say the "f" word YOU WONT GET ANY! Finally the day came to drive across the river and buy some "f" words! Papa gave each of the kids a crisp $5 bill to spend on their very own fireworks. Braxton said "welllll I think I will save my money for something else and I can watch everyone else's fireworks." Smart little stinker! A finance man already. We came home with MORE than enough fireworks. I think we even have a bag leftover for New Years Eve! : D We had a blast shooting them off (while we looked over our shoulders for cops hahaha.) All laughs aside, I am very grateful on this special day for those who have gone before us to ensure our freedom. I am proud to be an American!

Cooking with grandma and getting their legs tied together and told to run by Grandpa LOL

Another big event was the debut of toothless McKenzie! She was so excited to lose her top front teeth. Here is her 24 hour evolution (with thanks to Grandpa B for ripping the 2nd one out of her skull haha). The tooth fairy was a BUSY lady at our house : )

Our picnic in the park!

Braxton is TICKED after hunting for a geocache at the park for a good thirty minutes in the very hot sun. He was hard core though and wouldn't let us give up! We finally fonud it! His face is priceless though!

 It was stinking hot... solution? TED DREWES!!!

It was a wonderful week that ended in buckets of tears from everyone. It is so hard being so far away but we are so very grateful that they got to come and visit. THANK YOU TWO!!! WE LOVE YOU!!! COME BACK SOON!!!

Big Haircut!

It took a couple weeks but we finally convinced Braxton to let dad give him a summer shave haircut! He was worried..."Mom no one will know it's me if I have no hair!" It was time... WAY past time actually... he had a pretty sweet poofy do... We have done a daddy haircut in the past a few years ago. All I remember is a barrage of snot, tears, hair, yelling and crying. We have paid someone else to cut his hair since then LOL! Now he is a tough, less wussy kid, so he was excited. He LOVES his new haircut and he LOVES that his dad got this same haircut from HIS dad and he got this same haircut from HIS dad every summer! (Genealogy lesson!) Later that night kenz asked him, "Braxton, will you cut your son's hair someday?" He replied excitedly, "HECK YES! Just like my dad did and his dad did and his dad did!"

The before, the during, the mohawk, the shocked giggly face, and the after : )

Singing & Swinging!

My sister, Amanda, sang in a church talent show and since my mom and I were both going to be there they let us sing the National Anthem to open up the show. We haven't sung together in far too long. It brought back a wave of memories. It was awesome! Amanda sang "The House that Built me" by Miranda Lambert. My little brother, Matthew, accompanied her on guitar! They did so good! I loved it! It was a fun night hanging out with family! My favorite parts were singing with my mom and sister and watching Dylan copy McKenzie's cartwheels in the grass. HILARIOUS! MY girls favorite part... dancing with grandma at 10 pm in the dark parking lot with headlights as their spotlights! Divas!

This video is bad but the sound is decent. I love the random kids screaming and growling haha. We have certainly done better in our heyday but all in all, not bad for 3 chicks getting together an hour before to sing for the first time in years!

And Dylan, The Gymnast!...

A few days later the crew came down to St. Louis. My dad and mom and Matt took the kids over to the ball field and worked on hitting the night before their ballgame. Then Amanda & Chris and the kids came down for the big game! The kids were SO excited to have such a big cheering section! Thank you for coming guys!

Me and my Bailey Bug!

The older kiddos had summer school for three weeks in June. This meant that for the first time EVER I got a whole bunch of one on one time with my baby girl! I decided to make it count so we had a super fun three weeks! Bailey is known for making up "stories" (the other kids call it lying lol). For example, Rich comes home and says "Bailey, what did you to today?" and Bailey says "Ummmmm we went to a birfday party and had lunch at old mcdonalds and went to the buffly (butterfly) house aaaaaand...". She could go on and on. What did we really do that day? Laundry! So when we picked the kids up from school and Bailey told them all about going to the Zoo, or going out for breakfast or going to the movies they just rolled their eyes and chalked it up to another Bailey Lie-fest! Worked out rather nicely if you ask me because I did not lie to them about what we did that day and I didn't get peppered with whiny screams of "NO FAAAAIIIIIIIR!!!"  Here are some of our adventures... just me and my Bailey Bug!

The first morning of summer school Bailey FLIPPED OUT when BOTH kids got on the bus. She was used to Kenzie being gone but not Braxton. She was scream crying "I NEED MY BRACKYYYYYYYY!!!!" Good thing I know how to calm her down... DONUTS & CHOCOLATE MILK! Great parenting huh?!?! We tried out a new donut shop down the street from the kids' school. Apple fritters bigger than Bailey's head? YES PLEASE!

The ZOOOOOO!!!
We met some friends bright and early at the St. Louis Zoo. This is one of Bailey's very favorite places in the WORLD! She was so excited (at 8 am mind you) that she wouldn't even get in the stroller. She wanted to walk from the van WITH her heavy backpack full of lunch and ice water. Her favorite animals of the day were the seals in the viewing tunnel and the "BABY OFENT!" (Baby Elephant) The brand new baby elephant was so cute and little! She is hard to see in the pic... she was hiding behind the other young elephant. After the elephants we literally RAN to the van (NOT a short jog by any means) to make sure we weren't late picking the kids up from summer school. Going to the zoo just with her was a completely different experience than I am used to. I am REALLY looking forward to more Bailey/Mommy time when real school starts in August!

A couple more zoo pics... of ALL the things to see and do at the zoo her very favorite was playing with the play food... SERIOUSLY?

We had so much fun and Bailey loved being a part-time only-child : ) Some of the other things we did... we went for a walk around the St. Louis Temple (Bailey loved the fountain and kept humming "I Love To See the temple"), we went to the playground with her BFF Aubrey, we went to storytime at the library and made lady bugs, we went to a movie, we went for a 5k walk around the lake with our friends then had a picnic lunch at the playground afterwards.... we were busy little bees! I loved every minute of my Bailey Bug Time!!!

Happy Birthday Ri & D!

We got to go to Quincy to celebrate Rilea & Dylan's Birthdays!!! Amanda went all out and the kids had a fabulous party! Great food, friends, family & swimming! It was a super fun day! I love these two munchkins SO MUCH and I am very grateful to live close enough to be able to come to family events like this!

Baseball, Bathing Suits & Baby Deer!

Summer is finally here! It is hot and humid and time for some baseball and bathing suits!

We signed McKenzie and B up on the same coach pitch team. It is their first time playing a team sport so, being their father's children, baseball was the best choice : ) Kids baseball is just a giant train wreck until they all figure out what is going on... I think it is hilarious... Rich thinks its frustrating and hilarious haha. It is like they step onto the field and forget EVERYTHING they have learned playing backyard family ball for years. kids... They have a couple games under their belts now. They both got SO much better from game 1 to game 2. It's fun seeing them grow and learn the sport and be proud of themselves. They both earned candy bars in game 2 by having solid hits off the coach and not having to hit off the T.

Aaaaaaaaand as promised... BASEBALL VIDEO CLIPS!!!

We finally broke out the kiddos swimming suits last week, too. One of our favorite summer spots is Millennium Park's splash pad. The kids had a blast!!! Last year Bailey HATED any kind of sprinklers... this year she was LIVID when it was time to leave after 3 hours!

We have some new additions to our neighborhood... baby deer twins! We have seen them a couple times walking around the neighborhood but the kids were SO excited to see them in our BACKYARD! They are so stinking cute! Bailey is not a huge fan... she said "NO MOM! THEY ARE GONNA BITE MY KNEES!" Yaaaaa she is super weird!
































Bring on more summer fun!!!