Iowa, the rest of the story

Our last month and a half was spent spending time with friends, and together as a family.I taught way too many classes this summer. The kids got in 1 week of swim lessons, Jed got a second week thanks to a great friend. Chris studied for the bar and took it. It was so nice to have him back for a week or 2.
Here are a ton of photos from the end of our time.

Henry playing in our neighbors slip and slide

Annmarie on a shopping trip with the Allison girls and the Scott girls. She loved it.

Henry's favorite place to hide.

Will playing with straws, don't ask he plays for hours.

The one bight moment from my solo trip to DC

Hanging out with my good friends at a Shakespeare play.

Henry is related to his mother. Loves the Oreo. 

They loved playing in the hose. 

Drinking from the hose.

They love to play with Henry

Jed in true Jed form after getting his hair cut. 

The weekend before the Bar we went to Navuoo and Carthage before the move.

Annmarie and Jed in Carthage

Mostly family photo

Henry was happy, and is related to Grandma Sherwood

playing the stick games in Navuoo

One of my favorite photos ever!!

what happens at our home on Sunday mornings.

Our traditional end of year/test chalk writings for Chris

Family night out in Waukee. I love this town!!

Henry reading

on our way for family photos.

Annmarie and BreeAnn trying to get un-duct taped. 

our last day in Iowa. Spent swimming and playing at the Allison's. 

We cannot express thanks enough to those who helped us prepare to move, by watching our kids, helping pack, clean, dinners etc. we are eternally thankful! The car ride out was filled with tears by all in my car (except Henry) for a good 20 plus min. We loved our 3 years in Iowa and hope we are headed back that way.

a quick one

The 4th was fun, we did regular 4th stuff :) swam, BBQ, fireworks, I taught a class and loved it (minus getting my back all messed up). Chris and I celebrated 12 years of marriage on Sunday. I love him and couldn't imagine a better person to be with. 

As I was studying Preach my Gospel this morning this scripture struck me so profoundly and made me wonder why I had never thought that way before. 

in D&C 130: 22 The ^aFather has a ^bbody of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of ^cSpirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not ^ddwell in us.

If the Holy Ghost had a body he couldn't be there to comfort us. We couldn't have the spirit when we were really really struggling. I am so thankful that I read this today and that it was exactly what I needed to hear. I needed to know today that Heavenly Father knew I would need help and comfort. So he chose to give us this wonderful gift. 

Tuesday

why does life seem to never slow down!!

photos first than other detail next.

Will got his chipped tooth fixed. it was stayed good for almost a week now. Jeffrey and Annmarie didn't have as much fun at the dentist. They each had to get fillings. 

Henry got this blanket from Aunt Michelle. He loves this thing. He will cover himself up with it every night. love that he loves something that his aunt made him.

I'm pretty sure I posted about this but here are the photos from the icubs game. most beautiful night!

my friend gave Jed swim lessons last week. He loved it.

I loved the lessons because there was a lot of this.

Henry climbs on anything he can. Plus he loves strawberries!

I have been teaching way to many classes ( 10 -12 the last 3 weeks each week) this is what happens when I cannot shower until 8pm and I'm too lazy to "do" my hair then wake up to teach a 5am class.

We were at the Allison's house and the kids all donned jerseys of the same colors and played an awesome game. Loved this!

Henry helping stir for at least 20 min. He was so mad when we had to close the lid.

This week has been great! today while driving home we had the windows down and the kids were singing and dancing (only the kids. . . ok maybe a bit by me too) to music that was probably way to loud. What matters is they were happy and we had a great time

The missionaries came of last week and challenged us to use preach my gospel more often. I have used it everyday but 1 since the challenge and I love it!

Jed loved swim lessons. He really did well. He will actually swim a few feet to you with no help and not freaking out. Love it!

Will and Jeffrey have been playing baseball a ton lately. I love it! they are funny to watch with their shop vac extender bats and the tennis ball they use. I love how creative kids are.

Annmarie is loving playing with our neighbors. they all seem to have more girls and more girly things. I still cannot figure out where this all came from

Henry is learning that not everyone gives him everything he wants. too bad it is mom and dad but it had to start somewhere

Tuesday. . . ish

I cannot believe how crazy busy we are. updates on all

Chris - he is studying studying studying and still finding time to be a great Dad and husband. We sure love him.

Karen - working working working. I tough 12 classes last week. I am not cut out for this. I bought tickets to go to DC in July to look for a house. Have I ever mentioned I really don't like going places where I know no one alone.

Will - loves kid fit, hates being bored (which is often), loves that we found our old FIFA 09 wii game, hates that I don't let him play all day long

Annmarie - loves spending time with mom or dad alone. Hates having to clean, loves reading and doing workbook pages, hates to clean.

Jeffrey - Loves Henry, hates doing what he is told (asked), loves kid fit, wishes we swam more

Jed - loves his swimming lessons, hates no electronic times, loves playing with friends, wishes we had a pool

Henry - loves to eat food, doesn't like it when he gets in trouble for biting, loves anyone who picks him up, doesn't like waiting.

It seems that I am the one that keeps everyone busy and I feel bad about that. I cannot imagine what a mother who has to work full time feels like. Thankful for the blessing of work at this time, hope that we find a place to live and hope that we all stay happy and healthy

Tuesday

this will mostly be a recap of the last 2 weeks.

Ragnar Chicago - 2 Thursday's ago I loaded up with a few really good friends and went and ran from Madison to Chicago. I must say this was an amazing experience. Chris was supposed to go with ( I really really dislike running Ragnar without him) but after we fasted and prayed on Sunday that he would pass the bar and find time to study I got an email saying she knew a girl who would want to run with us at 4 days notice. Well blessing, sadly Chris did not come but we didn't spend as much money and he got to study. I had a blast! I loved being with Gwyn my friend (who was once only my boss but is now my friend first) plus making better friends with others in my van. What I did not expect was making good friends with another team. When you run these you often see the same teams over and over. Well the team we saw was 2Extreme, we would cheer them on, complain with them and had a great time. When we got to exchange 35 (very last one before the finish) we tagged their van and cheered them on as they headed out. I was runner 12 and I had the very last leg. This stinks. Everyone is done etc and I had to run 8.2 more miles! needless to say at about 3 miles in there was team 2Extreme. They had waited for me (their runner was much faster) and cheered me on. This is why I love running these races. Nothing better than making instant smelly friends. :)

I got home Sunday night headed to a meeting for our Youth Conference Trek. Monday was spent with my mom buying the last bit of food for trek, taking my mom to the airport, packing for trek and packing the kids to play at friends houses while we were gone. Yes both Chris and I went on trek Tues - Thursday. It was HARD!!!!! I have been on trek before in WY and I loved it. no more than 4 miles a day and pretty flat. Well lets just say day 1 was close to 13 miles of very very hilly (big hills) and pretty muddy in spots as well. Day 2 was 9.5 of more hills and 80's again. Day 3 was spent just laying around. . . ok not really but no walking was really done. It was a great experience and I learned lots. Mostly I hope the youth got out of it that they can do HARD things.

So what were our kids doing while I/We were off adventuring? Well my mom came while I was running Ragnar. Then our ward asked us to go on trek in return they would find people to watch our kids. They all had a blast and were happy to be home for a bit. I think I missed them lots more than they missed me.

They have spent a lot of time in Child watch at the Y. Sadly this is what most of our mornings consist of. Me teaching at one of 5 Y's in the area and them playing. I've been trying to do some fun things, swim at the Y. . . well yeah the summer has been a bit busy.

Chris has been . . . Studying. He is such a determined person. I love that he is so focused. Hope it pays off

Here are a bunch of photos from the last few weeks

Love this photo!! 

Jed last day of pre-school

Henry knows what is good

Chris's favorite graduation present

Jed can finally ride his bike all on his own. Stopping and starting too!

Soccer is over!

My Y buddies!

Gwyn and I, we both love Orange what else can I say?

Finally a photo where I am actually running and don't look angry. 

Our van plus team 2Extreme

The kids love that they can take photos and videos with my phone without knowing my password

on the trek. 

Annmarie lost another tooth. 

Ten on Tuesday

no photos as I cannot figure out how to get my photos from my phone to upload

1. Crazy buys this will be way short. I am in charge of food for our stake youth trek. Needless to say with it being next week, I'm running to lots of stores

2. My mom comes tomorrow. I'm excited for her to be here. Sadly I will be leaving while she is here. Sometime I need to plan a time when she comes and I am here too.

3. The kids soccer ended Saturday. I'm glad it is over, but the kids had fun!

4. Chris has started studying for the bar. it will be a long summer for everyone.

5. The kids have been doing homework books, chores and spending time in the child watch at the Y. there have been a few days that they have been able to play out side

6. it has been a rainy spring. It is so nice to see green green grass.

7. with the few nice days we have been on lots of bike rides. I am really enjoying this new "sport" my knees how ever not so much. Guess it is time to work on the hamstrings

8. Jed can now ride his 2 wheeled bike with only help getting on. Yeah!!! for small steps

9. I cannot believe how much older Will looks. It seems like he went to bed and the next day grew up. I am so thankful for his teacher this year. She got him to come out of his seriousness shell. We will miss her greatly!

10. random fact - Henry gets into everything!!! nothing is safe now that he climbs on chairs and tables.