Family Dinner

Tio Israel and Aunt Sherri
Madi and Ethan, what a cute little guy!
Me holding Addison. Don't I look happy?
Taylee and Leah, having the time of their lives.
Can you tell they are sisters?

The first Sunday we were in Utah, my parents invited some of my aunts, uncles and cousins over for Sunday dinner, so we could have the chance to see all of them. When you have a lot of family who all live close to one another, it makes it tricky to see everyone. We did plenty of running around anyway, but it is nice when a lot of us can get together, it lessens the amount of traveling and running around we have to do. I got to see my cousin Natalie's little girl for the first time. Her babies name is Addison, and she is such a cutie. Madi and Ethan came too, and Ethan is such a cute little guy, and I mean little; he doesn't weigh very much, but he is sure smart for his age. Aunt Jer and Janelle came too, along with the Pitts and it was wonderful to see them. We got to spend a little more time with Aunt Sherri, Tio Israel and with my cousin Jonathan and his wife Jana and their two girls, Taylee and Leah. We had such a fun time with them. My brother Nick and brother-in-law Scott built push carts and they thought it would be fun to take the girls for a ride around the yard. It was quite entertaining, and the girls had a blast. What a wonderful way to spend the first day in Utah.

We're back!

We arrived safely from our fun filled trip to Utah. We had such a great time with our families and friends. We did lots of fun things, which made it so I didn't have much time to update my blog, so please forgive me for all of the new posts at once. I need to get caught up.

New lawn mower

Jon wanted to mow our lawn one last time before we left for Utah, and when he went to start the lawn mower, it wouldn't start. We went to Lowe's that night to buy a new mower. We found a beautiful new red lawn mower. We realized when we tried to get it home, that we need a bigger car. I was squished in the back seat with the tiny fridge we bought while the lawn mower box was in the front seat where I should have been. It was quite the trip home. Luckily we don't live too far from Lowe's. Jon really liked mowing with his new mower. I really like it too, because as you can see it has a bag, so we won't have all the lawn clippings left on the lawn to dry. I just think it makes a much cleaner cut and the lawn looks much better when he's done.

We're off to Utah!

We are so excited to be heading to Utah tomorrow. We have been looking forward to this trip all summer long. It's been since December that we've seen most of our family, so we are really looking forward to our trip. We will be in Utah for 3 weeks. What a nice long break! Jon is really excited, because tomorrow is his last day of classes, so he will have 3 weeks off until he has to be back for fall semester. I am really looking forward to getting away, just to take my mind off of things. I know many of you are always thinking of us and wondering how things are going in regards to having kids. Well, I just found out yesterday that our third attempt, while living here in Mankato, at IUI was unsuccessful. I am doing okay today, but I was having a tough time yesterday. Once I initially find out that I'm not pregnant, I grieve quite a bit, and I try real hard to not feel bitter or frustrated, but it's hard. Yesterday I asked myself, how many more times can I put myself through this. The next step we take will be seeing an infertility doctor in Minneapolis. I've been working with an infertility nurse practioner, who has been wonderful, but now she would like his imput on what to do next. I was feeling much more positive yesterday about adoption. I've never been opposed to adoption, but I wanted to exhaust all of my resources on trying to have our own first, but after yesterday, adoption sounded like a great way to go. We don't know what we'll do next, but I thought I'd let you know where we're at right now. Please keep praying for us, that someday we will be given the chance to be parents. We can't wait to see all of you in Utah.

4th of July

Tanner Jeffrey, my little buddy.

The kids love watching the fireworks that Aaron bought.
Look how intently they are watching.

Jon & Tanner

We had such a great 4th of July weekend. Friday Jon and I spent the day together. We had our traditional 4th of July breakfast. Every year we have waffles for breakfast on the 4th and then we have strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream or we just have strawberry and blueberry flavored syrups with whipped cream. It's a fun tradition that my family started over 10 years ago. After breakfast, we just hung out at home for a while, until we decided to go to the pool. Unfortunately for me, the pool wasn't open yet, so we came home and washed the car instead. By the time we finished washing the car, we decided to see a movie instead of going back to the pool. We went and saw Kit Kittredge, An American Girl. I know it's a movie for young girls, but I knew it would be clean, and I really like Abigail Breslin, besides the movie was worth seeing. I really liked it, and Jon didn't mind it too much either. We invited a bunch of friends and neighbors over for a BBQ and fireworks. The city sets off their fireworks at the stadium, which is 600 yards from our backyard. We had the perfect spot to watch. It was really nice once the fireworks were over, because we didn't have to drive in traffic to get home. Our friends the Jeffreys had bought some fireworks also, so Aaron kept the kids entertained for a while before the big show started. Thanks Aaron for the fireworks!

Saturday was another fun day. We slept in which was wonderful. We stayed up until 2:00 the night before visiting with our neighbor and her boyfriend. It was the first time we'd really gotten to know them, and they are great neighbors. Anyway, Jon and I went up to St. Paul with our friends Aaron and Carrie Jeffrey to the Taste of Minnesota. If any of you have been to Taste of Bozeman, I don't think this was quite the same. We never went in Bozeman, but this was basically a free concert, which we didn't care for the band and food you'd buy at a fair. We thought they would have some good restaurants but they didn't. Since nothing appealed to any of us, we decided we'd rather go out to dinner for the price we would have paid. We went to PF Changs and it was Aaron and Carrie's first time eating there. Carrie was in heaven, she wanted to try so many different things. Aaron is a vegetarian, so there weren't too many things that really appealed to him, but he liked it. When we got back to the Jeffreys, we roasted marshmallows and made S'mores for dessert. What a great evening. Aaron and Carrie have four kids, so it was fun for them to get away for the evening and go on a double date.



Sunday was very relaxing. We had such a an enjoyable weekend. We talked with our parents on Sunday and it sounds like our families had a great weekend too. I was having a tough time on Friday knowing that our families were getting together. Jon's niece and nephew were baptized on Saturday, so the whole family was together for a couple of days having fun since Grandma and Grandpa were in town. We wish we could have been there. We like Mankato, but there are times that we really wish we lived closer to our families. I sure miss all of them. I can't wait to see everyone in a few weeks when we go to Utah. We love all of you and miss you lots! We'll see you in three weeks. Yeah!!!

Happy Birthday Nick!

Nick, Nicole & Tara

I just wanted to wish my brother a happy 25th birthday. I feel so lucky to have such a great brother. Maybe because I just have one brother, makes him seem more special, but Nicole and I sure think he's neat. I can't believe he is 25, but I guess I did just turn 29, which I can't believe either. Nick, we miss you lots and can't wait until we see you next month. We hope you have a great day even if you do have to work and go to school. Nick is the best brother anyone could ask for and I hope this year will be a wonderful year for him. We wish you great success in school and in life this year. I love you lots and miss you just as much!

The Bowdens visit

We had visitors for the second time this month. The Bowdens, friends from Bozeman, came to see us last Friday, and they stayed for three days. We had such a great time with them and we felt so lucky that they made the effort and the drive to come see us, especially with the way gas prices are these days. We got up bright and early (early for Jon & I) Saturday morning and we drove up to St. Paul. Jared and Lorae wanted to see the St. Paul temple and they also wanted to take advantage of being at the temple to do sealings. Jon and I stayed outside with the kids while Jared and Lorae did sealings for an hour. After the temple, we drove in to St. Paul to the Como Zoo & Conservatory, and it was a zoo trying to find a place to park. Once we finally found parking we, really enjoyed our time there. We got to see all sorts of animals, monkeys being the favorite. We also got to go in a butterfly exhibit. It was an enclosed area with many tropical plants and all different kinds of butterflies flying around. It was really neat! We also walked around the conservatory where we saw all kinds of pretty plants and gardens. The zoo was really fun, but the kids were more than ready to leave. From there we went to the Minnesota Science Museum. What a neat museum? Lorae and I really enjoyed the area where we learned about different illnesses. The kids got to do a lot of hands on stuff from discovering diseases to creating a tornado. We ended our trip to the museum with a tour of the dinosaurs, which Danny thoroughly enjoyed. Sunday was a much needed relaxing day. We also celebrated my birthday by having birthday cake and ice cream. As you can see from the pictures Ruthie really enjoyed her cake and ice cream. Monday was another fun filled day. We went to the park for a couple of hours and had lunch. When we got home, the kids got to run through the sprinklers and then we ended the day with a yummy BBQ at another park with friends from the ward. Jared and Aaron Budge (Aaron is in our ward in Mankato) grew up together, so we go together for dinner, so Jared and Aaron could catch up. I think they really enjoyed seeing one another again. We had a wonderful, busy three days. It was sad to see them leave this morning. We've sure missed them while we've been here. We keep telling them they need to get a job out here when Jared finishes school. We'll keep our eyes and ears open for any positions open in the Chemistry department. We hope you enjoy the rest of your "two week trip"!