It's been a while since I updated our blog-we were out of town last week and then with all the craziness of getting ready to move I just haven't gotten around to it.

We went to Nauvoo for a few days last week and had such a great time. Josh's parents came with us-we met them down there on Wednesday night (it was tricky getting there because of all the flooding in Iowa) and spent Thursday and Friday in Nauvoo and then we headed home Saturday. The boys loved it. In fact, Nathan spent the first 30 minutes of the drive home trying to convince Josh to find a job there so we could live there. And Jack just loved the temple-every time we drove past it he would call out "temple!" It will be fun to live in San Diego close to a temple so they can see it a lot.

Our favorite Nauvoo activities were the shows and Pioneer Pastimes-where the kids get to play with pioneer toys and things. In fact, we went there all three days for at least an hour each time. We also liked seeing how they made horseshoes in the blacksmith shop, going for a wagon ride and oxcart ride and just being in Nauvoo in general. That city just has such a special spirit about it and we had a great time there as a family.

This week has been full of packing and thesis writing. Both me and Josh are feeling overwhelmed at the amount of work to do before we leave here (we leave 3 weeks from today). I feel like I have been packing and packing and have only put a small dent in what needs to be done. I did manage to get all of our utilities here canceled for our move and Josh a plane reservation made (he has to come back and load up the truck 10 days after we leave here because of some complications with scheduling and the date we can move into our new place) and a dual portable DVD player ordered, talked to Nathan's new school district, and a bunch of those sorts of things. Poor Josh is scrambling to finish his thesis and get some last minute work done in the lab. We will be glad when that is all over-but not glad to leave this wonderful place.

Poor Nathan and Jack are feeling the strain of all the stress in our home right now too. We were getting ready to go somewhere this week and I was getting grouchy-you know, saying get your shoes on, hurry up, get in the car, don't touch your brother, that sort of thing and Nathan said "stressed out again mom?" And all I could do was hang my head in shame and admit that yes, I was stressed out and that I was sorry and try to be better.

This week we will be heading up to the in law's for one last time up there before we leave. (Those are sad words to type.) The boys are looking forward to spending the 4th of July up there and seeing Aunt Natalie and Uncle Alex.

Here are just a couple of pictures from our Nauvoo trip and a video of Dallen screaming. He makes a lot of noise (don't know where he learned that behavior because our house is always so serene and peaceful). Actually-just one picture of Nauvoo because I can't find any good ones of Jack. He is so hard to get a good picture of because he always either has his eyes closed or a fake cheesy grin or is moving to fast to catch on camera.

By the way, I really want a nicer background for my blog like some of you have but just can't figure out how to get one. You'd think I could do it-built a website from scratch a few years ago-I ought to be able to figure this out, but if someone could help me find out how to get a nice background/template that would be great! :)

Day out with Thomas

It has been a fun week for Nathan and Jack. We spent the whole week-from Sunday night until Saturday night at Josh's parents' house and the boys had a blast. The highlight of the trip-and the main reason we went up there-was Day Out with Thomas in Green Bay yesterday. We got to ride on "Thomas" (which Nathan quickly figured out was no different than riding on any train except that they had hooked a Thomas engine to the front), the boys got temporary Thomas tattoos, there were bounce houses, a visit from Sir Topham Hat and lots of trains to see and climb on. They really had a lot of fun and I think it is something they will remember for years to come.

Other than that, while we were in Neenah we went to several parks including one that has all kinds of fountains and squirty toys to play in/with, went to a bounce house (I bounced too and had a ton of fun but was suprised how exhausted I was when it was over), did slip n slide in the backyard, went to see the Horton movie (if you haven't seen it yet don't) and just played with Grandma and Grandpa. Poor Josh was just writing his thesis during all of this (other than the Thomas adventures-he did get to join in on those).

Wisconsin has had way too much rain meaning there is flooding all over. Luckily Madison hasn't really had flooding although the farm fields look more like lakes right now than fields. But driving home from Neenah it was amazing to see the water everywhere. There was one part of the road that we drove over that had water just pouring across it. It was closed earlier in the day but had opened and had police officers on either side of the water monitoring it.

Oh, the other big news is that Josh got a Wii for his birthday! We celebrated his birthday a little early while were in Neenah. So we have been having fun bowling, creating Miis, etc. We are hoping to prevent a Wii addiction in our house but it could be a little hard!

Here are some pictures from our week of fun:

Here is Dallen being sweet as always while we dragged him to Day Out With Thomas

Here is Thomas!!

Nathan and Jack Slip N Sliding-I was surprised they did it on their bellies:

And Nathan at the bounce house coming down a slide:

Jack's Birthday

I was supposed to post about Jack's birthday awhile ago but I am just now getting around to it. Jack's birthday party was CRAZY! It was supposed to be at a park and just be totally casual. I was providing a simple lunch (pb&j, chips, drink) and cake and other than that we were just going to play on the playground and hang out. I even had a backup rain plan-the park had a shelter and I figured we could at least just eat lunch under there. But, the morning of the party it was raining AND thundering and I didn't feel like we could go to the park if there was lightning. SO, I had no other choice really but to have it at our house.

Now that would have been fine, but I sort of invited a lot of people since we were just doing it at the park. So, in the end we had 30 kids in my house plus 12 or so moms! It was crazy! I can't believe actually that it went as well as it did with that many people in my house. No awful messes or anything. Jack's cake turned out pretty great. I stole the idea from a friend in Utah. It was a hit-especially with Jack which is what really counts.

Other than that, we are starting to get ready to move. I am trying to get packed what I can now but that is hard since we still have 6 weeks of living to do before we move.

This week we are up in Neenah with Josh's parents just visiting for the week. Trying to get in as much time here as possible since we are moving away so soon. The boys are having a blast just being at Grandma's house. We have been to several parks and this afternoon we are going to see the Horton movie.

I have to include these to pictures. The one of Nathan is funny because he said to me "Mom, want to see if I look really good doing something?" And then put his hand on his hip like that and asked me if I thought he looked good enough for a picture. Then he walked around the house like that (hand on hip) for several days! And then the picture of Dallen sporting is adorable church clothes. Do I have a cute baby or what?

Birthday Happiness and Friends Moving Away Sadness

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...OK, that was a corny way to start out a blog post, but that is how this week has felt. It is birthday week in our house. Nathan's birthday is today and Jack's is Wednesday. We are usually exhausted by the time both birthdays are over-then in less than two weeks we have Father's Day and Josh's birthday. We will NOT be having anymore babies in June.

So, today is Nathan's birthday but it was already day 3 of birthday celebrating. We had one party Thursday night with our friends who were moving away (more on that later) and wouldn't be around for the birthdays. Then we had Nathan's friend birthday party on Saturday evening. It really went well. We had ten little kiddos in our house (well, that doesn't count Dallen since he didn't eat cake or anything) and considering we had that many kids and cake, glitter glue, stickers, ice cream, koolaid, pizza, etc. I am surprised how well it went. It could have been a disaster. The birthday party theme was Imagination because Nathan is big on that and I knew that if we picked a theme even a week or two in advance he might have changed what he was interested in by the time his party rolled around. So this way if Monster trucks were his passion of the moment or rockets or dinosaurs or rocks or anything else, I could be prepared because the theme was so flexible. We had all of his friends dress up in costumes for the party. Nathan decided the day before that he was being a superhero which was great because the costume was nice and easy!! The cake was a rocket which turned out great if I do say so myself. We did a "creative imagination" project-they decorated little birdhouses and we played pin the tail on the astronaut donkey. Here are some pictures:

Here is the rocket cake and the birthday boy about to blow out the candles

This is Josh's masterpiece. Nathan wanted to do pin the tail on the donkey so Josh created an Astronaut donkey (and had a little bit too much fun thinking about puns about donkeys that are astronauts but I will leave you to figure that out on your own):

The whole gang of kids:

Some of the kids in their costumes:And Jack the Train Conductor:Then today for his birthday he got to go to breakfast with dad, then open presents, then Grandma P. came to visit for the day and we went to the park for a picnic lunch (he had Subway pizza-his choice) and then just hung out. We played games and had cake just the 5 of us tonight-although again poor Dallen got no cake.

Now we get a day off to rest and then launch into the Jack festivities. His bday is Wednesday and party is Thursday. I will blog about those next time.


As for the sadness part of our lives, our best best friends just moved away! Wah!!! Ok, so we are moving away too in just like 6 weeks or something but in the meantime I miss my friend Nanci so much. Nathan is best friends with her son Trey and she also has a son Jack's age so we did everything together! Oh and she is pregnant with boy number 3-Dallen's future friend. (Oh and we do like the dad Ryan too!) :) And now they are gone and I feel totally lost and lonely. Luckily they went to California, although they are in the Bay Area so they will be about 7 hours away from us, but at least we will see them sometimes. I am finding out that it really stinks when your friend who you did everything with and talked to everyday moves away. I don't even know what to do with myself now. Guess I should start packing maybe. Ho hum. Guess life will go on. I guess it is good that I have so much birthday stuff to see to this week!