Loving the backyard

The bridge that has been here since we bought the house, was getting very scary to walk across and so we decided to have a new one built. The grandkids are going to love crossing it....it creaks alot! When they won't be scared we will tell the troll story. They will have fun throwing sticks in the water or floating boats. We are loving the new birds that we have been attracting to our feeder too. Mother's Day was having lunch at my new table set, enjoying the nice weather (FINALLY), and watching for birds. We saw a Baltimore oriole for the first time today. The birds are Indigo Bunting (blue one) and Summer Tanager (orange one).

Happy Birthday Hugh

Hugh had his big 50th birthday this weekend. We celebrated with the family by taking a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan. The weather had been cloudy and rainy all week, but cleared up in the afternoon and we had perfect weather for the cruise. We played a family feud game which was a lot of fun. The questions were about Hugh and we had a lot of laughs over the game. We also celebrated Lisa and Jared's birthday and had Lisa's family drop in on their way back to Utah. It has a very fun weekend!

Conference Weekend

We had a spiritual and fun conference weekend with Adam, Lisa, and Jared. There were so may great talks that inspired us We got busy and made a lion costume for Jared on Saturday. That is becoming our October conference tradition! Jared is getting so fun and makes us laugh and laugh! We can't wait to have two more grandbabies!

Fun in Utah

We had a great time in Utah! We loved being at Bear Lake with the Holts and playing with their toys. Notice the picture with the guys on all the toys! Trevor and Tyler got settled in and we said good-bye until Christmas. Feeling the loss of having the baby move out, I decided to get a new "baby". Great to be done with mini vans! (Except for hauling stuff and using for work installs). We are now adjusting to an empty nest and what to do with ourselves.

Dominican Republic

We had the most amazing trip to the Dominican Republic last week! It was so fun to have Tyler waiting at the airport to greet us! We loved meeting all of the missionaries at the food court in the mall. They all congregate at the Mega mall on the P-day after transfers. We loved meeting the converts and seeing the growth of the church and the faith of the members there. The people were very friendly and hospitable to us. We met some amazing humble people. We enjoyed the Dominican food, especially me, since it fit well into my diet. We spent a day scuba diving which we all enjoyed. We found it so interesting to visit two different sacrament services in different villages (pics). There were a lot of stray dogs around and they were all about the same size with short hair, just different colors. The heat and probably malnourishment kept them all laying around. The poorest area was where the Haitians live and Trevor and Tyler had fun passing out stickers to the kids and putting them on their foreheads. More and more kids kept coming! It was a once in a life time trip and we all came back appreciating what we have in this country and for the blessings of the gospel. When you see how much it changed their lives, it make you appreciate it so much.

The best way to see Chicago

On Friday night, we along with the accounting group at Hugh's work, went on a 3 hour tour of Chicago on Segways. It took a little training and then we were off. The night was beautiful and the Blues Festival was at Grant Park so we had music to dance to as we rode along. We had to stay in turtle mode for awhile and then we were promoted to 8 miles per hour. There are only 2 companies that offer this service and they have only been in business since fall so everyone stared at us. Some yelled at us, and some gave us high 5's. One man yelled out, "Jesus doesn't like segways!" One young guy yelled out, "Segways are for lazy people!" He was just jealous because he was walking. By soldier field they have evenly planted rows of trees on a hill and we had slalom races down them. We also went down the hill with hands up and everyone yelling. It was a lot of fun. We had dinner outside by millenial park and enjoyed the night skyline. It finally felt like summer!

Memorial Day Fun

We had a great time over the Memorial Day weekend with the family together. We celebrated Lisa's birthday, Hugh's birthday and Trevor's graduation. On Saturday morning we went to the Morton Arboretum to see the BIG bugs. It was a beautiful day, but just a little chilly. Killer Bunnies was the game of choice over the weekend and Portillo's was the choice of food as usual. Hugh was sick but hung in there with all the games and activities. We loved having the family here!