Field of Dreams - Dryersville, Iowa

We took a day trip to Dyersville, Iowa. We visited the movie set of The Field of Dreams. It was so much fun! It was a great experience for each of us to "have a catch" on the ball field, run the bases and I even hit a ball out near 2nd base! Wow! Of course the first thing we did was run out to play in the corn fields. We each took a turn walking into the corn and disappearing then reappearing. We walked around the house and took a break to sit on the bleachers to watch the game. It was a fun place to visit and I would encourage anyone who has any interest to make the trip out there. After visiting the field we stopped at a cute little hometown restaurant called Country Junction, http://www.countryjunctionrestaurant.com/ to eat lunch. It was good home cookin food and we all enjoyed sweets afterwards.

http://www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com/distance.htmlIowa

Cedar Falls Water Park-- "Photo Pass"

We did not get to take a lot of pics at this park. They were very strict about the patrons having a photo pass to take pics. We snuck a few here and there. oops!

Hanging out at Bobbi & Jonathan's

The kids played together all week. If they were not climbing the trees, then they were riding the water green machine, bikes, or scooters. They swam in the pools, caught lightening bugs, watched movies and blogged. It was a wonderful week for the cousins to get to know each other better and make many many memories.

Here is Uncle Ron poisoning the minds of the kids as they watch web ads about "Big Foot". Their favorite was the golf cart ad.

This pic is of the "Crazy Cousin's Club". It was held daily, sometimes multiple times in Aunt Bobbi's basement storage room. There were even passwords to get into the room. Topics discussed..."Stuff."

This sky pic was taken from Bobbi's front porch. We joked about the quote from the movie Field Dreams, "Is this Heaven...no it's Iowa". Well, this was Bobbi's front porch in Iowa and it looks like Heaven.

Is this Heaven...No, It's Iowa!

Some of you have been wondering where I have been. Well, we decided at the spur of the moment to pack the car and go to Iowa to visit Ron's sister Bobbi (jo). (That last BOLDed part is for you Bob. "Who is that? We don't know that person in our ward.") It was a fun filled week of people staring at Bobbi and I wondering how we popped out 10 kids between the two of us. Our families had so much fun together. The kids each had someone to hang out with and they all got along so well. It was a blast! We adults did get to go out a few nights and left the older kids to stay home and babysit the younger ones. It was so nice to be with family.

So that I don't have one long post, I am going to break up the trip into several post. So, sit back and get ready to read all about my family's vacation to the middle of America! It was just as the movies portray it, miles and miles of farms. Acres of corn, wheat and soybeans. It was amazing, so serene, peaceful and breath taking. The states we drove through were: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The posts will take me a couple of days so hang in there and keep checking back. :O)

Master Bedroom Paint

The paint color is by Lowe's - Baked Scone. I like that it changes color in different light. It turns from light butter to an almost gold.

Painting Again!

Where have I been these past few days? I have been painting my home. I get so excited to do these projects and I can whip out a room in a day, however by nightfall I am exhausted. I am just getting old. What happened to all of that energy I use to have chasing my kids around the house? Old I tell ya, find me a cane!

Alright are you ready to see my work? LOL! So I went out on a whim and decided to paint the kids bathrooms. I let them pick out their own shower curtains at Target and select a matching paint color. They all picked out girlie (is that even a word? Since I have 5 girls, I am going to make it a word.) colors of course. Ron dislikes the bathrooms because he said they scream estrogen. (Giggle, giggle!) The way I see it is, you are only a kid once. So why not live in a bright, cheery room? I can always repaint with white when we move someday. :O) The pics don't do the colors justice. They come across florescent. They are not. They are just bright pink, yellow and green.

Last night I finished painting our Master bedroom. I will post that pic next.

Get Well Soon Gary!

Hope you are out of the hospital soon. (Click on pic to enlarge)

Gas Prices a little high?

I found this pic on the internet this morning...

W-h-a-t???

On the way to the doctor, Victoria and I saw the strangest thing. We just had to take a picture! :O) It's not every day you see a truck full of watermelons. The big question...where in the world is this guy goin' with all of these?

New Cast!

On Monday, Tori got her short arm cast. Yea! She was so happy to be able to bend her elbow again. She definitely has more freedom in this cast and is more mobile. Here is a photo of her having the new cast put on. She chose a navy blue color for the final wrap. She will be in this cast for 3 more weeks. After that, if things have improved, she will be in a brace. (Let's all cross fingers!)

While she was having the cast put on, the gal in the picture doing all of the work asked Victoria how she broke her arm. We told her it was at a church camp, "girls camp". We told her a little about the camp and then she asked,"What church do you go to?" We told her the Mormon church and her response was,"Oh! I just joined that church, I was recently baptized!" She told us her two step daughters just went to Girls Camp also and had an awesome time! We thought that was pretty cool! :O)

My Tree!

I bought this tree last year at the end of summer. (click on the pic to enlarge.) When I purchased it, there was only one little flower on it. Fall and winter were soon upon us and the tree settled in for the winter.

Finally, a few weeks ago the tree came back to life and wa-laa, it really came back to life! Typically Crape Myrtles trees don't bloom this much...I feel lucky, looks like we found a good one. We planted this tree outside my kitchen window so I can look at while cooking or doing the dishes, it will be something I can enjoy all summer.



Here are a couple of new additions to my gardens.

Water fun!

I was in the house and kept hearing an odd sound ouside. The only way I could describe it was a "whoosh!" sound. I glanced outside to see kids were playing in the pool and making "waves". I just cracked up! I thought I was going to witness the sides of the pool collapsing and my backyard flooding. Watch the video and see for yourself how crazy my kiddos can be. I will give it to them, they are extremely creative when they are bored.

Caitlin & Courtney turn 11 years old!

Wow! A whopping 11 years old. I can hardly believe it has been 11 years. A lot of things happened 11 years ago around this time. Not only were we graced with their birth but we also moved to Texas. Like they say, when you are having fun, time sure flies. I am grateful for that.

The girls took the day off and had no chores. They went swimming, played on the computer, and we ate dinner at their favorite restaurant, Del Pueblo. Of course the family came out and sang to the girls and made them wear Sombreros and all! Ron has the pic on his cell phone, because of course "Mother of the Year" forgot the camera! ;-)

Here are a few pics of the twins birthday celebration.

The girls wanted a Ding-Dong cake for their birthday. I had never made one before. I learned many lessons this time around. :O) It looks absolutely AWFUL. But guess what, it was delicious! I plan to make another one some day just to practice. Next time less filling, and I need to cook the chocolate icing longer and have some in reserves to paint the sides. It was so running and took a long time to harden. I did speed the hardening buy placing it in the freezer.