July trip

I decided to stay home from NYR this year because of Zane being so young. Josh was still going with the youth, so I decided to go visit my sister and some friends along the way. Josh's mom and sister came for the 4th of July and then Amy stayed so she could ride with me for most of the way up to Minnesota. We drove in the night so Zane could sleep for most of the way. Kylee is a great traveler, and Zane is learning to be. He actually did really well. I wasn't sure how my mental state of being would be by the end of the trip, but we arrived home safe and sound!

Aunt Amy and Zane

Zane and Nana

After stoping at Josh's parents for the night, the kids and I drove to Rochester to see my college roomate and her husband for a couple days.

Kylee and their dog Sajak. Whenever we visit, they are always great friends.

Esther, Zane, Betsy, and Kylee

Sajak looking in at us wishing he could come in!

Betsy only lives 1 1/2 hours from my sister, so it was just a short drive for us which was so nice.

One of the days, we took the kids to Teddy Bear Park. It's a really cute place that has 3 or 4 statues of teddy bears and other things for the kids to climb and play on.


Kade and Zane - Kade is 9 months and Zane is 5 months. Kade is quite a bit longer than Zane, but doesn't weigh a whole lot more. It will be so much fun for them when they get older because they will be so close in age.

After the park, we went and ate at this cute little oldtime restaurant. We all got ice cream cones after lunch. Yum!

Zane and Tana

We went and had dinner one evening at my Aunt Chris and Uncle Kent's house. They live about an hour from my sister. My cousin Carrie and her family were there and also my cousin Eric. It was so nice to spend some time with them.

Her is Eric being goofy!

While at my sister's we took the kids to a fire station/truck museum. There were quite a few things they could touch and play with there and also were able to take a ride on an old fire truck.

me and my sweet sister Christy

We tried to get a picture of the four youngest. Kade wasn't in the mood to get his picture taken!!

I found out that a friend of mine only lives 20 minutes from my sister. I hadn't seen him in 10 years! It was great to catch up and also I got to meet his wife Amy. They also had a dog, so Kylee was in heaven!

After visiting my sisters, we drove down to Missouri to see Beth, Levi, & Nate (Jason was at NYR, too).
The boys have a stage in their room, so Beth and I ended up watching Kylee announce a fashion show while the boys were trying to do a Mary and Joseph play!!

me and Kendy (She also lives in Jefferson City. We were able to meet up for lunch and get a little shopping in at Maurices. So much fun!)

After Beth's, we headed to Illinois to see Matt and Kari and their boys. We hadn't seen them in 4 years. We won't let it be another 4 years again between visits. Kari and I took the kids to the pool and got some visiting time.


After Kari's, we drove just a little ways to the Mitchell's. Mark was my minister while I was in college. Their oldest Trenton was only 8 months when I met him. Wow, he as grown. He is now 12 and Trevor is 9. They had a lot of fun with the kids. We need to stop more often to see them. I miss them a lot.

Zane and Trevor

Kylee was playing in some flour and it just got worse and worse!!

Trenton and Zane both fell asleep. Zane was holding onto Trenton's finger. It was sooo sweet. My camera's battery went dead before we got a picture of all of us. I will post one when they send me the one that they took.