So much to blog about with so little time. August was a great month for us.
First, my brother Jordan came to visit. He flew into DC, so we made a trip out of it.
On Friday, before Jordan's flight came in, we went to the Temple. It had been nine months since our last visit and we were really looking forward to it. When we arrived, there was a sign on the door saying it was closed. A big storm from the night before left the area without power. Fortunately, the power came back on in time for us to both do a session. We took turns going into the temple and watching the kids.
The next day we rode the metro to the monument mall and did a lot of walking. We ate lunch at the American Indian museum and also went to the Air and Space museum.
On Sunday we went to a Spanish speaking ward. Kirk is conversational in Spanish and had no problem following along. I had no idea what anyone was saying, but had fun singing the hymns and pretending I knew what I was singing.
Our next destination was Lancaster County, home of the Amish. We went to a nice little town called Intercourse (I'm not kidding) where we sampled Amish canned goods, bought bonnets for the girls and had homemade ice cream. The neatest part was seeing the Amish out in their fields working and riding their horse-drawn buggies on the road.
After visiting with the Amish we headed to Chocolate World to go on the free tour. We went on the ride twice then headed home.
I tried to make the next week fun for Jordan while he was stuck at our house. We had a movie night, went swimming in our pool, spent a day at the dam playing on the beach and swimming, and made a secret storage book out of a book we found at a yard sale. He even babysat the girls for us while we went on an overdue date.
On three separate occasions I had someone make a comment referring to me as Jordan's mother. Apparently I look like I'm at least 34!
It was a lot of fun having Jordan stay with us. Hopefully some of my other siblings will make it out to see us too!
When it was time for Jordan to go home, we flew home with him. We purposely coordinated our flights so Jordan could help me with my girls. I was so grateful for his help.
It had been eight months since we last visited Utah and Clara's first time being there. Everyone was so excited to meet her for the first time. Clara did surprisingly well and warmed up to everyone quickly.
Clara got to meet her new cousin Ashlyn who is a few weeks younger than her. Apparently they remember each other from the preexistence because Ashlyn couldn't wait to give Clara a hug.
Nathan and Luci were so excited to see each other too and immediately ran off to play together!
On Saturday we headed over to the Dimond side of the family for a John Deere party. Grandma and Grandpa Dimond have a John Deere car for the grandkids to drive and Luci had a blast. It was funny and scary watching them drive it. Luci got partially ran over by her cousin Kannon and almost ran over Damon and Kannon twice. Everyone survived though!
I spent a lot of my time hanging out with my sister Nicole. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to never get a picture of us together. We pretty much had a crafting marathon the whole time we were there. When we were making satin flowers, Nicole lit her hair on fire. By the time we were done making them, the whole house smelled like melting polyester and burnt hair. Haha, good times!
My cousin Aryn drove up to visit us for a couple of days and I got to meet her baby Rosalie. We had a sewing party with Nicole and made tutu's for our girls. It had been four years since Aryn and I had hung out together, definitely overdue! Thanks for coming up Aryn!
(who needs pants, right?)
We met two of our friends from high school at the park. It was great catching up!
Every night Luci and her Aunt Sarah had a sleep over. They were inseparable. Other aunts and uncles tried to convince Luci to spend time with them, but she would never leave Sarah's side (sorry guys!).
I had a great time seeing family. It was really hard to leave! It felt like I was moving out to PA all over again. Luci got really attached to Grandpa Seegrist the last few days we were there, and had a really hard time leaving him. On our first flight home, she cried herself to sleep while wailing "Grandpa, I want you!". At one point both of my girls were crying and the lady sitting next to Luci gave us a dirty look then cranked up her i pod. It's not easy traveling with two kids and no husband!
Coming home was hard, but I was so excited to see Kirk again. Hopefully one day we can live close to family again!
Luci had her first day of preschool on Monday. She was so excited! Nothing in the world could stop her from going to school. When she woke up, I noticed she had a runny nose and told her we better keep her home from school because she's sick. She would not accept that for an answer. She said, "Mommy I'm not sick, I promise!" over and over and over.
