august in an instant

August flew by altogether too fast. We snorkeled in the ocean, we played with grandma, we took a day trip (read: 10 hours in the car) to Indianapolis, we started school!, we swam, we camped, we cleaned. Maren went on a girl's trip to Chicago. And our sweet little Leah was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

It was a really good month spent with even better people. 

june in an instant

Summatime, summatime, sum sum summatime. 

Sunshine, swimming, sweat, strawberries, seizures. Almost everything about summer is simply glorious. I do tremble with fear thinking about long days that lead into long weeks with me as the sole entertainment for my children. But, I do love it. And I REALLY love it on swim days. 

In June we spent three whole days driving so we could run for two days straight. Really, we did. Good thing we love so much about Utah and the people who live there (and the people who visit there the same time we do). And lucky for the Laytons, they all put up with us and our bathroom-flooding shenanigans (that's a story for another day). 

If you build it...

In 1989 they built it, and in 2014 we came...and crossed off an item from our Iowa bucket list. 

After watching Field of Dreams last weekend, Ryan and I decided to take the girls up to the farm where the movie was filmed to take in the last glimpses of summer. 

We couldn't have asked for a better day. The corn was at its peak - mostly green, just beginning its golden transition. It was 75 degrees with very little humidity. I feel like we could have been outside all day! 

We donned our leather gloves and played catch in the outfield. 

We lost ourselves in the tidy rows of corn. 

Oh, the corn! 

Ryan stood at the pitcher's mound and threw the first pitch to his girls. 

We ran the bases.  

 And stood on them too. (We all had home runs.)

 We tested out the bleachers. 

And explored nearly every nook and cranny we could find. 

 Kate was happiest getting down and dirty in the rocks. 

 Leah was just plain happy. 

And we had a dreamy day exploring one of the many fields in our little Iowa. 

August in an instant

August simultaneously crawled and flew right by. Leah was soooooo beyond ready to start school again, so those first two weeks were a bit painful. We tried to fill them with fun things, but it seemed there were always extra hours in the day. But, no fear, school did, actually, start. And we made it through the summer mostly unscathed! 

I'm calling it a win. 

The final two weeks of August were filled with adjusting to new regular schedules (first grade! preschool!, piano lessons!), sending Ryan off to Finland (but this time for only a week, not three) and of course, getting sick (so. many. tissues.). 

As of today, we're all good. And settled. And smelling fall. 

And it smells goooooood. 

swim days

One of our favorite summer activities in Iowa is "swim days", courtesy of the fabulous Sister Cropper. The Croppers are a family in our ward (local church congregation) who open up their pool to the ward members and their friends every Tuesday, all day. 

I know. 

When I grow up, I want to be like Sister Cropper. 

My girls LOVE swim day and start talking about next Tuesday on our way home from the current swim day! 

I think Leah feels free in the pool. She's really good at kicking and moving around to where she wants to be. She just graduated to this life jacket this year and it worked great! She's tall enough to stand in the shallow water, but still kicks and swims everywhere too. 

Kate has become a little fish and loves kicking and floating on her back (this is her smiling - seriously - she is grinning here). She thinks she can jump off the side of the pool, but really she's just hopping and then I pull her in. 

Kate got so used to seeing Sister Cropper in a swim suit that when she saw her at church recently she looked at me and said, "Mom! Sisser Copper all clean!" 

There's always an abundance of food and friends and we usually spend about 3 hours there just soaking in the sun. For now we've packed away the sunscreen and hung up our suits and towels to dry. Can't wait until "next Tuesday" June 2015. 

10 mile goal: report

Remember that goal we had to run or walk 10 miles this summer? 

Well, the girls basically blew it out of the water. 

As of the last day of summer vacation, they walked more than 20 miles. They really surprised me! Most days we went more than a mile. The girls were exhausted, which was the goal, and usually happy to boot! I carried each girl ONCE (on different days) for about a quarter of a mile, and that is it. 

We picked a lot of flowers. 

Took a few breaks. 

Twice (or thrice?) we went with dad. 

 And once we went with friends. 

 Once we checked out a brand new trail. 

And once Kate and I went sans Leah (who was running around at camp), allowing us to find a path less traveled and much rockier. Kate was a fan.

But usually it was just me and my smiley crew, slowly but surely making our way down the paved path. 

We always ended our walks with snacks and water in the back of the car. 

And a few times it resulted it late morning naps. Because it's summer, so why not!?

All in all, a worthy goal, good effort and such a great result. Definitely an activity that will be repeated in summers to come. I'm so proud of those four little legs! 

the Fosters in farm country

After having such a great time with the Fosters in IL, we all decided they should come check out our neck of the woods. The plan was to have them come see some of the John Deere sights and then we'd all go to Tug Fest, which was perfect since they are from IL and we are from IA. May the best state win, right? 

Well, Leah had other ideas and decided that after a 20-month hiatus, she should start to have seizures again. Luckily, the Fosters totally understand living with Rett syndrome and they just rolled with it, seizures, sleepiness and all.

We bagged Tug Fest (next year!!!) and instead had a quick lunch and then paid a low-key visit to the John Deere headquarters where... 

John and Ava thought the equipment was comfy enough to take a snooze in,

we learned that even though Kate has done a lot of growing lately, she is, in fact, still small, 

and we let two two year olds drive a combine. 

After our Deere shenanigans, we turned on the hose in the backyard and the girls had a great time running through sprinklers and splashing each other in the pool before eating homemade pizzas to recharge them. 

It was short and sweet, but so much fun to spend a relatively low-key day with some pretty fabulous company. And at least John had a guy to hang out with this time! 

Come back to Iowa soon, Fosters! We can't promise seizure-free activities, apparently, but we can promise a good time. (And it was probably good that we didn't go to Tug Fest this year - I heard IL won.)

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Niabi Zoo

In an effort to explore a little more of our still-new-to-us town, the girls and I joined some friends for a day at the Niabi Zoo (knocking off a summer bucket list item while we were at it!). 

We rode the "choo choo" aka train. How Katrin manages to look good despite the heat and humidity is beyond me. I need to learn her secrets! 

We went on the "up down up down" aka carousel...
...where Leah was pleased as punch to be riding Po the Panda. Only the best for Leah. 

We had a yummy picnic lunch on the grass where Leah gobbled up her food and Kate ran around like a crazy person, only willing to eat fruit snacks, per our usual routine. The only time she sat still was when we hoisted her onto the hippo. (Does every zoo have a statue of a hippo? So far we are having fantastic luck with a picture of our Kateapotamus on a hippopotamus in every location!)

And we saw so many animals. It really was a fun trip with fabulous company. Something we will definitely have to repeat in the near future. 

Nauvoo Pageant

The day Ryan got home just happened to be the last day of the Nauvoo pageant, a yearly summer tradition held in Nauvoo that culminates each night with a live show about Joseph Smith and the early latter-day saints and the sacrifice and faith they showed to build the city of Nauvoo and the Nauvoo temple. 

There is a fair held beforehand with bagpipe players, games and activities common to the 1830s and 40s, and crafts for adults and kids to enjoy.  

We knew it would be the last night the pageant was running, but we also knew Ryan would most likely be exhausted after being in a completely different time zone for three weeks and then traveling home for more than 24 hours. But, around 4:00 in the afternoon, we decided we should give it a shot and we made the two hour drive to Nauvoo. 

I'm really glad we did. We were able to walk around for about an hour and the girls had fun making fabric braids (which Kate refused to take off for a few days) and seeing all the entertainment. They wouldn't let Ryan out of their sight! 

The pageant itself was wonderful. The singing, dancing and acting were all top notch. And I really want to make this pageant a yearly family tradition (also because I'd love to watch the show again without wrangling a 2 year old at 10 pm). 

Kate was really worried when they turned the lights off of the temple they had been building on stage for the entire pageant (as the saints left Nauvoo and the temple was destroyed). And it was such a great moment when they lit up the current temple, rebuilt in its original location. Kate was honestly awestruck and was so happy the temple was back again. 

We packed up our sleepy ladies and made it home just after midnight, which made for a sleepy Sunday (never a bad thing!).