Spring Break!

 Drew had his spring break last week, so we took a little trip to North Carolina to meet up with our friends the Gardner's. They live in Orlando, so we met up in the Great Smokey Mountains.

Our first bathroom break happened to be in Metropolis, home of Superman. They are very proud, and have these everywhere:)

The cabin was basically straight up a mountain. I mean straight up! Very steep roads to the top, but the view was worth it.

They have a little boy named James, who Melanie loved. They got along great. We walked around Lake Junaluska.

Don't mind the finger.

We loved The Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It is gorgeous!

 

We had a couple game nights after the kids went to bed. Yes, we went a little crazy with the desserts, orange julius creations, and board games.We are wild:) Meghan and I got a little slap happy. 

I just love this picture of Lacey watching a show.

After we left North Carolina we headed to Nashville to see our friends John and Marcy. We got to check out their place, go to a hip restaurant, get some hip popsicles, and check out downtown.

The next day we went and hung out at the Parthenon. It was pretty sweet. Nashville is a very cool city.

The only good thing about Waffle House is this coloring table. Yuck!

The next day after we got home Adam and his girls came to visit for the weekend (Laura flew to Utah for her brother's wedding, but we did see her Sunday morning:) So many girls! There are six girls, ages four and under.

We went to Purina Farms Easter extravaganza. They had so many fun things there. The best part was the dog show! Loved it!

We packed so many things in. We went to the zoo, the arch, Creve Couer Lake, Lone Elk Park, and played outside in between.

Easter Egg dying.

We got to eat lunch near some bison. It was a blast until I realized later I got two ticks! Melanie got one too, and another one since. I don't know about this tick season.

We went on walks and played at parks. Of course Drew and Adam had to race.

We had a fun night on our walk, stopping and feeding the geese and fish.

Easter morning was fun. The weather was great, and we had a big breakfast and a hunt outside.

Family Visits

We have had a crazy few weeks here in Saint Louis. Meaning crazy good! We got to have Drew's brothers, Jeff and Mark and their families here for a few days. As well as his parents. It was definitely fun having all the kids together. It was so nice after the kids went to bed and all of us adults got to hang out too!

Lacey, Julia, and Abby. They enjoyed stealing food off of each others trays.

Uncle Jeff won Abby and Lacey over.

Lacey was loved entertaining us.

We went up the arch! It looked like we were stepping into a time machine or something. (Because I know what those look like and all)

Abby looking out at the top of the arch.

Everyone spent a lot of time at the magic house.

Julia was lovin Sawyer.

We spent a morning at the zoo. I can't even contain Abby in a stroller any more. Independent woman.

The kids were obsessed with this snake, because several of them are reading Harry Potter. Check out Mel's face..... yeah she hasn't read Harry Potter yet;)

I love this photo bomb with my nephew Cal. I also love Abby's face.

Over the weekend we all went to Nauvoo, where we met up with Drew's other brother Adam and his family. We all stayed in a cute historic house. Nauvoo is a place where early Mormon pioneers settled for a while, and now you can tour a lot of the old homes, and really get a sense of what it was like. More info about Nauvoo here.

Oh man I could not stop laughing!

Lacey kept saying, "Sawyer" and then checking to see if was him.

They have senior missionary couples running the whole place. They gave us a glimpse into how people lived.

Rope making

Thanks Grandma Maggie!

It's a small town, so the girls traded off driving with dad. I don't know about this girl behind the wheel though. She's crazy!

Wagon ride! Slightly chilly.

The Nauvoo temple.

The house we stayed at had a hot tub. (Yeah that was definitely an upgrade in the house... usually they didn't have hot tubs:)

It's a total mess, but this is where the kids bunked it up.

I just had to get pics of the girls in their swim suits. Melanie has to pose:)

We also went to Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed. More info here.

This little beauty took a nice long nap on the way home. I love this bed head

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A few days later my mom came for a visit!

I bribed Melanie each day, that if she took a good nap she could have popcorn on the couch with Grandma.

My mom and I spent a fun day shopping and eating!