First trip to Nauvoo

Since my parents took time to drive us all the way out to Iowa, 17 1/2 hours, we thought that we should do something fun with them before they left. We stopped in Omaha for a night on the way out and visited Winter Quarters. It was fun to see one of the old church historic sites. We walked through the visitor center and Caleb and Makayla put on pioneer hats and Makayla pulled a wagon isn't she so strong!

After my parents helped us unload and unpack a little in our new place we took off to visit Nauvoo. My dad and I had never been there before, but Caleb and my mom had. On the way down we stopped at Carthage Jail. I have grown to love the Prophet Joseph Smith and all he did for this great church so this was an important stop for me.

First picture Makayla, Caleb, and I in front of Carthage Jail. Second picture is of Makayla in front of the statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. She seriously stood there for 5 minutes saying "Cheese" over and over so that we could take her picture. She probably would have stayed there longer if we hadn't made her move!

After our stop at Carthage Jail we went on to Nauvoo. We spent 2 1/2 days there and had so much fun. Here are some pictures so show what we did while we were there.

We stopped at the visitor center and walked around the gardens. They were beautiful! I had to take a picture of my baby in the middle of them! These two are my favorite people in the whole world.

We saw the Nauvoo pageant and it was fantastic! I have never felt the spirit so strong! Before it started they have pioneer games and stuff to do. We pulled Makayla in a wagon boy did she love that. Then she played this game where she tried to knock over these pins with a ball. She loved this game.

Makayla did amazingly well during the show. She had her popcorn and she was happy as could be.

We also took Makayla on an Oxen ride. It was fun to hear her say "wee wee wee". She also got to touch the Oxen, but not with me. I was too scared to go near them so Grandpa held her and let her go close to them.

Makayla also enjoyed an ice cream cone for the first time. In this picture I was teaching her how to lick an ice cream cone.

Our little family in front of the Mississippi River. It is a huge river!

We had a lot of fun in Nauvoo and are excited that we live so close to it. Hopefully it can be a reason people will come and visit us. All are welcome!

Now I am all caught up, just in time for my first trip home to Utah. I will eventually get some pictures up of Iowa and what we are doing here.

Zoo with the Kovac's

I know I am in Iowa and I am still posting about Utah, but I still have things that we did before we left to post about. So here is the next one. Our trip to the zoo with the Kovac family.

We had a lot of fun with them at the zoo. The kids got so excited to see the different animals.

Looking at the Elephants.

My sister-in-law also came with us and here she is holding Makayla.

They loved looking at the animals, but they really loved playing on the playground.

Makayla chillin' in a egg! She loved just sitting in it.

Makayla and dad playing in the prairie dog exhibit.

Probably their favorite thing to play on was the giant snake slide. Makayla was a little scared to go down by her self so Kyson took her down with him the first time.

Once she had gone down with Kyson she went down herself. I got a picture of each of the kids coming down by themselves. Taylee's is my favorite. She just looks so excited!

Makayla

Taylee

Kyson

Don't they look so cute together!

Makayla loves her daddy!

Who can go home from the zoo without playing in the water first. They wanted to play here for hours! They are such great friends! Makayla misses them so much! She walks around the house saying "ky-ky" and "tae-tae". Can't wait to see you guys in a few weeks! Lets go to the zoo again!

4th Of July Parade

One of my absolute favorite things about the 4th of July is the West Bountiful parade! Lame I know, but I look forward to it every year and if I miss it I am truly sad. This year it was a whole week early, weird I know, but we still went and we dragged our friends Kipp and Krystal, my brother and his wife, and my parents with us. It was Makayla's first real parade and she loved it. Maybe it was because of all the candy she got, side note if you want to get a lot of candy just have a kid with you.

Makayla and her mommy!

Makayla and her daddy!

Makayla's favorite things were the firetrucks, the dogs, and the horses. She got so excited when the dogs went by yelling, "Dogie Dogie". This shows her excitement.

View of most of the gang

Makayla also loved the flag she got. She would wave it in one hand while holding tight to the sucker she was eating in the other one. She kept trying to eat the candy as they were throwing it out to us.

After the parade we went back to my parents house and made and ate breakfast. It was yummy, but it was a little too much for Makayla. She was so tired from all the excitement that this happened at the table while we were eating.

This is the first time she has ever fallen asleep while in her high chair. it was so funny. The best part was the process of her falling asleep. First she started to fade away. She has this thing with pushing. When she is tired or in a restricted area she pushes against it until she is red or sometimes purple in the face, it is really annoying. Anyway she started to do this and we knew she was falling asleep.

We all started to laugh and then she did this.

She opened her eyes and started to laugh with us. Then we looked back at her and her eyes were closed again. We would laugh and she would open them and laugh again. She did this a couple of times. No she wasn't faking asleep she was totally out of it when she did it. After awhile she stopped opening her eyes and just did this.

She would smile with her eyes closed anytime we would laugh. She did this a few times until she was totally out. We were all laughing so hard. She is so cute and funny I just can't stand it!

Legacy Carnival

Way back in June my grandma's assisted living place held their annual carnival and I took Makayla to it. It was a lot more fun this year having Makayla there. I took her on her first ever pony ride! She loved it! All through the ride she kept saying "Wee Wee Wee". When it came time to get off she sure didn't want to and I had to literally pull her away from the pony.

Just imagine it "Wee Wee Wee"

No carnival is complete without cotton candy and popcorn. Here is Makayla with both.

She is a girl after my own heart! Looks like mom will be getting cotton candy anytime she wants! Dad can't say no to us both!

There was also a pile of hay that the kids could play in. Makayla sure loved it. She also loved Aunt Bonnie for giving her the taffy that mom wouldn't!

Makayla and Aunt Bonnie sitting in the hay.

We sure had a lot of fun at the carnival! Thanks Grandma for inviting us to come!

Precious

So I have been slacking on posting anything, but for a good reason, we were in the process of moving. I have a lot of catching up to do so bare with me as I post a whole lot about the past few weeks before we moved. I wanted to start with this because it is just too cute to skip.

One Sunday night at dinner we were having corn on the cob and Makayla kept pointing and saying she wanted some. I decided to let her try to eat it. What else can I say other than she LOVED IT!

At 15 months enjoying corn on the cob! Can't get any better than that!

(She ate most of the piece too!)

I just had to post these ones. Everyone should know that I love my grandpa Hunter very much and will miss him dearly when we move. He is getting very old and I don't know how much longer her will be around, so when this happened it just melted my heart.

The last Sunday night we had in Utah Grandpa Hunter was over for dinner and Makayla wanted to read some books. She has always been a little bit shy with older people, but on this night she kept giving the books to Great-Grandpa for him to read. At one point Great-Grandpa in his old and fragile state picked her up and sat her on his lap and read the books to her. It was so precious and I just had to take pictures of it. He is always so sweet to her and I hope he knows how much she and I love and miss him!

Makayla and her Great-Grandpa Hunter