Who Knew?!?!?!?!

Last weekend we went out to visit my brother who lives in Iowa City. The stereotype of Iowa holds true....lots of corn fields and tractors, but Iowa City is quite a gem. Who would have known? I was so impressed by the kind people and cute city. America's heartland would be a great place to live.

The street our hotel was on

Besides the corn fields, Iowa is also home to the "World's Largest Truck Spot"
Sorry Texas!

The playground in Iowa City with fun Uncle Tim

While we were in Iowa, we visited Carthage and Nauvoo, IL. It was neat to reflect on the historical significance of these two cities in Mormon history and to walk up and down the streets. My favorite part of the trip however, was spending time with my whole family. I left feeling rejuvenated for life again. I wish we could have more of those family days, but I treasure the memories and the moments.

Brothers

The little boy is joyfully doing his job.
The big boy...not so much.

Pioneer games

We wouldn't have made it across the Mississippi!

Home Sweet Home

In preparation for our upcoming move to Boston, we went house shopping last week. We had a hard time finding a place even in a buyers market. I would hate to have to shop for a house in Boston when it is not a buyers market...you would need a million dollars to buy a cardboard box!

We are excited about the adventures that lie ahead of us up there. I think our new little house will work out well for us. Anyways, here are some pictures of our Boston mansion...definitely not the size of a Texas mansion, but probably the same price as one.



After signing our life away on the house, we made a quick trip to downtown Boston and spent some time playing in Boston Commons and eating lunch on Newbury Street. It was a nice way to end a stressful trip and reminded us why we wanted to move to Boston in the first place.

Daniel feeding the sparrows on the patio where we ate lunch.
The Public Garden

James

I realized I have only been posting pictures of Daniel. It is true, the first child has way more pictures taken of him...even with a digital camera.

A little upset and very chameleon like.

I don't know if I could sleep in this position.

Attacked

This is what fine, curly hair looks like after it has been through the vacuum.

A Strawberry Saturday

I don't know if anything is more delicious than some freshly picked, juicy, sun ripened strawberries with a bowl of fresh whipped cream to dip them in. I know your mouth is watering now...mine is just writing about the berries and I had them for dinner last night and breakfast this morning! We all had red drip marks on our shirts from sampling the berries yesterday as we were picking them....mmmmmmm!

As a side note, Daniel thinks whipped cream is "whooped cream"

Besides getting some delicious berries, the farm we went to pick them at had some other fun family activities (Ok, lets be honest here, "family friendly" really means kids friendly. But happy kids = a happy family). Here are some cute pictures.

The "moon bounce" was fun until he saw the tractor

A tractor pulling a train!

Daniel got a balloon sword

Looking at this makes me recognize the disparity in the world even more.
Recently, there have been riots in 3rd world countries because of a lack of grain.
The children got to play in corn kernels...a topic for another day.

The fruits of his labors

The hayride

Another tractor

Our good friends, the Swapps, who spent the entire day with us.

The Answer to "Who's Who"

Baby A is James

Baby B is Daniel