Oh that I could go yet stay...

 Oh that I could go yet stay;

have tomorrow, keep today;

treasure hold my yesterday.

My yesterday now treasured dear;

was once tomorrow seen with fear.

I heard this poem in the MTC and wrote it in my scriptures.  It was a fitting description of my feelings as I left the MTC and I find it fitting today as we look toward moving to Arizona yet long to take our dear friends in Illinois with us on our journey.  Our lives have been touched by so many since moving to Illinois and we are sad to say goodbye.  Sweet little Molly has created a bond between us and our ward that will always hold a special place in our hearts.  It was fun to watch her tonight at our farewell open house as she "worked the room" sharing her smile and showing off her tricks to everyone.  By the time we got home she was tuckered out and ready for her blankey.

 I didn't get a post up last week.  We were in Utah over the weekend and had fun visiting with cousins and grandparents.  Molly fell in love with the little rocking chair that was just her size!

Six Flags Great America

We celebrated Memorial Day with our friends at Six Flags in Gurnee,IL.  2 of our favorite coasters are at Six Flags: Superman and Vertical Velocity.  If you haven't tried them, and you love thrill rides, you need to add them to your list - they're awesome!

Murder Mystery Dinner

This weekend we got together with some friends to play one of those "How to Host a Murder" games.  It was based in Chicago during the roaring 20's.  We had a blast dressing up and playing murder suspects.  Thanks for a fun night everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and fun!  We didn't actually get to spend time with our families this year, but they were in our thoughts and prayers.  We have so many good friends nearby and living away from our relatives, we consider our friends to be family.  We were grateful to spend time with them on this most thankful day of the year!  We had fun cooking, visiting, eating, and shopping together.  Yes, shopping!!!  A group us went to the outlets at 10PM Thanksgiving night and had a blast searching for great deals!  We didn't get home until 3AM, only to find Shane and our friend Patrick playing video games.  Who says only the girls can go out and have fun!!

This is our favorite jello to make for the holidays.  Shane's family calls it Joseph Jello because it is as colorful as Joseph's coat of many colors!

Which pie should I choose?

Oops!  Caught me!

The results of a successful shopping trip!

Trunk-or-Treat

Saturday was our ward trunk-or-treat Halloween activity. We took Cheesy Potato Soup to share...yum! After dinner there were games and crafts for the kids, a costume parade, and then we all went outside for trunk-or-treating. Our friends were out of town so we got to take their kids with us.  It was a blast playing mom and dad for the night!

Shane's got some serious skills!

Rock On!

We've spent the last few weekends staying up way too late and having way too much fun playing Rock Band with our friends.  Keep your eyes opened - our world wide tour will soon be stopping at a city near you!

Girls Camp!

This past week was our stake's girls camp in Soni Springs, Michigan.  I went up as the first year certification leader for the stake which means I was in charge of making sure all the first year campers had an awesome time at camp.  The coolest thing about being a leader at camp (besides getting to spend a week with the most amazing girls) is that you get to use a walkie talkie!  (that's me in the middle with the black walkie talkie clipped to my hip).  Love that!  All in all we had a great time - beautiful weather, yummy food, mosquito bites at a minimum and only one case of poison ivy.

Pyromaniac!

We had such a fun 4th of July! It started out with a big breakfast over at the church with our ward. Everyone brought something to share (we made dutch oven omelets). After breakfast there was a little program followed by all sorts of games and a bike parade for the kids. It was great! Later on we got together with some friends for a BBQ and fireworks. Shane and the other guys were like a bunch of kids running in and out of the street to light the fireworks. It was hilarious!

Heritage Fest

We went to Heritage Fest with our friends and had such a great time walking around and checking out all the food booths. Shane made a bee line for the pork-chop-on-a-stick stand and couldn't have been more happy with his choice. Maybe this is something we should try at home!