Family...in Illinois?!

Who knew? We never expected to have extended family living here in Illinois, especially so close to us. Dave's cousin Rob and his wife, Mary along with their 5 adorable children moved to Chicagoland 2 years ago and live only about 45 minutes away. We have only recently connected, but I am very glad we have, even if it took 2 years.

On Sunday, our family, Dave's parents included, attend Rob and Mary's ward to be there for the blessing of their baby boy. It was a beautiful blessing and a very nice ward. After church we went over to their house for dinner. We brought the lasagnas that Carolyn and I made earlier. We had a very good time and I am glad that we got the chance to visit for a while.

Rob and Mary have 4 girls which pretty much is heaven for Ashley and Paige. They all hit it off very easily, got along well, and had fun playing together. Rob and Mary are gracious hosts (2 times in a row--we owe them big time!)

Corned Beef and Baseball

We kept pretty busy while Grandma and Grandpa Smith were here. We shopped at the outlet mall, ate Chicago dogs, Italian beef, and cheese fries, played a little Guitar Hero, and even watched a video.

One of the best days, in my opinion, was on Saturday. In the morning Dave and Jim went to the hardware store. Yeah, you read that right---Dave and Jim at the hardware store! Don't worry they just bought an umbrella!

While the guys were out Carolyn and I made two lasagnas in advance for Sunday dinner. Carolyn made her famous and always delicious Italian sausage lasagna, while I modified her recipe and made a veggie lasagna with a creamy tomato sauce. I am always finding ways to use or give away my summer squash and zucchini from our garden! I really enjoyed spending a couple hours in the kitchen cooking, working, and talking with Carolyn. Reminded me how much cooking, although work, can be joyful and fun, especially when families work together.

About mid-afternoon, with errands and cooking finished, we all hopped in the car and headed to Chicago. Once downtown, we stopped at the famous Manny's Deli, best deli in Chicago. This was my first-time and I am no deli expert but it sure tasted like the best to me. Seriously, not a day goes by that I don't think about the lovely corned beef sandwich I ate that day. When we got there I was going to order a pastrami sandwich, but when I saw them slicing the steaming hot corned beef and piling it onto rye bread---I knew I was a goner.

Above is my sandwich. Look at that! It's definitely not about the bread.

Dave also order a corned beef sandwich, while Jim and Carolyn ordered the Presidential Special--corned beef sandwich, potato pancake, and cherry pie. The sandwich maker who was quite a character, did them a favor and turned their corned beef sandwich into 1/2 corned beef, 1/2 pastrami so they could enjoy the best of both worlds. After our sandwiches the girls, Dave and I finished up with slices of caramel cake and carrot cake. We were full, but it was sooo worth it. MANNY'S DELI, I SHALL RETURN!

They are looking a little guilty. I know they are eating a giant sandwich,

but who could resist such a delicious temptation?!

After the deli, we then headed to the Cell for a White Sox game. The Sox were playing the Cleveland Indians and came from behind to win the game. After the game, we watched a firework show. It was a lot of fun. The day was pretty warm and humid, but fortunately there was a nice breeze that kept us cool. GO WHITE SOX!

Grandpa and Grandma!

Dave's parents, aka Grandpa and Grandma Smith, came to visit this week and WE HAD SO MUCH FUN! It was really nice for all of us, (especially for Dave and his father, Jim) to step out of our busy lives, away from work, responsibilities, and pressures and just enjoy spending time with each other.

Jim and Carolyn are one-of-a-kind. I only hope Dave and I can one day be the excellent grandparents, parents, and friends they are. We appreciate their love, generosity, and patience, plus they are active, fun-loving, and hands-on. The girls love them so much and kept Grandma and Grandpa busy, among many things playing card games--King's Corner, Golf, and Hearts were big hits. They played everyday, in the morning, afternoon and evening. They played inside and outside. Grandpa and Grandma were very kind to indulge the girls.

Blueberry, Blueberry, Blueberries!

It is that time of year again...blueberry picking! We went with a bunch of friends from church to a tree farm about an hour from our home and spent the morning picking blueberries. The farm we go to is called Tammen Tree Farm and the blueberry picking has gotten so popular that every year the crowds are bigger and bigger. Fortunately, the owners of the farm are pretty savvy and have gotten better and better at managing big crowds. There is a whole efficient system set up. After you park your car, you go to a shed, where there are buckets waiting for you to pick up. After you get your bucket, you jump on a trailor which is being pulled by a tractor and drive out to the blueberry fields and the area you will be picking. After picking to your heart's delight or as long as your kids can stand it, you hop back on the tractor and go to the checkout lines, weigh your blueberries and pay. This year the blueberries were $1.85 per pound--a much better deal than you can get in the store!

Here are the girls and friends picking and playing:

This year Ashley and I set a personal best for the amount of blueberries we picked. Every year we go, we get about 7 lbs. if we are lucky and in the back of my mind I always wish we could have picked more as this is a once-a-year event. This year, as Ashley is older, I gave her a pep talk about picking lots of blueberries and guess what? She was AWESOME, picked about 4.5 lbs. herself and would have kept going if all the younger kids didn't tire out. Put Ashley's 4.5 with my 6.5 lbs. and we came away with 11lbs., which was really good for us.

After about two hours of picking, we came in from the fields and ate a picnic lunch with our friends. The farm has picnic tables, swings and a sandbox you can use.

After our picnic lunch, we stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream on the way home. Got a love those 600 calorie Blizzards!

Here are the blueberries that Ashley picked---they are big, beautiful and sweet. We froze most of them, ate a lot fresh, and are thinking of all the blueberry pancakes and muffins in our future!

The best part of the day was that even though it is July, it wasn't hot or humid, the weather was perfect for spending a day outside. After we got home, the girls feet and shoes were a little dusty and dirty from the farm so they went outside to hose off their feet and before you know it the swimsuits are on and they are playing in the sprinkler. A good end to a great day.

Beautiful Nauvoo

This past weekend we took a quick road trip to "Beautiful Nauvoo" to see the pageant and enjoy the Church history sites. We spent two days and one night and just really came to appreciate the circumstances and sacrifices of the early pioneers.

We had a really nice time. I loved that our visit to Nauvoo included family time (8 hours in the car together!), history lessons (as we learned how hard life could be in 1840 and how much one had to work), faith-promoting activities (meeting missionaries and visiting church sites), opportunites to experience nature (crossing the Mississippi River and seeing turtles and water snakes on it's banks) and lots of entertainment (the Nauvoo Pageant and pioneer games.)

Our main purpose for going to Nauvoo was to see the Nauvoo Pageant. This was our first time and we really enjoyed it. It is a wonderful production that is spiritually uplifting and very powerful. The pageant is held outside and a couple of hours before the pageant starts, there are pre-activities which are based on a county fair that would have been held during the mid-1800s. Lots of people are in costume and children can play games and learn all about pioneer life, hands-on. Our girls were given a string and for each activity they completed, they were given a bead, once they collected 10 beads they could go a receive a wooden "pioneer" bead. The girls had lots of fun walking on stilts, quilting, learning to braid, and sawing wood.

After the games, we quickly ate some hotdogs and nachos for dinner and then took our seats for the pageant. There were a lot of people there but it didn't feel crowded to me (even though we learned that there were no vacancies in the hotels in and around Nauvoo.) We had come and saved our seats earlier in the day so we sat on about the fifth row on an aisle and had a great view of the stage. In accordance with our very temperate weather this year, it was very cool that night, so we wore sweatshirts, pants and blankets. (On the second day of our trip, Paige said, and I quote, "Beautiful Nauvoo?? More like COLD Nauvoo."

We saw the pageant on the first day we were in Nauvoo, we also spent a lot of time touring the Old Nauvoo historic sites and the Visitors Center. Unexpectedly, one of my favorite parts of this trip was the sculpture exhibit at the Visitor's Center. It is called, "The Healing Power of Jesus Christ, " the artist is Angela Johnson and her work is on display until October. I included a lot of pictures in my slide show because the sculptures are so beautiful and really moving. I wish I could buy them!

Anyways, we started the second day of trip by letting the girls take an early morning swim in the hotel pool, while I went for a walk to get a little exercise---okay I walked about 4 blocks to a bakery, but at least I walked instead of taking the van! After that, we visited the temple grounds, drove out to Carthage Jail, explored the banks of the Mississippi and then returned to Nauvoo to visit a few more homes and buidlings then finally headed home. We squeezed a lot in in two days but it was fun!

Softball 2009

Ashley has officially completed another season of softball. This year, her team was the "Cougars" and even after a shaky start, they ended up over .500.

Ashley plays in a recreation league so it is more about having fun than winning. The girls rotate around and play all positions, there are no official scores or standings, and there are time limits to the games (from a parent's perspective this is a blessing!)

Ashley probably had her best season this year. She played very well in the field, no pitches got by her as catcher, she caught a fly ball, and had some great defensive plays at 3rd base. Towards the end of the season she also started pitching, which by far is the toughest skill for girls this age. We learned that Ashley was actually quite good. She never walked anyone which is pretty amazing considering that it happens so often there is rule that after four walks the coach pitches---a rule which is invoked often because the girls throw so many balls. (This is a big reason that there has to be time limits to these games!) Of course, by throwing pitches over the plate, she gave the other team opportunities for hits, which led to a lot of fielding errors by her team, but that is part of learning and Ashley loved pitching.

the wind-up

and the release

Ashley also improved her batting and learned that when it comes to batting it is as much mental as physical. The more confident she was, the better her at-bat; if she started worrying about striking out, there went her form and the at-bat.



Ashley was also involved in one of the most dramatic moments of the season. Dave was with her and I missed it which I think was probably a good thing. After a hit, Ashley was running to first base and had a huge collision with the first baseman. Ashley was pretty much up-ended, flipped and went flying. I guess it was bad enough that all the coaches and parents went running out to check on her. She stood up and said she was okay, but the first baseman was so scared that she hurt Ashley she started crying and apologizing. Kind of similar to Paige's t-ball injury, she ended up consoling the other little girl, Ashley told her, "don't worry, I'm okay." Ashley was pretty sore the next day, but I am glad she was alright and I didn't have to see it happen.

This last picture is what little sisters to do when they go to their big sisters' softball games--find a friend, sit on the grass, and dig a hole in the dirt---so much fun!

Remnants

Here are the remnants of our visit with my little sister Katey. It has taken me a few days to post because seriously after all those days of play, I needed some time to recover and catch up on laundry!

We had a lot of fun with Katey and were so happy that she came to stay with us. We can't wait until next time. The girls loved having her. She went swimming, played dancing, hide-and-seek and even dress up with them:

Katey also gave Ashley the moral support she needed to go and get her ears pierced. Ashley has been wanting to pierce her ears for a little while. I told her she could when she was ready, but Ashley has been pretty nervous about the "pain." The day before Katey left, Ashley finally decided to go for it. And as her cousin Megan and her friend Malinda told her, she learned it really doesn't hurt. All turned out well and Ashley is super excited about the whole thing. She also got a haircut that day and Katey curled her hair for an all-around "new look."

As our time with Katey waned we squeezed a few more "Chicago" traditions in which included deep dish pizza and a last minute stop at White Castle. Katey had always wanted to try White Castle as they don't have any in Utah. For this one she was on her own, because our family "hates" White Castle. Of course, we stopped to buy a slider on our way home after our huge pizza dinner so we were all sick full, the smell of the burger was nauseating, and the girls tales about how gross White Castle is pretty much psyched Katey out. We took a cute picture but she couldn't eat the burger! Oh well, maybe next time on an empty stomach.