Clouds

This morning I ran outside to grab some balls and toys left in the backyard before it started raining and I looked up at the sky and saw these crazy clouds. I've never seen clouds quite like this before. It looked like they were wavy with holes in them. Pretty cool!

Louisville Temple Trip

Last Wednesday morning, I was reading a conference talk and felt like we really needed to take a trip to the temple. We had talked about needing to do it sometime, but never really pinned down a date, or when we did, something else came up, so I decided we just needed to do it. We had enough Marriott points for a one-night stay, so I booked a hotel that day for Friday night and we did it! We were gone for about 24 hours and it was a great getaway! Columbus is officially our temple, but it's exactly the same time to both temples (1 hour and 40 minutes), so we decided to go to Louisville since we'd never been and the times worked out a little better.

It was also a nice way for us to celebrate finishing the Book of Mormon! This was the second time we've read it altogether as a family (starting when Eli was two or something), so it was pretty exciting. I know that seems like a long time for only reading it twice, but some days we only get a few verses in! As the kids get older we've been able to read more each day, so I think the third read will go even faster. Diligent family scripture study has been a big blessing for us.

So anyway...we arrived late afternoon on Friday and then went to dinner at a restaurant a couple blocks away. We decided to walk and were grateful the rain stopped while we walked to and from! It was really pleasant outside and it felt great. After we got back, I went off to the temple and Jeremy took the kids to the hotel pool. When I returned, we played a few games of Uno, popped the popcorn the hotel gave us, and then got the kids to bed.

They were so cute all together in the bed! The sofa had a chaise on one side and a sofa bed on the other, so we put the boys on the sofa bed and made up a little bed for Anna on the chaise. That's the first time she hasn't slept in a crib of some sort and she did great! Of course it took them a little while to settle down and stop giggling and talking, but eventually they did. Luckily we had a one bedroom suite, so we just closed our door and enjoyed a nice night together!

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed back to the temple, altogether this time. I did a few initiatories and then Jeremy went in for an endowment session. He had brought the kids into the waiting room and after I got there they didn't want to leave, so we just stayed for another half hour or so. It was so peaceful in there and felt so nice to be back in the temple. It had been several months since we had been, so we really needed that. I was glad the kids got to see it and feel the Spirit there too.

I took the kids back to the hotel and packed up our stuff and our lunch and then we went back to pick up Jeremy and drove home! It was quite cloudy and rainy the whole time, so we didn't get to walk around outside at all, but it was still nice for them to be able to see it. I hope we'll be back soon!

Coney Island

The day my parents left, we also left at the same time for Jeremy's corporate picnic at "Coney Island". It's a small amusement/water park right on the Ohio River and it was lots of fun! It was perfect for little kids. We were really tired from the busy week and didn't plan to stay very long, but we ended up staying for over four hours. The company had a big pavillion where everyone gathered and had lunch. They had a balloon artist, a caricature artist, face painter, carnival games and prizes for the kids and popcorn and snow cones and all sorts of fun stuff. After we did all of that, we went over to the rides and the kids rode a bunch of the little rides. Anna was the only one who wanted to go on at first (my boys are very timid), but finally they were convinced to join their two year-old sister on the rides and they had a lot of fun.

 Getting our pictures drawn. I would never pay to do something like this, but it was free and so fun! I can't wait to put them up somewhere.

 We did one of Jeremy and I and one of the kids. Cute! I love that we kept Connor's hat on since he wears it everyday, and I also love that Jeremy and Eli's eyes look exactly the same, because that is very accurate. She even captured Connor's lopsided ears. Love it!
Riding the helicopters - excitement reigns.

 Anna was the only one who tried the rocket ship. She loved it!

 Connor on an airplane!

 It was SO HOT AND MUGGY we were kind of miserable, but every once and a while a breeze would come and save us. We planned to go over to the giant pool after the rides, but when we got over there we changed our mind. We had remarked how not crowded the rides were and when we got to the pool we realized why. Everyone was over there! And the pool was huge! I read that it was built in 1925 and is 200 feet wide and 401 feet long (over 2 acres), making it the LARGEST flat surface pool in North America! Wow. I think a hot Saturday afternoon is not the best day to try it out though. Holy smokes.

(Hard to see in the pic, but it was packed).

So we convinced the kids to just go home and go in the pool in our neighborhood instead. We'll plan better next year so we can have time to try it out.

About two minutes into the drive home, the car looked like this:

 Haha. Everyone woke up when we got home though, and we took a quick dip in the pool and then headed over to our friends' house for a party, who also had a face painter. Again, Anna was the only one who wanted to do it. :) Pretty cute!

 It was a busy but fun day! I felt like I was constantly sweating for about six hours, but I suppose I better get used to it, 'cause it's summertime!

Grandparents!

We got home from the family reunion on Wednesday night, and then Thursday my parents drove down from Indiana to come see us and our new house! We were so excited to have them, even if it was only for a couple days. We went to the pool three times, showed them our community garden, went on a little hike in the woods, went out for ice cream at the famous Graeter's, and Jeremy and I even got an afternoon date to the movies on Friday! It was a fun-filled two days! We were so glad they came. I was so lame and hardly took any pictures because we were too busy having fun, so I stole most of these from my Mom.

Thursday night at Graeter's. Jeremy and I had our 10-year anniversary that day!!! It was a fun way to celebrate. We hope to celebrate more later. Anna and I have very greasy sunblock/chlorine hair. Lovely.

Happy Anniversary to us!

At the movies! Half-day Fridays are the best. We hadn't been to a movie in 2.5 years. It was pretty fun! I think we better do this whole date thing more often. First one in three months! Yikes!

My pretty Anniversary present from Jeremy (one of two, the other is in the backyard). Thank you babe!

Saturday morning yoga with Grandma. My kids love this.

Thanks for coming, parents! We love you!

Astle Family Reunion 2015

This year we had the Astle Reunion at my sister Amy's house. We were REALLY excited to only have to drive 3 hours! It's usually always at my parents' house in California, but with everyone in the midwest or east it made sense to do it out here, which was great for us! Amy and Rob planned a ton of fun activities and they worked hard to make it a success! Their house is always so fun and this time was no exception. It was also really fun for my kids to spend time with their McNiven cousins because we usually only see them once a year. :(

I forgot my camera but luckily my Dad brought his and took a lot of nice pictures that I was able to steal. Warning: there are a LOT!

 Saturday morning some people ran a 5k while the rest of us walked with the kids on bikes/scooters/strollers. Then that afternoon we did some "family olympics" that Rob planned.

 Assigning our teammates to different events.

 This one you had to fill up a sponge with water, then pass it over your head down the line and empty it into a tin can. The first team to fill up the can won!

 For this one you had to swing and fling your shoe off to see how far it could go. I failed miserably.

 Balloon between the legs relay. Rob had clever actual olympic even names for everything, but I can't remember them anymore.

 Go Vanessa!

 This one was quite entertaining. The kids had to shoot shaving cream off of the men's chests. Brenna was pretty grossed out that they had their shirts off. :)

 Get the gummy worms buried in the whipping cream!

 Dropping mini marshmallows into your teammate's mouth. Connor was the champion!

 Flinging your shoe over your head.

 Brenna modeling the shower cap topped with whip cream and cheese puffs I had to throw and stick on.

 "Javelin". Rob made these out of pool noodles and pvc pipe.

 Wrap up your teammate in toilet paper!

 Later that night. Three cute girls! Anna is 2, Elise is almost 2, and Eileen is 14 months.

 We had lots of volleyball games every night.

 Sunday - church day.

 The whole family minus Steve and Yihua. We missed not having them there! They couldn't take the time off from work.

 Monday we went to a dairy farm and had a tour.

 It made me kind of sad to see all these cows hooked up like machines.

 We also saw a live birth.

 And watched a really awful "3-D" movie. Not worth the time.

 Afterward we played outside at the jump houses, giant pillow trampoline, climbing wall, and jumping thing (I don't know what it's called). My kids weren't big enough for a lot of those things, but everyone had a good time.

 Shannon doing back flips.

 Even my Mom tried it!

 Tuesday we went to the (free!) zoo and then the waterpark that was next door. This was my kids' favorite day. The zoo had lots of fun noisy monkeys and some adorable wallabies.

 Getting ready for the pool!

 We enjoyed floating on the lazy river together.

They also had a few water slides. My kids weren't tall enough for those, but the older kids and adults enjoyed them!

 Lunch at the park.

 They had a big zero entry pool which was great for my kiddos. They had lots of fun!

 Anna and Eileen were adorable here!

 That night Grant had a baseball game that we got to go watch! Eli and Connor enjoyed sitting by Grandpa and learning more about baseball. They love to play in our backyard.

Wednesday we just laid low all day which was great after the packed week. We left that afternoon and enjoyed a quiet car of exhausted napping kids on the way home. Thanks for planning such a great reunion, Amy & Rob!