nauvoo, city beautiful

Meet Ma & Pa Meador :)  We picked up our sweet white van a few days before the trip, and met our 10 "children" the morning we left for Nauvoo.  It was crazy cramped inside the van, but we really had a great group of kids who didn't complain and just went with the flow.  Let me first say that it was a long drive!!  The first 8 hours went by fairly well, but the last 4ish were SO SLOW.  The kids weren't supposed to bring ear buds, but a few of ours were using them early on, which we discouraged.  By hour 8, we didn't really care because everyone was so tired and eager to just get there!  You can only play so many get-to-know you games, church videos, and movies. 

 Once we arrived, we had some dinner (courtesy of the Stake-assigned cooks), had an hour or so to relax, then had devotional and lights out. All our girls were in one room, and our boys in another at the Hotel Nauvoo right near the temple.  All the Ma's were in one room, with the Pa's in another.  That was kind of annoying because I had no privacy to talk with Kevin about the day, make plans, etc...but we made it work and chatted in the hall before bed.

 The whole temple experience was really neat, and we were able to do baptisms for the dead both mornings.  The rest of our time was spent exploring all the historical sites, attending shows, and watching both the British and the Nauvoo Pageant. The youth favorite was the blacksmith shop since we all were gifted a ring made from a nail ("prairie diamond").

 Had to take a picture by this fairy house to show Brookie...

 One of the shows we watched, with lots of fun music and dancing.

 Our family on the steps of the temple.

This was the second morning, and the night before had been a rough one.  I had just drifted off to sleep (sometime after midnight), when I woke up to one of our girls at our door telling us that some of the girls weren't in the room. Apparently they had gone to talk to some of the boys, but had never come back.  Another Ma went with me to knock on the boy's door, but of course once we knocked, it went totally silent inside.  They wouldn't open the door, so we then went and knocked on the Pa's door to wake them up.  The Stake YM President and Kevin came out, knocked on the boys' door, and still no answer.  We then went outside to check things out, and saw people climbing out the window and running to the parking lot.  This was all pretty intense for me, and I was not prepared for how to handle this situation.  I went over to the girls, two of which were in our family.  One girl was visibly distraught, and after lots of questions, one of the girls said that a family friend had tried to commit suicide that night, so they had gone to talk to her cousin (in the boy's room), and when she started to have a panic attack, they went into the boy's room because they didn't know what to do.  I didn't know the girls well enough to gauge whether this was the truth, or a totally elaborate story.  I asked whether things were okay, or if she wanted a blessing to calm down.  She said she wanted a blessing, but Kevin felt weird about the whole thing since we didn't know what actually went on since the boys wouldn't even open the door.

So, this is turning into a long story, but we went back to the boy's room, and they finally opened the door but were total liars and wouldn't even admit that the girls were in there.  This didn't really make us very confident in anybody's story, and after multiple interrogations (ha, seems intense, but it kind of was because we had to figure out what was going on), the story actually checked out and the kids were just scared of getting in trouble.  But at least the girl's told the truth, which is more than what the boys did.  Once the story was straight, Kevin went back to give our "daughter" a blessing, which was actually a really cool experience.  We asked them to get some sleep because we had another early morning at the temple planned.

I was exhausted by the time I hit my pillow at 1:30, and was up again at 6 for the temple.  The two girls came to my room that morning and apologized for the way they handled things.  I told them that I understand why they got scared (because it would look bad that they were in the boy's room), but that they need to find a leader if someone is in trouble or having an anxiety attack.  I felt like although I was a novice at these types of situations, I was able to show more love to those girls and we still managed to have a normal relationship for the next 2 days.

The highlight of the trip (if you call it that), was visiting Carthage Jail.  I had no idea how powerful the Spirit would be in that jail house.  Not only did my testimony grow about the prophet Joseph Smith, but I was able to better understand the actual events that took place.  When we entered the bottom floor, we stood in a small room and the guide talked about how the floors were the original floors.  As we moved onto the next room, the floorboards squeaked beneath our feet and I felt the Spirit so intensely.  To know that the Prophet stood on those exact floors was so incredible to me.  A lot of the homes in Nauvoo are replicas, and the homes are mostly filled with "period accurate" items.  But the jail was totally different.  When we went to the upper room, we sat on benches and they played an audio recording of the events as if we were actually there as the mob arrived.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.  The bullet hole on the door is also original, and patrons were permitted to touch the hole.

After Carthage, we walked the Trail of Tears, and ended with a testimony meeting by the river. A lot of our kids, and kids from our ward, bore powerful testimony and I was so grateful for this experience.  It's amazing to see the power in our youth.

On the drive home, we took a detour and went to the Liberty Jail, which was also really incredible.  The drive home went more quickly than the drive there, which was a welcome feeling :) I helped drive for a few hours as well since Kevin was getting sleeping.  It really was a lot for the leaders to drive all day, spent two full days in Nauvoo, and drive home the fourth day. Kevin and I basically traded off napping for the next two days, haha. 

jeffrey and madi to the rescue

In the Spring, Kevin and I were asked to go on the Priest/Laurel Nauvoo Trip that our Stake does every four years.  We were excited about the idea since neither one of us had ever been there, but we were unsure about who would watch our kids.  Bev initially was going to do it, but with all of Jerry's foot problems, she was unsure about whether that would be feasible since he still needed quite a bit of care. My mom was going to be in Denver with Kimberly and their new baby, and I really didn't want to have different people coming to watch the kids each day.  A few weeks prior, Jeffrey had been in town for school and had jokingly said that he would come watch the kids.  I know he was semi-joking, but Kevin and I talked about whether or not we could really ask him to do such a huge favor.  We determined that we could fly his whole family out, that way he wouldn't have to be away from them, and it could still be somewhat fun.

When we called to ask the favor of all time, he quickly said that he would talk to Madi, but that they were flying to Utah that same week.  They called back within 30 minutes, had figured out a way to change their flights to go straight from Dallas to Utah, and even shortened their trip to Utah in order to watch our kids.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude that they would even consider doing something like that.  Family really is the greatest, and I will forever be grateful for Jeffrey and Madi and their willingness to go out of their way to help us.  Every time I talked to them about it, I was emotional because I was really just so in awe of their sacrifice and grateful that my babies would be in good hands. 

When they arrived, we were so happy to see them all!  Brooke and Ellie gave each other the biggest hug, which melted my heart.  I think Brooke was a little less than patient with Ellie by the end of their trip, but I know she loves her cousin so much!

 We enjoyed a little outing on the boat, and Madi learned how to surf!

 The girls REALLY wanted to have a sleepover, and although I had my doubts, they did fairly good.  It only lasted for one night though, because they have different sleep/wake cycles.

 We took this picture after church to document their crazy life for the next 4 days.  Again, SO grateful for those two.

 We had terrible cell service in Nauvoo, but we tried to FaceTime with the kids at least once a day, and Jeffrey and Madi were awesome about sending pictures so that I could see what they were up to :) They even ventured out to story time at the library, and Chick-fil-A for dinner.

 We came home (at midnight) to this adorable sign, and spent the next hour or so recapping our trip with them.  They were flying out at 4 the next morning, so they really were probably so exhausted after watching 4 kids, 4 and under, for 4 days :)  That's a lot of 4's!

arlington parade

 Last year, we started the tradition of going to the parade in Arlington.  We grabbed a box of donuts and headed back to the same spot (steps by City Hall). It was a lot more crowded this year (last year it was empty because it had been raining all night and early morning), but we still had a blast and got our fill of marching bands and 40 year old Elvis impersonators on motorcycles :)

 Funniest moment of the day was when Colby sneezed and the biggest snot bubbles I have ever seen came out of both nostrils.  Poor kid was recoving from a head cold!

To top the day off, we went for an evening boat ride, complete with a pizza dinner.  Brooke wanted to "serve" the dinner, which was pretty adorable.

fourth of july with friends

We had our annual Fourth of July breakfast (that is never actually on the fourth, haha) with the Arlington gang (minus the Crumptons). This year, we opted for a pot-luck since it's getting a little crazy going out to eat with such a big group and so many littles.  We loved having everyone at our house, and even had some pool time after the breakfast. I am so grateful for these friends!  Not only have we experienced so much together, they really just understand me and genuinely love me and my family. 

 That afternoon, we headed up to Flower Mound for some family time, and ended up taking a nice hot walk down the street. The kids loved the wagon, and Brooke felt pretty strong pulling Colby for such a long distance.

 On the third, we met up with the friends again for the Midlothian fireworks.  They have done this in the past, but we didn't know what we were missing!  Such a great show, and even better company. Maddy is the sweetest to Brooke, which means the world to her.  Look at her little face :)

 The kids rode scooters and bikes, blew bubbles, shot slingshot rocket things (that Brooke now wants), and adorned themselves with glow in the dark jewelry.  Oh, and I can't forget the great slug wipeout!  We brought Colby's ride-on slug since I knew we would be in a paved parking lot.  He was flying across the lot, when all of a sudden, he must have hit a rock or something because he went flying over the front handles.  He had major road rash all over his arm and knee, but luckily calmed down fairly quickly.  The only funny part was that his whole collection of gift cards spilled everywhere and a nice lady picked them up and was like, "Um, here are your cards." She has no idea how much Colby loves those cards, haha.

 Love my patriotic crew...

 And I ADORE these pictures that Danielle took.  The lighting was perfection, and they capture such a perfect night.  I have decided that the Fourth of July might be one of my favorite holidays.  We have started so many fun traditions, but there isn't all the pressure of fancy meals, or gifts.  It's just good, casual fun!

Last, but certainly not least, is this precious moment between Brooke and Finley.  She really wanted to hold him, and as soon as I placed him in her lap, she nestled her nose down on his perfect little face.  I immediately choked up because in that moment, I felt a ping of loss for our baby.  The timing of our new baby would have been so perfect.  Brooke adores babies, and would have been so sweet to a little baby brother or sister.  I still have hope that she will fill that role as big sister again, but in this moment, I felt grateful for friends who would share their babies with us.

swim lessons

 Mansfield ISD has a beautiful Natatorium right by our house, and I had heard great things about their swim lessons.  Kevin and I decided to sign Brooke up for one session, and see what we thought.  She did amazingly well, and was swimming short distances with her head in the water by day TWO!  I would have signed her up for the next session as well, but we would be gone during part of the two week period, so I opted not to. Lessons lasted 30 minutes, and parents could watch from an observation deck.  Colby climbed around quite a bit, so I was grateful when the dive team was practicing because it kept Colby mesmerized...

 During the last 5 minutes of the lesson, we were allowed to come down and watch up close, which was so fun.  We spend SO much time in the water, so I really want to get this girl swimming proficiently. She seemed so confident in herself, which was also a major bonus of the lessons!

 Her teacher was awesome, and I struggling to remember if her name was Sage, or Jade.  One of those :)  She was patient, sweet, and pushed Brooke a little to encourage her to progress.