Foreign Visitors

Ok. Not really. Sam's brother, Jared, and his wife, Rachel, and their kids came to visit. They moved to Montreal (you know, in Canada) in December for Jared's job. We have been so busy with visitors since Kelly and Andrew were here for a week and left last Tuesday night, and then Jared and Rachel came Wednesday night and left Sunday morning. It was so good to see each other, and the kids had so much fun together. Mila keeps saying, "Mom, do you remember Logan? Mom, do you remember Giselle? Mom, where's Rachel? Mom, where's Daddy Logan (aka Jared. Ha Ha!)?" Warning: lot's of pictures!

 

 

Of course, we went to Young's Jersey Dairy

 Emmitt loved sharing Cow Patty ice cream with me.

The kids barely ate a few bites of ice cream, and they were off to feed the goats.

Mila looks like a homeless child in this picture. Messy face and wild hair. People must see her and wonder if we own a brush or if she has parents that care about her. Just for the record, I did comb and put gel in her hair. This is what happens to her crazy hair in Ohio humidity no matter what I do!

All Emmitt cared about was running up and down this ramp in the barn.

I barely got this shot and Emmitt dove right off the cow. Luckily, Sam was there to catch him.

There he goes. Probably looking for the ramp.

Playing on the tractor. Love that little, goofy smile!

Mila spent lots of time here. What's more fun than a bank of hand sanitizer dispensers? I didn't mind her fascination though cause feeding the goats totally grosses me out!

The Cinderella Park

Mila, Ellie (a girl in our ward that was at the park, too), and Giselle on the pumpkin carriage.

Mila and Emmitt sharing a swing. So cute!

Feeding the ducks. These things are so crazy! They have no fear and get right up into your personal space.

Mila loved having a little friend to play "Darbies" and ponies with.

The Columbus Zoo

I hadn't been to this zoo since 7th grade, I think, and it was awesome! I did not remember it being so nice. Can't wait to go back since we didn't get see everything we wanted to.

Here were some of our favorites...

Black Rhino. Sam wanted to see this one the most, and he was sitting so he could barely be seen.

The tigers.

Lions. This guy was literally 3 feet away. It looks like he's looking right at my camera. Or maybe he thought I just looked like a tasty treat...

These three are pretty close to little animals :)

Flamingoes. Mila loves flamingoes and was pretty excited about these.

Alligators. This guy was laying right by the glass. He did not even look real! Look how funny his little hand is!

  Koala Bear. I wish that I had a better picture because this little guy was so cute! He was all squished between the branches of this tree sleeping.

We had a blast with Jared, Rachel, Logan, and Giselle! Can't wait to see them again!

A Wedding Celebration

Kelly and Andrew had their open house here in Ohio on the 20th. We were quite busy preparing for it. It was a lot of fun to spend the week with them! Of course, in my usual fashion, I decided like the day before to make tissue paper pom-poms to hang in the tree over the tables and crepe paper rosette balls for over the food table. I only got one rosette ball done because (as I found out the hard way) they are so time consuming! The open house was a success, and we all had a good time visiting with friends.

 Erin, Me, Kelly, Tori

A few of the puffy beauties

 I thought they turned out really nice!

The rosette ball. Lots of work for sure, but it was so pretty!

The Most Constant Thing in Life is Change...

And how our life has changed! Good changes though!

Change #1: Today Sam was ordained as a High Priest and set apart as the 2nd counselor in our ward's bishopric. I think it's kind of funny that I just made Sam's Priesthood Line of Authority for his birthday which will now have to be changed completely. This will be such a great opportunity for Sam to serve the Lord and the members of our ward. Lucky for him, he served in a single's ward bishopric in Virginia which is a good introduction to this calling. Oddly enough, my dad is the 1st counselor. I never thought that my dad and my husband would be in a bishopric together. I miss having his help with the children in sacrament meeting already!

Change #2: Sam will also be starting a new job this week with Honeywell Aerospace! He totally was not looking for another job, but this opportunity came along and was too good to pass up. We are completely stoked because this job is better in every way--better pay, benefits, vacation, retirement, etc. He wasn't even going to apply because he thought maybe he should work for his other company longer, and it really would be a miracle for him to get the job. The more we thought about it, we just thought he should give it a try. The worst thing that could happen would be that he wouldn't get the job, but since he already had a job it wouldn't be the end of the world. Miracle of miracles happened, and he got the job! I think Heavenly Father was pre-blessing us since He knew that Sam was going to be called into the Bishopric :)

So, things have changed unexpectedly again for us in this wild and crazy land of Ohio.   

A Wedding and Another Birthday

We just got back from Utah last night. I love the dryness of Utah. We got to Ohio about 12:30 A.M., and I could still totally feel the humidity the second I stepped outside at the airport. Anyway, my little sister, Kelly, got married on my birthday in the Logan, Utah temple. It was a wonderful ceremony, and I was so happy to be able to be there for her sealing. It was amazing! I was ok sharing my birthday with her because I'm 27 this year. No need to celebrate that. Being at my little sister's wedding with two young children and a Mr. of almost 6 1/2 years suddenly made me feel a little old. I know that 27 isn't old, but when I was younger, I never imagined myself much past 25. I've already done most of the big exciting things in life like getting a driver's license, going on my first date, graduating high school, going to college, graduating college, getting engaged, getting married, having my first baby, well you get the idea. Turning 27 aside, it was a great birthday since I got to go to the beautiful Logan temple, I got to be with my family, and I still even got some cake. Even though I am 27, I know there's still lots of good stuff to come. 

My beautiful sister and her new Mr.

There was a lot of waiting around for the happy couple to come out of the temple and then during some of the pictures so the children had ample time to try and get into mischief...

 Emmitt has to be running and on the go ALL THE TIME. If he's not doing that...

 ...he's finding something he shouldn't to eat :)

 Mila and her cousins, Gracie and Layla, climbing in one of the trees on the temple grounds.

 Emmitt went nuts over the fountain! We could not keep him away.

 Mila and Papa enjoying the flowers.

I really wanted to get a nice picture of our little family dressed up at the temple. This is the best one. You can only guess how good the other ones were.

All in all, a wonderful day with the ones I love!