colorado to iowa

This past week we hosted, for part of the time, my sister and her family on their annual summer trip to Iowa from Colorado and what fun we had! We had a busy week and weekends and that's just the way I like it :)

They arrived late Friday evening so Saturday we spent the morning at our house playing and catching up. Part of the catching up entailed my older sister, Kirsten, announcing to my parents that baby #3 is on the way and due in December! She had told my sister, Jacinda, and I a few weeks back but had yet to tell my parents. So excited for them and such a true blessing to be growing life once again! I have already begun praying for the little peanut and can't wait to see how this baby brings joy and completion to their family! 

popsicles to finish the night

hanging on the porch 

sam and preston playing

Then after lunch and pedicures for the ladies! we hit up the pool. There's two pools in Ankeny and we went to the new and bigger one that we hadn't yet been to and it was a blast! They had lots of fun slides for the adults and plenty to keep the kiddos of all ages attention too. Saturday night was a grill out at our place and then Sunday we all attended our church in Ames before driving a little further to hop on a train ride for the afternoon. The train is located just outside Boone and drove around for about 2 hours. It was a pretty ride and the kids loved looking out the windows but with no A/C and 7 littles ones we were happy to be done by the end :)

boarding the train

views from the train

my handsome boys

From here we went our seperate ways for a few days. My sister and the boys headed to my parents for a few days without us and we enjoyed a few days of down time at home. Although Lily asked where Asher, Sam, Devin and Eden were first thing Monday morning and cried when I told her they went to grandpa and grandma's for a few days - so sweet, she loves having friends over!

Wednesday morning I picked up my sister, Jacinda and her little one Paisley and we took off North to my parents house for the rest of the week.

Wednesday they enjoyed running around at my brother's house, petting the animals and playing on the tire swing. Then that night we were able to catch my nephew, Devin's last baseball games of the season! It was fun to see him play and they were pretty impressive for 1st graders!

Then Thursday we spent some time in Cedar Falls eating lunch at a place I miss so much, Pablos!, and may have ventured over for a cupcake at Scratch too - you just have to when it's right across the street, don't ya?! Thursday night we snapped some grandparent/grandkid pictures at my parents house, my mom likes us to do them informally to keep things updated as our family continues to grow! Then we were off to a great park in Parkersburg and had a pizza picnic in the park's shelter.

more popsicles

pig noses

some of the grandkid pics 

precious girls

funny face!

jumping (minus sam)

my beautiful parents!

playing at the playground

We had planned on leaving Friday morning but ended up taking off Thursday night instead which proved to be a smart decision. Everyone was coming back to our place for the weekend as my brother in law, Ivan, was flying into Des Moines to drive back with my sister and the boys. This allowed me time Friday morning to get reorganized, pick up a few more groceries, and be ready for a house full once again - we love it!

Everyone rolled back into town in the afternoon and we spent time playing outside before a taco dinner and a fire to end the night. 

Saturday morning we hit up the Des Moines Farmers Market - so good! although I had quite the story of getting myself back to our car in a down pour! So we spent the rainy afternoon indoors taking long naps, watching movies, and playing games. Saturday night dinner was at my sister, Jacinda, who lives just a few miles down the road - we had BLT's - love these in the summer! and spent the night chatting around a fire once again.

Then Sunday morning it was good-bye :( as they hit the road for the long drive back to Denver. We enjoy their visits so much and we look forward to our visits to see them as well. Thankfully our good bye isn't for long this time as our family is heading out for an adventure packed trip in August! Oh how we love family and cherish our times together and the memories we are making!