Abby's visit and new baby Alydia!

This past weekend we had our adorable niece Abigail visiting with us while her parents had her new little sister.  We loved having her here!  She is so sweet and adorable, we are missing her like crazy now that she's back at home.  We tried to keep her busy so she didn't miss her parents too much.

On Friday we went to the Family Museum. I didn't get any pictures of them together, the older girls were more on their own.  But they all seemed to have fun.

That night, Emma was thrilled to have a bathing partner.  For some reason Brayden freaks out unless he's alone in the bath.

On Saturday David took the 3 older kids to the John Deere Pavilion for their craft day.  I think my girls had fun showing it off to Abby.  Though she was a little hesitant at first, she seemed to warm up to the idea of getting on the big tractors.

After lunch and nap time, the 3 girls went with David to the splash park.  Everyone crashed hard that night after such a busy day. 

The next day we left directly from church to take Abby home and to meet her new little sister, Alydia!  What a beautiful little baby! We all had to take our turns holding her.

 

Abby with her new little sister.

The five Grandkids.  We realized that the grandkids match the kids...there are 4 girls and 1 boy.  Pretty cool!

First Day of 2nd Grade!

I can't believe school is starting already!  It feels like our summer just began, and now it's over.  Molly started 2nd Grade today.  She has been so excited for weeks. 

Last Thursday we went and met her teacher and unpacked her backpack

 And today she was up bright and early to get ready for school.  Her school has changed the start time from 8:35 to 7:35, which seems super early, so it will be an adjustment for all of us.  I thought we were doing pretty well this morning until we realized on the walk to school that Molly forgot to brush her teeth, she didn't take her glasses, I forgot to include the note in her lunch for her first day that I was meaning to, and I didn't put a napkin in her lunchbox that I have constantly been reminding her to use and specifically told her would be in there.  Oh well, I guess that's what the first week of school is for, to get ourselves in gear.  At least she was there on time, happy, and beautiful to boot.

Molly is so excited that her good friend and neighbor Gracie is in her class this year.

QC Botanical Center

We went to the Quad City Botanical Center this week with some good friends.  It ended up being even cooler and more fun than we thought.  They had a little children's garden with a stream the kids could play in on hot days.  Molly told me it was a miniature Mississippi river. Definitely a place to visit again.

Omaha

Last weekend we visited Grandma and Grandpa Yourstone.  They took us to Omaha, and Grandpa watched the kids while David and I did a session at the temple with Grandma and Krista.  We then headed to the Omaha zoo.  Fun times!

Our favorite animal was this ape.  We talked about how his eyes showed so much expression and intelligence.  He was fun to watch.