Have you ever been to Idowa?

Two weeks ago I had a trip to Iowa planned. I was going to take the kids and fly to Pella, Iowa to help Sherri for a few days (she is pregnant and has been very ill). Then I was going to go spend a few days with Kevin and Heather and Sayler in my old home town, Sterling, Illinois. On Saturday evening, Todd decided to come with us, so we decided to drive rather than buy another plane ticket.

So, an hour later we were all packed and headed out for Iowa. As we were getting on the road, Ameliah said "I NEED to go to I-doh-wa!"

It took us 26 hours of non-stop driving and we finally arrived in Pella. We had such a fun time! I was so sad to find out that the battery in my camera was dead and I forgot to bring my spare! Sherri was kind enough to let me borrow hers and here are just a few of the shots I snapped. I e-mailed these pictures to myself, so I think that may have affected the quality somehow.

L to R: Luke, Ameliah, Cannon, Chelsea, Annika, Brooke. This was their "picnic" one day for lunch.

This is Annika and Cannon playing in the pantry...one of their favorite hiding places during the visit. They are only about 8 weeks apart in age and Ameliah and Luke are also 8 weeks apart, so it was like having two sets of twins!

Me and my honey! I am so glad I convinced him to come. This trip was so amazing with him there. The first morning after we got there he woke up and cleaned and organized Sherri's entire garage! She was so happy that she cried! He is such a wonderful husband and brother!

This is Cannon playing soccer in Sherri's beautiful HUGE backyard.

This is Ameliah playing outside. She loves to walk on the snow. The orange pants are borrowed from Luke because I could not get her to take of the leopard leotard she wore for 2 days! This is Todd and Annika coming in from playing outside. She was having a blast with the other kids, but her little lips were turning purple.

This is me sneaking in a little run one morning. It was cold and the neighborhood was hilly so it didn't last long, but it was good to get out. My trip was so long that I missed 3 of my running club days and I didn't want to come home too out of shape. Too bad it didn't work, huh?

Thursday evening, we left Sherri's house and headed for Sterling, Illinois to visit Kevin, Heather and Sayler. On our way we stopped by our old house that we just sold in October (the first one we ever bought). I cried. I didn't expect to be so emotional, but it was tough to see that someone else was living in MY house!

Cannon, who has been terrified of dogs, fell in love with Kio and Saki. Todd helped him feel comfortable the first day and he sure took to those dogs.

It was cute to see him be so excited to play with them.

Ameliah spent most of her time loving Sayler. She talks about her a TON! She was so excited for this chance to spend some time with her new little cousin. She read her stories, sang her songs and even "held" her.These little girls are 3 years apart in age, but I know they'll be great friends! Ameliah loves her baby Sayler! We all do! I wanted to take her home with us!

Sunday after church we took a quick nap and headed to Idaho to visit Julie. On the map it doesn't seem like Idaho is too far away from Illinois -they're both north- but let me tell ya...after all of the driving and lack of sleep (we stayed up until 3:00 am playing games with Kevin and Heather) it was a LOOOOONG drive!

Our visit with Julie's family was brief, but we sure had a good time. They took us out to our favorite place...Winger's! They showed us around Boise, which was beautiful, and tried to convince us to move there. I have to say that it is somewhere that I could see us living. Julie took some pictures of the kids, so when she sends them to me I will have to post them.

So, that's what we've been up to. I have spent a lot of time trying to catch up on all of the sleep I missed (which was totally worth it). I enjoyed each of my visits with family and can't wait to see them all again :)