Young Christians’ Weekend

Well, I’m pretty sure everyone thought I was crazy for going to Young Christians’ Weekend this year, but we ended up having a great time! We were a little worried about the weather- it was predicted for highs around 60, with scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. It was a little chilly to get started, but ended up being really nice.

This year we went a little different route and rented condos for the nights, instead of hotel rooms. It really was a great way to do it, because we had lots of room to spread out, and we just picked one of the condos to hang out in as a whole group, and still had room! Definitely the way to go!

Friday night we got there late, after 11:00, so we mostly just checked in, unloaded, and headed to bed!

Saturday morning it was up early and off to the park! True to Missouri weather in late March, we all had to dress for at least 3 seasons! Which meant stopping in and getting some mittens for Miss Laney, because I forgot to bring her’s. Ended up being great, though, because they had the REALLY CUTE hat that Grandma Looten bought LAST winter, and Laney threw out of the cart in walmart, so we bought it again! She still looks adorable in it…

And, in case anyone wondered, Laney is already a SDC FAN! She talked about it all the way down Friday night, and even was talking in her sleep (she and I got to share a pull out couch in our condo) about riding the “caterpillars and froggies” early Saturday morning. However, she seems to have gotten the name a little mixed up…

Yeah, we never got tired of hearing her say that! We must have asked her where we were a thousand times, and it was funny EVERY time! :)

Anyway, once in the park, the kids pretty much scattered to ride rides and eat and go to concerts and workshops, and all of the other fun stuff that is at SDC during Young Christians’ Weekend. Mom & I went for the kid-friendly activities, and headed for Geyser Gulch! Though it has a lot of water as part of it during the summer, this part also has some stuff Laney can do. Namely, it has a ball room! Not so much a ball pit, but a room where there are just balls all over, and if you go up some stairs you can shoot balls from these cannon things (thus the balls everywhere) and it has vacuum tubes to suck the balls up in… just about everything. We spent HOURS there, or at least it felt like it! But she loved it!

How many balls can she carry at once? (PS: isn’t the hat adorable?!)

Shooting balls out of the cannons with Grandma…

They also have some of those springy animal things to ride…
Talk about pure abandon:

Other than Geyser Gulch, they also have the caterpillars, butterflies, and froggies in the Worlds Fair part that are good for kids Laney’s size. So, we had to ride each of those!

Yes, I jammed my pregnant self into the caterpillar… it was a tight squeeze!

The froggies are a little bouncier, so I let Grandma take care of that ride!

We did have a couple of mental breakdowns, because there is also a ladybug ride, but adults can’t ride it, so the kids have to be 36 inches tall to ride… Laney is 35 inches! Try explaining THAT to a two year old- it wasn’t pretty. But maybe next time!

After riding a couple of rides, it was time for lunch, then check-in with all of the kids. While we were waiting for the kids, I took the opportunity to try to get Laney to take a nap. She was throwing a fit, so we just laid the stroller back, put up the shade, and dropped her green blankie over her face. It took a lot of laps around gazebo area, but she eventually went down, and slept for over an hour!

Doesn’t she look sweet sleeping? Her pony, Hannah, spent most of the day on the tray of her stroller, no matter what else we were doing!

Once Laney woke up, we headed for the train, because she said she wanted to ride the train with her daddy. She seemed to love it!

Cheese! :)

Of course, one of the coolest things about Young Christians’ Weekend is the rally at the end of the day. There are usually several bands, a speaker, and it’s just lots of fun to be in an amphitheater with that many Christians all at once! We got lined up early, so we got pretty good seats with our whole group together! Which meant it was picture time…

Laney (in Daddy’s hat) and her friend Clara, who had a great time hanging out together, and sharing snacks! Whatever the other one had, that’s what they wanted!

Half of our kids…

Another group… with a few carryovers! :)

And the last of the kids… plus Corey!

Unfortunately, the “chance of thunder storms” that had been forecasted for Saturday decided to show up right in time for our rally. They said it would be about a 20 minute rain, but not a bad storm, so they delayed the concert and said we were welcome to sit tight, but that they wouldn’t start anything until the rain had passed. We’re tough, so we decided to wait it out!

Lucky for Elena, Clara’s daddy, Matt, didn’t might sharing his lap and his umbrella with BOTH girls!

Speaking of sharing… these two had a bright idea- jam two people under the poncho, and look out the arm holes!

Not so happy… it was kind of a colder rain.

The sun was out during a good part of the rain, so we ended up seeing this spectacular double rainbow… pretty cool!!

The weather service was right, and the storm was over in 20 minutes or so, and they started the concert. We got to see a couple of cool bands, but about the time the actual talk and the real concert was starting, Mom, Laney and I headed back to the condos to get dinner ready for the crew. Instead of our normal deli sandwiches, since we had the kitchen, we brought all of the stuff for spaghetti! It was really easy to make still, and I think the hot dinner was much appreciated by everyone when they got back from the rally- once the sun went down it got pretty cool, and a lot of them were wet!

Anyway, we hung out and ate dinner together in the condo, and then we all headed off to bed because it was late! Sunday morning we packed up and went to the Sunday morning service (after some Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast, of course). It was pretty neat, Joe White spoke on salvation, which is always a neat thing to see. And the rain held off (though it was a little chilly) all morning, so at least we weren’t cold AND wet! :)

When the service was over, we headed back to the bus & van, loaded up, and headed for home! As we were going through the lake, I looked up and saw something wrong with the bus:

Nice, right? We knew that the exhaust system/muffler was having some trouble because there was a piece hanging down in the front, too, and because the bus was VERY LOUD! But all of a sudden the tail pipe just came disconnected. Nice! We had to pull over to see if we could get it the rest of the way off, so it didn’t go through someone’s windshield (like, you know, MINE!).

Kicking it did not do the trick…

So we found our resident Boy Scout, who always has his pocket knife, and he cut it off! So we drove the rest of the way without a tailpipe. Classy… always classy!

Well, despite the bus problems, we made it home in pretty good time. We were (are) all EXHAUSTED, but it is such a fun trip! I sure am glad I’m on Spring Break this week, though… sleeping in (as much as Laney will let me) and naptimes, here I come! :) It wasn’t really too bad being so pregnant and wandering around the city. Mom and I just took it easy… I did have some major cankles Saturday night, though, and my feet were KILLING me! But, really, such a good trip… weather mostly cooperated, had a good group of kids, and everyone had a really good time! Can’t wait ‘til next year… there will be two little Looten girls running around!

Birthday Fun!

Last week we got together to celebrate the March birthdays- Ellen and Josh!  It was a Monday night, so the party didn’t last too long, but we sure had a good time!  Josh got to pick the dinner, and he picked Hot Dog City, which is basically really good hot dogs, with every kind of topping you can imagine- cole slaw, chili, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, relish, mustard, sauerkraut… anything and everything you might POSSIBLY want to put on a hot dog!  We even got lucky, and it was a beautiful day outside, so Sam grilled the dogs for us, which meant they were extra tasty!  We let both of the birthday people choose their own dessert, so we had a french vanilla cake (Josh) and a cherry pie (Ellen).  I made the cake, and it looked pretty awful!  One layer fell apart taking it out of the pan, but I kind of stuck it back together and used it for the bottom.  Looked pretty good, until I got it to Mom & Dad’s, and when I opened the carrier, it looked like San Francisco after an earthquake: 

But, it tasted pretty good, so I guess the taste is more important!  And we still got 29 candles on there, and got them all lit… eventually!

Lots of candles!! :)  Grandma Jo joined us for the fun, too!

The cherry pie Mom made for Ellen came out looking BEAUTIFUL… but it was too hot to put any candles in, so Ellen just had to hold her candle!

Funny thing about the picture of Ellen, is it’s totally staged.  The guests of honor were sitting on opposite sides of the table, and I was trying to take pictures of both of them.  Well, I took a picture of Josh while we were singing, and then tried to get to the other side of the table to take one of Ellen… yeah, I got stuck with my big pregnant belly and couldn’t get through!!  So the song was over and the candles out before I could get a picture!  So, we made Yaya relight her candle and took the picture again… never a dull moment!

After hot dogs and cake and ice cream, we rounded out the evening with some bowling action on Mom & Dad’s new Wii… I mostly just got stomped by Josh and Charlie, but it was fun anyway! 

Happy birthday to Josh and Yaya! :) 

IL Trip

Well, I’ve been promising pictures from our trip to Illinois in February, and here they finally are!  And, beware, there are TONS!  With a photographer for a sister, not much goes un-photographed!  And I have a terrible time choosing just a few, because there are so many good pics!  But… a few highlights…

Laney’s favorite thing about Grandma & Grandpa Price’s (besides the people) is this doll house.  She could (and does) spend HOURS playing with it.    

Although this might be tied with the dollhouse now… Grandma Judy made her a “princess bed.”  It’s a really cute little white bed (that was actually MY dad’s, and has been slept on by pretty much every child and grandchild since) and Grandma put pink sheets and quilts on it, then added the feather boa and some beads for good measure.  Obviously, Laney LOVED it! :)  No crying about bedtime in this bed…Just a good cheeser!

Hanging with Aunt Jane…

We had a big dinner with as much of the family as could come while we were there.  It’s always fun to see so many people together all at once, hanging out, watching TV, raiding the candy drawer, eating too much food, laughing, talking… just whatever!  And it’s always amazing to me to see how much my cousins are growing up!  Some highlights from hang out time…  

Dad & his brothers, bet you’d never guess these guys are related… notice even Joy was confused- she’s laying on Cullen’s lap instead of Dad’s!

Cousins…

Sunday morning we went to Jane’s church in Galatia.  It was fun to see where she went to church, and it was interesting to see how similar and different it was from our church.  It was a Baptist church, so there were definitely similarities!  And it seemed to be pretty close to the same size, maybe a little bigger in terms of attendance, but close.  So, yeah, it was neat to see another church that is similar to our’s.

After church Sunday we just spent the afternoon hanging out around the farm… we took a Price Family Photo (not often we have everyone together), took our typical tour of the animals for Laney (which was a little more exciting than normal, see pics below!), and just spent the afternoon enjoying each other. 

  Laney LOVES this Cozy Coupe… Grandma & Grandpa Price got her one for Christmas, and I’m excited to get it put together as the weather is nice, since she loves playing with this one so much!

   

There are many stages to taking a Price family photo! 

First, the herding cats stage- where the boys all whine and complain about having to take a picture, while the girls try to get them to just like up already, and Jess checks all of the camera settings.

 

Second, many shots when the child is not cooperating.  Props to Mom, Ruth, and Mike, who remembered the cardinal rule for taking pictures with a toddler- no matter what else happens, look at the camera and smile at all times!

 

Check out the back arch here!  Everyone but Charlie remembered the cardinal rule of picture taking with toddlers… but I’m clearly restraining her, and she is NOT HAPPY!

 

Finally, after those many shots, settle for one picture where the toddler may not be smiling, but at least she isn’t screaming, back arching, or picking her nose, and everyone else looks moderately ok.  Success!  

And then Laney enjoyed the sweet taste of freedom!  And, how do we know Uncle Mike loves Laney?  ‘Cause he’ll do this: (love that her feet are propped up on the dashboard- that pedaling thing is way too much work)

Mike and Laney… who clearly STILL did not want her picture taken.

 

The girls!

One thing about living in the country, is that there are many dogs running around!  Where my grandparents live, people tend to dump dogs they don’t want (SAD), so they end up with A LOT of strays.  My uncle, Cullen, found two adorable Australian Shepard puppies that someone had dumped.  Seriously… how could you dump this little guy?! 

We were all quite certain that this dog NEEDED to come to Missouri to live with Aunt Ruthie!  But Grandpa Price said no… even when Laney asked him with her best pouty face!  So we just had to enjoy petting them while we were there. 

Laney sure loved them, though!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to Grandpa Charlie & Grandma Judy’s house without a tour of all of the farm animals!  So Ruth, Jess, Laney and I loaded up on the Mule and headed out!  Unfortunately, it had been raining and melting there, and was quite wet… a little wetter than we thought, and we ended up getting the mule VERY stuck in the mud! 

Grandpa’s poor, buried Mule…

Lucky for us, there were uncles and cousins around who heard the yelling, and came to our rescue with four wheelers and dirt bikes! :)

Cullen and Cletus, hooking the four wheeler up to the mule

And success!  Ruthie driving the mule back up the hill… just a LITTLE muddy!

Since we had so much trouble getting to the cows, we decided to visit the horses instead!  I love this picture because you can practically hear Laney saying “C’mere horsey,” which is of course what she’s doing!  And it actually worked, they came over and said hi through the fence, which Laney LOVED… what is it about little girls and horses?  Laney and the aunts!

Just some cool farm pics that Jess took…

Gotta love a John Deere!

One of my favorite things at Grandma & Grandpa’s- the American flag on the bright green flag pole in the front yard.  It just looks so cool!

And the “pet” cow- he’s pretty tame from being bottle fed, and he apparently doesn’t feel the electric fence, so he likes to come graze in the front yard!

Such an awesome time in IL; I never want to leave and always wish we could go back sooner!  And a great chance to hang out with Jess & Mike, too, which is always fun!  Hoping to go back soon… Love you all!

Whirlwind Springfield Trip

Well, Josh and I kind of realized we weren’t going to be able to make it to Springfield again for a couple of months, including for Miss Leila’s birthday, so we decided to make a quick trip down there on one of our free weekends this month!  So, the weekend of the 12th we headed down Friday after work, stayed for a day, and drove back Saturday evening!

Friday, Josh and I dropped Laney off at Grandma & Grandpa Looten’s, and headed out for a grown up dinner at Hemmingway’s.  We’d both been craving some all-you-can-eat crab, and crab doesn’t have carbs! :)  We really enjoyed some grown up conversation, too, and the food was delicious!

Saturday we really just hung out for the morning.  Josh and I ran to CPO, because we can’t make it to Springfield without shopping there!  That afternoon Jess, Josh, and I took Leila and Laney to see The Princess and the Frog, because it was at the discount theater.  Both girls were actually really good, although they did end up both sitting on Josh’s lap at one point!  They enjoyed the movie, though, and were pretty quiet, except for a few comments from Laney.  The comments were typically during a quiet part, though, so there were more than a few laughs at her!  She’s still talking about going to the movie, so I guess she enjoyed it!

Anyway, we stayed for dinner Saturday night, and then headed back so we could be back in time for church Sunday morning.  It was a whirlwind trip, but we had a great time visiting! 

Some cute pics….

Josh, learning what life with two girls is going to be like!  Leila LOVED hanging with Josh & Laney!  There was much goofing off and laughing! 

Mr. Kael, hanging with Uncle Josh…

But the girls wouldn’t leave him alone very long!

I get the feeling Laney might be taking over the swing when we get it out for Audrey!  Hope it’s a good sturdy swing…

The girls, ready for the movies!

  A little photo shoot for Kael!

 

That’s about it… like I said, a whirlwind trip but we sure had a good time!