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!