Family Vacation

Last Friday, we went to Des Moines for a family reunion/vacation.  The reunion was for Zach's mom's side of the family.  We stayed at the Embassy Suites, which was very nice.

Christian and Jordan played with Monroe and Dedrick all weekend.  

On Saturday, the whole family went to a beautiful park next to a lake.  We had a good time together, but the wind that day was unbearable.  

We all left feeling quite wind-blown.

We had a convention room where we ate our meals and hung out together.

The whole group

The left side of the picture is Zach's grandpa's family.  The right side is his brother's family.

The Minnesota Schwabs

The Nebraska Schwabs

The Woodwards

Zach's cousin, Nathan, got engaged the day before the reunion.

All of the Minnesota Schwabs left on Sunday.  Then, our side went to Adventureland.  We loved how Adventureland was set up.  Next to every adult ride was a kids' ride.  This made it so easy for all of us to stay together.

Monroe and Dedrick were tall enough for all of the kids' rides, and they rode everyone we came to.

Zach was on this ride while Monroe was on the plane.

We all did a water log ride.  Some people got soaked while others stayed completely dry.  I was glad I was one of the dry ones.

Adventureland added Adventure Bay to the park a few years ago.  It was definitely our favorite part.  Monroe and Dedrick had a great time with the small water slides, splash pads, and wave pool.  We loved the big water slides.  The best ones were the ones you went down with 2-4 people together on a tube.  We could have stayed there all day.

These two had a blast together

Nathan and Kyndell

The next day, we went to the zoo before leaving town.  The zoo was a good size for Monroe and Dedrick.  It reminded me a lot of the Lincoln Zoo.

Our only family picture from the weekend

We had a wonderful time in Iowa.  We got to see family we've never met and turn it into a family vacation.  I would like to go back to Des Moines again.

May Phone Dump

Monroe had some funny quotes this month.  Almost all of them had to do with God or the Bible.  

While praying, "Dear Jesus, thank you for sending God to die on the cross for us."

We were reading about Jesus turning water into wine.  "Yeah, my water does that too sometimes."

Out of the blue:  "God is so wonderful!"  

"He is.  Why do you say that?"  

"Because he loves me very much."

While reading about Paul:  "Stoned to death?  Yikes!"

"These are for my grandkids."

Having a malt at Sin City

Monroe and Daddy got dressed up to watch the Kentucky Derby

Zach, Troy, and I sang at a garden worship service.

My new favorite picture

Terry is getting married in July.  I am a personal attendant.

College friends

Zach left this for us the day of state track.

First train ride of the summer

I gave these to my kids on the last day of school.

Zach and I found a kitten in our neighbor's backyard.  We researched caring for a kitten and figured out he was about 3 weeks old.  We took him in for the night and fed him kitten formula.

The next day we took him to the barn event with us.  We offered him to anyone who showed interest.  As we were leaving, a women noticed him.  When we told her she could have him, she got so excited.  We gave her everything we had with us.

Sawyer stayed with us while Troy and Ashley went to California.

Breakfast with Danny and Nicole before they left town.

Monroe used chop sticks at Hu Hot.

First play date

Our first time at the Hastings water park

2013 Yearbook

Click here to view this photo book larger

I finalized and ordered our 2013 photobook this week.  It is so fun to look back on the year.