Midwest Keech

Last year, I made a big deal out of birthdays & let the kids have some parties. Well, this year I wasn't really up-for-it. I did however, invite our friends (the Cowands ) to spend time with us. Jessica Cowand is one of my oldest, best friends. We went to high school together & she knows where all the bodies are buried . The Cowands moved from AZ to St. Louis in January, and I'm very excited to have them much closer. Jessica drove up with her 4 kids (hubby had to work), and spent Friday & Saturday with us. Friday night, Jessica & I actually snuck away on a girls' night with some other ladies. We left my 4, Jessica's 4 & 4 Clark children with 2 dads. They rock! - What great guys. Here are some misc. pictures of our visit. Adam & Kieran spent a lot of time on the computer or some sort of video games...lots of Nintendo DS . Liam had a fun time playing too. My girls loved hugging on him. Mia & McKenna Cute little Nolan This is the absolute yum...

Bryan's dad, Dave, is funny. He is relatively quiet, but SO great with the grand kids . I don't know how it happened, but Mia was combing Grandpa's hair. Of course, Allison had to get in on the action. Amelia thought it was so funny to comb ALL of his hair forward. I love the look on his face. "Look at my trick, Mommy!" Amelia had fun & I got some cute pictures, so she'll be able to remember having fun with her grandpa. We'll miss you guys!

I didn't get a chance to blog about the rest of our Road Trip . After all the trouble with the window, we did actually have a pretty fun time on our trip. For example, the kids had a BLAST swimming in the pool @ our hotel. Even though it was indoor, it was WAY too cold for me. We all thought it was unique that the pool was on the 5th floor. Weird. I have been to hotels where the pool is in the basement, but usually it's on the 1st floor. Adam thought it was very cool. I swear this guy is part fish. We did go to the St. Louis Zoo, even though it was rainy. I was worried at first, but by the time we got through the entrance, it was pretty much done. However, it was a VERY sticky, yucky kind of day. It was something like 83, but with 88% humidity, it was still uncomfortable at times. One of the first stops was the bears. Adam & Adelaide - I really like the penguin exhibit in St. Louis. It's very cool. Grandma thought it was neat that they were so close. My monkeys...Alliso...

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit & to bring Adam home. They have to be back in Dallas to fly home to AZ on Wednesday (I think). Well, we decided to take a little weekend road trip. Yesterday, we left the house in the morning. Bryan & his mom wanted to go back to a cemetary that we've visited before, so we took the LONG way to St. Louis. We had a few wrong turns & had to back-track a couple of times, but with the help of a "local", we arrived. The kids & I stayed in the car. - NO ticks for us. Adam made especially sure that EVERYONE knew he wasn't getting out. (Last time, he ended up with ticks ON HIM.) After leaving the cemetary, we drove back into town. Yeah, did I mention that this cemetary is ON someone's property in the middle of NOWHERE Missouri? Yay. So fun (NOT!). I was really worried that Bryan brought ticks with him, so he had to take a few minutes to check. He wasn't a mealo, but he did have 3 (I think) that stowed-away in his pock...

On Saturday before Easter, we had a ward breakfast & egg hunt. The kids had a great time hunting for eggs. Can you tell I forgot the baskets? - Allison with her Walmart bag...too cute. For the little kids (Nursery & younger), they put the eggs on the ground in the grass. Allison took a bit to understand that she was supposed to pick up the eggs. Nana held her bag for her & had to coax her into putting the eggs in the bag, so she could pick up more. I think it was Nana that might have showed her that there was candy in them. Daddy went with Adelaide & Amelia. They were happy with their finds too. The big kids did their hunting in another area. Adam came running so we could leave. This picture (above) is so funny to me. Easter morning, we had a yummy breakfast of butterscotch rolls. Then everyone found their baskets. Yay CANDY!! Our Stake Conference was on Easter Sunday, and my parents were still visiting, so we kinda ditched. Oops. Here are a couple of funny pics of t...