Vacation

St. Louis Arch 

Ah, it feels so great to be on Vacation. We went to our nephew's baptism on Friday. He is the first to be baptized and it was a wonderful experience. The spirit was strong and it was so nice to see so many friends and family members. I played the piano for the baptism and Ben designed the program.

Right after the closing prayer. Ben and I hopped in the car in our Sunday clothes and drove to Lincoln, IL. Lincoln is in between Bloomington and Springfield. The rest of the family left the next morning. While we were driving on Saturday, Ben said he felt like we were in the amazing race as we had no idea where any of the other families were at on their journey. We arrived at the time share right after Ben's grandparents.

After we unpacked everything we loaded up the grandparents and went to have lunch at this little Mexican restaurant. It was ok, but overpriced. After the somewhat disappointing lunch we headed to the grocery store and got everything we needed for Sunday dinner and snacks during the week.

All of the rest of the families began to trickle in and finally we were all here about 6pm. All of the kids were wound up from the long car ride. It was hilarious to watch the spectacle. My niece was doing handstands and cartwheels. Her younger brother sang us his favorite song. Apparently, he sang for a long time on the car ride and his mom wanted to strangle him. Fortunately for him, he feel asleep :) Our other 4 year old nephew declared that he was going to go swimming. All of the kids went swimming and a few adults. I didn't put on my suit, but I did bring them the sponge balls I made from an idea on Pinterest. They are so fun and easy to make. If you have kids or nieces/nephews, I highly recommend making them. It only took about 20 minutes and $3 to make 7 good size sponge balls. They really get some air when they are wet.

Sunday we went to church. The grandparents and us had to save 16 chairs in the chapel. It was so fun to sit with everyone. After Sacrament meeting, Ben and I got our place ready for family dinner. I made corn cake (spoon bread). If you've never had it, you are missing out. It is the best stuff in the world. Chevy's and Don Pablo's are the only places I know that serve it. We had a fun afternoon eating tacos, celebrating birthdays and watching the kids open presents. We were a little worried on how our gift would go over for the 8 year old. It was a 5 lb. Gummy Bear. I wish I would have taken a picture. When we read the description it said that it was equivalent to 1400 gummy bears! I think he'll be chewing on that for a while.

After everyone had left, Ben and I took a beautiful drive through the mountains. On the windy roads we could see in the distance that a storm was approaching. The roads were so windy that we missed the storm completely. When we turned around, we could see the remnants of the storm on the ground. It was kind of weird. We saw a beautiful double rainbow. I just love the beauties of the earth.

When we returned home we had a rousing game of Phase 10 with my mother in law and her husband and the grandparents. There is definitely no mercy in playing games in this family.

This morning I woke up like clock work at 6:30, but forced myself to stay in bed until 7. I got up got ready and went to the gym. They gym here is small, but it will do the trick this week. After I finish this post, I believe it will be time to hop over to the pool and take a dip.