{Iowa Trip}

One of the reasons we were so excited to move to the midwest was one of Michael's closest friends - Sam & Rachel - live out in Iowa.  Mike & Sam worked together at Hill Air Force Base and did a couple deployments together.  I met them at their wedding in 2012 and Sam came out to visit us in Hawaii the following year.  But since then we haven't been able to see them!  They have 2 boys, Frank & Tommy.  We had a fun couple of days catching up with them!

The Hauptlys live on a sweet property and have some animals (this is every kid's dream to grow up in a house like this - it was amazing!) 

Sam let Calvin help him feed the goats - Calvin is still asking to go out and feed them - I'm pretty sure he wishes we had some animals around here too! 

Calvin and Tommy petting their pet bunny.

Calvin LOVED crawling up into the tractor with Sam & Tommy

This rock pile was a nice distraction for the boys so the grown ups could talk for a minute :)

Here's a pretty good picture of some of the beautiful property they live on!

Enjoying some breakfast at Ihop

Calvin and Wesley had fun with their friends at the splash pad!

It was a fun getaway - seeing Sam and Rachel and meeting their kids was nice!  It was fun to see how much Mike and Sam enjoyed reminiscing on their time together in Utah. Since we only live a few hours away hopefully there will be more get togethers in our future!

{So far in Sioux Falls}

Well, we've officially settled in the midwest!  I use the term "settled" loosely because we still haven't received our stuff yet (it will be here this Wednesday - hooray!).  BUT we have enjoyed exploring our new little town of Sioux Falls and hanging with our friends the Pinedos in the meantime.

It has actually been nice not to have all our stuff here so we can focus on all the projects we'd like to do with the house - we've put up some different shelves, changed the shower a bit, installed some curtains and added a cool stained glass look to our front windows.  We've done a lot of random things that would've been on our project list for awhile had we been distracted by unpacking.  

One of the craziest experiences we had occurred the morning after we drove into the new place.  We were pretty dang tired from the long drive across the country and so by the time we got in we put up a baby gate, put the kids in their beds and crashed.  Well sweet little Calvin woke up at the crack of dawn, climbed over the baby gate, unlocked the deadbolt and decided to go exploring... We were fast asleep as he ventured around the neighborhood experiencing his new surroundings.  It was about 7am when Mike and I were both awakened by someone yelling through the front door "POLICE - is anybody home?"

One of our neighbors had seen Calvin wondering around, didn't know where he belonged and called the cops.  Apparently he'd been out for about 45 minutes!  All he would tell the cops was that his dad had a truck (not such a helpful tip in South Dakota).  At any rate, we were thankful we got him back without incident but we will NEVER forget that wake up call!  We made him take a picture with this book we saw later that day when we were shopping at Costco...

Aside from missing children, we have enjoyed exploring different restaurants, parks and stuff to do with the kids here in South Dakota.  It has been a really special time for our family!  Here are some of the places we've been exploring so far...

Outdoor Campus - a fun museum for kids with TONS of stuff to do and lots of free outdoor classes (hunting, fishing, archery, boating etc...)  The indoor stuff is fun for the kids to see too - the boys loved romping around the area with the exhibits and then walking along the trail to the pond!

We've discovered a huge trail loops around the Sioux Falls city - it's about 29 miles long!  We've enjoyed walking around on parts of the trail near Big Sioux River.  It's peaceful and beautiful - I can't wait for fall to see what the trees look like!

Falls Park - it's pretty amazing!  We enjoyed a short walk around the park and stopped to see the falls that break up the Sioux River.  

Hanging out with the Pinedos!  We love spending time with these guys!

Outdoor campus put on a fun family festival with lots of booths for the kids.  We enjoyed spending the afternoon in the great outdoors (and the fun slide was Calvin's favorite).

So far we love it here!  The people are kind & the area seems to be great for families.  Let's just hope for no more run ins with Sioux Falls police :)

{4th of July}

Somehow, it always works out that I am in Utah over the 4th of July!  I love this because this holiday is one of the best holidays to spend time with and appreciate the gift of family an our freedom to celebrate together :) 

We started our celebration on the 3rd at the Colvin's house (everyone had the next morning off so we decided to do our family firework show and barbecue the night before).  Gracie was in a singing group that was performing in the Layton parade, so she gave the family a performance of all the songs she would be singing - it was so cute!

That morning I saw an "easy" project on pinterest.  It took all day to make this game but it ended up being pretty fun!  Luckily Erik had the tools we needed to throw the lifesize kerplunk game together.  The kids played it like twice, so yeah.  I don't know if I'd go to the effort to make it again, but it was a super cute idea! 

We had reserved spots on the parade route but Mom, Dad and I didn't make it over to where our spots were on time so we ended up sitting away from everyone else for the parade the next morning.  BUT we did get to see Grace beforehand and take some cute pictures with her.  She was so excited to be singing in the parade - it was adorable. 

 I love the 4th and the all the special memories we are able to create each year.  I am grateful for my country & my family - we are blessed!