Road trip!

The stars aligned this weekend, and we got to visit a whole lotta people we love - Nana and Papa, the Hachtmans and the Smiths (plus Lyndel :). The drive to Iowa City to visit Jared's sister's family is only 3 hours from our new town, so we took a 3-day weekend to have a blast with them. The drive was lovely - we didn't realize how beautiful this part of the country is. Or how smelly. Jared is convinced there are entire farms out here dedicated to stink. Stink Farms, he calls them. Regardless, we persevered and got to Iowa City Friday night and passed out. The next day, we hit the town - it's a really cool place! Although perhaps our tiny town makes everything else look cosmopolitan...

Saturday night Nan gave us adults a REAL treat and offered to watch the girls while we went out and watched the new Harry Potter movie. We all gave it as many thumbs up as possible, and the girls REALLY enjoyed their girls night in :) Nana barely survived, and we're especially grateful to her for the night out!

Sunday we went to church and rested. There was a brief period where all 3 girls were asleep... it was magical...

The girls loved all the Nana attention!

That afternoon we took a quick jaunt to the Mormon Handcart Park.

As we walked up to this sign, Solei cried out - "The Book of Mormon!" We couldn't understand, until she reached up and showed the word "Mormon" to Elisabeth and explained that word meant "Book of Mormon." Dang, they didn't even teach her that word on Sesame Street... she's way to observant. We'd tried to explain about the pioneers and such before we got there, and at one point on our walk, she walked up to a man and told him "My ancestors walked across the plains!" Wow.

Also, the night before, the girls had watched some princess-y Disney movie and when they found a stone bench, they took turns laying down and having the other one kiss them to "wake" them up.

Then Monday, we had a super treat and got to go to Nauvoo and see the sealing of one of our favorite families - the Smiths!

It was an incredible experience and we are so grateful we got to witness it - AND see our fabulous friends again.
Especially exciting was that Solei got so see Sierra again - she talked about it non-stop on the way there. We were lucky enough to get this adorable picture:

I especially liked that THIS was what it took to get that adorable picture :)

One very sweet moment was when Solei and Sierra were playing on the steps of the temple, and Solei told Sierra "You were sealed to your mommy and daddy in the temple today!"

I can't believe the things she actually picks up on... Anywho, we're so grateful that it all worked out and we got to play with all the peeps we love. We need more excuses!