Berry Picking

 Friday morning we all got up early and headed to pick raspberries and strawberries. We heard about a place close by from some friends last year.  We wanted to go but never made it.  We were a little early on the raspberries and they were just turning ripe enough to pick.  We started there and found plenty.  In a week or so they will all be ready to pick!  We ran into Garrett's speech teacher from school, he was excited to see her.   

 

We then headed over to the strawberries.  They had two different types to pick.  We went with the smaller variety that had more flavor.  There were tons of them so it was easy to find good ones to pick.  They only stay open as long as they have berries.  They were really busy so we are glad we got there early. 

 

  The kids had a fun time picking strawberries.  We didn't pick very much because we are just planning on eating them.  We might go back again and get more.  They are so good and the raspberries will be riper.  We have been eating them like crazy, they are like candy!  It was a fun family activity and we are glad we made it out this year.

Last Day of School

Wednesday was the last day of school for Lucy and Garrett.  It will be nice to have the summer off.  We are looking forward to sleeping in and doing fun things together. 

 While they were at school Nolan and I headed to Faust Park to meet up with my parents, Natalie and her kids.  We had a picnic lunch with everyone and then rode the carousel.  Nolan was so cute riding the carousel.  He sat and held onto the pole and just looked around.  He was smiling and talking, you could tell he really enjoyed it.  I think he looks a lot like JJ in this picture.   

 We played at the playground with everyone for a few minutes until we needed to head back home.  I really like the play ground there.  It was nice that the little area was in the shade so the slides weren't hot.

 Peek-a-boo with Grandma!

 We didn't stay to long because the kids only had a half day at school so we needed to get home.  I am glad I was able to go do something with just Nolan one last time.  It has been nice to have the time to focus on just him while the kids are at school.  We watched the bus pull up and the kids get off.  Nolan always is so happy to see them and is starting to say the word "bus".   They were sad to say goodbye to their teachers and friends.  It has been a great year of school.  They learned a lot and made some good memories.   

 While Nolan napped Garrett got out his superhero kit from Aunt Kelsey and had fun coloring.  He was in heaven.  He loves to color and do things like that.

 The kids really wanted to go to the pool so when Nolan got up we headed over for a little while.  It is a lot of work to take the kids to the pool by myself.  I have set rules for them to follow when it is only me.  They have to stay in certain parts of the pool so I can see them while still taking care of Nolan.  Nolan is busy and is all over the place.  It is still a lot of fun and worth the effort because they have a blast.  Once the water warms up Nolan might actually enjoy getting in the water and we can join the big kids in the deeper area.   

As soon as JJ got home from work we headed over to the Bemis for an end of the school year party.  They ordered a bunch of pizza and we all brought sides.  They set up the bounce house and put a small pool and the end of the slide.  Derek also made a sprinkler out of PVC pipe to go over the slides.  It was awesome and the set up worked perfect!  The kids had a blast running around with friends and getting wet.  We had fun relaxing outside and visiting with friends.    

 

 

It was a fun day and we are looking forward to a fun summer break!

Garrett's 6th Birthday!

Garrett was so excited to have his birthday! He talked about it coming for a long time.  It feels like we have been celebrating it for a while since we had his birthday party with friends a few weeks ago.  We got birthday donuts for breakfast and Garrett loved it.  He picked out some pencils to take to his class at school.  He loves pencils and was excited to pass them out.  He had a fun day at school and was looking forward to them announcing that it was his birthday.  He came home with a birthday crown and a special birthday pencil and note from his teacher.  It was fun to have so many special things to look forward to.  He wore his new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa and requested his hair in a Mohawk.  For his birthday dinner he requested French toast, bacon and orange juice.    

 

I love how excited and happy he looks just looking at his cake. 

He wanted a colorful cake and so I did a tie-dye cake.  I bought a mix and it came with food coloring that you add to the mix.  It was perfect and he loved it!   

Garrett was funny with his gift requests this year.  He loves the dry fit shirts, he calls them air shirts.  He asked for some new ones.  I found an under armour one for him and then we got him a shirt with some matching shorts.  He was so excited about them.  He also got him some other t-shirts.  We also got him a new lego set, he was excited about it.  JJ's parents sent a gift, they got him a superman t-shirt and Grandma Smith sewed him a new solar system pillow case.  They also sent money to put into his college fund.  He still has a gift card from someone at his party that we saved until after his birthday so we could see what he got.  He is excited to go pick something out.       

Garrett is such a happy boy and it was so fun to celebrate him.  He was so excited about everything that happened on his birthday.  I'm glad he had a fun day and felt special.  We sat down together and watched the video of him in the hospital as a baby.  Lucy was so little and her hair was so curly.  It was fun to watch it and remember how exciting it was to welcome him into our family.  I can't believe that was 6 years ago!! He is growing up so fast! 

Memorial Day 2015

It was so nice to have Monday together after a busy weekend with the wedding.  We all slept in and then JJ and I took turns going to the gym.  We went to our church BBQ for lunch and had a nice time visiting with families there.  The kids played some baseball and had a fun time playing on the playground.  Nolan loves the little playground areas and love to go down the slide on his belly.  After we got home from the church BBQ we headed over to the pool.  It seems so weird to have the pool open since it hasn't been that hot lately.  The kids were so excited and didn't care that the water was freezing.  It was fun to see Nolan discover and explore the water and different things at the pool.  I'm glad we have a zero entry pool so that he can go in and out easily.  

Lucy and Garrett saw friends from school and jumped right in to swim with them.  JJ stayed with them and they had fun swimming and diving for things.    

 

After we got done swimming we headed over to my parents house.  Since we have family in town we wanted to hang out with them.  We took over our bounce house so the cousins could jump and play on it.  They were so excited and had such a fun time!  They were really happy we brought it over. 

The weather was so nice it was fun to sit in the shade and visit while the kids played.  It's fun to see Courtney!  We miss her a lot since she lives far away, she doesn't get to come back as often.  She loved holding Nolan's hands and walking around with him.  

We ordered pizza for dinner and had left over ice cream treats from the reception.  We wanted to celebrate Garrett's birthday with them since it was the next day.  We stuck a candle in his ice cream and sang to him.

The kids love celebrating birthdays and sing with such enthusiasm.  I think it is so fun, Garrett loved it too! 

Grandma and Grandpa got a new swing, Nolan crawled over and sat under it until someone put him in it and pushed him.  I love sweet Nolan!

We brought all the presents outside to open since it was so nice. 

Garrett was so cute reading all the cards.  He got so many fun gifts and everyone was so nice to think of him.  The Wrights got him a new Lego sticker book and a Batman story book.  Kelsey got him a tube of superhero activities.  It has coloring pages, crayons and stickers.  The Hughes got him a Frisbee, some M&MS and a coloring book.  Grandma and Grandpa Rahm got him a new pair of shorts with two shirts and a Pokémon binder to put his pages of cards in.  He loves everything and was so excited about playing with it all.

It was a fun day together and we were able to fit a lot of fun things in!

Jordan and Jenny's Wedding

On May 23rd Jordan and Jenny were sealed in the St. Louis temple.  We started all the wedding fun the night before.  My parents had a dinner for both families.  My Mom ordered food from Chevy's and made a few side dishes to go with it.  Everything was delicious and it was a nice to get both families together.  We then all helped get the cultural hall decorated and set up for the reception the next evening.  It was a late night but it was good to have lots of people helping.  The next morning we got up and got ready to head to the temple.  My sisters Courtney and Kelsey were going to watch all the kids for those of us that could go attend the sealing.  When we got there they hadn't arrived yet and luckily a nice lady offered to sit with our kids until they arrived.  It was a really nice sealing ceremony and everything went really smooth.  It was nice to see some couples from the ward who have meant a lot to our family.     

The wedding colors were turquoise and coral.  We all got our own outfits in those colors and it was fun to see what we all decided to wear.  Here are the turquoise girls!

 The coral girls

 We waited a really long time for them to come out of the temple.  The kids were as patient as they could be.  It was warm and it was lunch time. 

 Finally they came out!  Jenny's dress was beautiful, we hadn't seen it yet.  Jordan looked handsome in his new suit.  They looked so happy! 

Jordan and his groomsmen.  They have all been friends for a while, they are all really nice guys.  The guy right next to him lived down street from my parents and I babysat him all the time.  Crazy how we all grew up.

 During different group photos the kids found some shade to rest and explore. 

 Jordan and Jenny with all the kids, they were exhausted and it was starting to show.  It was also pretty warm and bright outside. They did a great job and they were all so cute in their outfits.

 The whole Rahm Family

 Siblings with Jenny

  Siblings in age, it is not that often we are all together.  As we get older and more spread out it gets harder to get us all here at the same time.

 With our spouses

Mom and Dad

Natalie and Jenny

Me and Jenny

 We wanted to get a family picture on temple ground, this was the best we got.  We were all done with taking pictures and ready to head home.  

Before heading to the reception I took the kids picture in the front yard.

 We took this family picture right outside the church before heading into the reception.

 Everything came together really well.  Jordan and Jenny worked really hard on a lot of the details.  We had yummy food and an ice cream bar.  Jordan and Jenny meet in this church building at a youth conference years ago.  She was helping serve the caramel at the ice cream bar.  Which is why they decided to have an ice cream bar at their reception.  Until he found out her name they called her caramel.  Jordan eventually got brave enough and asked her to dance.   

 

They had crayons and coloring books for the kids.  They had a time capsule to write notes to them to read in one year.

 

The reception was a lot of fun.  They had some dancing at the end and we sent them off with sparklers and bubbles.  We had fun visiting with lots of people.  We brought our pack and play and put Nolan to bed in one of the classrooms.  Good thing because we were there really late helping clean up and take everything down.  It was a beautiful wedding and we are happy for them.  They are so happy to be married!