nauvoo, indians game, heat wave

the kids

beck's first indians game

it has been a week and valeri is irritated that i have not taken fifteen minutes out of my busy schedule to update this thrilling site. well, it has been hot. really hot. smoldering. okay, not smoldering, but matt has definitely been sweating a lot. he told me today that every day at school he sweats through his dress shirt. it's a good thing they wear gowns. i can only imagine how disgusted i would be if my dentist sweat through his shirt while i was in the chair. matt has been busy with school, putting in long hours and studying after the kids go to bed. so the kids and i took the opportunity to visit the lovely town of nauvoo for the weekend. gpa gary and gma ellie were passing through on their church history tour, so we decided to make the drive and visit. the kids couldn't get out the door fast enough to go see gma and gpa. so i packed them in the van, turned on the dvd player, and set out on a 5 1/2 hour journey to illinois. the really fantastic thing about the drive is that much of it is on a two lane highway, speed limit 55. apparently the local police only ticket on the highway if you are going 14+ over the speed limit. 71-55=16. 16 mph over=$75 ticket. oh well, it broke up the monotony of the drive. but that was on the way home. we arrived on thursday night and ate at a smorgasbord. totally old people food. the kids loved seeing gary and ellie. they swam at the hotel and ate delicious desserts and just enjoyed being somewhere other than home. on friday we ate at a delicious restaurant near nauvoo and later went to the temple and had a great time. becks was a champ the whole trip. we headed home saturday morning, exhausted but grateful to have spent some time with gary and ellie.

monday we spent the day at the pool. the kids have been sleeping on the futon mattress for about 2 weeks now and we finally decided it was time to purchase a real bed. we found the perfect bunk bed, a dresser, and a huge matching toy box, which i think will double as a hiding spot. we should drill some holes in the back of it and use it as a time out spot. we headed to the indians game when matt got home and the kids were great. coop threw 5 pitches in the game that clocks the speed of the throw and finally clocked a speed of 17 mph on the last pitch. it was good enough to win an enormous blowup bat. needless to say, the people sitting around us were less than pleased. ainsley tried to throw it over the fence onto the outfield, along with a water bottle, a mitt, and other miscellaneous items. strangers think she's adorable. if they only knew. now beckett, he is an angel. quiet, content, easy to please. he just hung out and played in the grass for two hours. i love that kid.