St. Louis Zoo

After going to the temple on Saturday we went to the St. Louis zoo for the first time. There were so many trees, and it was so humid that it felt like a jungle-but it was fun! Jessica really liked seeing the animals, although she may have liked the everyday birds that landed on the ground just as much!





We only got to see half of the animals, so we'll have to go back-especially since it is free admission.

Brushing Teeth

Nate is getting to be quite a pro at getting Jessica to let him brush her teeth. For it to be a tearless procedure she must have a tooth brush in each of her hands-then she brushes Daddy's teeth while he brushes hers.
(I'm glad to see that she got the correct toothbrush in Dad's mouth. I hope she does every night!)

Utah Trip

We had such a fun trip to Utah!!! Congratulations Rick and Camille-we are so excited for you.
I left taking pictures at most of the wedding festivities to everyone else, but I did get a shot of the post-wedding luncheon party...


I hope someone will take pity on me and send me some more pictures of everyone dressed up and such. I'm so forgetful (or lazy) when it comes to taking the important pictures.

We also got to visit the Jack Family over the Memorial Day weekend. The fun project for the boys was building a fence.



Jessica just loved both her Grandpas! She is usually pretty shy, but she warmed up to them really fast, and would reach for them, or sometimes cry when I took her away. She even learned to say "pa".
Here she is helping Grandpa Jack play the piano.



Everyone in Nate's family made it down to Monticello! It was fun to all be together.



Jessica and Cousin Carter.



We loved relaxing and playing games at the Alder house!! I just happened to take a picture of our 1 round of Settlers-usually we were playing Pinochle. Nate had to get his fair share to last until the next time we visit!

Congratulations Nate!!

Nate finished up another semester of graduate school. 2 years down- 3 to go!! He passed his qualifying exam, so he is now officially accepted into the PhD program-quite an accomplishment!
He had a chip making class this semester and he got to actually work in the lab with some pretty amazing equipment and procedures to make his own chip wafer.
Here he is in his "bunny suit" that he had to wear in the lab and his chip wafer.

Springtime in Illinois!!

Well, for all those who can't be here to walk in our neighborhoods this spring we wanted to share some of the beauty! It is unbelievable how beautiful our part of town is this time of year. We can't get enough of the towering trees full of leaves, fancy old houses, and the big lovely blossoms!!
I couldn't get the camera to capture everything I wanted, streets lined with old houses and tall trees probably hundreds of years old, it all seems to take you back to the past.

Cake, cake, cake

We had a great week celebrating Nate's birthday and Easter!!! Tiffany Peterson said she would teach me how to make an Easter basket cake, which sounded fun, so although we had most of Nate's b-day cake left I went to her house on Friday and we had a good time making Easter basket cakes. I wasn't sure how we were going to eat all that cake (Jessi probably would if we let her), but we just took it to an Easter party on Saturday and it was almost polished off!


Although we were sad to be missing the big Alder egg hunt and the egg roll and picnic in Monticello we had a fun Easter party at Joe and Ashley Bair's. Jessica loved to open the eggs to find what was inside! She didn't like to put down one egg in order to get another though.



Jessica really enjoyed the sucker Grandma and Grandpa Jack sent her-it was everywhere!!

Trip to Springfield

We had an exciting trip to Springfield, Illinois last weekend! Abraham Lincoln lived in Springfield for about 25 years, and was buried there. We went and saw the Lincoln Museum, the Lincoln home, and the Lincoln tomb.

Here we are with the Lincoln family.

We got to take a tour of Lincoln's home, redone to be like it was when he lived there.

Jessica was very worn out after that and promptly fell asleep in her car seat, so I just sent Nate out to see the tomb up close.

We then drove on to St. Louis, Missouri and spent the night so we could go to the temple in the morning. Our hotel had a swimming pool and Jessica went swimming for the first time!