Brooklyn is 7

Here is our sweet Brooky on her 7th Birthday. She has informed us that she is much too mature for anything pink or purple (its too girly) and definitely no princesses. Oh how this mother wished for her to remain a princess loving girly girl forever.
On a happier note I do have 2 younger ones I can still indoctrinate. Brooklyn is no help on the matter though, as she insisted on her room being blue and NOT PINK. (Notice the color of the cake.)
I absolutely love the look on her face when she opened this present! It was exactly what she had been asking for but had little hope of getting because they are pricey...an American Girl doll named Kirsten (purchased on ebay!)
Her and doll Kirsten are now inseparable. Brooklyn and friend Megan play American Girl dolls for hours. Only problem is, now Shekynah and Kate are asking for one also for their birthdays and Christmas........so.... now I scour ebay, again.

Cousins

Colby found his match in Mathew. Mathew would say "where's that guy?" Colby took Mathews punches like a man and dished out a few himself. Notice in one of the pictures in another post how Mathew has his arm around Colb.
This is my favorite photo of the trip. Matt and his little Maria. She is a total daddy's girl. I only wish she would have let me hold her and kiss those sweet cheeks.
Rain drenched but still smiling. All my girls loved Amber and would fight over who would sit by her.
Brooklyn and Amber where like two peas in a pod. They were stuck together the entire time holding hands, hugging and chatting like old friends. Brooky cried quite a few tears over Amber's leaving. She still asks me when she gets to ride in a plane and see her best friend Amber.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

I forgot to add that we all attended the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was amazing. We even ran into some people we knew from Riverton, Utah, whose daughter was in the show. All the kids were thoroughly entertained even with the rain.

The kids were officially introduced to "Mormon Bashers" calling us names and yelling at people with loud speakers. I think they were surprised that families would come with their children to yell hateful things at people they have never met.

Beach and Water Park

We showed the fam our 2 favorite places this summer. The Water Park and The Beach. We spent many of our days at one or the other. Eli finally decided to get in the water by the end of the summer. Most days I would just watch him play in the sand.
This is beautiful Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes. The sand is so soft and the water gets warmer as the summer goes on. A little taste of San Diego without the waves and sharks. With gas prices so high we decided to vacation close to home.

Last stop...Valpo, Indiana

Our trip ended at our house where Chrisy and Tracy joined up with us!
And....we had our first Woll Family 5K. Some of us did better than others. We found out Brooklyn is really fast and she beat all the other kids. Unfortunately, she doesn't get it from her mother, who was dead last.

Feeding the masses

This is how we ate for most of our trip. It was really fun. We would look for a local park and eat picnic style. We chased some ducks and played on the equipment. Can you imagine all of us in a restaurant, well we actually hit a few McD's and we were quite a spectacle.

Kirtland Temple Ohio

The clan in front of the Kirtland temple. Our favorite part of this tour was when we all sang the song "The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning" in the chapel. Very moving.

Niagra Falls

As part of our summer vacation we visited Niagra Falls...it was beautiful.
At least us adults thought so. The kids were not as impressed. We basically got the same enthusiasm they showed at the grand Canyon...........Is that all? Notice the look on Colby's face. Kids these days.

Sealing in the Palmyra Temple

We were so grateful to have my family there!

All the family after our Sealing. They are stuck with us now! What an amazing experience for all of us. We were quite a sight and our sealer was so sweet and was brought to tears when he did our sealing.

Many photos of Trip

You can view the photos of our trip to Palmyra, Kirkland, Niagra Falls and various others by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/robinlynnd

Palmyra Trip: Sacred Grove

This summer we visited Palmyra, New York. Here we all are at the Sacred Grove.
Brayden told all of us the story of when Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. It was so beautiful. This was one of the highlights of our trip.

The grove was so peaceful .... when mom and I got separated from the kids!

Here is proof of the casualties of a mom out of commission....Eli was on time-out and fell asleep ... hum (how long you might ask?)

For those of you concerned about my health, I am doing much better but still have many side effects and a few flare ups. The ward here is awesome and came in to take the kids for 2 weeks, take them to school and doing dinners. Hey, I am just glad to be walking and typing. Love you all!

Hurricane Ike Hits Indy

Well, we are pretty far away from the hurricane but it did rain HARD here. We had a lot of flooding and the poor neighbor, with the fire truck pumping water out and spewing it into the forest, they had water from the pond past their basement windows. Luckily we had no flooding as we live on a bit of a hill and we have a working sump pump.

The kids even got out of school because many of the roads were covered in water. We thought it was awesome seeing the fire truck though.

The boys enjoyed a hardy game of football in the rain. Nuts.