Jastal's visit

My sister and her family were able to stop in at our house in Columbus for a few nights during their trip to Ohio and we had a lot of fun with them.  They came Sunday afternoon and left today.  We played at the pool for a while, took lunches and ate them outside, sat outside in the evenings and talked, and relaxed a lot.  It was fun for Lucy to meet her cousin Ashlynn.  Also, my grandma and mom were able to come down on Monday, which happened to be Ryan's birthday.

Fourth of July

For this year's fourth of July, we rented a vacation home with two other families in our ward at the Red Fork Lake Farm out in Hillsboro, Ohio.  This could also be known as the vacation in which I gained 5 pounds in less than 24 hours.  True story.  Anyway, it was about an hour and a half away, and in the middle of nowehere/some small Amish community, but it was SO beautiful and right on a big lake.  The home was very spacious and decorated so cute but I forgot to take pictures inside.  We drove down the afternoon of the 3rd and came home the 4th.  The first night there, the men stayed at the house and hung out and prepared dinner while us women took the kids to the beach.  That's my kind of set-up! :)  After our BBQ, we played a lot cornhole and other games, did sparklers, ate junk food like it was my job, and laughed so hard our stomaches hurt.  The next morning, we made a huge pancake/bacon/sausage/eggs/fruit breakfast, then left the house for the beach.  It was a fun because we actually felt like we left Ohio and got away for a little bit.  

Rasmussen/Martin Vist

As mentioned in the previous post, we had some of Ryan's family here visiting for two days.  Besides the zoo and waterpark, we did a lot of hanging out in the evenings outside when the kids were in bed, eating Graeter's ice cream, and celebrating Mark's 60th birthday.  We had a big storm literally two minutes after they arrived that knocked our power out for 5 hours.  Thankfully it came back on because there are still people today that don't have it back yet!  The weather was really nice on Saturday though when we went to the zoo.  On Sunday evening, we also took a nice walk along the riverfront down the Scioto Mile and enjoyed the swings and fountains there.  While we were there, we could see a storm rolling in, but it didn't look like it was going to be right over us or hit within the next few minutes... but we were wrong!  As soon as we started walking back to our cars a couple blocks away, big gushes of wind started blowing everything all over the place.  It was tornado-like wind.  We were waiting for the sirens to go off!  The wind even blew over one of our strollers and into a car and it took two of us to pull it back upright (luckily we had just taken Lucy out). It was scary seeing signs, debris, and other things being swept away and flying through the air, as well as not being able to hardly take a step without being blown over!  Thankfully we made it to our cars before the downpour started!  It was quite an adventure.  We had so much fun and wish they could have stayed longer than two days!

Columbus Zoo & Zoombezi Bay

Ryan's sister, Michelle, and her family just moved from California to Florida.  Mark and Janae traveled with them as they did the long drive and we were lucky enough to have them stop here for a couple of days.  One of the days they were here, Ryan's work did a company day/lunch at the Columbus zoo and Zoombezi Bay (the big waterpark at the zoo), so we all went together and had so much fun.  We spent the morning at the zoo, then had lunch, and moved over to the waterpark in the afternoon.

Utah trip

Lucy and I went to Utah at the (very) last minute from June 16-26th.  My good friend, Nicole, had a free ticket that had to be used by a certain date and she couldn't use it and offered to me (thanks again, Nicole)!  Because of flight availability at the last minute, I had to be gone for 10 days, which was a little longer than I wanted at first but it ended up being the perfect amount of time.  In fact, I didn't even get to see everyone that I was hoping to (but that's what happens when you don't have much notice).  Everything worked out so perfectly because I got to see friends and family that I probably won't see for a while, be there for Lynlee's 1st birthday, swim a few times, eat good food, as well as be there for my good friend and old roommate, Laura's, wedding!  I just wish that I had pulled out my camera a little more... as usual.

Lucy was amazing on all 4 flights!  Couldn't have asked it to go any better!

Splash Pad

A few weeks ago my friend Marci and I decided to take our kids and venture over to the Scioto Mile, which is a new part of downtown Columbus that has a pretty walk, restaurants, and an awesome fountain/splash pad.  It was a hot day and we went during an activity for kids, so there were a lot of people, and a lot of fun activities, as well as free ice cream. :)  It was fun to explore a new place  outside of our usual community pool, and it also works out great that we all fit in Marci's SUV, so we can chat while the kids sleep in the back!

Great Grandma Harlan

Several weeks ago we went up to Cleveland while Ryan was out of town and Lucy got to play with her Great Grandma Harlan.  I love that my grandma loves babies and little kids so much, especially her own great grandkids.  It's fun to see her smile and become totally engrossed in them the whole time we're there.  It just so happens that today (July 5th) is her 81st birthday! (Please ignore the bad lighting).