Chicago

Thursday
We left for Chicago on Thursday morning. Dallin has been asking us a lot of questions about temples and where we got married, so we started off the trip by going to the Chicago Temple. Dallin thought it was really neat, but was very upset we didn't let him go inside. After checking into our hotel and eating we head to Navy Pier to go to the Children's Museum since it was free Thursday night. Dallin's favorite part was the water section.
Daddy enjoyed the water section almost as much as Dallin!

Friday
On Friday morning we met up with Jeff's brother and his family who were staying at the same hotel. Dallin loved getting to play with his three cousins. After breakfast we headed out to the Brookfield Zoo. This zoo is huge, and even though we spent the better part of the day there we only saw like half of the zoo. It was a really neat zoo. We asked Dallin before we left what he wanted to see the most and his answer was COWS!! Afterwards, we asked him what his favorite animal was, and his answer was COWS!! He loves those cows.
Dallin waiting patiently to go see the animals by playing with his trucks in the hotel room.

After the zoo and eating, we went down to the hotel pool. Dallin spent the better part of the hour and a half jumping off the edge to Jeff. He thought it was so much fun. Dallin did get a little frustrated with Jeff because he wanted to jump in by himself.

Saturday
On Saturday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. I thought it might be a little lame, but it was a really neat place where you could spend all day. Dallin loved getting to "ride" the tractors, trains, and airplanes.

We really had a lot of fun while we were there. It was a lot of walking for a pregnant lady but well worth it. Dallin kept on posing for pictures in the car on the way home. He is such a funny kid!

Daddy and Dallin having fun

Dallin was having a lot of fun with daddy the other night. Jeff taught Dallin how to arm wrestle. It was pretty funny to watch. Dallin also thought it was fun to "tackle" daddy.

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Iowa

This past weekend we went out to Iowa to visit Jeff's sister and her family. We got up there on Thursday night and came back home Saturday before the BYU embarrassment. Even thought it was short, we got a lot done and had a fun time. Thanks for having us and all the yummy food! Dallin loves getting to play with his cousin Kendra. They are so cute together now that they actually play together.

On Friday night, we went to Kendra's school carnival. Dallin had a lot of fun. His favorite was of course the jumping house. They did this 3-4 times. I was a little nervous because there were some pretty big kids in it, but Dallin did great holding his own. They also played some games and just goofed off together.

On Saturday we helped with painting their family room in the basement. It was my first time ever painting, and I was excited to finally get to help do something. While we started the painting Jeff ran some cable and installed some cable jacks around the room. Dallin and Kendra helped us paint at first. Dallin was very proud that he helped paint.

Dallin and I ended the weekend by making some double frosted brownies on Sunday night. When Dallin "helps" it sure does get a lot messier. Oh well! He loves it. I was busy frosting the brownies and looked over, and Dallin had started licking the frosting out of the bowl! Then he got to enjoy the messy treat!

The Dairy Farm

Today for playgroup we went to a dairy farm. Dallin loved seeing all the cows. We saw them milking all the cows, saw the baby cows, saw the pregnant cows, and lots of other things. He had a blast getting to run around with his friend Caleb. All Dallin talks about now is that he saw cows getting milked and cleaned.

After we went to the dairy farm, we all went over to someone's house and had lunch. We just let Dallin and Caleb run around in the backyard. I decided to go check on them, and they had gone to the neighbor's house and turned on their hose. They were spraying each other and laughing hard. They were soaked! Here is a picture of them sitting next to each other eating lunch. They were soaked which is why Caleb is in a diaper....i hadn't gotten to that yet with Dallin! They are just so funny when they are together.

Our Texas trip

We left Thursday the 27th to start our trip. We first stopped in Kansas to visit Jeff's parents. On Friday Jeff went to the lake with his dad, and Dallin and I went shopping with his mom. Jeff's sister and her family came up Friday night for some yummy brisket dinner and to see us. On Saturday we spent the day at the Lake. It was actually kind of chilly outside. I had to wear a sweatshirt. Dallin had a blast. He absolutely loves being on the boat and in the water. It was a lot of fun.

Dallin loves helping Grandma cut her grass. He gets so excited to ride the tractor.

Dallin LOVED throwing rocks into the Lake. He finally had a reason to throw rocks.

Dallin and Daddy riding the new tube behind the boat.

Jeff and Darrin riding the tubes the real way. I didn't get any pictures of Jeff skiing and wakeboarding, but I got a couple of him tubing. It was pretty fun to watch.

I just love this picture of Dallin. He is so happy outside.

On Sunday after Sacrament meeting, we drove down to Texas to visit my family. We had a lot of fun. I got to eat at all of my favorite restaurants, and Jeff got in 2 rounds of golf. Dallin enjoyed all the attention he got from his grandpa and uncles. I'm sure Eric was tired after hearing "come Eric Come Eric" over and over from Dallin.

On Monday night we drove up to College Station to visit my brother Ryan. Dallin had on the same shorts as Ryan. Here they are playing basketball together.

One morning we went to the park, and a fireman gave Dallin his very own firefighter hat. He loves that hat!
One day we went to The Woodlands Mall. Dallin played in the play area for awhile with Grandpa, and then he got to ride the merry-go-round a couple of times. Then we took him to the pet store in the mall. We had to carry him out kicking and screaming after about an hour. He sure does like animals.
Then we went to this place that had miniature golf. Dallin was begging us to golf because he wanted to be like daddy. He would put his ball like 6 inches from the hole and hit it in on every hole. There was a kid section too. He rode on the rocket ship, the horse and train. He LOVED the train and rode it several times. Both daddy and dallin had to ride in the car.



One day my brother Eric, Dallin and I went to Market Street. It is this place that has tons of little shops and restaurants to walk around. There is a fountain for the kids to run around and get all wet. We took Dallin there a couple times because he thought it was a really fun waterpark :) Uncle Eric helped him throw some pennies into the fountains he wasn't allowed to play in.
One night we went to my grandparents house for dinner and to see all of my uncles, aunts and cousins. Dallin's favorite part was the chocolate cake!
On Saturday morning we got up early, said good-byes, and drove back to Kansas to watch the BYU smackdown on Oklahoma. It was very exciting. Dallin enjoyed his last night playing with Jed.
We were in the car for about 40 hours and drove about 2,500 miles this past week. We couldn't have asked Dallin to be any better. He was GREAT during all the driving. He slept some, ate snacks and watched all of his movies over and over and over again!