Keep a weather eye on the horizon...

So, I've been told by long-time residents that this is an unusually wet summer here. It has rained at least a little bit about half of the days of the last couple of months. Rain is normally accompanied by thunder and lightning. It doesn't bother me when the thunder is so loud it shakes the whole house, or when a power surge from the lightning causes both garage doors to open by themselves. I was bit alarmed, though, by the insane amount of water we got last Thursday. I barely got home through the rivers and lakes that used to be called roads. The water was violently sloshing up against the garage doors when I opened one to park. In the 20 seconds it took me to get in and close the door, there was already several inches of water covering the cement floor. Matt stayed up till 3am just keeping an eye on things. I really wanted to get a picture of the rapids outside, but I was honestly afraid that I would get washed away or struck by lightning or both. So, you'll have to rely on your imagination. Anyway, thankfully there was no flooding in our house, although the school library and several other houses weren't so lucky.
The kids must have felt a little cheated because they took to the kitchen sink the next day to remind us how it would have felt to be flooded. If I hadn't followed the giggles, it could have been a lot worse.
More weather updates...when it isn't raining it is hot. Humid hot. The kind of hot where you sweat just sitting at your computer blogging. I went outside to get some fresh air and I almost suffocated. I gently touch Alex's bare back and when I remove my hand, it is like ripping off a band-aid because everything is sticky. You know it is hot when you have to spread your toes apart (which I find is a talent not everyone has) because it is too warm to have your toes touching each other. I do give in and turn the air on sometimes--when it is 85 in here.
Did I mention that I love this place? No, really. I'm not complaining--I still love the rain and thunder and such, and I can definitely live in the heat for a while. But, I'm so glad I don't live in Vegas or something. Bleck.

Amigos

A couple weekends ago, we met up with our friends Jeff and Brindy Whipple in Nauvoo. They are from Salt Lake City and we haven't seen them for a year. It was so much fun getting to hang out for a day. They have a daughter named Taylor, and they were traveling with Brindy's parents, so that is who is in this picture. We didn't get very many good pictures, so that is why I posted this one with me and my stupid hair down the middle of my face. I was fighting Alex to get him to look at the camera, so hands were busy, which explains the hair. It also explains why I look like I'm nursing a 4 year old. You probably wouldn't have thought that unless I said it, but now I did so that is all you are looking at. Oh well.













The kids watched a movie in their hotel room, and ran around on the grass some. Fun fact: Bekah's pink "capris" are really 3 month old baby pants.










Okay, so our friend Elsie used to live here, but relocated to Minnesota a couple months ago, but she came back this week to visit. So we met her and Tawni at the lake. Elsie was so nice to run around and play with our kids while we just sat on our tushes. It was great to be able to just relax and catch up.

Anybody seen my brain?

So, I was trying to be fun and take the kids for a bike ride. Clearly I've never done this before. We've got a bike trailer hooked up to Matt's bike and he has always taken them. So I get the bike out of the garage and get the kids all buckled. I made sure that I had my keys and I closed the garage and ran out before getting squished.
But, I forgot to fill up the water bottle so I grab that and my keys and go to the front door. Well, the screen door was locked (thanks, Alex) and I don't have a key for that. I was a bit miffed about being locked out of the house, but I went around back to try a window. There is a door to the garage that is supposed to be locked, but amazingly, it wasn't. So I get in without much trouble, fill up the water bottle, unlock the screen door, and head out. I thought I was ready when I realized that I left the water bottle inside. So I get my keys and head back in. Once back outside, I decided that I wanted my watch, so I get the keys from Alex AGAIN, and grab the watch. Finally ready to go, and about to mount the thing, I notice that the seat is way too high, because, after all, this is Matt's bike. So back in again to grab a ruddy tool for some leverage. I fix the seat, go back in to replace the tool and NOW I am ready. As I start to pedal, it dawns on me that I forgot my helmet. Forget it, Sarah--just don't crash and die.

Yes, that is right, 5 extra trips inside. I'll have you know that I was just going to post this little bike incident, but I outdid myself and had another bout of brain dead-ness--read on:

This last weekend Matt and I met up in Nauvoo, Il. We were going to camp Saturday night, so I had to get all the camping stuff together. So, I thought that I did pretty good, but it turns out I forgot some things here, too. I forgot the can opener, so Matt had to use a rock. I forgot a tarp, but it stopped raining in the afternoon, so it was okay. I didn't bring a pocket knife, sweaters for me or the kids, any kind of towel for a shower, I packed the wrong bottle of BBQ sauce, and I didn't pack matches. The matches. They used to be in the van all the time, but Matt took them out to light fireworks and never put them back. So, I'm looking in the glove box, just to be sure, and these are my thoughts, "Man, it's too bad, I know there are some matches in the glove box of our other car." I look in my red bag that has my toothbrush and stuff, because I used to keep a lighter in there. No lighter. We needed to start dinner so I go to the nearest gas station. I come back, a dollar twelve poorer, and Matt says, "Too bad we don't have cell phones, because about 30 seconds after you drove off I found some matches in my bathroom bag." Oh well. It takes me another 20 min or so to realize that I drove to the gas station in our OTHER CAR---yep, the one with the stupid matches in the glove box. What is my problem?? They were there in three different places the whole time: Matt's bag, the glove box, and my red bag. Oh yeah, there was a book of matches in there, too. But since I was looking for a lighter.....well, I'm a moron.

Did someone slip me drugs when I wasn't looking?

When you don't have a sleeping bag and stairs...

This was the video I was trying to post!

Alex is a little vain, and Bekah is just there for the fun.

Summer Shananigans

Just some of the stuff that we've been up to.
This was my favorite car at the car show in town. We had fun setting off some fireworks, but the kids don't like the really noisy ones.
I'm not really in the mood to describe much because I was trying to post a video, and it is just not letting me! So I'm kind of annoyed about that. Anyway, this is our last week together and then Matt has to leave for St. Louis for his preceptorship with a family doctor there. Even being apart for 2 weeks is not driving us to get cell phones--haha is that sad or what?

The beauty of a backyard

Sprinklers, Fires, and Fireflies.

That white speck behind Alex is a firefly--he's trying to catch them.

Here's what seems to be growing in every yard.

After all this fun, you need to sleep under the bed.

Tour de 'souri

Matt's family came out here a couple weeks ago and we showed them all about life here in the Midwest. They flew into Kansas City and we drove them through the entire northern part of the state and into Iowa and Illinois, so hopefully they got their fill.

But, how could you get enough of this?

The weather was perfect most of the time which may have fooled them into thinking that it is actually mild here. Ha!

Here are the kiddies...

In Nauvoo, Il, they had some stilts and other games that we got to try out.

Matt, Alex, Grandpa, Grandma, and me looking smarter than usual.

Once we got here, we took the fam to check out Matt's second home.

Then we came home to relax a bit and celebrate father's day.

We ate this and watched "Amazing Grace". We also watched "The Bucket List" and "Live Free or Die Hard" while they were here.

We hadn't heard about the flooding the night before, so when we crossed the Mississippi, we saw some of the effects.

Checking out some of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Grandpa Rich, Aunt Jenny, Alex, Grandma Sallie, Rebekah, Matt, me.

This is just to show you how much fun we had just riding in the car!

And , finally, just some roaming that took place.