Eli's 9!

Eli had big plans for his birthday.

We started off by inviting one of his friends over, then we had a big family water balloon fight. We played in the sprinklers while Morgan grilled hamburgers and hotdogs.

After lunch we opened presents. Eli was very excited about getting a Kindle Fire tablet. He knew it was coming because he had to help pay for it. He loves that he gets to share books with Mom, because now he has the Harry Potter books available.

Angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries was followed by family movie night watching Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day.  The movie was actually really fun and funny. It was much better than I expected it to be.

Pioneer Day

Friday I babysat some kids for the day. When Morgan got home we had dinner then went outside to climb the tree and light sparkers and snakes. (Those are the only fireworks legal in Iowa).  They were both pretty disappointing. But we had fun anyway.

Ragbrai!

Thursday July 23rd Morgan and I rode a day of Ragbrai. This is an annual bike ride across the state of Iowa.

We rode a total of 80 miles in one day. We followed the route from Cedar Falls to Hiawatha and then rode up to Marion where we had parked our truck the night before.

We could not have done it without Morgan's mom, she watched our kids for us!

It was really fun to be on a bike ride with over 10,000 other people. State troopers were along the route at intersections stopping cars from going through. There were  few times when the troopers asked us to stop so cars could pass, but it didn't happen often.

Morgan got sunburned on his quads where the shorts rubbed off the sunscreen. I got a sunburn on my nose, and we were both a little saddlesore by the time it was over.  I definitely would do it again. Next time I would want to leave a little earlier in the morning and try and take a slightly more relaxed pace.

Next on our radar is a century, or 100 miles. We will ride from the Evansdale River Bridge Trailhead to the Cedar Valley Nature Trailhead on Boyson Road in Cedar Rapids and then back up. After doing 80 miles on Thursday I am confident that we can do the century. Although, we will probably wait until October when the weather should be a little cooler.

BYU Ballroom Dance Company

The BYU Ballroom dance company came and did a performance in Cedar Rapids. We wanted to support them (and get more BYU groups to come out) so we bought tickets for our whole family.


I was a little worried that our kids wouldn't like it, but they all had a great time!

This guy is dancing with a doll

There was a big video game dance with Pac Man, Ninja Turtles and Mario characters.

Playing games with Aunt Ginny!

Get likes to put my kickboxing gloves on. He's got a pretty good hook.

Plus he knows to protect his face.

Nauvoo with the Kimballs

My sister Rachelle came with her husband Kyle and their kids out to Nauvoo on vacation this summer. We were able to go down with them and enjoy being together.


It was a beautiful clear day with blue skies and not a cloud in sight. Don't believe me, you should. This picture is simply a result of humidity in Iowa. Bleh!

We started off by going to the Just Plain Anna Amanda show.

There was some dancing involved.

Then we checked out the Family Living Center.

Jet liked the sheep.

He also likes to balance on balls.

And run around circular benches.

He got the girls involved.

Then everyone had to check out the sheep.

The big kids made rope.

Time to walk on the Trail of Hope. This is the route the people of Nauvoo had to travel to cross the river in February when they were driven out of Nauvoo.

The Mighty Mississippi!

Jet was a little tired.

The Kimball clan!

Pictures at the Nauvoo Temple were a lot of fun.

We visited the old Post Office and the kids got to try a water carrying yoke thing.

Riding in the carriage was a big favorite.

No kissing!

A bunch of pelicans were hanging out in the water.

This turtle was a lot faster than I expected him to be.

Our last stop was Carthage Jail to see where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred.

It is a very serious place.