Reunited

Tyler is home and it feels wonderful to be reunited.  I have been surprised at how complete our lives feel and I think I have had a little epiphany about Christ's sacrifice.  Now that Tyler is home, it feels almost as if the difficulty of the past nine months has been erased.  The loneliness and sadness that I felt during that time are gone and I am left to wonder, why did I ever complain?  I think I may feel similarly, at some future point when the Atonement has wiped away the pain of mortal trials, all that will remain is how I reacted to those trials.  I won't remember the difficulty or the pain because the Atonement will have perfectly healed it all.  In that moment I can see myself also asking, why did I ever despair?  I hope as I experience more trials of faith in my life I can have more faith than fear and retain an eternal perspective.  

Tyler has found himself not rushing to catch green traffic lights and simply savoring the little moments.  He spent birthdays and holidays away from his little ones and has a newfound appreciation for our time together and to be present in each moment.  

Michigan in August

This is the last post covering the Michigan trip.  The following pictures are from the month of August.

Andrew and Sylvia playing in the playhouse again and also their uncles' toys. 

The kids helped with Grandpa's garden and they reaped the rewards! They loved snacking on the tomatoes and green beans freshly picked.

The kids played outside a lot which means they were sweaty and dirty a lot.

Sometimes I made picnic lunches for the kids to eat outside under the tree.  These lunches were big hits with the kids.

The only kids in Michigan nursery were Andrew and Sylvia.  That means there was no nursery teacher so sometimes I sat in there with the kids when there were no other volunteers.

Riding the golf cart with G.g.

Playing outside in the pool and sprinkler on a hot day

One day we went to my cousin Christie's house to play with Cody and Claire.  They live on a beautiful farm and the kids had a blast.  Claire found a toad!  Andrew still talks about how the toad peed when Claire carried him back to the grass.

Having a great time! You can see their gorgeous farmhouse.

I love everything about their house!

Claire is great with the younger kids.

Andrew is eating a cupcake Grandpa brought home from work.

We went to Lake Michigan again! You can see the Lake in the distance.  It really seems like an ocean; there are waves and you can't see the other side.  But it's the best of both worlds because the water is fresh and there are no dangerous sea creatures!

Enjoying the day

Andrew loved swimming again so much! He is becoming a pro swimmer.  It was windier and the waves were bigger this time so Sylvia was content to sit on the beach and play in the sand.  She did play in the water, but not as much as Andrew.

We stopped at a Blueberry festival along the coast of Lake Michigan.  This is a picture of the actual blueberries we bought.  They were scrumptious!

A typical day consisted of riding the golf cart, picking some veggies from the garden (below they are snacking on green beans), getting dirty, and this particular day they ended up in the kiddie pool with their clothes on.  The kids just loved it.

Riding the golf cart on a cooler morning.

In the July you may notice the grass looked pretty brown.  In August, Michigan finally got the rain it needed.  Below is a huge puddle that formed after a big rainstorm.

Eventually, the kids were swimming in it like fish.  Andrew even stripped down to his underwear.

Grandpa's birthday is the second week in August.  He had just returned from his trip to Canada with Justice.  I made a birthday dinner for him and some family joined us.  He requested G.g.'s famous German chocolate cake for dessert.  It was delicious!

Happy Birthday to you!!!

These two pictures are after I dug more childhood toys out of the attic for the kids to play with.

They kept Andrew occupied for hours.

We ate at Tim's Pizza, home of the Judd family's favorite pizza a few times.  This time we even got ice cream afterwards! Andrew chose Superman flavor again.

We went to visit the "castle" library.  The library is a big stone building and Andrew thought it was a castle.  I may or may not have threatened the kids to be quiet or the King would come.  Then when we were leaving it was noon and the bell tower was chiming.  Andrew said, "The King is coming!"

Playing with Cody and Claire at G.g. and Papa's house.

It was hard to say good-bye to G.g. and Papa.  We spent a lot of time with them and we will miss them so very much.

Saying good-bye to Jared and Mikayla.  The kids had a lot of fun playing with these two and really had a chance to bond with them.  Sylvia gave Jared SO many hugs!

Grandma helped us drive home on August 19th.

We made the trip in two days again.  We stayed the night in Lincoln, Nebraska, and dropped Grandma off in Denver at the airport the next day.  We continued south and made it home safely! We were so happy to have made many happy memories in Michigan but it is good to be home too. 

Michigan in July

We had an awesome time in Michigan! I had so many pictures, hopefully these will show what a fun time we had and spotlight cool activities the kids did this summer.

The kids were super happy to try McDonald's Happy Meals.  We stopped there for lunch the first day. 

We drove up to pick up Grandpa from the Denver airport.  He was gracious enough to drive to Michigan with us!  It's a good thing he did because I got horrible motion sickness.  We stopped at a hotel at about 10pm and continued our trip the next day.

The kids did great! They slept in the van and did not fuss at all.  I had packed surprises for along the way and Andrew would yell, "More suprises!"  He also watched the movie Space Jam on the IPad about five times.

Happy to be in Olivet, Michigan!

Grandma made some yummy pancakes for breakfast

This bird nest is on Grandma and Grandpa's front porch.  We watched five little baby birds grow bigger and eventually fly from the nest.  In the picture we only see three, but the other two are cuddled in the nest, safe and sound.  

We were able to go to the Eaton County Fair for the second year in a row!  We saw lots of animals like chicks and ducks.

We pet a cute, soft bunny.

We also watched Jared and Justice show their cows.  It was extremely hot and humid.  We felt like we were melting and didn't stay too long.  But Andrew would never leave a fair without stopping to see the tractors.

They love Grandpa!

A beautiful Michigan sunset

Playing outside.  We loved having so much yard to run around and play in at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Cody and Claire were so much fun to play with too!!

Andrew and Sylvia also loved Lily!

We visited Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy's new house.  We had visited when they were building it last year.  It is so beautiful!

Aunt Kathy's cute fairy garden

Hanging out on the porch

Andrew loves Grandma

Andrew and Sylvia played in the play house almost every day.  Despite the fact that it was sweaty hot in the afternoon.

The cool kiddie pool Grandma and Grandpa set up for the kids.

I was able to help with a bridal shower for a friend while in Michigan.  The couple is very outdoorsy so they used the tent to decorate.  It was very well done.

Andrew practiced riding a bike.  He hasn't quite mastered the pedaling yet.

One evening we kayaked on Pine Lake.  It was really fun! 

We brought the kids with us and they didn't quite know what to think at first.

By the end, they both were in the water floating around and were very sad to leave.

Grandpa snuggle time

For the first few weeks we were there, Andrew used Bennett's room.  Here the kids are relaxing with Lily.

Andrew also got to play with Uncle Bennett's toys.  He wanted a Lincoln Log city.

We always love to visit Mooville, the best ice cream around.

The kids got Superman ice cream.

Watch out for your ice cream, Grandpa!

Mooville has farm animals and a big sand pit with tractors to play with... the kids were in heaven.

Grandpa took the hiking backpack for a few walks around town with us because he was getting in shape for his hiking adventure with Justice up in Canada.

Then the aunts and uncles arrived!  Uncle Bennett is crazy!

Ready for breakfast

We went to Lake Michigan with everyone the day after Jared's wedding.  It was so hot that weekend so it was a perfect day to go swimming.

The kids had a blast.  They were swimming in the lake a ton.  Andrew surprised everyone by kicking his legs and practicing swimming so much even though he was scared to even go in the water at first.  We also climbed a big sand dune and ran down it.

Andrew was tired from all the swimming, here is isn't sleeping, but playing in the sand while laying down.

Reading bedtime stories with Uncle Bennett.  He always does funny voices for the characters.  When everyone was in town and then for the remainder of our time in Michigan, the kids and I stayed in Uncle Sam's room in the basement. We put two pack and plays in there after Andrew unsuccessfully shared a bed with me. 

Playing with Justice in nursery

The newlyweds over for dinner and some games

Aunt Kat is giving Sylvia tickles

We saw a skunk one evening!  We actually saw three this time and not only on one occasion.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to the Binder Park Zoo.  It was so much fun, the zoo had a lot of places to see and explore.

A peacock mom and babies

Andrew fed the giraffe! He wasn't as scared this time, compared to when we fed them with the Stinsons back in June.

Grandma and Grandpa also took Andrew and I to see the movie Finding Dory.  Sylvia stayed home with the aunts and uncle.

Snuggling

Hunter, Camille's then boyfriend (now fiance), came to visit too.  Here Justice is grilling Hunter on his intentions with Camille and other embarrassing questions.  It was pretty funny and Hunter was a good sport about it.

We also spent some time up north at Aunt Diane and Tom's house.  Here Tom took us for a ride in the Ranger through the woods.  Aunt Kat is about to join us.

Enjoying yummy food with family

We played lots of fun games up north too.

Hanging out on the porch

Gabriel and Cami are wining the Frisbee game!  The house is located on beautiful property and gave everyone a chance to play outside and enjoy the time together.

The cute (newly engaged!!) couple after tubing down the river.

It was a great Judd family reunion at Tom and Diane's and we'd love to attend more in the future.

That evening we drove back in time for fireworks in Olivet for the annual Fireman's Festival.  The kids hated the fireworks so we walked back to Grandma and Grandpa's house post haste.

Silly-bia getting Grandpa

The kids convinced Margaret to push them around in the wheel barrow.

Having fun with Uncle Bennett and Aunt Margaret.

What is a Michigan summer with smores?

I'd like s'more says Sylvia

A fun bonfire in the backyard

Helping Grandpa bake.  Sylvia wants a taste

Big hugs for Grandma! 

See more pictures from our Michigan trip in the following blog post...