IOWA

Well... We have been in Iowa for the last TEN days! It was wonderful! Wonderful to get away from Utah, and Wonderful to be home, and Wonderful to see so much family!! We Did A Lot...

We got in to Iowa City on Friday (16th) and was able to go to my sister, Kara's piano recital - she's amazing. Alicia/Tim/Ellia came down from Wisconsin... We headed to Seth's family in Waterloo on Saturday...

We spent the weekend in Waterloo - saw a lot of family, and Seth's mom came down from Michigan too. It was a party! We went four wheeling on his Grandpa's 40 acres of trees - FUN. Saw some deer and ducklings. We went mudding with some of the guys too - we just watched on the four wheeler as the two trucks got stuck and pulled each other out, etc. it was a very memorable day. We had a bonfire that night too.

Tuesday, Seth and I took Kara out to lunch at Panchero's. Tuesday night Seth took Aaron up to Waterloo in his Jeep to go mudding/four wheeling, they had a great time! Seth got to see his mom some more too, I know he enjoyed that a lot. While they were up north I went with mom and dad to shop at Menards, and then to the last part of Kara's softball game - she was amazing at stealing bases and getting to home plate before the rest of her team struck out throughout the whole inning.

After seth got back from their adventure we drove to Nauvoo!!! Yea, we left at like 11:30pm and got there after 1:00am. I'm grateful for Seth's amazing skills to spot deer/raccoons/possums/dogs on or next to the road before we hit them!! Because we saw A LOT and dodged a few! When we got into Nauvoo Seth indulged my wishes and we drove around the flats. It was perfect weather, completely quiet, and there were plenty of stars - surreal. We drove by Joseph Smith's home, the Nauvoo house, Red brick store, around the bend of the Mississippi and up Parley street (where we could see the beautiful lit temple up on the hill) down main street and up past the statue garden to our house just a block from the temple. It was my Favorite!

We made a super short trip of it all, got to sleep in a little. Seth went and got breakfast from the bakery, we caught the 11:00 Endowment Session (Susan Easton Black was right behind us when we go to the temple - Wow! I wish I had talked to her. ) Got home - I mowed the lawn, barefoot :) ( just had flip flops and my church shoes with me!)which I LOVED. (I like to mow lawns and it has been years). We got yummy sandwiches from the Bakery and went down to the Mississippi off Parley St. (where the saints went across when they left Nauvoo to trek West) to eat lunch. We stopped by the Brickyard for a tour to get a souvenir brick, and by the Nauvoo Fudge Shop for fudge/caramels/pretzels on our way out of town. It was a Perfect short half day trip and we fit it all in. This was a highlight of our Iowa Trip for sure! I love Nauvoo... Here are a few pictures we took when that night, from our sun room at the back of the house, of the temple at night:

Ben, Melissa, Olivia, and Gage joined us all on Wednesday. It was a full house, and a lot of fun to all be together. Tim, Alicia, and Ellia came down to join us (they live in Wisconsin) again on Friday. There were a lot of people and we were all going different directions.

Thursday I cooked a "cafe rio" meal. Melissa helped me a lot, and made her amazing guacamole. Sandi, Seth's mom came down to visit for the afternoon. Seth got to be with her for a while. He got a new phone, he loves it. And she came to the house and hung out for a few hours. It was so nice we got to see her so many times that week. The meal was wonderful, I hope everyone else like it!

That night Garrett had a concert at the ped mall - it was so fun to go and see him play. Mom, Seth, Olivia, and I went to see him. Olivia was in such a good mood, she was all over the place dancing, jumping, and walking all crazy. She'd occasionally decide she had to go see uncle Garrett and she'd just run right up there in the back where he was playing his trumpet. Then he took her down the slide a few times. We went to Kara's softball game after that. It was a good time.

Friday morning I went to a flower auction with mom and melissa (and her kids). It was held in Fry town, IA - about 15 minutes away. It was a pretty neat experience! They were ridiculously CHEAP flowers and plants! I could tell Melissa wanted to buy a lot and would have taken full advantage of that opportunity if Utah wasn't so far away. A friend of the family came too and she filled up the back of her truck with flowers for $60! It was amazing how much she got for so cheap, and she shared some with mom - Mel and I had fun planting them together later.

For the last year I guess my parents (mom) has been wishing for a remodeled bathroom. I didn't find about this until a few months ago and all of us kids decided we should do this while we were all in Iowa City last week. So before my brother Ben would arrive with his little family on Wed I would make sure we got the bathroom entirely gutted. Seth, Aaron, Dad, mom, Kara, and I all chipped in getting the walls scraped/ceiling paint scraped off/ vanity gone/ floor's linoleum gone - everything - gone. We went shopping for a new toilet/vanity/tub and Ben was going to tile the shower and floor. It was a lot of Work!! But so glad we did it...

Ben got into town Wed and stayed until the next Tuesday. Though we all tried to have all the fun we could - it was a lot of work for Ben and Dad to get everything working right and to the stage where it was all ready to tile. They worked on it all until Tuesday when Ben left. We were all able to help clean up after them, washing/sweeping, etc. I got to do some plumbing work w/ dad. Tim and Seth cut a lot of tile... Unfortunately it didn't go as smooth as planned - considering that big of a project there were a lot of set backs - like the city turning off our water for a few hours when we needed it most, or other random leaks, etc. But all the hard work really paid off!! It is an absolutely beautiful bathroom now! It still isn't finished - but hopefully the final touches will get done soon. This slide show has before/after pictures:

Aside from the bathroom being re-done Seth and Aaron put up new swings on the swing set, including a Riding Bronco! The swing set majorly needed a clean up!! It hasn't been used in years, but now that grand kids are joining the family it was time. Garrett helped me take out the old sand from the sandbox and put new stuff in. It looked great by the time Ellia and Olivia got to play on it:

It all went by so fast. Saturday/Sunday were the big days though.

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY SETH

We had plans to go out on a pantoon boat. But it was just too crazy, :(. And it rained anyway (yay for midwest thunder/lightning). We played rockband though, and he was helping Tim with cutting tile. We grilled burgers/stakes/bratwursts; it was a feast. Brian made him a funfetti cake and we sang to him, he blew out candles. I think Seth's favorite part was opening his present... An Ipod touch from my parents, his parents, and I. He loves it. Happy 25th Birthday babe!

Sunday was really the reason why we went to Iowa. My youngest brother, 6th of 7 kids, graduated from High School. It was fun that we could all make it there for that event. Garrett is a stud, and has accomplished A LOT so far. In High School he played many sports (especially Cross Country and Tennis), played his trumpet in the band and jazz band, Took a number of AP courses, won tons of awards at the student film festival this year (including Best Actor). We are extremely excited that he will be joining us out here in Utah this fall - he was accepted into BYU.

Monday (what a trip, huh?) Memorial Day - All of the Hartley family came over. It was nice to see Grandma and Grandpa Sunday/Monday - they're the cutest. Great aunts and uncles came, that I haven't seen in years. It was a real party, tons of people. And I'm sad we had to leave soon after they began eating so we could make it to Utah in time for work Tuesday morning. We left town at 1:30pm. I don't mind the drive to and from Utah/Iowa - at all, especially with just me and Seth! After all, that is how we met each other. I got to sleep most of the time, Seth listened to "Angels and Demons" on tape. We are so glad we were able to spend so much time away from Utah - at our home in Iowa, and with so much family!! We both would LOVE to move there and live close by... hopefully within a year? who knows... but this concludes this mega post about our adventure to Iowa. Just in case y'all think otherwise - Iowa is NOT flat (left, is beautiful!!!). Nebraska IS flat (right).

Ps - Raja wanted to come with us, but we had to leave her behind. :( A combination of wonderful friends and neighbors visited/fed/played with her while we were gone. She's been working hard at catching up on the attention she lost. Many people in our complex have told us when they walked passed our apartment Raja would be laying in the window sill meowing to everyone. She only destroyed a few things, like her bag of food and paper towels, etc. We're very happy to be back home with her!!!