AND BEARS ..... Oh my!

Yellowstone Bear World is literally down the street from Rexburg, 15 minutes.. tops. I have never been. It is definitely an overpriced experience, but a good fun outing. I never believed that their were actually bears at the park... but there are!! Over 50. It is impossible not to see one. Kirsten came up to visit for a couple of days while I was in Rexburg and we took Madison to see what this tourist trap was all about.

Madi was a little leery of the bear

We first took the loop and saw some wildlife. We saw elk, bison, wolves, mountain goats, and of course bears!

We saw the cutest baby bear cubs, fed some ducks, and walked through a petting zoo with all types of farm animals. Madison's favorite part was by far feeding the ducks and the gift shop. Good thing we didn't pay to let her in, she liked everything that you can do anywhere.

Hermana Abilee Manner

We just got back from a trip to Rexburg for the past two weeks. We sent off my family's 4th missionary. (2nd missionary that is out serving right now)  Hermana Abilee Manner left for the Argentina MTC and will serve in Argentina. We love our Aunt Abilee and are so grateful for the opportunity we had to live in Provo at the same time as her during her first semester at BYU. This girl is amazing.

We love and miss Aunt Abilee. We can't wait to hear updates and stories. We hope her emails are better then the Elder's in my family.

Madison ~ 18 months

Madison - 18 months

I haven't normally done little update posts on Madi's age as she has grown. To me, it is pretty self explanatory to see how she is progressing from the photos of us going through life, doing our normal everyday things. However, as Madison has approached 18 months and now has moved a little beyond, she is starting to spring up into a little kid all of a sudden!. It is amazing to see them progress and it seemed before this point it was a little slow. All of sudden she is learning words quickly, signs as soon as I show them to her, and is becoming more physically confident at jumping, marching, running, and basically any little finger play that I show her. 

Madison's hair is coming in very light blonde at the moment. It is so nice and thick and even has a little curl. She has big blue eyes and a lot of teeth that she will never show me. (Taking pictures of an 18 month old is hard, she refuses to look at me, she cannot be bothered) She has a big pop belly, but skinny little long legs. (Not a lot of baby fat on those thighs). She loves to point to all her body parts and knows, head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. We even add in cheeks, chin, belly, and booty.

Worriedly pointing at the little plane above.

She makes this face A LOT. She gets 'stoked' about everything and this is how she reacts. 

This girl loves to sing! She can be so mad, but as long as we start singing she will get excited and do whatever action is associated with the song. Currently she loves 'Wheels on the Bus' and 'Popcorn Popping'. Her likes tend to go with the season and what her mom can come up with on the spot. She loves our weekly music time. She gets so excited when she sees her designated sitting blanket and will plop herself down. She loves rhythm sticks, animal masks, jumping and marching around the room, and any song with actions. Good thing her mom is obsessed with kid's music. 

This girl is obsessed with balls. She loves to throw and catch. 

Another worried look because of an overhead plane

She is quite the impressive jumper. She easily gets both feet off  on solid ground and has learned to hold her own on the trampoline at Grandma Manner's house.

We love this little girl at our house. Her Dad is crazy about her and can't imagine another kid cooler. We are having another little girl to add to the family at the end of September. I am so excited for Madi to have a little friend. 

This little one goes to nursery like a champ, (doesn't even bother to look back.) We love our little ornery, spunky, smart, opinionated little Madison!

Chicago

For our last celebration with Leslee we visited Chicago. This is such a fun city and of course it was the perfect day and not too cold. Earlier that week we actually went to Chicago to pick up Leslee. It was a miserable drive full of tolls and road construction. However, we did a little more research before the next trip and it turned out to be so much fun. Jordan and I would love to go back another day to see more... (possibly without Madison :) )

We started our trip by starting over by the airport. We wanted to end up back there that night because we were staying the night and then taking Leslee to the airport early that next morning. We decided to brave public transportation! We bought a day pass and it ended up being perfect. It would have been a lot more expensive to try to park downtown, plus walking everywhere and knowing we would have to walk back to our car would have been exhausting. We took the subway into the city and then took a couple of buses when we needed to go anywhere else. We never waited more then a minute for a bus. It was a good thing we had Leslee with us too. She is a pro at public transportation and got Jordan and I around efficiently.

At Navy Pier with some of the Chicago Skyline in the background

We started the day with American Girl Place!!!!!! This has been a dream of Leslee's and I since we were little kids. We made reservations and had lunch with our dolls that Leslee brought up.We have vintage dolls that have been discontinued. We felt pretty special. Of course we explored the store a bit. The place didn't disappoint. Lunch was pricey, but worth the experience.

Lunch time with Felicity

The bathrooms even had little hangers for the dolls. These people think of everything!

Next we walked around Navy Pier. Jordan loved the ships!

I tried to hide my belly..... It didn't work too well.

We then explored Millennium Park. The bean was crowded, but pretty cool. There was also an intense park with awesome slides. I even went down one and it was super crazy.

We finished the day up at a deep dish pizza place. The week before when we picked up Leslee we tried Lou Malnati's while this week we tried Giordano's. To be honest, Lou Malnati's was the best!! The sauce seemed fresher and the crust was cooked to perfection!!!

Amish Ice Cream and Nauvoo

My sister Leslee came to visit! It was such a needed break from the routine of my life. Plus it gets lonely without your own kin. Plus this was the first week I felt 'pretty' good! We had something planned everyday and 3 out of 5 days we were home for Madi to take a nap.We did a lot of shopping, visited an Amish community, and went to Nauvoo.

In the area that I live there are a few Amish colonies. Near their colonies they have a little town called Kalona where they come into town to get the newspaper and sell their goods. We bought some delicious cheddar cheese curd. We knew it was as fresh because the cheddar cheese was still its original color, white. Who knew that cows didn't give orange milk specifically for cheese. After walking around for a bit, exploring quilt shops and such we stopped and bought a homemade ice cream bar.

The next day we traveled about 2 hours to Nauvoo. Nauvoo is my temple district, but sadly I haven't been since we moved to Iowa. For one, it is freezing and for two I have felt terrible. Plus my husband has been very busy. If I wanted to go I would have needed to work out the details and plan the trips and to be honest, I haven't even planned dinner these last 3 months.

Nauvoo was so much fun. It was the perfect Spring day, but not crowded at all since it was the first warm day of the year. We learned how to make rope, bread (pioneer) style, bricks, horseshoes, and took tours of old houses. We picnicked in front of the temple and finished the day of in Carthage.

Riding in the carriage

Madi was so excited to bark and neigh at the horses, but was a little leery to actually touch them. She could only spare a finger.

Our one and only claim to fame. (ancestor from Nauvoo)

Leslee and I went to Nauvoo a few times when we were little, but have not seen it since they built the temple.

And of course... the church's flowers are blooming before the rest of the world's even pop out of the ground.

Getting Madison to pose is almost impossible. However, here is her at Carthage beneath the statues of Joseph and Hyrum.

Nauvoo turned into a longer day then expected, but it was so much fun. I can't wait to take Jordan back to see the horseshoes and explore the gun smith shop. Plus the pageant in July!!

Oh... and we all matched on Sunday. Was it embarrassing? ... a little... but worth it.

Aunt Leslee and Madison (16 months)

Christmas and Iowa

For some reason, during huge events in Jordan's and I's life, I lack the desire to take pictures, blog, Facebook, or even post on Instagram. But... WE MOVED TO IOWA. Getting acclimated to a new place takes my energy, and when nap time comes along I usually just want to sleep along with Madison. This also may be because ... I AM PREGNANT! (I feel comfortable posting this on here because of the lack of people that actually read the blog.) However, I just found out a little over a week ago, and am just beginning to feel the sickness of the first semester.  Yay for babies.

Iowa is great though. I actually think I am going to like it here. The winter is rivaling Rexburg's, but I have already met some people that I actually like. We are all settled into the apartment, and I love the extra space that this apartment has compared to our tiny one in Provo!

I don't actually have any pictures of Iowa. To tell you the truth, it looks similar to Idaho in the winter, just dead trees and icy snow on the ground. I am excited for spring and summer though. I do have some pictures of Christmas that I found adorable. I'll share those.

Talking to our missionary in Germany

He got to ring the bell when he finished his thesis

So this post wasn't about Iowa at all. Just Christmas, which seems like ages ago. It is hard to take any pictures when you do similar things everyday and your husband is so busy that no outings are ever planned.... Over the years we will hopefully have more to share about what this state has to offer.