A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa McKibben

Garrett's parents, Jim and Georgia, were able to come and visit us for a couple of weeks. They live in Ohio, so we don't get to see them very often. It was nice to visit with them and hang out; and it was certainly nice to have more help with the kids. The first weekend they were here, Garrett's brother, Josh was also able to come stay with us again. While they were all here, Garrett blessed little Noah. I know that meant a lot to Garrett to have his dad and brother stand in with him.

The McKibben boys

The day before the blessing, we took the kids to a new park in Hillsboro that we've been wanting to go to. They have a really different playground with some funky slides and toys. The girls weren't so sure at first, but then they liked it. They had some fountains to play in, which the girls did for awhile, but it was kind of chilly. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of the water part. Here's a few from the park.

Bella drinking water from Garrett's backpack.

Lydia on the spinning thing--what's that called?

Video of the girls going down the funky slide

While they were here, we also went camping. I wasn't too excited about this plan because Noah is still getting up in the middle of the night a couple of times to eat and I knew that in our trailer, everyone was going to hear him cry and wake up. (I was mostly worried about Bella). But, he never woke the kids up--pretty amazing since we are all right there in very close quarters. I also knew it was going to be pretty squished in there with 9 of us, but luckily the weather was pretty nice and we spent most of the time outside and only came in to sleep. It was a fun weekend. The first day we were there, it was nice and hot, so the girls went swimming in the lake. The second day was quite a bit cooler, but it didn't stop the girls from swimming a second time. We went on walks and hung out mostly. Love vacations where you can just sit around and enjoy each other's company.

Bella ready to go swimming in the lake.

She didn't last long in the cold water. I don't blame her!

Changing diapers in the great outdoors

Noah hanging out on the ground

Grandma and Noah

Lydia found a really cool stick and was pretending that it was a wand, so of course all the other girls wanted a "wand" so found their own sticks. Maggie was even teaching them spells from Harry Potter. That girl is obsessed with Harry Potter.

They love playing in daddy's truck

Bella and her wand

We really love going to Detroit Lake and were glad we got to go this year. It's been a few years since we've been there.

Grandma french braiding Bella's hair. She did it for all the girls.
Right before Grandma and Grandpa leave. The other girls had already left for school, so we didn't get a picture with them. Thanks grandma and grandpa for a great visit!!

2 White Dresses

We blessed Bella on June 1st, and Garrett gave a really nice blessing, as usual. It's so neat that he holds the priesthood and can do these things for our children. I haven't really taken a good picture of Bella in her blessing dress because when we got home from church, she was starving and therefore not in a mood to cooperate. I keep intending to put her dress on again and take some more pictures, but haven't done it yet. I'll post some of the originals, though.

Maggie's baptism was on June 7, 2008. She was able to get baptized on the same day as her good friend Jessie Spencer. Maggie was actually quite nervous, but she did just fine and really enjoyed the baptism. Afterwards, the Spencers invited us over to their house for dinner and the kids were able to play. Since Maggie's 8 now, she's also able to go to Activity Day girls twice a month. She has only been one time though, but absolutely loved it. I think she'll have a really fun time hanging out with the older girls and getting to be a part of the activities.