Minnehaha Falls

Minnesota Trip 10-10

Bridge over the Mississippi River. This was an amazing view.
This is the Longfellow House by Minnehaha Falls. Longfellow wrote the epic poem about Hiawatha which was based on local history.
You can't really tell from this picture, but Minnehaha Falls was the best part of the day! It's very impressive! There's also a beautiful trail that winds down from it to the Mississippi River. It was rather muddy today though, so we didn't make it all the way on the trail, but drove to the river instead.
Lake of the Isles. It was a quite cold today, but we took a walk on the trail anyway. It goes all the way around this very pretty lake but we just went a short distance. There area a lot of lakes in the state (the land of 10,000 lakes).
We went to the St. Paul Temple this morning. It's even smaller than Redlands. We thought there might not be very many people there because of the weather, but that wasn't the case! I think today was pretty mild by their standards.
The Mall of America is as big as we'd heard it was. This amusement park is in the center of it. The whole thing, not including the park, is about three or four times bigger than Ontario Mills!

Abby's Mission Departure 10-10

OK, I did this backward, so look at it from finish to start! Here's Abby walking into the MTC. She looked lovely, poised, prepared, and confident!
They just let you drop them off at the curb and go!
We got together at the park below the Provo Temple to say our goodbyes. Abby's friend, Rachel Moon came too, but she's taking the picture.
A last lunch at In and Out.
We took a walk along the Provo River while Joey and Abby went long boarding on the trail.

Kelsey and Abby Sunday after Abby gave her farewell talk in Sacrament Meeting.
Bella was cute brushing her hair and trying to carry this dress-up purse on her shoulder.

This is Abby's friend, Jamie, who drove out from Utah to be with us on Sunday.

The Friday that Carly and Rich were here we went to the gala event at David and Margaret.
Carly and Abby.

Audra with the chickens.
Doesn't Evan look cute with his new look?

General Conference Sunday October 2010

Kelsey, Skylee and Austin posing on the bars. If we ever move, we'll have to put up more bars, since all the kids love to play on them.
This is during the afternoon session of General Conference on Sunday. It may look like no one was listening, but we were doing our best! It was also family bonding time!
Afterward we ate and played with chickens.
This is what Suzie does when she wants to get our attention! She hops up on the window sill and makes scratching noises!
Katy and Lilly. Lilly is starting to fill out and looks a lot like the other Ellsworth kids, who are all very cute. She is also walking now.
She wasn't too impressed with the chicken, but she just woke up from a nap.

Jake and Laura's Family 9-10

Abby and I got to go visit Jake and Laura and the kids for a few days in September. It was quick and the kids were in school, but we got to spend time with them before and after school. I got to enjoy a little one-on-one time with Jake while Laura was out of town one night and the kids were in bed! It's been awhile since we've had a chance to do that.

Jake and his mom.
Can you tell this is Ben Franklin? We helped Jacob make a puppet for a book report. It was on a wooden spoon.
Lexi and Abby were pretty cute together!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a very special weekend with Abby going to the temple in preparation for her upcoming mission! Joey and Katie and Carly and Katy were able to attend with us. Rich and Paul stayed with the kids so their wives could be with their sister.


We ate at Souplantation afterward. Here's Evan playing with his new birthday toys when he finished eating.

Katie, Carly and Abby relaxing on the couch.
Bella and Lilly sharing some snacks outside in the backyard.
We had a little "redneck" entertainment that involved arm-wrestling and chickens. Katie Rich surprised us with her powerful muscles. She was the women's champion.
Joey and Rich struggled for the top position, but after a few minutes of strenuous exertion, Joey finally won. That made Joey and Katie the reigning champions. We'll have to see what happens when we get Jesse and Sarita in the mix!
Joey and Katie enjoyed the chickens. This is Susie and Bobbie.
I'm not sure, but I think Katie liked holding Bella even better!
Abby brought Audra home from AZ with her a few days before her family arrived. This is where I found her the next morning after getting her dressed. She likes to comb her hair and tries to put on make-up when she gets a chance! She was a perfect little house guest. She didn't cry for her family, she liked our toys, she went to bed nicely- everything you could ask for!

Chickens in Trouble

Look at the little rascals heading down the driveway!
Bobbie hopped up on the truck but then thought better of it!