Wildlife Prairie Park

 




Above Grace is pumping water outside the frontier home. Below is the friendly tree, Grace & Carter are shaking its hand. We watched Jeremy do both these on the tape.





On Friday we had a fun day with friends. Nana & I took the girls to Wildlife Prairie Park near Peoria, IL. It was a great day with perfect weather (no rain!!). On Thursday night Nana showed the girls a VHS of Jeremy at the park when he was eight. They got to see a preview of some of the fun things they would see the next day. They kept saying, "Who is that boy?"

The park has animals that are indigenous to Illinois. The kids were too little for us to see everything, but they loved everything we did. I think it will be fun to take them back when they are older.  While there we saw farm animals, an old house & school, a bobcat, a fox, a coyote, a black bear, snakes, and more. We also took a ride on the park's train. We ended our visit with a picnic lunch. It was such fun to introduce them to something Jeremy enjoyed when he was little! And I enjoyed seeing a place I had only heard about from Jeremy's childhood stories.

Family Photos

My mom took new family photos. I was really pleased with how they turned out! The girls were semi-cooperative &  I love their matching dresses. Know I won't be able to get away with that forever! If you live locally and need a photographer my mom (Jan Holst) does an awesome job.

Weekend Away

Friday Jeremy and I headed North to stay with Marc & Kristina. On the way we stopped at this super cute diner in Jacksonville. We thought it looked like it could be on the show, "Diners, Drive Inns & Dives" It was way fun. They brought us a warm loaf of homemade bread and  the food was great. We were glad we took the time to stop instead of eating fast food.
On our drive we saw some funny stuff. We saw this amazing rainbow (although there wasn't any rain). We also spotted one of my high school coaches in front of us on the interstate. Then when we went past Bloomington we spotted Abby, Chuck, & Lindsay! It was so crazy.
We really enjoyed the extra time to visit with the Gorsch family. Since our girls stayed home with their Papa and Grammy I had fun playing with Sadie & snuggling with Kinnick. They are both so adorable. I can't get over how similar Grace & Sadie's personalities are.
The wedding was at Funks Grove chapel. It was gorgeous and a great day for a wedding.
Okay, so this picture didn't turn out so great, but it was the only one we took together. I was so glad Jeremy ended up coming with me, he is my favorite person to road trip with!
"My Girls" (minus the Bride)
The wedding was so much fun. It was such a great time to visit, although too short.  Abby looked so gorgeous. And the reception was beautiful with really yummy food! I don't know if I thought it would be possible to still be this close to my girls 5 years after college. They are still my closest girl friends and prayer partners. I feel SO blessed to have them in my life.