Quote of the Day

"Dull women have immaculate homes"
And I might add, NO CHILDREN!

Swimming with Sophie

When we visited Chicago in July, the kids took a dip in the pool. Cousin Sophie was just getting used to the water. She was darling in her little pink swimming suit!


Sam loved playing in the water table, the pool was too cold for him I guess. This was a pretty cool toy!
Sophie loves to walk. She is 9 months old in this picture. Bekah just adores her!

Lake Michigan

We went to Chicago to visit my brother and his family in July. We had lots of fun at the Lake. Jonah was so excited to finally see the "sea"! On the way to Chicago, every body of water we'd pass he would look out and say, "Look, there's the sea!". He wasn't sure what to think of the waves at first.
Sam, being entertained by Uncle Evan! Sam was in the running away mood so he was pretty much stuck in the stroller. I let him out for a while and he tried to take someone's ball and also chased a bird down the beach!
As you can see, Jonah got used to the water! He kept going farther and farther, it was hard for him to leave. It was really such a beautiful day, not hot at all, perfect weather!

Mourning the Loss

I was cleaning today and took a good look at my dining room chairs (They are disgusting thanks to my cute little boys!). I don't plan on keeping this dining room set very much longer (I bought it at a garage sale for $40), it is pretty much shot so I was kind of ignoring how bad the chairs look. It has to last for about one more year though so I went to Wal-Mart hoping to find some cheap fabric to cover the chairs and I was shocked to find that Wal-Mart no longer carries fabric!! I am so sad. The dollar a yard table was my favorite thing at Wal-Mart. It was so nice to spend so little on fabric to try out a pattern or make curtains, not to mention cover chairs. The Lady at the checkout said that all the Wal-Marts were not carrying fabric anymore. I don't like Wal-Mart very much for other things anyway so I won't be going there very often (like I did anyway!).

Time For School

I think it is time for school to start. My kids have been fighting a lot. You can tell Jonah is ready for some time apart because he asked me two days in a row, "Can we take Bekah to school now?". I think that says it all!

Lofdahl Family Reunion

We always have a family reunion the fourth Sunday in July, near Axtell Kansas(Marshall County) about an hour and a half away from Lincoln. This church is the church my ancestors helped to start and attended when they came over from Sweden, in the 1870s. John Lofdahl and his wife Charlotte came over from Sweden and settled in Kansas. They had 13 children, one died in infancy. My mother's father, John Lowell Johnson descended from one of these children, Effie Augusta Lofdahl Johnson (the third child). The second farm that John Lofdahl built is still in the family and not far from this church. There is also a cemetary not far from the church where many family members are buried. I have always loved the feel of these places, the quiet of the country around them and the sense of history. Thinking about my ancestors walking and living in this area is amazing to me.

Columbus, NE

Alan worked in Columbus Nebraska for 6 weeks this summer. He worked at a family practice there. He stayed at a farm that belongs to some members of our church. They were so nice to let him stay there, we were very grateful for their generosity. It was a beautiful farm with lots of animals. The kids and I visited in July and the kids adored all the animals.

We stayed at a hotel for the weekend and the kids just had to swim for a while. My kids love to swim.
On Saturday we went to a water park there. The kiddy pool was really ideal for the kids and the water slides were so much fun. we were there for 5 hours! It helped that Sam took a nap in the stroller, he was wiped out. They had a lazy river that you could just float on inner tubes, that was relaxing even with Jonah on my lap. We all had to try the water slide that flushes you out like a toilet. Not my favorite, but had to try it. I was proud of Bekah, she was starting to get scared standing in line for it (so was I), but she did it anyway.