Last Friday, my friend Lisa texted me around lunch asking if we wanted to go camping with them that very day. We decided to go and it was the most spontaneous thing we have ever done since having kids ;) We had so much fun!
It also happened to be the hottest weekend of the entire summer. 90 degrees and humidity made for a hot camping trip! While we were at Walmart grabbing supplies on our way out, Spencer found this battery operated fan and it saved my life!
 Fun fact for the day: I cannot fall asleep at night unless a fan is blowing directly in my face, even in the winter. Our power went out about a month ago, and I didn't fall asleep until 2 am when the power turned back on and our fan was blowing in my face again.
 
David loved his first camping trip!
 
 
 
Jack loved spraying water on David. #brotherlylove
 
This was the first time David didn't sleep in a crib and it took a while for him to settle down :)
 
Waking up next to this sweet face is the best thing ever :) (Something that is not the best thing ever - waking up three times in the night to pee while camping)
 
 
We woke up bright and early, ate breakfast, went on a hike, and headed out by 9 am before the weather got too miserable. The hike (and weather!) reminded us a lot of Alabama.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Spencer somehow convinced me to "trim" David's hair on Sunday. He cut it way shorter than I expected and I sobbed just like David did!
 
 
 
 
 
I was really worried that his hair wouldn't grow back curly but it looks like it's going to, thank goodness!
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 In case you were worried, we are still making it to the zoo. Highlights - the monarch butterfly that came out of it's chrysalis while we were there, the new porcupine that Jack tried to take a picture of with me and David, and the big snake!
 
 
 

Things I'm Loving

• My brother, James, is engaged!!! We love Maddie and we are soooo excited for them! (And we are excited that we get to go to Utah for the wedding and the holidays! :)

 

•  The Mississippi Valley Fair - well, we kind of loved it, kind of didn't ;)

Since state fairs are such a big deal in the Midwest, we decided we needed to try it out at least once. I think once is enough for me :) For some reason a lot of the pictures I took at the fair got deleted from my phone :(
 
 
 
 
Pictures that got deleted: Jack screaming bloody murder on the roller coaster, the alligator wrestling show, the tiger show, tons of baby farm animals that the boys got to pet, and all of the classy dressed people ;)
We asked Jack afterwards what his favorite thing was about the fair and he said it was petting all of the baby bunnies! haha  I guess after chasing bunnies for over a year at our house he was happy to finally get to touch one :)

• Norwegian chocolate! We just had a family move into our ward congregation from Norway and they hooked us up with this amazingness - a symphony bar but a million times better if that is even possible. 

• Books! I wish I could say that they read as much as they watch shows but that would be a lie. We are working on it! (You should really check and see if Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is in your area - Jack and David each get a book in the mail once a month and they are always darling books fit for their age group. Since we've been in Iowa, we've received 28 free books from the program! I love it!)

 

•  Free tractor entertainment from our back door! (And not having to do our own yard work/snow shoveling - one perk of not owning our own home yet :) 

 
 

•  Summertime! This has been my favorite summer in a really long time. We've been park hopping on our bike almost every day and trying to fit in as much swimming as possible before the weather cools down. We discovered the most amazing toddler pool ever last week - it has a huge gated zero depth area with a sand area and water tables. We all love it!

Jack AND David both went down this water slide all by themselves! All it took was a little Little Caesars bribe and then once they went once, they couldn't get enough of it!
 

• The stars aligned and Jack and David both slept past six for 5 days straight. I hope I'm not cursing it by typing this!
  

What we've been up to and a lot of pictures

We've been playing hard these last few weeks of summer and I don't want it to end!
Splash pad for the win this week! (Thanks for the pictures, Carolyn!)
 
 
 


I don't know how I am ever going to work up the courage to cut David's hair! It is such a hot mess, though!






Our Alabama angel grandparents, the VanKampens, drove through Davenport this week and they stopped by to visit. WE LOVE THEM SO MUCH and we probably would not have come out of Alabama alive without their help ;)  Jack snuggled right up to them and after they left he said, "Mom, I weewy like that gwamma and gwampa." It was so good to see them. They win the kindest people in the universe award.

 
 
Jack has been begging for a real pet and I'm trying to hold him over for the rest of his childhood because I really do not want a pet! Taking him to the pet store was probably a bad move, but at least I found another activity for when the weather gets miserably cold...

 
 
Lately, David has been sleeping with his bear, his giraffe, and his bunny and also wakes up with them in the morning :)
 

This is what happens when I leave Jack alone with the syrup.


This is what happens when I take my eyes off of Jack at 4:45 pm on a Sunday afternoon. #sleepwithyourbumintheairforeverplease
 
A super hero and a princess
 

It looks like David was not thrilled about sharing his bike carrier with Presley but he is actually just in the zone :) David loves his bike rides and he gets so relaxed while we're out on the bike trail :) I thought they would fight the entire ride because they were so squished but when we got home, they asked if we could go again! haha

 
I have been wanting to take family pictures with our tripod by the corn for a long time and last week I noticed that some corn fields were already turning brown so we took pictures last weekend. Most pictures looked like this :)
 
 
And some were super awkward:
 
 

But we managed to get some that we really liked too!
 
 
 
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What we are doing this weekend