Our after-school visitor, a present from Idaho and tricks we learn from our fathers...

Yes, a long title, but appropriate for our day. When we got home from school, there was an enormous praying mantis on our kitchen window. He was a pretty awesome site, especially since Alex had just learned about them the day before at school.


A package came from Grandma and Grandpa Pace today and it had Jacob's baptismal gift in it. They got Jacob his own mini-quad with his name embossed on the cover. He was super excited! Thanks Gram and Gramps!

Last but not least, these pictures were taken at the conclusion of our spaghetti dinner. Sweet trick Dad, thanks for teaching it to the boys! ha ha

Jacob's Baptism

Well folks, today was the day. My first born is now a full-fledged member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Whew!!

The baptism went really well. I would guess that there were about 40-50 people in attendance, including Carl's parents. We were so glad that they came to share Jacob's special day. Carl did the baptism...3 times! ha ha His poor little legs kept going out from under him, so his feet kept popping up! For those of you who don't know, we Mormons do baptism by full immersion. So, all parts of the body have to go under, and Jacob's feet were not having it! Well, third time was a charm, and he was good to go! Bro. Davis did the confirmation. Carl has not gotten his Melchizedek priesthood as of yet, so Jacob decided that was who he wanted to do it for him.

So, everything we fabulous, even though both Carl and I were really nervous about it going otherwise! Jacob was excited because he received a new Journal from the Primary, along with a card that has the Articles of Faith written on the back and his Faith in God book. His Primary teacher Sis. Thomas also gave him the "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" card game. Today we have proven time and again, that no one in this house, nor in the Williams' house is smarter than a 5th grader! ha ha

Well, here are a few more photos of us from today. Hope you enjoy!

And then they were gone...

Today I am all alone!!! Carl has to work until 3, Jake and Alex have school until 3:10 and I am free!!!!! Woohoo!!!! I am sure that eventually this will not seem so spectacular, but seriously, this is a day that I have been waiting for since Alex turned 2! ha ha

So, here are some photos of Jacob getting ready to start his new school days. Note the loss of the Mohawk....sad days for Jacob at our house folks, sad days...

First Day of School

First Day Hooray! We walked to school with our friend Lindsay and her daughter Mackenzie. Halfway there Alex decided that it was too long of a walk and needed a piggyback ride. I guess it is quite a walk though, 1 mile round trip. Eventually we'll get in the swing of it! No problems with leaving us though. He went right into line and chatted with the kid in front of him. Of course I think he was a little nervous since he told me that he loved me at least 10 times as we stood there. And how have we spent our exciting day? Going to the bank, the library and grocery shopping...woohoo! Thursday will be Jake!

A Day with the Jess's

Carl's sister Jenn and her family came up from Illinois to visit this weekend. We spent the whole day Saturday eating, swimming and hanging out. Everyone had a blast! You can see all the pictures on our Flickr page.

Delia, Lauren Jake Jocelyn Alex and Trey

The girls
Delia, Lauren and Jocelyn

The boys
Jacob, Alex and Trey

Mandy and Jenn

Mandy, Me and Jenn
(we made Lauren take this from the chest up...no bathing booties for us!)

Hooray, School Tomorrow !!!!!

Tomorrow is Alex's first day of 1st Grade!! Can I tell you that I am just as excited as he is! He has grown into such a smart boy with a vivid imagination that rivals any I have seen before. He is definitely going to be somebody special in this big old world!

Alex giving the stink eye

Crooked Lake

Well, it has been more than the estimated time period for updating about our trip to the lake, but better late than never. So here it goes.

We went up to the lake on Monday, located in none other than Lake, MI. (yes, it's shaped like a 2) It was about a 3 hour trip, made a bit longer by the 3 bathroom stops we ended up having to make on the way. Once we got there we found out that our cabin had been double booked and that the people who were in our cabin refused to move. So, instead of the 8 sleeper cabin we got what I would assume was the 6 1/2 sleeper cabin. The half would be for the baby bed that was shoved into a closet in our room.

So, Mandy and her kids ended up all sleeping in the living-room on couches and roll away beds,
Jacki and Carl got the squeakiest bed in the history of the world, Jake got the bottom bunk of the bunk bed that was in another closet in Jacki and Carl's room and Alex got the baby bed. Carl and I were the winners of the whole deal, getting a soft bed that didn't make you roll towards the middle and say "SSSSCCCRRREEEAAACCCHHHHYYYYSQUEEKERSPROING" every time you moved even the slightest bit!

(our bed)

We spent the rest of Monday playing down at the lake. It was really nice, with lots of snail shells there for the kids to collect. There was a bit of a "seaweed" problem in some spots which made both Lauren and I squeamish, but nothing that couldn't be handled. That night was Carl and I's turn to cook, so we made Chicken Alfredo with garlic bread. Mandy, Grams and Gramps went to Soaring Eagle casino that night to spend some of their hard earned cash and actually made it back with about the same amount the left with. Of course this is about the time we found out about Jacki and Carl Sr.'s bed, so Carl and I fell asleep with tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.

The next morning, since everyone else was super tired from being out all night at the casino and then having to sleep on crappy beds, we traded breakfast duties with Jacki. After breakfast we went down to the lake for a little while and then drove to go tubing. Of course we got lost on the way, as fate would have it, and arrived and hour late. But, there was no problem and off we went for 3 hours of tubing fun. Both Alex and Trey lost a shoe on the trip, but Alex was able to get his back after Lauren waded through muck and weeds and all sorts of gross toe squishing filth to go retrieve it. (Thanks Moen) Poor Lauren, after her generosity, ended up losing the charm on her bracelet, and that caused a few tears. But, otherwise we all had a blast!

The rest of the evening was spent cooking lunch/dinner since we didn't eat lunch before we went tubing. It was a wonderful mixture of beef stew, burgers and dogs. Yum! We spent a little time using the paddle boat and motor boat we rented for the evening and then headed off to bed. I think that the next time we do something like this, we will have to spend an extra day, because none of us were ready to go home the next morning. The trip home was as uneventful as the trip there and that is good because it means that we got home safely. All in all, a great trip!