Visiting Family in Louisville, KY and the Independence, MO. MISSION

While driving home we stopped in Louisville, KY to see my brother Matthew and his wife Heidi and their baby, Owen. We had a great time playing, talking, going to dinner, attending RS conference, enjoying Heidi's yummy breakfast and having a big sleep over. Thanks Matthew and Heidi for being such generous hosts and letting us crash at your darling home. We had a wonderful time. Jocelyn and Ellie holding Owens hands and Matthew pushing Caden

The kids loving playing with their cousin.
Owen and Caden only 4 months apart. Fun to have a cousin so close in age.
Baby Owen- What a handsome little guy
Thanks Owen for sharing your toys!

These next pictures are at the Louisville Slugger Museum. (sorry some are out of order)

We stopped there for a tour on the way out of town.

Caden in the outfield

Ellie at home plate
Caden getting some pointers from the pitcher
Jeff up to bat!
Ellie, Owen, Jocelyn, Caden- the Maxfield Cousins
Heidi playing puzzles with the girls

In front of the Louisville Slugger Museum

Where is Waldo? Oh- I mean Jeff?

Megan in Independence, MO

We continued our drive home and went a couple hours out of our way to go to a few church sites in Independence, Missouri, where my sister Megan just happens to be serving a mission. It was so great to see her and have her show us around the visitor center. It was absolutely amazing! It was not very busy that morning so we got an extra long tour. She is an awesome missionary and has a great testimony that she gets to share everyday. She is also learning a lot of church history, which is fun too. We had so much fun visiting with her and seeing the great visitor's center. Jocelyn and Ellie with Sister Maxfield
Me and my little Sister. We are so proud of her.
The visitor center has these TV's in the little houses where you can watch different LDS commercials or clips about life and families. It seemed like the theme of them all were to get you to cry- it really pulled on the heart strings.
The girls watching one of the short video clips of Nephi and his family.
We also stopped at Adam-ondi-Ahman and admired the beautiful view.

Caden on Daddy's shoulders
We took a tour of the Community of Christ's Temple. It was very interesting. When you stand in the center of the building and look up it looks like a giant seashell.
Caden having fun in the visitor center's little log cabin that they had for the kids to play in. It is a great idea to have this for the kids since most of them have been in the car for a while and need to get lots of wiggles out.
Giddy-up Horsie
Luckily we are not traveling like this. We love our mini-van!

Bye Megs -It was hard to leave but It was so great to see you and your mission. Keep up the great work. We love you!

bye bye warm weather

We made it home! I will soon post about the LONG (but very fun) ride home.

Here we are in the final days in Florida. We went to Sunshine park with the Pritts to soak in the last bit of warmth before leaving Florida and driving back to Minnesota. The kids really had a great time playing with their friends and swinging a million times on the tire swing.

Swimming improvements

As we are getting ready to leave Jacksonville we are really have done a lot of one thing... SWIM! All the kids have improved their swimming skills 100%. We have had so much fun playing with our other friends from Rochester at our Condo's pool. Here is a picture of the Wallace kids, Pritts, and the Jacksons before the Wallaces left. We will miss Florida's warm weather, the beach, tennis, the pool and living close to such good friends. We have done a lot of fun activities these last few months and have made lasting memories. (and taken a ton of pictures) So were packing up our boxes and our swimsuits for the season and going back to reality. It will be nice to go back to school, lessons, teaching and to the place we call home!
Jocelyn in her cool goggles!

Jocelyn swimming skills
(it was a pretty windy day)





Ellie swimming in circles


Jonathan, Lauren, Jocelyn and Ellie Jumping in

Grandpa Maxfield

A. Vard Maxfield (2/3/1918- 9/9/2008)
My cute Grandpa passed away a few weeks ago. He made it to 90! He was such an amazing man and a wonderful example to our family. We will miss him, but we know he is pain free now and in a much better place. Here is a picture of me and the kids with him and my cute Grandma in January 2008.

Karen's visit

We were so sad to see Maga Karen leave. We all had such a fun time with her around. Thanks for coming! Here are a few radom pictures of some things we did while she was here.(besides the zoo)



Went to the beach, played in the waves and collected shells. Caden eating the shells
She helped with lots of laundry . (thanks Karen) Did some relaxing, Maga taking a rest and snuggling with Caden
The girls made up a few dances to show their grandma.
Thanks for Everything Karen- We love you!

Fun Times at the Zoo

Jeff's mom, Karen or "Maga" as my kids call her, stayed with us in Jacksonville for a few extra days after Disney. We have been having loads of fun and have really enjoyed having her here. Tuesday we went to the zoo! It was a great zoo. We got to ride the train, feed and pet the stingrays, feed the giraffe, go on a carousal ride and play in the splash zone.