Iowa Trip Pictures

The morning we left for Iowa

Colleen spied her swimsuit among the packed clothes
and insisted on wearing it.

The trip to Iowa wasn't too bad at all. We rented a minivan so we would have a little more room to spread out. However, after renting it I am not sure I want to buy a minivan. It is nearly impossible to hand things back and take care of the kids without driving off the road. Anyway, we got there ok and checked into our hotel. That evening we went swimming. The kids were in heaven!

The next two days were filled with looking at houses. The girls did really well. Aleah really took to the realtor and kept accidentally calling her Grandma. The girls preferred houses that had window seats and hidden cupboards and closets.

We took Saturday afternoon off to think and recuperate. After a great meal at a local Thai restaurant (check out Emily's bowl of noodle soup!) we "rested" while the kids watched a cartoon and then Brian took the two oldest bowling while Colleen and I napped.

It is too bad he didn't take the camera because they had a great time. With the bumpers up the girls did as well or better than he did in all the games.

On Sunday, after Sacrament Meeting we went and took one last look at our top three houses and then were on our way home. Our girls were disappointed/horrified that we were not staying for Primary and that we would be buying food on the way home. I tried to turn it into a moral lesson on why you should try to never travel on Sunday because you end up breaking the Sabbath--but yeah, not good.

The trip home took FOREVER since we got such a late start. We filled up at Iowa 80, the world's largest truck stop. Yet one more reason for you to come out and visit us. ;) It was immense and even had a trucker movie theater inside. The girls did pretty well on the trip home.

Emily read Harry Potter #5

Colleen woke up after an hour nap and was happy.

Aleah kept sleeping and sleeping.

The weird thing about staying in a hotel room together was the waking up process. We would all go to bed at the same time and Brian would be raring to go at 5 or 6 am. Emily would wake up between 6 and 7 all chipper, but the younger two would have slept in until 8 or 9 if we had let them. Aleah has been making up for her lost sleep the last two days. She didn't wake up until 10:30 yesterday. My 12-13 hour of sleep needing girl!