Another Whirlwind Adventure of The Frost Family

Our adventure started with the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Stewart from Utah.  We spent our first day together just relaxing, 

hanging out together, 

and getting reacquainted.

We took advantage of the terrific weather and spent day two of our adventure exploring the Blank Park Zoo.

The kids were thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa were here and I had more than one request for them to "stay in Iowa forever."

Abbi was wowed by the jellyfish.

Armed with a portable DVD player, about 10 lbs of sugar and a GPS, we hit the road and drove 9 hours East to Ohio.  The kids must be getting used to all of our roadtrips, because they were fabulous travelers.  Even little Abbi did great as long as her bink and stuffed pig were close by. (and I might add, she looked great in her shades)

We met Uncle Scott, Aunt Aleese and cute little Barrick in Dayton and had a blast spending the weekend with them.  The boys made sure that we hit the swimming pool. 

It was a little cold, which ended up being a good thing because the boys didn't fight us when it was time to leave.

It was great to see Scott and his family.  Poor little Barrick had a dose of his own "Kryptonite" (i.e. 15 M.O. shots) and wasn't feeling well, but we still got to see his cute personality- and he even showed us his "button."

We celebrated Carter's birthday with a little "cake picnic."  Obviously, the kids were not thrilled about the sun in their eyes!

Then we hit the National Airforce museum.  It was a great place for a boy to spend his fourth birthday! Carter loved all the big airplanes, Abbi rode in the umbrella stroller for the first time, and Ammon kept entertained by pushing Abbi in the stroller.

We even found a B24 like the one that Great Grandpa Stewart flew in WWII. 

One of the highlights of Dayton was spending time with my Aunt and Uncle Trent and Valene and their kids.  We had so much fun playing card games, and Wii and the boys loved the little movie theatre they set up for them.  I did come home with some "war wounds" from playing spoons, but it was worth it to make it into the final three. Thank you Neel family for the great food, fun, superglue, poptarts, etc.

Thanks to the GPS, we found a couple of cute little resturaunts to try out.  (Poor Colby had to stay in Des Moines for clinic, so we had to try out the food in his honor).  We found a cute little cafe that made me feel like we had traveled back to 1950, it was great!

We also found a fantastic pancake house, another little local "greasy spoon."

At the end of the weekend, we sadly said our goodbyes and headed back to Des Moines.

We were so happy to have Grandma and Grandpa come visit.  Thanks guys for coming out and braving the 19 hour roadtrip with 3 kiddos.  May you never underestimate the power of DVD's and fruitsnacks when traveling with a four year old!

Happy B-day Carter Ben!

My sweet little Carter turned FOUR on Sunday.  Poor little middle child had to wait 3 days to get a birthday greeting on our blog! (In my defense, we were out of town for the weekend). Carter is such a fun, happy little boy. He is always showing his big dimples, giving hugs and kisses and telling us how much he loves us.

I can't believe that he has been a part of our family for four years. I know it's cliche, but time certainly does fly!

Thank you Cart for bringing such a happy, loving spirit into our home.  We love you and hope you had a great birthday!

Four Months

We have had so many fun things going on lately, I haven't had time to post Abbi's four month update.  Here it is (mostly so I can remember):

Weight: 14 lbs 10 oz  60%

Height: 25 inches 95%

This girl has some of the Neel family genes!

Recently, Abbi has started wanting something to hold when she goes to bed.  This soft little dolly works great!  Abbi likes to cuddle her and rub her dolly's little head on her cheek while she is falling asleep.

Abbi has also developed a TEMPER!  Girl can scream, and she'll let you know if she's not getting her way.

Abbi loves to sit and stand,  the last couple of weeks she has been doing the "fake sit."  (sitting up unassisted, but balancing on her hands and chubby thighs)

Like her big brothers, Abbi is getting ready for boating and swimming in Utah this Summer.

I can't believe our baby girl is already four months old. We are having so much fun with her and so glad she is part of our family.

Have a Party, We did.

March is a fun month at our house, we get to celebrate both Ammon and Carter's birthdays. Because they are such good buddies, and have many mutual friends, we decided to do a combined birthday party- with a Star Wars theme.  I got some fun ideas from the Internet and my friend Summer's blog (thanks for letting me borrow your ideas Summer!) and we went to work on our party preparations.  The boys helped me dip pretzels in red and blue chocolate to make "candy light sabers" for the guests to take home.

We baked a cake and made rice krispie treats to form a TIE fighter cake for Ammon.

And just when you thought that Ho Ho's and Ding Dong's couldn't get any more unhealthy- I decided to slather them in chocolate frosting and cover them in fondant to make the light saber cake that Carter requested.

What's a birthday party without a pinata?  And what little Jedi party guest wouldn't want to beat up on Darth Vader?

It's party time!  The boys had a great time breaking the pinata, 

dining on "pizza the hut"  and "yoda soda,"

and eating A LOT of birthday cake.

My cake masterpieces that took way too long to make. I have a feeling the boys would have been just as excited about a Walmart sheet cake with a Luke Skywalker toy on top of it, but the pictures are fun.

Carter making a wish.

We also played a "Jedi Fighter" game where the kid got to pick up M & M's with a straw (at this point I realized there was WAY too much sugar happening at this party).

Abbi spent the birthday party flirting with the other party guests...

we're in trouble when this girl grows up!

As if the kids didn't digest enough sugar in the soda, M & M's, pinata treats,  two different birthday cakes and two flavors of ice cream- we sent each guest home with their own candy light sabers.  (sorry to all those Mom's of the party guests!)

Landon, Ammon, Carter, Beckham, Oakley, Ashlyn, Caden, Stephen and Austin.  

Happy you came, we are.  Had a great time, we did.

The "Show Me" State

When we first moved to Iowa, Colby and I decided that while we were here it would be fun to explore the midwest.  We started by traveling North to Minneapolis, then we headed West to Omaha, and Southeast to Nauvoo.  Last weekend we decided it was time to head South to Kansas City.  We took advantage of a three-day weekend and some unseasonably nice weather and drove 3 hours South with our friends the Campbell's to the "Show Me" state.

Our kids were thrilled about having to pose for this picture after the long drive.  Here are the highlights of our trip.

Coco-Key

Thanks to Priceline, we got a sweet deal on a hotel with a water park attached.   The kids were pumped to spend the day at "Coco-Key" water park and they had a blast!

Abigail didn't know what to think about her first time swimming.  She splashed in the kiddie pool and floated in the lazy river with Mom, after she got used to the water she seemed to really like it.

You've gotta love this itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny bikini.

Carter wasn't a big fan of the "big" water slides, but he loved splashing in the fountains and going down the smaller slides.

Ammon loved every minute of the water park! He swims like a little fish.

Site Seeing

We spent one afternoon site seeing downtown.  We took the kids to Kaleidoscope, where they got to create their own art projects, cards and puzzles.

The kids loved exploring the different themed rooms at Kaleidoscope including a space room and an ocean area.

We also checked out the Hallmark headquarters and visitor's center.

Abbi and Logan were the sweetest little babies and didn't give us any problems.

T-Rex Cafe

After site seeing, we took the kids to lunch at the T-Rex cafe.  This was the funnest "kid restaurant" we have ever been to.  The cafe was decked out with giant, moving dinosaurs, oversized aquariums, fossils, and a "meteor shower."  The food was mediocore, but the atmosphere made up for it.

Caden, Austin, Ammon and Carter patiently waiting for their parents to finish taking pictures so they can go inside.

Even the potty breaks at T-Rex were fun.

The boys outside T-Rex cafe.  The pictures don't do it justice- it was a really cool place.

Eats

For Colby, one of the highlights of any vacation is the food.  We once drove from St.George to Vegas for an In and Out burger.  Our quest in Kansas City was to find some good BBQ.  Kansas City is known for their barbeque, but with so many barbeque resturaunts in town- how do you decide which one to try?  A local reccommended The Smokehouse, and they did not disappoint.

 

We also ate at Uno Chicago, which was recommended by a hotel brochure.  They had excellent boneless wings and deep dish pizza.

So good, in fact that Colby had to take a picture of his.

Church History

We finished off the trip by touring the local church history sites.  Missouri doesn't have the best history with the LDS church, but they did have a great visitor's center in Independence. They even had a Book of Mormon in Iymara (Colby will surely harrass me about the spelling of that!)

Three little future missionaries checking out the display of International Books of Mormon.

 

The kids in a replica log cabin which would have, amazingly, housed ten families while the saints were in Independence.

Our family and The Campbell family by a statue of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Ammon had to add his own personal touch to the only group picture we got on this trip by sticking his finger up his nose.

Liberty Jail, where the Prophet Joseph Smith spent four months and received multiple revelations which are found in the Doctorine and Covenants.  This was a really cool place to visit, the Sister Missionary who was giving our tour had many interesting stories to share and it was a very peaceful, spiritual place.

Our last stop on the way home was at Adam Ondi Ahman, 90 miles North of Independence. We braved the cold to walk on a dirt trail to an overlook of the Valley.

If you have actually looked at all of these pictures and are reading this, I must say that I am impressed.  I know other people's vacation pictures are never very fun to look at, but we had a great trip that was worth documenting. Thanks for enduring this lengthy post.