St. Louis Vacation!

We took a small 2 day vacation down in St. Louis. We went to the zoo, which was free! It was a beautiful day. Makenzie has been wanting to go to the zoo for weeks. Once we got there all she wanted to see was the alligators. After finally finding them, they weren't all that exciting to see! When we would see certain animals, we would point out to Makenzie that the bigger animals were the mommy and/or the daddy. She soon caught on and would point out the Mommy and Daddy animals, but also would categorize the baby animals as a Makenzie and Jordan animal because they were small. She is noticing we all have families.


Here are some of the animals!

We met up with our friends, the Guymons, and went to the St. Louis Temple. We traded watching the kids outside while we each did some sealings. What a beautiful temple! Makenzie played in the water fountain half the time. It didn't phase her that it is November and not exactly warm!

We really like the St. Louis area and are seriously considering doing Tyler's rotations here! It is one of many places to choose from, but it's got a lot of perks.

Fire Station Tour

One of the children activities this month was a tour of the local Fire Station! We got to see the whole place. Of course the kids loved seeing the big red trucks, but it was also very informative for the adults. They really aren't just firefighters anymore. Due to good prevention education, they really don't have to fight too many fires. They help assist in any 911 calls, check businesses for following building codes and what not, and many other things.

We're not in Utah anymore!

We continually realize we have to make a little more effort and sacrifice with the church here in Missouri. We are in the Nauvoo stake. Nauvoo is about 2 hours away. We love going over there, as we sense a strong spirit of love and sacrifice from the earlier saints. It was interesting to attend Stake Conference. We went to the Saturday night session and realized my cousin was speaking! It was good to get reaquainted with her. We got a hotel room in a town 15 minutes from Nauvoo so we didn't have to travel so much. The convienance of having church buildings on every street corner in Utah was way too nice.

We actually have 2 wards here in Kirksville, which consists of many medical students because the school accepts a good number of LDS people. Tyler has been called into the young men's, which requires him to go to mutual on Wednesdays and to teach on Sundays. On Saturday the youth have a stake volleyball tornament three hours away. Tyler gets to carpool at 6am and dedicate his day to that. I just got called to being on the Enrichment Board, which I am way excited about. Visiting teaching has been another testimony builder as well. I have to visit 3 sisters who live an hour away. They are all older and 2 are inactive. To me, I sense a little deeper how important it is that I visit them. Yes it takes more sacrifice and effort in getting it done, but I have an amazing companion which has made it easy.

Don't think I'm complaining.... I just know we are not in Utah anymore! I actually find us still very blessed, because I know there are many saints who make tons more sacrifices to get to church, attend the temple, and to get their visiting teaching done. We are in the midst of amazing church history sites (Nauvoo, Carthage, Far West, Haun's Mill, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Independence, Liberty Jail). The history becomes more real and personal as are able to see these sites often.

Our little man!

We must post some pics of our handsome guy. The pictures don't do him justice on how cute he really is.... We just have so much fun with him. He is 9 months now and quickly moving into the mobile mischief stage. He loves to pull anything out of it's place (clothes out of the dresser, dishes out of the cupboard, toys out of the box.) He also loves to throw his food off his highchair onto the floor. He is getting a mouthful of teeth which is allowing him to try a lot of finger foods, all of which he loves. Today in church he made the rounds with turbo crawling. He literally crawled the hall perimeters in a matter of minutes playing "chase" with me. Of course with his new mobilization comes a few bumps and falls as well. He face-planted the cement outside our house trying to get down from the 3 inch step. He got a little "road rash" on his eyelid and forehead because of it.

Dr. Dad

So Makenzie has a fascination with "going to the doctor." Last time I took Jordan to the doctor, she accompanied me. They were very interactive with her. They gave her a bandaid even though she didn't get a shot. When we went to WIC, I best explained it to her that we were going to the doctor as well. It's pretty much like a doctor's checkup anyways. They had to prick her finger for Iron. She didn't even cry, so they praised her much and rewarded her with a cool bandaid, stickers, and a sucker.

SO..... now whenever she gets a bump, bruise, scratch, or any sort of owie (which can be several times a day) she mentions that she wants to go to the doctor. We started mentioning that Daddy was a doctor, but she didn't like that idea until Tyler put on his white coat. Dr. Dad has many house calls and treats her ailment with lots of attention, love, and kisses.

Mind, Body, Spirit!

The school here really stresses having a balance in mind, body, and spirit. I think that as Tyler really applies this, he is happier and accomplishes more. No, he doesn't get perfect test scores, but he is passing. He doesn't dedicate all his time to studying either. Don't get me wrong, it's been a tough week for him with 2 finals. He's had very early mornings all week. But he still finds the time to play with the family, do his church calling, and play intermural football and basketball.

Happy Halloween!

Makenzie can not get over the fact that Halloween is over. She gets up every morning still and asks me, "Is it Happy Halloween today?" We are now trying to have her move on to Thanksgiving, even though it probably won't be as exciting for her since she doesn't like to eat much.