Just Trying it Out

We bought a new camera just in time for our overseas excursion, just testing it out...

I need to take a class to figure out how to work this thing, maybe I can get it figured out by the time we leave.

Annie and Larry

Another reason for us going to Iowa was to see Annie and Larry Johnson. Dan taught Annie on his mission and they became very good friends. They even drove out from Iowa to be at our wedding almost 13 years ago! They are great, great people and we enjoyed spending time with them last month, I can't believe we didn't get one picture of us all together, so I dug up what I had of them...

Annie and Larry. They have a beautiful home right on the Mississippi, Annie is an amazing cook and we were lucky enough to sample her cooking after our long drive from Omaha. So glad to be able to see them again.

The picture quality is horrible but here we are the night before our wedding August 14th, 2000, at The Garden restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

A Trip Back

Over Memorial Day weekend Dan wanted to go back to where he served his mission in Iowa.

We stayed in Clinton, Iowa, right next to the Mississippi.


Clinton is an interesting place, there are two factories there, a corn rendering plant and the Purina Dog Food factory, so, there were some interesting smells!

The kids just wanted to swim




One of the many old mansions.

Dan's old apartment

A lot of these midwest towns were settled by the Dutch so you'll see windmills. This one was across the Mississippi in Illinois.




On our way home we stopped by Le Claire, IA. at the Antique Archaeology store. This is the antique store featured on the show American Pickers, which Dan and Danielle love!

It's a little smaller than it looks on TV.
Most of the stuff wasn't for sale but Rayce found some tin action figures

Iowa is beautiful, and very green.

The Color Run

Back in February I signed myself, Dan and Danielle up for The Color Run. We also had some friends from church that were going to do it with us as well. May 25th came and it was overcast and a little chilly, but the rain held off until after we were done. I thought Danielle would be fine with three miles, even if she had to walk a little.


We're ready, sweat bands and all.



Danielle was such a trooper, the race started at 11, but we didn't even get to start running until noon, because there were so many runners. She was tired and hungry so everyone was excited to finally start.

Danielle ran out of gas around mile 2, so Dan stayed with her and I kept running with Meredith and Kari, it was fun, but I think I like regular races where you don't have stuff thrown at you, still, I'm glad we did it!


Blue got me the most!