Laura is now a teenager. Whaaaaaaaat???

Noelle's first day of preschool.

As in real preschool. Where I am not the teacher. Three days a week. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little sad. And thrilled.

Here she is with her two friends Brady and Avanley who were going to be in her class, too.

Isaac turned eight.

 Got baptized.

 Afterward celebrated at Wendy's where he set out to prove that you really can frown while eating a frosty.

Lake Okoboji

Steve was asked to give a lecture in Okoboji, Iowa, so we took the whole family for the weekend and counted it as our "family vacation" for the year. Once again, my theory--that smart parents never expose their children to anything better than mediocrity--proved to be true. My kids had a blast, and it's all on account that they've never done anything really fun before. See? Smart parenting.

The Lake.  All 100 yards of public access to it:

The fun house mirror:

The museum:

The amusement park.  It's the oldest amusement park west of the Mississippi.  Which is a nicer way of saying it's the junkiest and least impressive amusement park west of the Mississippi.  Probably east of it, too.

Steve, Laura and Lincoln on the first hill of the roller coaster.

This is when we learned that Lincoln's a little dare-devil.  Laura not so much.

I spent most of my time with the little ones while Steve stayed with the older two. 

The Tipsy House...the floors and ceilings all tipped in slanty ways.  I took one step inside and my vertigo went wild.  I almost threw up.  The kids ran through it dozens of times.

We learned Noelle is also a dare-devil.  The faster the better.  No picture of Isaac on the kiddy roller coaster--notice.

Although he did wait in line a half hour to jump on the trampoline.

And Steve did coerce him into going on the log ride.

The house of mirrors...a big disappointment.

But ice cream never disappoints. Ahh...happy kids.

At the neighborhood pool.

While Laura and Steve were inside the temple...