Taking Wisconsin by Storm

My family was here this last week and it was so much fun.  We packed a lot of fun Wisconsinite activities into a week.  We also spent WAY too much time sitting around and letting Natalie get spoiled and be the center of attention, by the time she left I had no idea how I was going to be able to entertain her while she got used to normal life again.  I was relieved to find out that she adjusted rather quickly and is now back to normal and can entertain herself for awhile without asking me every minute for Ada, Daddy (grandpa) and mommy (Grandma).  We had so much fun while they were here and can't wait until we see them at Christmas.  Also I am horrible with pictures so even though we did a lot, we did not take pictures at every activity, so here are some of the fun things we did.

These next pictures are of the day my family had Natalie while I was at work.  She had a great time learning about the business that keeps Milwaukee afloat--Miller Brewery.  She loved the free pretzles at the end of the tour.  


We tired her out with lots of activities through the week and by Friday she was so tired she fell asleep during the tour of this cool old mansion right in downtown Milwaukee.  It is called the Pabst mansion, and it was beautiful, a great example of old town Milwaukee and the amazing architecture they have here.

After the exciting morning at the mansion I stayed home to try to get Natalie to take a nap while my family went hiking and experienced the beautiful wildlife and fall colors of Wisconsin.  Yes the following pictures is of wild turkeys roaming around the hiking trails. 

Saturday led us to explore a little further south of Milwaukee and get out of the city to explore the Jelly Belly factory, cheese stores and the outlet stores.  It was a fun-filled day with lots of free samples of Jelly Bellies, yum!

Sunday morning we went and showed my family Lake Michigan.  It was a windy day, as you can tell from Natalie cuddling with Grandpa on the rocks.  Also to add excitement to the day Natalie lost her shoe among the rocks on the lake, thanks to brave Uncle Adam we were able to get it back after he crawled between the rocks and got sprayed by the very cold water.  Adam to the rescue again.


  We did many other things the week my family was there including seeing the Medical College and hositals, watch BYU lose in the student lounge at the college (we don't get the games at home), tour Sprecher's rootbeer factory, and go to the park (a lot).  Patrick also survived his crazy test week and we were glad when the weekend came and he got to have fun exploring Wisconsin with us.  

Tribute to the Greatest Mom in the World

I was notified multiple times that we failed to include my mom in the pictures of her visit, my mom did not complain but others did. So this blog is about her, mostly pictures. I am sure most of you can agree that she is the "Greatest mom in the world." For those of you who cannot, I am sure she comes in at a close second behind yours.


Grandma, Grandpa and Natalie at the beach.


Grandma Leiter with Natalie at the zoo

Grandma with Natalie at build-a-bear. Traumatic experience for Natalie. She thought they were hurting her Monkey when they were stuffing it. Good thing Grandma was there.
Random, elephant picture.





Also, pictures of Natalie are always appreciated by the blog audience, so here is some of the best daughter in the whole wide world.

Sitting next to monkey at zoo.
Eating her Pizza
Sliding the slide
Skipping rocks on the lake.

Grandma and Grandpa Leiter Visit

Last weekend Patrick's parents came to visit. It was so nice to have family here for awhile, Natalie loved the attention. We were super busy while they were here playing with Natalie and showing them around Milwaukee. Here are some highlights of their visit.


Natalie got to pick our her own pumpkin for Halloween, she was so excited about it, she also got one for her friend Myleigh. Following are the pictures from our trip to the zoo. Natalie loved to drive the truck they had at their kids play area. She also got to ride the Merry-go-round with Grandpa. I took her to the zoo again this week with some friends and she remembered the Merry-go-round and wanted to ride again.




We also went to Lake Michigan. Newsflash--Natalie likes the sand now!!! Yea maybe we can go to the beach this summer and she will do more than sit on the beach chair. She also discovered rocks there and kept asking for more to throw into the lake. Careful that girl has got an arm on her--she also has no aim to it is very important to stay clear of her while she is throwing the rocks!



All in all it was a fun-filled packed weekend with Grandma and Grandpa! Now we are getting excited for my parents and Adam to come and visit us next week! Yea! I ask Natalie if she is excited to see Uncle Adam and she smiles and says "Ada" --I think he is still the favorite, sorry Grams and Grandpa Esplin!

One more exciting thing these last couple of weeks. We got a treadmill, I have been wanting one for awhile now and we finally got one. I kept reminding Patrick how cold it is here in the winter and how much happier his wife would be if she got to work out, I have been so excited about it. Now I have also proven that I will use it too. I have gone running on it 4 times this last week, we will just have to see if I can keep it up!