OHIO Visitors!

 We were so lucky to have some Ohio Visitors last week! My Mom came from Saturday to Saturday and to say the kids were excited to see her is a major understatement! The girls had count down charts and would fill in a square every morning! It was kind of like looking forward to Christmas...

 A MAJOR thing happened while my mom was with us...she warmed up to our dog and even walked her on our awesome nature walk! WOW!!!

 The kids waited up until way past their bed time to see Aunt Ashley and Baby Carson! She was so nice to read countless books to the kids...

 Especially Emery...he is kind of obsessed with books these days!

 On this trip, I really wanted to do things in Columbus that I haven't done since we have been here for a year, so I researched and asked around for awesome things to do in Ohio! One of the things I researched was German Village.

 We ate lunch at Lindy's which was very delightful, then we went to Schmidt't Sausage Haus to get awesome cream puffs. Then we went to the Book Loft which pretty much has 30 plus rooms organized into subjects. It was pretty awesome and claustrophobic at the same time! All in all, I would say German Village was a success and I'm glad we were able to explore more of Columbus!

 Riley kept telling Ashley that he could take her on, but she sure did who him who was boss...

 We picked Aunt Lisa up on Wednesday and went right to the American Girl Doll Store. We had lunch in the cafe and pretty much had the place to ourselves. The girls had their dolls, but the guy who sat us got a baby boy doll for Carson...ummm, lets jus say he hated it!

 We showed Lisa how much fun this place is!!!

 So the craziest thing happened...my brother Scotty had a business trip to Cincinnati while everyone was visiting, so he was able to come over for the night to see us!!! My Mom planned an awesome Halloween dinner...the kind where you put numbers next to items that are disguised as food and so the order of your food is totally random...

 For instance, Regan ordered lasagna but didn't order a utensil to eat it with and had to eat it with his face! So much fun! We played our favorite Fall game, BOO Bingo after dinner and Mom had some AWESOME Prizes!

 Now that Sunny & Riley have been doing cross fit for a month, they think they can take on adults in arm wrestling. Sunny challenged Aunt Lisa to an arm wrestle...so funny!

 These girls sure do love their Uncle Scotty! He is a pretty fun Uncle...they are lucky girls!

 Emery convinced Aunt Lisa to read TONS of books to him...

 Carson showed us that he too is obsessed with Mickey mouse club house just like Emery...Grammy snuggle times are the best!

 SO...the next thing I researched for our Ohio Week was Amish Country! It was 2 hours away, and I had a list of things to do. We took the girls with us for the adventure. We went to Troyers Bakery and my Mom pretty much bought everything in the bakery which was so nice of her. This Amish Family converted to Mormons and have been shunned by their families so any kind of support from fellow Mormons is great! While we were leaving their cute bakery, an older couple asked us if this was our first time in Amish country. They took us to a beautiful area called Rainbow Bridges...the longest covered bridge in Ohio. It was simply beautiful.

They drove us to the place, gave us an Ohio Map, and collected pebbles for the kids to throw into the river. When I am retired, I want to be just like this cute couple!

 We decided to go to Yoders Family Home Tour. We were able to go through 2 Amish Homes, the school house, look in the barn and take a buggy ride! Seriously was so much fun!

 The place had TONS of cats running all over and my kids were pretty much in heaven!

 They wouldn't put the cats down until they absolutely had to...

 The homes were so interesting and it was so awesome to take the tour from an Amish lady who explained the way they live.

 We took everyone to one of our family favorite places...the Columbus Zoo! Everyone enjoyed Camel Rides, especially Ashley and Carson!

 Jeni's Ice Cream is pretty much a must when visitors come....SO GOOD!!!

 The Africa Savannah is just beautiful and it was a beautiful day to go to the Zoo! We even got to see a cheetah race!

 We went to Lynd's Apple Orchard to pick yummy apples. Eating as many apples as you could while picking is quite fun as well!

 I had to take My Mom and Ashley to the airport, so I was so happy that Lisa could pick apples with us!

 Regan took all of the kids to the ward trunk or treat...we dressed baby carson in a peter pan outfit last minute, and he looked adorable!

The best part of the trip, in my opinion was our ladies night out. While Regan had all of the kids at the trunk or treat, the ladies went to the Polaris Mall. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and went to the Loft to get Matching Sister Shirts. We talked about everything, had a fun time, ate yummy food and I was introduced to the Loft! Perfect evening!

I am so blessed to have family come out to see us! We had the best week with our Ohio Visitors! Thanks for coming to see us Mom, Lisa, Ashley and Carson!

PS...Ashley announced she is having Baby #2--SOO Excited for her!!!