encouragement from home.

It was so awesome to have our very good friends visit us last weekend!  Michael and Jane have been wanting to get out here to see where we are at in MO...and we were so excited to host them and show them around!  Our kids were so glad to have friends visiting--what a fun couple of days.

The kids really all got along so well!  They spent a lot of time outside with sticks and pretend guns, playing "army".  It was pretty cute to watch :)

It was so great to introduce Michael and Jane to our friends here at the mtc!  Here I am with Jane and my good friend Emily...and her sweet baby Louise :)  

Our campus is amazing, so there was a lot to do for the kiddos!  We went on an adventure to the creek...

Finn enjoyed the human spider web...

The dads had a good idea to take the kids on a boat ride.  Unfortunately, it started pouring down rain right when they got out to open water...the kids didn't love that too much :)

Scout sure didn't mind the rain though!  We decided that New Tribes should pay Scout for cleaning up the beach...he threw stones from the beach into the lake for so long!

Thankfully, the next day was bright and sunny...so the dads tried another boat ride.  This time it was a success :)

Deacon enjoyed watching Kaine play the ipad... (and I think Kaine enjoyed playing the ipad :)

Oh these two...such kindred spirits!  Finn and Layla really hit it off...they have similar personalities, and they really had fun together!  Let me tell you, they are a couple of crazy kiddos :)

Daisy loved Scout...I think she enjoyed the role of "taking care" of him.  It was precious.

We had some fun meals together...

Of course, we had to take them to Ha Ha Tonka...remember that place?  It is pretty cool.  Here is a group pic of the kids.

Michael and Jane brought gifts for our kids, and one thing they brought was firecrackers for Kaine.  So...our evening entertainment involved Nathan blowing up random objects with firecrackers.  It was a hit with the kids, of course!  Some favorites included a chicken nugget, a pop can, and a banana piece :)

Not the best quality, but oh well.  Love these friends!

Thanks so much for traveling all that way to see us, M and J!  We appreciate and love you guys so much!