Wisconsin!!!!

I just got back from spending the past few weeks in Wisconsin with my family and it was wonderful. I spent a lot of the time at home working on different projects. Now I have inherited a fault from my ancestors and it is that I forget to take pictures, so I didn't document all of the events, but I do have a few token pictures (also supplemented by Carrie).
One really shocking thing I experienced is seeing my little brother Peter- he's grown up quite a bit since the last time I saw him!

Dad and Mom with Hunter

These pictures are from the few minutes before my older brother Joseph's convocation ceremony at Notre Dame started. (No, I didn't go to commencement where Obama spoke.) I hadn't seen their family for almost a year and a half! I am so proud of what they've all accomplished in that time. Joe is now a master of business administration, they have a new son, Sawyer can almost read (or at least memorize some Dr. Seuss), and Carrie is a super-mom. Impressive, huh?
Here's a picture of us after the ceremony


While Dad and Carrie went to the commencement, I got to play being a mom with Hunter and it went pretty well!


Also, during our weekend in South Bend, we had one of the best meals of my life. It was an authentic Amish meal. We went to a farmhouse where a family cooks for customers to make extra money. There was fresh bread, potato salad, noodles, stuffing, corn, fried chicken, ham and pies. It was delicious and such a fun cultural experience.

I was able see lots of people as there were a few fun events happening in my home ward. A young man got his Eagle Scout award, a family moved out and had an open house and one of my friends got home from his mission. So other people threw parties and had amazing food and I socialized with a lot of old friends.
I went to the movies (not dollar theater!) a couple of times. I saw Angels and Demons and also Night at the Museum 2. Both were great in very different ways.
I got to do some gardening with my family. In Wisconsin, Memorial Day weekend is when everyone does their planting because there is very little chance of frost after that. We did some planters, the vegetable garden, and also we did a fairy garden (tiny plants and statues and little rock paths) for the kids. My family, most especially my mom, is into gardening. So here are some shots of the yard:






I tried my hand at gardening before my trip and all my indoor plants died. I was glad to find out that my green-thumbed mother also had poor luck with indoor plants.
Like I said, I am not a very faithful photographer, so dear sister Ruth is not pictured, nor is 95% of the people I visited with. C'est la vie.
I went alone, while Ken stayed and made the money at his new internship at L-3 in Salt Lake. He didn't hardly have any fun while I was gone, except for his camping trip (which he should blog about later). Here he is in his engineering uniform!


My trip was very refreshing and I wouldn't trade it back, but I am sure glad to be home with this stud!