What we've been up to

I have been neglecting putting up pictures because our internet connection is lousy. It takes over five minutes for each picture to load, if it does. Since I am feeling a little more patience today I am going to give it a try!


Paul and I have been having some good times this summer. We recently found out that we are Scottish, will probably never buy a watermelon again, and have enjoyed eating a lot of Jelly Belly's. Also, we are season pass holders to Six Flags!!!!!!


I was really excited to try out our first watermelon of the season and cut it open to find this! I don't know if a rodent was living inside of this or what. I cut it open and was so disgusted when I saw the inside, it was oozing watermelon.

We took a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory in Pleasant Prarie, Wisconsin. They take you on a train ride around the factory telling you about the history of and how Jelly Belly's are made. It was complete with a free bag of Jelly Belly's. Oh yeah! We got to wear these cool hats on the train ride.


Last weekend we went to the Scottish Highland Festival. We had a good time listening to bag-pipes, seeing lots of kilts, and being called a wench!
I saw these two guys and couldn't stop laughing. We decided they were hired actors, but if they weren't I am afraid that some people take their heritage a little bit too seriously!
I definately choose Paul over the drunk guy. The best part of the Festival was watching the Caber toss. These huge guys threw 19 foot posts end over end. It was really awesome to see.

That is a little bit of our life for now. This week I am headed to my sister's house in New York and am very excited to enjoy the beautiful Adirondacks.

The Field Museum

Last Saturday we went to The Field Museum. This is where the two lions from Ghost and the Darkness are located (hence the picture, they used to be larger but before the museum owned them they were used as rugs and then had to be fitted for display). We took the train in to Chicago and walked over to the Museum from Union Station. At the Museum we saw two gigantic taxidermied elephants, Sue the T-Rex fossils that were dug up in South Dakota, mummies from Eqypt, and a lot of other really awesome things. They had a special display on pirates that was neat to look through too. A little bit about the Field Museum: It opened in the late 1800s mostly displaying taxidermied animals from all over the world in their natural habitat. This was before there were a lot of zoos and television shows to show us what kind of animals roamed the earth. These animals are all still on display (kind of gross). We spent a few hours cruising the Museum reading all of the little signs. Next we had grand intentions of eating Chicago style pizza in Chicago. However, after walking up and down street after street we realized that the Loop completely shuts down on the weekend, including McDonalds and Subway, so we settled for some delicious Thai food, the best I have ever had. So be warned, if you are traveling in Chicago near the Loop on a Saturday, eat before you get there! Don't worry, we will eat our Chicago style pizza yet.

This is Paul in front of the elephants. As you can tell they are huge. I couldn't get all of them in the picture. The elephants were Paul's favorite part of the museum.

I just wanted to brag

Sometimes I feel like bragging.

You know you would brag too if you made something this beautiful and delicious.

It's really easy too!

All you do is layer:

One circle chocolate cake

1/2 package of prepared pudding (vanilla or cheesecake)

1/2 container of coolwhip

Cut strawberries

Repeat!

A Brief Bit about our Excursions

I have been excited to tell everyone about our car drive to Illinois. It was very fascinating and wonderful! This is how it went! (Disclaimer on some of the pictures: We need someone to travel with us so they can take our pictures, often the timer doesn't really do justice.)

Monday: Paul and I took off from Moscow. We headed toward my sister's house in Parma and made it just in time for dinner. My little nephew is so cute. He said we couldn't leave until he had an Otter Pop. Of course he shared with us too. Then we went to Twin Falls to stay the night at my parent's house. They just got back from Hawaii so it was fun to see their pictures. We traded cars with my sister which was wonderful. I don't think I was going to make it between Boise and Twin Falls only going sixty-five. Thank you Sara!

Tuesday: We headed for Fort Collins, Colorado. On the way we had to stop and eat an ice cream cone at Little America. They tempt you for 100 miles. It was delicious. My unltimate goal for the day was to make it to Rawlins to see the Pioneer Frontier Prison Museum. It is one of my favorite places to stop along the way to Colorado. They give tours of the old prison and tell stories about the people. It really creeps you out and then you can't sleep at night. Paul hasn't been there, so we needed to go. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was CLOSED! I was very sad, and angry. The last part of our trek to Fort Collins was also eventful. Paul and I were jokingly talking about how cattle and antelope were hanging out in the pasture when we realized a cop had passed us and Paul was going around eighty in a sixty-five zone. The cop was nice and bumbed off some of the ticket, but ouch. Speed control is our friend now. When we got to Fort Collins, we stayed at my aunt Louise's house. It happened to be my cousins birthday and they were singing Karaoke. It was fun to join in after the day of traveling.

Wednesday: I think the longer you sit in the car, the more looney you get. I am sure that if you listened to some of our conversations, you might think we had lost our minds! This is the jist of a conversation near Gothenburg, Nebraska. E: "Who would eat at a place called Runza?" P: "I don't know, someone with the runza?" This took place when we passed a sign for "Runza." In my mind I read it run-za. We were planning on stopping in Gothenburg to see a Pony Express drop off station. We went and saw and it was pretty neat. We asked the old ladies sitting there where a good place is to eat in Gothenburg. She suggested a steak house or roonsis. ROONSIS! It came to me. Runza is the proper spelling for roonsis. If you have never had a roons before, I suggest you might. It is hamburger, onions, and cabbage baked inside of a roll. My mom and grandma would make them for us when we were little. They are great. We decided to go eat at Runza. After the exciting adventures in Gothenburg we continued on to St. Joseph, Missouri, but not without driving under the coolest archway in all of the United States (don't mind the dead bugs).
Thursday: We continued our journey east, but were now able to slow down a little bit and see some more things. We started the morning driving to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. Then to Jamesport an Amish community. I think I want to live in Jamesport. It is a cute little town with cute little shops and diners. I would open a cute little bed and breakfast and live there forever. We then headed to Hannibal the home of Mark Twain. Hannibal is also the town that Mark Twain based Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn off of. We rode the Mark Twain Riverboat on the Mississippi which was beautiful and huge! We also went to the Mark Twain Caves and saw Jesse James name carved in the wall. It was his hideout back in the day. The tour guide was very kind and took us back to see the carving, it is usually off limits for tours. That night we stayed at the Dubach Inn Bed and Breakfast. It was so cozy and homey (in a good way).

Friday: In the morning we headed to see a few of the important church historical sites in the midwest. We started at Carthage Jail and then made our way to Nauvoo. The buildings and structures were recreated perfectly. You could feel the history that took place in Nauvoo and Carthage. We took a wagon ride around Historic Nauvoo and a carriage ride through the woods. We were able to go through the blacksmith shop, tinsmith, post office, and bakery. Thanks to my incredible aunt Melinda for letting us use a book with all of the places to see in the midwest and for giving us the family history papers of our ancestors that were buried in Nauvoo. It was fun to see My Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents burial spots in the Old Nauvoo Burial Ground. We ended the evening by watching "Sunset on the Mississippi" a variety show put on by the missionaries in Nauvoo.

James and Hannah Webb

Saturday: We made it! We got to Mundelein in the afternoon, unpacked our car (which only took fifteen minutes), and went to Target!!