Carthage

I had to put the signs on here. The top window, is the window J.S. fell out of. The room where Taylor was saved.
Waiting our turn to go on.

Saydie having a moment. It always surprises me how kids react to the spirit. She is in the very spot where everything happened. Even at three, she knows how special it is to be in this room.

The room where J.S. spent his first night.

This picture has a foreboding to it.

Sorry, no pictures for a few days.
We are all unpacked and settled. The new house is really cute. We are the end unit - no neighbors. It gives us a fantastic view of the lake and golf course. There are lots of ducks and geese. We have a couple of families of geese. The little babies just hatched and are so cute.
It has not stopped raining the whole time. Today is a little misty and that is the best it has been. The ground is all squishy. It is very cold. Wet and cold.
The kids have about had it with the rain. They want to go ride bikes and see all the baby geese.
~Side note: Can you believe someone stole Skyler's bike seat. Right off the top of the car! ;)
We think it fell off while we were driving. The kids are convinced of a thief.
I hope to get pictures posted soon (I've been a bit to busy) I hope everyone is well. We miss you all...

Keokuk

They were being so cute holding hands while they

watched a train come into the station.

Shhhh!

Don't tell. The sign said "No Trespassing".

It was just too cool to pass up this old train station.

Unfortunately our batteries died right after this picture was taken.

Sunset on the Mississippi.

No more pictures...please.

The kids were so happy to be out of the car - rain or no rain.

The drive was very long today. The kids had to stop every five minutes, no kidding. There was nothing to see really, just corn fields and more corn fields. It felt like that movie...Jeepers Creepers. I kept waiting for the scarecrow guy to come flying down onto the top of the car.

I renamed the road we were driving on Serial Killer Row. It seemed every house from every scary movie was on this road. I saw them all - from Silence of The Lambs to Texas Chainsaw and the Jasons.

Seeing the Mississippi was the coolest thing so far. We got to watch a barge go through the lock. It was HUGE. We were told this was the largest lock on the river. It took almost 45 minutes for the barge to make it through the lock. After the sun went down and it started to get dark, I started getting a little nervous. It was time to get back to the hotel.

I better hit the hay. I have a big day in Nauvoo tomorrow.

So excited!

Des Moines

The drive went fast today. We drove 650 miles in 10 hrs.

Nebraska was beautiful. Very flat. Lots of birds everywhere. Mostly turkeys and pheasants.

Iowa is ok. I didn't see a welcome sign. It is mostly just farms. We did see our first White Tail Deer and the Men's NCAA World Series Stadium. We saw all kinds of LDS and pioneer history. We even drove through the town where John Wayne was born.

A pad of paper and a pen were all it took to keep the kids occupied. They played 'office'. After playing for quite some time, Skyler decided he was done playing. Saydie, in an effort to keep the game going, continued to call him on their fake phone.

"Ring ring ring . . . ring ring ring"

She went on and on and on....

Finally Skyler, hoping to shut her up, sent her to his voice mail.

"I'm sorry the person you are trying to call is unavailable. Beeeep!"

Watching the sun rise as we drive

The boys gassing up and checking fluids

Ahhh! Denver!

Yeah!

After 12 hours and almost 700 miles, we made it to the hotel in Denver. The kids did great and the drive was uneventful. Driving through the Colorado Mountains was a beautiful drive. Most of the peaks were 10,000 ft. Our poor car didn't go over 35-45 mph through the mountains. The highest peak was 11,200 ft. Lucky for us the kids slept through most of this part of the ride.

We are leaving to go eat now. I just wanted to let you know we made it safe and sound.

We love you all.

Kids playing Go Fish. They made up their own rules. I heard them asking, "Do you have any 70's?"

Are we there YET?

Last Days

Hey everyone we are just about ready to make our journey out East. This will be our last blog until we reach Denver CO. Here are some pictures of the kids. Our parents came down to say good-bye. It was a beautiful day for them to visit.

Thank you to everyone for everything and we hope to see you all real soon.

We love you.

Easter

Here are some Easter pictures.
The kids had so much fun decorating eggs with their cousins. Then Sunday afternoon the kids got to hide eggs for each other.

Spring Party

Skyler had his spring party at school today. His teacher let loose butterflies that the class had raised from caterpillars. They also had a scavenger hunt. Saydie was able to be a part of the parachute game, which she loved. It was a very fun day for the kids.

The butterfly.

The butterfly flies away.

The butterfly comes back. Can you see it? It took me a while to find it.

Love this Picture.

Yeah!

We have an address. Here is the link

http://www.glenlakeclub.com/

Check it out. Charles is very excited about the ponds. The kids are supper excited to have a pool. We are leaving on the 20th and stopping in Denver, then Des Moines. Charles and I are taking the long way through Nauvoo. I can't wait to see all of the church history there.

We took the kids up to the Dixie rocks to say good-bye to St. George.

We also went to the temple...It was the Temple's 132nd birthday.

Birthday

We celebrated my birthday yesterday. It was really great.

All the cousins got to hang out.



The kids had a swinging time with Grandpa.

I had expert help Blowing out the candles.


Poor Grayson couldn't stay awake to finish his cake and ice cream.

All in all it was a really great day. Thank you to all of my family for a terrific birthday.
I love you.

Moving Again!

Yes, the Kosmuch's are moving again!

We got the news on April first of all days. I didn't believe Charles at first because it was April fools day. We were originally destined for Virginia. I was totally excited to live in Virginia Beach, VA. But the company decided at the last minute to change it to Chicago, IL. I'm not as excited about Chicago. Charles is. He's a big Bulls fan. We will be Leaving for Chicago on April 20th. It will be quite an adventure for us.

Fun With Cousins

Nate, Skyler, Saydie, Grayson and Aubrie sitting in the back of the Red Ford.

We all met at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend. The kids had so much fun hanging out together. We were able to watch uncle Nate run at the Milford Invitational. We are so proud of him. He did very well despite the fact it was snowing and very cold.