Today (Sunday) was the relaxing day of our trip. We went to church in Osceola (20 miles north of Leon) at the ward meetinghouse where I was baptized and attended for nearly 10 years before going to BYU. It was fun to see so many of my old church friends. They were having a ward potluck so we were a little bummed to miss that but excited to go to our family potluck at 11:30 a.m. We gave Michael his new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Preschool Colors and Shapes book so that kept him busy during sacrament.
After church, we drove to Van Wert (halfway between Osceola and Leon) for the family potluck. We brought macaroni salad and cookies. It was fun to see everybody and renew acquaintances. My cousin Terri is also pregnant (she is 2 months ahead of me) and is expecting her fourth. They just found out they are also having their fourth girl. Her husband is now building a garage and extra bathroom to accommodate all the women. It was good to see my cousin Brian--he is a police officer. My Uncle Ron and Aunt Jan offered to let us spend the night at their home in Kellerton. Ron and Brian left the potluck early to go deer hunting (muzzle loader).
Michael took a real liking to Breann and Dillon, Melissa's twins. They are 12 and great with little kids. He also enjoyed playing with Madison, Terri's oldest who is in kindergarten. We ate and then sat around talking and shooting the breeze. We even managed to figure out the camera and take a shot of the whole group.
Since my Aunt Shirley just got out of the hospital, we stopped into the nursing home to pay her a visit. She was really glad to see us and enjoyed meeting Michael.
We even drove back up to Osceola so we could visit my mom's headstone. We'd planned to meet up with friends for dinner but never heard back from them. On the way to Kellerton, we made a quick stop in Garden Grove. This city served as a resting place for the Saints as they crossed Iowa. Jeremy is always telling me he would love to buy an old home here and restore it.
This is Jeremy's dream house (next to the vacation home in the movie Aliens in the Attic)
I'm sure this "jail" is not truly operational but it is pretty funny--maybe if jails weren't so nice, we wouldn't have as many criminals!
