MTC bound & our visitors :)

Today is the day Carter {Elder Johnson} heads to the MTC. He was set apart as a missionary last night. It is so crazy to think that he is old enough to be at this point in his life. i still picture myself around 20/21 so the fact that my baby brother who is 9 years younger than me is 19- the math just doesn't seem to work. we were able to use google video chat to see him and talk with him last night before he headed over to be set apart. it was SOOO fun. i have NO clue why it has taken us THIS long to use a video chat. it was great. it was SO fun to see everyone. all the kids were loving it. i just kept seeing heads pop in here and there and they were all trying to see us and as well as themselves on smaller screen. definitely going to have to do that more often. {but back to carter} it will be so weird not to have him around for the holidays. he is like the constant in our family. with all the other siblings being married the holidays are often split between in-laws. he is the one that no matter what time we are at my parents on a holiday, he is there. he is such good friends with all of our spouses. he really has developed great relationships with his three brother in laws and sister in law! all of us will miss him so much~ it will be so weird without the caboose of our family around. i know his nieces and nephews will miss him like CRAZY! crazy to think of where each of us will be when he comes home. it was incredibly hard to be away from our family during him preparing to leave but NO MATTER where we are in our lives, we will be there when he comes home!

a few pictures of carter from his visit here-

------------OUR VISITORS!!!!------------

Palmyra, NY

emersyn and grandpa playing peek a boo

walking into the Sacred Grove

Indians game

Lake Erie

Kirtland, Ohio

Amish Country

Brandywine Falls

Grandpa's favorite

Chagrin Falls

the zoo

My mom, dad, and carter came to visit us in august. it was such a great time and we were SO excited to have them here. emersyn totally had all three of them wrapped around her finger the entire time. she definitely was spoiled and had plenty of arms to carry her and legs to chase her. she loved playing with them {and not to mention the peanut M&M's} and i loved the extra help. my dad and carter had never been here. we decided to see a bunch of the Church Sites before Carter leaves on his mission. Ej and i met them in Buffalo. we stayed the night there and then headed to Palmyra. it was AMAZING! i hadn't seen the trees in full bloom and it was completely breath taking. it was so great to be there with my family, we just wish nate could have come as well. it is an experience i will always remember. We drove home to cleveland friday evening. saturday was spent at Kirtland, Ohio seeing Church sites, followed by an INTENSE rain storm that cleared up just in time for our Indians game. Mom, Dad, and cart had never been to a MLB game so we HAD to take them. it just so happened that they had the "rock'n roll firework show" afterwards which was FANTASTIC. honestly put every other firework show i've seen to shame. they had different songs from artists induced into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. then they did it karaoke style and had the words on the big jumbo screen~ it was GREAT! Sunday we went to church then back out to Kirtland. we took the temple tour and then had a picnic at the rock quarry. funny enough, my dad ran into somebody he knew in my ward. anytime my dad goes ANYWHERE he runs into somebody he knows. every airport we've been in together, at Disney World, ANYWHERE, the most random places- he knows somebody there. kind of an on-going joke in our family. it was such a nice day -minus the humidity. it think dad and carter honestly thought they were going to melt away. after our picnic we took them out to see Lake Erie. with all the visits that my mom had made to cleveland, THIS was the first time she had seen the lake. she was starting to think that it didn't actually exist. after a stop by the lake we took them to Little Italy where they were having 'The Feast'. it is an annual celebration they hold there with gobs of yummy, yummy food. we sampled a few different yummy things. Monday morngin we were off again, this time to Amish Country. we spent the day out among the horse 'n buggies. we visited the cheese factory for all the yummy samples and hit up some antique stores. on the way back to cleveland we stopped at Brandywine Falls for a little hike and had a picnic with all the desserts we bought in Amish Country. AND on the way home from there, we stopped at The Christmas Story House. This is my dad's FAVORITE movie. Since found out that THE house is here in cleveland, we've been wanting to go but have been waiting for him! it was so fun to see it! we honestly were going a million miles a minute while they were here.... we saw so much and did so much! it was so fun. Tuesday morning we dropped Carter off at the airport where i completely lost it. i had to say goodbye with him for TWO WHOLE years. it was nice to have my dad for the drive home with me and talk some sense into me. it will be so hard not to have him there when we visit. we will miss him SO MUCH! after that. ej took grandma and grandpa to her zoo. Cleveland really has such a great zoo! we had fun there and it was a relaxing day. when nate got home that evening we headed out to Chagrin Falls for dinner and some yummy ice cream and the Ice Cream Shop.

i am SOOO glad they were all able to come visit us. ej was so upset when they left. when she woke up the next morning she ran around calling for them and crying :( which in-turn led to me crying. we can't wait for grandma and grandpa to come visit again!