We've Arrived!

We left Salt Lake a couple of weeks ago and moved to Arnold, MO, which is just 20 minutes away from St. Louis. We already love where we are and feel that we chose a good spot for us.

Here's our story:

Jon pulled a trailer for the first time.

We were super lucky to get permission to take Elder Bodily and his companion out for lunch. And silly me... I never got a picture of him and his companion, well, not at least with his companion looking at the camera.

The sign says, "She's my sister!"
Kevin had told Mom and Dad that he weighed in at 210 pounds some time ago. So I thought we'd have a little fun and have him weigh in for us.
Not quite 210, but 197.8 isn't bad either. ;)
We got a surprise visit from Mom and Dad in Cheyenne! Some of their plans fell through that day so they decided to be a little spontaneous and meet up with us. It was a wonderful surprise!

Koen loved watching Dad cut up watermelon.
We still like to be kids too.
Koen with Grandad and Grandma B.
One of the gas stations we stopped at had several video games. Koen loved pretending to drive a race car. "FINALLY, control at the wheel!" haha

A few days and several states later, we arrived and moved in.

Here's our main living area and kitchen. I thought about sharing pictures of our bedrooms, but really, they are just like any other bedroom, so I decided that these photos would suffice.

Balcony view... its been a good bird spotting area for Koen.

Koen has warmed up to the new surroundings very well. He seems to find the new space exciting. He is sleeping pretty normal, if not a bit better than before. I am grateful that he has been adjusting so well.

Koen's Grandpa and Grandma Williams came to spend a few days with us while everyone had some time off from work. Koen warmed up pretty quickly and was reading books with Grandpa within the first hour.

Grandma Williams wasn't afraid to get a little silly.

They watched Koen for a few hours so that we could do a session in the St. Louis temple. It was beautiful of course and allowed us to add another temple on our "Temples Attended" lists.

We spent a day at the zoo and these ducks decided to greet us as soon as we got out of the car. Both Koen and Grandma were excited to see them.

Can you find the walking sticks in this picture? There are at least two.

Koen was exhausted before we got through the whole zoo. St. Louis' zoo is a GREAT zoo. It's the best (out of the four I've been too) zoo I've been too. And to make it even better... it's FREE!

The day Grandpa and Grandma Williams left, Koen still wanted to look for the birds with them. Did you notice the change in Koen's hair? That is if you can see it! haha He got another hair cut and it turned out quite a bit shorter than we expected. I MISS his hair! But... it will probably feel much cooler for him during the hot summer.

Last week we decided to walk around the mall. There was a stand selling hermit crabs in decorated shells. Look at how colorful they are!

We walked through an outdoorsman store. Jon and Koen enjoyed playing in a tent there.

And the reason we're here:

Jon started his internship at the NGA this last Monday. He is learning a lot and sadly, really can't say much about anything. He has been sworn in and vowed to never talk about the things that he will do and see there. So you can just know that Jon will be working at this government mapping company, helping our country by analyzing whatever he is tasked. And since it is pretty well secured and monitored, Koen will not participate in any "bring your child to work" days if Jon is with the NGA long-term. I guess he probably won't be bringing Jon to school to talk about what he does for a living either. But Jon is so far enjoying it there and is excited about his time with them.

Koen doesn't let the humidity bother him at all here. He still adores spending as much time as we'll allow outside.

Missouri has been so kind with it's welcoming weather (after yesterday, I mean that very sarcastically). We have already had a few days of which our county has been in a tornado warning or watch. For those less familiar with tornados, the tornado warning is worse than the watch. Yesterday afternoon we already experienced the sound of tornado sirens. Just as Koen and I were leaving the park yesterday afternoon, I got a call from both Jon and Carla warning me of the storm that was coming and how it looked like a tornado could very likely be coming right for us. I did not like this at all. The storm did come right over us, producing the biggest things of hail I've ever seen. Oddly enough to me... it really wasn't very windy. We watched the cloud that weathermen were eyeing as the possible tornado starter go by. Jon was like a kid on Christmas morning as we experienced the whole thing. I wanted nothing to do with it and was very nervous. I am not comfortable or excited when tornado sirens are blaring near home... especially when home is the top, third floor. eek!

But I am VERY HAPPY to say that a tornado did not form and we are very safe. I hope we do not experience any tornados while here.

You wouldn't want one of those things to plop on your head would you?

So that's our story and we're stickin' to it!