August 2014

A few weeks later I took the kids to the Arboretum. They have an indoor area with exotic plants. You had to check off when they found plants in each color. Lauren was really enjoying it as well.

In the kids play yard, there are mini wheelbarrels and mini everything. It is nice to have an area geared for kids. 

We spent a lot of time here at the splash pad. We have a membership at the local community center, and boy, do we get our money's worth. :)

Aren't her pigtails darling?

We fed the fish. There are thousands of little fish that actually follow you wherever you are on this dock. 

Tuckered out. 

We spent a lot of time on these swings. There is a park 1/2 a mile or less from our home. 

In August, the waterbeds turned a bright green for a couple of weeks!!!!! This is crazy. I have no idea why this happens. So cool!! This picture was taken without any enhancement. It is just what it looked like.

So on our main level we have a room devoted to toys. Ok, it's a toy room. They are really good about playing in there and cleaning up whenever it gets messy.

We were eating fruit pops that day. We have this tradition, that started when we lived in Eden Prairie, to go out on our front deck/porch whenever it is raining. We grab chairs and a blanket, and eat popsicles!!!! We love to hear the thunder and see the lightning.  It is such a funny tradition but somehow it has stuck. I hope we continue to do this in years to come.

At the state fair!

Lincoln was all smiles the entire time he was on this ride. For some reason, none of the other kids even cracked a smile for the 5 minutes they were on this ride. Lincoln was ecstatic and enjoyed every second.

We took the bus to the state fair. The kids loved the state fair. Do you want to know what they loved even more? The bus rides to and from the fair!!!! On the first bus ride, we were on the upper level, in the very front seats of the double decker buses. They were in heaven. Vance and I enjoyed it too. Every time we went under a highway overpass we (OK, it was just me) were worried our heads would get chopped off!! But we, I mean I,  learned to trust that the bus was short enough........

More July 2014

We have a tiny little inflatable pool that is just big enough to entertain the kids for a long time. It was their idea to have the end of the slide in the pool. 

I love these children. They give us so much joy and give me purpose in my life. 

I got so many bouquets like this one last summer. Such a lucky mama.

This was on my parent's front door step. My mom is an amazing gardener. Her flowers, plants, garden look spectacular. It looks like something you'd see in a magazine.

Vance and I went to the local Arboretum and spent a few hours there. It is large enough that you would need an entire day or possibly two to enjoy it all. 

So we went camping three times last summer....in our very own backyard. That's as adventurous as we got. We even made s'mores!! This is how we do it around here. 

July 2014

Vance and I had been SHARING a dresser for the past five years. This is a first world problem! So we bought a dresser from IKEA, assembled it, and then Vance stained and varnished it. Actually, Vance did it all! Now we don't have to share any longer. Wahoo. It is nice to have extra space:)

We went to Omaha for the Fourth of July and spent a few days there. This picture, I believe, was taken at a rest stop. Lincoln loved climbing that tree. Just like his Uncle Joe! My brother has always loved climbing trees. He doesn't seem to be afraid of heights, or at least not when he is climbing trees. Even as a very young child, my brother Joe would climb much higher than most adults comfortably would!

Lauren, Lincoln, Miles, Preston, Avely, Brynn, Kayla, Miles, and Ellie. Jeremy and Janessa and their kids (Kayla, Avely, and Preston) came down to Omaha as well to visit Scott, Rachel and their family. This morning we went to this park. I remember it being about 80 degrees and windy. I remember Kayla saying, "Oooh, it's cold..." Their family had just moved from Miami, Florida to the Minneapolis area. So even in Omaha's 80 degrees, it seemed chilly:)

We also enjoyed a day at the Omaha Zoo. 

Scott and Rachel had a great slip n slide in their backyard. The kids loved it. Lincoln was really hesitant to go down on it. He watched the other kids for a long time, and then got the courage up to go down. Then he went head first on his belly. So proud.

My Lauren..... I loved that orangey-pink outfit on her. She was still one then and it looked so cute.

Trips can be so fun, and so tiring.

Lauren clearly wasn't happy about the kiss. But how sweet?!

Last summer's HUGE project was fixing our deck, and quite a bit of landscaping, adding bushes, flowers, etc. When this picture was taken, we had started working on the deck. There was a huge hole in the deck when we bought this home that we didn't fix last summer. The previous owners had a hot tub, and took it with them when the left. So Vance figured how to make supports underneath the deck. His mechanical engineering degrees really come in handy around here! Some of the spindles on the deck were painted white. We took each one out, and sanded them ALL!! It was a huge and tedious project. But I'm glad we did it and I don't think we'll have to do it again. Just the restaining every couple of years. Now we have a beautiful, large deck and we are so excited to use it this coming summer.

One thing we love to do is go on walks, runs, bike rides on the trails right next to our home. We are so blessed to have such close access to well maintained trails that never end.