Last Minute Trip.

The Skowlund's made an impromptu visit and we had an absolute blast!  Jill text and asked if I wanted to meet in Brainerd on Saturday.  I quickly responded with, "this family is not traveling, sorry.  But if you want to road trip it to Fargo that would be great!"  Just a few minutes later she let me know they were on their way!  It was exciting and very fun.  The kids all had fun playing together outside in the water and enjoyed their popsicle treats!

We even were able to test out our new patio for a campfire which the kids thought was pretty fun.  We roasted marshmallows, ate S'Mores and stayed up way too late after putting the kids to bed.

This picture cracks me up.  It was a total innocent moment.  Landon was holding the magazine for dad to use to start the fire and it just happened to be a Victoria's Secret magazine.  It looks pretty suspicious...like Papa, like father, like son I suppose!

We went for a walk to the park and Ryan and Curt picked up the kids on their way back from a movie. We let Emma ride in the stroller and she did not mind one bit, it was hot!  Love it!

Thanks for coming and visiting us on short notice, was a blast!

Home Sweet Home.

We are all so happy to be home after a long two weeks.  This video of our three little munchkins having a blast together makes me smile, hope it makes you smile as well :)

A Quick Stop.

We made a quick stop in Albert Lea on our way home from Iowa to see my Grandma Betty and Aunt Dori.  I haven't seen them since Kenzie has been born so it was great to see both of them.  We stopped to pick Grandma up and I was finally able to catch a glimpse of her new apartment.  She lives in a very nice apartment and her building is beautiful and quaint.  We then headed out for supper at Applebee's and had a short but nice visit with Grandma and Dori.  The kids were spent after an almost 2 week straight hiatus but such is life.  I am so glad we stopped and how great does grandma look?!

Iowa.

We made the annual long trip to Anamosa to visit the Frashers along with Holly, Jack, and Arin.  It was filled with lots of fun and time with family.  The kids always have an absolute riot with their cousins and we couldn't be in better company.

On Sunday we all went to a fun water park near Waterloo, Iowa.  Unfortunately, Landon and Kenzie had a little bug and weren't quite themselves but had a blast nonetheless.  I think the adults enjoyed the water park just as much as the kids!

 We also added a couple games of bowling to the fun this year.  It was a nice break from the heat of Iowa!

 We went to the first night of the Jones County Fair.  It was preview night and we watched some motocross.  The kids thought it was pretty fun to watch although Kadence did get a little nervous when it got really loud.

Landon did the giant trampoline ride.  He is not afraid of much but I am not too sure he loved this quite yet.  He looked pretty nervous when he got going really high.  The only time he smiled was when he looked over and saw cousins Jack and Jessie jumping high on their trampolines!

 The next few days we saw a lot of the Jones County Fair.  There was time spent on rides, watching an elephant show, Jessie and Tyler's 4H projects, the tractor pull, games, Sunshine and the pig show, and great food!

 Kadence went on just a couple rides and then enjoyed playing the carnival games-just like her mama.  Landon was fearless and wanted to be a big boy.  He went on a ton of rides and loved the ones he went on with Jessie and Jack.

 This little munchkin was a trooper considering she had been out of routine, lacking sleep, and even sick for awhile for going on 2 weeks.  She slept well at Aunt Kristy's but stuck close to Mom and Dad.

 When we weren't busy doing things this little kitty was the entertainment.  Kadence loved the kitty SO much and snuggled it and played with it nonstop.  She was covered in scratches and could have cared less.

Kadence was entertaining as always.  This is how she wanted her hair one day.  Good thing she is naturally beautiful!  Not sure this is my favorite look!

 My kids just loved that little kitten.  Too bad they have a mean mom who said they couldn't take it home...

 The very last day in Iowa was spent at the pig show.  The kids had a blast hanging with Jessie and her pig Sunshine.  They thought it was pretty fun and Landon especially wanted to help with everything.

 Love this picture.  Jessie looks just gorgeous!

Jessie did such a great job showing Sunshine!  It was very fun to watch her!

 The kids had fun watching and were all very good.  Even Kenzie expanded her horizon a bit and stepped away from Mom and Dad!  It was refreshing, too bad it was on the day we were leaving!

Kenzie had so much fun that she fell asleep in my arms!  I don't know that she has ever done this outside of being an infant in the Moby!  She was such a good little trooper!

What a great 6 days we all had with family!  I know I am forgetting many things that we did and of course I didn't take near enough pictures!  Sadly, half of the pictures were taken with my iPhone!  Thank you Frasher's for letting us invade your home yet again!  Love you!

Warrior Dash.

We participated in our first Warrior Dash in Des Moines.  It was hotter than EVER but we had fun nonetheless.  It is a 5k race with obstacles and mud!  It was a ton of fun and would have been even more fun had it not been 100 degrees and 1 o'clock in the afternoon!

 Can't wait for the next race! Fun!

Omaha!

The kids and I headed to Omaha for a few days before Ryan met us there to travel to Iowa.  I was a bit nervous for my first 6 hour trip with my 3 munchkins alone, but it went very well.  We stopped in Sioux Falls and visited with Katie and the kids for a couple hours which broke up our trip wonderfully. It was so great to see them, we really miss the O'Connors and all of the play dates we had.  We were so excited to finally be back in Omaha and to spend time with Aunty!

We loved the pool at Aunty's house.  It was so hot out and the water was such a great temperature that Landon didn't get cold and Kenzie had the most fun in the water that I have ever seen!  We were able to go twice in the short couple days we were there.  My swimmer fish Kadence could have swam for hours!  So fun.

 We of course could not visit Aunty without a trip to the Omaha Zoo.  It is such a great zoo and the kids always have such a great time there. It was hot but we all survived and had so much fun.

It wouldn't be a trip to Aunty's without a little dress up!  I mean really, you should see her closet:) Ryan especially likes when Landon dresses up...

 We all went downtown Omaha and had dinner and took advantage of the scenery for a little photo shoot.  Arin took some awesome photos again and I was excited to finally see downtown!  Like always it is never enough time at Aunty's house but we had a blast while we were there.  Once Landon got over the Roxy hair...

The Fourth.

The kids and I headed to Cloquet on the fourth and Ryan met us there Friday for the remainder of the weekend.  We had a busy fun time together with all the family.  The kids had an absolute blast with their cousins!

We did a bunch of fun things over the weekend.  On Saturday we went out on Lake Superior on Curt's parent's boat.  We were out on the water for most of the day and the kids all had a blast.  It was a gorgeous day and great times!

 Little miss Annabelle.  This girl cracks me up.  She absolutely loves accessories!

 The kids had a fun time with their play fishing poles.

 We snapped some pictures of the ladies!

 After the fun boat ride we had a great campfire with Auntie Peggy, Kelly, Christina, Ian, Leebug, Debbie, and all of us.  We stayed up far too late (like 3am) but had so much fun.  Then Sunday morning Grandma June came over and we had a yummy breakfast before we headed back to North Dakota.  Ryan and I stopped in Brainerd which is just about half way and met up with some friends that live there now.  It was fun to see them and their gorgeous home and a great stopping point for our trip back.  We had both our vehicles and I sent Emma and Kenzie in the pick up with daddy.  It was the most peaceful trip I have had in a very long time (in almost 20 months).  I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend with friends and family!  Happy Independence Day!