Sand. Water. Sun.

One of Mike's co-workers invited a bunch of friends to her parent's home in The Cities this past Saturday. They live on a beautiful little lake with a great beach house. We played all afternoon. Ahhhh, what a day.

Mae, soakin' up some sun.

Sand! Max was the most adventurous of the three and would wade out until his swimsuit got wet.

This is what I look like on a beach. Fully dressed. I feel so like a "Mom" in this picture! I knew I wouldn't be going on the sailboat or swimming out to the floating tramp because of the twins, so why get in a swimsuit and feel insecure all day?? Sad, but true. I'll have to work on becoming more daring.

Daddy took each of our kids out into the water.......none of them loved it. Mae was keeping it together, only whimpering. Quinn was full-on tears. The Q did make it to the floating tramp and bounced a few times with Daddy. He got more and more courageous as the afternoon went on.

Christina's Dad had a sailboat that Mike took out a few times. As soon as he saw the sailboat, his eyes lit up.

When I cheered for Quinn after he and Daddy went out on the sailboat he said, "I just cried. I just cried on the sailboat." Don't they look like they're heading out on a great adventure?? It was a beautiful day.

We stopped for a "window-shopping-only" trip at IKEA on our way back to Rochester that evening. We had worked on the budget just a few days before, so we could only look, no touching. That was OK. There's plenty to see at IKEA!
Quinn and Mike at the end of one great Saturday. I love this picture. Father and Son.

Have a nice trip? See ya next fall!

Max took a tumble.....

Down these stairs.....carrying his 3-wheeled bike.

I was trying my best to gather the children and get to the library before it was time for lunch and we'd have to stop and eat (again!) and then it'd be nap time and quiet time and library time would have gone out the window. So, I was running around the house grabbing one more sippy cup, a snack for me (who remembers to eat breakfast as a wild mom??), some mini-marshmallows for the kids (reminder to go to the grocery store SOON, mini-marshmallows are not going to build the kid's muscles!) when I heard real wailing outside. Max was face down with his bike on top of him. I patted and comforted him and we made it to the library. But his wounds were BRIGHT red and looked really sore. People kept staring (or was it glaring?) at me, their minds working hard to figure out why this sweet little boy has scrapes, bruises and the beginings of a black eye. Poor Max! Poor Mama! I'm getting all the "what did you do to that poor little boy?" looks!

Old Scar Face & Mae, taking a break from breakfast to smile for the camera.

Quinn. Crying over Max's sad, scraped face? A tender, sympathetic brother? Hmmmm. More like, "Not hot cereal, Ma!! I want cereal!!!!". Kix, covered in yogurt. 365 days a year. Forgive me, Q, for trying to expand your horizons. :)

P.S. I've been using Vitamin E moisterizing oil on Max's wounds and they're healing really quickly! I'm always worried that my kids will get scratches somewhere really noticeable (like their face, Max!) and then I'll do nothing and let nature heal itself and a scar will linger and then when my children are older they'll blame me, like how could you just sit there and do nothing while my skin tried to heal itself and left this big, nasty mark on my face??? Thanks a lot, MOM!!! Just one of the many things we moms think about.....

P.P.S. And yes, we comb our hair and wear bows to breakfast. The kids are easier to take care of when they look cute. :)

Wedded Bliss

A Party! A Celebration! A Wedding!!

I spent the past 4 weeks in UT, enjoying the company of my dear family. My youngest brother, Ty was married in the SLC temple on Friday, August 1st, to an amazing woman, Connie. It was great to be around for a wedding shower (the picture below), and a small celebration in Logan where Ty wowed us on his marimba and played a light, beautiful arrangement of "That's All" on the vibraphone for Connie. The temple sealing created such a tender and optimistic view of marriage, it was amazing to be in attendance. The day ended with a fun outdoor reception that night.

Connie is beautiful inside and out. Here she is holding my niece, Kira.

During our UT stay (Mike made it out to UT for 2 weeks), when weren't partying with Connie & Ty, we visited Mike's parents in Nibley and splashed in the kiddie pool that Carol bought the kids, hung out with Mike's sister Kirsten whom I love dearly, slept at my parents home, jumped on their tramp, stayed up way too late enjoying their company and conversation, chatted with a dear high school friend, Layne, into the almost wee hours of the morning, drove to American Fork to be with my sister, Jess,--so fun for children and adults alike--, stopped in Salt Lake and had lunch with my bosom friend, Sharon and her delightful family, spent a night with my grandparents in Price, ate all the ice cream in their house and hugged a whole lot, and finally, savored a few blissful days at our cabin in central UT. The weeks went by too fast and I find myself, once again, alone and lonely in Minnesota (it's not THAT bad, it just sounded good, typing that out :)

I miss you, my loved ones.
Ty & Connie, you have a rich life ahead of you.
You are both so good and talented.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful wedding experience with me.
To my parents, siblings, in-laws and friends; thank you for making me feel wanted. You treat me and my kids so well, I feel like we could stay 2 years and you'd never tire of us. Well, maybe 2 years might be pushin' it.....
I miss you much while I'm far away.
It was a great month.

A Family Photo!

A decent family picture! Not the best lighting or location, but hey! all the kids are looking at the camera.

Now you can see that we are thriving here in Minnesota. We've been here over a year and the children are growing, Mike is smiling and not dozing off in front of the camera (no overnight call this month!) and I'm dressed. No sign of my favorite pink pajamas anywhere. Life is good.

An hour at the park

Twin Slides for Twins! Twin-happiness. Twin-giggles. Twin-Wheeeeeees!

Only one baby swing? Not a problem. Twins fit nicely. Until Max starts leaning his head back and bumping Mae. She screams and the ride is over.

Hey big brother!!

This is how Max learned how to walk, 2 months ago. Mae looks so pleased to be shuttled around! Now, if we could just get Max to sit down and ride, maybe Mae could get the hang of walking......

Company!

A visit from Mom, Dad and Ty!! What fun!!

This is how Ty spent most of his vacation (when he wasn't playing with my kids or scrubbing my kitchen floor, really!)

After living in Rochester for 1 year, I finally decided it was time for some privacy (not like anyone was peeping in, but who really knows??!). Mom shopped with me and dad hung the rod and curtains. My parents are so great to help me achieve those things around the house that I really want, but don't seem to make time to do. I love my new curtains and my amazing, smooth-slidin' rod! Thank you Mom and Dad!!!!

We did the SPAM museum in Austin, MN while my fam was here. Such a well spent afternoon.

SPAM trivia!! I was Dad's cheerleader while Quinn rooted for Ty. You can't see Mom on the far left . She was in the lead when we decided it was time to hit the gift shop before it closed.

Ever wondered what a Hormel employee looks like? Max models. He's as tasty as the SPAM he cans!

SPAM makes the world go 'round!

We got a snapshot with "Spammy", SPAM's mascot. Yummy!

If you have a sense of humor, if you like learning about history :), if you need a fun place to wander/run around for a few hours I highly recommend the SPAM museum. We dined at a local restaurant one block away from the museum that night and it was SPAM all around! SPAM-O-RAMA! We had it all, from deep fried SPAM sticks, to SPAMburgers and SPAM & eggs. Crazy tasty!
Mike and I have enjoyed SPAM quesadillas for lunch the past two Sundays. Just to give you a taste of what awaits you at the SPAM museum, here's a little excerpt from the back of Quinn's SPAM bank talking about the SPAM quesadilla recipe:
"Do not be fooled by the simplicity of this recipe. Yes, it is easy to make, but the flavor is complicated and exotic. Like something that fills your sense and pulls at your heartstrings and then flies away, wanting to be chased. And you will chase it, oh yes, you will."
Ha! It was a magical afternoon.






I had to put in a recent picture of the twins!! They are 14.5 months. Max has been walking since he was 13 months, and Mae thinks crawling is still the way to go. I love 1 year olds.

Never enough pictures of HAWAII!

In love, in Hawaii, in sandals on Waikiki.

This is the view from our hotel balcony. The first night we were so tired. There was a 5 hour time difference and we were both ready to hit the hay, but Mike had to take a dip in the ocean before he could rest. I told him I'd cheer him on from the balcony. He ran out the door in his swimsuit and I brushed my teeth and went to open the sliding glass door to the balcony. It was locked and stuck. I tugged and pulled, but it wouldn't budge. I gave up and went to bed. Mike came back a while later, dripping with salt water and a huge grin on his face to find me snoozing in our soft King size bed. Sorry I missed your swan dive, Mike! Our beautiful home away from home, the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Oh, how I miss you and your room service.

We hit 2 different shave ice stands. Aoki's and Matsumoto's. Both were delicious. Aoki's served sweet beans in the bottom of the cone topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, then shaved ice and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. The beans were like sweet black beans. Kinda weird, but we had to try it. Matsumoto's was the better of the two. We decided you could live off shaved ice if you had to....and we saw many homeless people in Honolulu that were probably doing just that.

If eating Shaved Ice is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

Delectable, as was the first.

Check out our sweet ride!! We toured the island in this beautiful blue convertible Mustang. Prrr. We were IN. Or, at least we felt like we were in....
This is a picture of one of our beautiful Latter-Day Saint temples in Hawaii. It was a warm, overcast day. It was 5pm when we pulled into the temple parking lot. We stopped and talked with the missionaries at the Visitor's Center and toured the grounds. It was lovely. I'm so glad we made the stop, even if we didn't get to do a temple session. We felt the holy spirit and it was peaceful and gentle.
Mike soaking up nature at the Lyon Arboretum near the University of Hawaii.

Mike's favorite plant on our hike.

My favorite flower on the preserve.

Are you wondering if something small and furry was taking this picture??! Mike's tripod was so handy! (Yes, that is a big map in Mike's hand. The arboretum was huge! I loved Hawaii, but I wasn't so keen on staying there, drinking rain water & eating slugs for the rest of my life! Are we still on the trail?? Are you sure??)

This tree had the craziest trunk!This was called Inspiration Point. Is this place for real??!?!!?!
Putting these pictures together, I can't believe I was really there!