Happy Birthday Luke

I can't believe that my first born is 12 years old! He is such a joy in my life, we feel extremely blessed to have such a great kid! He is very considerate, full of life, loves to make us laugh and is so responsible. He teaches us to be better by his example, and what an example he is! We just love our Luke, Happy Birthday buddy!

A day at the bowling alley

We finally decided to use our gift card from last Christmas, thanks Anderson family. The kids loved it, although they are a lot better at the Wii bowling. All in all it was a great day!

Sammy's Birthday

The kids really wanted to celebrate Sammy's B-Day this year, so being the good parents that we are we did just that:) The kids wanted to take her to Petsmart and buy her a treat and get her a name tag for her collar. They all had a blast doing that with her and when we got home we sang to her and had cake, yes all of this for a DOG! We did it for the kids, right?

First day of school

The kids were ready to go back to school, they couldn't wait to see who was in their class. They really like their teachers and they have met some good friends. Luke is in the 6th grade, Madi is in 3rd grade and Max started kindergarten. I am so glad that they all like school(maybe not the homework)!

More MN pics

Minnesota trip

We had so much fun out in MN, lots to do in the short amount of time we had. We played pretty much

all day on the lake and had lots of BBQ's. The kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins, they were in the lake most of the time! We went on alot of boat rides and tried to ski, Madi got up and lasted for about 4 seconds before she fell. Their cousins all got up and are pros at skiing, they made it look easy.

It was nice to visit with grandma Rae and grandpa Oz, they sure don't look their ages (88 and 91). The kids think it is way cool to have great grandparents and that great grandpa is close to 100 yrs old! The kids would go down there to visit and play pool and play out in the boat house. It brings back memories of me doing the same thing when I was their ages, good times! Forth of July was one of my favorite 4ths I have had in a long time. We watched a boat parade on the lake in the morning, we swam and fished, my friend and her family came out and brought their boat, went tubing, went for rides on the jet ski, had a BBq and watched fireworks from the lake(they were the big ones, some guy has done this for a few years now), and had our own firework show too! It was so nice to not have to drive anywhere and the weather was perfect, good times!

Monday night we went over to my friends house for a,(you guessed it, BBQ). It was so nice to see her again and my other friends Britta and Jessie. All the kids played so well with eachother, which made it nice for us adults. We woke up tues. morning to head up to the North Shore, first stop was Duluth. We had a blast there, perfect day and weather for a picnic and the beach. The water is super cold but that didn't stop Garrett and Jack from jumping in, burr! The hotel was nice, right on the water and everything is in walking distance so no need for a car! The next day we packed up and headed up north to Lutsen and on the way we made a stop to go see the falls, pick up some world famous pies and get some beef jerky and some smoked fish(none for me, yuck). Lutsen was so much fun and very pretty, I guess it is the only mountain in MN(mini one). We went on the Alpine slides, the kids and dads had a lot of fun on those! For lunch we thought it would be fun to pack a picnic and go up on the gondola to the top of the mountain, very pretty. My parents went back down afterwards and the rest of us thought it would be fun to go on a hike. Little did we know that we would hike an extra 5 miles and get lost, yes lost! We made it out ok after we had to hike back up the same way we came down to make it to the gondolas before they closed. The guys who ran it had to stay an extra 1/2 hour to wait for us, Luke gave his uncle some bribe money to make them do this and it worked! Mom and Dad were very worried about us and made a call to the Sheriff, thank goodness we made it down when we did so that the Search and Rescue didn't have to come find us! Lots of good memories were made on this trip and we are so grateful for mom and dad for giving us this trip, thank you! We love you guys and we had so much fun, can't wait for the next adventure with all of you :)