Whitewater State Park

Everything is so green and pretty here right now.  We are LOVING it.  It is also hot and humid but after that long winter that lasted FOREVER...we'll take this hot weather.  We were just sitting around Saturday afternoon after Carson's soccer game wondering if we dare do anything outside because it looked like it was going to rain. Carson wanted to take a little stroll to the park...so we did!
 

After the park we decided to just jump in the car and head out to Whitewater State Park.  We had been there before and wanted to take the kids back there to swim.  We started throwing everything in the van- swim suits, snacks, sunscreen, fishing pole, flip flops, etc.  and off we went.  We got there and Chill and I realized we didn't grab our swim suits.   I had to chill with Max anyway, but Chillin really wanted to swim so he just went in his shorts.  The kids had a fabulous time and they didn't want to leave.  Poor little Max was running a super high fever and he was miserable for most of the time.  I felt bad that we just drug him there, but I think he did alright.  It was well worth the 40 minute drive out there.  Bailey was a wild woman and loved ever minute of it!

 

 

 

Father's Day 2013

We  had a great day.  The best part about it was Chill had the entire day off.  He is working some Sundays right now which is a bummer, but he had Father's Day off wahoo!  I am mad I didn't get any pictures of the day.  We just had a good time together.  I of course was a good wife and woke up super early and made German pancakes.  I also had to get ready to teach our primary lesson because they gave all the men the day off so Chill didn't have to teach class!  We gave Chill his gifts before church and after church we hung out, had a nice dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, and then went over to our friends house for dessert.  It was a nice day. 

FTF- Lansboro

So every Friday in the Summer we do something fun with a big group of us and we call it Field Trip Fridays.  We took a little trip to Lansboro, MN.  It is this darling little town where you can shop at all the Amish stores, float the river, bike, and eat yummy local food.  It seriously is such a cute place.  I wish I had taken more pictures.  We started the day off at the Aroma Pie Shop.  So super tasty.  It was worth the drive just for that.  After spending way too much time at the pie shop we headed over to the park for lunch and play time.  We didn't do anything very adventurous because we had a bazillion kids with us and only a few adults.  The kids were happy being at the park so we all had a good time.  There were some Amish people who set up shop right in the park selling their goods so I bought some tasty raspberry jam.  We found a snow shack (which seriously don't exist in MN) so almost everyone got a snow cone and then it was back to Rochester. 

 



Another Year Down

Well St. Patrick's Day came around once again and we all know what that means, time to celebrate Chill's birthday. I've said it before but I love that his birthday is on a holiday so that we can really celebrate and have some fun.  The best part about the entire day is that is was on a SUNDAY and Chill has Sundays off right now.  He works 6 days a week so we don't see him much, but we love every minute of our Sundays with him. We have early church and so I failed a little as a wife and mother.  I didn't do our traditional green eggs and ham breakfast.  I just didn't have enough time, but the leprechauns did come to visit so I feel like that was enough to keep the kids excited in the morning. After church we did gifts and had a nice afternoon and then after dinner we had some friends come over to help us celebrate and eat cake and ice cream.  I think Chill really enjoyed it...I know I did! 

 

 

 

Passing the time in Minneapolis

Well we decided we would go back home for Christmas this year after Chill's parents offered that as our Christmas gift.  We were excited to go but had NO idea that is was going to be nearly impossible to get there!  We had had perfect weather all winter and everything was fine up until the night before we left.  A blizzard came in and we were stuck in Rochester.  We had planned to fly out of Rochester because it is so easy and convenient but when the weather is bad the airport shuts down and that was our luck.  Long story short is we were supposed to fly out on the morning of December 20th and after cancelled flights and some craziness the next flight was on the afternoon of the 22nd and we had to fly out of Minneapolis which meant drive an hour and a half  and pay for parking for 9 days as opposed to a 20 minutes drive to our little Rochester airport.  We decided we could NOT sit around for 2 days just waiting to leave so we packed everyone up in the car and drove to Minneapolis to find something fun to do.  We ended up staying at a hotel with a small indoor water park.  The kids had a great time.  They thought the hotel was awesome and they LOVED swimming.  It definitely kept everyone happy while we waited to get out of town.  I wish I could say that flying home was smooth sailing but it wasn't.  It was pure chaos the entire day.  We had to fly from Minneapolis to Memphis and then from Memphis to Salt Lake.  The only positive thing about the entire day was that all three kids were absolute angels on both flights!  It was a long day with a stressed out mommy but they did amazing!  We finally made it to Salt Lake the night of the 22nd and got off the plane and ran for event to event for a week.  We had a great time.