Happy 4th!

This 4th of July, my cousin Tomm read the Declaration of Independence at the town festival in Forest Lake.  We headed out early to hear the reading.  I don't think I've ever heard the whole Declaration read out loud and I'm pretty sure I've never read it for myself.  It was so interesting to hear the whole thing read and it was a good reminder of what we really celebrate on the 4th of July. 

We took in a parade after the reading and then headed home for nap time and some BBQ!  No better way to spend our 4th!

Warrior Dash and celebrating ONE year!

The last weekend in June was so busy for us!  On Saturday, Tommie ran in the Warrior Dash with Jon, Jesse and my cousin Dann.  It was such a fun experience and he was so proud to finish out the course.  It was full of obstacles... a fire pit, crawling under barbed wire, climbing ropes... and so much more!  We had a muddy day but it was so much fun! 

Since Jaren was with Grandma and Grandpa for the night, my hubby and I decided to head out for a late dinner at Malone's.  Sunday was our anniversary so we got the celebrating started early:)

Sunday, we got up early and headed downtown to ride some rental bikes (NiceRide... so great!).  We rode along the Mississippi River and took an up close look at the Old Mill Ruins.  It was a beautiful day!  We headed out for lunch after our bike ride and then went to pick up J.  It was such a fun way to spend our anniversary together and we did something we've never done before.  We will definitely rent those bikes again!

What a weekend!

It was such a fun-filled and busy weekend!  I am enjoying my time at home tonight, WITH power!  We woke up Friday morning around 330 am to the sound of thunder, lightening and no power.  Tommie was home with Jaren all day and the power came back on around 2 pm.  Friday night started with a girl's night at Jessi's.  We had so much fun!  It's always such a good time to get together with my besties and enjoy some drinks and some food!  While we were there, another hard storm came through.  Tommie called around 9 pm and we were out of power again.  I was hoping that the power would be back on by the time we woke up the next morning.  No such luck....
Saturday morning, we headed to Como Zoo with Jon, Kate and the kids.  We had arranged to meet cousin Katie there as she's working as an intern with the African Hoofed animals and we were going to get to meet some of them up close.  We walked around for about an hour, took in the Sparky show, and then it was time for our special tour.  We got to feed the reindeer and the bison and see the sheep, ostriches and zebra up close.  Then it was time for the grand finale... we got to meet Skeeter the Giraffe!  It was so much fun!  We got to feed him(?) and pet him a little bit.  It was such a once in a lifetime opportunity and we felt so lucky to get to experience that!  Here's a few pics:

I had high hopes for power by the time we got home but again, no such luck!  Jaren took a nap and I made the decision to head to my parent's house for the night.  AC and cable?  Yes, please!  The little pool was set up for splashing and Jaren enjoyed every minute of it.  Jaren also has a recent obsession with lawnmowers.  Grandpa took his out and let Jaren push it back and forth across the driveway.  He loved it and must have spent at least 20 minutes just pushing and pulling.

We got word around 11 on Sunday that we finally had power!  Here are some pics from the storm in our area:

What better way to end the weekend than with a trip to the park!

What a crazy couple of days!  I'm almost excited to go back to work and back to normalcy!

Father's Day!

Jaren and I are so lucky to have such an amazing man in our lives.  For Father's Day this year, we took a walk down by the Mississippi River in downtown.  It was a beautiful day and so much fun to spend time just the 3 of us!

Trip to the farm

We spent last Saturday travelling down to Lyle/Austin for a grad party in honor of my cousin's daughter, Nicole.  We began our day bright and early at 6 am to start our drive.  Jaren was such a trooper and stayed awake the whole car ride down.  We borrowed a portable DVD player to keep him occupied as we weren't quite sure how the trip would go.  We arrived at the farm that my dad grew up on around 930.  We spent some time walking around the farm and then went to the cemetery to see Grandma and Grandpa Howard's graves. 

After the cemetery, it was about time for Jaren's nap.  He fell asleep in the car as we made our way out to the site for the grad party.  As I was trying to carry him in and put him down, he woke up and refused to go back to sleep no matter what we tried.  I knew we would be in for a long day if he didn't get at least a little bit more sleep but we toughed it out. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time!  He looks so little next to that big hoop but it reminds me that it's only a matter of time before he'll be big and tall. 

 

 We made it until about 8pm before we needed to get back on the road to head home.  Jaren fell asleep shortly after we left for home and slept through the night.  It was such a busy day but so much fun... and we got to see so much family that we don't get to see a whole lot.  Hopefully we will all get together again soon!

Pizza and Movie Night!

Daddy went out to watch the Heat game so it was just me and my boy tonight.  We made a homemade pizza and then watched a movie before bedtime.  I love spending quality time with this guy!  He was laughing out loud at the movie while eating puffcorn and was having so much fun.

Not sure what's in for the rest of this rainy Memorial Day weekend.  Hopefully we'll have some sunshine tomorrow but it's not looking likely.  Have a good Memorial Day weekend!  Remember the reason for the day!

It's about that time...

Well, clearly I'm not so good at updating this blog.  BUT, I am going to try to back off of social media a little bit as I feel like it's kind of taking over my life.  So, this blog is going to become a little bit more of a link to those that we don't see very often.  At least, that's my intention:)  We'll see how it goes.  I feel that so much has changed since last fall but I also feel like everything is still the same old.  Jaren is a delight!  He is so much fun!  He's starting to get his independent attitude that comes with almost-2-year-olds.  He can count to 10, (almost) spell his name and do any animal sound you could ask for.  He is a talker... there aren't many times when our house is in complete silence, unless you could the times our chatterbox is asleep.  Jaren loves his daycare and all of the kids there.  He often asks where they are when we are at home.  He also spends lots of time with his cuzzies and loves them so much!  Jon and Kate just got a trampoline in their backyard so I'm sure we will be spending lots of time over there this summer.  Here are some pics from the last couple of months:

Sweet baby boy

Hanging out at Cade's house

Puddle stompin'

Ready for a workout

Hi Penguin!