North Dakota to California

Before we left North Dakota, the sweet women in the Jamestown branch threw me a baby shower.  It was seriously so nice of them, and I really appreciated it.  They did such a good job.  I love the Jamestown branch and miss our friends while we are gone.  I didn't get many pictures, but here is what I did get.

Cute fruit salad.

Diaper cake.

The only semi-decent picture of myself.  

Chrissy and Lisa threw the shower.  Thank you so much ladies!

The day before we left North Dakota, we went to Gackle park one last time.  While I was sitting on the bench I hear a little kitty somewhere.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  When my friend Sam got there she said that earlier there had been a cat in the tree.  The cats owners tried to get it down without luck.  They just figured it would come down on its own.  I looked up in the tree and noticed that the poor kitty had a leash on and it was wrapped around the branch (no one she couldn't get down).  I was worried she would fall off the branch and hang there and traumatize our children.  Sam's husband works with the electrician in town so he when and got the bucket truck and became everyone's hero by saving the little kitty from the tree. 

Then he caught a frog for the kids, they were pretty excited.

We are going to miss Sam and her kids!  They boys love playing with Courtney and Emma and I love holding sweet little Mason.  

I'm so glad Sam lives in Gackle.  She has made my time there each summer so much more fun.  

We left Tuesday morning.  I had cried the whole week leading up to our departure so I didn't shed too many tears that day, but it was sad.  I knew it was going to be close to a month before we were reunited with Jason.  I really dislike that part of this job, but hopefully this will be the last year (I'm pretty sure I said that last year).

Max doing a little light reading on the drive.

Jan drove with me from Gackle to Blackfoot.  On Tuesday night we stopped in Billings, MT.  We got there nice and early so the kids were able to swim at the cool pool they had.  We went to Denny's for dinner (the kids love it) and stopped at a park to ride bikes for awhile.  

The boys love staying in hotels.  Especially hotels with two beds that they can jump in between.  They made themselves a little bed to play in.  

From Billings we drove to Blackfoot.  It was so nice having Jan to drive with me.  It made those two days SO much easier.  I am grateful for her help.  We spent our first night in Blackfoot at Grammy and Grandaddy's house and then the next night at Grandpa Horrock's house.  I wish I would have taken some pictures.  Friday morning we left Blackfoot and headed to Boise where we stayed with Michelle, Eric and Taylor for a few days.  It was so fun to see them and their new house.  

I took this picture of the boys sleeping.  So funny.

Taylor was pretty entertained by the boys.  While we were there Ollie's bike got a flat tire so we found a bike shop and got it fixed up.  I really miss Jason when things like that happen, he always takes care of those things.

My boys LOVE uncle Eric.  Saturday we went swimming at a community swimming pool.  The boys had the best time.  It was the warmest weather we had experienced all summer, so it was nice to go swimming.  I was grateful for Eric playing with my kids so much, since I can only catch them jumping to me for so long before I get tired.  He never seems to run out of energy.  Saturday evening we had dinner at Eric's parents house.  They welcomed us so warmly, it was really nice of them.

Sunday we went to church.  Look how stinking adorable Taylor is.  Blond curls and blue eyes, she is a knockout.  We headed back to Eric's parents for dinner that night since his sister who live in Wyoming was in town.  

Another picture of my boys sleeping.  

We left early Monday morning to start the 8 hour drive home.  I downloaded a book (Edenbrooke) to listen to on the way.  The boys did so awesome.  They are becoming pretty awesome travelers (thanks to their DVD players).  The book made the drive not so bad for me.  We stopped in Winnemucca and the boys played for awhile in the McDonalds play place, then we finished up the drive.  It was SO nice to get home.  I fall in love with my house over again every time I come home to it after a summer away.  Within 30 minutes or so of getting home the doorbell rang and these beautiful flowers were delivered.  I seriously have the best husband.  He knew I was having a hard time and missed him so much.  My kids couldn't understand why I was crying over the pretty flowers :)

I had an EXTREMELY hard time without Jason this time (being 8 months pregnant could have had something to do with it).  Luckily, Jason came back about a week earlier than expected and I had so many friends take care of me.  Last year when I was home for the month by myself I felt very alone and forgotten about.  This time could not have been more different.  I had people staying with me or visiting me almost everyday.  I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family.

Oliver's 5th Birthday

I can't believe our little Oliver is 5 years old!  I had a really hard time with this birthday for some reason.  It may have to do with the fact that I am 8 months pregnant, but I also think it is because he is starting transitional kindergarten and will soon be in school 5 hours a day.  I'm really going to miss him, and I worry about kids being mean, and what he will learn/hear from other kids, and what if he isn't nice for some reason...uhhh...I just worry in general.  I know he will be fine, but it is still hard.  

We tried to make his birthday really special.  He knew it too.  I overheard him say to Max "this is my special day and you aren't making it special".   One of the cyclist staying with us made Ollie a card the night before his birthday.  It was so sweet of her and it was a really cute card.  I had it sitting on the table for him when he woke up.

We also blew up a bunch of balloons and covered the floor with them.  This is after about half of them were kicked and thrown to other parts of the house.

A few weeks ago I caved at the grocery store and bought Lucky Charms.  It was on sale and would help me get a free gallon of milk, plus Max was begging for them.  It was a weak moment.  Ollie has loved them and usually eats out the marshmallows first.  On his birthday I got up and picked out the marshmallows for him. Not something I would normally do, but hey, your birthday only comes once a year. He was so excited.  I told him that it would probably give him a stomach ache if he ate too much, he agreed and halfway through decided he was done.  I was happy to let him waste the rest of his breakfast.  

His birthday was our Jamestown day.  My mother in law Jan is in town for a couple of weeks so she was able to come with us, which was fun.  We started with my chiropractor appt at 9:30 (exciting I know), then Ollie had gymnastics from 10-12.  While he was there, the rest of us ran a Miller Honey errand and then went to get a few things at Walmart.  After we picked Ollie up we went and got the boys chicken nuggets at McDonalds (Ollie's choice) then headed to Cherry Berry, where Jan and I had lunch and we all got frozen yogurt.  After a few more errands we headed home.  

We bought Ollie this ribbon to wear around during the day, and Jan bought him that Angry Birds shirt, he was pretty excited.

Jason spent most of the day in Fargo taking our friend Konrad to the airport and picking up two new Bobcats for Miller Honey.  When he got home we went to the plant with him to unload them. The boys thought it was pretty awesome (Jason seemed pretty giddy as well).  

We came home and ate dinner.  Ollie requested tuna noodle casserole.  We also had fresh green beans from our neighbors garden, and fruit salad.  As we were finishing up eating I realized I forgot to put the tuna in the casserole.  It still tasted pretty good and Ollie ate 4 servings.  

After dinner we came in and Ollie opened presents (Legos, squirt guns, lawn games, the game Trouble, Hotel Transylvania, coloring books and markers, a kite and some sidewalk chalk. 

Jan and I were looking for a card to give Ollie when I came across the one below.  It goes right along with his humor at this age.  I know my son because he had us read him the card like 50 times that night and each time he laughed uncontrollably.  

After presents was cake.  I took Ollie through the baking aisle last week and let him choose his cake and frosting.  He chose funfetti cake and funfetti icing.  It is pretty much the last cake I would choose, but he loved it and it was actually pretty good.  

Just as we were coming outside to eat my friend Sam and her kids were out on a walk so we called them over and had them join us.  I think someone had to go to the bathroom in the pic below.

After cake the kids played in the big dirt pile in our neighbor's yard. I love this picture of Emma in her princess dress, playing in the dirt.  I hope my little girl is like that.

I think this picture of Emma is darling.

And then there is the sweetest baby in the world, Mason.

Max with his dirt gloves.

Courtney wanted her picture taken as well.  Too cute.

 Last year I did an interview with Ollie on his birthday.  I wanted to do the same this year.  I asked mostly the same questions.  A few he added in himself. 

Interview:

 Favorite TV Show: Bubble guppies, Dora (I think this is funny because we don't get the channels for either of these shows).

Favorite Movie:  Magic School Bus and Popular Mechanics for Kids (definitely has some Jason in him)

Favorite Food: fruit (cantalope specifically) and tuna noodle casserole.

Favorite Color: green, blue, purple and red

Favorite Toy:  Squirt gun he got for his birthday

Favorite Song:  Gangnam Style

Favorite Book:  All Richard Scary books

Food You Dislike: broccoli (which he ate tons of tonight so I don't know where that came from) and honeydew

Best Friend:  Eli, Hunter and Aiden (I specifically asked about Max and he said no)

Favorite Thing To Do:  Play on the iPad, watch movies, ride my bike and go swimming.

Things I Don't Like Doing (he added this question): Going to Jamestown, going to stores 

Oh Oliver, we just love you so much.  Stay little forever

Aberdeen 2013

A few months ago, a friend of mine from the Jamestown branch messaged me on Facebook to see if we wanted to go with them and a few other families to Aberdeen, SD for a weekend.  We bought our camper last summer, and they bought an RV last summer, so they knew we liked to camp.  We loved Aberdeen last summer, and were planning on going back again this summer, so we told them to count us in.  

Preparing for a weekend of camping when you are 8 months pregnant is really exhausting.  I took a pic while I was unloading groceries and separating out our camping stuff.

We left Thursday after Jason was off work around 5pm.  One of the things we love about Aberdeen is that it is only two hours South of us.  We were going to eat along the way, but since our kids were both asleep we decided to order a pizza in Aberdeen and just pick it up when we got there.  That worked out perfectly, our kids woke up right as we were arriving.  The kids and I ate while Jason set up the camper.  We visited with our friends since their RV site was right next to us.  The other families had gone to Storybook Land that evening for a kid event there.  We always take the kids bikes when we camp, but I told Jason to throw our bikes in at the last minute because I remembered a lot of biking trails around the campground.  I'm really glad we did because biking was our main mode of transportation while we were there.  Everything is pretty close, but it would have been long walks for the kids.  That evening, since we knew our kids would be up late (napping from 5-7pm will do that to a kid) we headed over and fed the ducks and geese.  I swear I have pictures of us doing all the same things we did last year.  It was fun for me to read back on the blog and compare.  

After the ducks, we rode our bikes to Storybook Land.  We ran into the other families who were camping with us and visited with them for awhile.  It was SO HOT!  Probably around 95 degrees that evening.  Jason and I went on a walk after the kids were in bed around 10:30 and we were still sweating.  Definitely the hottest day since we have been in ND/SD.  We headed back to our camper and bathed the kids and put them to bed.  

The next morning we got up and rode our bikes around and played on one of the many playgrounds at the campground.  After that we headed to Storybook Land where they acted out a cute story about ice cream, the kids did an ice cream craft, and they handed out little ice cream cups (in honor of Ice Cream day on Sunday).  It was cute.  I thought my boys looked so cute listening intently to the story.

We then went back to the camper to get ready for an afternoon at the Aberdeen Aquatics Center.  For lunch we headed to the Palm Garden Cafe where we ate last summer.  I can still remember my ham and asparagus panini with roasted red peppers.  You know it was good when you can remember it a year later.  I was tempted to get the same thing, but I didn't.  Our food was delicious again and we love following up lunch with some chocolate from the little shop they have as well.  I love the salted sea caramels while Jason favors the dark chocolate pecan turtles.  

Max fed Jason some sweet potato fries. 

This is us there last summer.

And this summer.  Both times we were on our way to go swimming. 

 I remember spending a lot of time coaxing our children to play in the water last year.  This year it was not a problem.  Ollie loved going down the kid slides and letting the big buckets dump water on him.  We also spent a lot of time in the big swimming pool where they boys practiced their swimming between Jason and I.  Jason went down the big yellow slide which takes you from top to bottom in 7 seconds.  I look forward to trying that next summer.

I got the boys to pose for this picture when we got there.  It was during one of the hourly 15 minute breaks they force everyone to take.

 We left after about 3 hours, but before our friends (they all have older kids).  We came home and cooked BBQ chicken, corn on the cob and baked beans.  I know I always take a picture like this when we are camping, but I love our little set up (notice the homey awning).  

That night since our kids didn't nap we bathed them and put them to bed.  The rest of the families were getting together for dutch oven desserts.  Since I don't have a dutch oven I made a peach raspberry crisp and brought it over.  I felt kind of bad not letting the kids stay up, but it is just better for everyone if they get their sleep.  Jason took a panoramic picture of everyone around the campfire that night.  Jamie's face got a little distorted.  

 Saturday morning we got up had breakfast and then went on a bike ride.  We stopped and played at a park and then rode our bikes around the little zoo they have there.  It has yaks, llamas, bison, reindeer, deer, and prairie dogs.

Silly boys having breakfast.

Playing in the sand.  I love that my boys have each other to play with.  They really are the best of friends.

Me and the boys with the reindeer behind us.

After the zoo, we rode to Storybook Land (the "zoo" is on the outside perimeter of SBL).

When you walk into SBL, you go under a big rainbow and then you can see the castle.  Inside the castle is where they have all the fun activities for kids.  It was a beautiful 75 degrees that day.

Max loved the lion drinking fountain.

We had a lot of fun with the fun house mirrors.

I got a picture of Ollie sitting with Humpty so I could compare it to the one I took last year.  I think I will do one each year.  Max wouldn't let us put him up there, he was afraid he would fall.

The boys were really cute in the cut outs.

Ollie running up to the three little pigs houses.  You can see the house built of straw, sticks and bricks. Jason found a SBL app for his phone.  It has videos of all the different stories/nursery rhymes.  He would watch a couple with the kids each night leading up to our trip.  It made it nice because the kids knew what they were looking at this year.  It was cute too because every once in a while we would hear Max chanting "Fee Fie Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman". 

I had to get a pic of Jason with the honey bear.

One of the main attractions at SBL is the "Land of Oz".  It is a whole area dedicated to the Wizard of Oz.

The boys and I with the characters.  Jason thought it appropriate for me to stand with the wicked witch :)

My munchkins in front of Munchkin land.

Following the yellow brick road.

There are three rides at SBL.  The train that goes around the park, the carousel and a little balloon ride.  The boys had fun on the carousel and the train, but we couldn't convince them to ride the balloon ride.  Ollie rode it last year but wouldn't think of it this year.

A family pic in front of Jack's beanstalk.

 We rode the train the day before when we were there, and we rode it again on our way out of the park.  My boys love riding little trains. 

That afternoon we went back to the camper, had lunch and took a big family nap.  It was awesome.  The campground also has miniature golf, go cars, bumper boats, a bungee/trampoline thing and a lake with a beach.  We told Ollie that we would do the go carts and he didn't forget.  He asked us all the time.  That afternoon we went over and Jason took each of the boys for a ride.  Something else I look forward to doing next summer.

Jason and Ollie.

Max waiting patiently for his turn.

Jason and Max.

Ollie waiting for daddy and Max.

We got in line for the bumper boats, but decided we didn't want to get wet and we didn't think the boys would love it that much.

We stopped at another park on our way back to camp, and then Ollie and I relaxed while Jason and Max went and got some firewood.   Ollie was cracking me up because he moved his little chair so that he could watch some other campers playing a bean bag toss game.  He was watching them so intently.

Our all American meal, pulled pork, coleslaw, corn on the cob and fruit salad (not pictured).  

My dad taught Ollie how to play war while they were here.  I love that Ollie likes to play games and I try to always be a willing participant when he asks to play.

Three of the six families who were camping left Saturday afternoon.  We made our reservations through Sunday and a few of the families decided to do the same.  That evening, since the boys had napped, we let them stay up and we built a fire and roasted marshmallows with the other two families.  I think my boys each ate like six marshmallows...yuck!  They had a great time playing duck duck goose and hide and seek with the other kids.  

Jason got this cute picture of Max with marshmallow all over his face.  Such a happy boy.  

Jason got as much of the camper ready as he could Saturday night.  We got up on Sunday and finished packing up.  Our goal was to leave by 8am to make it to our 10am church two hours away.  We left at 8:40, close enough :)  We were a little late to church, but I made it in time to help in nursery.  I took this picture of Max during nursery.  After our lesson we will usually read a couple of books.  The other two girls in class that day had lost interest and were playing, but Max sat on his little carpet, with his arms folded and listened to the story.  It was a precious little moment.  

It was a great weekend.  We packed a ton in.  It was fun for us to get to know some of the families in our branch better.  We can't wait for next summer to visit again.