VICTORY!

YES...YAY...HOORAY...YIPPEE! Kory has finally master the fine art of riding a two-wheel bike. As some of you may know, this is something that Kory has stubbornly refused to learn. Let me digress a little...Kory is our amazing little boy whom we love dearly...however you cannot talk this child into trying anything new....EVER! Learning to ride a bike has been a topic every spring/summer for the past 3 years. We tried everything to get him to try...bribbery...peer-pressure...you know all the tricks parents pull out in these moments. He would always respond with, "I don't want to right now, maybe when I am 5". (then it became 6...then 7)....AAAAAAHHHH! Anyway, two weeks ago he said he would try so off came the training wheels much to my delight. Well, a couple of crashes later and he was through and all my excitement and hope at the possibility of my youngest FINALLY riding a two-wheeler crumbled. So I collected myself and resolved not to scream or pull out my hair and just threw up my hands and thought, "surley he will learn by the time he graduates from high school?"

Well, one of the most gratifying days of this little boys life was Wednesday after soccer. We pulled in the driveway...Jason and I headed to check out landscaping and all of sudden we hear all of this shouting. We ran to the front to see Kory riding down the street...ALL BY HIMSELF! And his comment now was, "That was AWESOME! I had so much fun!" The best part...Kyle taught him (apparently he was the one that had the most patience!)

As with anything else, once Kory sets his mind to finally trying something, he has it mastered in a day! He went from nothing to hopping on his bike and flying down the street!

So onto new adventures with Kory Douglas :)

4th of July in Grand Forks, ND

We traveled to Grand Forks, North Dakota to Jason's dad's to celebrate the 4th. We left on Thursday, July 3 at 5:45 a.m. and arrived at around 3 p.m. (We had a hour break as we met a friend for breakfast in St. Cloud).

Jason has a younger brother and sister so the boys had a great time playing with them...here they are enjoying the waterslide!

Kory-man

Whoa!

Kelly bouncing through the air!

Kyle flying off the end

Christopher with a big bounce!

Jason's little sister, Kelly got a puppy, Sadie, this year. She is the cutest dog ever and posed quite well for this photo don't you think?!Here we are waiting for the fireworks to begin...this was at the beginning of the 2 hour wait!

Jason decided to take the kids and find ice cream; however, the returned with kettle corn and snow cones....lovely! Apparently the blue raspberry was the way to go!

The best photos I could get of the actual fireworks with my camera

We had a good time relaxing, eating wonderful food, taking in some movies and playing a few rounds of rummie.

We are now home and off to a busy a week! Soccer games, dentist appointments, grocery shopping...the list could go on forever. Enjoy your week and God bless!

Hawaii

Jason and I are now back from Hawaii and thoroughly enjoyed the 7 days away. We had so much fun exploring Maui. However, I think that they should just hang you upside down when you get of the plane and shake all your money out of your pockets.

A birthday celebration...the landscaping begins...and Memorial Day fun!

My friends Tina and Linda took me out for a birthday lunch...how nice of them! What a way to celebrate!

Our landscaping project has begun. We spent eight hours one Saturday cutting down, I think, 13 trees and loading up the trailer with the logs and brush. What an exhausting day. I believe we were all sleeping by 8 o'clock that night!



This was a huge pine tree we had on the side of our house. We hired a tree cutting service for this one!


This was what the trailer looked like when we were finished that day...whew!

Last week we had all of the stumps ground out...now our yard just looks like we had some ginormous moles overtake it!

The crews should be here in about 3 weeks to finish up the project. Yay! I am so excited to have plants to enjoy and a patio to sit on!

Memorial Day Fun!

Kory and a dog named, Ewok

Gunny Sack Races

On your mark, get set....GOOOOOO!

Enjoying the trampoline

Whew...got some air on that one!

Water balloon toss

A game of tug-of-war...Kyle's team one!

Finally relaxing at home after a long day of playing :)

As you can see, we have been keeping ourselves quite busy (which would explain the delay between posts!). Kyle's baseball keeps us hopping twice a week and once that is over Kory will begin soccer (which I will be coaching...yikes!). I hope all of you enjoyed your holiday weekend. Have a blessed week!

First baseball game

Last night was Kyle's first baseball game. It went from 60 degrees to about 45 degrees at game time. Hence the hoods and blankets. Oh don't forget the down jacket that I am wearing! About 1/2 an inning in the rain started!!!!!

If you're wondering why Jason looks silly, it's because he has a mouthful of peanuts!

Kyle did an amazing job last night. This is his first "up-at-bat". He started out this inning with a line drive between the 3rd baseman and shortstop for a single...yay!

Here he is waiting for the next hit...he made it all the way home for the first run of the game!!!!!

The rain started pouring down accompanied by lightening in the 3rd inning so the game was called for 15 minutes which turned into 30 minutes after which they decided to proceed. Only to have the game called again about one inning later! This time we waited for another 15 minutes and continued to play.

Kory and I warming up in the van

Kyle was up twice more during the game...got hits each time...thrown out at first, but made up for it with his last hit...Up-to-bat with one out with a runner on 1st the score 5/5. He hit a grounder between third base and shortstop. He got his first RBI to pull his team ahead by one. The ball was overthrown to 1st base so Kyle ran on to 2nd, where he stayed...the next two batters got the last two outs :( Bummer! The other team did manage to pull ahead, but only won by one!!!! Way to go, Lions!

He has his next game tonight, which was postponed from Monday due to rain and SNOW! However, I believe there is a good chance of it being cancelled again because the forecast is rain and thunderstorms all day...well for the next two days!

Looking forward to the weekend and spending time with friends! Kyle has a baseball clinic tomorrow morning and Jason will be with the youth group for the day cleaning up at Camp Forest Springs...I hope the weather will cooperate.

Have a great weekend!

What was I thinking?

I have been foolish enough to say "yes" to running a 5K race on June 1st. I said yes in hopes of getting into shape because the beaches of Hawaii are calling to Jason and I in June. Knowing myself as well as I do, I know that I need a goal (like a competition) to force me to exercise. Well, this week has begun my "training"...sit-ups everyday, lifting weights three days and then running the other three. Yesterday was the first day of running. Since I only have 6 weeks before this race I need to run 1.7 miles three times a week for the next two weeks and continue increasing the distance until I can successfully reach the 3 point whatever miles by June 1st. Yea....that's not going to happen! Seriously, what was I thinking...I have not so much as jogged any distance in years and I mean years (like high school), let alone exercise with any consistency! What makes me think I can just pick up running 3 miles in six weeks? I came to this realization shortly after I started and couldn't even make it to the next block before my chest felt like it was going to burst into pieces and my lungs were going to collapse. But because of my stubbornness I proceeded to just walk for a little bit and try running again...nope...I must succumb to the pain! So the remaining 1.25 miles I walked. By the time I reached my front door, my lungs had recovered but my shins were begging me to stop moving them. Shin splints hurt like a banshee! I don't think that running is in the cards for me. Jason has encouraged me not to give up, but in the end I would rather be able to walk than say I ran a 5K race. And I think that my family would also appreciate me being in a pleasant mood ;) I will let the beaches of Hawaii now be me goal and continue with my exercise routine but will walk the 1.5 miles instead of running! I have a greater respect and admiration for all of my friends that have competed in the Iron Man, triathlons, marathons and the like. Kudos to you my friends! But just know, this friend will not join the ranks with you as one who has completed such things!

Happy Easter!

Our Easter Sunday began with waking early to get the pork loin stuffed and ready to go (well Jason did that) and getting everyone showered and dressed in their Sunday best so we could get to church on time for breakfast. Due to hair issues we arrived at church at 8:35 and by the time we got through the breakfast line, we had about 10 minutes to slam down some scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage and OJ. Remarkably we did it and made into the service with 5 minutes to spare! The service was wonderful. Our church doesn't often sing hymns, but there's something wonderful about Easter and singing the good 'ol favorites.

We got home from church around 10:45 and Jason began cooking the most AMAZING meal ever! I can only take credit for picking out the recipe, he was the master at cooking it...pork loin stuffed with hazelnut stuffing with a wild blueberry sauce, sweet potatoes and veggies in Alfredo sauce (I actually made those). Our dear friends, Paul and Linda, joined us for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon with us. It was wonderful to be able to spend the day with them.

We took advantage of having them here to take a family picture. Jason's earlier attempt at it left us with a picture of chopped off heads and chins. I gave us a great laugh though! I guess his arms aren't as long as we thought...hee, hee, hee!

The Family Shot

Paul & Linda with the boys
For dessert Linda thought it would be fun for the boys to make bunny cakes so she came prepared with the directions and all of the fixin's. They had a blast. Here's some shots of their little projects...

Kory & Paul's Bunny

Kyle & Linda's Bunny

The finished products!

All-in-all we had a wonderful Easter celebrating our Savior's death, burial and resurrection. What joy we have in the gift of salvation God gave to us through the death of His son!

This week is the boys' spring break so we have been hanging out here at the house. They have put in many hours of PS2 already. Today we joined Jason at his office for lunch and then made the dreaded trip to Wal-Mart for a few groceries...ugh...I hate Wal-Mart, but it's just too convenient! The boys were happy as they were able to spend some of their money on a Star Wars Lego ship and some other Star Wars ship. It's kept them entertained (and off of all electronic devices) for 4 hours so far!

Tomorrow Kory is going over to a friend's house for a couple of hours. On Thursday, Jason and Kyle are taking off for South Dakota for pheasant hunting. (I personally think they are crazy!) Their plans are to be gone Thursday through late Saturday. I'm thinking that it will most likely be Sunday before Kory and I see their faces again. It's a pretty long haul from here to South Dakota! Hopefully they will be rewarded with many pheasants to bring home! Kory and I will keep up the homestead while they are away. We plan to go bowling with another one of Kory's friends on Thursday afternoon. Friday and Saturday's plans are still up in the air, but I'm sure we'll find something to do to make the time go by faster.

I hope you all had a blessed Easter. Have a great week!