A simple photo shoot

Yesterday was a gorgeous day so I decided to bring my amateur photographer self out in our backyard to take some photos of me and the boys...so here the best of them! (Seriously, Nichole where are you when I need you?! I miss your "eye".)

One sunny summer day....

The boys decided one day last week to pull out the blankets and the portable DVD player, grab a snack (bananas and yogurt) and head outside to watch a movie. AND...of course, it had to be in the front yard where everyone will drive by and wonder what they are looking at under that pillow!

Where has the summer gone?

I apologize for being sparse in my posts. This summer has been crazy busy and I have had barley enough time to sleep. So what's been going on? The biggest project has been helping my friend with her wedding planning. And, on August 2nd, all of the hard work and effort paid off...the wedding was beautiful. Mixed in between the wedding planning has been landscaping, soccer games, a trip to Grandma's and Grandpa's and most recently a visit from my sister and her family. So here's a view photos of our crazy summer...

Landscaping before...

Landscaping after

SOCCER

While my sister was here, we took the kids to Clay Corner Studio. It's a place where you pick out a piece of pottery and paint it...so here they are hard at work...

Kyle

Kory

Brian

Blaine

Kayla

The time with them is always too short, but the kids certainly made the most of it...riding bikes, shooting marshmallows with their marshmallow shooters, playing PS2 and Wii, catching frogs and toads...the list could go on forever! I don't think they sat still the whole time, except while eating and that was questionable at times!

My mom so enjoys spending time with all of her grandchildren together. Here she is with the whole crew...

(L to R - Blaine 10 1/2, Kyle 10 1/2, Kayla, 13, Grandma, Kory, 6 1/2 & Brian, 9)

It's always a must when Tara and I are together that we take a "sisters" photo. It's fun to look back to each year and see how we've changed...probably won't enjoy that much when we are old and wrinkled :)

Mom and her girls

Now everyone is gone and the house is "quiet". We have about 3 1/2 weeks left before the new school year starts. I think we will try and make the most of what's left and do a few things just as a family.

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!