Off to the lake!

My friend Melissa invited us to a cabin on Lake Vermillion last week. Her neighbor owns a resort (Pherson Resort) and had invited her to come up for the week. Her husband was out of town and there was plenty of room and so the kids and I went up for a few nights! It's lucky to be the friend of someone with connections!

This was the view from the front porch...

And the view from the dock...looking back at the cabin...

Andrew and Clay had a great time buddying around for the couple of days.

Ava was in heaven to have a swing set right in front of the cabin on the way to the beach. She was either on the swing set or in the sand almost the entire time.

Zach was so cute fishing. When we got there the first night, Melissa's kids were ready to fish and my kids were right on board! Zach dropped his line into the water and within 5 seconds there was a fish on his hook. He was so excited and cute! They were calling these little fish "Baby Boo-Boos". They would put them in a bucket of water for a little bit and then put them back. They caught quite a few "Baby Boo-Boos" over the couple of days!

I think this was the biggest fish that was caught. Ava was holding the pole and Clay helped her get it in. A combined effort!

More "Baby Boo-Boos"...

I love this picture! I asked Andrew to pretend to kiss the fish and he looked at me like I was so strange. Is he just figuring that out?? I love that he did it anyway and got that it would at least be funny to me!

Here they all are...the little fishers!

That night the lake was so beautiful. This is the stuff postcards are made of!

That will be 35 cents please...or 2 for 50 cents!

The kids were back out fishing the next morning and the little duck families were out in full force. We saw 3 different families of ducks, but this one had the most ducklings.

Okay, I have never seen these aqua bikes before. They are a really cool water toy. Andrew and Clay were in hog heaven peddling these around the lake.

There goes my little biker!

We also had a chance to visit one of the bear sanctuaries that is nearby. One of my other friends always talks about this place and so when Melissa mentioned it, I was game for going even though it was about a half hour away. When you get to the sanctuary, you are walking though on a raised boardwalk. The bears are in the wild...no gates or cages. It's a really neat way to see them (while still being safe)! This is a mom with a few of her cubs. They are about 6 months old.

Zach and Ava give me their best bear growls!

This bear was just chillin' out right beside the walkway. He (or she) was probably only about 10 feet away from us with nothing between us. It really was amazing!

You can't get this close at the zoo!

Here are the kids...with the bear in the back ground!

We had a great time and we all really needed the break. We were pretty off the grid out there and so that was nice too...at least for a few days! Thanks Melissa (and neighbors) for an awesome experience at a beautiful resort!!!

6 years and 1 week

Our little Z-diddly is now 6 (and 1 week)! We were scheduled to have a big party at the beach with a bunch of his friend's families, but the weather didn't cooperate and so the night before, we made the change to have the party at our house. We were very full, but it was a wonderful time! We had dinner, the kids played, there was some karaoke happening in the family room and of course there was cake (cupcakes this time)!

Zach specifically requested white cake with white frosting...so of course that is what I made, but I also did a chocolate cake with white frosting too. We had lots of cupcakes to go around, but somehow managed to get most of them eaten!

Afterwards Zach opened his presents. He got everything from the Pig game, and a butterfly garden to some type of transformer guy and movie tickets...he made out like a bandit and couldn't have been happier! He's really excited to go and spend his "credit card" (gift card) that he got too!

I hope all of his little dreams come true...we love our little guy. Happy Birthday Zach!!

Seriously!

My heart may burst from the cuteness!

Grandma's Marathon 2010

Today was Grandma's marathon and we had a great day! Every year my friend Elsie organizes a large group to help at mile 22. It is so much fun to be out there and volunteer...we go as the whole family and even Ava has fun! This year I got to help at the Elite table to set out the special water bottles for the Elite runners who are able to set up their specific drinks before the race. I think it's probably about the top 100 racers who have the chance, but only about 20 of them choose to do it. It was really exciting to be watching all of the top runners, checking for their numbers and then getting their drinks out in time for them to pick them up as they sprinted by. They really are amazing athletes!

This race was extra special because my friend Melissa and her sister-in-law Laurie came into town yesterday and stayed with us. Melissa and I were in Young Women's in the Draper ward together and it was so much fun to have her here!

When Laurie ran past the 22 mile marker, then Melissa and I got to our car as fast as we could, drove downtown and literally ran into Canal Park to get to the finish line and see Laurie cross (we only made it by about 3 minutes)!! It was really exciting to be there and Laurie had a great race and met her goal of qualifying for the Boston marathon.

After the race we came back home, Laurie got ready and then we went and did a little shopping and went to our favorite restaurant. We got to visit for a few hours and then they drove back to the cities...the Mall of America was calling their name...as a shopper, how can you not stop there when you are in Minnesota??

It was a great visit, a great and exciting race and always, always, always wonderful to spend time with friends!

I wish this is where money really came from!

Especially since I just sent back another $60 movie from Netflix. What is our problem?? We love movies, I watch t.v. every day, but for some reason we never seem to find the time to sit down together and watch a movie. I don't know if it is all the travel that has been happening...the fact that by the time the kids are in bed it seems late to start a movie...who knows??

Anyway, I should have done it months ago, but I finally cancelled our Netflix membership and sent the movie back today (unwatched)! I think we'll be a much better Red Box couple! Now where can I find one of these trees?

Anybody want a muffin??

While we were on the cruise, we got hooked to these great bran muffins. Royal Caribbean is really good about getting you recipes for their food, but we couldn't seem to get the muffin recipe. We finally found out that it was because it was a mix and not from scratch. Unfortunately they couldn't tell us who made the mix and so we went home without knowing we could duplicate that breakfast treat.

Like a woman obsessed, I searched for any information about the muffins and found a blog where someone mentioned that the mix comes from a company called Abel and Schafer. I called the company with no success...but, if at first you don't succeed...you get the idea. When I called back later, I found a guy who agreed to do what I asked - which was to pull a Royal Caribbean invoice and tell me which muffin mix they ordered (he knew they ordered quite a few different things). He called me back a few hours later and we were in business!

I don't know if it is unfortunate or comical or what, but the mix only comes in 50 lb. bags!! So...I ordered one anyway...after all, what is my food saver for?? Even though I knew it would be a big bag, I was still a little surprised at just HOW big!

Here are a bunch of the food savered bags of mix. I did them in 2 lb. pouches! Muffin anyone?

School's OUT!!!

Last week was the final week of school...and that kept me busy!! I had 3 root beer float parties to do (for the classes with the most runners at the Cougar Chase), both class parties to throw, both teacher gifts, a field trip to attend and I helped Andrew's teacher re-organize her room (for 7 hours). Needless to say, the boys aren't the only ones who were glad to see the last day of school!

When I made a plate earlier in the year for a student teacher who was leaving, Zach's teacher, Mrs. John, asked me to make her one at the end of the year. I would have to admit that I loved how easy that made it to come up with a teacher gift you knew she would like! This was the finished product...fruit, chocolates and all!

Here is the back with all of the kids' names in the order they are on the plate...

And this is the front...she also thought a bell would be nice in the middle (I did an apple for the student teacher, but Mrs. John uses a bell in her class and really wanted that).

Zach's class did a Teddy Bear picnic for the last party. They invited parents and sang songs, had a picnic and the Teddy Bear made an appearance!

Here's the whole class.

Andrew's class went to Chester Park and we did a BBQ, hiked, played on the playground and by the river and had a great time.

We were very blessed this year and had two wonderful teachers and both boys had a great year. It was worth all of the work that was put in by everybody.

2 more Cougar Chase pictures

Here are a few pictures from the race that my friend sent to me...I love these!

My cute, cute boys!

The Congdon Cougar Chase

The Congdon Cougar Chase was this past Saturday and everything went great! Zach ran the 1K and Andrew and Greg ran the 5K. The boys did such an awesome job and I felt really proud to watch them cross the finish line in happy spirits and having run their best.

Here is Andrew with Dillon and Jack. These boys took 1st, 2nd and 3rd - Jack 1st, Dillon 2nd and Andrew 3rd. I was really excited for Andrew.

I finished distributing the t-shirts today and now all I have left to do with the race is to get the supplies for the root beer float parties to the classes that won them. Andrew and Zach's class both won parties...I swear it wasn't rigged! Andrew's class had 12 runners and Zach's had 11! We are doing parties for the top 3 classes.

All of us on the race committee couldn't be happier with how things went. We had 204 runners (up from the mid 70's last year) and we netted $4600 (vs. $800 last year). It was well worth the effort and I'm excited for the money we raised for the school...but I'm also excited that there is a check mark in the "to do" box of the race!

Bluebells

It seems like everywhere I look there are bluebells blooming. This is on the side of the road...just on a little hill...I don't even know if it is really anyone's property or if it is just city land. I asked Greg to stop yesterday on the way home from church because I thought it was so pretty!

Ava was totally mesmerized with the flowers and everyone thought they smelled wonderful!

She picked a few to bring home and has been adoring them ever since...I really do love this time of year!

Surprise!!!

For almost all of us, the day before company comes is a day to dust, scrub toilets, vacuum, grocery shop, etc. I'm no exception to that rule. So, imagine my surprise when in the middle of cleaning the house, the doorbell rings and it is my company...1 day early. Surprise!!!

I don't know how it happened, but my aunt and uncle and cousins came into town a day before the day I had written on the calendar. I answered the door in my cleaning clothes, no makeup, hair crazy, with a dust rag in hand!

Luckily, I started in their rooms and so they were ready and the house is never too bad...just dusty...and so besides my appearance, there wasn't really anything to be mortified about. I called and canceled two meetings and one game and then called my friends (and my uncle's niece on his side) to try to rearrange the picnic we had scheduled for the next night - ahhhhh!

It all worked out in the end. We went down to Canal Park and walked around, ate dinner out (no shopping had been done for the picnic yet), picked up Dairy Queen, met Cindy and her family at Enger Tower and had dessert while watching the sun set and the city lights come on. We stayed and talked until it was so dark we couldn't see our kids running around and then headed home. Doug and Gary went to bed right away, but I stayed up with the girls...Pam and I ended up talking until about 2 in the morning! They got up the next morning, had breakfast, figured out a plan for their afternoon and were gone by about 11:30...a short 5 1/2 hours before I was expecting them!