Happy 13th Birthday Ashlynne!

Well our youngest girl turns 13 tomorrow! It is amazing how quickly they all grow up. So, it is official all the girls are teenagers now...but it isn't new to us because they have all been acting like teenager girls for quite some time now. :)

So, we are going to attempt to go to the beach tomorrow (weather permitting) to celebrate her birthday. Hopefully things will work out so she can have a great birthday tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Ashlynne. We all love you so much!! Here's a picture of the birthday girl....what a cutie.

Too Funny!

Now this is funny! Mouths wide open!


This trail that you see behind Ian and Thumper is the hiking trail throughout the city and neighborhoods. It is so beautiful here. We are loving it!

Our neighborhood

The scenery here is beautiful. There is a lake right by our house and the beach all within walking distance....down a trail. So, I thought I would post a couple pictures of the water. I'll have to bring my camera when I get out so I can take more pictures. Here are two that Ashlynne attempted to take while we were leaving our neighborhood (I was driving so she did the best she could). We will try to get some better ones later. Enjoy....

Thanks for the Prayers and Concerns

For those of you who have not heard, my father and step-mother were in a bad motorcycle accident. Both were sent to the hospital. My step-mom broke her wrist and ankle and my dad was in pretty bad shape so he was in ICU for awhile. After hearing that Dad broke 4 ribs, punctured his lung, cut his liver, had a hole in his face, another hole in his knee, 4 broken teeth and a scratched up face from the nose down, it was very sad news for us to hear, especially after thinking that since we moved closer to Dad (only 4 hours away), I was now going to be able to get to know my father better...something I had always wanted.

So, to give everyone an update, Dad is now out of the hospital. In fact, he was out of the ICU and then hospital much sooner than anyone had anticipated. Dad is doing great. He has had so much improvement and I'm so happy to report that all those prayers and concerns for him have paid off. Thank you all for being so sweet and supportive of us through this time. We are so grateful to have our friends and family who are there for us when we need them.

Now if only we could get Dad feeling better to be able to go to the Packer/Viking game in October! It would be fun to have both our fathers, Jason & my Uncle Scott at that game. Would our families be able to make it through such a game?? Now that would be fun to see!

Playing Guitar

I meant to post this picture before we moved. It is of Daddy and Ian playing guitar together. Which reminds me, one thing that I loved when Evan came to visit us for awhile is when I would sit in the computer room to work on school work (usually writing a paper) and Evan would come hang out and practice on his guitar. It was so peaceful. I also enjoyed it when both Justin and Evan would play together. It was so relaxing hearing them play..... So here is Ian trying to copy Daddy and big brother.

Congrats Val & Ash!

Congrats to Valerie & Ashlynne. They tried out for the soccer team this year for school and made it. They got accepted to play on the Freshmen Team at Osseo Senior High. I know, they are in Junior High, but here they do things differently and the 7-9 graders play with the high schoolers. So, congrats to our two very happy girls! Good job girls. We are very proud of you!!

We will post more later with pictures so you can see them in their uniforms and I'll even try a video once they begin playing games.

And Thumper makes 7!

We have just recently added a new addition to our family. His name is Thumper and he has made Ashlynne, Valerie & Ian the happiest kids in the world. He is a 6-week old retriever/beagle mix. The girls are smiling ear to ear and Ian is already very possessive. He keeps saying, "my dumper" and "come on honey". It is adorable. Anyway....here are a few pictures of baby Thumper.... By the way, I can't get the picture of the girls with Thumper to appear straight even though it shows up straight when I upload it.

New Home

I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of our new home since everyone is asking. Things are hectic and I have Ian running around in the background so I'll have to blog in more detail later. Enjoy....

Partial front view - sun got in the way....

Side View

Down our street

Our Deck - in need of furniture :)

Our ground patio

Our living room with lots of windows

Kitchen (that is in need of updated cabinets in my opinion)

Our sink that I absolutely love! :)

Kitchen desk area with intercom system (which is handy at times)

Basement to the girls rooms & game area

Our laundry room - its nice to have an actual room!

So that is just a few of the pictures for now. I will blog more later. Have a great day!