Garage Sale... Rain or Shine

My friend asked if I wanted to put some stuff in a garage sale she was having. I said "Oh... that's okay! We don't have much to get rid of!" HA! 5 boxes later, our house feels a little tidier! (And mind you... we clear out unused stuff on at LEAST a monthly basis!)
On the day of our garage sale it was not only raining like crazy, it was freezing cold! Surprisingly, that didn't stop the die hards! We still had quite a good turn out... though we may have had crankier children (and moms!) perhaps.
Overall we had fun, got to "visit with a cause", made some money, and made some people's day in the process!



Here's Larren... bundled away!

The kids enjoyed playing outside, despite the cold!

Look at that bum... gracious!

Rainy Day Fun

We've had a number of days, all in a row, filled with rain. So... out comes the Play Doh!






Yes... Alia's still in her pajama's. And it's 3 pm in the afternoon. Don't worry, we changed her into her clothes before Daddy got home! :) That's what rainy days are all about, right? Right?!?

Bring On Summer!!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was so sweet this year (not that it wasn't last year!). I had worship practice early in the morning (before the rest of the crew was awake!) and when I returned home before church, there was breakfast waiting for me! Not to mention a pretty little girl, all dressed up, ready to say "Appy Mudder's Ay" at the drop of a hat! On the table was a couple of gifts... a wireless router (I'd been asking for one for awhile!) from Jonathan, and a spa gift card from the girls! And... I got to play mandolin for EVERY single song during worship that morning... it was the icing on the cake!! Jon BBQ'd when we got home from church and we all enjoyed good long naps in the afternoon... it was wonderful!

Back to Work... For Now

Whelp... Jon's paternity leave FLEW by. We both thought he would be bored out of his mind, and chomping at the bit to go back to work, after being home for 10 weeks... but, not so! Jon stayed quite busy, was a HUGE help, and deepened his relationship with each of his three girls! We absolutely LOVED (I repeat... LOVED!) having him home!
On the last day of his leave we decided to go to a nearby dinosaur museum. We've talked of going for years, and decided now was as good a time as any! It was surprisingly interesting and we ended up staying a lot longer than I thought we would! But now, as I look back at the pictures... I realize just how "odd" it really is!

A miniature version of whatever this thing was, way back when...


The summer staff has just been hired, so we had our own personal tour guide group! (There were like 10 of them!) And that big guy there is "Bruce"... he was found a mile or two from our house.


Our little family here, beside our "buddy"...




Since we had the WHOLE place to ourselves, Alia could "dig for fossils" undisturbed!


After our fossil adventure we all went out for Alia's favorite... Dairy Queen! "Frews Fwies and Chechup" are a definite treat for her! Not to mention hot fudge sundaes... :)

Lare Bear Galore

We have been SO SO blessed to have children who learn to sleep through the night at an early age! This girl definitely likes her sleep... and that makes mommy (and daddy) very happy!!

I love this pic... it makes me smile every time I see it!

Utter focus... :)

We put up the mobile for Larren the other day, and she loves it! She'll sing to it, move her arms to try and catch the butterflies, and be amazed for minutes on end... while all three of us (Alia included!) just stand there and tell her how cute she is!

There's never a shortage of toys for Larren to play with. If she makes even the slightest peep that would indicate she's bored, then Alia brings her a new one in a swift hurry!


Oh my gracious, I'm glad we have two girls! I so much enjoy having two little loves around!

We're Wireless

Call us old school... but we're finally wireless! We've had a laptop for years, but just never got a router. We got a new and improved laptop at Christmas, and I've been hinting how fun it would be to check e-mail on the porch swing, skype anywhere in the house, listen to sermons in the kitchen, and watch Corner Gas in our bedroom.
Now... it's reality, and I'm having a lot of fun!

Big Girl Bed

Alia has moved into her "big bed" for nap time, but she's not so sure about it for nights yet! We made a big HURRAH about washing her brand new bedding and sheets, putting it on her bed, and about her sleeping in it for the first time! She keeps asking when Larren can sleep in her room, so I think that's pretty good motivation for her to move to the twin bed on it's own. She doesn't even need my cheer leading abilities!
But, I'll be honest with you... I'm not quite ready for either girl to "move up" yet, so I'm not going to push this by any means!!

The girls hanging out together one morning...



Yeah... don't ask! I'm hoping this isn't a new habit!!!

Our View...

... before a storm!

Girls Night

The other night a couple of friends and I got together for a Pioneer Woman Girls Night! We made some of her tasty recipes, and called it a celebration! The menu consisted of: Tomato Pesto Pizza, Olive Cheese Bread, Lettuce Wedges with Ranch dressing, and Chocolate Truffles... among other things. It was fun to try out new recipes and have an excuse to get out of the house for the evening! The rule was no kids... with the exception of snugly little babies, so Larren joined the event!
Somewhere along the way we started talking about baby wraps, and Jen and I decided we needed to try one on to see if we liked them! It's a good thing Larren came... she ended up being our live demo doll!

As you can see, it was quite entertaining! (I should have been focusing on Jen... she's the one who could hardly keep from laughing!!!)

Larren's in, safe and sound! But mind you... Jen is 7 months pregnant here, so there's already a baby in the spot where Larren's "supposed" to be!!

Larren doesn't seem to concerned! She enjoyed relaxing and taking in all the smiles coming her way!

Hold #2... again, Larren doesn't have a care in the world! (There's a HUGE TV on the wall that she watched the whole time!)



Snugly wuggly... although she's a tad disappointed she doesn't get to watch HGTV anymore!!


So... both Jen and I have decided to get a "Sleepy Wrap!" I'm pretty excited to try it out when the weather gets nice! I just need to practice my wraps... boy, Larren will have seen this so many times she'll be doing it by herself pretty soon! :)

Larren's First Big Ride

Around here our girls learn to "drive" young. It's just part of having Jonathan as a father!

"I'm supposed to do what, Daddy?!"


She had an "oops" moment... but recovered quickly and was zooming down the hallway in no time!

My Man

I've said it before, and I'll say it until I'm old and gray... apart from Christ's love, Jon is the best thing that has ever happened to me!!

I can't even begin to tell you how much this man amazes me! What I did to deserve his love... I'll never know! But I have no idea what I would do without him!

Nikon D90 / Fargo

I have already posted quite a few pics taken with my new camera... and I'm hoping you can tell which ones those are!! At any rate... I have really been enjoying it!
We picked up my new Nikon D90 on our way down to Fargo, and played around with it a bit over the weekend!
And what a great weekend it was! The hospitality was, once again, amazing and we got lots of visiting in! We're REALLY looking forward to having Aaron and Charm live a bit closer, but will miss our ND adventures with them! Those adventures have gone back to our pre-married days... my, what fun and crazy times we've had! Why would anybody drink when you can have so much fun sober? I'll never know!

My FIRST pic taken with my new camera!

Aaron loves old pop products, so there's lots of great memorabilia through out their place.




Aaron and Charm love, love, love the girls... and what a HUGE blessing it is to see them be a part of their lives!


We had fun helping Aaron and Charm pick out building supplies and some of their house "goodies"! They are building a new shop/apartment at their farm. It will be a temporary place to live until they build their forever house in a few years!

These were our final tin color choices.

Our littlest love enjoying her first visit to the States!



We didn't do all that much shopping (so I thought!) but goodness, on the way home were we ever crammed for space! We even had the hitch rack plus weatherproof bag on the back, and still we were looking for every inch possible! Larren is a little skeptical that we'll get everything in!

But we made did, with room to spare! Alia sat in the 3rd row and it worked out so, so nice for traveling!

Larren and I took up residence in the 2nd row and rode quite comfortably!

We're so glad we were able to spend time down in the "High Plains!" Thanks again for the lovely hospitality Aaron and Charm! Can't wait to hang out more on this side of the border!