Playing Hooky

Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!

Since we were out so late on Saturday night and the service we usually go to starts at 8:15 we decided the night before to let the kids sleep as late as they would and not worry about going at 8:15. We ended up decided to not go to church at all(it's ok ONCE in a while) and we made a trip to the Little Falls Zoo. It was SO NICE! It's not near as big as the zoo we go to in the cities every year(which we are still planning on going to this year) but it was WAY less crowded, which is nice. The kids really enjoyed the animals. Our favorites were the tiger and the bears. There were three bear exhibits and we were able to get very close to them, so that was cool. There was also a little petting zoo, which Tate and Callie loved. Hunter didn't want to touch them.




We had a picnic lunch at the park by the zoo and played on the playground...






We then went to the Charles Linbergh State Park and hiked on the trials. It was really pretty.







And after all that it was a pretty quiet ride home:

Fourth of July Fun!!

We really wanted a laid back, easy going fourth this year, so we opted out of the parade and fireworks. We instead had some friends over for a picnic lunch on our porch after we had a lazy morning together:


After naps all around we packed up and headed to our friend Nehemiah's second birthday party. We had a GREAT time! The kid's played in the pool and sprinkler and we ate a lot of food and did sparklers. Brent and Ben made their own "special" firework..*cough, piros*. Here are some pictures:

Trip to Iowa

I'm a little behind on my blogging. I have been busy, and Hunter has been taking a few naps lately, which he does in the room where the computer is, and since "quiet time" is my only real time to be able to blog(other than after they are in bed, but I've been too exhausted lately) I haven't been doing much of it. I'll start with our trip to Iowa. We went to go see my family on the last Thursday of June. We stopped at the Cabela's in Owatonna to show the boys the underwater aquarium and all the animals they have on exhibit there. They thought it was really fun. We had a pretty easy trip down, which was nice(unlike last years trip). We saw our friends from college. Their kids and our kids had fun hanging out...

We went to see my Gma in the nursing home, had supper with friends, did a little garage saling, Brent and I went for some snow biz and a nice walk and went to see my dad play a game of softball. To make it even more exciting there was a hot air balloon race going on, and we saw 25 or so hot air balloons go up over the ball park while we were watching the game. And my dad hit a home run!!! We had a really fun, relaxing time, as you can see by the next picture here:

The boys really loved playing with their cousin, Zane(I did, too!)

We're going somewhere!

So, stuff on the house has really taken off the last few days(only to probably be put on hold AGAIN tomorrow when we are expected to get 8-12 inches of stupid snow! GRR!) Brent was able to put in the window to our new dining room and we installed and put the first stain on our pantry. I LOVE the way the pantry is going to look and it will be SO NICE to have the extra storage. So, here are some pictures. They're out framing up the mudroom/laundry room addition as I type this! YAY!
The nice hole in our wall before the window was in:

Here is what they found as insulation around the window in our bedroom when they went to replace it on Friday. I think I'll wash it up and wear it to church;)
A pretty recent pic of the outside, except now all the siding is off and its all tar papered.
Temporary look of dining space:
Pre-pantry:
Installed:
After a coat of stain: We've got one more coat of stain to do and then some poly.

We had a birthday party for Matty and Callie this weekend, since Callie's was postponed earlier due to us having the flu. It was really neat to get all the cousins together. Here are some pictures from that:

I thought it was cute that Matty pushed Callie on the car:
And Gma Debbie and her grandkids:
I must brag some about my awesome and wonderful husband. There is NO ONE I'd rather be remodeling with than him. He is so patient and level headed, not to mention very talented and handy. I really appreciate all the hard work he has put into the house, not only now but since we've bought this place. He is so hardworking and I appreciate him very much!!! Thanks, baby!