Florida Trip 2008

WOW! What a great trip! We spent Christmas in Florida this year. Rory's parents rented a house and the whole family came down. Rory and I went down three days earlier and took Parker and Jordan (Rory's oldest niece) and stayed at the Nickelodeon Hotel. It was crazy! The whole hotel is geared toward kids so it was pretty wild all the time. While we were there Parker got picked twice to do two game shows. The first one Rory was his partner and they did a version of the Newlywed show, only this one was how well you knew you child. They did pretty well, they came in second. The next day Parker was picked to do a pool side game show. His team won and they all got slimmed!!! Then at 4:30 everyday they dumped a huge bucket of slime on everyone, Parker and Jordan had so much fun.


We spent my 33rd birthday at Walt Disney World. The park was CRAZY! It was so crowded. We had no idea that the Christmas season was their busiest time of the year. We still had fun. We had great seats for the parade and we even got to see the lighting of Cinderellas castle, which was amazing, after the parade they even made it snow. I don't think we ever figured out what they made the snow out of, I guess it was the magic of Disney :).



Here is a picture of our Florida Christmas tree. Uncle Larry threw some lights on it and a few balls and walla.... a beautiful Christmas tree. We did the traditional matching pj's. This year both Jordan and Parker got the same pj's as the adults. Parker was pretty excited about that.

Max, Brody, and Jack in their pj's.

Our trip to Florida was our Christmas, but Santa still found us. Here is Max opening his present from Santa. He loves his talking Elmo.



On Christmas day we went to Sea World. It was such a nice day when we got there but a quick rain storm left everyone soaked. I loved Sea World! It was amazing! I can't get over the shows. The dolphins and wales were awesome!!! I can't even put into words how neat the shows were. We saw Shamu too, Parker and I sat in the splash zone so we got soaked! It was a fun way to celebrate Christmas!



One of Parker's Christmas presents were tickets to see Blue Man Group. That show was out of this world! Parker has been wanting to see them for years now so it was so nice to be able to take him. Parker even got to meet one of members afterward. He asked for an autograph and the guy rubbed his head and touched Parker on the cheek, Parker didn't was his face for two days!

We had a great vacation. On the day we left Florida it was 84 degrees. When we touched down in Minneapolis it was 11 degrees. It was a bit of a jolt but still it is nice to be home:).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RORY ! # 30

Rory turned 30 today. I think the best present he received was not speaking in church. He was scheduled to speak today and was up most of the night preparing for his talk, a storm blew in early this morning and church was canceled! Crazy! So we spent most of his B-day watching movies and football. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY RORY! You are the greatest!

Max enjoying his Dad's Birthday cupcake.

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit.

My parents came to Minnesota for a few days. It was so nice to have them here. My Mom is such a big help. She helped me with my Christmas baking, Christmas crafts, and she watched the boys while Rory and I went on a DATE!! It was so nice to go out with Rory. However, I did make him go see Twilight, which he wasn't excited about, but we had a good time together. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad, it was great!!

Max loved just sitting with my Dad. I think Max took a nap on my Dad

every day they were here.

They both were annoyed by my picture taking.

Our Christmas Candy Bar Train.

Don't ask me how I did it, maybe it was a Christmas miracle, but I got my Dad to go into the Mall of America. It was fun to see his reaction to the amusement park in the mall. I don't think he would say it out loud, but I think he had fun :).

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

Jordan and I made these candy turkey's for Thanksgiving dinner. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Halloween 2008

Our cute Little Spider.




"Bucket of Slime" Originally, Parker was going to be a Ghost Buster but the costume was back ordered. I had to look through the Internet to find a quick costume. This is what we came up with. It was fun but most people thought he was "barf" which he wasn't happy with. Oh well... we tried:)

Nelson's Farm

We spent Saturday at a place called Nelson's Farm. They had a lot to see and do. We went through a corn maze, picked pumpkins, went on hayrides, and played with farm animals. It was so much fun, I can't wait to do it again next year!

Big Woods TRAIL Run!

Saturday I ran the Big Woods 1/2 Marathon Trail run in Fairbault, MN. After completing the Grandma's Marathon in June, I wanted to have another race to prepare for to keep me running through the summer. Well...I found this race. I thought it would be a lot of fun, I would be running through paved running paths in the middle of a state park, I thought "this will be beautiful, after all it will be at the height of the fall colors and the air will be clean and crisp...perfect!" Well... I needed to read the fine print, this was a TRAIL run.
When Rory and I drove up to the site we saw cones heading off into the woods. Rory said, "will you be running on a trail?" I said, "I don't think so, who would run 13 miles on rocks and gravel". I thought maybe for a little way we would be on a trail but they wouldn't make us run the whole race on trails. I was wrong! 13 miles of rocks, dirt, tree roots, and leaves covering the trail. It was insane!!! The first few miles were beautiful, tall trees everywhere, when the wind would hit, the leaves would fall down like rain, I know a little corny but true, it really was beautiful, until I hit the first hill. I didn't think they had mountains in Minnesota, well at this state park they did, and they managed to put us on each one. On the last hill I just looked at it and said, "you've got to be kidding me!" The lady behind me said, "well it is a trail run". Secretly I hoped she would trip on tree root or something, but instead she blazed by me. Anyway, I have never ran in a race where I thought I would come in dead last, but this one I was close. In fact, when I finally made it out of the woods a sheriff ,who was directing the traffic, asked if I was the last one. I told him no! there were 100 people behind me. Really there were 35 people behind me. I finished 304 out of 340 people who ran the 1/2 marathon. They had other races going on that day too, you could do a 5K, 10K, or a half marathon, so they had about 1000 people running the Big Wood Trail Run.
I am glad I did it. However, I hurt more after this race than any marathon I have run, but I do love that runners high I get after a race, so I will keep running. I just have to find more races.

Happy Fall Y'all

I took Max to the apple orchard with his playgroup today. He had so much fun! There was a lot for him to see and do, from a boat filled with corn, to a little black and white kitten, he was moving everywhere. We took some of the kids on a wagon ride through the apple orchard and pumpkin patch. It was so cute to see Max's expression, he was so excited about the pumpkins, he tried to pick each one up. I was only planing to stay for an hour, but with all there is to do I stayed a little longer than I had planed . We had such a great time with everyone!

Husband Hunkorama of the Century Tag!

Well...my wonderful sister-in-law Kelli was tagged with this great tag, she tags me for everything but forgot this one. HUMMM... I wonder why? Could it be that I never do the tags :(. Sorry Kelli, I do have good intention to do them but never get around to it. Anyway, I thought this was so cute I wanted to butt in on this one. What a great tag! So here goes!

1. Where did you meet your husband? We met once in December of 2002 at my work and then again in August of 2003 playing on a softball team together.

2. How long did you date before you married? 2 years, then we were engaged for5 months.

3. How long have you been married? 2 whole years!! I can't wait to celebrate the big ones with him... 10, 25, 50!!! :) So exciting!

4. What does he do that surprises you? He is so protective of me and our little family, not weird protective but he just wants to make sure we are always taken care of.

5. What is his favorite feature? I LOVE his dimples when he smiles!

6. What is his favorite quality? He lights up a room when he walks in, he just has a light that shines through and around him.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Well...he calls me Dear, I know... totally old fashioned, but I get butterflies in my stomach when he says it. :)

8. What is his favorite food? Anything with potatoes, he is just like my brothers, just likes all food in general!

9. What is his favorite sport? Football, that is what our weekend revolves around.

10. When & where was your first kiss? We kissed about a month after our first date, and we kissed at my apartment. I remember telling my brother Roger about it and he said don't mess with that poor boys feelings.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Just being together. We spend a lot of time doing water sports together in the summer... oh yea, and we drive bus together! I know, I know just living the dream, livin the dream! :)

12. Do you have any children? yes, 2 boys! Parker is his stepson and we have little Max together.

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He is a great dancer!!! He tries to be funny, but he really has some good rhythm down.

14. How old is he? 29 but I tell people he is 35:)

15. Who said I love you first? Well, he kept asking for a couple a weeks how I felt about him and I was a little nervous to say anything, but one night he asked again and I said ,timidly, well I feel like I am falling in love with him and then he said "well I know I am in love with you !" I was not expecting that strong of an answer. He is so great!

16. What is his favorite music? Well, he likes all kinds of music, sometimes he will listen to country and sometimes I catch him watching BET. From what I have heard he was really into Rap when he was in high school. I'm not sure if he will appreciate me telling everyone that, but Oh well. ;)

17. What do you admire most about him? He is just kind to everyone, everyone loves to be around him. He is so funny too, he always makes sure everyone is having a good time.

18. What is his favorite color? Blue

19. Will he read this? If say something to him .

20. Who do you tag? Tasha, Trisha, Casey, Jodi, Michelle, and Shannon

Twins Game

We went to a Twins game a couple of weeks ago, what a great time! As you can see from some of the pictures it wasn't a sell out game, so we pretty much sat where we wanted to. Max did so well, he clapped when everyone else did and even tried to sing at the 7 inning stretch. I love living in a state where all three pro sports are represented, so far we have made it to a few Twins games and one Timber Wolves game (they were playing the Jazz :)) Anyway, the only team we need to see play in the Metro Dome is the Vikings. Rory says when they get a little better he will grace them with his presents ;).

Labor Day 2008

Who's that sexy guy on the jet ski? That's right...its Rory, showing off on Labor Day! Parker, Rory, and Papa played on the lake for most of the holiday weekend. It was really hot, but unfortunately really windy, we tried to take the jet boat out a couple of times but we got tossed around like rag dolls. That didn't matter... we still had an incredible time. What a great way to close out the summer.

1 yr old Pictures

helping little hands.

My mom loves to have the Grandkids help her do things, I walked into the kitchen one morning to find Max helping her with the dishes. It was so cute, not to mention a great Kodak moment.