A weekend at Nana and Papa's

I love that face!

Caleb's new backpack for pre-school. Thank you Nana and Papa.

This weekend Erik and I headed up to Wisconsin for a leaders retreat. While we were away the boys had a great time at the Stroms. According to Nana and Papa, they were great. Nana even called us on our way home to tell us she missed them already! We are so blessed to have both of our parents so close...we love you!

Chocolate Pudding

Enough said!

Ben, Lily, Jackson, Morgan, Leah, Addison, Caleb and Anna

Tonight I went over to my parents house to help watch all these kids with my cousin Kendell. I was shocked that we got them all to sit on the couch so nicely...I guess the popcorn helped. I'll tell you that I know I am glad I don't have 8 kids so close in age!

A typical afternoon...

Lately the boys cannot get enough of the dirt. The first thing Caleb asks in the morning is if he can play in the dirt. They get so messy so we usually play after nap time so I can just bathe them before bed. Caleb is doing "construction work". He picks up dirt from one side of the yard and brings it to another...over and over again. Jackson follows Caleb around and does whatever he is doing.

This evening we had the youth group over for a BBQ. Erik set up a big screen and projector and we watched the Olympics and a slide show from the mission trip to Mexico. It was so much fun.

What a good little helper!

We babysat for our neighbor's daughter today. When she first came over we were playing on the floor with her and Caleb leaned over and said "should I put a pillow behind her?" He got one of the couch pillows and placed it behind her. Later while I was cleaning up lunch Caleb was watching A for me. I came out to find this... Caleb's response was "I didn't want her to bump her head." Seriously!!?? I love that kid so much!

5 years already!?

Erik and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary with an overnight downtown (thanks mom and dad for watching the boys!). We started out with a Segway Tour, followed by dinner and a good night sleep without little ones waking us up! The next morning, (slept in until almost 9...unheard of in our household) we ate breakfast and shopped along the magnificent mile. It was the perfect little getaway.



This is my new favorite picture.

The next night we celebrated with our traditional anniversary dessert. Vanilla ice cream, raspberries and homemade chocolate fudge (the same thing we served at our wedding 5 years ago).

My Baptism

I posted some picture from our trip to Covenant Point earlier but I didn't have any pictures from my baptism. Some friends have emailed those over and I wanted to share them with you. It was a beautiful morning on Hagerman Lake. I was surrounded by family and friends.

Here I am sharing my story with everyone. The overall theme was the verse that is up at the front of my parents' church, "My grace is sufficient for you." I was pretty emotional and spoke through tears the entire time.
Here we are going a little deeper in the water. Everyone waded in the water and then the three of us went a little deeper. We walked back in and everyone surrounded me and a few people prayed for me. It was an amazing morning.

Baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And here are our three crazy pastors.

Here is Caleb painting with his new easel...thank you Jaeschke's!

Today we went to Mackenzie's birthday party. It was a "pool" party. Caleb had so much fun with all of his friends.

down on the farm...

My grandma called to say that 12 baby chicks were born at the farm and that we should come see them. Today after naptime we headed out to the farm with my parents. I had spent a lot of time here growing up but haven't been in a while, it was so much fun to watch the boys wander around and check everything out. I know that I posted a ton of pictures (there are plenty more on the camera), but I couldn't decide which ones to post so I posted all of them...sorry!

Checking out the backhoe loader.

Saying hello to the baby chicks.

Grandpa, what does this do? Caleb was in heaven...a huge garage full of lawnmowers, snowblowers, motorcycles, a jeep and a backhoe laoder. What more could a little boy want?

We rode all over on the golf cart. I was surprised Caleb liked it and even wanted to drive...we later realized it was because it was so quiet.

The rooster.

Sweet baby chicks.

Eating an apple from the apple tree.

Eating a pear from the pear tree.

Jackson moves on to a pear.

Checking out the lawn mower with Grandpa.

Swinging with Grandma.

Gymnastics, Dentist and Dinner by Design

This morning we joined Linnea and Gwen at gymnastics. No surprise that the big pit was Caleb's favorite. When you ask him what he liked the best he says "the fony thing" (he means foamy).

Doesn't he look so small in there!

Jackson joined in as well.


Today was Caleb's first dentist appointment. According to Erik he did great. I was so sure that this would be a disaster for Caleb. He came home with a bunch of goodies and seemed to have enjoyed himself.

Tonight I went to "Dinner by Design" with a bunch of other moms. I really had no clue what to expect...but it was so much fun. You stand at a station where all the ingredients are set out for you, follow the directions and presto, meals ready to cook. The best part was loading up your cooler at the end and realizing that you don't have to even think about all those meals!