A trip up north, a fair and working on the house....

Its raining today so a good excuse to update.
On the 24th of June, we went to Brett (Engel)and Annamaries (Fore) wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and very entertaining. The Food was amazing. After that we drove down to Kent and Jacinda's to spent the rest of the weekend there. We went shopping at the mall and enjoyed relaxing at their house. Jacinda made the best homemade icecream with fresh raspberry sauce on Sunday. She would get rich selling that stuff! yummy!
The following weekend we had Tim Veldkamp stay with us and his Girlfriend, Maggie Romeo. Megan and Dana Bekler came down for the day On Sun too. There was Art in the Park with live music and lots of neat artsy things to look at. After that we went to a batting cage and had a few attempts at hitting a 80mph base ball. Then we ordered pizza and hit the beach for the rest of the evening. The water still hasn't warmed up much here ..I wonder if it ever will.
Last weekend we went up to Jerry's Mom and Dad's. The boys love going to Grandma and Grandpa's! on Sat we went to the Warron County Fair and spent the day eating a pile of fried stuff on sticks and dodging cow piles in the barns! The rides were the best part. (especially because I get to go on them for free!) Bowden spent tons of time on the Jumping castle and then the Choo Choo train was his next favorite. Benjamin was too little so he enjoyed watching them. On Monday, Grandma came down to spend the night and all of Tues to watch the kids. I was able to spend then entire day up on Scaffolding to help jerry put siding up on the house. We have nearly completed the siding now and are almost ready to paint!
Now we are counting down the days till we start school. We are off to the UofM in Morris Minnesota. Both of us are going full time but Jerry may still be able to get Tues and Thurs off to work. We will be staying here at our place and just driving the 50mins there and back each day. The boys will be going to day care right here in Garfield so that will be handy. Bowden will be jumping right into a preschool program at his daycare so im really excited about that.
Both the boys are doing really good. Benjamin is just about crawling....he does the army crawl or rolls to get where he want to go now. He is also pulling himself up on the side of his crib now and thinks he is a champ! he says Mamma and Dadda all the time and bub bub for his bottle. He knows the sign for more and all done and when he is hungry he smacks his fist to his mouth! He is quite the little charactor. He will be giong to day care with a little boy named cruize..he is just turning a year now so they will have lots in common!
So far we have no plans for this weekend. But we do want to go pick strawberries at the local berry patch.
later ...

Julie and Andrew's Visit to America

Five weeks or more have been and gone since I last posted. My Twin sister and her family arrived here on the 2nd of June. Since then, it has been crazy. I look back now and wonder where those 5 weeks went!

It was really exciting to meet my new little nephew Levi. He is such a handsome little fella who is easily entertained. I miss his little laugh already. My other nephew and niece, Kyle and Selina, are growing up so fast too. The last time I saw them was when Kyle was Bowdens age and Selina was just a baby. For the most part, we hung out at home, the beach and the mall of America. For the first couple of weeks they were here, it was cold so we spent most of the time drinking coffee and catching up. The kids played really well together and it was fun to watch Benjamin and Levi play together.

For the entire last week of June, we all jumped in the Motorhome and took a trip out to Yellowstone national park. We camped 2 nights in yellowstone...Jerry and I even braved a night in a tent! (this was in a campground where they had just closed the walking trail to the store because of a grizzly sighting). After the park, we stayed in Cody WY and went to the rodeo and Julie and I went white water rafting down the shoeshone river--it was amazing! that afternoon (fri) we hit the road again until we found a walmart to camp over night in. the next day we drove to Hermosa convention in South Dakota and spent the night there. It was fun to see lots of Jerry's relatives there and nice that they could meek Julie and her family. There was another family from Australia there so they didn't feel too out of place! our last night we spent in Wall, SD at a campground. it had a pool and we were allowed a fire ring to make smores. woo hoo. Then it was back home.

On Wednesday, we got to get out on the boat to do a little skiing and tubing. We took the motor home down to the boat ramp so we had a cabin at the lake! On Sat, I took Jules and her family to the Outlets down near Minneapolis and then onto the Mall of America again for Supper (tea). We ate at Bubba Gump shrimp Co. (my favorite restaurant eva!)

So now as I type Jules and Andy are waiting in line at the LA airport and completely tired out. They spent the day at Disneyland and the night before they took a guided tour of LA and Hollywood.

I am going to miss them so much. :(

Naps

Sleepy time......

Bowden and Grandma Edna......

Here are some pics of our kitchen...with the new counter tops that Jerry built. We are really happy with how it all turned out. We have a little more to do yet before its totally done like: trim around the windows, trim on the top and bottom of cabnets and a pantry door.

Here are some pics of the upstairs progress...

Bowdens room will be the one on the left, Benjamins on the right, the bathroom on the far right. on the right hand side, by the bathroom is the office (you cant see it in this pic.)

Bowdens Bunk bed -- in the making....

Bowden is TWO!

Grandma Deloris made an amazing "sandcastle --as Bowden calls it--cake! it was green on the inside too! Bowden wanted a GREEN cake for his birthday this year.

Hard to believe that its is the middle of May already.
Jerry and I are both done with classes this semester and are glad to finally have some time to work on the house. We are building walls upstairs for 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and an office. The framing is almost done and now we will tackle the wiring. We got a little side tracked today and decided to build a bunk bed for Bowden. Benjamin is getting too big for his Boat crib now and will need the crib Bowden is using.
Jerry and his Dad (who is here for a few days to help with the upstaris) took Bowden to Mernards to get supplies and i stayed home with Benjamin. He fell asleep earlier than usual last night so i was able to get out and Mow the grass--for the first time this summer! Oh how i love the smell of fresh cut grass.
This is the last week of Day Care for the Boys. Melissa, their provider, is really sad and I know both the boys will miss being there. However, I am looking forward to being home and spending the entire summer with them. Its Just over two weeks now before my Twin sister and her family from Australia gets here. (hence another reason to get the boys their own bedroom and out of the basement.) I am so excited for them to get here. We plan to take a road trip out west--Probebly to Yellowstone, Medora, the badlands and hopefully get to a convention out there. We will be taking a motorhome so we will have so much fun 'boundin' across the country in style! --ha ha wait till you see pics!
Bowden had his Second Birthday last Sat (May 9) we spent the day with Kent and Jacinda so Bowden could play with his little buddy Axel and so Benjamin could play with his little friend, Adalyn. It was a fun day. We had Special Meetings up here in Barrett on Sunday so we had to come back home Sat night. Thanks for a nice time Kent and Jacinda!
Tomorrow I hope to till up the garden and gets some veggies planted. Jerry's Mom got me a tomato planter for mothers day so Bowden and I planted those yesterday morning. He says "To-maR-toes" the aussie way--just like his Mommy!
Not too much else is happening. I will try to post again soon. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the spring, autumn, where ever you are! :)

Spring time in the country......