My Family Vacation!

A month behind

Bad mommy. Bad bad mommy. My summer has been pretty crazy. In a good way though! Lots and lots of photo stuff and lots of friends and family. I am going to try to start where I left off and catch up. I have been pretty bad and taking pics of my own kids lately, need to remember to do that!
My mommy came just about a month ago. It was so nice having them around, the kids loved it. Of course, when I was hoping for the most perfect weather ever to try to persuade them more to move home, the weather was pretty much crap the whole time they were here. Raining, cold, if it wasn't cold it was super humid. I mean come on, Mother Nature was not working with me on that one.


Even though the weather could have been better, we pretended like it was all fine and dandy. We still got out and did some fun things. We went over to Fawn-Doe-Rosa, which was Ada's first time.


I had a wedding on that Saturday. My mom and Bruce went up to my Aunt's cabin that day and our little family unit went up Sunday (Father's Day). On our way up we hit up this little go-cart place we have stopped at quite a few times before.




My aunt's cabin is such a nice get away.



That Monday was my little big boy's 4th birthday! I have a 4 year old! I remember not too long after James was born trying to imagine having an older child. One that talked and walked and ate real food. It seemed so far off at the time. It was so unimaginable. That time is here now, I have this amazing child. He knows so much and he surprises me every day. I feel like the luckiest person in the world with these two beautiful, healthy children.
On his birthday, we did a little fishing in the morning off the dock.

Ate a little lunch, then the boys took James out on the boat to fish for a while. My mom, Ada, and I set up a little surprise party while they were out.

Ahhh, his little surprised face was so priceless. He knew it was his birthday, but he was so so surprised for the little party.





The cabin time came and went way too quickly. Soon it was the day we had to drive to the airport. This also happened to have been the most beautiful day out of the whole trip, of course.

Hopefully they will be back real soon, and hopefully there won't be a driving them to the airport!!! My fingers are crossed.

Say What!?

I am a crappy blogger and photographer to my family and friends. This past week was spent with lots of friends and family. Guess what gang? Pretty sure I took about 5 pictures the whole time. I am sitting here kicking myself...what the heck is my problem? The pictures I am posting were mostly taken by Auntie JJ and Grampy McP. So kuddos to you guys for capturing something from the last week! Good grief! I have had numerous family get-togethers, a wedding, a shower, and lots of other fabulous photo opportunities. FAIL! I get a big FAT FAIL!!! Aside from my failure, I will fill you in on what this last week was all about.

My dad and Vicki came into town and finally met Ada! We went to a little BBQ at Vicki's parent's house. And just to mention, on this particular day, I am pretty sure it was about 150 degrees with and humidity of 1000. I may be exaggerating just a tad. Needless to say, it was FREAKING HOT!

My pops and I. This blog post will probably be the most you will ever see of me since I was hardly ever behind the camera. I suck.

Oh, and Caleb and I finally got hitched :) We had a little ceremony and dinner on 8/9/10!

My lovely sis and I.

Erika and Ada at the dinner after the wedding ceremony.

A family pic :)

My new hubby!

My mom, Bruce, and I went out to the Mall of America and took James on some rides. He really liked them! We also went to Ikea after, but I don't want to talk about it. Right Bruce? :)

James and Sponge Bob!

The whole week was great, fun, special, full of love, and more, that words can't explain. I sit here all alone (with my kids of course). It feels very weird since I have been surrounded by people for so long. Everyone is DEEPLY missed already. What I am basically saying is: TO ALL OF YOU WHO I LOVE SO MUCH AND ALL LIVE OUT OF STATE: THE GREAT STATE OF MINNESOTA IS CALLING YOUR NAME. IT IS TIME TO CONSIDER MOVING. YOUR KIDS, GRAND KIDS, NIECE AND NEPHEW, SISTER AND NEWLY BROTHER MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH AND WANT YOU MORE IN THEIR LIVES!!! No guilt trip here at all :)

James' Chevrolet Camaro

When we were in AZ this last time, Grampy (My mom's husband) gave James a toy Camaro. James is in love with this car. It has been to heck and back. He carried it around with him every where. It would be parked right next to his plate when he ate, it has had many 'o' car washes due to food being jammed in the seats. He even slept with this big hunk of metal every night. Through all this beating, the car has depreciated in value I assume by loosing some parts, all 4 tires, steering wheel, rear view and side mirrors, dashboard, the seats are broken, the doors won't stay shut...I think you get the point. He still plays with it like it has all 4 tires and the rest of it's parts, he could care less. Here is the poor beater...

Since he loves this car so much we decided to get him a new one. He opted for a convertible this time around...

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This one is a little harder to sleep with. :)

Happy Birthday Dad/Pappy!

We love and miss you! I hope you have a really wonderful birthday!

I am thinking it's not looking like this in Belize...

Lunch with Nana/ Happy Birthday Grampy!

James and I just went out to lunch with my dad's wife Vicki. They live in Belize and she was home for a couple weeks. I am just kicking myself for not taking pictures, the thought never crossed my mind...grrr... We had a really nice time and it was really good to see her. Tonight we are going over to Caleb's brother's house to celebrate Cade's (Caleb's nephew) 4th Birthday. I will not forget my camera, hopefully!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMPY!!! We already miss you!

I was reading my American Baby magazine and came across a section about trying to get everything done. Meaning how do mother's organize their days to get everything done that they want to accomplish. People wrote in and gave their two cents. This one lady wrote about how she prioritizes things, so things with highest priority get done first blah blah blah. Then there was a quote that a lady wrote, it has been stuck in my head so I think I should share, it was: There is nothing to do but this, and no where to be but here. This is my new life mantra. It makes sense doesn't it? I love things like this, like the one my mom taught me if you are in a tough situation: And this too shall pass. I think that is a pretty common one. Anyone else have any good ones?

And a picture of a soggy leaf...it rained the other day and I guess I have a thing for taking pictures of wet leaves :)

Happy Birthday Erika!!! /AZ recap

I would have posted this yesterday, but my computer was being weird and wouldn't let me.

Happy Birthday Erika...err, um yesterday!! We love and miss you!

Thank you mama, Bruce, Erika and Dean for everything you did for us when we were down there! Thank you Thank you Thank you!

And now for the AZ vaca recap...

There was the plane, which included lots of stickers...

There was a Grampy and excitement from watching airplanes...

There was a boy, some dirt, and his wagon...

There were little friends...

There was scattered water bottles...

There was THIS...The special event that happened which I previously wrote about here and here. My mom and Bruce finally got married! I had to keep it on the down low for a bit, just until she told everyone! Congrats to The McPs!

Then there was some yummy food after the ceremony at Bobby Q's..

There was some sweaty kids at the zoo...and lots of fun the whole time and lots of this...

We made it to AZ!!

We survived the plane trip today! YAY!! For the most part it went really well. He cried a couple times, but nothing too serious. We are now here in the heat of the desert and already enjoying time with the fam.

James playing with some window decals.

Please excuse my nastiness...James and I

This is what held his attention the longest, stinkers, thank god for stickers!

A shot taken from the window of the plane.

James and his grampy watching the planes once we got to AZ.

I will probably be posting the next 10 days about our adventures here in AZ instead of waiting until we get home and have picture overload in one post!!!