July part 1

The majority of July was spent traveling. First trip: Lake Mojave with the McGill Family. They were so nice to invite us to their trailer and spend some time over the 4th of July at the river. Everyone had a blast.

Tabby and Jake learned to wakeboard!

Everyone had fun on the tube. They were bloodied up and everything!

Dylan was nice enough to take Jake on many trips on the Jet Ski.

Kelsey spent the last day soaking her beaten body. Between tubing and she and Dylan throwing each other off the jet ski, she was definitely battered. She had bloodied elbows and knees from tubing, a cut and blackened eye from Dylan and she whipping off the jet ski, and a bruised butt (yes there was a LARGE bruise!) doing the same.

It was all worth it though. Great times with great friends. Thanks Rachel, John, Dylan and Megan! (Oh, and by the way, Kelsey is planning her revenge!)

June

June brought much sadness to our family. After a long struggle with cancer, my mother passed away on June 9th. I am so thankful that we were able to move her near us for her last year. It meant so much to have her near our kids for the first time. She enjoyed attending their soccer and baseball games when she could.

Steve and I headed to Washington DC for his nephews wedding a week later. It was a nice getaway to take my mind off of all that I had to do. We walked the town and took in all the traditional sites. The best part was spending time with the brothers and sisters-in-law. We really wish we could see them all more often.

This is the only picture I got during the wedding. Nope, no bride. UGH! My camera battery died! We were very excited to welcome Meredith into the family. Congrats Jordan and Meredith!

May (yep, we're skipping)

May brought us 2 graduations! Kelsey graduated from Great Oak High School and Amanda from Minot High School.

Steve flew to Minot to attend Amanda's graduation. The kids and I gathered around my mom's computer to watch the festivities with her.

She's not EXCITED or anything!

Kelsey joined a sea of 750 other graduates at Greak Oak.

Now it's onto the University of Mary in ND for Amanda and probably the Army for Kelsey!

It's About Time...

things have been so crazy the last 8 months that I haven't had a chance to update our blog! I'm determined to get caught up. So...here it goes...

Kringla

Christmas isn't complete without some fresh Kringla. Yum! We made 6 batches for friends and ourselves.

Band Concert

Tabitha had her Holiday Band Concert last week at school. She is playing the flute and really enjoying it.

The Beginning Band played first followed by the Advanced Band. The kids had a great time and showed just how far they had come in the last 4 months.

Grandpa was able to join us for the festivities.

Our little band girl!

Napa Valley (finally!)

We have been trying to go to Napa Valley with our friends for about 5 years, no joke. We have purchased plane tickets, canceled trips, lost plane tickets due to expiration, planned, canceled.....well, you get the idea. We finally headed out last Friday for our trip with Gus, Karen, and Mike. We were welcomed by the wonderful Friday night traffic on the 5 near the 14. Talk about a parking lot!

Gus was ready to fill his wine cellar. First stop...St. Clement where we were delighted to taste "liquid candy" (or "liquid crack" as another wine taster put it)

V. Sattui was a must on this trip. They are the most popular winery with an Italian market inside.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch with some fresh cheese, french bread, and of course their wine.

Opus One was next on the list. This is one of those stuffy wineries where an appointment is needed to taste. We walked in anyway, boy were they stuffy! Didn't taste, Gus just bought a treat to save as a surprise since they wanted $30 just to taste!

The beautiful valley...

Hess....beautiful grounds, weird art collection....modern is definitely not our taste.

Rombauer had a beautiful garden to walk around

Our BFFs

Steve finding some entertainment

Pine Ridge. The last tour of their cave had already begun but the gal there graciously took us on a private tour!

Can't remember this one. Named for some guy. Just stayed outside and watched the koi fish.

These guys were so entertaining. They were definitely used to getting fed. Just walking up to the pond made them crazy! Look at that guys lips!!

A great trip with wonderful friends. So glad we finally made it!