In the middle of senior pictures...here's a taste of the class of 2010...

my dad loves his flowers...these are pics from his backyard. beautiful. last week, we got to celebrate my dad's retirement from banking! it was a great event with a couple hundred people atttending and wishing him well. what is even more amazing, is my dad retired on his 50 year aniversary of being in the banking business. wow. it's such an accomplishment, he got a big award in rapid city for it and received a travel voucher to vacation anywhere he wants to go. i'm so proud of him. he started banking when he was 18 years old and worked so hard to support his family. he had a very successful career. he was ready to retire a few years ago but had a hard time letting it go. i mean, after 50 years, it's not like he just wanted to give it all up! but finally, he decided it was time. so there was a big party in his honor. i actually got to see people from my childhood. even my cousins whom i haven't seen in 5 years. it turned out to be a great night. now he'll have more time to spend with his flowers, more time to golf, more time to travel and more time to just be. God has blessed him and he knows it. he never takes it for granted. way to go, dad. you're my hero!

this post makes me happy and sad all at the same time. don't know quite why yet but maybe i'll figure it out once i tell the story. brody is 12 (yes, i know, pretty crazy how that happened already!) and getting into those teenage years. but even with all the changes coming up for him, he has remained this sweet-hearted kid. i know i'm his mom and maybe slightly objective, but the pride i feel for my boy has never been proven more than from a story i heard last weekend.

i was at a bridal shower and the mother-of-the-groom introduced herself and said she recognized me from the school. after chatting for a few minutes, i found out her grandson was in the same class as brody. this boy has been adopted by his grandma and permantly lives with her in yankton. i remember this kid, quiet, shy and seemed like he had no self-esteem. this lady continued to tell me he is transferring to another school in a small town outside of yankton. he just couldn't take the bigger schools and the teasing he endured. i guess kids teased him for living with his grandma and not his mom. he was teased for being "different", his food would get stolen at lunch, he would come home crying. my heart just fell for this boy. she mentioned some of the kids that did the teasing. i knew all of them. i was angry at them inside. then she said how austin talks about brody to this day. austin said brody was one of the only kids that was nice to him. he liked brody because he always said hi to him in the hallway. my heart swelled with pride and the tears welled up (as they are now).

i went home and told brody how his actions impacted this kid probably for the rest of his life. austin will always remember the few positives even amongst all the negative. brody made some mighty fine choices without his parents around making sure he was being nice. he did this one on his own. to me, that shows a lot about him. yet, i feel bad for austin. i hate the idea that some kids think teasing is cool. i hope the smaller school will be good for austin because he deserves the same respect as any other kid. it was a life lesson for my son and he knew it. so, again, i can never be more proud of brod-man yet am sad for the child who is being forced to switch schools because of the actions of others. i just hope and pray for his happiness this coming year. and i hope and pray that my soon-to-be-teenager will stay on the right path, even with all the temptations that will come before him.

love ya, brody...

Life is good here. Just not so good at keeping up on the ol' blog. I've been reading yours, stalking I guess. And you're all in my prayers.

I knew the month of July would go fast. But this fast? Crazy. Last weekend, we went to my high school reunion. It was a weekend planned with events...golfing, Canaries game with all the food (Brody even got to be batboy for the night!) Nutty's north, picnic, tour of the pavilion and the Sugar Daddys' playing at wileys for us. And more food there too. I graduated with about 500+ people and about half came for the festivities. I went to everything, except golfing, and saw as many people as i could. I stayed out until 2 am both nights, just catching up with my girlfriends from 20 years ago. It was the best weekend, so much fun having the kids play together and us moms talking like no time had ever passed between us. It was awesome seeing people I haven't seen in years. People came from all over...CA, Washington, Phoenix, Colorado, Illinois. So the next reunion is supposed to be in 10 years but we may make it 5.

So, here's a shout out to all my Washington Warriors. You guys rock! I'm proud to be a 1989 WHSH graduate!

We made it back from wisconsin dells and man oh man, it was awesome! I have never felt so young! We waterparked it up for 3 days, non-stop. We made our home at the Wilderness Territory. The cabins were beautiful. This particular resort gave us 3 waterparks, over a million sq. feet of body slides, tube slides, the hurricane (name says it all) hot springs, lazy rivers, worlds largest wave pool, slides that made you scream, slides that made you really wet and cabinas for the times when you just wanted to relax. They were indoor, outdoor, some that were a little of both...it's undescribable really. Even our littlest, emerson, went down the black hole body slide like it was a walk in the park! It was a little unnerving sending her down this big dark hole, not knowing how she would react. But at the bottom her smile was bigger than i had ever seen it. It's definitely a vacation we'll be doing again. But even with all the fun, the truly best part was spending this vacation with my brother, sister-in-law and their kiddos. You would think the kids just saw each other last week. It was like no time had passed. Morgan cried when we left. that's the worst part, saying goodbye. I hate that part. But we'll be back again. Together. And we'll have just as much fun as we did this time. So for now, I have the memories. That's just the best.

Gosh, could the time possible go any faster?! Seems like I can't keep up with the days. Or the late nights. This summer has been one of the best so far. Relaxing, fun, busy but not too busy...I just wish it wasn't going so fast! What's filling the days?

*Brody finished up his golf league, took the test and passed to the birdie level! Must be that new driver of his. He's quite the golfer and really enjoys it. Now he's in an athletic training program at Mount Marty College.

*The girls are doing their dance classes, ballet and dance team and can't get enough of the water. They never seem to run out of energy!

*Still finding time to run everyday and just ran a race last weekend with Brody. He shaved 3 minutes off his first 5K time! I won my age group (it helps to be old!) and got a nice gift card to Runner's Block.

*We had our annual 4th of July party at our house and besides a few firecracker misfires and a burnt hand by one of the guests (he's fine, long story!) it was another fun evening.

*Now we are heading out this afternoon for Wisconsin Dells. We're meeting my brother and his family up there, staying in a cabin and bond with the waterparks. I've never been there but hear it's a blast. It's a long drive but we're ready for the adventure.

*Then it's off to Sioux Falls the following weekend for my 20th reunion. I can't wait to see my bestest friends from high school! It will be a good time. Then i go back to Sioux Falls for my dad's retirement. He just got an award to honor him for 50 years in banking. I'm so proud of him. What an accomplishment.

So that is July in a nutshell. Even with all the activities of summertime, my most favorite times are those hot summer nights when Seth and I sit outside, watch the kids play and just...be. I sure love summer. Must get back to last minute packing. Pray for our safe journey to Wisconsin and for good weather! See you when we get back!

My most favorite pictures to take..happy moments. A couple getting married in two short months and our newest nephew, Cayden. Seth's sister, Shana, just had him 2 weeks ago and I was blessed to be able to photograph him. Isn't he the cutest? Today I have a wedding to shoot. more happiness.

Here's to more happy moments...

Okay. okay...enough of the monkey (yes, karen you can look now :)) june is in full swing but the weather sure doesn't feel like it! with the exception of a few days here and there, it's been rainy and cloudy. sure hope i can get a tan before my class reunion. at any rate, this past weekend was a nice one and we took advantage of it. i kept my weekend free of photo appointments and we played!

Saturday i woke up at 3:45 a.m. which i haven't done since the kids were babies, and got ready for a half marathon in Viborg, SD. to be honest with you, i wasn't totally awake until i actually got to Swan Lake where the marathon took place. it was dark the whole drive there but i really enjoyed it. the peacefulness, the sun just starting to come up and i had klove cranked on the radio. it was cool. once i got to swan lake, i met some people i knew, and some i didn't know. lots of hard core marathoners were there. these guys were running a marathon in every state. some were from canada, washington, california, all over. this was their stop in SD. this tiny little town of Viborg. it was fun chatting pre-race.

So the gun went off at 6 a.m. and i was on my way. funny thing is i forgot my watch which i always use to see how i'm doing timewise (probably due to the 3:45 a.m. wake up time) so i had to go without. my half-marathon goal over the last year was to finish in the 1:40's. i had no idea how i was doing the entire race. so coming over the hill in the last stretch, i saw the clock. immediately i got the adreline rush...it said 1:46:16...so i booked it and crossed at 1:46:38. they handed me a medal and ribbon...first place for my age group. and it wasn't even 8 o'clock yet! it was a great race, loved the route, water/gatorade every 2 miles, nice people, beautiful weather. so thanks to god, friends, family and jon bon jovi, i made my personal record. and maybe because i wasn't staring at my watch the whole time. who knows? either way, i was really happy.

Got home from running and stumbled to the door (little stiff from the drive home!) we decided to take the ol' boat out fishing. the girls had a blast! they haven't been on the little boat for a couple of years so they thought it was pretty neat. it's not a fancy boat by any means. actually it's pretty old but it runs and it works for us. we fished and fished, broke a few lines, ate some snacks and brody caught the biggest fish. it was the only keeper anyway. we're eating it for supper tonight. by the time we got home, i was literally exhausted. i don't even remember going to bed.

It was a long day but such a great day. lots of memories were made and that's what matters. i love summer!

Two posts in one day...i don't think i've ever accomplished that before. although maybe it's not an accomplishment but rather too much time spent on the computer! i'm been busy working on photo appts. from last week and needed another blog break.

you all know my fascination with monkeys...this one just makes me laugh everytime i look at it. he was one of my favorites from the zoo.

don't you wish we could "hang out" like this?!?!

:)

Question for the day...what does one do with 5 baby bunnies found in our yard (by the dog no less) that my little girls are in love with? I mean, I really don't want to take care of 5 bunnies. Do they eat lettuce? Leaves? So after the girls (and the dog) had their fun with them, they put them back in their hole in the ground. I convinced them the mommy bunny would come back to feed her babies and take care of them. I told them the babies would be much happier with their mommy. So the girls agreed but regularly checked in on them, making sure nothing was bothering them (mainly the dog). So last night as we were sitting outside, we saw the mommy bunny hop up to the hole and she immediately started tending to the babies. The girls just sat and watched. They were so happy the mom came back. And so was I. I don't know what the status is of the bunnies this morning. I'm sure I'll have my loyal bunny watchers (that includes the dog) heading out soon to give them a checkup.

Okay, I'll admit it...they are pretty darn cute...

If you are wondering what the flowers have anything to do with our bunny find, that one is for Bobbi...I have no green in my thumb whatsoever, but finally planted flowers in the huge pot I

had. I have to admit, I'm kinda proud of them! Nothing has died yet and they are actually growing! The lady at the flower shop told me exactly how to plant them so I did have a little help. Nonetheless, I'm going back today to get more. No backforty by any means, but I have a start!

Here it is, June already and I'm already wishing the time would somehow slow down. Summer has been in full force at our house and we've been soaking up every minute. Here's a breakdown:

Seth and I celebrated an amazing anniversary...15 years and counting. I couldn't have asked for a better day. We're going to the tropics with another couple next April to celebrate both our anniversaries but Seth still surprised me with gifts. He's the best. He loved the watch I got him with our anniversary date engraved on the back. We went to Omaha this last weekend for a zoo day. It was so much fun, the first time we have ever went without a stroller! The kids walked the whole 6 hours with a couple ice cream breaks. Seth and two friends reshingled our house a few weeks ago now...they did a great job. Our house looks like a totally different place. We bought a gazebo last weekend too...it was almost as difficult to put up as the shingles but we did it and thankfully it passed wind test, especially after yesterday. Sprinklers, 3D sidewalk chalk, bike rides, Brody's golf league, flower planting (Bobbi would be so proud)...that's what our summer has been all about so far. I can't wait to see what the rest has to bring us.

But please, summer, don't go so fast. We want you to stick around for awhile!

This is Madison's dress rehearsal a week ago in preparation for the big shows this weekend. It's a tear jerker. I have watched her practice and learn this dance since last October and I have to tell you, I never get tired of watching it and it always brings tears to my eyes. She just looks so grown up and is really turning into a dancer. I just had to share it with you. It's my amateur video taping and since it was dress rehearsal, there is no background up, no smoke effects and you hear her teacher at the end. But nonetheless, it's a special song with special meaning. By the way, the older dancer that comes out is dancing with her dad.

Enjoy...

spring turkey hunting 2009

cost of tags: $75.00

ammunition: $100.00

camouflage pants: $30.00

packed lunches: $15.00

being in the wilderness with my most favorite boys: priceless

spring turkey hunt 2009 tally:

brody: 1

mom: 0

dad: 0

brody loves that tally!!

Here's the question of the day...

If Brett Favre really goes to Minnesota to play for the Vikings, does that mean Seth and I will have to cheer for him which technically would go against our Packer rivalry for all these years and will Brody kind of cheer him on because his autograph is in his room but yet won't because he's a viking and not a packer?!

Oh the confusion. vikings...packers...vikings...packers...personally I think the guy should find another job so our lives will be easier during football season!