15th Anniversary

Jim & I celebrated our 15th Anniversary while in the Outer Banks.  Hard to believe that it has been 15 years already.  I am lucky enough to say that I married my best friend & today, I still lean on him more than ever!  He is an amazing husband, wonderful with our kids, & the love of my life.  I am so thankful for the life we have created together. 

We had a wonderful time celebrating our special day.  We started with the kids by hang gliding.  It was so much fun!  First we had to hike quite a distance up sand dunes with burning hot sand.  We were advised to be careful to not get blisters on the bottoms of our feet.  The kids put their socks on because the sand did get pretty hot.  I wasn't all that crazy then about having to lay down in the sand to get started.  I HATE being dirty.  But it was well worth it.  We did 5 runs each & on each one we improved our skills little by little. 

Here are a few pictures:

Lauryn

Zach

Sean

The best was when Sean was SO tired from walking up the hill after the first run.  One of the other instructors helped him out after the 2nd run & carried him up the hill.  I think it made Sean's day! 

We had so much fun!

The kids & our instructor

Then later that evening, Jim & I left the kids and went out for dinner & drinks.  It was nice to have that time together.  Dinner was wonderful & I had such a fun day.  Every year we take a picture of us on our actual Anniversary (it's always fun to see how much we have changed - and AGED!).  So here we are in 2011:

4th of July Weekend

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend, full of baseball, strawberry picking, family, friends, good food, laughs, fireworks, swimming, sun...  The list could go on & on!  We started out Friday by eating dinner out and heading to the Twins game.  We were excited to watch the Twins play the Brewers again, since the previous weekend we watched them get beat (while in Milwaukee).  However, once we got there, we had a 2 hour rain delay.  So the game didn't even start until 9:15.  Then we watched the fireworks display after the game & didn't get home until after midnight. 

The kids, before the bad weather set in

The bad weather rolled in fast

The next morning we were up early & off to Bauer Berry Farms, where we picked 2 full boxes of strawberries.  I was hoping we didn't buy too many, but they were pretty much all gone by the end of the weekend.  If any of you know of Zach's love for berries - you sure understand why they didn't last long in our house!  But we had fresh strawberries on the table every day, I blended some & made vodka slush (yum!), we made smoothies, and desserts.  We sure enjoyed them!  I think next year we'll get 2 boxes full again.  Who doesn't love fresh berries?

Lauryn

The boys

Our take home berries

Later that morning, my sister & her family, and my Mom & Dad came to enjoy swimming & a BBQ.  I think the kids were in the pool for a good 7 hours.  It's always enjoyable to spend that time with family! 

Logan, Nora, Sean, & Cade

Lauryn & my Mom

On Monday, the 4th of July, we invited some friends over to celebrate.  The kids always enjoy having their friends here.  We love to hang out, swim, enjoy the sun, BBQ, & have our own little fireworks display. 

Here are the boys in their traditional picture:

Jack, Luke, Nick, Sean, Zach, Adam

(Funny...  all 4 letter names!)

Lauryn, blowing bubbles

Lots of Baseball

Last weekend Zach's baseball team played in a tournament in Milwaukee, WI.  And coincidentally, the Twins were playing the Brewers in Milwaukee the same weekend.  So, we enjoyed a lot of baseball! 

 Jim's sister & family live in Milwaukee, so my boys wanted their cousin to sport their same hair style!

 Zach's baseball team all tailgated before the Twins/Brewers game

 Despite the Twins losing (by A LOT), we had fun at the game!

Cousin Edward came to cheer on Zach while he played too

Marathon #11 - Grandma's!

I finished marathon #11 in Duluth.  Todd & Carol Conrad, James Vettel, & I all ran Grandma's.  James is a Boston Marathon runner, so we see him at the start & finish only.  But Todd, Carol, & I ran it together and got to celebrate with Carol as she PR'd again, shaving another 15 minutes off her best time.  It was an awesome course, the wind was at our backs, we had great weather once the rain stopped, it's a beautiful area...  I loved Grandma's Marathon!  I think it is by far my favorite that I have run.  And of course, it's not only about the marathon in Duluth...  There is plenty of celebrating too!   

 Heading for the train ride that brings us to the start in a down pour of rain!

 Running in to the finish...

Me, Carol, Todd, & James

Happy Golden Birthday, Lauryn!

My baby girl turned 13 on the 13th of June!  Hard to believe I have a teenager in the house.  The years have gone by so incredibly fast.  I have marveled at all the stages of her life & can't believe how amazing she has grown up.  She is quite the little lady!

We had a fun time celebrating her birthday.  We had 13 surprises ready for her when she woke up, starting with decorating her bedroom door while she slept, making her favorite meals, hidden gifts around the house, her birthday cheesecake, & ending with our gift to her; a tennis bracelet (gold!).  I think she had a great day!

Since I've done it for Zach & Sean already, I wanted to post pictures of Lauryn through the years.  It sure was fun to reminisce! 

 1 year

 2 years

 3 years

 4 years

 5 years

 6 years

 7 years

 8 years

 9 years

 10 years

 11 years

 12 years

Actual birthday - 13 years old!  

Sean's Summer Doo

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yet another Seanism...

So last night we are at Zach's baseball game & it is COLD!  Sean comes dressed in shorts, t-shirt, & flip flops.  I kept pleading with him to put on his sweatshirt & coat, but he kept informing me that he was fine (as he's running around with all the other siblings).  So I say to him, "Fine!  Then I don't want to hear about it when you are sick and all you can do during the summer is lay in bed"...  To which he replies, "That's all I planned to do all summer anyway!" 

Last Day of School

I can not believe we are finished with another year of school.  I honestly feel like the year just started.  Unfortunately I still have many projects unfinished! :/  But we are looking forward to sleeping in, lazy mornings, time with friends, swimming, sports, the SUN!  As always, I am sure the summer will fly by and before I know it, it will be time for Lauryn to head to 8th grade (can you believe it?), Zach to 6th grade, & my baby, Sean, to 3rd grade!  Until then...  party time! 

A Little WI Dells + A Full Marathon = A Fun Long Weekend!

Over Memorial weekend, we pulled the kids out of school a day early & headed to WI Dells with the Conrads.  We had a great time... enjoying the water parks, golfing at the Pirates Cove, taking the Ducks ride, seeing The Tommy Bartlett Show, shopping, & eating great food.  As always, we had a great time!



 The boys could live at the water park!

 The girls had fun too

 A little mini-golf

 The famous Duck ride

But, it wasn't all fun & games!  Todd, Carol, & I had a marathon to run on Sunday.  I accomplished marathon #10 & got to add another state to my list.  We ran the last 8 miles in rain.  But this was just considered a "training run", as we have another marathon coming up in just a week now!  We're running Grandma's here soon... 

Dry & fun still at mile 7 

Mile 13 - my faithful cheerleaders! 

 Our family, at the finish (kids still trying to stay dry)

Carol, Todd, & I