North Dakota Bound!

North Dakota or bust!!! I am so excited to ride horse in the state that brought me to know my soul mate, and 2 of my greatest friends! There is so much to love about the state of North Dakota! What it lacks in trees it makes up for in character, beauty, and amazement!!! I will not be able to post until I get back but hopefully I can capture some of the beauty with my camera!

Thank you Jenny for house sitting and taking care of the farm while we are gone!

Thank you mom, dad, Amy, and Dan for watching and loving my children while we are gone!!! They enjoy every minute with you all!

YEE HAW!!!

Happy Memorial Day

Thank you to all who have served and given their lives to protect all the freedom we enjoy everyday in this country!

12 year old Lexxi Saal has written this song as a Tribute to ALL of the Men & Women serving in the Armed Forces that are risking their lives everyday to protect us and keep us safe

Mouth Of The Brule 09

What a great tradition this weekend has become for us! My sister and her family spend the whole weekend at our home and we have such a great time! This is the first time we brought them to the Mouth of Brule, a personal favorite! The kids even got a little wet!

Daddy's little girl!

Ava loves Auntie Amy and Uncle Dan soooooo much! She repeats their names over and over again!

What a beautiful day!!!

The kids had fun making sandcastles on the beach, collecting washed up shells, rocks, and drift wood, and really enjoyed the special time we had together!!!



Alex "The Great" made Grace the coolest ring!

Alex is so creative and is becoming so grown up! He even spent the night out at the shack by himself!!!! What a true explorer and naturalist you are becoming Alex! It seems like just yesterday I was babysitting you up at Bethel College with your mom!

What a Great First Year!

This day was the hardest yet at the same time best day for me! Watching Grace grow so much this year has been wonderful but also incredibly hard! She is becoming very independent and so much more focused! She has a love of learning that Mrs. Larson has harnessed and I am amazed how much Grace has absorbed! It is hard to believe that only 2 days a week for only 2 1/2 hours so much was accomplished! It will be exciting to see how much is attained next year when Ready Set Grow, moves to 3 days a week for 3 1/2 hours!

Grace loves to sing. I have been amazed at how great her memory is! She knows her alphabet, numbers to 30+, days of the week, months of the year, and so much more! What little sponges children really are!
Thank you Mrs. Larson! What a great year it was with you! You are one of the best teachers I have ever met!

I am so thankful Grace had her friend by her side this year! I am amazed and proud of you both, Grace and Mea!

After the program there was great food and fun at Prentice Park! Most days I find myself acting like a kid too, today was really no exception! All I could think about was taking in every minute with Grace, and to enjoy every second she "actually wants" me to play with her! Seeing her grow so fast has made me realize those days are going to be so limited!

"Cowboy Up"

What a great surprise! My brother Jasen came up for the day on Sunday to ride horse and spend time with the girls!!! Grace was inseparable from him! She loves Uncle Jasen!

I was impressed how well he rode since he has rode horse much. He was galloping Judge all over! :) Way to go Jay Bird!

What a beautiful day Saturday was! We enjoyed a great trail ride with Julie, Joe, and Jasen! Thanks for coming to visit Jasen! Come back soon...we love you!

Future Vet!!!

If Jeff wasn't a financial planner he would be a vet! There is so much he does on the farm that is done by us instead of having to call the vet. One of the things we do is vaccinations. This really cuts costs! Grace has always been fascinated with this and also how to help animals that are hurt. She doesn't shy away from anything in this area! She has told me many times that she wants to be a vet when she grows up! I always tell her she can do anything in life she puts her heart and mind into! It has been fun watching her care for animals!

Worming horses!

Mr Ed??

Grace helping daddy worm her horses Diamond, Appoloosa, and Nugget!

Grace's 1st Gymnastics Performance

This day was one of the best days! Grace spent the morning practicing her gymnastic routine, over and over again! She is such a perfectionist! It was the best watching her jump around with excitement as they started the performance! Although it was hard for me to not cry thinking about how fast time is truly going. She looked so big and independent out there! It was really neat to see the older ones perform but I held Grace a little bit tighter this night before bed!

I am so proud of you Grace and your fearless and determined attitude!

(My camera was not working the best so my pictures are not the greatest)

Happy 2nd Bithday Josie!

We have enjoyed these last 2 years of watching you grow so much! You are so adorable Josie! And Evvvva "aka Ava" just loves every moment with you!!!! We had a great time with you at your birthday party on Sat!

It was just perfect to fly kites!
You were so patient waiting so nice to blow out your candles!

Thank you for the cute plant and bubbles! We really loved spending the evening celebrating your birthday! We love you so much! Happy Birthday sweet little Josie! XOXOXO

Let's Go Fly A Kite...

On Friday Jeff had the farrier out to shoe the horses for our trip to North Dakota end of May~ so to keep the girls busy and away from the barn we went out to fly a kite! And what a great day to fly a kite it was! We had the best time flying a kite for the first time! Warm weather and really windy, simply beautiful!

Up, up and away!!! We have lift off...


Ava had a kite all her own!

And she got lift off too! :)

Mother's Day Surpise

We surprised my mom on mother's day by driving down for just the day on Sunday! It was the perfect day, but it really made me wish I lived closer so I could see them all everyday! I love my family! Do you think my mom was surprised? If only my dad could keep a secret!

Savvy is getting cuter everyday! What a little love she is!

Ashley got to ride on Willy (Grace calls him Diamond)!

It wouldn't be home without a good wrestle with uncle Dan and all the cousins!!!

Ava just wanted to take it all in! She loves Nana and Papa's house!!!

Last Weekend Random Pictures

I have fallen behind on my blogging! Gace spent last weekend helping daddy fix things around the outside of the house...

Check the tire pressure with Grandpa...

and rode horse with Mea! Last weekend was a busy one and very fun one! We even surprised my my on mother's day by driving down for the day! I will be posting some more on that! :)

They rode all the way down to the blacktop and back! They even did a little trotting!

Frank and His Girls

Grace and Ava spent some quality time with Frank and Jenny on Wed. evening at the apartment! They had so much fun and did not want to leave! Thanks for the amazing night for our girls!

Grace's favorite instrument is the guitar. So imagine her excitement when she found out Frank played the guitar????

Ava never misses a chance to jam!