minnesota, don'tcha know?

We had a great trip to see my sister last week. The trip started on Sunday, with a drive across South Dakota after spending the night with my parents. Of course, no trip across South Dakota is complete without a stop at Wall Drug:

We stopped in Sioux Falls for the night. Brecken was a SUPER car-rider, but we had all had enough of sitting in the car. We got out at the mall, walked around and got some leg energy out, then went to a hotel for the night. They had a super-cool pool area for Brecken to get the rest of his energy out in!

Monday, we got back in the car and continued on. We got to my sister's house shortly after lunch, so it wasn't too much of a drive. Brecken was so excited to see Ryan and play in his new back yard!!

Tuesday was a great day! We got to see our dear friend Amy and her son Dylan, who is Brecken's best buddy ever! He talks about Dylan ALL.THE.TIME and misses him soooo much. (They moved to MN last October.) Amy's other sons, Harrison and Cooper, came along too. We met at Chuck E. Cheese's and the boys played and played and played, and we got to catch up with Amy. It was SOOO good to see them. I wish they didn't have to move, but it sounds like it was for the best- they are doing great out there! Brecken was so sad when it was time to go, but hopefully we will see them again soon! (In the picture below, Dylan is in the long sleeves- he is about 6 months older than Brecken but you wouldn't know it! The other little boy in red is Cooper. He's two. And huge.)

L-R- Dylan, Brecken, Cooper, Harrison. Harrison was so good at helping the little boys play all the games!

Tuesday night, we went on a dinner cruise on the St. Croix river with my sister and her family. Brecken was sooo excited to eat dinner on a boat! It was a lot of fun. On the way back to the dock, we headed right into a storm. I was ever so thankful we had 4 adults for the 4 children- we each grabbed one and made a run for it in the absolute downpour and lightning to get to the cars. It got a bit scary!

Getting ready to eat:

Outside on the deck:

Brecken and Ryan were pretty sure they saw a whale. In the river. :)

Wednesday, we got to play at the school playground in Kristen's town. And then we headed to the Como Zoo. It was the PERFECT weather to do the zoo- not too muggy, not to hot... worked out great!

Thursday- what a fun, fun day! My niece Brooke turned 2 on this day. We spent the day at the Mall of America (or, Mall of Kamaria as Brecken called it) at the Nickelodeon Universe. WHAT A FUN PLACE!!! They have a ton of rides that are small-child friendly and we got the all day wristbands and let the kids go to town! We got there about 10:45 am and finally had to give the "pick one more ride" at 7:00 that night! The kids could have stayed all night long! We broke for lunch, but otherwise it was go, go, go! They have a Blue's Clues ride, a child-friendly roller coaster, all sorts of fun stuff. Brecken LOVED it. His favorite ride was the bumper cars- he rode it four times. :)

Friday was Brooke's birthday party. We went to The Giggle Factory, an indoor playground, with some of David and Kristen's friends to play in the morning. We all went back to David and Kristen's house for lunch and birthday cake and presents!

Saturday was our last full day in Minnesota. We spent it at Lake Elmo. My son, the fish, loved every single minute of it. He played so hard that he fell asleep in the car when we left. Josh and I took that opportunity to drive around exploring the area while he got some rest. :) We had a great day there and the weather, once again, was perfect! It was even overcast most of the day so we didn't all get sunburned!

Sunday was the day we had to leave. :( It was a LONG trip south through Minnesota and Iowa and into Nebraska. We stopped in Grand Island, NE for the night and got home on Monday afternoon. It was a really long two days, especially since Brecken sported a fever and wasn't feeling the greatest. :(

All in all, it was an awesome trip! We can't wait to go back!

our parrot

Josh: Brecken, go get me your cup, if you want more milk.
Brecken: Fine! For crying out loud!!

Hmmm... Daddy... guess it's time for you to stop using that phrase!!!

Another new one this week: OH. MY. GOSH.

I'm not lost. I'm still here. We went on a fabulous trip to Minnesota and just got back last night, so I'm playing catch-up! A post with pictures from our trip is soon to come!

the art of friendship

About 4 months or so ago, I had an email from a very dear friend of mine. It was inviting me and several other girls to her house to spend a weekend. I was instantly excited and even more so when I decided to go!

That friend, K, is someone I had never met in real life before. She and I are on the same online support group for infertile women. She lives in Connecticut, works in New York City, and desperately wants a baby. (and is one of the most generous women I've ever met in my entire life.) My other friends that were invited are on the same board, all with the diagnosis of infertility.

It's a funny thing, this infertility. It messes with your head in a horrible way. I read an article today that mentioned a sentence that makes a lot of sense- infertiles are mourning the death, may it be, of children you'll never meet. It's a chronic mourning that is a constant reminder of what you are going through. The article I read was all about how women won't talk about what is going on- it's like the silence of breast cancer years ago. (click here to read the article if you want.)

However, on my board, as I call it, we are totally open about our battle. So much so that I could tell you about the uterus of any friend on there. We are constantly analyzing each other's bodies and giving advice and cheerleading, and shoulders to cry on. It's one amazing group of women. I can't even begin to explain to you how close we are, it's just one of those things you have to experience for yourself. Every time we get a new member, the first posts are always, "Welcome!! So sorry you have to be here, but glad you are because this is the best group of women ANYWHERE!" And it's so true. We are sorry we have to have new members because this is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. But if you want to find support, our tight-knit group is definitely the place to go.

That's why, this weekend while meeting everyone, not a single one of us said, "it's so good to meet you!" We realized that halfway through the weekend. Not ONE of us ever said that to another, and it was totally subconsciously. We didn't feel like we were meeting someone- because we've known each other's intricate details of life for so long. It truly felt like we were seeing an old friend again. Which was true- we ARE old friends, just hadn't been able to hug each other yet.

And lots of hugging was done. And talking. And gabbing. And talking about our husbands. (my friend K's husband is from South Africa- sooooo glad I got to meet him- he has an accent to die for, is so charming, and is into photography, too!! I was lucky to see some of his work from when he was a ranger in the South African bush, and my jaw dropped while gasps came out several times- his work is BEAUTIFUL. Have you ever seen a close up photo of an animal ripping up another animal, with blood spraying everywhere and a kidney flying in the air? I have now!) Some of us are lucky enough to be mothers and we talked about our children. Which we were assured by K that it wasn't bothering her- it was actually giving her hope that it was going to happen to her some day. We rubbed the belly of my great friend T who is pregnant for the first time after FIVE YEARS of trying. We ate. And ate. And ate. We shopped 'til we dropped. We did sightseeing in the Big Apple. We walked. We rode trains and taxis. We laughed. I crossed 4 states off my list of states I've never visited before.

And through all of this, I healed a little. It wasn't intentional, it just happened. I no longer feel the mourning as bad as I have lately. Of course, I'm still quite sad that my body isn't giving ME the choice to choose how big our family should be. But I'm OK with that, I think. My friend K put it best when she said that after this weekend, the little pieces in her that were missing are now complete. These are the best friends a girl could ask for. Now I'm just ticked that they all live so far away. :)

I will always be infertile. That part of me will never, ever go away. I will always be sad that my body won't work as it's supposed to. But the gaping hole it has left in my heart is now a tiny bit smaller.

K, T, L, M, G, and S, thank you. Thank you for being my friends. Thank you for helping me heal. Thank you, for being YOU.

my athlete

B is in love with our new back yard. We are finally able to play out there and he takes full advantage of it! We got him an oversized baseball set the other day and now it seems that's all we play! I was playing with him yesterday and when Josh came home, Brecken went running to him and said, "DADDY! You wanna play baseball with me and Mommy? You can be the goalie!" :)

He definitely is a sports nut. The first thing out of his mouth the other morning was "Daddy, can we go golfing right now?" While in Gillette, he couldn't wait to go back to my mom's playground at her school with a basketball so he could shoot hoops. Josh can't even think about going to bball practice (for camps) without Brecken asking if he can come along. He also puts his football in the grass (and it stands up like it's on a tee) and he practices and practices his football kicks. Who knows... perhaps someday, he'll be a pro athlete and can buy his mom and dad a nice house on a tropical island. :)

Some pictures from the 4th of July weekend...

we're back!

It's been a while since I've posted!

Since then, we enjoyed a great trip to Gillette for the 4th of July and my mom's birthday. During that time, Josh and my dad played in a golf tournament at Devil's Tower. The second day, they got caught in a pouring rainstorm. Josh described it as being soaked to his undies- which made Brecken giggle hysterically when I told him that. :)

My mom and I spent a lot of time playing with B, even going to my mom's school so he could have the brand new playground to himself. He played and played and played, and we had to bring Daddy back there a few days later to play basketball with him! We also went to the 4th of July parade, did a few small fireworks, went out to see the HUGE display the city puts on every year, went swimming at the incredible new Rec Center, went out for my mom's birthday dinner, and just overall, had a great, relaxing time.

Pictures to follow!

life at the frat house

This is totally true about life with a child. I laughed pretty hard!

the grass is greener

on OUR side of the fence! Woo-hoo, it's done!! I have a BEAUTIFUL new yard! I can't wait until we are able to run and play on it!

knock knock

Brecken has been working on his knock-knock jokes today. Here are a couple of them.

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Banana peel.

Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange tree.

Doesn't *quite* get the concept but they make me laugh anyway. :)

fishio

We had a small gumball machine for Brecken for potty training. Every time went potty, he got a penny or dime to put in the machine for a little gumball. When the gumballs were all gone (there were maybe 25 in there), he got to take the money out and spend it on whatever he wanted. Last Saturday while in Casper, this is what he picked out:


His name is Fishio. And B loves him. At first, he couldn't understand why we wouldn't let him get Fishio out to play with, but he understands now. He tells Fishio good night, good morning, and remembers to feed him. It's a pretty cute little relationship. :)

loco

I'm sad to report that I cannot write about our beautiful new back yard today. They thought they might be able to lay sod today, but nobody came. Perhaps on Monday!

We've had other lawn drama this week though- in the front yard. Long story short, the city needed to put in a new water meter and that included tearing out my BRAND NEW flower bed that Josh built for me, digging 9 feet into the ground, and deciding that was the wrong spot so they had to do the same thing in my yard, next to the planter (that was no longer there). I was so mad. I cried- Josh put a lot of time into that planter! Brecken cried too because his flowers weren't going to grow now. :(

After they got done digging up my yard, they sent a crew over to fix my planter. They did such a nice job on it. They ran out of bricks even, so I think my planter is a bit bigger than it used to be! HA! They worked really hard though- made sure it was level, made sure each brick was perfectly straight, etc. I made sure to give them a HUGE thank you before they left. Most of the crew only spoke Spanish but the head guy knew English. I had to laugh while I listened to them talk while they worked- all I could decipher was "loco". I sure hope they weren't calling us "crazy"- though I wouldn't blame them in the least for thinking that- they probably heard stories of me yelling very angrily at the guy who told me that ruining my beautiful planter because they didn't take 5 seconds to double check water line placement was "not a big deal". :) No yelling at the crew that put it back together though- they did beautiful work.

Here's a bad cell phone picture of the flower bed earlier this week, and then Brecken helping his Daddy put mulch in the planter today. He's wearing his basketball sweatband for some reason.

I've given up on flowers for this year. (though a few of the sunflowers Brecken planted survived- they are still sprouting at the back of the planter- the 3 inches that wasn't ruined!)

landscape

We're getting our back yard re-landscaped! I'm so excited. It was all dead before. I took pictures of it in the true "before" stage, but I accidentally deleted them off my card before I put them on my computer. So here are some "during" ones. I'll post the "after" when they get done with it- hopefully on Friday!! We got a sprinker system installed (in the front yard too!) this past weekend, so we're all set to go!

Here is the side of our house- Josh wants to take the shed out and put in a cement pad for basketball!

The oter side of the house- the junk pile. It is now part of the dog kennel- we extended the kennel so they have from one side of the patio, to around the corner and side of the house. Much more room to run when they have to be in the kennel. They can also get into the garage to get out of weather elements. Don't worry- we'll be picking up all the junk. :)

The upper level of the yard. Picture ugly, dead crab grass growing wildly, and three dead pine trees along the fence line. Those were removed. The tree on the right is a chokecherry tree.

Looking at the lower level from the patio

little linebacker

what's the bzzz

I recently decided to sign up with Bzz Agent. Bzz Agent is a place where you can try product samples and then tell everyone you know your review on the samples. I've gotten two so far, and think they're worthy of telling you dry-climate girls about them!

The first one I tried is Dove Insensive Repair Daily Treatment Conditioner.

I'm always looking for good conditioners because in our neck of the woods, where the climate is extremely dry, my hair needs the extra moisture. I left it in for the minute it said to, and I can tell you that I will be buying another bottle of this, that's for sure. It makes my hair sooo soft! I love this conditioner.

The next thing I got to try was Got2Be Smooth Operator. It's a product to use on wet or dry hair to prevent flyaways and make styling easier. It also is supposed to protect your hair against heat when you use your curling iron or flat iron or whatever it is you use.

To be honest, I'm not in love with this product. It made my hair feel like there was something on it, which I really dislike. I like my hair to be touchable, not like there's gunk in it. However, that very well may be because I used it on my wet hair, blew it dry, and then used it again before using my flat iron. Next time I actually do my hair, I'll just use it once and see if I can feel a difference. I will say though, that my hair was much flatter with this product in it, not nearly as frizzy after straightening it, which was lovely!

If you want coupons or samples of any of these, let me know, because I have some to hand out! I'll even mail them! :)

finally! summer!

We finally have a warm day! First one since school got out! Thank goodness, because I was getting tired of long sleeved shirts.

Here's our apple tree out front- it smells incredibly delicious. And it's so pretty!

super mom

That's what you can call me from now on. :)

Friday: Target day, has been for MONTHS, the day we take away the pull-ups. Last pre-school event was Thursday, so Friday was the day for underwear since I was done with school also. Unfortunately, Josh was gone this weekend and I was a little afraid of doing it by myself, but I am quite proud of myself (and I'm not afraid to admit it!). :)

Friday: Two accidents. I had to put B's small potty chair out in the living room to get him used to it, since he was totally terrified. He ended up sitting on it all afternoon, which was fine with me. Started asking if he could go to bed at 5:00 that evening since he knew he got a pull-up for bed. :)

Saturday: Two accidents, both outside. No big deal! Potty chair got put back in the bathroom because he decided it was too small and wanted to use the big toilets. Sweet! He did not want to go to bed that night, even though he got a pull-up!

Sunday: One accident!!! Again, outside.

Monday- Two accidents- one outside again, and one RIGHT in front of the toilet- he just couldn't make it there in time, despite running down the hallway.

Today- ZERO ACCIDENTS! *knock on wood since we have an hour left until bedtime...* B even went with Josh up to the school to pick up something, and they were gone for an hour- no accidents! Woo-hoo!!

SOOOO proud of my little man!

six

Six years ago today, I was running around getting ready for our wedding. I woke up so excited and stayed that way the whole day. The girls headed over to my friend Erin's house where we did our hair and makeup and headed over to the church. We ate lunch at the church and then got dressed. We took pictures before the wedding and I had so much fun. We split up after pictures and waited for the ceremony to start. I never once got nervous. I was nothing but excited. I remember my dad not letting us go down the aisle until a certain point in the Wedding March, his reasoning being that we didn't want to get down to the end of the aisle and have to stand there for a while. I couldn't wait though, I practically dragged my dad to get going. :)

Today, I am running around after a 3 1/2 year old, getting him potty trained. I'm also doing my darndest to add to our family, not being successful and trying to come to terms with the fact that I might be the mother of an only child. I'm almost to the point where I'm OK with that. (How silly of me to think that we'd get pregnant as soon as we wanted!) Life is so much different now than it was six years ago. And despite that, I would not trade the past six years for anything. They've been the best six years of my life! I have the most amazing husband. He's been there for me every step of the way. This past year has been a doozy, and he's never once quit being strong for me when I couldn't be strong for myself.

You, Josh, are my best friend and I can't thank you enough for being there for me every single day. Thanks for asking me to marry you. :)

finally

some blooms.

last day

Brecken picked these flowers out at the greenhouse the other day, and last night he helped me plant them into these cups. He gave them to his teachers at school today, as today was his last day of preschool for the school year! Tomorrow we get to go to a preschool picnic, but today was the last day of actual school. He loves his teachers so much, I know he will miss them when he moves on to the 4 year old class next year! He has learned so much this year, it's been amazing to watch. He's quite the smart little boy, that's for sure!

the garden

We got a huge dump truck full of dirt delivered to our driveway yesterday. We had ordered dirt to fill the flower bed that Josh re-did for me this spring. I freaked out though- we certainly did NOT need a whole dump truck full! Luckily he only emptied about 1/4 of it into our planter. It snowed yesterday (can you believe it?!), so we couldn't spread it out, but Josh and Brecken did that today. After it was all spread, Brecken and I tossed the new flower seeds into it. I can't wait until they grow and bloom!

We also planted tomato plants into a hanging tomato planter that I'm going to try this year... we'll see if I can get anything to grow from it!

After the snow yesterday, the 50 degrees and sun felt WONDERFUL today!

mail

Brecken LOVES to get mail. If we go to the post office and there's something for him in the mail box, it totally makes his whole day. He squeals with excitement and can't wait to open it. It's too bad he doesn't get mail very often. :) He did get mail today though- his grandma sent him an envelope and in it was a whole dollar!! He is so proud of that dollar. I asked if he wanted to call Grandma and tell her thank you, but he said, "No, I think I will email her instead. So here is the email he sent her, complete with the word-for-word translation- I didn't make any of this up- he really told me this is what it said, exactly!


jnbvcxzfasdfghjkl;;'5547/*--------------------------mnbvcxzaasdfghjklqwertyu
iop

Thank you for giving me mail, Grandma. It was very nice. Will you send
me another mail tomorrow?

bccccccccccccccccccccsrekenn

(And he typed the letters in his name. They aren't in the right order, but they are the right letters. :) He even picked them out on the keyboard by himself! )

a talk

Brecken to me this afternoon: Mommy, we need to have a little talk.

Me: Ok... (wondering what is going to come out of his mouth...)

B: If you don't like bugs, I will tell them to go away.

Me: OK! Thanks, bud!

B: You're welcome. I'm glad we had that little talk.

My best boy loves flowers. He loves anything to do with flowers. So today he helped me plant flowers in our outdoor pots. It was finally a beautiful day to do it!



(excuse the dead look to these. Poor things needed water. They look much better this evening.)

party animal

I have been quite the party animal this weekend. :) I went to a Mary Kay party on Thursday night, my secret friend reveal party on Friday night, last night we all went to a "bachelor" party at a friend's house (more about that in a minute), and today we're going to Enc for a retirement party for our school counselor. Phew- I've never gone to so many parties in a row! :)


Here is what I got for my secret friend for her final gift. She ended up not having any idea I was her secret friend- I was shocked! Anyway, I took all these pictures and had it matted and framed. And she cried, she liked it so much. Hooray! :) It spells her last name.

Last night we went to a friend's house for a "bachelor" party for our 6th grade teacher at work. I say "bachelor" because there were more women than men, and two 3 year olds too, to join in on the fun. :) Jordan was quite the sport and even let the 3 year olds play games with him! Brecken's friend Sophie was the other 3 year old and they ran and ran and ran until 10:00 last night. They had a blast. Sophie gave Brecken his first kiss from a girl (on the cheek) and he proceeded to wipe it off.

7 more days of school for me!! Brecken has 8, and Josh has 9. I'm kind of excited that I'm the one with the fewest number. :)

self-diagnosis

Said to me tonight, COMPLETELY out of the blue and he was very serious:

"Mom, I just feel like I'm allergic to bears."

Umm....

mommy...

...is the best name I've ever had.

hand in hand

Brecken made something for me for Mother's Day at preschool and couldn't wait to show me- and it's wonderful! When he told me "I figured you would LOVE this, Mommy!" I told him he was right- I DO love it! Back at his Parent-Teacher conference, Miss Melody asked if I would leave my hand prints in paint. I forgot I even did that, until I saw my hand prints on my Mother's Day present! I love love love the X's and O's he drew on he hearts. :)