This Place Just Makes You Smile

Each year our small group is blessed to spend a couple nights at the Elizabeth Lodge.  This year we had the privilege of spending our time during the summer.   Our weekend was full of food, games, laughter and MUCH bonding time.  We love each one of these couples and are so fortunate to have them in our lives.  I had a hard time picking just a few pictures out of the 457 that were snapped!

The Sheldon Experience

The Johnsons, Bristols, Sheldons, and us made a trip to Mason City, Iowa to visit Eric’s parents.  We were able to spend the weekend playing games and getting the “tour” of where Eric was raised to be the proper young man he is today!  Alan and Judy Sheldon were wonderful hosts and they made each of us feel extremely welcome.   It was a special time hearing Eric’s dad preach on Sunday morning and then having lunch together with his family.  We are looking forward to the day we get invited back!

Long lost brothers!



Eric drove us to Clear Lake, Ia for Kevin  to show
all of us the home he lived in when he was a young boy.



Kevin and I infront of the home he lived in when he was young.

Lazy Sunday Afternoons

When I woke up this morning I realized that we had nothing planned on this humid, HOT day.  Isn’t that one of the best feelings in the world?  I started my day off by doing a little work in my garden.  I have a cute little bunny eating my zucchini flowers, so I put up a fence and lined it with deer netting. Yep, the poor little guy will have to go eat someone else’s garden!  While working on the fence I noticed my peas and beans were in need of picking!  This sure makes it easy to know what veggies we will be having for dinner next week.  =)  After working in the garden I did some cleaning then spent the afternoon in God’s Word and discussing a book with a dear friend.  While I was reading I started to smell this strong scent coming from the living room.  Guess what it was?  Kevin was cleaning his gun! I was beyond excited…this means we finally get to go shooting.  Kevin’s dad handed down his rifle to Kevin for us to do some target shooting.  It is now all cleaned and ready for use.  Time to hit the shooting range!  Just one more thing I use to do with my daddy.  Oh, the memories!

The beans and peas I picked today.

A Little Work and a Lot of Play

It was about time that Kevin and I went back to IL to visit his parents and a few friends.  We both took off work for a few days and took a road trip! With Kevin’s parents moving to Rochester next summer we needed to do a little work around their house.   One of our projects ended up being cleaning and painting shelves in their garage.  I must say that Lizzy, Kalynn and I did a fine job painting! That is, after Lizzy decided that playing with sidewalk chalk was not considered “working".

 

Once we had our projects done it was all play from then on out.  We only were able to jump in their pool for one afternoon…the weather was not playing nice. Guess what was waiting for us inside after our fingers and toes were a mushy, wrinkled mess?  Homemade peppermint ice-cream!  It had to be some of the best homemade ice-cream I have ever tasted!  

Kevin and I were able to sneak away for an evening and meet up with Jayme, Josh, Jimmy and Susie.  We all met up at Angelo’s so Kevin and I could get our Spaghetti Pizza fix.  Man, was it good!  Unfortunately, we did not get a picture with Jimmy and Susie since they left early to make another commitment.  After dinner we went back to Josh and Jayme’s to play Pounce and devour our blizzards.  Josh kept score with his fancy pen and pretty paper!



A few other highlights:  Playing Wii with Kevin’s parents, daily family devotions, games, comments Kevin’s mom blurted out...which still make me laugh, getting Kevin’s  22 rifle, ALMOST going to the drive in movie, and RELAXING!  



On the Hunt

This morning Katherine and I decided to hit up a few garage sales.  In preparation I decided to map out our route the night before, by using MapQuest.  I do hope to have a TomTom in the near future!  We each had our main focus.  I was looking for end tables to match our newly refinished hutch.  Katherine was on the hunt for baby boy items.  I did not find my tables, but I sure did find some great bargains!     

Each thing I found was something that I have been thinking about buying recently.  The tray ($3) I found will be perfect to place on our ottoman.  We need a place to set our drinks while watching T.V.  A few weeks ago I was visiting with a friend, Gina, and she sold me on wanting a PeaPod ($15).  We will be using this in place of a pack-n-play. Way more portable! I found one that was basically brand new...was used once. I am always on the look out for baby items.  I would love to have everything before we are chosen by a birth mom. One thing I did not have was a diaper bag ($5).  I have been looking at a couple of different Eddie Bauer hobo bags that both Kevin and I liked.  Can you believe I found one today with the tags still on it?  It was also in the perfect colors for both Kevin and I to carry.  My last find was a Singer Tiny Serger. I started taking sewing classes this week and I thought this would be a good way to learn how to use a serger.  I  did some research on this machine and there were bad and good reviews.  One thing I learned was I better read the entire manual before I start. Overall I did pretty darn good this morning!







Here is Katherine with all of her loot!  She found some like
 new toys, a cute baby boy outfit and boots she could not pass up!



All Finished!

Kevin and I added this piece of furniture to our household when we lived in Arizona.  We scored big while helping a friend move.  When they ran out of room in their U-haul we were in the right place at the right time!  I have wanted to refinish this piece for a few years now and it is finally DONE!  I must say Kevin and I are pleased with the way it turned out.

Before

After

Kevin's Birthday + Father's Day + Fishing = Fun!

Father’s Day is always a special day in our home…It is Kevin’s birthday!  This year we decided to spend the day celebrating by going fishing in Lanesboro.   There were three reasons we chose fishing on this special day.  First:  We were going with Tami, Lance, and the kids and Lance would fish everyday of the week if he had his way.  Second: Kevin requested to go fishing for his birthday.  Third:  I always enjoyed fishing with my dad!

We started the morning off by having breakfast out on our deck.  We had French toast, eggs, sausage, fruit and orange juice.  We could not have asked for better weather!  After cleaning up the kitchen we loaded up our truck and were on the road!  We pulled into Lanesboro and found out we had one slight problem…we forgot the fishing poles!  Ok, so that was not the problem.  =)  The place Lance had researched to fish was not available due to a festival in town.   After several minutes talking back and forth we came to a conclusion on where we would set up camp.  It turned out to be a great spot! We each caught at least one fish, so we all left with a smile.  Next time we do hope to catch a few more larger fish, but we had fun.  Us ladies took a break and walked down to the festival to join everyone else that was in Lanesboro!  We called it a day around 4:00 p.m. by stopping at the “famous” ice-cream shop.  Yummy to our tummies!