Life Lately

This summer has sure flown by. I cannot believe August is here already. It seems liek school just got out and the whole season lay before us. And now it's nearly gone.
We spent Father's Day weekend in Omaha. My brother, Gene, was coaching a 12 year old AAA team and Lara came with him. Eric was visiting Amanda at the same time. So my dad came to Minnesota to pick us up and we drove down for a long weekend and had a blast.


Dad and I took the boys to the zoo one day, and the next, while Tye spent an afternoon with Amanda & Eric seeing the Green Lantern movie, Dad, Bodie, & I headed back to the zoo and saw the Imax movies.

I think the part the kids loved the most was going to the Amazing Pizza Machine.
To say my family is slightly competetive is an understatement. We had a fierce race with the go-karts that started to turn into bumper cars.

Then it was off the Amanda's for wiffle ball and a bbq lunch. The wiffle ball game was just as competetive as the go-karts.


July was a little more relaxed as we stayed home and suffered through the heat. July was a teeribly hot month for Minnesota. The boys spent most of the month indoors and drove me crazy with cries of boredom. I gave in and let them have friends stay over a lot.
I caught a baby raccoon that fell into the house from the attic. And John finally sealed up the attic entrance, mostly out of fear from retaliation from me.

The chickens kept growing but didn't start laying until the last week of July. We have really enjoyed raising them. The Australorps are my favorite. We lost one Red to a raccoon, that John caught promptly the next night. We think it was the momma raccoon to the baby we caught.


My favorite part of the summer has been baseball. I was the assistant coach for Tye's team. I loved getting to spend the summer with him and teaching him about his favorite sport. He did pretty well, especially with pitching and was definitely a stand-out on the team.



Bodie played the same nights as Tye, so I have only had the chance to see 3 of his games. He is so impressive. He even helped sub for one of Tye's games and played better than some of the 12 year olds. He is amazing!

We spent the 4th with the Davidsons and friends. I was able to get some awesome shots of the fireworks.



The Rotary club put on the fireworks display and passes out 3D glasses to watch the show with. The boys looked pretty cute with them on.

This is what they made the fireworks look like. It was pretty cool!

The last part of July was busy, but sad as we had a family friend pass away. He was the husband of my dear friend, Kerri, and father to Bodie's best friend, Miles. We spent a few days with the family, trying to be with and comfort them. It was very close to my heart, as he had suffered from depression, and I am still working through a tough time of my own. At the funeral, the pastor said some words about suicide, faith, and forgiveness that I really needed to hear and I knew there was meaning and comfort for me in his words. We keep the family close in our prayers and hope for peace in their future.
And now it is August already. We still have a lot of work to do on the house and yard. Our exchange student, Johan is coming in a week and we are so excited to meet him. Tye has been counting down the days. The fair will be on us before we know it, and we are planning to go to Duluth over Labor Day with the Davidsons. I hope these last weeks of summer bring us lots of fun and good times!