Turner's Birthday

Turner is 4!!!

 

Cupcakes from Grandma

I love this kid!

Turner and his Mom.

Blowing out the candles.

We struggled to get them lit in the breeze and then they wouldn't go out!

Turner and Grandma

The Hofers

 

We had a blast celebrating Turner's birthday yesterday at Lake Poinsett!

His actual birthday is today ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TURNER!!

We love you, buddy!

 

Some more pictures from the lake ...

American Beautiful

My All-American cuties!

Lilli Jo and Grandma at the 4th of July parade.

Sons of Norway

{I rode on this float many times as a kid.

I noticed that the kids nowadays don't have to wear the traditional dress like I did.}

Lilli Jo and Grandpa

These flags lined the street on the courthouse lawn.

Volga Fire Department

Grandpa's tractors

Me and my loves

There are no words for this little goofball!

A gorgeous night at Lake Poinsett.

Summer Fun

Rodeo Days!

Estelline Rodeo Days is quickly becoming a tradition for me and Preston.

We went last year and Preston loved it.

This year, Preston and I brought my friend Kayla and her two kids.

Next year, Lilli Jo gets to go with!

 

 

Preston seriously needs a cowboy hat and some boots. He looks pretty darn good in that hat and loves that Camden lets him wear his (that's Camden in the background). But he's not getting boots until I do!

 

And next year, I either need to sit up in the bleachers or get up next to the fence so my pictures turn out better. Not sure how much I want to get up next to that fence though. The stock gets pretty crazy and those horses and bulls were bucking the fence pretty good!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Dustin's parents, the brave souls that they are, took our children, and our nephew Cyrus, for the week.

 

You know me ...

 

We can't just sit and enjoy our time off without children!

 

I took the week off work, while Dustin took three days.

We relaxed on Saturday and Sunday ... went to softball practice both days, enjoyed an awesome outdoor church service (probably the first time in 4.5 years that I've been able to pay attention to the sermon) and then bloody mary's at Cubby's afterwards. And enjoyed a fire each night. It was quite lovely.

 

Monday we got busy.

Our landscaping was in dire need of some refreshing. If you recall, we did the original landscaping project in 2008 (darn near five years to the day).

While I loved the wood chips, I grew tired of getting new bags every year to fill in all the holes.

 

So ...

 

 

We got rid of all the wood chips and brought in Dakota river rock.

 

A HUGE thank you to my husband, as he did all the rock by himself while I was busy working on our other project.

 

He also decided to take care of the back of the house as well.

 

Dustin tried a garden here the first year or two that we moved in. But neither of us is really all that interested in gardening so that didn't last long.

And our neighbor has turned basically her entire backyard into a garden, so we just take her stuff!

 

 

So we added some rock back here too.

 

The BIG project was the basement. I had come to the conclusion that we either start using our basement more or we buy a new house. We had simply outgrown the upstairs living space and needed to do something. Buying a new house isn't an option right now so the basement it is!

 

 

{Ugh. Do you see why I was never down here. Yuck.}

 

After removing wood chips Monday morning, I spent the afternoon cleaning and clearing out downstairs.

 

Tuesday, I painted. All.Day.Long. Seriously. I started around 10:00 am and finished up around 6:00 or 6:30 pm. Uffda. Then I cleaned the carpet.

 

Wednesday morning we took a break from all the hard work and went golfing. We had to have some fun on vacation!

Wednesday afternoon we moved furniture.

 

And the final result ...

 

 

And upstairs ...

 

 

I love the changes we've made!

See that big empty space above, and to the left, of the tv? I'm doing another Ladie's Night at the SD Art Museum, so hopefully I have an awesome painting to hang there!

 

I'm heading to Sioux Falls in the morning to get the kids and I can't wait for them to get home and see everything we've done. I have no doubt they will love having all their stuff downstairs and all the room that comes with it!

 

Maybe some day I'll take a week off work and just relax and enjoy the time off.

Or not.