Random Photo Shoot

After church one day we decided to venture on over to Noerenberg Gardens to checkout the flowers and ended up with a pretty decent photo shoot with just our cell phones.  It's amazing how far technology has come in our lifetime and to think we can take pictures on our phone now is pretty incredible.  I feel like I've captured so many fun moments in our life solely because of phone cameras.

The Fair

We hit up the Carver County Fair again this year.  Kids wanted to ride and ride and ride some more!!  We may have seen some pouty faces when we told them we were done with rides.  We checked out the llamas, goats, sheep, pigs, bunnies, chickens, geese, ducks and I'm sure more that I'm forgetting.  We devoured a nice healthy dinner of corn dogs, cheese curds and lemonade. ;)  Fair food is just so tasty!!  Until next year...

Cabin Time

At the end of July we headed up to my parent's cabin in Port Wing.  We stopped at Amnicon Falls on the way up to enjoy a little hike in the wilderness.  Well we enjoyed most of it....Caleb was running and tripped on a tree root and skinned up his elbow.  I thought he had been stabbed with a knife for how dramatic he was being.  Hehe.  Throwing rocks across the stream distracted Caleb from his elbow, but as soon as he was done doing that he was quickly reminded how much it hurt.  You can even see the pain on his face in the picture below of Caleb and Zoe.

This place was so beautiful and so peaceful, I could've walked around for hours.

Next stop, Port Wing!  We relaxed, fished, swam (just the kids), went for a boat ride, played at the park, walked along the shoreline, collected cool rocks, visited another waterfall, rode the four-wheeler, played some intense battles of Go Fish, sunbathed on the deck, enjoyed each other's company and ate some really good food.

Oh and the weekend wouldn't be complete without a little ice cream!!

Hendrix Daniel

My handsome nephew was born on July 5th while we were on vacation so we stopped by a week later to see him.  He's so adorable and so incredibly perfect!!!  Caleb and Zoe are so excited to have another cousin!!  Welcome to the world Hendrix!!!  You will be loved SO MUCH!!

12 years

Wow we've been married 12 years!!!  What a ride.  Dave surprised me with dinner at Jefe in Northeast Minneapolis St. Anthony and Main area.  After, we walked across the Stone Arch Bridge to Izzy's Ice Cream for one of my favorite sweet treats.  The ice cream cooled us down from our warm walk so we headed to Gold Medal Park nearby to relax.  Dave snuck in a quick snooze on a bench while I laid in the grass.  Shortly after we moseyed on over to the Guthrie to see West Side Story which was phenomenal.  By the time the show was done it was dark outside and walking back over the Stone Arch Bridge at night is absolutely breath taking.  Minneapolis at night is so incredibly beautiful.  It was such a lovely evening.  Here's to many many more anniversaries babe! XOXO!

Jellystone

We took our very first vacation with the kids (not including family cabins).  We went with the Diaz family to Jellystone park in Warrens, Wi and had such a great time!  The kids still talk about going back there.  They played so hard every day that they were wiped by bed time.  From pool time, to mini golf, to dance parties, bonfires, games, events, arcade, playing at the park, basketball, etc. We definitely see ourselves going back again.  Check out the cool video Dave put together from our weekend!!

Jellystone video

Sports

In January Caleb had his very first tennis lesson.  I remember they all lined up to hit the tennis ball and when the coach bounced the ball to Caleb he wound up to crush it.  He wound up so hard that the coach ducked in fear and after said "Caleb not so hard, just a nice soft swing".  I knew that would happen because Caleb does everything full force.  He had 7 lessons and did very well.  Below is a picture of Caleb (the cool guy in the black shirt and shorts) perfecting his game.

Caleb thoroughly enjoyed his first basketball camp and was one of the most enthusiastic kids in the class.  He was eager to answer any questions the coach asked...no surprise there.  The coach asked "When you're not on offense, you're on..." and Caleb yelled "DEFENSE".  I think it's safe to say Dave has passed on his love for basketball to little Mr. Caleb.  Below is a picture of him before leaving for camp.

Zoe wanted to be included in on the photo shoot so she grabbed a volleyball.  Good choice girl.

Ok back to Caleb going to camp.  Below the coach is showing Caleb how to hold the basketball when shooting.

And then this is the stance when on defense.  At this point Caleb is now pretty much at the head of the class by the coach instead of by the kids.  Haha!  Natural born leader???

Caleb's first soccer game was cancelled yesterday because it's so cold and tomorrow's game is cancelled as well.  Come on MN, it's time to warm up!!!  It's snowing outside as I write this and it's April 8th.  So his first game will be next Saturday and it's indoors.  They still had their pictures taken yesterday and Caleb is on the Yellow Bison team.  Oliver in our neighborhood is on his team along with Avery who he goes to pre-school with.

Our Little Readers

Two more videos and both of these are two of my all time favorites.  First Zoe "reading" a bedtime story to me and the other Caleb actually learning to read.  He's not even in Kindergarten yet and he just amazes me with his intelligence.  I absolutely love how much they love books.  We have read to them almost every night since they were born so it's no surprise they love books.  Enjoy these videos.

https://youtu.be/qVEgBmoI5UA

https://youtu.be/taUkhkpvgVo

All kinds of adorable

Whenever we go into check on the kids, we never know what to expect.  Sometimes they are asleep in their beds but many times they are on the floor.  Not sure why that's such a desire, the floor is so incredibly hard.  One night we came into Zoe sleeping in the corner of her room like this.

Other times we come into her room and she's teaching her stuffed animals Spanish.

But my absolute favorite is when she's singing to her dolls.  If this video doesn't warm your heart, I don't know what will.  I just love this little honey so much.

https://youtu.be/OXb5GKPVupU

Snow, snow, so much snow!

We've had a lot of snow this winter, which is pretty fun and about a month ago we had the most magical snowfall.  We've made snowmen, snow angels, gone tubing but I think it's safe to say that we are now officially ready for Spring and Summer!  Caleb keeps asking when it's going to get warm out and the other day he said "Mom wouldn't it be cool if it was summer all year long"?  Yeah I start to think that same exact thing come late Feb/early Mar.  Anyway, here is a look back on some of the snow fun we had this winter.  Oh and as I type this on April 2nd we are expected to get 6-8 inches of snow tonight.  Oiyy!

Check out these two videos too.  Nothing like a little t-ball in the middle of winter.

https://youtu.be/3aFR2wJPoFc

https://youtu.be/v20JzKzrW30

Broom goes BOOM

Turns out it isn't good when the head of a toy broom goes flying into your tv.  I was in the kitchen when I heard a loud noise.  I looked over and Caleb ran to the corner of the house where he picked up the head of Zoe's toy broom and the handle was in his other hand.  I asked, "What was that loud noise?" He had this concerned look on his face but I just assumed it had hit the wall or something.  I went back to doing some stuff and then 15 minutes later I noticed a large black spot on the top left corner of the tv but the rest of the tv was working fine.  I then asked "Caleb, is this what that loud noise was from??  Did you hit the tv with the broom?"  He instantly dropped to the ground and started crying.  Instant grace overcame me and I told him we could always get another tv but no more swinging things in the living room and to teach him a lesson I took $5 from his spending money jar to help pay for the tv.  My dad graciously surprised us by telling us he wanted to buy us a tv.  We obviously accepted the wonderful gift and now nobody has to use the Wii remote to work Netflix.  HALLELUJAH!!  Broken tv = blessing in disguise.  Thank you dad!!

Broken tv after we shut it off and then turned it back on.

New tv with a happy Caleb.

Caleb & Taylor

Caleb is just smitten about a girl at pre-school.  Turns out she will be going to the same elementary school as Caleb too.  I asked him the other day if he talks to her at school and he said she's too shy.  Months ago though he said she asked him to marry her so I think he's been a smitten kitten ever since.

The other night Dave was gone, I was tucking Zoe into bed and Caleb was waiting for me to finish up so I could tuck him in next.  I left Zoe's room and walked into Caleb's room and he had drawn this picture.  May I just point out the fact that Taylor has long eyelashes and he doesn't.  Incredible attention to detail at such a young age.  He looked at me with a big smile on his face and said "Mom, can you draw hearts on here?!"  Then he said, "wait no, I think I can do it". 

It's adorable seeing him shy/embarrassed/smitten and he's only 5. <3

Zoe's First Haircut

Zoe received her very first haircut on Saturday, January 20th, 2018.  Crazy to think that she was 3 years old and Caleb was only 5 months old when he got his first haircut.  Zoe did such a great job and the stylist even put a beautiful little braid in her hair.  Photos below are before, during and after.  They even put some of her first haircut hairs into a little packet and put it on a First Haircut piece of paper so she can cherish those little hairs forever. ;)

Ice Castle

We were so busy the week leading up to the Super Bowl so we didn't get to go downtown Minneapolis with the kids to see everything they had setup for the Super Bowl.  Dave worked an event downtown so he was able to sneak away for a bit to see a few things.  We did however want to see the ice castle they built in Rice park over in St. Paul so we hit up the Science Museum first since we have a membership there and then walked over to see the castle once it was dark.  It was absolutely beautiful and there was a parade going on so there were people everywhere.  It was soooo crowded but we found a kind lady to snap a picture of our family.  Hope you all were able to check it out because it really was quite a site to see.

Kindergarten Preview Night

I may or may not have cried during Kindergarten preview night.  I can't believe my first baby will be heading off to Kindergarten in the fall.  We picked him up from pre-school and on the drive to Laketown I could tell he was nervous but excited.  He was quiet.  This is unusual for Caleb.  We drove up to the enormous elementary school, excitedly got out of the car with anticipation of what awaited us inside.  As we approached the doors, there was a sign that said Welcome Class of 2031.  It all became very real imagining my little boy venturing off to a new school, learning new things, and making new friends.

Once inside, Caleb received a "Kindergarten License" card where he needed to receive stamps from each station that we visited.  We visited the art room where he made a necklace, the music room where he played all kinds of instruments and wasn't shy in doing so, the lunch room, the library where Caleb received a free book and the gym where he ran a quick lap and received a cool pennant.  We visited the Spanish teacher and Caleb impressed her by remembering rojo is red in Spanish and verde is green.  We also visited an actual classroom where we met some of the Kindergarten teachers and they all seemed so incredibly lovely.  In the classroom, we sat down at a table to color and Caleb looked up and me and said "I'm going to color this picture for you mommy, because it's your birthday".  He's simply the sweetest boy in the world and that, of course, made me tear up.  Dave knew it would so he immediately looked at me and smiled/laughed as he saw tears in my eyes.

It was a lovely tour, the hour we were there went fast and Caleb seemed very excited about everything which made it even better.  He really liked the cool lockers that you stash your coat and school supplies in.  Oh and he saw a couple girls from his pre-school so I think that set him at ease as well because all his close boy buddies will not be at his school.  In fact, one of the girls he saw (Taylor) he said he's going to marry and when we left he was so smitten that he couldn't even yell good-bye to her.  It's already starting.  Oiyy!
Come fall there will be more tears as he climbs onto that yellow school bus just growing up right before my eyes.  I love you Caleb and I'm excited about your Kindergarten journey ahead.

2017 Recap

Is anyone out there??  I realize I've been MIA for about a year now and I still don't have blogger on my phone which makes doing this blog a billion times harder but I'm going to attempt to BRING IT BACK BABY!!!  Mainly because it's the only time I really sit down and write about our family and I really do enjoy looking back on the memories.  Ok so here goes 2017 in a nutshell.  Hopefully moving forward I can be a bit more extensive in my writing.  Sorry 2017, you were good to us, I just neglected to write about you while life was happening.


**January 2017**
Caleb tried skating for the first time.  It wasn't very successful and he sure wore Dave's back out.  Dave had to hold him pretty much the whole time.  He was just happy to be there and had a smile on his face the whole time except during the one picture we got apparently.  Looks like he's feeling defeated but he probably was annoyed that Dave was taking his picture and not helping him skate.  We also didn't have a hockey helmet for him but the Spiderman bike helmet sufficed.

**February 2017**

Looks like the kids went ice fishing with grandpa and grandma and they are helping grandpa clean the fish they caught.  Or maybe Caleb is making a mess with the salt and pepper and Zoe is eating the raw fish?!?  Kidding, she's a good eater but not THAT good.

**April 2017**
Oddly enough I don't have any Easter egg hunt photos but I have a few from Easter service at church, playing outside in the beautiful weather at my parents and then hosting Easter with Dave's family at our house.

**May 2017**
I attempted a surprise 35th birthday party for Dave with the plan being that his friends and brother would meet us at a Saints game but the game was called before it even started because of rain so we had a change of plans.  We instead went out for a couple drinks at Dark Horse in St Paul and then headed to Dave and Busters for a few games.  It was fun, but really bummed my first plan fell through because his buddy Joe had hooked us up with some seats in a suite!

**June 2017**
We ventured downtown Minneapolis which we don't do very often so it was nice to make the trek down there.  We walked across the Stone Arch bridge, ate at Masu sushi, devoured some Izzy's ice cream, played in the park, splashed in some water wall art and strolled through the streets.

**July 2017**We headed north to Port Wing for the 4th of July.  It was filled with boat rides, fishing, walks on the beach, playing with sticks, looking for rocks, relaxing, bonfires, bags/cornhole and REALLY REALLY REALLY big fireworks!!  The kids just LOVED the fireworks.

Dave and I went kayaking on Lake Minnetonka for our 11 year anniversary and after ate at Lago Tacos in Excelsior.  It was a perfect day for kayaking and honestly the majority of it we just relaxed in our kayaks and talked and laughed while enjoying the beautiful weather.

THE BEACH!!  We purchased a membership at the beach and it was money VERY WELL spent.  We went after school some days and a lot on the weekends.  Caleb and Zoe are little water bugs and loved splashing around and building up their confidence in the water.  I'm guessing we will get another membership this next year as well because it really was a good way to spend family time.





If we weren't at the beach we were most likely at a park.  Another favorite of the kids and we love it because it gets us outside in the freshy fresh air.

What is summer if you don't have a little ice cream!??!  A few times we had an ice cream truck stroll through our neighborhood which made for a nice cold tasty treat on those hot summer days.

We also have a membership to the science museum so we have been hitting that place up too.  I think Caleb's favorite is running against TC Bear because he can beat him every time.  We are still teaching Caleb to stay in his own lane, he tends to veer off towards TC Bear!

Ok and if we aren't at the beach or at parks or at the Science Museum then we are out for walks!  Kids love to venture out for walks and I do too because you really see God's beauty everywhere.

**August 2017**
It's fair season and even though we didn't make it to the MN state fair, we made it to the Carver County fair.  Dan, Emily, Kaylin, grandpa Mike and grandma Lala all joined us as we visited the animals and rode on some rides with the kids.  Mike and I scored a free ride on the ferris wheel because the operator didn't balance out the ride correctly.  Dave also entered a rock, paper, scissors contest only to lose in the first round to a 6 year old girl.  Better luck next year.

We also hit up the Grantsburg fair where Caleb FINALLY got not only his first fidget spinner but his 4th fidget spinner.  We had been holding out getting one for him but he won it so he was a happy boy!

We also had a Meyer reunion at my cousin Lynsey's house.  WOW, what a blast!!  It was full of eating, maybe a few beverages, yard games and catching up.  Dave and I brought our tent and we slept in their backyard....nothing like waking up in the cool crisp summer morning.  We are looking forward to this event again this year.





**September 2017**
Our church, River Valley Minnetrista, put on a fun fall festival which included inflatable slides and bounce house, food, games, ice cream and watching Finding Dory outside.  We truly love and enjoy our church community.  We have felt so incredibly blessed to have found this church once we made the move to Waconia.

Football!!  Well I was hoping for a great Packers season but with Rodgers hurt the season came to a quick halt and reality set in that we wouldn't be making playoffs.  Instead the Vikings had a GREAT season and while we were hopeful they'd make it into the Super Bowl, they fell short during the NFC championship game.  I never realized how hard I would cheer for the purple and gold but it was fun being a "Vikes fan" for a few weeks.  Don't you worry though, now that their season has come to an end, I'm back to bleeding green and gold.

Caleb had his very first friend only birthday party at Laketown Gym here in Waconia.  All the boys got their wiggles out running, jumping, playing and sweating!  Only one mishap where all boys ran and jumped at the same time and a kid landed on Caleb's head.  Wouldn't be a boy party without a couple bumps and bruises though.

Dave and I took the day off from work to celebrate Caleb on his birthday!  It was the most fun we've ever had with Caleb!!  We went to see Lego Ninjago at the movie theatre and then we took him to Dave and Busters to play some games.  Watching all of this through the eyes of a 5 year old is quite precious.

Caleb, you're 5, buddy!  How did that happen so fast?  The morning of your birthday you woke up and asked "Mom, what day is it today?"  I said, "It's YOUR BIRTHDAY Caleb".  You then said, "Yeah I looked at my legs and they are WAY bigger than my 4 year old legs, but I haven't checked my arms yet."  You have a perfect way of making us smile and laugh.  You're so incredibly inquisitive and beyond intelligent.  You are so caring and loving and I absolutely LOVE your cuddles.  The past 5 years have been amazing and I look forward to every year after!

**October 2017**
We ventured on over to Gale Woods Farms for a quick photo sesh with my tripod and camera.  Not quite as good as a professional photo shoot but I thought the pictures turned out pretty well.  We were able to snap pics right before that bright sun came out which was great because we all know that Dave has a hard time opening his eyes in the sun. :)  After we were done with the photos we just wandered around the paths and took in all the beauty that place has to offer.  I highly recommend visiting this place!

Halloween was filled with Star Wars, Legos and Power Rangers!  My work has a halloween decorating contest each year.  Two years ago we won with an Avengers theme, last year we won with a Nintendo theme and this year we took 3rd (Boooo) with a Star Wars theme.  Even though we didn't take the trophy home, we had a blast with the team putting it together.  The kids also came to my work for the Trick or Treat trail and they enjoyed walking through all the cube isles seeing everyone's themes.

**November 2017**
My mom and I continued our yearly tradition of baking cookies!!  Zoe helped decorate the sugar cookies but then Dave took the kids out for the day so my mom and I were actually able to carry on a conversation without getting interrupted.  If you didn't know my mom is quite popular with the kids.  It was so lovely baking Christmas cookies with her while listening to Christmas music.

Grandma also bought the kiddos these cute Christmas jammies.

**December 2017**
Zoe and Kaylin shared a unicorn themed birthday!  I had so much fun planning and decorating for this birthday party.  I still can't believe my little baby girl is already 3.  Her personality just lights up a room and she's always, ALWAYS trying to make us laugh.  She's tough, but sweet.  She's feisty, but loving.  She's absolutely perfect and I wouldn't change a single thing about her...except maybe have her listen better. Haha!

Our neighborhood cleared off the pond near the cul-de-sac and we've enjoyed playing hockey over there and even sledding down the hill.  Whenever I see the pond I think "ahhh this is MN."

We took Mike and La to a Twolves game for Christmas and oddly enough I also ran into one of my long time friends from High School.  We all had a great time and we even got a photo op with Crunch!

Christmas, my FAVORITE time of year.  We ventured on up to Grantsburg this year and hosted Dave's family at our house again.  Nothing is better than spending time with family.  It's a time to slow down, think about what truly matters, eat delicious food, sit by the fire (even if it's just a crackling fire on the tv), find the perfect gift for others and celebrate Jesus being born!  Dave loves it so much that every January 25th he always tells me "BIG DAY TODAY, only 11 months until Christmas". Ha!  (sorry Dave's pictures were in a format I couldn't use for the blog so the Grantsburg pics are MIA)

Well that was 2017 in a nutshell (excluding one story that deserves it's own post soon) with I'm sure a few missing pieces but overall feeling so incredibly blessed to know you all and truly enjoying this journey we call life.  It was a great one, let's make it an even better 2018!