The Last Ten Days

Lots of pictures to post, let's start with Friday, August 15th - Mike and Erin Hill's wedding day. The wedding was up in Princeton, with a reception following in Pease, MN. We all headed up to the cabin for the rest of the weekend.

On Wednesday as I was cleaning out the car Lucy climbed in, so I buckled her in while I finished.

Thursday morning we picked up my parents and headed to the Great Minnesota Get-Together (the Fair)! As usual, we had every intention of going up and down every street so as not to miss anything, but our stomachs got the best of us so we backtracked everywhere and missed half of it! All that was consumed (not just by me) in no particular order - mini donuts, french fries (my favorite), pronto pups, frozen grapes on a stick (Lucy's favorite), pork chop on a stick (well maybe that's my favorite), veggie pie (ish, don't get again), nachos, deep fried pickles, frozen apple cider, taco (a new try of ours we shared from the food bldg that we'd definitely get again), gelato, popcorn, beer, watermelon, lemonade, butterscottish "thing" (basically a frozen twinkie dunked in butterscotch on a stick), root beer...

After we arrived, Troy, Mark and Val (mom) hit the mini donut booth while Lucy and I went to go get french fries (so what if it's 9am). We had our breakfast and headed into the Grandstand. We purchased a puzzle stool for Lucy as she loves her friends' puzzle stools:

What? It's like 10:30 and we haven't eaten in over an hour?? I'm assuming it's at this time we made our first stop into the Food Building (frozen grapes for Lucy, Pronto Pups for the boys, taco for the rest). I believe after this we headed up to the Technology/Eco Building on the old machinery hill for a little rest and a quiz show. It was quite humid that day which probably explains our easy exhaustion (not from the greasy food of course) and why we backtracked and missed half the sights. We did head over to the horticulture building to get the frozen apple cider sticks (75 cents a pop, the best deal at the Fair), and then a phone call from Sam and Krista who had brought the kids to the Fair and we were going to meet up.

On our way to find them, we pass the pork chop booth and I got in line. Dang they are good, and they sure make a killing at 6.50 a pop! We found the girls, said hello, I tried that wierd frozen twinkie. Then we made a loop in the Coliseum, the boys got some beers and we went and sat down in the stadium and rested/watched a horse show for a while. Then it was over to Heritage Square for a loop, knowing full well that we always go here and leave within 5 minutes because it's the same crap every year, yet my mother insists we didn't go the year before :) After our loop in there we headed back toward the Grandstand for a root beer and the nachos (just "ok"). And then....

Lucy and daddy went on the Big Slide! She loved it and I videotaped it (not very well). Grandpa had another Pronto Pup (note, if you have your gallbladder out, do not eat pronto pups!) and we headed over to the DNR building. What's next? Mom's turn for pork chop on a stick, then another run thru the Food Building and Horticulture building. Left for home at 4, a good full day at the Fair. Home where everyone hopped in the shower to clean up.

We had gotten a phone call from our realtor that someone wanted to see our house on Saturday. D'oh! Time for major house cleaning! So Friday morning while Nana watched Lucy we scoured the house before we packed it up and headed down to Lake Benton for the weekend.

It was a 4 1/2 hour trip down there, with a stop for lunch in Hudson and a swap of drivers half way. We stayed at Uncle Duff and Pam's, our usual B&B. That evening we had dinner over at Grandma Glady's and visited. Saturday before lunch was a big group photo session in grandma's backyard. The pictures turned out great, but their not on our camera, so can't upload them here. We got some shots of us as well for possible Christmas photos. After lunch half the gang headed to the lake on Uncle Jody's boat for an afternoon of water sports. I stayed back with the ladies while Lucy napped. In the evening it was more food and visiting. Lucy and I headed back to go to bed while everyone stayed at Grandma's to play Catch Phrase. This morning was a huge brunch back at grandma's before we departed at noon. In the midst of this busy weekend, Troy and Josh took Zach and Alex golfing, Pam and I found great bargains at the Emporium, and Lucy learned how to say "Alex" over and over and over again...

Abby and Stella:

Lucy's first trampoline experience with the girls, Olivia and Kate:

August and Lollipops

July 5th at Grandpa Duffy's house in Osceola: In her usual spot, sitting in the toybasket while I read to her:
Still in the toybasket:
This lovely view of our now white-trashed west side will be covered by a wonderful privacy fence in the weeks to come (it might not seem that horrible to you, but imagine all the cars in front parked on the lawn and the police over on calls to their house once a week...):
I had no idea she had gotten these out of the cooler and was trying to "eat" them thru the bag!
Giving daddy the stink eye while we're reading bedtime stories:

A side view of the new haircut:

This girl loves pillows!

In our party dress from Aunti Shannon, heading to the Murtha wedding on Aug. 2nd:

She had been napping for almost 3 hours, so I went in to find out what was up:
At dad's favorite store, Cabela's in Rogers, MN:She loves the water. Here she is in the dog bowl...

And then she sits in it!

With her new toy from daddy, the vacuum cleaner:

I am very delinquent on updating this blog I see! The calendar now reads August 2008. I remember posting that 2008 is a nice even number like it was yesterday and now we're in the depths of August humidity? Goodness sakes, next thing you know it'll be State Fair time (Minnesota, that is)!

I found some miscellaneous pictures from July I could post and recently updated my playlist (that musical thing that plays on the side of my blog if you have sound turned on) to put my latest favorite musical discovery "Lollipop". It's a fun, childish song.

Let's see here, what is new? Lucy had her 2nd haircut last week, she's saying and signing more words than ever. It takes me by surprise when she signs something I've been doing for months and she does it on her own. I always sign "more please" so she knows how to be polite, and she's had "more" down (that was her first word) for a while. We were in Walmart on Friday shopping and I'm feeding her some Goldfish and I said "what do you say?" and she says "peas" and signs it too! She loves ice and says that word and popsicles, and anything else involving being outside, the kiddie pool (constantly in and out, cannot sit still in there!), sidewalk chalk, and bubbles.

It was so cute yesterday, we were all out back while Troy and his parents were planting hydrangeas and I brought Lucy's toys out, including sidewalk chalk, thinking she could draw in the firepit we have. Well the kid takes off to the other side of the house and here she was drawing on the sidewalk - smart girl!

Troy is now working from home on Tuesdays and Fridays so we purchased a new office set-up from Ikea last week and put our office in the craft room downstairs and the old office is now Lucy's toy room.

I have been getting some craft projects worked on - finished up a Santa cross-stitch for my mom and started a new one (it's the only craft I can work on and watch a movie to). I am working on a couple quilted table runners for holiday gifts as well as figuring out how to make felt christmas tree skirts. I love to craft!

Nana and Papa leave Friday for their 10-day vacation (an Alaskan Cruise!) so Lucy will be in various daycares the next couple of weeks. We have one more wedding coming up this month (cousin Mike's), the MN State Fair, and a trip to Lake Benton. Busy busy!

quick update

Some photos from Lucy and I's days (last Weds. thru Friday) up at the lake. The first is of Lucy in her old jumparoo that Jamie is now using. On Friday we headed up to Nord Lake in Aitkin (about 20 minutes from our cabin) to Uncle Roy's cabin. They have a huge eagle's nest with...eaglets? in there so we went to take pictures. The bugs were so bad though that I just put the camera in front of me and took one picture and ran back to the truck. There are supposed to be 3 eagle babies in the nest but we only saw 2 this time, hopefully the other one is doing ok. They are very "majestic" birds I must say. The babies are huge!

The pictures of Lucy eating...ha ha...it was Uncle Roy trying to get a rise out of me, but I let him just do it. I had been saying that Lucy hadn't "done her business" while up at the cabin, which is like her mother (it's a long running joke that I only feel comfortable for that when at home...ahem.). Anyway, Roy says to me "she needs chocolate". So he put out 2 M&M's for her, which she's never had before. I am by no means an anal retentive mom, I think everyone can vouch for that, and I am not raising a fussy eater, but for some reason I haven't given the child much chocolate yet. Anyway, out came the M&M's, and they were interesting to her but she ate them. Then he brings out a package of swiss cake rolls for her. The child has never seen one of these before and it was like she already knew how to eat one (peel off the outside chocolate first, then try to unroll the roll...)! So here she is, eating her treats. Then he brought out of chocolate cake but I had to say "enough!" to that.

But, in true form, she didn't do her business til Saturday, when we were home!

I haven't updated in a while so this one will be brief. I have been getting lots of crafting done so I'll take some pictures of those and post them here too.

Sex and Vino

ooh, risque title there, eh? Saw the new Sex and the City movie last night. Loved the series, loved the movie.

Last weekend we had date night and went to Vino in the Valley with friends, which was awesome. The location is perfect and it's a beautiful drive down there. There was a bit of a wait for a table so we sipped wine (and beer) while listening to some folk singers. We had a fabulous meal, a little rain, and then a power outage, so we finished our dessert in the dark by candle light (is that planned romance?). I would highly recommend this place for a nice casual dinner night with friends.

Lucy was sick earlier this week. She woke up with a little fever on Sunday and we assumed it was a part of the never-ending teething symptoms, but Monday morning she got sick all over mom so I made an appointment for her. Just a virus that needed to pass and she's feeling better but I can tell the teeth are still really bothering her (they haven't erupted yet, come on with it!) but she loooooves to chew on ice chips for relief.

For my birthday last week I got the fabulous Cricut machine I've been ogling for some time now, courtesy of Troy and Lucy, and a little digital camera from my parents (as a couple, Troy and I have a big Canon camera, zoom lens, the works). I had wanted a small camera I could put in my purse to take shots of Lucy or whatever when we're out and about. The pictures above are from that camera. Troy and Lucy were lounging in the craft room while I was sewing last weekend.

I also decided that in addition to blogging about Lucy I would start taking pictures and posting the crafts I work on. I am hooked on a couple other blogs of people I don't know, but simply because I love their crafting styles they blog about. So stay tuned for photos on those! The current project is beanbag chairs....will I figure out the zipper?

We're back!

Nearly 9 days up at the cabin without a computer or email or work to check on - heaven! We arrived early Saturday afternoon with Paul, Vicky and Eric following behind us to a gorgeous sunny day up at Big Pine Lake. Already up at the cabin were my parents, sister and niece, and my aunt Kathy and uncle Keith, who own the cabin with my parents (the cabin next door is owned by my grandparents and that is where everyone else stayed).

We started the vacation out with some ladder golf and for dinner Kathy made mojitos from scratch (they go down too easy!) and her "mexican goulash" which was fantastic.

On Sunday, and every morning, the guys went out fishing. We took Lucy on her first boat ride. She didn't much care for the life jacket so it was a quick ride. Then the guys went out again and this time slaughtered the crappies. No pictures of them here, they're on someone else's camera, but they estimated they caught about 600 fish this week, throwing 2/3 away. We had fried fish for 3 dinners, mmm!

Sunday afternoon the rest of our party arrived - Vicky's brother Duff's family (wife Pam and their 2 boys Zach, and Alex). Our week was a series of fishing, eating, fishing, games, eating, sleeping, and so on. I did not get a fishing license this year but went out to relax one evening for a little bit. Instead I was working on some cross-stitching projects (Santas). My sister had rented the first series of the X-Files and it's surprisingly addicting.

The weather was mostly sunny but never really warm enough to just lounge around on the deck all day. On Wednesday my grandma and Arnie came for the afternoon and we had a meal of fried fish and learned the game "Farkel" while it rained and poured all day. Thursday cleared up to a beautiful day of shopping in Nisswa (Lisa, Val, Pam and Vicky) while the guys stayed back with the kids and played games. I think it was Thursday or Friday night we got a horrible storm come through a little after bed time where the wind was so bad and thunder so loud it shook the cabin. It was also a day of no fishing because the wind was so terrible.

On Saturday we bid goodbye to Duff's family. Zach was playing in his last basketball tournament in the cities they had to get to. We had our third and final fish fry of the week and everyone went to bed early. Today (Sunday) Mark, Troy and Paul took the boat over to Mille Lacs in the early morning for a few hours but were unsuccessful. We cleaned the cabins and headed home and are tackling the laundry pile!

Here are a few miscellaneous photos from the week:

Paul relaxing on the dock:Lucy grabbed Troy's hat and wore it around:

Alex and Lucy reading:Nana Vicky and Lucy reading:Troy and the crappie he's going to have mounted (insert my excitement here):

Lucy goin' fishin':

Just chillin' in her chair:Hanging out with Zach:Abby takes a nap:My first and only nap of the week:Lucy and Uncle Eric:
Mama and Lucy in the hammock:

Vacation

Wow, it's been a while since I posted AND I have no new pictures to share! Last Friday Lucy had her first haircut at Kids Hair in Woodbury. I didn't have my camera with but they took a Polaroid of her so we do have a souvenier, unfortunately I can't post the polaroid here! But it was so cute and she was a trooper. They kept her busy with a sucker and Dora on the TV and the stylist was great at cutting a moving target :)

We've been busy getting things packed and ready for our week up at the cabin. We are also having an Open House this Saturday so we have to leave the house in clean shape for that (but it will be nice to come back from vacation to a clean house!) I'm curious if anyone will come to the open house too.

Last week's stresses over car damage have been replaced with work stresses. My small team who supports and develops a tool that the entire company uses and relies on, still has no post-merger management to report or watch over us (an advocate at least), as well as half of us have been taken for THEE top priority project of the summer, leaving the other half of us to keep an ever-increasing customer base happy and the tool from breaking. Not good. But a girlfriend reminded me to just give all my stresses to Jesus, so when I want to complain I complain to Him, and for some reason it just puts me in a better mood!

I took a half day of vacation today to get things started early and I have to promise myself not to check email! There are father's day and birthday cards to be purchased, texas caviar and chex mix to be made, and a house to be cleaned.

My work conference trip to Vegas, which was June 16-20th, has been cancelled. Two of us were going and we have been pulled back for work and sending another in our place. I'm bummed to miss the shows we were going to see, and the luxury hotel we were staying at. But otherwise I'm ok with it. I would've missed Lucy too much (see December 2007 Boston trip!). I do have some fun things planned when I return, including a girls night at the Marx Wine Cafe in Stillwater, and seeing the Sex and the City movie!

Have a great week everyone, we'll have pictures to post when I return!