Tara's Wedding Shower

Tara's wedding shower was held at our house on Saturday. Tara's sisters, Casey and Lexi, organized everything and put on a very nice shower for the bride-to-be.
Tara looked so beautiful for her shower. She had a trial-run on her hair with the stylist before her shower. Her hair looked very pretty.
Autumn, Lexi, Carter & Bradley enjoyed bringing Tara all of her wonderful gifts. They each waited patiently to give them to the beautiful bride-to-be!

Some of our family members at the shower included LaNita, Pat, Grandma Lila, Ann, and Amy.

Pat, Ann, Grandma Lila, Amy & LaNita....

I think this was the most people we have ever had in our house! The house was packed with people in Paul & Tara's wedding, family and friends. Adults and kids filled the house....

Carter wanted to give Tara something special, so he found one of his CD's (rain & thunder) and a quarter in his bedroom. He found his favorite Sponge Bob gift bag and prepared a special gift for Tara.

Casey & Lexi did such a nice job organizing everything for the shower. It was a very nice shower and I'm glad we could help with having a place to have it. We are happy to have Tara in our family!

Happy Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa...

Happy Anniversary Grandma LaNita/Mom and Grandpa Bill/Dad on September 10. I asked Chad tonight how many years his parents have been married. After some time of silence, he came up with 39 years. How close is he????..................let me know!!

We wish you a great day together!!

First day of school..

It was Carter's first day of First Grade on September 2nd at the Arkansaw Elementary School. Carter's alarm clock went off at 6:30 AM and he jumped out of bed, ready to tackle 1st grade. Bradley, on the other hand, was not jumping at the opportunity to get out of bed. He did not appreciate the early morning call. He was not as enthusiastic about getting his picture taken like his brother.

Here I come First Grade...

Cruz's Birthday Party...

We celebrated Cruz's 4th birthday at Todd & Missy's house. Cruz's birthday is September 11. Brett, Sam and Todd were also included in the birthday party. Opening up presents...

Ann, Dane, Hunter, Brett & Ethan....

The Birthday Crew.....Brett, Sam & Cruz...

The partiers....Grandma Lila, LaNita, Amy, Pat, Sondra & Ann...

Bill, Paul, Tara & Lenny....

Bradley....
It was a hot & sunny day for a pool party. Dylan & Sam were busy shooting water at the kids in the pool.....

The pool was full of happy swimmers....Hunter, Ethan, Evan, Carter, Paige & Autumn...

Hunter peeking out.....

Carter......2 points....

Ethan, Paige, Carter & Autumn....

Autumn & Paige....

Cruz going down the slide.....

Carter & Evan....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRUZ.....

Minnesota Zoo

We took a trip to the Minnesota Zoo today. A friend, Barb, and her two children, Ethan & Elizabeth joined us for the fun. It was a beautiful day to be at the zoo.
When we first arrived at the zoo, Carter was able to touch a great big snake....a boa constrictor. Carter and his friend, Ethan, with Bradley.....

Carter was taking lots of pictures.......

Here's the zoo group....Ethan, Carter, Elizabeth & Bradley. Bradley and Elizabeth are both two. Carter calls Elizabeth, "Lizzy" and Bradley calls Elizabeth, "Beth"..........

Bradley and Elizabeth in the Butterfly Garden....

Carter & Bradley in the Butterfly Garden....

The Grizzly Bears finally wake up.......the kids run up to see them.

The kids take a break from walking and spend some time digging up dinosaur bones in the big sand area.

Carter was camera happy today and took lots of pictures. He wanted to share all of them with you, but he picked some of his favorites......

A snake slithering around.....

This is a leopard shark....

Pink Flamingos....

Crystal Cave Adventure

The good news is.....I remembered our camera on our trip to Crystal Cave. The bad news is.....when I turned on the camera, the batteries were low. It didn't take long for the batteries to lose its' juice.

Sunday after church, we headed to Spring Valley to take the boys to Crystal Cave. This is one of Carter's favorite places to visit. We thought it would be fun for Bradley to see it this year, too.

It was a fun day as the boys toured the cave. Carter's favorite part to the cave is to see the bats hanging upside down. Well, this year, he got a bonus when visiting the cave as we had a bat flying around us during the tour. At one point, I had to duck my head or the bat would have ran right into me. I didn't enjoy this part as much as Carter and Bradley did!! They found it amusing to hear me scream.

Carter wanted to take some special pictures of the cave to put in our family blog. Here are the pictures that he was able to take before we lost all the battery juice.

On our way home, Grandpa Bill was at Paul & Tara's house helping Uncle Paul build a shed for some of his tools. We stopped in to visit and Paul invited us over to their new firepit to roast some marshmellows and make s'mores. They made a firepit with an old tire rim and were excited to try it out. We had supper with them and roasted some yummy s'mores. The boys had fun playing with Autumn, and of course, picking at the FIRE!! Thanks Paul & Tara!!

--I'm back to work this week and the boys are at daycare. Grandma LaNita is going to babysit our little Toby and let him play with Shadow. Chad thought he might get a little lonely in the laundry room all day. Wednesday night Carter has Open House at Arkansaw Elementary School where he gets to meet his teacher and see his classroom. He is starting to get a little nervous about school starting......please pray for a smooth transition for him as he learns a new bus route and gets acquainted at a new school. I have Open House at Pepin Thursday night and Tara is going to help out with the boys until I get home. I have a 4-day weekend coming up with all my boys!!

----Have a great week everyone!