IA visit: Storm Lake and Great Grandma Jensen

My mom's family is from Storm Lake and I have alot of great memories from being up there with my grandparents and the rest of the family. After Grandpa died and Grandma remarried, she moved and we hadn't been up there in a while. Both of my mom's sisters bought houses on the lake, though, and we get to go up there again :) I LOVE it, and am fully convinced that I need to live on a lake somewhere someday.We went up there for the Fourth and then Mom and I took the kids up again the following week for a few more days so we could see my Grandma. We took Adelyn in the boat. She hated the life jacket, but once she got past that, she loved it and kept yelling her version of "faster!".
I got to see my cousins over the Fourth and their kiddos (cutest kids ever, people). Then my cousin, Brooke, lives in SL with her hubby and 2 year old son, Drew...so I got to spend more time with them the second time we were up there.
Thank you, Laurie and Russ, for letting us stay with you! We had a blast with everyone and we miss you!

My cousin Jill's little girl, Jensen. Seriously, how cute is she??

Drew boy, how sweet is he??

Adelyn driving Uncle Russ's jeep and going for a ride with Daddy

At the park with Drew:

chasing the geese, Drew on the slide

Mason in the swing, Addy and Drew on the rocket thingy

Mason with his blanky (he LOVES that thing), Adelyn and Drew chasing geese :)

On the merri-go-round (those things are the best!)

On the boat

Mason and Grandma before a walk to the park

View from the house...full moon on the lake....amazing...

We got to spend some time with my Grandma. I love her :) It was good to see her!

Read more...

IA visit: Great Grandma Flies

Nick's aunt and uncle brought Grandma Flies down to DSM one afternoon (thank you, Mary Jo and David!). I'm so glad they did! I think she had fun seeing the kids. She got to see Mason and Adelyn around Christmas time before we left, so I'm glad we got to spend some time with her and Mary Jo and David. Ardyce was in town too, so she came over as well. It was fun to have everyone together.

We also got to see Grandma Lebo (Ardyce's mom), but I forgot my camera! Ardyce got some pictures, though, so I'm going to see if I can't track some down from her :)

Nick took this rare picture of Adelyn looking at the camera and was proud of it, so I thought I'd share :)

Kiddos with Great Grandma

Read more...

favorite spot and in the walker

Mason mastered crawling AND got his first tooth while we were in Des Moines.
His favorite spot to crawl to and around was under Mom and Rob's table. If you couldn't find him, that's the first place to look :)
He also loved the walker at my mom's. One evening, the weather was actually bearable :) so we let him loose in the cul de sac while Adelyn played with the neighborhood kids in the backyard. That is her hollering in the backyard.

Read more...

IA visit: The Flinn Family

with two year olds, this is as good as it gets... :)

We got to spend one (too brief) evening with the Flinn family.

Let me tell you, Miles is the cutest ever....and I love spending time with Tommy and Amber!

I am always so encouraged by them and they are just so easy going :)

Addy and I did get to see Miles and Amber at the park too, but I failed in the picture department there.

We had fun with you guys, and we miss you!

somebody is going to be an amazing big brother someday :)

he loved giving Mason kisses. Too cute.

funniest face ever

Read more...

IA visit: Grandpa Bob and Gram

We got to see my dad and stepmom while we were back. We always have fun over there :)

By the time we left, Addy had started call my dad "Bob" haha....

Also, she got to have her first sleep over with them! She did amazing (I knew she would) and they had alot of fun.

My brother, Jake, came over too....these pictures crack me up:

Mason and Grandpa

One more of Dad and Pam with the kids :)

We miss you!!

Read more...

IA visit: Grandma, Papa and family :)

Mom and Rob with the kiddos

I'm not going to lie. Seeing all these pictures definitely makes me home sick...

We drove down to IA about a week after we got to MN. Nick was there with us for a week and then he came back to CA while the kids and I stuck around for another week and a half.

We stayed at my mom and stepdad's while we were there (thank you!) and were able to spend some good time with my dad and stepmom as well as a few wonderful friends. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see everyone we would have liked....

Anyway, my nephew's mom, Yvonne, is getting married the first weekend in September to an amazing guy (yay!). Truthfully, she is more like a sister to me, and I am so excited for them! He has a 3 year old boy, Oman, and let me tell you...they are going to have their hands FULL with those two :)

Adelyn adores Noah, and she followed him everywhere and wanted to do whatever he was doing. Which, of course, annoyed the crap out of him! :) He is 6 years old...Adelyn is still a baby according to him :) He was a good sport about it, though :)

Here are some pictures of us getting to just hang out one night before the kids and I headed back CA.

Noah and Mason. Mason getting to jump on the pillow pile. Addy romping around with the boys.

These pictures are hazy because the humidity was so bad outside, my lens kept fogging up!

Noah and Oman goofing around...Adelyn joined for a bit :)

Uncle Caleb rocks :)

Read more...

my cousin's wedding and on the road to iowa

Our first weekend back in MN, we went to my cousin's wedding. His wife, Heidi, is from the area, so that worked out well for us! :)

It was SO fun to see family and the wedding was beautiful. Reed looked handsome in his tux and Heidi looked amazing.

 They moved to TN for Reed's job and are now down there for a bit.

Congratulations you two!

Mom and I. You can sorta see where my shingles was...boo...thank the Lord my dress covered most of it!

A rare picture of Nick and I sans kids :)

Aunt Judy and cousin Steven

hanging out waiting for the wedding party :)

{from left: Uncle Barry (mom's brother) and Aunt Lucy, Allan (Gma's hubby), Grandma holding little Jensen, and my cousin Jill}

The lovely couple

Now we are on our way to Iowa :) Nick's dad let us borrow his car for the week that Nick was with us (thank you, Ray!). What a blessing that was! The backseat was smaller, so Addy and Mason could see each other pretty well. They frequently broke out into loud laughing sessions and conversations. I tried numerous times to get a good video of it, but everytime the camera came out, they stopped. Boo.
Here's the best of what I could get :)

Read more...