Birthday Boy!!

Happy Birthday 

 to the little man who makes my world go round!

I seriously love this kid more than life and am so grateful to be his momma. 
Love you, Birthday Boy!!

For Mom

I planted flowers in honor of you.

They're not nearly as pretty and put-together as the ones

you would plant for me when we were basically neighbors,

but they work, and most importantly

they remind me of you.

I took these pictures the day I planted them,

which was about a month ago.

You should see then now-

and NO, they aren't dead!!

They are even prettier (if I may say so myself)

sitting on my porch today than they are in these pics.

I guess I knew you wouldn't be

rushing over to save them 

if/when I neglected them.

Kindof like my kids...

I'm a better mom with a greener thumb

now that I'm a thousand miles away from you. Ha!

AND-

My flowers aren't the only things that have a new home on my porch.

Cute, right?

 ...except for the bird poop. That's not so cute.

Memorial weekend

For Memorial Day we planned on having a few families over for a BBQ, so the weekend before we took a trip to the cities so we could go to COSTCO for the meat (Costco always has the best meat).

We decided that since we were in the area we'd go to Como Zoo, as well.
Como Zoo has FREE admission (they just ask for a small donation), so our expectations weren't very high. Needless to say, it exceeded our expectations by a long shot! It was awesome!
We were having a great time UNTIL Addi lost her flip-flop in the lions den. It was actually pretty hilarious!- but poor Addi didn't think so. By the way she was FREAKING OUT you would have thought the lion bit her leg off. That girl is drama sometimes!

Not sure what Addi is doing here- but it's not what it looks like!

Here they are by some statue thingy that they thought was cool. They tried to imitate the creepy faces on the statue.

Looking at the flamingos while Tol is figuring out our next destination on the map. He is taking after his father with his obsession for maps. uh-oh.

Addi and the polar bear. That thing was HUGE! This pic doesn't do the size justice, but look at those paws!

Addi with a lion (look closely) in the background. Notice how she has both flip-flops on. And notice how you look down into the lions den. She was doing a trick and kicked her shoe off and down it went just minutes after this pic was taken.

The lion eating the flip-flop. Okay, not really- but it looks like it.
We've had to tell Addi that the lions didn't eat her flip-flop but have played with it because it looked like a toy. That story was our saving grace for the remainder of the day.

Carrying a 4 year old around a zoo got old so we weren't there too much longer.

Plus, it started raining.
But we had to see a few more things before heading out...

Tol and the ostrich.

No pics of this, but we went to Chili's for lunch and I have to document that because we were all dying at how yummy the food was! I don't care what anyone says (Heidi :)), the restaurants in Rochester aren't that great. I mean, is it too much to ask for a Chili's?!

Kickin' it at Costco!

Addi the sleeping bird, on our way home. You cover her face and she falls asleep. It's so funny!

Then she woke up.
...
And here are a few pics from the aforementioned BBQ. It deserves a post of it's own, but I hardly got any pics. All I'll say is that it was a GREAT time and Dave's famous ribs were a HIT!

transportation fair

This is a post for another time (I have a lot of those 'other time' posts lined up, don't I?), but lately we've been discovering all the great activities and events that Rochester has to offer. One of which is the

TRANSPORTATION FAIR.

The weather forecast looked a little iffy, but nothing comes between Tol and his passion for things like this so we braved the storm and headed out alongside the Hansons.

There were all sorts of different cars, trucks, tractors and other various forms of transportation to climb on and sit in. We got to see the insides of an ambulance and other emergency vehicles, taxi cab, city and school buses, garbage truck, UPS truck- which provided great protection from the sheets of rain, tractors, mini vans (which Tol kept ripping on) and many other things.

The is the 2nd year, out of 17, that it has rained (which is a total understatement). But it turned out to be a blessing because there were no lines; we just walked onto anything we (or Tol) wanted. I guess the lines are usually super long.

After spending plenty of time at the fair and seeing all there was to be seen, we dined at Panera for lunch.

It was a Fun & Fabulous Day!

The next day was spent buying rain-gear.

Jeff

13 years ago today I lost a dear friend. There haven't been many days since that I haven't thought of him.

But blessings and trials seem to come in the same package, and I'm grateful for the blessings that I've received.

Until we meet again...

for my sis'

I'm back to attack! My camera (that I LOVE) is a goner so I had to resort to an old one that I don't love so much. One of the reasons I don't love it (besides the weak picture quality) is that the memory card isn't compatible with my computer and it didn't ever come with a USB cord and I can't find a USB compatible with this old school camera. Wait- was that 'one' reason, or three reasons? {and was that also a run-on sentence?} Whatever. So I hope you appreciate these pictures because it wasn't easy (or free) getting them here. And I also hope you appreciate your compatible cameras and memory cards. I'm saving for a new camera, but until then my posts may or may not be few and far between.

 

*I'm being practical and thinking solely of the BLOG BOOK by posting so many collages lately. Love them.

With all that said... here is a little something to tide ya'll (or just Jess & Chel) over for a bit.
TOLMAN'S SCHOOL CARNIVAL!! The highlight was definitely the few bounce houses and the low-light (?) was Dave not letting the kids play the fish game because everyone won an actual goldfish. Poor, neglected children! In the pic above, Tol is playing "MINUTE TO WIN IT." He had to sort Skittles in 1 minute. They change up the number of skittles you have to sort depending on your age. Tol and Ad both did it and were so pleased with themselves, as they should have been. After eating dinner,  playing all the games, bouncing, and spending too much money, we high-tailed it out of there. But it was fun, and it is nice to be able to support the public schools- especially my own kids'.

Addison recently finished her first year of DANCE in Rochester.

She took lessons at the Community Center and we were more than pleased! The class' focus was technique and the 5 positions of ballet. Addi learned a lot and her LOVE for dance grew.

Miss Tonya was the teacher and I can't say enough how impressed I am with her. She taught the girls SO MUCH about dance while making it so much FUN for them to 'learn' (or make PB sandwiches, talking on their cell phones, doing the chocolate or strawberry shakes and jumping over the individually named feather boas).

Miss Tonya and Addi on the last day of class

After 2 trimesters of a Ballet/Tumbling (a little random, I know) class, we decided to add TAP to the mix. Addison LOVED it! After we bought her tap shoes, she wore them for 2 weeks straight (in the house). Not annoying at all ;)

 And here she is on her last day of Ballet and Tumbling. Like I said, Addi has learned so much this year and we are looking forward to another year with Miss Tonya when the Summer is over.

...but we're NOT looking forward to the Summer being over.

Royal Wedding Breakfast

I had been thinking about having a little get-together to celebrate such a GIRLY occasion with a bunch of girlys- but I procrastinated. The day before the BIG DAY, I was doing a friends' hair who insisted it wasn't too late to throw something together. So that's what we did- we threw it together.

Everyone contributed by bringing something delicious and breakfast-y. Well, everyone except me; I burned the steel-cut oats, unfortunately. Especially if you've smelled burned steel-cut oats- it smells like gross popcorn, oddly enough. 

Despite the smell, we had a great time. It was so adorable watching the cutest little girls watching a "real life PRINCESS" get married. They were all LOVING IT! But I think their mom's liked it a little more. And yes, a few tears were shed. What can I say, we were touched. I loved watching Prince William- he looked so smitten with his new Bride.

The whole thing was absolutely beautiful and I'm glad I could experience it with my friends who share my passion ;)

*Sorry about the poor picture quality. My camera is officially dead, so I took pictures with Carolyn's camera and I had it on the wrong setting. Lame.

Easter

These cute kiddos must have been good kiddos (or 'worthy' kiddos as our Gospel Doctrine teacher jokingly suggested). The Easter Bunny came and spoiled Tol & Ad with new swimsuits, undies, books, toys and TREATS galore! 

The kiddos woke up SO early- earlier than they did on Christmas!- and waited until their lazy parents got out of bed to go egg & basket hunting.

After everything was found and opened we got ready for and headed to church... on a TOTAL sugar-high.

Here they are all ready for church in their Easter garb.

 After church, the kids put their new bubble-blowers to work and ate their lunch out on the deck. From the looks of this picture, Tol might have had a bowl of bubbles for lunch.

Then it was off to the Barney's house for a DELICIOUS Easter dinner and another egg hunt for the kiddos.

It is a exactly a week after Easter and we are still living off candy.

SO. MUCH. SUGAR!

Now that my kids are getting a little older, I really tried to incorporate the 'reason for the season' into our Easter. I hope it really sunk in and that my kids gained some sort of deeper appreciation for our Savior. I'll admit, that is something that I, as a mother, struggle with. I feel a constant urge to teach my children the scriptures and about the Gospel, but for some reason I can't find the right way, or the way that fits or feels right for MY family, but I still try. Tol & Addi are smart and I think they get more than I give them credit for, but I still feel we are too focused on the wrong things. Yadda yadda. Being a mom can be a tricky job...

Anyway, I do have a testimony that our Savior was Resurrected and that He lives. I am beyond grateful for this miraculous event that paved the way for me to live with Him alongside my family FOREVER and EVER. 

I love the peace that comes from having this knowledge.

Hope you all had a HAPPY EASTER!

Friends with benefits

One of the coveted things to have here in Rochester is a membership to the  

Rochester Athletic Center. 

Our neighbors are one of those fortunate families 

and we were fortunate enough to be invited as their guests. 

We prepped our swimsuit bodies by going to Perkins for breakfast, 

which was fun and yummy. 

 Then we went to the RAC and swam and swam and swam. 

My kids LOVED being in a pool again.

After swimming, Dave and Pat played some serious racquetball. 

 For some reason I only got pictures of swimming.

I've introduced them before, 

but the Sullivans are our next-door neighbors. 

They are here for Patrick's Colo-rectal Surgery Fellowship- 

which is only one short year. 

BUMMER for us! 

They are leaving the first of July to Atlanta 

where Pat will make the most fantastic real-life (with a real paycheck!) doctor. 

We have loved getting to know Pat, Kristin and the girls  
and will miss them all SO much, probably more than I can fathom.

But I certainly am grateful we've been able to get to know the Sullivans 

and look forward to future vacations to visit each other!