Minnesota State Fair

State Fair + The Barneys =
One SERIOUS good time!

Summertime

 We finally took advantage of some of Minnesota's Summer Offerings during the summer we were left with after our Utah trip. Minnesota summers are amazing! When the super rainy and indecisive Spring finally turned to Summer, I understood why people choose to live here. There's nothing like it.

We experienced our first Rochester Water Ski Team show. It was a little ghetto mixed with some cheese, but was pretty incredible at the same time. These are some talented people!

We also took advantage of a community swimming pool that was super fun. It reminded me of the 'no frills' pools that I went to growing up.  And I should mention adorable Grace (pictured with my kids) because she and her brother were a HUGE part of our summer. They live down the street from us and our kids have become inseparable I love it. And I love them :)

I refinished these chairs that we inherited from my Aunt Mindy years ago. Wish I had a 'before' picture so you could really appreciate the finished product.  Now we have something on our deck besides Dave's grills!

PARK TIME! The kids at their very favorite 'vehicle park.'

Thursdays on First. Tol and Ad with one of the many Loosey Gooseys around Rochester. This goose is part of the local 'The Goose is Loose" statue project that goes to support the arts. I have the cutest little geese ;)

That's it for now.

"pillow fight"

I can't say enough about these pictures! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

An extremely talented photographer and dear friend, Jolene, included me and Angela (another super talented dear friend) in one of her many visions. This time it involved our 3 darlings, lots of feathers, antique story books, O.J., texture and color. Oh- and my back yard (these pics were taken over a month ago and I STILL have feathers out there).

It was a crazy little adventure complete with lots of laughs, giggles and bug bites. Can't wait to do it again!

To see more of the pics (and more of her work) go to:

jolenereedphotography.com 

I'm so grateful my kids have such good friends!...and me, too!

The last

This is my {hodge-podge} attempt to wrap up our Utah trip.

First of all, Steve, Heather & their kids' UT trip overlapped with ours. My kids were SO HAPPY to spend time with their 'Boston Cousins!' They went SWIMMING, MINIATURE GOLFING and HIKED Timpanogos Cave together. I unfortunately got the dang stomach flu and was flat in bed for 2 days, so I couldn't do any of it with them. BUMMER SUMMER! We did have a Pioneer Day BBQ that I was there for. I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of this, but we made homemade ice cream (the kind you throw around in a bag). The bags kept breaking and it turned into something pretty comical- but the salvageable ice cream was SUPER YUMMY and the kids LOVED making it!

Here we are watching "UP" before Grandpa Ron took everyone to the UP house. I couldn't get anyone to look away from the TV.  Except for Tol, I guess.

Another big part of the trip for me was WORKING. I wasn't going to work this trip for a couple reasons. First, I didn't renew my business license and second, I didn't really want to work. BUT- I figured I'd have to do my families' hair and perhaps some friends so in the end I did work, kind of.  I only did a few friends and family and only a few of my old clients- who were so great to see! Kristen was VERY kind and gracious and let me work in her basement salon. I don't think she realized what she was getting herself into when she offered, or agreed or whatever. My kids were there more than half the time and over-all it was kind of a mad house. But I LOVED it! I was able to hang out with Kristen all day for, like, 4 days. She would come down and hang out while I was doing hair and I'd go upstairs and chill between clients or when clients were processing. Man, I love that girl! I am so lucky to have found a friend like her. There is no one in the world like her and I am one extremely fortunate girl to have her as my BFF!!

 

My kids also went on a hike up to Donut Falls with the fam. It was a day where I was still sick so I didn't go. Sad for me. This hike/walk has turned into a Nelson tradition so it was a bummer that I had to miss out.

My CUTEST brothers! This is on their way to the lake to take Tol Kayaking. Again, wish I would have gotten some pics of them out there. Instead, Addi and I had some "GIRL TIME" and went school shopping at OOPSIE DAISY (man I miss that store) and got gelato next door. Perfect day for all!

 Another MAJOR highlight was the one and only SWEET TOOTH FAIRY.
I love that bakery a little too much.

JOB UPDATE: Dave decided to turn this trip into a bit of a business trip, as well. He met with a few anesthesia groups to check things out and to get his foot in the door. I have to be honest and say I was disappointed/deflated about the whole 'getting a job in Utah' situation. As a UT anesthesiologist put it so perfectly. "Utah is a crappy place to get a job, but a great place to have a job." It's actually nothing we didn't already know, it's just that this experience made it real for me. With all that said, Utah might not be on our cards for a while, and that's okay. I'm accepting it.
Anyway...

Chel & Becca flew out the same day as us. Here is Chel with the kids as we were all getting ready to leave. Such a bittersweet day. I was feeling anxious to get home since we had been gone for 4 weeks, but it was so sad to leave!

What a fun trip! Can't wait to go back!

Park City with the NELSONS

This was one of the VERY BEST DAYS EVER!! 

Being together with all my siblings is like Christmas when I was little. It was a DELIGHT to have us all in the same place at the same time.

My Aunt Janet, Uncle Jeff & their fam (from NYC) were also in town so it was the perfect reason to escape the heat and head to PC for the day. Nils, Jeff and my Uncle Eric went mountain biking. The rest of the sibs, along with my cousin Sam, went to the Park City Resort to ride the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster and Zip Line. Nils met us just in time for the coaster.

Man- I LOVE these guys! Am I a lucky gal, or what?

Later that night we met more of the Nelson clan for dinner at Windy Ridge Cafe for dinner. Along with the food and atmosphere being fantastic- the company was superb! 

I have to give props to my Grammy Jean who made THIS family her top priority and created a lifetime worth of memories for us to build on. She left quite the legacy! Getting together is such a TREAT- and this night was no exception. One of the best times this trip FOR SURE! 

Being a Nelson is an absolute honor- and pleasure!

...did someone say 'DESSERT?'

I gave the waitress my camera to take our pic RIGHT as our DESSERT, compliments of the chef, came out. You'd have thought we'd never tasted pie before (but I assure you, we hadn't tasted pie like this before. It was SO SO SO yummy!). 

This was the pic she got:

If only we all lived a little closer to one another.

Random Addi

After coming inside from coloring on the driveway with sidewalk chalk

ADDI: Mom, I drew a very special word for you outside.
ME:     How nice, Addi. What does it say?
ADDI: I don't know, I can't read.

Water Parks

We discovered Cowabunga Bay WAY too late last Summer. I think we finally went there only a week before we moved to Minnesota- and it was awesome! Needless to say, Cowabunga was on the top of our UT Summer To-Do List. The Bollingers have season passes so they came along.
Since Tolman isn't in any of these pics, they were probably taken while he was M.I.A. for about 2 hours- and that is no joke. Because Dave and I were both there, plus friends, we all figured someone else was with Tol. When we finally put it together we realized that no one had seen him for about 2 hours. The search party began and I'm telling you- Cowabunga is NOT the best place to lose someone (is there ever a good place?). We combed that place over and over for a good 45 minutes- and yes, I was FREAKING OUT- until Dave and Mike finally found him. He was stationed at one of the buckets, dumping water on passers-by. I guess he'd been going down slides and doing his own thing having a great time all by himself. That deserves me Mother Of The Year, right?

The Monday after Dave went back home, my mom took Jess, Nils, the kids and I to Kearns Pool. That place is also pretty dang great! It is the PERFECT place for kids and adults alike. Or people like Nils who can't decide which category he falls under ;) It looks like he was having a little too much fun in the kiddie pools- but he redeemed himself by jumping off the platforms. Jess jumped off the platforms, too. I didn't- too afraid of heights. I know, I know- I did go sky diving but it's different and you won't understand unless you've also gone sky diving (I actually don't understand myself. It was a total out-of-body/mind, "what the HELL?" experience.)

Tol on the other hand doesn't seem to be afraid of anything. He was excited to go on the Low Diving Board, but when I showed him the High-Dive he was ALL OVER IT! No hesitation whatsoever. He jumped off that thing at least 15 times and would have done it all day if we would have let him (he was too little to go on the platforms). Addison decided she wanted to jump off the low dive, but once she got up there she realized it was higher than she thought so she turned around and climbed down. About 10 minutes after that, she got it in her head that she wanted to try again. When Addi gets something in her head, she is DETERMINED and NOTHING will stand in her way. Sure enough, she did it! She didn't really enjoy it, but she at least tried it. That's my Addi- strong willed and determined.

What a FUN day!

More Ut (with the Lambs)... and still more to come...

While Dave was in town, Jan & Lee took us all to Lagoon. Our family hadn't been to Lagoon in 4 years (Addi was just a baby) so we were super excited to go.

We learned that Tol is a total dare-devil when it comes to rides! He rode all the big roller coasters and LOVED them! Sadly enough, I didn't love them! I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE roller coasters, but this time they made me queasy. It's not right. In fact, while Tol and I were in line for The Spider, I totally tried to talk him out of going on it by saying that it wouldn't be fun for him, that it looked scary and what not (all that spinning DID NOT look enticing to me). But Tol insisted on going and the only thing that got me through, besides closing my eyes and totally bracing myself, was Tol's constant giggle the ENTIRE ride- it was ADORABLE!

Addi was typical Addi and was very cautious about what she went on. She surprisingly really enjoyed the LOG RIDE and the umbrellas, but I think her favorite was BULGY the WHALE.

Although I don't "love it with all my heart," like Kriste, I think Lagoon is way fun and I'm so glad we went!

Lee also took us boating at Echo. I'm still dreaming about that day. We pretty much had the lake to ourselves and the water was perfect! We couldn't have asked for anything better.

Tol's favorite was driving the boat (no surprise there). He is STILL talking about how his most favorite part of the entire UT trip was "driving Grandpa Lee's boat by himself." Funny boy!

Ah- what I would give to go back to that perfect day.

Lee, Jan, Grandma Jeanne and Dave after our Chinese Food Dinner night- a Lamborn tradition.

And Curt left for The Worldwide Scout Jamboree in Sweden that week.
I ADORE this kid!

Serious Q.F.T. (aquired form SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE circa 1995)

After 2 full weeks of non-stop PLAYING, Dave joined us just in time for another SHIN-DIG!

The Burts were kind enough to have us ALL over for a swimming and dinner get-together, AGAIN! At least this time we weren't rained out and therefore forced to destroy the inside of their house. 

It is always a pleasure to be with these lovely ladies and their families. These girls have been by my side since High School (and some since Middle and Elementary Schools) and I owe, in large part, who I am today (good AND bad :)) to them.

I am SO blessed that we are still the BEST of friends and even though more time passes between visits these days, it's as if no time has passed at all.

G.D.I.

...and I can't mention Q.F.T. without mentioning these dudes (who couldn't make it to the Burts'):

The Springers!

Dave & Ben have been BFFs since the 3rd Grade!! and Val & I might as well have been friends since the 3rd Grade, too (even though our love affair started when we were Sophomores) - we have QUITE the history!  Ben & Val are basically the reason why Dave & I got married.

The Springers & Lamborns reunited over a fantastic meal at Snake Creek then went to the Springer Abode in Heber.

 Words can't express how we LOVE & ADORE these guys!

Pool Parties!

Before Dave got to Utah, we had some serious POOL TIME with my friend and my "friends' sister" (inside joke for my sbf ;)). 
Thanks to Wendy and Amy for letting us come swim in your pools!!