A present!

Grandma Stensland came to visit this month too and brought Emily a package. Guess what's inside!?!

Various things

My friends Bob and Sara and their kids came to visit earlier this month. We had a blast!
It was so good to see them again and hang out with their wonderful kids!
Here are a couple cute pictures of Emily playing and then a couple with Sara and one with
Emily, Sara and her youngest daughter Abigail enjoy a short tea party. :)

It's been a hot month but we've embraced it with lots of water play. We've been to a pool
as often as we can and also the beach. It's so cool and refreshing to be in the water! Makes a 97 degree day feel like a 75 degree day. We are having a really fun summer and Emily loves
to go and do things so she is just loving the social things we do. She even loves to shop!
Can you believe it! :)

My birthday!

Alright, I'm not talking numbers here, but it was my birthday last Monday.
It was a good day and we went out for supper and to the park afterwards.
What a great evening with the family! Here are some pictures from that day....
and by the way, my boys liked the baked oatmeal that I made this week-yeah!
It's so healthy for them! I didn't even need to top it off with the homemade chocolate
syrup that I had made, but I had it just in case. :)

Happy Fourth of July weekend!

Here a few random pictures plus one of my Uncle Victor and our family plus a really sweet friend of his, Rochelle, that has taken care of him for the past several years.

Random thoughts

This week was my birthday! It was a nice day, saw the sun finally, which was a fun surprise!
We went out to dinner at Khan's Mongolian Bbq, we love that place. I think I've been there for my birthday for the last 10 years or so. I wasn't sure how Emily would do but she sat there with her plate of food and chowed down like the rest of us! Noodles, chicken wing, crunchy thing, soup,
peas, corn, pineapple, she loved it all! Afterwards we went to the park and just played and hung out, it was very nice to be outside and to spend time as a family. What a great birthday!

Emily is getting the other half of 3 molars this week, she's doing well with it for the most part.
Whew, we can't wait for them to all break through! 1 down 2 to go!

Jeremy was in a baseball tournament this weekend, they got 2nd place! His team did excellent and he pitched amazingly well. Twice they put him in when it was very important that they get the other team out and both times it was 1-2-3 outs! He's a very accurate pitcher and his hitting has been great this year too. It's been a lot of fun to watch both boys play ball and see how they both excel at it and love it too.

Jeremy's also been umping this year too along with playing and practicing. He also started a mowing business and has a few customers! He's been a busy guy!~

Ryan just finished his Iowa basic skills tests, went to vbs last week and is trying to start a dog walking business. He loves pets, I hope he can get some business!

The boys enjoy hanging out with friends and last week they tried Frisbee golf for the first time, they loved it. Time to invest in a couple of discs I think...

I got a new dishwasher last week! It's amazing how much less time I spend cleaning up in the kitchen now. I love it! It's a beautiful little assistant and I never want to go so long without one again. :)

I just finished painting the basement and also the upstairs hallway. Now it's time to organize the pictures that were on the wall and start on Jeremy's room overhaul. Summer is a great time for these projects because during the school year we are just too busy. I am excited to help Jeremy paint his room and after that I get to continue working on the family videos and picture albums again!

I've been trying some new gluten free recipes. This week is is gluten, sugar, and egg free chocolate chip cookies. Their made with coconut and almond flour, stevia, agave nectar, and coconut oil. They were a hit! Soft and yummy, like a fig newton but with ch. chips in it.
Also, last week I made baked oatmeal for the first time. It's amazingly delicious. You put buttermilk and oatmeal together and let it soak overnight to begin the breakdown process of the oatmeal so that your body can digest the nutrients better. Then in the morning you add maple syrup, vanilla, eggs, coconut oil, salt, etc. and bake. It's delicious with coffee!

Disney adventurers!

We started at Epcot and got in to the parks by our friend Annette. We took the monorail to Walt Disney World and that's where started our adventure. It was a great day, the weather was rainy at first then humid and hot but disney has misters set up here and there and boy, they are refreshing. It was a great day and now we have tons of memories that the boys will remember well, we are so thankful!

Last of Gatorland!