Long Vacation

So as many of you know, I had a very long vacation (two weeks) with out one of my children (Berti) this month. It was hard but I made it through. I may do it again but never for that long a period.
Logan and I started our vacation by heading out to Aunt Kim's for one night and then down to Missouri to see Jay graduate. His graduation ceremony was really cool. He was honored with the Gungho Award. This award was voted for by all of his fellow marines. It means he is the most motivated and up beat of his group. I thought it was really cool. They ended the ceremony by singing (more like yelling) I have a video I will post sometime soon.
After Missouri we headed back up to Aunt Kim's for a night and then on to Grandma's. The lake was fun, We got to see Brett, Cheryl, Mitch, Jenna, Tad, Holly and a couple of their friends. The weather was perfect. We went Jet skiing, and boating. I spent most of the time there taking pictures for Elle's Senior portrait. They turned out really well. I was surprised I could take pictures that looked so nice. Grandpa had the bonfire going most of the weekend. We made smores. I wouldn't give Logan any chocolate or marshmallows but I did give him graham crackers. It got very messy :)
After the weekend at Grandma's we headed to my mom's and just chilled for a week. It was nice to relax. Logan loved it. He was super happy the whole time we were there. I took more pictures at my moms. I took individuals of all of my siblings. Then a boys picture, a girls picture and then a big family one. I think they all turned out well except for the large family picture. The Big family one is great. It has everyone, even my dad (posing with his guitar of course) and I'm glad I got it but I had to take it indoors with a timer and it's not quite the quality I wanted. The rest of the pictures look almost professional grade. I'm really thinking of making a career out of photography. I love it! ...Something to think about when Eric gets out of school and it's my turn...
Katina drove me halfway home to meet Eric. It was a fun road trip. It went pretty quickly. Logan was a little crabby but after two weeks of travel, so was I. I don't think either one of us will be driving anywhere for a while :)
Jay stayed at my mom's till Wednesday. He is now in Japan. I will post any updates when I get them.
No pictures this time (I know, huge surprise) I have over 700 pictures from my two week trip and I haven't sorted through them yet. I will try to post pictures of Jay soon and some of the family pictures and senior pictures of Elle I took as well. Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Aunt Kims

Last Sunday we went up to aunt Kim's House. We got to see Grandpa, Grandma, Tad, Holly, Kris, Peter and a whole mess of other people :) It was really nice to see everyone and we had a wonderful dinner. We always do when at Kim's. They had a cake for Berti It was a dinosaur or lizard or something. Liberty had fun sticking her fingers in the frosting all over the cake :) For her birthday, Grandma and Grandpa brought down a giant chalk board. It is so cool. It's kind of like the ones you would see in front of old diners. They could not have picked out a more perfect gift. Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa. And thank you Kim for having us. We had a wonderful time.

Summer pics with Aunt Elle

My Berti is Three

Since the photo uploader is being mean to me you will see these pictures in the opposite order I want. You can start at the bottom and go up if you wish :)
We started our day out at the farm. Berti road around on the four wheeler (NOT by herself like the picture shows) The boys were working on Ross's bin so we were too busy to actually do anything "birthday" for her but she's three and she loves the farm so she was happy. When we went home, she helped me make cupcakes, three of which she ate before I could get them frosted or put candles in. She loved the candles so much, she had me light them four times.

Summer pics

Grandma and Grandpa Kareoke

Swamp Monster

This was so funny, I just had to share. My Liberty impersonating a swamp monster :) :)

Our Back Yard Pool

When we were up in MN my mom gave us a pool. It's perfect for the kids. It's actually a lot larger than a normal kiddie pool so eric was able to stretch out in it. It's easily six feet long and very comfy he says :)

Logan loved the pool. He was kicking and splashing and laughing the whole time. Liberty would only dip her feet in. She cried when daddy had her sit on his lap. He never dunked her, just held her, and she screamed. Every day since though she keeps asking to swim in the pool...She jumps right in now. I guess she didn't like daddy being in the pool.

We cut down a lot of bushes and collected branches in our yard so that is what the piles of brush behind Liberty is...I never noticed before but the pictures make me think we need a sprinkler for our lawn. I'm looking out the window and it doesn't look that brown now. That was in the middle of July, maybe it was a really dry week. Anyways, Enjoy the pictures.