water fun

We have been loving the warm weather lately and are outside every chance we get. I'm not sure Connor is inside for more than 15 minutes each night, only coming in to eat and for bed. We of course have no issues with this. Grayson, wants to be wherever the big kids are (Connor and our neighbor kids) and absolutely LOVES the sprinkler. I think I finally have my 'fish'! (Connor, not a fish. Hates getting his face wet, etc.) Grayson sat by the sprinkler (quick $6 find at HyVee, ha) for hours, trying to drink from it, spraying himself, spraying Connor (which he found hilarious, Connor not so much, funny how things can turn...), etc. So...warning. Picture OVERLOAD on this post! I just couldn't decide, I loved all the facial expressions :)

Connor was certain Grayson would need his face wiped after getting it wet. Ha.

Happy Friday!

Knock on wood, both boys have been sleeping amazing. Grayson down between 730-8pm, and then I go get him about 7am. Sometimes he's just hanging out in his crib, other mornings he's still sleeping. Connor is a BEAR to wake up. Needs a good 30 minutes (my mom would venture to say he gets this from me...), so therefore I bring Grayson into his bed at 7 with his bottle (yes, thinking about taking this away soon, maybe when he starts acting his age and walking, ha) and that helps perk Connor up a bit. It's working well, but I should probably back this all up 10-15 minutes so we get out the door on time :) Doesn't help that it's 7:27 right now, I'm blogging, and have yet to do my hair or get ready. Oops!

This morning I thought Grayson had fallen back asleep after his bottle...

but popped right up at the sound of the shutter :)

Happy Friday everyone and have a great holiday weekend!

Chankaska Creek

Bryan and I have visited the new local winery, Chankaska Creek Ranch & Winery, twice now, once with my mom and then with a group of amazing friends this past weekend. It just opened and is so beautiful. As much as I NEVER wanted an outdoor wedding (I hate being hot, and my luck it'd be hot, or snowing) this place makes me want to get married again (to the same guy of course, ha) and have beautiful pictures taken. I think the fact that I'm getting into photography makes me love the place even more! Guess I should add that to my bucket list...shoot a wedding at Chankaska :) (any takers?!?! ha) Oh, and the wine? Considering I'm actually not that much of a wine-o....Bryan and I managed to find our favorite, Kasota Rose, and finish off a few bottles (with help, promise)...so pretty sure that's amazing too!

Our favorite wine! Also the bottom right picture, we're standing near one of the areas you could hold an event, beautiful view!

adorable baby grapes + my parents :)

 The first time we were out there, we got a tour of the barrel room (well, technically we did the second time, too) from the winemaker, Drew. As you've already learned above, I am not a wino (wine-o?), so I learned a lot in this room. Did you know barrels get reused 4+ times? Each barrel also identifies what forest the wood came from, how 'toasted' the inside of the barrel and the head of the barrel were during the barrel making process and how long the wood sat before becoming a barrel. Drew referred to the barrels as the 'spice cabinet' of wine making, which is just interesting to me. For all of you that knew this already, cut me some slack, I rarely venture outside of my 'Blue Moon + orange slice' bubble.

Last weekend, we got together with some amazing friends and did it all over again. Thank you to all of you for spending the weekend/evening with us! We had such a great time! Even if Sunday morning was a little rough for some :)

the boys

The boys both got new shoes and hair cuts the other day so I asked Connor if he would be a good listener and let me take his photo. He of course said yes, but when it came time to actually do it, you can imagine how ANYTHING else sounded better. However...I got him to do it and it didn't take very long for him to turn into Mr. Poser, asking me to take a picture of this, a picture of that, etc. No argument here!

I will say I am in love with their shoes. I'm a little embarrassed about how much they cost...but I am certain Connor's will last longer than his Cars or Spiderman light up shoes...right?

my fave of mr. G.

Tugging on his grass-stained jeans to make sure the shoes were in the picture.

See what I mean? He was being such a goof, but I loved it :)

My fave.

Love these boys SO much!!

happy mother's day

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful mother, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, my girlfriends and every other mother out there! I cannot imagine life without my two boys, I am so blessed to be their mom :)

We started our day out at church, followed by a brunch with Bryan's side of the family and my mom, and then Bryan took Connor golfing. What did Grayson and I do? Took a four.hour.nap. I kid you not. I couldn't believe it. Woke up, saw the clock read 4:15 and yes, a tiny amount of guilt shot through me, but I quickly got over it. I deserved that, right? (the nap, not the guilt) :)

The boys came home from golfing, we played outside, had supper, played some more, got caught up on laundry and dishes and now I'll work on some editing. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and an end to a beautiful weekend.

Love you so much, mom!!

(photo from our evening at Chankaska Creek Ranch & Winery, more details to come!)

13.1 II

I wish I would have written this post sooner after completing my second half marathon, but...clearly this blog has taken the back seat to other things. Better late than never, right?

I completed my second half marathon on April 21st, 2012. I ran St. Cloud State's Earth Day Half with about 1600 other runners. This was part of my '30 before 30' list of goals (which, not doing so hot on...).

How did it go? Well, I didn't reach any of my goals, which I had three of. My first half I ran it in 2:29. The goal there was to not walk and finish under 2:30. Had to walk some (I swear there were 6 miles where it was all uphill on the trails) but did finish under my goal time. This time I wanted a goal of 2:25, 2:20 or 2:15. Ha.

Final time was 2:25:26. So at least I beat my first time, right? :)

And I had to walk. During mile 12. Looking back now I just want to tell myself to SUCK IT UP.

I will give myself some credit. I did it, it's a lot of training time and it was cold, windy and raining for the last hour and a half of my run. (had I ran along with the winner, I'd have been done before the rain in 1:05 :))

HUGE thank you to Bryan and the boys and my amazing friend Anne and her family for standing out there in the rainy cold to cheer me on! It is one of the best feelings in the world to round the corner or look up and see people you love cheering you on. Thank you, guys! It really meant to much to me.

Right before the run I was set on doing Mankato's half marathon this fall, at about mile 8 or 9 where it started going down hill, I started to retract all of those thoughts...however I think I'll still do it. The last 3-4 weeks of training before the race I barely did any of my workouts during the week and really only did my long run on the weekend. I will blame my poor performance on that :)

A few pics Bryan snapped the day of!

love this!

and this :)

Grayson spent most of the race in the car with Anne's sister-in-law, Bobbi. Lucky. Ha.

Mile 11, see if you can spot Anne :)

photography update

My little side photography job has grown into something more than 'little' and I am loving it! I am so thankful for all of the friends that have given me a try and then the referrals that have stemmed from their sessions. I have anywhere from 2-5 sessions a weekend, obviously with the occasional weekend with less, but it's been pretty busy! Definitely trying to figure out when I'm supposed to get laundry and dishes and cooking and cleaning done... :)

Thought I'd share a few photos I've taken in the last two weeks or so, definitely improving but still have so much to learn!

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