This Week

This week should hopefully be a very exciting week for the house. Grant told me so :) The flooring guys are back today, Grant thinks they might finish (all the hard surfaces...carpet is nearly the last thing of the project), Grant and crew are there to start trim I think (it's all in the garage waiting...) and hanging doors, cabinets are all in the garage waiting to be hung, in-floor heat is being installed this morning in the master bath so the tile guy can come tomorrow to start his work, etc. Lots of activity :) SO excited!

We tentatively have a closing date of August 28th I believe...can't wait! Bryan and crew go every year on a golfing trip to Breezy Point Labor Day weekend...he and Trav (since he'd have to help anyways being the good friend he is) both said they'd buy me something really nice if they came home from Breezy and I was moved in...very, very tempting :) I think I know some men that might help me out moving the big stuff...we'll see.

So, sorry, boring house pictures are probably a for sure this week on the blog! I'll try to sneak some in of little man, Connor.

Friday Night Lights

Volleyball lights that is...not football :) Friday night I play in a sand vball league in New Ulm with some friends. We FINALLY all wore our shirts last Friday (the guys kind of hate theirs) so we took a few photos. The team pic didn't turn out too great, plus we were missing Chris, maybe next week :)

Nicky, me and Kacie. The girls the guys couldn't live without. Ha.

A little pre-game fun. We have a blast most nights :)

Our Jess fan club. No, they are not cheering for 'Jess',they just are both 'Jess' :)

Art Fair

Saturday, mom and I met my aunts Mary and Rita at the Powderhorn Art Fair in Minneapolis. This was probably my first 'true' art fair experience and we had a great time! Connor was AMAZINGLY good, I don't think he fussed once, just was digging watching all the people I think.

Certainly might become a yearly event! (not that I can afford TOO much at the show, but some things were reasonable)

It's kind of difficult to understand what the metal things are in the picture, they are actually plant stands, very cool, but probably need to see it in person :)

stones and wood

Well, rocks and plastic actually :) We have the start of some floors in the house (the plastic/laminate wannabe wood :)) and then Bryan spent yesterday starting AND finishing our retaining walls! Amazing, everything looks so good and is really coming together!

Scrapfest

Yes. There is a 'Scrapfest' and yes, I do attend :) My friend, Sarah, and I went for our first time last year and decided it had to be a tradition. Yesterday morning was registration online, 7 am sharp. Now, sounds silly, but it's actually quite stressful. Us and hundreds of other scrappers were waiting for the clock to strike 7 and then it's a mad rush to get the classes/workshops that you want into your cart, paid for and checked out...so you get what you want and the times you want. I know, dork...but, we love it :)

So, for this entire weekend in September, we'll rent a hotel next to the Mall of America, load up ALL of our scrapbook stuff, and spend it scrapping in the hotel and going to the workshops at the mall. Can't wait!!

hard day's work

for Connor that is, when he has hour long photo shoots :) My aunt Mary came down this afternoon to take pictures of Connor, out of 300+ photos...I think we definitely has some good ones :) I have yet to really go thru them (seriously, 300) to find my favorites and edit them...but here a few for a quick look, then hopefully this week I'll post some more edited versions. My computer is really dogging it lately when I run photoshop...so it's kind of a pain, but maybe I'll have someone at work look at it.

Now for the pictures. There are so many more good ones, but I need to spend some time sorting and editing (as if I really know how to 'edit' photos, but I pretend!)

Should probably explain this one. My cousin Terry (that just visited from Japan) brought Connor this as a gift. It says 'Fighting Spirit' which is what he has showed from day one. Now, whether or not we have it right side up...who knows. Mom and Mary nick named him 'Fighting Spirit Wing-Nut'. Cute, huh.

Picasso II

I picked up Connor the other day at daycare and on his little daily slip it said 'Connor had fun painting today!'..so, having really no idea how they could paint with infants, I ask what that really means...and she tells me they take off their clothes and just put some paint in front of them. How fun! And then I asked if they took pictures, and they did! Seriously loving our daycare.




The final product is a little kite they cut out of the sheet of paper he painted on and attach a little streamer to make the string. Adorable! Hopefully they send it home with us someday instead of trashing it. It might have to be permanent decor in the new house ;) His first art project.

Ang's Baby Shower

Sunday was Ang's baby shower, that me, her sister, Emily and her sister-in-law, Chrissy, hosted. It turned out to be a GREAT shower, had a great turnout (35+ people!) and she got LOADS of great stuff! Below are a few pictures from the day! (we didn't let a little rain ruin our party :))

Chrissy, Emily, Ang, Me

Em, Ang and their Mom, Sue

One of the games was to get into groups and create a diaper out of one roll of toilet paper...the above group happened to win.

Little Avery...she stared at Emily like this the entire time she was holding her. Too cute.

All the babes. Avery was not thinking this was cool, she kept propelling herself forward, nearly off the couch.

Pre-rain, our balloons were very full, nice, in the air...then it started to pour.

And then it poured even more and pretty soon we had no balloons.

Connor's New Toy

Kept him pretty occupied the other morning while I was getting ready.

Visit from A far

My cousin Terri and her family have been living in Okinawa, Japan for the last 7 years. Warren (Terri's husband) is in the military and they are stationed there. They love it...and actually just got approved to stay another 3 years over there. If I understood correctly, in three years they'll be 'home' for good (wherever 'home base' would be), but it'll at least be in the states.

ANYWAYS, Terri and her two boys, Michael and Mason have been home for the past month, visiting her sister and kids, her mom and dad, and then us! They stayed out at my mom's house Sunday night on their way back to Des Moines, where they fly out on Wednesday.

Here are a few pics from the evening!

Michael, Bryan, Me & Connor, Terry, Joe, Krystal & Ashlyn, Mason

Mason

Michael

Connor was...hungry? What else?

Aunt Mary and Ashlyn