Off to the mountains

In the morning we are headed on an 800 mile journey to visit my sister and her hubby in Bozeman, MT. We are super excited (not for the LONG drive) but to see their new place, the mountains, and spend some quality time together. My little sister Laura is coming too!

The boys are ecstatic and can't wait to get there and play with Nikki and Tom. They miss them so much and I think it will help for them to see their new home and new city. We are only there for a few days, but they will be jam packed with fun I am sure. I will update when we get back with pictures of course!

Until then, here is a preview of our new view for a few days...

Praying for safe travels, happy toddlers, and smooth sailing!

Changes...

So it has been quite awhile since I have been on here! Life has been a little crazy around here, but it has been good crazy. We have been enjoying summer and our time together as much as we can.

Richard applied for an English teaching position at one of the local high schools and for the head cross country coach there too. He is waiting to hear back about the teaching position, but was offered the coaching one! He is very excited to start coaching again and getting involved in running in our community! It will be hard to have him gone again, but I am very excited for him and proud of him. I think he will be an excellent addition to the team. My littlest sister Laura ran last year so most of the kids will at least recognize him from the many meets we were able to go to and support her.

For those of you who don't know, he will be coaching at the high school I attended. He attended the OTHER school and I just might enjoy seeing him in apparel from my alma matter more than anything else!

I am very proud of him and looking forward to seeing how God will use this opportunity. We are praying for His will for the teaching job as well. It all seems a little surreal and too good to be true. We also know that if Richard doesn't get the teaching job, God has something in store and we will continue to wait.

I guess our boys will be able to grow up cheering on the "Red River Roughriders" after all!

Not Me! Monday on Tuesday...

Sunday morning Richard and I headed to St Paul, MN to watch Cirque du Soleil that evening. It was a wonderful kidless adventure! The tickets were a birthday present from my wonderful husband. My parents watched the boys for us (THANK YOU) so we were able to make such a quick trip down. We came back on Monday night so it really was a quick trip.

In honor of Not Me Monday, I am going to not me it up (even though it is tuesday today)...

• We did NOT have a pleasant trip until we encountered just a LITTLE bit of traffic outside of minneapolis causing us to be in stand still traffic, moving only 5 miles in 1 hour!

• We did NOT then head back west again in order to head north around Minneapolis running into more traffic as we later learned that I-94 was CLOSED due to an accident.

• I was certainly NOT upset by this at all and did NOT take this out on my poor innocent husband while we were frantically trying to make it to the show on time!

• I did NOT wonder if this was control therapy sent directly from the Big Cheese himself! I certainly do NOT need that!

• We did NOT miraculously make it to our show only 15 minutes late and still have a blast! It was NOT one of the best birthday presents I have ever received!

• We did NOT get to watch a band playing on top of a building in a random MN town that we detoured through. If we did, I did NOT take a picture for my sister because I knew she would NOT appreciate this!

• We did NOT get to go out for dinner with Clint and Katy and have a splendid time at a great restaurant on Grand Ave in downtown St. Paul. It was NOT an extra special treat!

• We did NOT get to spend some quality time with this adorable little man and his mom the next morning before getting back on the road again.

• We did NOT have an extremely relaxing time visiting with Frank and Mary (Richard's aunt and uncle) and two of their adorable grandsons before heading home. We also did NOT have some delicious lunch and rhubarb cake/pie that was amazing!

• We did NOT stop in Albertville for some outlet shopping and I was NOT pleasantly surprised that Richard accompanied me into ALL the stores and enjoyed himself! I was NOT just a little sad we didn't find anything we were looking for.

• My amazing husband did NOT drive both ways while I was in and out of sleep!

• Overall, it was NOT a gloriously wonderful trip that I hope we can take again someday! It was also NOT refreshingly relaxing to make it a kidless trip!

Family Pictures

We just had our pictures taken by an amazing local photographer and friend, Stacey Rygh. She did an excellent job capturing our family and keeping it fun! Even Richard said it wasn't too bad (my anti-picture taking-husband who would rather shop all day long than have his picture taken I think). She sent us just a few and will be getting the rest to us next week. I LOVE them and can't wait to see the rest.

Thought you might want a sneak peek...

Tulaby Lake

My grandparents own a lake home on Tulaby Lake in MN. My dad grew up spending his summers there and as did I. Over the years it has been used less and less and most of my dad's other siblings have their own cabins leaving this one vacant often.

Richard and the boys headed down there last week to open it up and get things ready. I joined them for a few days of relaxation and memory making fun. We got down there late Sunday evening and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. Monday was a little cooler that we had hoped, but we made the best of it and enjoyed some fishing, a fire inside, and relaxing. Tuesday was gorgeous and we soaked up as much sun as possible before heading back to Grand Forks.

It was nostalgic to be there with the boys. They have been there before, but only a few times and I think just knowing that we will be able to use the cabin more now that we live closer made it a little more real to me. Especially when they snuggled up in the bunk beds that me and my sisters slept in every summer and when Elijah was running around with my old snoopy life jacket on!

We had a wonderful time together and I hope the boys have many more wonderful memories of that place! We were only able to go tubing once and it was so fun! Well, Elijah and I had fun, Jonah was a little nervous the whole time. Hopefully he will go a few more times and feel more comfortable doing it. As long as he doesn't get thrown into the lake by his dad!

Brotherly love

Beautiful view and my three fishermen.

Sweet Jonah.

Jonah demonstrating his new love for fishing and proudly casting himself.

We took the jet skis out for a little ride. Jonah and Richard on one and Elijah and I on the other. We were all soaked after the wild ride, but all smiles.

Couldn't skip out on a campfire!

Elijah the "s'more monster"

Jonah: aka "the chocolate monster"

The master marshmallow roaster.

Being silly...

with marshmallows...

and MOM!

Cozy morning fire.

Morning fishing and wish I knew what they were saying.

Probably going to be in trouble later for this one, but I couldn't resist!

Weird, we had ice cream too!

I think all three of my boys could live down there in a heart beat. I guess I will know where to find them if they run away when they get older!