Starting school

 Dad took the Lovdal boys and the kids to the ranch for a fishing adventure the day before school started.  Everyone had a great time!

I haven't had to go back to work yet so I've been taking the kids to and from school.  The kids enjoy all types of frozen yogurt and I enjoy time with them!

Summer activities success!

We completed all the summer activities (except Taylor Swift is yet to come at the end of this month).  It was a great summer of making memories.  Robb and I celebrated our 11th anniversary as well.  I couldn't get all these activities done without my partner, that's for sure.  Bobby and Robb participated in a duck hunting course last week.  Bobby of course loved every minute and has been practicing his duck calls ever since (insert eye roll here).  I often tell him to go practice in the garage or his room.

Family vacation

 Crayola Experience

 We left Sunday after the kids finished up their soccer camp at U Mary.  We were on the road by 3:30 and made it to Alexandria to start our summer vacay.  The next day we went to the Crayola Experience.  There was hours of fun and creativity to be had here.  We played with clay, made our own crayons and had fun in the interactive exhibits.

We also rode a few rides at Nickelodeon Universe.  We had to talk Emmy into the roller coaster (Bobby went twice) but our most fun time was spent on the log cabin ride.  You can see from our faces we all had different reactions while on this ride.

We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and so that night the kids had a couple hours to go crazy on the water slides and surf on the wild wave ride.  They were actually very good at surfing.  Bobby completely lost his swim trunks, which made me laugh so hard.  It didn't phase him though, he pulled them back up and kept on going!  Valleyfair was the next day and it wasn't very busy.  Bobby loved ALL the rollercoasters and Emmy almost always needed to be talked into the rollercoaster ride.  Once on, she loved it but the pep talks made Robb and I cranky.  We didn't last the entire day at Valleyfair.

 We had great tickets to the Twins game that night!  That was fun!  They played the Pirates and won the game.  We all enjoyed the ballpark food and our time together there.  Emmy and I had gotten matching Twins tanks at the MOA for really cheap so we were all good Twins fans.

 It got to be a late night and on the way home our greatest Twins fan ended up zonking out in the car.  It was a long, busy day and the vacay got the best of him.

 Emmy and Bobby suited up the next morning to be on the obstacle course at Great Wolf Lodge.  They had no fear and enjoyed the challenge.  Then our entire family rode the slides in the water park before we took off for home.  We spent a few hours going on the family innertube waterslide.  The kids loved it and staying at this hotel was a highlight for them.

 Recently I've been letting BOTH kids sleep in bed with me instead of having the alternate on Robb's softball nights.  I decided life is short and they soon won't want to sleep with me so this way I get the time with both of them while it lasts.  Last night, I got this picture of them sleeping before I turned in for bed.  What sweet, beautiful angels they are.  I feel so blessed!

We officially completed our checklist this summer!  We have enjoyed a great summer of fun and memories together.  I love my extra time with the kids in the summer and I'm so thankful for these moments we get to share.

Making last month of summer memories

 Emmy and I hosted the BIO girls lesson about "Celebrating your unique body" at our pool.  I created a pool workout and I really enjoyed teaching the lesson.  The girls were so thankful and excited to get to be in the pool and the weather was hot for the night.  I am now running into these sweet girls everywhere around town and they are so happy to see me.  I am greeted with little girls everywhere we go!  Emmy has really taken the lessons we teach to heart and it has been so rewarding to be a part of this program.

 We had a day full of science this past week.  The kids went mining for gems and then we took a trip to the science center.  Bobby taught me how to put together complex circuits (which I couldn't even do in college physics nor remember how to do it now).  That kid is so smart!  Emmy did her own experiments as well.  She is great at making music.  We also had a trip to Jumped around where Emmy and Bobby made friends with a sweet little 3 yr old girl.  Her mother told me that I had the nicest kids around and I tend to agree.

 Bobby got a golf lesson from our friend and golf expert - Skylar.  He did really well and Skylar was impressed by how quickly he caught on to the basics.  Skylar taught him an acronym to get ready to hit and Bobby memorized it immediately which impressed Skylar.  He couldn't believe how bright Bobby was in learning new golf tips.

We met up with our cousins at Raging Rivers one last time.  The kids had fun (we all did) and since there were 4 of them I didn't have to do the slides.  I don't mind doing the slides but I'm happy to watch this trip instead of go down them.