Wrapping up July

Well, I've been sort of MIA these last couple weeks, but this July has been incredibly insane. We have been so busy, we have hardly had a chance to catch our breath, or plan our trip to Seattle (we fly out on Saturday, ahhh!). 

Rachel came to town a couple weekends ago, and she had a lot of fun with the kids. I had to work all weekend, but Rachel took Emma swimming, and had a great time hanging out with the kids. 

Emma had swimming lessons last week. She loved them. She did a really good job listening to the teachers, and she passed her level and can go on to the next level next year. Anyway, Emma really enjoyed her lessons and loves swimming. 

Softball wrapped up this past weekend. I had so much fun playing on two softball leagues all summer, but I am sort of glad it's over now. It has kept us really busy two nights a week. But anyway, our church league softball tournament was last Saturday. First of all, it was hot. Like really hot. Like heat index in the 100s hot. So, we were all sweaty, sweaty messes. I could only stay and play two games, because I had a bachelorette party in Minnesota to go to. We were missing a few of our regular players, and ended up going 1-3 in our games. It wasn't the best ending to our season, but it was a fun year!!

I left town around 3pm to head to Gibbon for Sam's bachelorette party. It was pretty fun. We hung out at Andrea's house for a while, and then we took a party bus around the surrounding towns and hit up some bars. It was nice to hang out with everyone, and we had a great time. 

Sunday, involved driving back home, and then we watched the Air Show from our driveway. It was really fun to see all the jets and planes, especially the Blue Angels. Emma and Elliott really enjoyed it as well. 

This week has been just a blur of activity. On Monday, we hosted a grill-out at our house for the called workers at our church. We had about 15 people at our house. We had a good time, with good food and company, along with beanbags, ladder golf, and a few beers. It was really fun, but people were still at our house until about 9:30 pm, so it ended up being a late night. 

Tuesday, we brought Emma to Terrace Park for Princess in the Park. She had a blast meeting princesses, jumping in the bouncy houses, making a craft, and playing games. It was a great start to the evening.  I also finished up my softball season with my women's leagues softball team. We had our end of the season tournament, and we ended up winning it all. We won our division, and got T-shirts and coozies for winning. It was such a fun season, and a fun night of softball. However, it was a late night of softball. We were still on the field at 11:15pm. This week has totally kicked my butt. 

Last night, after work, we went to Steve and Melanie's house for a grill-out and to hang out and visit. The kids had a lot of fun playing together, and it was a beautiful evening. We had a good time, but again, we weren't home until 9:00pm. My poor house has suffered a lot of neglect over the last couple weeks. 

Today, I finally have a day off. I have spent most of the day attending to my mess of a house, catching up on bills, and trying to relax at least a little bit. And packing for Seattle. And at 3:00pm, I am going to do the sip-n-cycle with John and his co-workers. This will be my second time doing the sip-n-cyle, and it's a pretty good time. 

Tomorrow, my parents are coming in the evening since they are watching the kids for a while when we are gone. We fly out to Seattle on Saturday, and then we come back on Thursday. I am really excited for our trip, but I just haven't had as much time to plan and think about it as I would like. My life needs to slow down a little bit. It's been a great summer, but it is just literally flying by!

Sharing a drink at Red Robin

Little Character 

Rollerskating 

Time for popsicles 

Cheers to a fun softball season

My kiddos love to swim

Having fun with the bachelorette :)

Me and Rachel :)

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Princess in the Park

#1 Softball Team :)

Sutton Family Gatherings

What a week! It started with a holiday, the 4th of July, and it was just nonstop every since. We have been busy every single night this week. Every.Single.Night. Needless to say, I am feeling a little beat, and ready for bed!

Matt and Elizabeth Sutton (and their 5 girls) are in town right now from NYC. They come every summer and stay for a few weeks. It's always nice to see them and visit with them, and the kids love running around with all their girls.

On Thursday evening, Andy and Emily hosted a grill-out and a bunch of us got together. They also rented a bouncy house, so all the kids had a ton of fun, and it was really nice to visit with everyone. The kids ran and ran and wore themselves completely out. It was a nice quiet evening at home.

Today, we traveled to Brookings for the annual Sutton Family Gathering. We got together at Hillcrest Park again this year, and everyone had a good time. Emma and Elliott played on the playgrounds, over and over again. We had a nice lunch, and everyone enjoyed each other's company. We also took all the kids swimming, which they absolutely loved. It was a busy day. And to top it off, I had the kids by myself because John was a groomsman in a wedding today. Luckily, the kids were very well behaved, and it went really well. It was just a lot of chasing kiddos, but Jim and Barb helped me out quite a bit and that was great.

It was a very quiet drive back to Sioux Falls, poor Eli was absolutely exhausted and slept the whole way home. Emma stayed awake, but was pretty quiet.

Right now, Eli is peacefully sleeping, Emma is still watching some Netflix (oops) and John is still at his wedding. I am trying to keep my eyes open, and am watching a little Orange is the new black as I blog. It was a great day, but this momma is ready for bed!

Our beautiful perennials 

Sutton Cousins :)

Goofy photo 

Cute :)

4th of July 2016

Just like that, we are in July already, and man, has it been a doozy of a weekend. We have just been on the go the entire weekend around here, and I feel like I need a vacation from the Holiday.

It all started on Thursday evening with the Sip-N-Cycle. My co-worker, Kayla, is leaving and moving to Yankton, so a bunch of us from work got together and rented the Sip-N-Cycle. It was a really fun evening. We had the bike from 8-10pm, and it was a beautiful evening for it, and we had an absolute blast. We ended up going to Wiley's afterwards, so it was a pretty late evening when everything was said and done.

Friday was a bit of a recovery day. I ended up getting the day off from work (yay!!), so the kids went to daycare, and I had some napping time at home to recover from the downtown adventures. After I was caught up on sleep, I cleaned the house and did a little shopping. After picking the kids up from daycare, we met up with John downtown, and went to First Friday, which was some live music with some other activities going on. It was a gorgeous evening for it, and the kids did pretty well. There was a Black Hills State mascot there, and Elliott was obsessed with giving it high fives and waving to it. It was pretty cute. Eventually, the kids got kinda crabby, and we went home and put them to bed and finished the night with some Game of Thrones.

Saturday was another jam-packed day. We headed to Brookings at 9:00am for John to shoot some Senior Pictures of Katie. While they were doing that, I took the kids to the Children's Museum in town. The kids had an absolute blast. They just went from one activity to the next and loved every second of it. The only trouble was me trying to keep track of them both, by myself. There were a couple times where I really had to search for Emma to find her, and I wasn't super impressed with that. But Emma loved it, and she keeps asking when we can go back again :)

After the museum, we had some lunch in town, and then we headed out to the Brookings Nature Park. It was another beautiful day to be out there, but the kids were getting tired and there wasn't much for them to do there, besides splash in the late, so we headed home around 3pm, and spent the rest of the evening just settling in at home and called it a day.

Sunday started off with church, and then naps for everyone. After napping, we headed out to Lake Vermillion. Again, it was a perfect day to be outside and just enjoying the weather. The high was 78 and there was a nice breeze. The kids really enjoyed swimming in the lake (even though it was pretty green and chunky) and they really enjoyed the playground and the overall experience. I really like the day camping, you get to do all the fun camping stuff, but you get to just go home and put your kids in their own beds at the end of the day. It was perfect. John and I watched some fireworks, and then some Game of Thrones and called it a night.

Today was really fun, but really busy again. We started off the day in Lennox for the 4th of July parade and the kids really enjoyed it. Elliott really loved watching it, and did really well with staying off the street and listening to us. Emma was super excited, and loved getting candy. The highlight of the parade for Emma was candy and the horses. Also, both kids were dancing up a storm whenever there was some music playing, it was pretty adorable.

After the parade, we checked out the park in Lennox where they have vendors selling food and crafts, but it was just too busy for us, so we headed to Tea to the B&G and had lunch, and then let the kids play in the big park there. After some well-deserved naps at home, we set up the kiddie pool, and slip-n-slide and just let the kids play. We also headed over to the neighbors for a while to watch some little fireworks and let the kids do sparklers. They really enjoyed that.

Now, Elliott is happily passed out in his crib and Emma is watching a little Netflix before bed. She's tired, but she wont' admit it. I have not problem admitting it, I am beat, and I can't wait to go to sleep. I am not looking forward to my 5:30am shift in the morning. Yuck! But, I do get to play softball tomorrow evening, so that almost makes up for it.

Anyway, Happy 4th of July, and I will leave you with a bunch of photos :)

Putting the kids to work

The Sip-N-Cycle crew

BBQ in downtown Sioux Falls

Experiencing Cotton Candy for the first time

Shopping at the Children's Museum 

Painting 

Water table fun!

Lake Vermillion 

Ready for the Parade

Such a ham

Elliott loving the parade 

Not loving the selfie 

Cooling off on a warm 4th of July evening