From Texas to Minnesota

So after 19 plus hours in the car, we made it to Minnesota. My mom likes to spend her summers up there at their house on Rush lake and we try to go up there every year for a week or so to visit. 

Even though my dad knew I was pregnant from back in TX, we kept it a secret from my mom until we got there. Needless to say, she was super surprised! And even more surprised that I was like 34 weeks pregnant. My parents are shaking their fingers at me in the pic as if to say, "How could you?!" :) 

The kids made themselves at home and Mason had no problem with finding and stealing any and all flags that my mom had.

There is kind of a steep drop off from their backyard to the lake below and I thought it was so cute that my dad took the time to put up a "Danger" fence line for them. Too bad a storm came in the next night and totally thrashed all his hard work. 

There are always new kitties to be loved every summer at Uncle Mikes farm. Last year the kids fell in love with Katie (the white kitten that let Ellie dote all over her) and this year, the kids played with 2 kittens that my mom named, The Chunky Monkeys. 

I mean, how cute is that little face?

We had to go every day to visit the kittens. 

It was also a must to stop and see all the farm tractors and combines and anything else that a little boy would love to ride on. 

I pretty much just LOVE this picture of these two cute brothers. I need to frame it for their room. 

We rode in the back of the pickup truck to go visit the cows out in the pasture as well. 

My mom took us to go strawberry picking at a local farm not too far away. The kids loved getting to pick their very own strawberries and put them in their buckets. It's a total picture overload below but it's not everyday that we get to go strawberry picking out here in the desert.  :)

Ethan was very picky about which strawberries he would pick. They had to be absolutely perfect before they would go in his bucket!

This is the gorgeous view from my parents backyard. Not too shabby eh? I love the picture below. I found it on Justin's phone. I had no idea that he was taking it but I'm so glad that he thought to. It's not very often that I get one on one time with Ethan but when I do, I treasure it. He's such a great kid and has oodles of potential. 

We did a lot of playing around, fishing, cutting up firewood (well ok, the boys did that), and riding on tractors while we were there. 

My brother and his family drove in about mid- week from West Virginia and it was a lot of fun having them there. I think our kids are a little intense and over-whelming for sweet Payton but he was a good trooper to tolerate them :) He's a cute kid!

Chad and Jessica brought up their bows for some target practice. I guess Justin thought he needed a picture of his 8.5 month pregnant wife shooting it. Yikes!

The mosquitos were pretty horrendous while we were there but on  nice windy days, we tried to play outside as much as possible. One of those evenings, we had a fire and made some smores!

I think they liked them!

For the 4th of July, we headed down to the good ol' Okabena Parade. 

There is seriously like less than 200 people that live in this town but it has one of the biggest parades around. They throw out tons of candy and the kids love it!

Mason and Ellie passed out on the way there. I thought it was so funny that Mason was asleep but still has his flags in hand. The 4th of July was a good day for Mason with all the flags around.

The crew. Mom, Dad, Uncle Mike, Chad and  Jessica.

After the parade, we headed over to the local park for games, rides, and fun. 

We thought that whoever came up with this sandbox idea was a genius! There were pennies, nickels, and dimes buried throughout the box and our kids literally spent an hour in here collecting all the money they could find. They only got out because it was time to go. This would be such a good and easy idea for a birthday party or something!

With the money they collected, we let them choose one thing to use it on. Ellie and Mason rode in the train and Ethan played some games over where the bigger kids were. 

We braved the mosquitos and popped fireworks. Since the sun doesn't set until 10pm there we had to do it in day light. The kids didn't care. They still thought it was cool. 

We celebrated Ethan's 7th birthday with a chocolate cake with Cool Whip icing (as per request). We had to celebrate it early because we were en route back home for his actual bday. 

It still blows my mind that my mom and sister in law are now members of our church! It was so neat to go to church with both of them at the small Worthington Branch. 

The whole fam!

Here is my borther Chad and I with our Uncle Mike... and all our kiddos in tow. 

We took these pictures with everyone right before we drove off for our church history tour/ drive back home. 

These pictures below are out of order but I'm too lazy at this point to move the lot of them. 

I love this picture of my dad. He's such an amazing man. And he loves his grandkids. 

I thought it was so cute to catch Ellie and Payton holding hands while walking through the bean fields. 

Ellie was so funny riding this tiny bike around. I'm pretty sure that it is meant for someone the size of Mason, and she just happens to be a very tall and large 4 year old so it makes it even funnier. 

He moved on from his American flags to removing all of grandma's garden flags. I just love this little guy. 

Ellie's hair was wild and crazy this day with all the humidity! I love catching our kids in these kind of moments where they are just playing and exploring.  She loved playing with the bird feeders and spreading all the food on the ground for the wild turkeys. 

This little lady is the sweetest thing you will ever meet. 

After a week and a few days with my parents and brothers family, we made the LONG trek all the way back to AZ. But if you know us, you know that we had to make a vacation out of it! All of our church history adventures are coming up next!