Halloween

Lara and I went trick or treating with Jen, Bryan, and the boys in Baldwin this year. We had a great time! It was pretty cold, but that didn't bother Lara. Here are some pictures of the kids in their costumes.

ULTRASOUND

I had my ultrasound on Friday, and we found out we are having another girl! Mike wasn't able to make it because he is working in Nebraska right now, but my mom and Lara came. The doc said everything looks perfect. I am still due the end of March. The only pics I have on the computer are the 3D pics, so I probably won't post any. They're kind of freaky looking, but also cool. I can't wait until she is born!

Park Photos

Lara and I walked down to the playground last Saturday since it was probably the last nice day of the year. I went crazy with my camera.

Update

Not too much has been happening since my last blog. Mike left on September 24th to work in Illinois for a while, and his first time home will be tonight! In 9 years we have never gone this long without seeing each other. He will only be home for the weekend, then has just one or two weeks left. I have kind of enjoyed the time, but look forward to him being back, and it will be nice for him to come home to see Lara and help me out! She is such a busy girl so I don't think it has really bothered her that he has been gone, but I know she will be excited to see him! Lara and I haven't really done too much since Mike left. We went up to Siren one afternoon to celebrate my cousin Claire's birthday, and check out the pumpkin sale. My dad, along with one of his brothers and a neighbor planted a huge pumpkin patch, and have been busy selling them around Siren for the past few weeks. Here is Lara with Claire. Last Sunday we went to Uncle Jon's house to watch the Vikings game and carve pumpkins. I actually had my brother's roommate Matt carve mine. I was more concerned with roasting the seeds. They're my favorite!

My brother's friend Joel and his wife Megan came over with their son Josh, who is just a few months younger than Lara. They had a wonderful time running around being crazy.

Here is my favorite picture of Lara. My bro's roommate Kris took it while we were watching the game. Go Vikings! Of course they lost, that's nothing new. : ( Still love them though!

MOA and Aquarium

On Sunday Lara and I picked up my friend Jenny and we went to the Mall of America. We did a little shopping, then went down to the Aquarium. Lara was really excited for it, especially to see Dori, since she didn't get to see her at the zoo the day before. : ) She got a little scared when she looked up and saw the fish and "Bruce" swimming right above our heads, so we had to reassure her that they couldn't get to us.

Lara was also really excited to see all the turtles. She has a thing about Sea Turtles now. I couldn't believe how much they actually weigh! We were talking to a lady that works there, and they weigh around 400 lbs! But she did say that all the fish look 20% smaller behind that glass, so I guess that makes a little more sense.

At the end, there were a few separate smaller aquariums, and there was the perfect one for Lara. It had Nemo, Dori, the Puffer fish, and one other fish in it!

Lara also got a kick out of the Sea Horse aquarium, and all the Star Fish (Patrick). She was too afraid to pet the rays at the end, but could have spent an hour in the gift shop. Jenny bought her a stuffed turtle, and she named him Nemo. She loves him so much! After that we did some more shopping and then ate at the Rainforest Cafe. That was also a fun time. We had a wonderful weekend (aside from the Vikings losing AGAIN). I am going to the game against the Packers this Sunday, so they BETTER win! Otherwise I don't think I'll be able to come to work next week. There are a lot of Packer fans in the office! : (

Fun at the Zoo

Last weekend Mike went up north so Lara and I made fun plans to keep busy. On Saturday Steph and Logan came over, and after about 10 minutes of doing some carseat switching, we got on the road to the Minnesota Zoo. Lara and Logan kept each other entertained in the car on the way there. I don't know how we're going to do these fun things when baby #2 comes along, unless we get a van, but I don't think that is going to happen until baby #3! The kids got really excited once we got into the zoo. There were lots of monkeys running around for them to look at while we took turns in the bathroom. A lot of the animals were far away, so I didn't get a lot of pictures. I think the kids enjoyed playing on the playground just as much as looking at the animals! Here we are with a big pile of camels behind us.

Here's cute Logan at the playground. He is such a happy little guy!

Lara got crabby at the end because we were looking at fish, and one girl said something about Dori from Finding Nemo, and she didn't get to see her. She wouldn't let it go! Good thing we had plans to go to the aquarium the next day! The ride home wasn't quite as smooth as the ride there, but we made it. Steph and Logan stayed for about an hour so Logan could run around after a day of riding in the car and stroller. I made Lara walk at the zoo, and she did okay, but liked to run ahead, so I had to tell her the lions and tigers were going to come get her so she would come back. The E.T. thing doesn't work anymore, so I'm glad that did!

Wedding

Mike's cousin Dan got married on September 8th, down in Illinois, and Mike was in the wedding, so we made the trip down the day before. We were not looking forward to the ride down with a 2 year old, but Lara did very well. I was mainly nervous out my non-stop talker during the wedding. Mike's mom had to do a reading, and his dad was an usher, so that left Mike's sister Shannon and I in charge of Lara during the wedding. On Friday afternoon Shannon and I took Lara over to her aunt's house to help with the table centerpieces. I had a good time cutting flowers, and Lara kept busy playing with Matthew's toys, so it worked out nice. Saturday was a busy day. We went to the reception hall to put out all the centerpieces, then all had to get ready. We sat in the back of the church for the wedding, and only had to leave towards the end before they did communion because Lara had to go potty. I was very relieved that she didn't have any outbursts. I think we were far enough away for her to notice daddy or Nana. : ) I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few that I did take.

Shortly after dancing, she was out cold...

Fawn-Doe-Rosa

Last weekend Mike and I took Lara to Fawn-Doe-Rosa, a wildlife park in St. Croix Falls. We had a really good time. We got to walk around and pet and feed deer, bunnies, goats, sheep, and geese, and got to see elk, bears, and other random animals. Lara got a little scared that they would bite her so she would sometimes make excuses like they weren't hungry or didn't want any when we tried to get her to feed them. But she still had a wonderful time. Here are some more pictures.

WE Fest

A couple weekends ago I went with my cousin Melissa to WE Fest, in Detroit Lakes, MN. What an adventure that was! It took FOREVER to get there, but it was well worth it. Some of our wonderful neighbors helped us get our stakes for the tent in the ground. We had 5 awesome, hilarious guys camping right next to us. They had to work most of the weekend, so we didn't get to party with them. Here is a picture of our neighbor Ward...

We ended up getting to go backstage for the whole weekend, it was amazing! We stayed up at the campground during the days, then went down to the concert bowl for the bigger acts. We got to see Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban (I'm in love with him, and even scored a guitar pick!), Trace Adkins, and Toby Keith! We were also able to hear all the other acts right from our campground so that was cool. We were basically right up on stage w/ the acts, in front of 60,000 people. It was amazing! Unfortunately you aren't able to take pictures from there, so I didn't end up taking many pictures the whole weekend. Here are a few that I did take...

We even got breakfast in bed one morning! : )

To give you an idea of how close we were, we were sitting right under that white tent on the right side of this picture. The stage is right behind it, and the audience is to the right.
Here is a picture from the general admission area. We only went in there twice to look at t-shirts and other clothes. That is when we realized how spoiled we had been all weekend! I was definitely ready to get home by Sunday. I missed Lara and Mike SO much, so of course the ride home took forever once again, and I was very tired from the long weekend. It was hard to stay awake and keep Melissa company in the car. But it was a great weekend and I hope to go back next year! I don't know if I'll be able to handle that though with a 4 month old baby! We'll see when the time comes. : )

Enjoying the weather

Last weekend I went up to Siren to join Lara. She was up there most of the week because daycare was on vacation. It was a nice relaxing weekend. We visited great grandma, and went on a couple four wheeler rides and picked raspberries. Here she is with Papa.

Last night we went to play with Preston, Peyton, and Parker. After dinner they played around in the pool, then Preston hit some balls for me, and Lara and Peytie played on the swings. It was nice to spend the evening outside.

Tomorrow I am off to WE Fest in Detroit Lakes, MN with my cousin Melissa, so I have a long, fun-filled weekend ahead of me. Can't wait!

Baby

If you don't already know, Mike and I found out last week that we are going to have another baby! I won't be going to the doctor for probably another month for sure, so I'm not exactly sure when I will be due, but most likely sometime in the beginning of April. Lara is pretty excited for now, but I don't think she really understands what a big change it will be for her. It's funny talking to her about it though. She thinks anybody can have a baby just because I am. Well I will update more after I've been to the doctor.

More Summer Fun

A couple weekends ago Lara and I went to Preston and Peyton's birthday party. It was a really nice day. It was beautiful outside, I got to see a friend I don't see very often, and there was a bounce house that kept Lara busy ALL day! It was so nice, I didn't have to worry about what she was doing the whole time.

Last Friday my mom and I took Lara to the St. Croix County Fair in Glenwood City. Lara is obsessed with animals, so after we saw all the sheep, goats, pigs, and cows, we went over to the carnival area and bought her a wristband. She is just like me and LOVES rides! She is in her own little world while she's on them, it's really funny. On one ride she was on a motorcycle, and would lean way over like she was driving it, and her belt came off. So of course the carnie had to stop the whole ride, and every other kid thought the ride was over and started to get off. So the guy had to walk around and belt everybody back in, all because of Lara. My mom and I were so embarrassed! Thank God it was the ending time for the wristbands, so we just left after that. Here are some pictures...

On this helicopter she didn't have controls in the front seat, so she just reached behind her to use those. :)

We were sad that Peyton and his family were out of town because we usually go to the fair with them, and this is the first year Lara was big enough to go on rides, but there's always next year!