Monday, June 29, 2009

Happy Birthday, Babe!



Happy 28th Birthday, Ryan!

I'm so blessed to have you in my life (and to have met you 4 years ago TODAY!)

I can't wait to celebrate many, many more birthdays together!



XXXOOO

.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Holy Babies, Batman!

It was a baby-rific day!

Today my sister, Meg, was going to the doctor for her 20 week ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. They were talking to the ultrasound technician and said "we'd like to find out the sex of the baby this time". The technician then said "which one?" YUP, that's right...they're having TWINS! A boy and a girl, both perfectly healthy! I think we're all still in shock! I can't believe she's almost 21 weeks and they had no idea...

AND, 10 minutes after the twin news, we found out that Ryan's sister, Steph, is having another baby girl! She's perfectly healthy too and arriving in December.

Blessings all around!

Needless to say (and much to Ryan's dismay), I've got babies on my mind! :)

.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Quinton Dancing

My parents were in Iowa last week on their way to a funeral. They got to babysit Quinton and took this hilarious video of him dancing. I may be biased but I think it's pretty funny. I love his sweet dance move at 1:14. All in all, he's pretty on beat! And even knows where airplanes are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7uJYeo5tWY

If the link doesn't work and you still want to see it, just go to youtube.com and search for "Quinton doing hand dancing"

.

CHICAGO!

Despite raining weather and both of us being sick, we had a great time in Chicago!

We flew down after work on Wednesday with our friends Steve and Sarah. After a CRAZY cab ride to the hotel (averaging about 85mph, running red lights, crazy merging, etc!) we went out for some late appetizers.

Thursday was a soggy day so we donned our rain coats and headed to the Shedd Aquarium. We waited outside for almost an hour and then fought the crowds inside. But there were lots of cool things to see and we got to see the little water show (dolphins, sea lions, whales). All in all, a good way to stay out of the rain. That afternoon we rested up for late dinner reservations. We ate at Frontera and it was delicious!

Friday was BASEBALL DAY! We had tickets to see the Twins play the Cubs at Wrigley. This doesn't happen every year and we were able to get great seats! The weather was perfect! We went early to walk around Wrigleyville. Steve and Sarah's friends came to meet us too. We had a nice lunch outside on a patio and then headed in to the game. Ryan was able to get right down near the field to get some pictures. AND, after an exciting game with lots of hits, THE TWINS WON! We weren't alone in our celebrating - there were lots of MN fans there! That night was deep dish Chicago style pizza at Gino's East.

Saturday was another rainy day. We weren't planning on doing any museums but needed an inside activity. We got a late start and headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. That night the rain finally stopped and Steve and Sarah met up with some friends but we opted to do our own thing. After a nap Ryan and I walked from our hotel down to Navy Pier, ate outside, walked back up Michigan Ave and past our hotel to the beach. A good evening!

Sunday was a PERFECT weather day! We headed a few blocks south and got an a boat for the architecture cruise down the river. We got a totally different perspective of the city and enjoyed the sunshine and cruising. After our cruise we walked further south to Millenium Park. We saw the famous "Bean", walked through Grant Park, ate outside, walked through Blues Fest and then headed to the lakeshore where we walked all along the shore back towards our hotel. I had been craving a sno-cone all day and, lo and behold, the ice cream man showed up! It was tasty! We all rested for a bit before having to head to the airport.

A fabulous trip! Thanks for the great weekend, Darrs! :)

Below are some pictures from our adventures. I noticed that all of the pictures I chose are from the two sunny days; I ruled out all of the soggy hair pictures! And the aquarium was "no flash photography" so we didn't get any good shots. As always, click to enlarge.

ENJOY!


Wrigley! If you look closely, you'll see that all the other people in the picture are Twins fans too!








My favorite!


Ryan took this when he was down at the edge of the field. Kubel, Punto, Morneau (my boyfriend), Tolbert.


Yep, that's Kenny Chesney! He sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". You can also see Bert Blyleven and Dick Bremer, the Twins announcers.


Celebrating their win


Skyline from our boat cruise on Chicago River


Trump Tower in the middle


On the boat


Our reflection in the bean


In front of the bean in Millenium Park





Steve and Sarah


The Bohlens


Steve, Sarah and me walking along the lakeshore.
.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Iowa Adventures

We had a fabulous weekend in Iowa visiting our sisters and their families. And because I know you were wondering, we saw license plates from 25 states, 4 Canadian provinces and 44 of the 99 counties in Iowa. Gotta do something to entertain ourselves, right!?

Unfortunately, our drive took almost 2 hours longer than it should have (traffic and road construction) so Brenna was asleep when we arrived in Ames. But we had a great time catching up with Steph and Jared. They even baked gluten free pumpkin muffins - YUM! We spent a little more time with them (and Brenna!) Saturday morning before heading to Des Moines.

After arriving in Des Moines Meg cut my hair (thanks, I love it!) while Quinton napped. Once he woke up we played outside, went out for lunch, shopped for fun t-shirts at SMASH, took a little nap and then Steph, Jared and Brenna came to meet us for dinner. Dan spoke at church on Saturday night and we all really enjoyed his talk.

Sunday was playtime with Quinn (he loved our giant airmattress), a trip to Caribou and then back to Ames for lunch.

Despite the quick trip we got lots of quality time with everyone. And thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the new things Quinton and Brenna can do. They're so smart and funny! (though we may be slightly biased!) :)

And here are some pictures of our adventures in no particular order...enjoy!


Ryan at the park. That lion (?) is just his size!


Swinging in her cute pigtails.


A little help from Uncle Ryan


Upside down fun!


Brenna and Quinn playing


Little toothpick legs. CUTE!


Sniffing flowers


Fun outside


Walking with his cart


His signature smile - all scrunched up!

Brenna in her dinosaur boots - LOVE IT!

She thinks her Uncle "Ry-nee" is pretty fun!
.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Garage Sale Goodness!

We had a great weekend with Ryan's parents. They got here Friday afternoon and we did a lot with them in two days!

Friday night we had dinner and planned our garage sale route for Saturday. We left at 7:30 on Saturday and stopped at a ton of sales. I think I was the big winner! I got 9 books, two cute appetizer plates, a quilt rack AND a Pottery Barn "phone table" that matches our bed perfectly and is now Ryan's new nightstand. We also found a wheelbarrow which Ryan has been wanting since last summer. HOORAY for garage sales!

We also mulched around our new bushes in the backyard. And made a trip to Mall of America and had ribs for dinner. Sounds like a good weekend to me!
Thanks for such a great weekend, Steve and Val!
The garage sale haul!


Books and plates


Marbles from a garage sale a few weeks ago. Love them!

Newly mulched yard.
.