Christy's Blog

Thursday, August 13, 2009

I love an excuse to use my blue and white dishes that I've picked up here and there...garage sales, thrift stores, and antique shops. This was dad and mom's last night with us...after a wonderful visit.

My blue hydrangea plant has bloomed beautifully this summer...with pink hydrangeas!

I love this pitcher...my garage sale find.

Malia took this picture. I think she liked the looks of the individual salads. That's not how we do salad usually!

A Barnyard Wedding

We were invited to a wedding and it took place in a beautiful grassy yard right by a white farmhouse and freshly painted red barn. So much fun!

The reception was in the barn.

And here Kent and I are in the receiving line.

Directions...

The favorite part of the wedding for the kids!

4 Years...and we celebrated!

It was time to celebrate. It was June, afterall, and our anniversary was in April. G'pa Wayne and G'ma Betty fed the children, cuddled them, and sang to them, and Kent and I made our way back to Stillwater...again. We like it. It's quaint and old and charming.

I found myself booking a room at this historic inn.

And I learned how profitable it can be to ask about last-minute booking deals!

Kent watched our stow-away baby (Kade came with us) and wandered the store while I did a little bit of shopping. I added another blue-and-white piece to my collection (we've done that on each anniversary).

Our room looked out on the St. Croix and even had a little balcony. (I also learned it pays to ask about switching rooms upon arriving. The guy gave me their best room for the same price as the room I had booked which had no view!)

The room happened to be named after the man who originally built the house we stayed in last year for our anniversary. Pretty cool!

Above the bed...a Norman Rockwell, one of my favorite artists! This piece shows the seasons of a girl's life.

We had seafood for dinner...and ended with this!

What flavors do you think we picked?

Mine was Maple Nut and Kent's was Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Only...his had some mint on it from the previous scoop (and he can't stand mint), so I got to clean it up a bit for him. Yeah for me! I wonder who's looking on longingly. And no, I don't feed ice cream to my 8 month old. He has to wait! :)

So happy to be married to this man!

Now on a more serious note. I'm learning from marriage...

To appreciate the differences in one another

To not TELL ALL. He doesn't have to hear about every single thing. :)

To make every outing together fun...even if it has to be a "diaper date."

That what makes him happy can make me happy too

That I need to be more verbally encouraging

To leave the mess...and go for a walk or out for coffee

That it's fun to beat him in a game

That I need to put others first

To think before I speak (Kent is good at this)

That God must be first...only then can marriage journey towards what God planned in the first place.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

County Park

The first Tuesday of the month is free at our county parks. We enjoyed a picnic and fun at a new playground last night. Alyssa and Tana rarely get to go to the park with the boys, so I think they enjoyed it a lot. We also saw two hot air balloons.

17 months apart

When baby Kade first came home, Levi hardly noticed him. That is changing quickly as Kade begins smiling and responding quite playfully towards his siblings. Sometimes this close age has been a challenge as Levi was still quite a bit "baby" but I think they're going to be great buds!

Bell Museum of Natural History

This was another one of those adventures using our free museum passes from the library. I had no idea if this place would be interesting and fun, but it turned out to be pretty neat! There were many, many dioramas depicting various wildlife and habitats. The best part was the "See and Feel Room" which housed some geckos, snakes, bones to pick up, a mounted (stuffed) bear, and many other fun activites.

Here, DJ designs his own diorama. I hope we can do something like this at home!