Finally back with an update!

Hello, hello! Please find it in your hearts to forgive me for such a long delay in updating the blog. I'm sure you can understand, though, as we've been busy with the move into our new house. I know I'm leaving out all kinds of details but we made the official move into the house the 2nd weekend in August. Jaron, Crystal and Kathy helped us on a Saturday and we had all the major furniture and boxes moved by dinnertime that evening. They were a huge help to us and we are so thankful to have had their help! The transition  has been going fairly well - Olivia is still in a bit of a funk and she's been stressing us out quite a bit. She seems to love the new house but I think the change in her routine has her all crazy.

To throw more crazy into the mix, we picked up our puppy the 3rd weekend in August. (Great timing, Abby & Duane!) Lady is doing well and keeping us on our toes; Olivia just loves her. She tries to pick her up and hug her constantly. In case you're wondering, Lady is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and will get to be about 18lbs.

This past week was pretty stressful for all of us - Duane had a lot going on at work, we were dealing with our crazed toddler and poor Lady was just trying to get some love from her new family. By Friday, we just wanted to have some fun and relax! The sellers of our house sent an email with all kinds of recommendations so we tried out one of their favorite Mexican places. It was awesome!

Liv wore her bee headband the whole night...

Saturday morning I had a hair appointment and so did Olivia and Duane. We all rushed home from our hair places and then it was time to take Lady in for her first vet appointment. Duane laid down with Liv at her nap time thinking it would help her rest but he was the only one who ended up napping. I was able to spend about an hour in the sun and that was so nice! We headed down the street to the MN Zoo to spend the rest of our afternoon. We met up with a friend of ours for dinner and had a really nice night.

notice Duane's necklace? Olivia made him wear that.

caught her checking herself out



she loves pulling me in the wagon

Sunday morning we tried to get as much done around the house as possible and then it was off to run errands. Olivia finally took a nice nap and I laid out in the sun again. Duane worked on random things and I kept 'the girls' entertained. We had dinner at home and then took a walk as a family. Olivia loves to ride her 4-wheeler as we slowly make our way through the neighborhood.

so ladylike

Okay, now I have a confession....I used a vacation day on Monday to go to the MN State Fair. When Duane and I first moved here, we couldn't believe people's reactions to the State Fair and I just never could understand taking a vacation day for it. I think I've complained about this before but I really don't like going to the fair when it's hot and crowded - so basically every day it's occurring. All the kids at school were talking about it and Liv kept asking me about the fair so I asked Duane if he could take a day off and we'd go based on my conditions: 1. first thing in the morning, 2. we leave by Liv's nap time and 3. we take a stroller. We arrived around 9:30am and were gone by 1pm. It was a super hot day but we made the most of it and ate to our heart's content. Duane and I had RC Cola, cheese curds, wraps/burgers, beer, ice cream, lemonade and a Hawaiian shaved ice. Olivia was averaging an "I'm hungry" about every 25 minutes. She had her fill of rides and then we got her face painted. She LOVED it!

Marine's pull-up challenge

1st "roller-poster"

2nd "roller-poster"

bumper boats

starting the face paint for a 'rainbow kitty'

so cute!

my favorite fair food - cheese curds!

1 ride down the big slide

Smokey the Bear at the MN DNR
 



lemonade at lunch - she slurped that down quick!

and the sugar is kicking in!

"oh wait - more sugar? Yes, please!"

Shortly after leaving the fairgrounds, Liv fell asleep in the truck. We ran a couple errands so she could get at least 45 minutes in. When she woke up, she was surprisingly happy and pleasant. We had a light dinner and Duane finished installing the lights on the back patio. They look awesome!

back patio lights