It's been awhile.

Yikes, it sure has been awhile since I've been on here updating y'all. Thankfully, I've been busy spending time with Max, family and friends...and just plain ol' enjoying what's left of summer. Although it feels pretty fall-like in the evenings.

The upcoming weekend will be our typical race-filled Labor Day weekend. And, we wouldn't want it any other way. If the weather holds out we'll be at the racetrack in Grand Rapids on Friday and in Hibbing on Saturday and Sunday.

I did get some great news earlier today. The blood clots in my lungs have cleared and I no longer have to take Coumadin! I just couldn't hide the smile when the doctor told me that! Yay!

Well, this is just a short and sweet update. I hope you are all well.

A Fish Story

Uncle Dale, Aunt Dana and the kids got Max a fishing pole for his birthday. Max really liked his Cars pole. We made sure to bring it with on vacation.

Shortly before supper one evening, Ryan came into the cabin and told me to grab my camera to get a picture of Max's first fish. I scurried about to get my camera and ran out to the dock. I expected to see a little sunny or crappie, but wasn't quite expecting what I saw.

There on the dock sat my little boy holding his pole up showing me his fish...it looked more like a minnow. I was assured that my leg wasn't being pulled...he was fishing with worms. Check out Max's big catch below.

Layout created with Fish Tales kit designed by Marcee Duggar at Digital Scrapbook Place.

I'm behind...

I know I'm a little behind in my blogging efforts, but I'm trying. I've got to post a story about Max catching his first fish while we were on vacation. Soon, I promise. This weekend, if I'm lucky.

The above layout uses a free kit from the Digital Scrapbook Place. This kit comes from the DSU 160 Intro class and is called Stripes and Swirls.

My new hobby

My new hobby is digital scrapbooking. I know that I'm not the most creative person in the world, but I enjoy doing this. I'm still learning how to do it and my software.

The two projects I've done so far are one of Max when he was still in the NICU (the bottom of the 3 photos was taken the day he came home) and the second project includes more current pictures.

Remembering Year 2

Here's the video I made to remember our second year with Max. It includes photos from the last year and some video clips from his first year. It's 11 minutes long, so it may take awhile to download. Enjoy!


Max's Second Year

Vacation!

The day following Max’s birthday party, we headed to Webb Lake, WI (near Danbury) to vacation with Dale, Dana, Ryan and Alyssa for a few days. We loosely use the term camping when we go to Webb Lake, as we stay at a beautiful cabin owned by one of Dale’s friends. It has a full kitchen, 1-1/2 baths, 3 bedrooms, washer & dryer, big screen plasma TV, satellite, and a dishwasher…to name several of the creature comforts it provides. About the only thing it doesn't have is Internet service.

The first evening we were there we played cards and indulged in some adult beverages. I drank a few too many since I haven’t drank much in about three years, and took a good sail with the Captain. Yikes!

The next day, we did some tubing behind the boat. Ok, I just rode around in the boat and took pictures. Following the boat tubing, we decided to tube down the river. Don't ask me which river...it's the river we drove to and then walked to our launch point. It was about an hour float down the river. And, no, I did not bring my camera with on our float down the river. :)

The next day we all went into Danbury and took Max to this neat park for kids. They even had some swings us adults could use. And Ryan gave us all quite the ride on the tire swing. We may even have to build an adult swing set at home now.

Birthday Party!

OK, I've been on vacation...and enjoyed it. So, I need to catch y'all up on what's been happening. The most significant thing that has happened is that Max turned TWO! I am officially the mother of a two year-old.

On Saturday, July 26, we had lots of friends and family over to celebrate Max's birthday. Darrin, with the help of Papa Bob, Uncle Dale and Ryan finished the swing set in the nick of time.

Darrin barbecued some baby back ribs and pork roasts for pulled pork. I made some beer can chicken and yummy apple baked beans. Aunts Cindy, Dana and Tricia each brought a tasty salad to share. Nobody left hungry; and many left with leftovers.
Max unwrapped his way through a large pile of presents with the help of cousins Alyssa and Zach. The nice thing about a summer birthday is that many of the presents are for outside use. We are slowly starting to get some square footage back in the living room.

One piece of cake wasn't enough for Max. He had to get some of his own. His little arms were long enough to swing the spatula up at the cake and lop himself off some cake and icing. More icing than cake. He gets his love of buttercream frosting from his mother.

Our tired boy finally took a nap around 5:30 p.m.

Thanks to everyone who was able to join us in celebrating our boy's second birthday!