It's Been A While!

It's been a while since my last post, sorry about this! It has been a little busy around here! So busy I haven't really even taken any pictures! I do have a few, but the camera is in one of the rooms that is being slept in by one of the three children in our house! Last Friday a little girl (2 years) came to stay with us for two weeks. It has been interesting! Now we have a 9 month old & a 6 month old, and the 2 year old! She is really cute. I will have to get some pictures of her and post, so far she hasn't been comfortable enough to allow pictures to be taken. Also, it was my birthday on Sunday!!! What a wonderful birthday it was. But I will do a post about that later. Just wanted to let you all know that we are still kickin'.

Bridal Veil Falls

We had planned on a family picnic over Memorial Weekend, but it didn't work out. So since then we have been planning a family picnic for today, and we didn't really do the picnic part, but had fun together as a family any way! We started with lunch at the local KFC (picnic food, right?) and from there headed up the Canyon. The first stop on the trip is the Bridal Veil Falls. This is so beautiful, the pictures just do not do justice! The children seemed very intrigued with the water. We hiked down the hill, through the creek, and up another hill to be able to be at the base of the falls. You could feel a cool mist (feels real good on a 90+ degree day!) and there was even a cool breeze. Princess kept making funny faces because she didn't know what was happening! It was much easier to do the hiking before two children, but it is always worth it to stand at the bottom and look up as the water falls on the rocks.

Picture #1 shows Handsome & Princess looking at the falls before we started the short hike.




















Picture #2 shows Handsome & Princess sitting on a rock before we crossed the creek


















Picture #3 is of myself and Boo at the base of the falls.
And aparently I put the same picture for #4 & #5, but I guess that just goes to show how tired out I am from the day! The children are very tired as well. We also drove up to Terry's peak (the popular ski attraction of the hills) and there was still some snow up there!!!!! I didn't take any pictures of it, so you will have to take my word for it. The road to Terry's peak kind of made me chuckle, as it appeared to be Spring ~ the tulips & daffodils were just blooming and get this.....the lilacs were also just starting to bloom! It smelled so wonderful! Anybody that wants to see the beauty of the hills on there own, call us, the H Hotel is open almost any time!

Rough Lock Falls

A little farther up the road from the Bridal Veil Falls are the Rough Lock Falls. I have to admit that Princess and Boo were not as impressed with Rough Lock, as they both fell asleep as Mommy & Daddy hiked the 2.7 mile trail. It was so beautiful! All of the rain that we have received this year is really starting to show as we are still very green, and every other year it has been rather brown by this time! What a wonderful family day we had today! Handsome even stopped by DQ for ice cream on our way home. We really had a great day today, enjoying the beauty of God's creation.

Photo Session

I just had to share some of these pictures with you! Yesterday I was just shooting some pics of the kids and I really like how they turned out! The pictures of them together, you can see how they really interact with eachother very well. In fact, I had to actually take Princess out of the room before I could get Boo to pay any attention to me! Two teething babie smiled pretty well! Princess is working on #3 & #4 and Boo is still working on #1, I sure hope that it pokes through soon!

Bath Time!

The kids had their first bath together the other night. Boo didn't like it when Princess splashed him! But they love their little ducky family that Pancake gave them!

Golf Ball Size Hail

This is what our first rose looked like after golf ball size hail last night!!

Roses

I thought it was maybe time to share a some pictures of our house! You don't get to see inside yet because we are no where near finished unpacking and it is very disorganized!










Here is a picture of my first rose bloom this year! We have 10 rose bushes in front of our house, 9 regular bushes and 1 climbing rose! I am really excited about them, and it looks like I will be having 3 yellow roses open today or tomorrow!




Here us a picture of our new house. We still have lots of work to do in order to get the outside looking great, but we have come a long way....I don't have any before pictures so you will just have to take my word for it! There used to be rocks on the other side of the sidewalk, but we took them out and planted grass. The rocks also were in front of the house where the rose bushes are. On the side of the walk where the rocks are, we have Day Lilys planted all along, with a few pink & white daffodils, pink Canterberry Belles, and there will be deep blue Wisteria growing up the arbor! We cannot wait to see what it will all look like when in full bloom, we will have to wait for next summer to see some of it. The house is being resided, and it is a surprise as to what color it will be, all I know is that it isn't going to be white. There will also be two bleeding hearts, lily of the valley, and hydrangea to the right of the door.

Let's try this again!

I was told by a few people that the blue print in "New Toys" is showing through in yellow...so I decided to just repost the font in a different color. Hope you all can read it this time! This week Princess's toy FINALLY came. A few weeks ago Boo's Rainforest swing came in the mail, and we have been expecting this Rainforest Jumperoo since then. We are so excited about it, Princess is too! She just jumps and jumps until she is tired, then it is time for a nap! It is a really neat toy, it does take batteries, but every time she jumps it makes rainforest sounds. These pictures are of the first time she was in the jumperoo. (And for Pancake's information, she is wearing the sparkly princess shirt you just gave her!)

New Toys

This week Princess's toy FINALLY came. A few weeks ago Boo's Rainforest swing came in the mail, and we have been expecting this Rainforest Jumperoo since then. We are so excited about it, Princess is too! She just jumps and jumps until she is tired, then it is time for a nap! It is a really neat toy, it does take batteries, but every time she jumps it makes rainforest sounds. These pictures are of the first time she was in the jumperoo. (And for Pancake's information, she is wearing the sparkly princess shirt you just gave her!)

My Wonderful Brother, Farmer

I just had to take this picture of my brother when we were leaving his house last Sunday evening. Handsome had helped him with some electrical project, and Farmer walked us out to the van. He wasn't really going to let me take his picture, but after chasing him around the tree for a while, he finally gave in. *Notice his pant legs & his boots*

For anyone who may not have been to Farmer's house, that is part of it in the back ground. They really have a nice house! An aweful lot of John Deere Tractors in the living room, but a nice house none the less! I don't know how Farmer's Wife puts up with it! Heehee.

First Hotel Stay

Our children were able to spend their first night in a hotel. We were having a difficult time deciding to stay with Handsome's parents or my parents on Sunday night, we ended up staying in a hotel. It wasn't because we couldn't decide, we just thought it might be better for the children to drive a little further at night, so they didn't have to get up so early in the morning. Staying in the hotel allowed for us to let them sleep til they woke up, instead of having to wake them up! That made for a better trip home! The picture of the kids crying is what they think about all the traveling we did this weekend, the picture of the happy children...shows that we made the right choice in allowing them to sleep in!

Handsome's Grandma LH

Sunday we were able to visit Handsome's Grandma. She had not met either of the children before, so she was very happy to do so. We were so blessed to have this visit with her, the first 5 minutes we were there were wonderful. She recognized us, and we were able to have a great conversation, after that she had a little bit of trouble. The picture of Grandma with her hand on Handsome's shoulder is great. Every time he would laugh she would put her hand on his shoulder and tell him, "never loose your laugh, you have always been able to laugh." As if every time she heard him laugh, memories from the past came back to her. Each time we are able to spend with Grandparents is a blessing. It was a wonderful visit.

Sara's Grad

I have to say, I must be a horrible cousin. We went to Lake Crystal for my cousins graduation and I do not even have a picture of her. Maybe I will be able to get one from my Aunt! I do however have some pictures of Boo at her open house. The kids were loved on a lot by many people. The first picture is of my cousin and his girlfriend. She hung out with Boo for a very long time and took very good care of him. Of course Pancakes spent as much time with her kids as she could! We had a great time.

E, M, & SA

On Saturday we met at the Panera Bread in Mankato. We were able to be the first Hs to meet SA, and we live the farthest from her. It was a fun time, we really enjoy any time we can spend with them! I just think she is one of the most adorable girls in the world! (It is so hard to be neutral when we have so many babies around us!)

Anyway, we are very excited because SA is already up to 6 lbs 2 oz! She is doing very well, keep up the good work!

I just wanted to share a few pictures that I took myself. We will get to see them again in August.

KHH

We were able to meet both of our nieces officially this weekend. On Friday (June 2nd) night on our way through Sioux Falls, we were able to stop and spend about an hour with J, J, NL, AD, FJ, GL, and KH. She was beautiful! She is our first niece with red hair! I cannot wait to see tham all again, I sure miss them since we moved to the other side of the state.