Time

Every time I look at Ben I am reminded how quickly time passes and it makes me think about how slowly I thought time passed when I was a kid. I think about it even more when things like my ten year high school reunion creep up on me. It has now been almost ten years since I started college! I also met Mike almost nine years ago, which seems so strange to me. I was only 19 years old! Other noteable milestones that have crossed my mind recently:

- My sister and Nate have been married for 10 years next month!
- Mike and I have been together for 7 years this fall, and married 5 at the end of this year
- My brother will be 16 this year and I still remember the day he was born
- I have known my best friend Margaret since we were 5, so this year will be 24 years
- We have lived in this house for over three years and it feels like we just bought it
- Our nephew Kade turned 5 this summer and other nephew Will turned 4, I can't believe how quickly they are growing!

Before I know it, Ben is going to be graduating from college and Mike and I will be sitting on the couch calling each other "mother" and "dad" wondering if we have enough money to retire! That's why I always try to remind myself not to wish my life away and to try to enjoy every minute with Ben while he's small. There's a Darius Rucker song that I hear on the radio every once in a while on the radio called "It won't be like this for long" and the words always make me cry. Check out the video and you'll cry too.

Summer Observations

I keep thinking of random thoughts that I don't have time to write entire blog posts about, but are worth mentioning:

- I have finished summer school and got an A in my class!
- Ben's Cozy Coupe was named the best selling car in America by USA Today
- Next year, I am just going to buy my nephew Will a birthday gift. I gave him too much freedom this year in selecting his own gift at Target. We were there for nearly an hour.
- We have rebooked our cruise (Which was previously scheduled for November, but had to be rescheduled due to conferences at Bismarck High) and we are now going to spend a week in October cruising the Mexican Riviera. I CAN'T WAIT! I don't even care where we go, I am just looking forward to laying in the sun, enjoying good food and drink and SLEEPING IN EVERYDAY!
- I can't go to my 10 year high school reunion due to a previously scheduled vacation. What is most disturbing about this is that I can't believe I have been out of high school for 10 years!
- Mike and I are going to be new Godparents again in August! Some good friends of ours have asked us to be Godparents to their son who was born in April. I feel so honored that they asked! Clearly they don't know our track record with Will.

That's all for now! Happy Summer!

4th of July

This year's 4th of July holiday was spent in the Twin Cities with our families. We had a great weekend! My sister and her husband welcomed their second child in mid June and it was out first time meeting our new nephew. I couldn't wait to meet him! Surely, you can see why.

This is Thomas and we are all so blessed to have another addition to our growing extended family! I love his name. He was named after my mother's family, as her maiden name is Thomas. I think family names are great and I hope he's as proud of it someday as my mom is.

We started out our trip on Thursday with the long drive down to Minneapolis. After several hours in the car Ben could take no more, so we decided to stop for dinner. We drove past a sign for Charlie's Cafe in Freeport, MN and decided to stop. For those of you Public Radio listeners, Freeport is the town that Garrison Keillor modeled Lake Wobegon after. For Mike, it was like visiting his homeland. And the food was really delicious and cheap! It was a great way to start out the trip.

Friday morning, we had pictures of Ben taken by our friend Jason. I intend to post as soon as I get them. We went to a park and Jason took a bunch of shots of Ben just being a kid. I think they're going to turn out cute!

That night we headed to St. Paul with Leah, Nate, Will and Thomas to the Taste of Minnesota. Mike had been planning ALL week for what we were going to eat so he prepared his tickets for purchase right when we got there.

The main event for Mike was a quest for things he sees on the Food Network. So, we ate a Juicy Lucy from the famous Minneapolis 5-8 Club. It was every bit as delicious as we had hoped! In addition to that we had mini doughnuts, corn, a turkey leg, ice cream, a corn dog, grape leaves... Maybe it would be easier to tell you what we DIDN'T eat. But seriously, it was really good. We also gave Ben his first cheese curds! He loved them!

On Saturday, we headed down to Eagan to join Grant and the crew for the 4th of July festivities. We went to the Eagan parade, and the kids had a great time seeing each other. You can tell that Kade and Syd really love Ben, he is after all their only cousin so far. They tend to forget about personal space when he's around, but it's so cute how much they like him!

After the parade, we headed to Grant and Lisa's where the kids had some time in the backyard kiddie pool. They had a great time, after Uncle Grant hauled about 20 buckets full of hot water outside to warm the pool up. What a nice uncle!

After dinner, we headed back to Leah and Nate's house where we lit off a few small fireworks. Will was so funny about the fireworks! He's almost 4, so he's probably hasn't had very much experience with fire, except to know that it isn't safe. And he doesn't like things that aren't safe. Mike handed him a sparkler and he was okay with it. Until Mike lit it, at which point he dropped it on the ground and bolted. I kept asking my sister how I can make Ben as concerned about safety as Will is. I love it!

Sunday morning it was time to head home, but not before having some more awesome food. We went downtown Minneapolis to Key's Cafe and had a great breakfast before hitting the open road. Overall, a great time was had by all!

Is it really July already??

So, um, I am not really sure what happened to June, but I would like at least a week of it back. The last month flew by so quickly! Largely in part to some big events. My sister had a healthy baby boy on June 18th! We are so happy to have a new nephew to love and another cousin for Ben. We are headed to Minneapolis today to meet him and visit other family. His name is Thomas Geoffrey. My mother's maiden name is Thomas and the baby's paternal grandfather is Jeffrey, so he's got a pretty cool family name. Check out my sister's blog for pics of the little guy.

The other exciting thing (Well, I think it's exciting) is that I finished my summer Administrative Ethics class. It was a whirlwind and a lot of work, but I am glad I took my advisors advice and got it done with. I actually really enjoyed the content and learned a few things, not that I wasn't ethical before, but you know what I mean. :)

Mike also finished up a semester of summer school and is enjoying a life of leisure at home. Well, not really, he does have to chase Ben around all day. And these days, you don't get even a moment to rest when Ben is involved. Other than that, it's just been sumer as usual. We finished up some good sized projects in our yard, which now looks great! I actually like going out there and cleaning up flower beds, watering, etc. I have also started saying things like "Oh, what beautiful perennials!" and "Those are gorgeous irises!" when we drive by other people's yards. It's sad and it makes me feel old. Such is life, I guess.

In other news, I (along with the rest of the free world) was shocked and saddened by Michael Jackson's passing last week. I will be the first to admit that he engaged in questionable behaviors with children in his lifetime and many of his comments were crazy at best, but he was such a gifted entertainer! I also believe he lived a very tragic life, right up until the end. In his honor, my favorite Michael song and video. Not a real original choice on my part, but it'll always be one of my favs and it's a classic.