hosting the team

This season Roy is head cross country coach for the ADM Tigers.  He enjoys working with the high school kids and being a part of the program that encouraged him as a runner in his younger years.  :)    Today they have their first meet in Ames so we hosted the team for dinner last night.  A couple of moms helped us out by providing some of the food.  Hopefully they are rested, energized, and ready to run today.  Good luck runners!  :)

 

Natalie played with Hudson.  

He wasn't so sure what to think of all these big kids (and all the noise) at his house.  :)  

Hanging out with coach Teed on the back porch.  

Think of all the miles these shoes have gone! 

6 months

Hudson turned 6 months old while we were on vacation.  He is closer to 7 months now, but I still had some fun pictures to share.  :)  We had a 1/2 birthday party for him in Minnesota, complete with singing, gifts, and brownies and ice cream (with half candles).  

He got his 6 month pictures taken soon after we got back home.  Hudson had been a bit fussy during the day so I was concerned how the pictures would do.  To my surprise he was SUPER happy, smiled for the camera, and seemed to have a great time.  There were so many good pictures we had a hard time deciding which ones to purchase.  Here is what we got...  

 I can't believe our baby is already 1/2 year old.  Yet, we are amazed to see how he is learning, growing, and changing all the time.  He is such a smiley boy (most of the time at least).  It seems that whenever we go places and he sees people, he smiles at them.  Everyone is always telling us we have such a happy baby!  We are thankful for that and pray that his joy would come from the Lord!  We love you Hudson John!  Happy 6 month birthday!  

celebrating with a..."from a distance baby shower"

My good friend Nikki is expecting a baby girl around Sept. 29th.  To encourage her during this exciting time, I coordinated a "from a distance baby shower" for her.  Nikki's friends live all over the United States (literally) so it seemed almost impossible to get people together for some kind of a baby shower.  So instead of a traditional baby shower, I got creative.  I sent out invitations, inviting people to join in by sending their "gift" (aka money) to me.  Then I gathered all the gifts and purchased the Chicco car seat and stroller that she picked out.  I got a great response from people and on Thursday we had a girls time, for the women who were in the area and able to attend, to present her with the gift and enjoy lunch together.  Congratulations Nikki!  We can't wait to meet the little lady.  

The super cute (if I can say so) invitations I made.  So much fun!  

The ladies at Mimi's Cafe.  

Nikki, super excited about opening her new car seat and stroller.  

friends & family

So, I have lots of random pics to share of friends and family that we have enjoyed spending time with this summer.  I saved the collection for this post...spending time with friends and family is such a treat!  

Tonight we said good-bye to our dear Malaysian friends, Erza and Firdaus.  :(

They have completed their courses at Drake and are flying back home this week.  

Good-bye friends!  We will miss you!  

This afternoon we attended Evie's 1st birthday party, a princess (and prince) party.

I went from a classroom of 23 students to read books to, to a classroom of 1!  

We read LOTS of books.  

My good friend and college roommate Sarah Thompson came to hang out for the day a few weeks ago.  We got the best pedicures ever and did some shopping (of course)!  

The Garrett girls came to meet Hudson.  Lots of lovin' from these 3 sweet girls.  

We stopped in the cities, on the way to northern Minnesota for vacation, to spend some time with good friends of Roy's from college, Kyle, Aaron, and Darcy.  

We had a BBQ, complete with Iowa sweet corn.  

Kyle Butson stopped and spent the evening and night with us this week Wednesday.  

Thanks Kyle for coming to spend time with our family.   

Hudson and his 3 aunts...Auntie Lynn, Aunt Jenna, and Auntie Angela.  

Angela and Hudson posing for a picture during her stay in July.

Some of the cousins...Renee, Amy, Lynn, Brandon, Michael, and Roy.  

Hudson met GG & GG Swinger in July, who live in Arizona.  

4 generations of Swingers.  

I LOVE my son, Hudson John!  

Hudson with his twin cousins, Thea and Jayna, who visited from Alaska in July.  

They were really checking each other out.

It was nearly impossible to get one with all 3 looking and smiling.     

A family photo, we don't seem to get many of these. 

On Thursday Hudson got to play with his buddy Grayson, who was visiting from Arkansas.  

You wouldn't ever guess that these 2 are 15 months apart?!  

Grayson is a little guy and Hudson is a big dude.  

"buckets" of fun

A good laugh is good for the soul isn't it?  Well, tonight we all had a good laugh...with the help of Hudson's toy buckets.  Roy thought it would be fun to put a bucket on Hudson's head.  Laugh Out Loud!  Then he tried it on for size.  Hudson thought he looked pretty funny, or crazy?!  Then I decided to stack all the buckets on top of Roy's head.  Oh dear me, the crazy things you do when you have kids.  We laughed pretty hard and thought you may too.  :)  

family time + relaxation + laughter + good eats + memories = vacation

I have a few more pics to share from our trip to Minnesota.  The title of this post pretty much sums it up!

Hudson traveled well in the car, amidst about 14 hours of driving.  

My mom heard of Brookside Resort from a good friend of hers (thanks Pat).  I also have a friend (Emily B.) who has memories going to Brookside as a kid.  It was a great place for families.  The soda fountain was a big hit (too bad I didn't get a picture of it though).  :)  

This was our cabin, Eagle #25.  

Monday was a rainy day.  Everyone got into this 1000 piece baseball themed puzzle and we finished it just before bed.  We were determined to complete it the day we started it.  

Relaxing in the shade...Hudson looks a lot like his Daddy don't you think?  

Checking out the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Itasca State Park.  

Hudson's first time mini golfing with the Bomgaars family (and certainly not the last).  Holding Hudson was the "prize" for being the first person to finish the hole (who was usually Grandpa Rog).  

The vacation was great for many reasons, mostly because it was relaxing.  It was different being away from home and traveling with Hudson, but he was a champ!  It was special to see the whole family love on Hudson each day.  We all took turns preparing meals in the cabin (ask Roy about how his creamed eggs turned out) and we ate well!  On Wednesday we did some scrapbooking, which I loved, of course!  The girls went shopping and out for lunch and some of the gang went golfing.  Roy read 2 books and Hudson had several books read to him.  Wonderful memories!    

Go Twins!

I am still in the process of updating the blog with pictures from the past month.  Hopefully you are enjoying the updates and I'm not boring anyone.  :)  I can't promise things will be chronological, but I consider it an accomplishment to get them posted.  There are many more to come! 

The last day of our vacation we traveled to Minneapolis for a Minnesota Twins game.  It was a 6:00pm game versus the Chicago White Sox.  Amidst the super late night Hudson did great!  He stayed awake for every minute of the game and train ride back to the motel.  He didn't want to miss a second of the fun and excitement.  It was cool to see the new stadium, Target Field.  The Twins didn't win (not a big surprise) but it was certainly a beautiful night and a great way to end our vacation.  

Hudson sporting his first Minnesota Twins attire.  Thanks Grandma!  

My sister's good friend Sara (who lives in the Minneapolis area) joined us for the game.  

                           A few pictures of Target Field.

Yes, our seats were in the top row, but the breeze felt great and still provided a good view of the ball game.  Everyone took turns holding Hudson and keeping him entertained.  

I am not sure who is the biggest Twins fan...Ryan or Dad?  Or maybe it's Hudson?  :)

We snapped a few family photos at the end of the game.