Picnic

While Mom and Noah were busy at Kohls, and Andrew was at school, I decided today were be a great day for the rest of us to head to the park for a picnic. It wasn't easy at the beginning, since everyone wanted lunch from a different place: Nathanael wanted McDonalds, Sarabeth Burger King, and Laura and I Wendys. So I did what any rational father would do at this point: I went to all three. It was worth it though, as we all had a great time playing and walking by the pond. The kids have Earth Day on their minds, so we also picked up some trash, and recycled!

Take Your Child to Work Day

In honor of National Take Your Child to Work Day today, Jen had the opportunity to take Noah with her to Kohls. The store really did a nice job hosting all the kids today. They served donuts and juice for breakfast, then ordered pizza for lunch. The kids all got a tour of the store, and got to work on several small projects: counting gift cards, scanning and hanging merchandise, and helping bag items at the registers. It was a special time for Noah and Jen today.

On a slightly similar, but kind of different note, Jen was selected/awarded the Associate of the Month for April! She received in-store recognition, a new Kohls messenger bag, a little bonus on the next paycheck, and most importantly the close-in parking spot! I am so proud of her. Way to go Babe!

Eggs!

He has Risen! Easter Sunday brought a wonderful service and Easter brunch at mom at dads church in Laramie. We returned to their house for the Easter egg hunt. All of the planning, coloring, decorating, and hiding was eclipsed by the 5 minute hunt. After I explained the rules and what rooms the eggs were hidden in, the mad dash was on! Everyone was mostly pleased by the bounty, and a great wrap-up to the weekend in Laramie.


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Celebrate!

Here are the photos from the adults only dinner at the Cavalrymen Supper Club. The newly engaged couple also opened their first gift, and began to brainstorm plans for the wedding.

Engagement

After much prayer, planning, and thought, Wesley decided he would ask Kim Berry to marry him. We were privileged to be witnesses to the big question on Saturday afternoon in Laramie. Wes asked Jennifer and I to tape the proposal while hiding behind a tree at Washington park. It was so awesome. She said yes! We all returned home to show the ring to mom and dad, call her parents, and watch the proposal again.

That evening, we all enjoyed a celebratory dinner at the Cavalryman Restaurant. We are so blessed to welcome Kim into our family. The wedding has been set for Saturday, June 6, in her hometown of Philip, South Dakota.

Laramie

Here are a few random pics from the weekend.... campingdad wearing his feelings on his shirt...when we grill out in Laramie in April, we wear winter coats and warm hats...Noah and Andrew playing "music" on each other face...Laura and one of her prized possessions: her cell phone....the boys playing on Grandpa's 50 year old hockey game.

Everyone was having so much fun, and the weekend would only get better on Saturday afternoon....

Happy Birthday

Even though Grandpa's birthday was on Thursday, we waited to celebrate until Wes and Kim arrived on Friday. We all ventured out to grandma and grandpa's favorite restaurant: Corona Village. The evening was topped off when the entire staff arrived at the table, placed the giant sombrero on grandpa's head, and sang Happy Birthday.

Easter Weekend

The rest of the vacation was fairly routine: make breakfast, clean up breakfast, make lunch, clean up lunch, make snacks, make dinner, make bedtime snacks. Repeat. I did get the kids to the pool on Wednesday for a few hours, and took Jen on a date on Wednesday night. Drank a lot of coffee. Didn't read too much. Packed everyone up on Thursday and headed to the beautiful G & G Bed and Breakfast in Laramie, Wyoming.

What can I say about the weekend in Laramie? It was awesome! Great food, family, fun, celebration and a beautiful Easter service and brunch at Grandma and Grandpa's new church. The highlight of the weekend was Wesley's marriage proposal to Kim Berry on Saturday afternoon. Jen and I got to watch (and video tape) the proposal. She said yes! Get ready for a party in the Black Hills of South Dakota on June 6!

Here are a few pics from the trip to the Laramie Rec Center. Sure wish they would have had something like this when Wes and I were growing up. The group shot was taken about 15 minutes after we arrived at the pool. Some kid pooped in the pool and we were all told to get out for 40 minutes while they cleaned it up. Yuck.

Wood

After the great morning it was time to work with wood! I had been wanting to build some new shelving in the laundry room for quite some time, but finding the time to do so was a challenge. The first day of vacation seemed to be available, so Aaron, Big Andrew, Jim and I gathered our tools and materials and went to work. The first stop was Home Depot. After quite a discussion about what type of wood to use, we made our purchases and loaded up. It is great to own a Ford Excursion (Hybrid) in these type of situations. How many other SUV's can carry 4x8 sheets of plywood and 2x4x8's completely inside the vehicle? Only the 2x4x10's stuck out a little.

We got organized at home and went to work. The best part was using the cement nail gun. Fire in the Hole! Once we got started, the project went well. Only one trip to the store, and that was for more beer. Three hours and we were done. Finished off the evening by cooking a nice dinner for the "help" out on the grill. It looks great. The interesting part will be convincing the kids it is for storage and not an indoor play fort.

Vacation Day #1

It was a busy first day of vacation/spring break at our house. We started the day at grandma and grandpa's house for a wonderful "Easter" breakfast. We will be in Laramie for the real Easter this week, so we celebrated early. Maybe like a Palm Sunday breakfast. When we finished the delicious breakfast for cinnamon rolls, homemade pork sausage, pancakes, fresh fruit, hash browns and coffee, it was time for the egg hunt! The eggs were hidden everywhere, including on Uncle Andrew! Jen, Jessie and Tulo looked on as the 3 kids (Noah was in Nebraska for the weekend) searched for the colorful eggs. What a great start to vacation!

Snow Fort

We had a little snow storm roll through town last week. The kids were already scheduled to be out of school on Friday thankfully, so they spent the day in the backyard with their friends playing in all the fresh snow. Here are the results of the snow fort that they built. By the time the picture was taken the next day it had warmed up enough that Nathanael was in shorts again. By Monday, all the snow was gone.