That is in case you didn't know what a photo dump is.
So here we go, ready or not.
Found Simon's twin in the Trader Joe's parking lot.
Turns out, TJs is one of my favorite stores.
Simon's too, now.
Lake Hiawatha at Sunset...
Sierra at dusk.
She is such a handsome dog.
(this shows how behind I am on pictures...)
Talent show at Wellstone (the school I work at). They were so adorable.
One of the many trips taken to IL the past two months.
My sis-in-laws Rose and Claire at our beach grillout. They are fun =)
My adorable niece Hanna
Her older sister Maria.
This is one of my new favorite cousins. His name is Levi.
He islike a genius. I told him the year I was born and he told me how old I was. He also told me the only thing he learned in kindergarten was that trees have roots.
This is the flowering crab tree in our backyard. isn't it gorgeous!
This picture is out of place. But it is the view of the elementary school I work at.
Meet Fischer and Violet. They are the two kids I nanny for the summer.
I am generally used to nannying or babysitting younger kids, so this is a fun change. We can do a lot more interactive and exciting things.
We went to the zoo and had a picnic at the park outside the zoo. Mmm how I love to be outdoors. This really is an ideal job for me this summer.
Ben and I also went on a picnic to the lake by our house. No, he is not pulling the table over for us. We needed something to anchor the dog to.
Thanks to Meg and Dale, we got a fantastic picnic set, and totally loved using it!
These are my friends. Sometimes they like to play fun games at the lake shore (still won't call it a beach). This is the "see how much sand you can take away before the stick falls" game.
Me showing off my scabbed elbows. I felt like I was in middle school again. I got these from doing plank walks on the carpet in our room. Rug burns. Awesome.
NO PAIN, NO GAIN!
Took F&V to the science museum and enjoyed the view from the windows overlooking the river.
Here we are waiting for the omnitheater presentation about dinosaurs to begin!
Ben and I had a fun date-night adventure where we rented a double coupe bike and went around Lake Nokomis (the lake next to the one by our house).
We took the dog and she got great exercise running beside us.
after the first few minutes, my legs were having issues because they couldn't reach the pedals well unless I slouched way down in my seat. Being the bright man that he is, Ben figured out that my seat moved and kindly brought it forward. As in our vehicles, it is a dramatic difference between our driving positions.
Here you can see a dock that seems to begin in the middle of the water. this is because we got an inordinate amount of rainfall and all the lakes, rivers and anything else related to water is flooding.
Sierra likes curling up by our feets during dinner time. silly dog.
Exploring the creek
Super awesome that they let me bring Sierra to work sometimes. The kids love her, she loves the extra attention and it means she isn't cooped up in the basement all the time.
They really are great kids, and we are getting along well!
IL trip #4...beautiful sunset driving through iowa.
We went to IL this time to record a CD for Ben's maternal grandparents. It was all the grandkids, led by Aunt Sarah. The location was amazing. Denny Virkler has a fantastic studio and it was accomodating and comfortable to be there. he is an amazing sound engineer too! My goodness, that takes talent!
Lunch break! Addie, Shelby, Rose and Claire.
Joe and Thane having fun with the headphones and hearing themselves talk.
Listening to instructions.
Leah, Me, Claire, Tiffany (my co-in-law-cousin), and Laura (soon to bring our next co-in-law-cousin into the family!)
The guys were tuckered out. Well, we all were. 8.5 hours of standing/singing will do that to ya!
beautiful clouds and sunset as we hung out with the Dill side of the family Saturday night, after recording. We had burgers, swapped stories, laughed, played capture the flag and stayed up super late. it was wonderful!
I am blessed to have joined an awesome extended family.
On sunday afternoon, we went to Laura and Andy's shower (new cousin-in-law previously mentioned), and we happened to all wear some shade of orange...so we had to take a picture.
Well there you have it. my photo dump of life happenings.
It has been a super summer so far. I am so blessed by the sunshine...it really does good things for my soul.
Ben and I have been having fun date-nights doing simple things. We just passed our first anniversary, and it has amazed us how fast this first year has gone.
We remembered fondly our wedding weekend and how amazing it was that we had so much support and love from our family and friends.
It has been quite a year, with more good times than bad.
We really are best friends, and each up and down just continues to grow that friendship.
God has been faithful, like he always is. We couldn't really ask for much more!
In other side news...we are moving in a few weeks! That combined with family vacation, church retreat and just other busyness...you may see more blog absence. But I have another post already in the thought-process stage, so it shouldn't be too long!
au revoir!
