The Black Hills

Wind Cave National Park was fun. Very interesting if you have never seen one! This opening the kids are by is the only natural opening to hundreds of feet of cave more than 200 feet below the surface. There was a strong wind coming out of the cave that day.

Feeding and hanging with the burros...

Paddle boating on Legion Lake. Buffalo traffic jam!

Playing with fire and chowing on the puppy chow at the cabin.

Here are just a few of our hiking pictures. These were up on Needles highway and around lake Sylvan. J and I had to wade up to our knees to get to that dam area. Yes the water was cold!

Everyone loved Mount Rushmore! We spent half the day there! We picniced there and went back in for more. S even found a place to take a picture with just her favorite president who shares a birthday with her!

We couldn't get any closer to the front of the Corn Palace due to a Obama rally there that day. The rock was right outside the front of our cabin. A popular climbing area for the kids, but made mom super nervous!

Here are a few pictures from our trip out to the Black Hills. It was our first big vacation as a family. We had a great time. The kids loved it and seemed to be a great age to appriciate the history and scenery (well, J didn't really like the history) The best part was our little cabin right in the center of Custer park. The kids got to do a lot of camping things they don't normally do such as making fires and exploring their surroundings, and paddle boating. If you ask them what their favorite part was they may have a hard time telling what that could be. All loved the animals but also loved Mount Rushmore and rock climbing/trail hiking. We had lots of fun!

Sensation

Hi everyone! We are about to have one crazy summer! We just got back from a vacation in the Black Hills. I will try and get some photos of that adventure up soon. In the meantime, here is what S has been working hard at these last couple months. This is her new horse (for the summer) Sensation. She is doing the 4-H horse project and will be showing her horse a lot in July and then at the Fair in August. Hope you can come see them sometime. These pictures were taken at a horse clinic we went to in Willmar. S is working on a trail lesson. Getting Sensation to open gates and go over bridges and obstacles commonly seen in trail riding. We learned a lot at the clinic! Sensation is a very good horse. He is 13 and lives most of the year up at the U of M Crookston, he works for the Equine studies department. We are fortunate to have him for the summer.

Oh, by the way.......

I have decided to keep the blog. I may not get to it more than once a month, but keep checking back to see what is going on down here in our neck of the woods. As you can see this was S's big 1-0 bday! She sure is growing up fast! This year she told mom to lay off the theme parties and just had a few friends overnight. As you can see, typical 10 year old girls having fun together, acting goofy and not sleeping a wink! By the way...why do they call them slumber parties?

Hockey Star? Rock Star? You make the call!

J rockin out to tunes in his room is just a daily occurance around here.

Last Saturday J's mini-mite team had a scrimmage. He is the one on the left in the yellow penny. As one of the younger kids on the team he has come a long way this year! Mom, Dad, Sis, and especially big brother are very proud of him.

Could be the last

Hi all. Here are a couple pic's of my favorite star hockey player. (Well favorite PeeWee anyway) It has been so hard to get myself to sit down and update the blog. I am into a new bible study and this book we are reading involves time management. I am trying to create a more peaceful existance for me and my family, and even though I love the idea of a blog and love to read other peoples, I think I may have to give this up. I don't like that guilt I feel for not keeping up on it, who needs that? And who needs one more thing on her to do list. So I will leave the blog for another couple of weeks and make a decision as to whether or not it is something worth keeping on that to do list. Stay warm!

A Very Special Anniversary

One special day 40 years ago a young couple in love pledged their lives to each other just after an old fashioned South Dakota Blizzard. And boy are we glad they did! Thanks for loving each other and loving us! Here is to another wonderful, and never uneventful 40 years!

December

Last night was HSM on Ice at the Excel center with S's girlscout troop. We ate at Cosettas and then enjoyed the show. As Sharpay would say it was "Absolutely FAB-U-LOUS!!!!!!"

S had her Christmas piano recital. Every year it is tradition to have a parent play a duet with the child if they have any piano background. I was hoping to have some video of that but here are some pictures. With mom, her piano teacher and other students! What a wonderful way to get in the holiday mood!

The first snow fall was a big hit, although this novelty has worn off with the recent below zero temps!

December is just flying by! We are all getting really excited to celebrate Christmas with family. Here we were the Saturday after thanksgiving getting our tree! We think it is our best one yet! Do you like J's charlie brown tree?