A Hot Summer Afternoon

When you live in Fergus Falls and you are a teenage boy jumping off "the rock" or going to the "rope swing" is a memory of growing up. Our boys know that mom has always gone to these sites to give her pre-approval before they were allowed to jump off of anything. However, this year I did not make it to the rope swing before Nicholas used it. He did bring me home a movie though. I have to wonder what my mother would say if she saw this.

Happy 30th Anniversary

Thirty years ago today Richard and I were married in Moorhead on a warm, humid evening. To celebrate our 30 years of marriage we are taking a cruise and land trip with our friends to Alaska this summer. Tonight though we invited the boys to join us and we went to Zorbaz on Otter Tail Lake. This is my favorite place to go with our family because of it being on the water. We ordered our favorite Macho Chicken Nachos and Pepperoni Pizza. Then to top off the evening we stopped at Granny's in Battle Lake to have ice-cream. Thanks for celebrating with us boys!

Wedding Dress Shopping

A few weeks ago Lindsay and I hopped in the car and took a road trip to hunt for the perfect wedding dress. It was an adventure as we traveled to Alexandria, Perham, Little Falls and the St. Cloud area. This is the day you dream about as a mom when you go wedding dress shopping with your daughter. Of course you hear stories about how everyone finds that perfect dress......but it just wasn't happening for us. Well that evening as we were enjoying a quiet evening in our motel having some mother daughter bonding time we were wondering if we would ever find the "perfect" dress. Then I spotted a bridal boutique ad in the St. Cloud paper. I called the phone number the next morning and the owner answered. No they were not open that day because she was having a big bridal gown sale in a small town 15 minutes north of St.Cloud called Foley. She had brought over 400 dresses there from various shops from around the United States for this SALE! She was certain if we came we would find our dress. So, we hopped in the car and made the trip. Now this sounded like our kind of shopping. We walked into a large reception area in a catering business and there were rows and rows of dresses in their individual bags lining the walls of the reception hall. Lindsay walked over to the area where her sizes were and unzipped the FIRST bag and.................... we found the dress! It was a perfect fit and we got to take it home with us that day.

Now you won't get to see the wedding dress until January 3rd but we did think you should get a glimpse of a few dresses she tried on prior to finding the right dress. It pays to have a sense of humor when you are trying on so many dresses!

****************************** "the twist"
**************************** "the rug"
"just don't buy anything with a big pink bow in the middle of it"
*******************************"prom anyone"
************************** the five layered cake dress

How many men does it take to assemble a night stand???

On Sunday we drove to Moorhead and took my mom out for an evening meal with other members of my family. One the items she received was a new night stand. However, we all know how tricky the assembly can be on something that sounds so simple. So these pictures are of Richard, my brother and my brother-in-law assembling the night stand.
"Houston we have a problem here"
With all the commotion and laughter going on we started to draw quite a crowd. There were some older gentlemen trying to offer advice. My Dad is in the red sweater.
Just a little stumped as to what the next step should be??
Now the men might convince you that we staged this picture. Let's just say the night stand is finished and in place!

Happy Mother's Day Mom

This is one of my favorite pictures that we have of my mom with all of her grandchildren. It was taken about 20 months ago at my nephew Brett's wedding.
Happy Mother's Day mom.

"Blue" Memories

The other night I was visiting our little friend T's blog. You can see it at www.mslevang.blogspot.com His mom and dad had posted a picture of T sporting his blue cast. It was exactly a year ago that T broke his leg and they were remembering. This brought back memories and I thought we should show T Nick's blue cast from 10 years ago. This is what happened when boy took on culvert with bike. We still think it might have been his attempt to miss the first day of kingergarten. Well, he avoided more then one day.

This is where Nicholas spent 16 days in traction at the age of 5. It was a challenge keeping him occupied but he never complained!
Nick is finally getting to go to school. He has a "blue" cast all the way up to his waist and half way down his other leg. You just can't see it because his shorts cover it. Nick broke his leg right by the growth plate and they were being very careful. Just this year we discovered Nick's recent hip problems were due to the fact that the broken leg was actually 1/4 of an inch longer then the other leg. With the placement of an orthotic he is good to go again!

Hard work pays off!

On Thursday all the parents of Itasca students receiving scholarships for the 2008-2009 school year were invited to attend a special program.
Here are Richard and Jeff making sure their ties are on straight!
Where's Jeffrey?? Check out toward the back in the middle in a blue shirt.
Jeff recieved two scholarships for next year. Here he is waiting to be introduced.
Got it! Good Job Jeff. You have worked hard all year taking chemistry, physics, calculus, engineering classes....and you have done a great job. We are proud of you!! Next year Jeff will also be a resident assistant in the Itasca Dorm. That means free room and board!We can't go home without a trip to the Dairy Queen.