Wayzata

On Saturday we met with a friend for lunch in a trendy upscale town called Wayzata (pronounced Why-zeta) on the shore of Lake Minnetonka. We ate at the cutest cafe and watched the boats come in. It was very picturesque. Afterwards we walked down to Ben & Jerrys. It was such a beatiful day so we got a little camera happy so please bear with us as we flaunt our second day of beautiful weather this year:)

Girls Camp

This past week I had the chance to go to Girls Camp with the girls from our stake (large church group). And when I say camp I use the term loosely - we stayed in cabins with showers, bathrooms and they made all our food. The girls were awesome and I think I forgot I was a leader a little too often. It didn't help that everyone, girls and leaders alike, thought I was one of the young women, but it felt great to be a teenager again. It brought back great memories from all the times I went to camp growing up.

We had so much fun canoeing, hiking, swimming, and bogging. This was my first experience going to a bog and it was awesome. For those of you wondering what a bog is this is the definition I found: wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation; has poorer drainage than a swamp. I wish I had a picture of us waist high in muck. You can see the boots we had to wear and they told us to dress in clothes we would never want to wear again. No one mentioned that once we waded through the bog to a huge bog cest pool we would engage in a bog fight. Just imagine mud wrestling at it's best!! It was a blast and it only took three showers and a swim in the lake to finally feel clean.

These are the fun women I work with in Young Women's. Hope I get to go next year again!

Date night

Last night Doug and I went out to dinner for my birthday. And get this, we actually got a babysitter. It is literally the first date we've had since Ladd was born and I loved it. It felt almost as weird as my first date with Doug after I got home from my mission, but it was oh so wonderful. Thanks Doug!! We are just starting a babysitting swap with some other families so hopefully this is the start of bunch of alone time with my favorite man in the whole world.

California Trip

We got back on Sunday from a much needed trip to Southern California with Doug's family. We were only there for 3 short days, but we had so much fun. I wish I had more pictures of the entire family, but we were so busy that I didn't get a ton of pictures.

The first day we went to Disneyland. It was mine and Ladd's first time to Disneyland and boy was it a treat. I was a little worried when we came back from our second ride of the day to check on the kids and Tara reported that Ladd did not like riding on the carousel. Doug and I figured we would try it again thinking if we were there he might like it. Nope, even with Doug sitting on the same animal and me sitting close-by Ladd freaked when it started going up and down. Luckily all the other rides we took him on he seemed pleasantly oblivious or actually seemed to enjoy. I was kind of excited to see his reaction to the live Disney characters since whenever we give him a stuffed animal to play with he screams at it and bites it. Winnie was the first character Ladd got to meet and as you can see in the picture he loved him - Do you like the backwards hug he is trying to give him?

The next day we spent at the beach and the pool. Here is picture of Ladd and Dad demonstrating how old Ladd is. In the background was the beautiful view from our hotel - not so beautiful in a picture, but just imagine all that white stuff being the ocean.

The last day we went to SeaWorld and once again had a great time. We loved the Shamu show!!! We even sat in the splash section and didn't get splashed. What a great day!

Thanks Brad and Karen!

A few pictures from Ladd's Bday Celebration.

This is going to be a little glimpse of how uncreative I am. In planning for Ladd's birthday these were my thoughts: 1.He is only one and he has no clue what is going on, so why do a big party that he will just be confused at. 2.We will give him one or two presents - probably even wrapped and 3.There is no way we can eat an entire cake so probably a scoop of ice cream with a candle will do the trick.

About a week before Ladd's bday Doug's coworkers started asking what we were doing for Ladd's 1st birthday. They were a little appalled that we hadn't planned a big party and that I wasn't even going to make a cake. At their suggestion we decided to go all out and order a free cake from a really nice grocery chain here called Byerly's. Ladd loved the cake. As you can see in the first picture he didn't have a clue what was going on. In the other three pictures all I can say is gluttony, pure gluttony.

After the cake indulgence we took him to Toys r' us where he ran around like a maniac for an hour from his sugar high. All in all I think he had a great bday. I should probably start planning for next year considering my creativity level and that Ladd should be aware of what's going.

Happy Birthday to our little Ladd!!

I can hardly believe it has been a year since we were blessed with Ladd's birth. He has been such a joy! He is getting smarter and sweeter everyday. For the past week he has been the sweetest little boy. Maybe he can sense my sadness that he is growing-up so fast, but he just walks up to me and gives me big hugs all the time. He has been so happy and smiley and it seems like I can't get anything done because I just want to play with him all day. And he has almost stopped whining all together- thank goodness. We love our little boy!! Happy Birthday.

One other good thing about turning one is that I finally talked Doug into trimming Ladd's hair as you may have noticed in the second picture.

Exciting Bike Ride

Saturday our friends Dave and Maile invited us for a 10 mile family bike ride around Rice Lake. It was a beautiful day out so we were really excited to go. This is a picture we took half-way through the bike ride. Note the beautiful blue sky and white clouds.

About 15 minutes after this picture was taken we unexpectedly started hearing loud tornado sirens for the second time this week (Last Sunday a toddler died in a tornado here in Minnesota). Of course me and Maile got a little nervous so we started pedaling a little faster. As we neared their home we stopped to talk to some neighbors, but decided we better get home because it started to sprinkle. About 5 seconds later it started to pour and we were suddenly pelted by volleyball size hail. The last two blocks of our bike ride we were screaming and laughing as we pedaled faster. By the time we got in the garage we were covered in welts, soaked and frantic to see if our little ones had survived the hail storm. Ladd was just chilling in his bike trailer unfazed by the hail or the puddle he was sitting in. He's such a funny little boy.

The short storm was followed by this wonderful rainbow. What a wonderful way to end an exciting bike ride. We can't wait to go on another bike ride with the Wilson family!!