Spring Break 2022

 We went to Captiva Island, Florida, for spring break this year!  My parents rented a big house and invited us to all stay with them.  We had so much fun!  We spent time at the beach, in the pool, went to Fast Trax Amusement Park, Sun Splash Water Park, and ate lots of great food.  We also got to see our good friends, the Trans, who moved to Florda last year.  Here are a few pictures from our trip....

Minneapolis Staycation

As alluded to in my previous post, Paul and I had a trip to Las Vegas planned for just the two of us.  We were so excited!  The morning that we were supposed to leave, Colton woke up with the stomach flu.  Long story short, we needed to last-minute cancel everything and stay home.  Due to many factors, we were not able to reschedule the trip, but we wanted to spend some time together just the same.  As the kids are getting older and more involved in evening activities with later bedtimes, we have noticed that we need to be more intentional about finding time for "us".  A few weeks after our cancelled trip, we decided to do a two-night getaway to Minneapolis and just have some time together!  We did some shopping at Mall of America, ate at RH rooftop, stayed at a hotel, "pretended" (j/k) that we were in another country enjoying browsing the midtown global market and learning a ton from the Somali museum.  We also went to a mystery dinner, which was a really fun and new thing to both of us!  It was great to "get-away" and spend some time having fun together!

A huge thank you to Grandma and Grandpa T who spent the weekend having fun with our kiddos!  They went to an escape room together and enjoyed spending time with their dogs!

Colton is also very grateful that they brought along Uncle Jordan's old drumset.  Colton started drum lessons a few weeks ago and is LOVING it!

February

February was a short month with not a ton to report - we had a lot of sickness including finally getting Covid, other colds, and the stomach flu!  But, we made it through!  Here are a few pics/videos from times at least one or more of us were healthy!

Colton Spiritual Birthday

Colton's Spiritual birthday fell over Spirit Week at school!  He was the only healthy kid in the family on decade day, so here is his "1950" apparel!  You will notice some of his spiritual birthday pics he is baking after school and in his 1950's clothes. We celebrated the day Colton chose to follow Jesus by having him pick and make dinner (he chose tacos and a S'mores dessert), remembering how God has worked in Colton's life, and giving him a gift that will help him grow in his faith.

This book has been amazing so far!  It tells the whole Bible as one big story, and shows how everything connects together!

Extra curricular activities

Summer joined the youth group worship band.  She plays piano/keyboard/sings.  It has been a really awesome experience!

Summer has had a lot of fun on the cheer team at school!  Pictured below are the four 6th graders on the squad.

The whole team before the game.

Fun that Auntie Kristin came to one of Summer's games as she was a cheerleader when she was around Summer's age!

Link to Summer's Homecoming Halftime Dance

Colton had such a fun basketball season.  He learned a ton and did a great job being a team player!  There team had some fun wins that ended up landing them in third place in their bracket.  Here he is with long-time good friend Adrian.

All three kids were "student of the week" at their piano lesson studio this month...here were their student of the month photos taken by their piano teacher - Larkyn with her favorite of many cats that keep them company at piano lessons, and Colton on the keyboard in the practice room.

Family Fun

Paul and Colton went to a world cup qualifying game between the US and Honduras at Allianz Field in 0 degree weather!  Crazy boys.:)  They made memories!

Game Night!

Valentine's Day

Date Night! 

Paul and I were supposed to be in Las Vegas for 5 days, but due to a kiddo coming down with the stomach flu THE MORNING we were supposed to leave, we cancelled the whole trip :(.   When the kids were feeling better, we went out to eat at a Greek restaurant and left the kids at home :).

Happy birthday Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Charlie!  (@ Monster Jam!)

We call Fridays, "Family Fun Night"  We all look forward to spending time together after a busy week!