Lauren's birthday!

For Lauren's birthday this year, she spent the night at our house and I took her to the spa to get a pedicure. It's such a fun thing for us to do together - I love it! Gavin loves having Lauren here and the two of them had so much fun together. We spent a lot of time outside, swimming in the little pool, having a water balloon fight and just chasing each other around! Ellie came and spent a few hours with us the next day too. The kids all went swimming - even Ellie with a make shift swim suit. She wore one of my tops and a pair of Gav's swim shorts! They each made their own individual pizzas that night too! I was TERRIBLE for the 4th of July - I didn't take ANY pictures! We had such a good time too! We spent most of the weekend on the beach in Spicer - and Lord knows I do not want sand in my camera! We watched the fireworks from the beach on the 4th - it was the perfect ending to a fabulous weekend!

more fun

just some fun pictures from Bryan's cousin's wedding at the end of June. Gavin LOVED that tie and was so excited to wear it - how much cuter can you get?!

our Owen weekend

Way back in June (I'm much too busy to blog!) Owen came and stayed with us for 2 nights! We had such a blast with him while he was here! The boys played so well together and loved having that time to just be best friends. I'm so glad that Gavin has Owen - it's so fun to watch thier relationship grow -Gavin tells me that Owen is really more like his brother!

7 wonderful years

On Monday, Bryan and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. He is amazing, wonderful and everything I ever dreamed of. I love being married to him and in good times and in bad, I love our life together. Happy Anniversary babe!

my race weekend!

We LOVE summer around here, and, as you can tell, we stay so busy there is no time for blogging! The first weekend in June was one of my favorite weekends all year - The Minneapolis Marathon weekend! Friday night, Bryan and I met up with some of my college friends in Minneapolis - we ate at Joe's Garage - it was the perfect atmosphere to hang out, talk and have a couple of beers with old friends. Bryan and I stayed downtown that night and made a little date night out of it. Saturday, we did a little shopping (I got to pick out my bday present - thanks hunny - I LOVE it!) then we met Laurie and Eric at the Depot downtown. The boys had a blast at the water park. Gavin even made a little friend while we were there! He did great going down the little kids slides by himself, and was pretty brave in the water. We've made a tradition out of staying there, getting pizza for supper and just hanging out before the sunday race. On Sunday, I ran 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 12 minutes! I'm ok with my time, being my training didn't go quite as well as I wanted it to. I felt great throughout the entire run and even had a little in me when I crossed the finish line! Gavin was so proud of me, and good thing he was there to yell out "go mom!" bryan didn't even see me until Gav pointed me out. He loved my medal and kept asking me if he could "wear my prize!" Laur ran the 5K that weekend too! It is such a fun thing to do and something I look forward to each year!

Gavin

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So the other day, Gavin and I were watching home videos from when he was a baby. He LoVeD it! He asked me, very seriously if I would swallow him, but be very careful not to chew him up into little pieces. That way, he could be a baby again (because you KNOW that is how babies get into bellies when you are 3!) It got me thinking about that first year with him and how amazing it was. If only Gavin, it would be so easy to relive that time with you. I put together a little slide show above of some of my favorite pics of baby Gavin - I'm so glad that I have a few videos (we weren't very good at taping.... we still arent.... I'm going to work on that) anyway, I'm glad that we have a few of those videos recording his little laugh and that baby smile - I just love this kid!