Happy Anniversary!

Today is Kevin and mine's 5 year wedding anniversary! Its hard to believe that its been 5 years already, it feels like just yesterday!

The story of us....

The summer of 2000 is when we actually met and spoke for the first time. We were at Superior Speedway for the fair races and my dad and Kevin had both won that night, a friend of mine wanted to go talk to Kevin and brought me along, I'll be honest I didn't really know who he was and didn't put much thought into it. Once we were all introduced Kevin talked to me most of the time we were there. We talked about racing and that was about it. The next couple of years we occassionly saw he each other at the races and had always been nice and talked to one another. This was also back when instant messaging was "in" so we sometimes chatted on the computer. The winter of 2001-02 we talked quite a bit and then spring and racing came and guess what?! We didn't talk as much as he was too busy with his cars.. LOL My dad happened to go race in Rice Lake one Saturday and I conned my sister into going to get a picture from Kevin (good thing she was a little girl that couldn't go get  pictures by herself!!). Kevin and I had talked for a while that night and in the weeks to come we started talking, emailing and instant messaging quite a bit. I would BEG my dad to race in Rice Lake on Saturday's, to the point of probably annoying, to be able to go see Kevs. On August 13, 2002 Kevin came up to Duluth for a first real date, dinner and the beach. It was a "perfect" first date, minus the fact that we got pulled over on the way home. LOL That was the first of many many many rode trips north for Kevin and vice a versa for me! Kevin would always come up on Wednesday nights as that was always our date night and we would spend the weekends either in Duluth or Cameron. It was a long distance relationship that was actually pretty easy, probably because my parents allowed it to be an easy relationship. Many have wondered why they let their 16 year old daughter date a 22 year old guy, thats easy to answer if anyone has ever met Kevin, he is the sweetest, nicest, most caring and responsible man, and what my mom calls a "dream son in law." I was always safe and taken care of with Kevin, they trusted him and liked him as person even before we started dating. My mom thinks the world of him as he is such a good man and genuine and has always been so friendly and honest with her. As for my dad, obviously he likes him and has from the begining as those two are more "buds" then father/son in law, they get along so good and actually go out and hang out. I can't tell you how many date nights I missed because my boyfriend was in the garage drinking beer with my dad! LOL

Kevin bought our first house the year I graduated (2004), I was going to college so I didn't move down until the summer of 2005 and that was only for the summer. But that was the summer he proposed! Kevin proposed on the 4th of July on the deck of our house. He grilled steaks and potatoes and onions and we were sitting on the deck enjoying a perfect summer's night when he pushed play on the cd player of Nick Lachey's "This I swear." I thought he was going to ask me dance because when we were eating dinner I ran my hand down his right leg and there was notta in his pockets. LOL (We had been talking about getting engaged and Sonia had me all worked up that it was going to happen SOON! Even tho she didn't actually know anything about it, just a hunch I guess?!?) Well he shocked me and got down on one knee and proposed! I cried and of course said YES!!!

We set our wedding date for October 21, 2006 in Duluth at my families church, and the reception at the Holiday Inn. It was our dream wedding (for sure mine!). I loved every minute of planning and preparing to marry my best friend, it was all so exciting. I will never forget the moment Kevin first saw me in my wedding dress or the moment when my dad walked me down the aisle to the man of my dreams. So many memories of that day are so precious and close to my heart, I will never forget them. If I started typing about that, this would be the longest blog EVER! LOL

We settled into married bliss and in 2008 we decided we wanted to build a new home on the land our barn and horses were at, and then we got the biggest and best news ever. We were expecting a baby! We got pregnant in April, we were shocked it happened so soon but so excited to start our family. Blake made his entrance to the world on January 16th, 2009 and life has never been the same since! LOL He's been the best thing that has ever happend to us until July 6th, 2011 and Brooklyn was born, now we have 2 beautiful kids that are the best things that has ever happened to us. Our children are the biggest blessings and our pride and joy :-)

Kevin and I have been together for 9 years and married for 5 and the road here has been a blast, a true roller coaster that I never, ever want to get off of! We've had lots of ups and some downs, just like any other couple, we've had laughter, happiness, tears, madness, chaos, you name it. But through it all I wouldn't change it for the world. I love knowing that I get to hold my best friends hand through life.

I love you so much Kevin, thank you for making all of my dreams come true-you! Happy Anniversary baby!

Home Sweet Home

This past week/weekend was spent in Huron, SD for the Wissota 100, and it was a blast! Kevin won his 3rd straight Wissota 100 in the mod, making that a total of 7 Wissota 100 wins! It was a huge accomplishment that we didn't expect to happen again, it couldn't have happened without all the support we have from our crew, family and friends, thank you all!


Kevin and the guys headed out Monday and I along with some of our crew went out Wednesday. *Its the LONGEST MOST BORING drive ever! :-) I hated being away from Blake and Brooke so long, as I'm used to spending all of my time with them, but I admit it was a nice break to just be in "couple" mode and get to have fun with Kevin and not worry about things at home (and actually getting to WATCH the races this year!). Knowing our kiddos were being taken care of and loved so much sure made it easier on both Kevin and I to enjoy ourselves! We had a great time hanging out with new friends and old friends, the sun may have come up a little too early most days... but it was usually so gray and cold outside that an afternoon snooze was perfect! The races were pretty good, some races were fun to watch others were a bore, but thats come to be expected when there are so many races to be ran. Kevin seems to always run good at DSFS and enjoys it, minus the fact that the place is such a tire eater! Kevin ended up winning his heat race, winning the qualifying feature (the first night to start pole of the feature), placed 2nd in the Race of Champions and then won the main feature. The bmod that we own was raced by Matt Leer and he also won for the 2nd year in row! Needless to say Lexie (Matt's wonderful girlfriend), Tara and I  had a blast all week! *The following pictures are from Lexie and Tara's facebook pages, thanks ladies! I didn't take any pix...


Kevin, after he won!



Congrats after the win!



The group!

Me, Lexie and Tara, Saturday night of the Wissota 100

Kevin and I both agree that the best part of the whole weekend was coming home to our kids! Blake was sooo excited and kept giving us hugs and kisses all night! All week he's been telling me "mom, I missed you!" He sure knows how to melt his mommy's heart! And of course seeing Brooke's big smile was precious! Sunday night all we did was cuddle them! Home Sweet Home!

Kevin and I both enjoy "invitational season" its fun to travel to different tracks and see friends and fellow racers we don't see often. It always seems as the racing season comes to an end, we are more than ready to be done, so getting to travel and go somewhere new kind of gives us a boost of excitement that we all need at the end of the season. This weekend we will probably head to Menomonie for the Punky and will most likely be our last race of the season, well don't quote me just yet! The following weekend I'm going to Ashland for the Red Clay Classic, I've always gone with my family since I was little to this race so I will be up there cheering on my dad! Kevin is still unsure what his plans are for that weekend, so we shall see!

So when I logged on here, I noticed I haven't updated in quite a while, oops! I've been so busy, I haven't found the time to sit down and type! Life has been blissfully sweet lately, our kids are growing so fast (too fast) and are happy which makes everything sweet! Blake is turning into such a little boy these days, he's all about racecars, trains and anything he can throw or kick. I think we may have a little athlete on our hands, he can throw and catch better than me! LOL And FINALLY he is wearing big boy underwear, he just had to be stubborn to the very end and decide for himself when he was ready. :-) Brooke has been just the most perfect princess, she is the easiest baby! She only fusses when she's hungry and boy is she a good eater! Brooke has a very easy schedule and she is on "daycare" schedule, meaning she naps when the other kids nap, yay! Brooke has been smiling for a few weeks now but it seems whenever I get my camera out she won't smile at me, what a stinker! She also has been cooing a lot! Its been an exciting month in our house with all these milestones!

Blake's favorite summer dinner, I love how he squeezes his eyes shut!



Tummy time!



Blake loves Brooke so much!

Little stinker stopped smiling!



Sibling love!



A big smile for daddy, of course!

Relaxin' after dinner...

Fall is finally here, which is my favorite time of year! I love watching the leaves change color, I love sitting in my big comfy chair reading a book with my candles lit on a lazy sunday, I love getting things done around the house that don't get done all summer and most of all I love all the things we get to go and do as a family on the weekends! Yay for fall!

Have a great week!

5 weeks

Today our sweet baby girl is 5 weeks old! I can't believe she is "that old" already, time has flown by as usual! Brooklyn has been a wonderful baby, we've been so lucky at how easy she's been. As of right now she will sleep 5-7 hours straight at night, wake up have a quick bottle and back to sleep she goes for a few more hours. She's quite the little eater, she is hungry just about every 3 hours and drinks 3-5 oz at a time. When I had her in for a check up at 3 weeks she weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz, and looking at her now, she's starting to fill out and look chubby! I love it, nothing better than a chubby, healthy, happy baby! Brooke's not much of a crier (unless your taking too long), she's more of a sqeaker, thus her nickname: sqeaks! (Blake also calls her sissy!)  Brooke LOVES to be cuddled and prefers to be held more than anything, although she does like her swing, bouncer and laying on the floor looking around. I admit I hold her a lot, in the back of mind I keep thinking she could be my last baby, so I'm soaking up as much snuggles with her as I can! Brooke is such a happy baby, we are so blessed!

She loves her nuk!

Blake has been a wonderful big brother, I can't believe how much he loves Brooke and how good he is with her, it makes my heart melt! He always wants to hug and kiss her or get her things for me. He wants her to play with him so bad, he puts toys next to her and then just watches her, waiting for her to play! Its sweet. He's adjusted very well to not being the only child anymore, there are times he acts out and does things that make me want to scream, but all in all he's done great and we're so proud of him!

He's so proud of her!

This last month we've been pretty busy, we all hate being stuck in the house, so we are out and about quite a bit, doing things we would normally do with Blake and bringing Brooke along as well! She's been quite the little traveler! In July we all went to the Barron County Fair and had a great time! Blake loved the animals and the rides and of course the ice cream! The funniest thing that he remembers from the fair is "the cow had poopy on his butt!" he thought that was hilarious! What a goofball!

Blake, Brooke and I have made 2 mid-week trips up to Duluth to visit my family, its been great to take advantage of my maternity leave to do things I normally don't do unless planned. Last week we were in Duluth and I brought Blake to the train depot to go to "A Day Out with Thomas". There were lots of activites and games and train sets for the kids to play with and of course we got to go on a ride on Thomas! Blake was a little overwhelmed with all the chaos of the day but he LOVED the train ride! The only bummer of the day was Blake refused to get a pic with Thomas!

This is the only pic with Thomas!

Talking to his bear Stewie!

This week has been spent spending as much time with my kiddos as I can and sleeping as much as I can! Because sadly I go back to work on Monday. :-( I have LOVED having the past 6 weeks off, its been so much fun! Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy my job and the kids I care for are wonderful and sweet, but I will miss my days being spent with just Blake and Brooke. I'm sure it will be fine once I get in a routine of working again.

Story time at bedtime, one of my favorite times of the day!

Good night!

Brooklyn Lilly

We welcomed our precious baby girl, Brooklyn Lilly on Wednesday, July 6th at 12:21pm, she weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 19.5 in and she's perfect!

Our little princess, Brooklyn!

Wednesday morning we arrived at the hospital at 6:30am, as I was scheduled to be induced. We opted to to get induced since I was dilated so far, thinned out, having random contractions and a lot of cramping. Anyway my water was broke at 7:50, the pitocin was started at 9:00 and at 11:00 I had my epidural (thank goodness!). At 11:45 I started feeling the contractions again and complained to Kevin about how bad it hurt  and that I was worried that the epidural wasn't working! (I have a low pain tolerance.) I called the nurses in and my doctor happened to be coming in at the same time to check me. My doctor said well your complete, time to have your baby! I was shocked, I thought it would be a lot longer, as I was hoping for a quick nap after the epidural, I didn't sleep much the night before! Kevin was still sitting next to me eating his lunch and he was shocked too! I started pushing at 12:10 and delivered Brooklyn at 12:21. It was pretty easy and I was thankful that it only took 11 minutes, with Blake it was an hour and 20 minutes, this delivery seemed like a piece of cake compared to his!

Blake loves being a big brother to "Blooklyn"! He gives her lots of hugs and kisses and has been very helpful changing diapers, feeding and burping her. He also loves to hold her! It melts my heart!! When Blake wakes up in the morning or after nap he runs into Brooke's room to see her, its so precious!  Blake has had a few moments where he's acted out, which we expected, so much has changed for him so quickly, he needs some time to adjust. We're just happy he's taken out his emotions on us and not Brooklyn. The main issue is Blake gets jealous when others hold Brooklyn, he keeps saying "give her back to mommy". Other than that I think he's doing really well with his "sissy"!



Blake's first time meeting Brooklyn, he was so sweet and so excited to meet her!



Kevin was wonderful throughout the whole labor and delivery of Brooke, he is my rock and knowing he was with me and holding my hand the entire time was such comfort and honestly gave me strength to get through it, as I was scared to give birth again.  He continues to amaze me at how comfortable he is holding Brooklyn and having Blake climbing all over him. Kevin has such patience with both kids, he is an amazing dad!



My 3 loves!

Brooklyn Lilly, her middle name is after her great grandma Adams.

Our first family picture!

Proud daddy!



My kids! Blake is so proud!

 

Our princess in her princess bed, she's so tiny!



So far Brooklyn has been a pretty easy baby, she is very content and loves to be held and enjoys laying on the floor looking around. She doesn't cry much unless she's waited too long to be fed, usually she makes a little squeal to let you know she's ready for some attention, a diaper or to be fed. Its really cute and very girlie! Brooke has been a very good sleeper, we haven't gotten into to much of a routine yet but she has a bottle at bedtime and then she will sleep 5-6 hours, its so nice! Our days have been relaxed, no routine yet, but she's only a week old today! I've been trying to keep Blake on his normal schedule as much as possible, at least when it comes to nap time, he's a kid that needs a nap daily! We did manage a picnic at the park on Monday, it was nice to get out and have some fresh air and Blake had fun and needed a change of scenery too! Brooklyn was wide awake the entire time, she seemed to enjoy being outside!

Blake got a new pool!



I can honestly say I feel wonderful having 2 children, I was so worried about handling 2 little ones, it hasn't been easy but its been a lot of fun and I'm loving every minute of it, Blake and Brooklyn are such blessings! I'm in mommy heaven!!!!

Tick Tock....

Hello! Well I am 38 1/2 weeks along, hopefully less than 2 weeks to go! Woohoo! I had a doctor appt. this last Wednesday and I am dilated to a 3. I've also been having a lot of cramping and random contractions. So hopefully my next post will be about welcoming our baby girl into the world! Stay tuned...

We finally finished Brooke's room, lots of pink :-) I think we have everything in place and ready to go so now we wait!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I would do Brooklyn's room in a princess theme!

On Father's Day, Blake did a great job of waking Kevin up bright and early! Rise and shine! Blake was so excited to give him his gift, a bird house that he painted all by himself and a card that he picked out himself.

He loved painting his "daddy bird house"

Father's Day afternoon we went to the carnival in Rice Lake. We had a blast! Blake loved the rides, bounce house and big slide. His giggled was adorable, such a fun day, topped off with mini donuts! (Yummy!)

Kevin has had an awesome past 3 weeks of racing, which have been a blast to watch! We have enjoyed each win, we don't like to take any of them for granted as luck can change all too soon. :-) With that said we are off to Menomonie tonight for their mod special (I think I will be hibernating in the hauler with the A/C cranked!) and tomorrow night Rice Lake has there annual fireworks race, I have to say they put on an awesome fireworks display, I don't think I will be watching tho, Blake is TERRIFIED of fireworks. Last week people were lighting them off near the track not at the track and he was crying that they scared him and he wanted to go home. So I think we will sit and play in the office during the fireworks... bummer! On a happier note we don't have to race Sunday or Monday! I'm so excited that we get to have 2 days off to spend together and do some fun stuff we don't usually get to do on the weekends!!! Here are some pix from last Sunday at Jim Falls:

Hard at work..... ;-)

He's such a good helper!

Today I had to grocery shop (ugh!), I had the day off so I of course brought Blake, which will be his last trip there for a very long time. I usually go "big" grocery shopping once a month so my cart was overflowing and my adorable son thought it would be a great idea to start tossing everything out! AHHHH! The store was packed of course with holiday weekend shoppers, so I was getting many looks: some of sympathy, some of laughter and of course some of control your kid! We made it home.... After lunch today Blake and I headed over to Barron to play in the pool, it was perfect! They have a nice kiddie pool that reaches Blake's waist, he loved it! I did too!

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!



When are you due?!

Is what I'm asked almost daily, but especially at the races! July 12th is my due date, 3 1/2 more weeks, thankfully. Most are surprised I'm due that soon, since I don't look as a big as they think I should for being so far along, thank you to all who have said that! ha ha ha I'm still more than ready to be done, I'm very bored being pregnant. Don't get me wrong I LOVE the outcome of pregnancy and love our little girl to pieces but I'm ready to have my body back to normal and be able to do the things I normally do. (To just not feel like an elephant waddling around would be great! ;-) I did have a doctor appt. on Wednesday and I'm dilated to 1 cm and 50% effaced, hearing that I've made a little progress sure helps with my impatience.

33 weeks

36 weeks

Some of our family and close friends have asked if I'm going to let Brooke come on her own instead of being induced like I was with Blake. I'm back in forth about how I would like to go into labor. When I first got pregnant I wanted to go into labor on my own and experience it but the further I go, the more I don't care either way, the sooner the better tho! *Some have been confused about our little girl's name, her name will be Brooklyn and we will either call her that or Brooke, and still no for sure middle name, we have 2 picked out, I told Kevin its up to him, I like them both so I guess it will be a surprise for me whichever one he picks!

We still haven't finished her room yet, (2 months ago I said I wanted it done in the next couple of wks!) I am PATIENTLY waiting for Kevin to get around to doing what he needs to do to move our computer into our closet. (ya our closet! LOL there's plenty of room and at the moment no where else to put it, and to keep a certain 2 year olds hands off of it!) Other than that we are ready for our new baby. My only big concern is and has been since I got pregnant is Blake. I'm sure he'll be fine but I just worry how he's going to adjust to not being the only child anymore. He's also the only grandchild on both sides, so to say that Blake is doted on is an understatement! :-) I've been trying to talk to him about his sister's arrival and whats going to happen as much as he will listen. I also brought him to a siblings class. Blake enjoyed putting the diaper on Baby Donald Duck and throwing it away, making a megaphone to talk to baby with and seeing a newborn, I'm just not sure how much he comprehends that moms big tummy will result in a real life baby! 

Cuddling with Paris

Blake learned how to fly a kite! He loved it! Especially when he would let all the string out and the kite would fly super high and daddy would have to chase the kite all over :-)

Last week my wonderful husband had a HUGE surprise for me, he called me last Thursday and asked all nonchalantly what I was doing (I was packing for Duluth) then he proceeds to ask me if I wanted my new car today! I had no idea I was getting a new car. I was so excited and so shocked I was giddy! LOL My old car was a Chevy Equinox, which I loved but we were quickly outgrowing, a couple of weeks ago it had to go to the shop for some repairs and my loaner car was a Chevy Traverse, I loved it. Whats not to like driving around a brand new car that isn't yours?!?! Anyway, Kevin and I talked a bit about it and he new what I wanted if and when we decided to get one but we never actually decided on it. So now I am a proud owner of a Chevy Traverse, the amount of room in this car is awesome as is the DVD players in the headrests, so nice for trips up north with Blake. I have to admit that what had me the most excited was to go grocery shopping and be able to fit everything in it. My how life has changed since becoming a mom! I joked to Kevin that this is my "push" present for having both of our children, a little late with Blake and a little early with Brooke! Thank you so so so much sweetie!

Last Thursday we headed to Duluth for a couple of days, it was our last trip up there before Brooklyn arrives.  Thursday was my dad's birthday so it was great to spend it with him, Blake and I practiced singing "happy birthday" the whole way there, and it was the cutest thing listening to him sing for grandpa, we all got a kick out of it! Friday was spent with my mom and sister shopping, we had a wonderful time, so nice to have a girls day. Friday nite I was able to sneak over to Superior for the races, it was too cold for Blake, so he had a date with grandma. It was a lot of fun going racing with my dad, it was just me and him in the pits, so it was like the "old days" when we would go racing together. Dad had double features that nite, so I joked to him that I was hoping that my nervousness watching him race (I always get nervous watching him, which I shouldn't he's been doing it for almost 40 years) would put me in labor, but it obviously didn't! Saturday, Blake and I had a wonderful lunch with my grandparents and then we were off to the Lake Superior Zoo. We had a blast, I loved being with just him. It was a perfect day, not too hot, a bit of a breeze and the zoo itself isn't too big that a 8 1/2 month pregnant lady could handle it! After the zoo we were on the road back home and off to the races!

His red Lightning McQueen hat is now his favorite thing to wear, he loves and wears it ALL the time!





Riding the kiddie train was probably one of his favorite things we did at the zoo!

Blake was watching the tiger, saying "come here kitty kitty!"

The beginning of June I and some ladies at RLS started a kids club, we meet every other week before the races and do lots of different activities that has something to do with racing. The kids all seemed to have a lot of fun and a lot of energy! LOL We thought it would be a good idea to do something for the kids that got them involved. Each week we have more and more kids, which is great, I hope this keeps them interested in our sport and I hope it gives them something to look forward to. Our first meeting we had a egg and spoon race, I must have bought super eggs because those things never broke! I was hoping it would have been a little more messy.... but at the end the kids sure did enjoy throwing the eggs and breaking them!

Some of the kids during the egg and spoon race!



Blake loved throwing the eggs at the wall, good thing grandpa doesn't mind egg all over the walls!

Well this week sure went fast! Each week I have a to do list (I have to be organized!) and it seems like I'm always rushing to get everything done so I can go enjoy the weekend without having to clean, do laundry or grocery shop! This week was a little more hectic than usual, we had our decks stained on Monday, they look great but they took forever to dry, which annoyed me, I wanted to put all of my outdoor furniture back right away. Tuesday we had 11 beautiful trees planted throughout our yard, what a difference they have made in our yard, we don't live in a giant field anymore. The only thing that is a downer is they need so much water so often, there kind of spread out too. I played the pregnancy card so Kevin is the lucky one who gets to water them!Thursday I had to have Kevin's uncle Danny come out and fix our computer, it was super slow and not letting my access things that I need, so he worked his magic and fixed it, thank god! I feel kind of lost without internet, sad huh? I also cleaned the house top to bottom this week both our upstairs and the downstairs daycare, I wish it would stay spotless, but it never does. I'm not sure where the energy came from to do all this. Tonight we are off to Menomonie for double features, I have to bring Blake tonight, my mother in law usually watches Blake but she is on vacation with her sisters, hopefully having a great time! So I'm hoping for a nice, quiet smooth evening! We shall see...

Mom, no more pictures!!!

Enough of my rambling, have a great weekend!!