Making Dinner

One of Sophia's "jobs" is making dinner one evening a week.  Last week she made spaghetti w/sauce, mixed vegetables and crescent rolls.  It was WONDERFUL!  Meals taste so much better when someone else makes it (I think).  And especially when you know the effort put into it.  

Thank you sweetie!

Filling Our Summer Days

3 more weeks and school starts.....wow!  Here is more of what we've been doing this summer......

Statesville Waterpark
Ab & Brooklyn

Isabella, Sophia & Morgan

Five Guys after meeting w/friends

Aubrey & Graycen came over for a playdate

Silly faces by Ab & Graycen

Udderly Delicious Ice Cream shop......LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

Carowinds Fun Again....

A couple weekends ago it was Bring-A-Friend at Carowinds, which means gold pass members can bring a guest for $19.99 (vs $54 or whatever the regular rate is).  Quite a deal!  So, Lynsey, Beth & Brandon joined us for some FUN.  I forgot my good camera, so these are all I got from my phone.  We all had a good time!

Our nature girl - always finding some
bug of some sort

Daddy & his girls

 

Such a cutie!

Daddy & Sophia on the gliders

Pioneer School Dessert

Our congregation provided lunch for one of the days of the ASL pioneer school held at our Kingdom Hall.  Mom & I volunteered for dessert.  The girls were a great help - Sophia loved the electric knife!  We chopped fruit, made pudding, cut angel food cake and TADA.........an amazing, light, summery dessert!  It is inspired by my brother Craig, who has made this for years.  

It was a hit with the class!  SUCCESS.......

Some Summer Activities

Our summer has been packed with lots of fun, just the way summer should be.  Below is a sampling of what we've been up to.

Monopoly

Sock Puppets

Even the older girls got involved!

Are the puppets cute?

Make-up Fun

Turbo in 3D

Balloon Lady @ the library

Pool Day @ McKinley's

Sweet Frog......YUM!

Pool Time

Sleepover & Make-up w/Asia

Catching butterflies

Sleepover w/Noa

Blueberry Picking w/Pops & Grandma

Pops and Grandma took the girls blueberry picking a week or so ago.  We saw the sign "Blueberries" appear a couple miles from our house a few weeks back.  The girls were excited to check it out.  One morning I was working, those 4 went together.  It was a success!  Lots of blueberry eating going on over here.

Thanks Pops & Grandma for the field trip with the girls!!

Two Years Today

Today marks two years that we have been living in North Carolina!  In many ways, it feels like we've always been here - in our routine and comfy in our home.  We've made so many friends and are a part of a wonderful congregation.  No doubt, we are happy with our move!!!

On the other hand, it feels like we are away from "home".  We think of all our friends back in Minnesota and wish we could continue to make memories with them.  The biggest miss for us is our family!  Since we are so close-knit, sometimes it is really difficult.  I'm thankful that we continue to remain close and can build each other up, even though we are MANY miles apart.

We've all changed our looks over the past two years (well, not really true about Josh), but check out the pictures below.  Abby was just a toddler when we left and Sophia, a sweet little girl.        

July 2011

June 2013