Free as a Bird

Trav picked up something yesterday...

Oh yeah, its a LeBaron! Trav bought this yesterday and I love it! I'm pretty jealous of his sweet ride. The guy who sold it to him (who didn't know he had a fabulous, wonderful, amazing girlfriend) told him repeatedly that it was a "chick magnet." Let me tell you, it's got this chick's attention!

All it needs is a serious interior/exterior cleaning and all I need is a scarf to tie around my hair while cruising!

It's Only Love

To kick-off Mother's Day yesterday, my mom and I went to the Mall of America to walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k. My mom is a 6+ year survivor of breast cancer and this is the second walk  we have done together. There were over 55,000 people participating in the various Race for the Cure events at the MOA this year!

Mom and me waiting for the race to start.

The crowd ahead of us walking under 77 on American Blvd.

The crowd behind us on American Blvd.

Yesterday was a doubly special day. Not only was it Mother's Day, it was my brother's 22nd birthday! My dad and I made a big ol' summer meal with ribs and potato salad to celebrate.

Blowing out the candles on his apple crisp!

Got to Get You into My Life

Last weekend I was so excited when I arrived at the local watering hole and realized it was the first time in over four years that all of my high school friends were in the same place together. I was jumping for joy and I became a bit of a Bossy Betty getting a group picture taken, but I'm glad our gathering was documented. So, without further ado, here are my friends:

All the girls

The whole gang... reunited!

This past Saturday, Aly and I went up to St. Cloud, MN to see Sam and go out to some local spots. I lived in St. Cloud for four years while I attended St. Cloud State University, so I felt like I was back in my old stomping grounds. We went to DB Searle's and the Red Carpet where 32 Below was playing. 

Aly, Sam, me

Aly and me

I had so much fun with my girls this weekend. I loved getting the hell out of the CPG for a night!

PS- Thanks for the pictures, Sam!

That'll Be the Day

Well, Easter has come and gone, and I'm just getting around to writing about it! On Maundy Thursday, I went to church with my mom where there was beautiful music by Paul Simon integrated into the service. I had never been to church on Maundy Thursday and I had to Google search the significance of the day. On Friday, Travis' mom grilled burgers. Travis' grandma (Grandma Gin) and his twin brothers (Taylor and Tyler) were in town for the weekend. It had been a year since I had last seen Grandma Gin, and she was cracking me up all weekend long.

To celebrate Easter, I went to church with my parents and later my family came over. My aunt, uncle, cousin/cousin's wife, and cousin/cousin's new girlfriend were all around the table. My brother spent Easter with his girlfriend's family. After dinner, we played tsougrisma. Tsougrisma is an egg tapping game where you tap your hard boiled egg against another person's to see whose egg cracks. If your egg cracks, you lose. We played in a tournament and my cousin's wife, Claire, won.

I lost in the first round

Claire was a killer egg tapper

Kicking butt in the final round against Aunt Minnell

We also played a card game called The Great Dalmuti. It is very similar to Presidents and A-holes.

I pretty much dominated the entire time

In other news, Travis and I made homemade chicken noodle soup earlier this week. For those of you fortunate enough to not live in Minnesota (or the US, for that matter), the weather has been horrendous lately. Every once in a while, there is a glimpse of spring, but lately it has been pretty gosh darn gross! I am hoping we will be regularly enjoying Spring by May 1st!

Mmm, mmmm, good!

Boys

During our free time last week, Travis and I babysat two of the sweetest little boys on earth. Harper and Kellen are Travis' cousin's children and we got to spend two days with them.

Harper, Travis and Kellen

Travis and Kellen

Harper and Travis

Harper's favorite song is the national anthem (The Star-Spangled Banner). He is five years old. This happened in the car:
Harper: "Will somebody please sing the national anthem?"
Me: "Well, I will sing it with you..."
Harper: "But I don't know the words. Can you just sing it? Please?"
Me: "Um... Okay... O! Say can you see..."
(song ends)
Harper: "Thank you so much, I've been waiting to hear that song all day long!!!"

Kellen

Travis and Harper

Hockey stars

Kellen

When I was taking Kellen (age 3) to the bathroom, he had an interesting question for me:

Kellen: "Do you wear girl underwear?"

Me: "Um... yes. Do you wear girl underwear?"

Kellen: "No, but Gracie wears girl underwear!"

I have no idea who Gracie is, but I sure hope his parents know who she is!