new addy

I switched my blog over to wordpress.... not sure how i feel about it yet. Hopefully it will just take some getting used to. :)

www.aprilaune.wordpress.com

ahhhh

I am having issues with my blog. It's all messed up - and though I love pink, this is not what I wanted. I think I will need to have Erin or Bill come and help me out and get his squared away. :(

So sweet.

My goodness I love this little blue-eyed boy!

Gramps

Sadly, my grandpa A passed away yesterday. He was an INCREDIBLE man... so funny, such a good heart, hard working~ but most of all, he was so loving. He was SO IN LOVE with my grandma... and though I am sad, I feel so much relief knowing he is with her. Before he left, and as he was ailing this week, he told me that gram wanted him home to be with her. As much as we wanted him with us, he really wanted to be with his true love ( I mean, they were together for like 70 years!!). He also told me that I shouldn't come to visit him tomorrow, because "I won't be here-- but I know where I'm goin'". The last thing he said to me is that he wanted to go home. I have this indescribable guilt-- I mean, I am sad-- but I feel like I should be more upset. It's hard to explain. I think it's because I know he is now HOME and so happy again. He had so many wonderful stories to share... so many good laughs~ and I still hear him singing " Here She Comes, Miss America", as he always would when we'd walk through the door. He had such a sweet tooth~ esp when it came to chocolate. He'd hide it and every now and then he'd share. ;) He once brought his bar of soap over to dad's when we first got the hottub~ isn't that funny? It was the perfect surprise on my wedding day when they were able to come~ I wasn't expecting them to make it... and I sobbed like a baby.
Tough days- I have been thinking about all the losses we've recently gone through- 4 grandparents in 6 months. It's painful. But- I also feel so fortunate to have had so many great years with my grandparents. I know I'm lucky.
enough for now.

So busy...?

I feel like I have been so busy lately- but then I think back, and I try to figure out what I have been 'busy' doing.??

We had a great 4th of July. We headed to Tower (as tradition continues) and watched the parade with gramps, and Uncle Rob/Tina & Jordan. We also met up with the Johnson's, dear friends of Erin/Bill who traveled over from Washington. Sawyer wasn't too into the parade, but he was busy being cared for by Uncle Robert- who took him and played with him in the shade. That afternoon, we headed to help our sweet cousin Stacy celebrate her 40th bday. It was a great surprise and was so nice to see her so happy- and in complete shock- as she walked in the door. We love you, Stanny. ;)

Yes, back to the Johnson's. I have heard many stories of all these Alaskan friends that Bill and Erin have made. I was so happy to finally meet Josh and Stacie and their family~ it felt like I already knew them. We were able to spend some time on the lake with them, as well as some time visiting at the house. They were a blast to get to know- and I am hoping we can see them again soon!

We've spent LOTS of time out at grandpa jimbo's house the past week. With the hot weather, we've been getting in lots of boating and swimming. Sawyer is not sold on swimming yet. I am hoping that by the end of summer he'll enjoy floating with the rest of us, and if not, there's always next summer!

Our latest purchase is a fancy sailboat that we bought from the Fogelberg/Lavine crew. We are having a BLAST using it... ok, I've only gotten to go on it once, but the boys seem to be getting out there LOTS, and it's only been in the water about 2 weeks! We love our new toy- and I can see that we will get a lot of use out of it. It even has a little cabin underneath. How cool is that?

Saturday, Kraig, Amy and the boys were here for a quick visit. It was so fun to see them AGAIN. We are lucky to see them 1x/year-- but now we've seen them 2x/month! We took the sailboat, big boat, and pontoon up to Twin Islands for the afternoon. We had a picnic lunch and watched the guys jump off the rock. The babies played in their rock pool and enjoyed sampling some blueberries. It was also Erin's bday- I think she had a great weekend. ;)
Sat. night we headed up to Orr to have dinner with Jesse's parents, sister and her hubby. We had some tasty enchiladas and enjoyed watching Sawyer play in buckets of water. It was a good evening, and it sounds like we will be heading over to stay with Scott/Annie at the end of July.

Sunday we headed back to the lake, went for a long boat ride, and hung out with Lo and Miss Kate for a bit. Later on we dropped sawyer off with Uncle Pa and Auntie Sharon for a couple hours while we headed to a movie with Erin/Bill. I hadn't been to a movie since I was pregnant-- and i think it was something like The Terminator(not my kind of movie!). This time we saw Grown Ups... and I thought it was cute.

So- I guess I have been busy... just enjoying summer. :) How's your summer?

The new 20!

This lovely lady is sportin' the new 20. Love you, Erin.

yum.

Today I got breakfast in bed. Lucky me!

musical babies

Sawyer's 1st Birthday

June 27th was Sawyer's first birthday. It was a beautiful day so we headed out to the lake for the evening. Auntie Erin made Sawyer a cake and we had a little celebration with Stacy and Dylan. Last night was his birthday party at our house. Sawyer is so lucky to have so many people who care about him! We had a great time visiting with friends and family~ and celebrating this little guys first year!

all about family

Wednesday night we headed out to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. We have family there-- who we don't see nearly enough. We always have a great time when we are together, and this trip proved just the same.
We stayed with Kraig, Amy, Brock and Isaak in their newly built (beautiful!) home. Thursday we headed over to Uncle Bill's to do some visiting and managed to get out on the Lake Michigan for a bumpy boat ride in the speedboat. Thursday night we all headed back to Kraig's for some grilling and great visiting. It ended up being a late night- luckily Sawyer slept in till nearly 8:00! Friday we were lucky enough to get to go and watch Brock and Isaak get awards for their basketball camp. These boys are so fun to be around! Brock really took care of Sawyer for us- and he loved playing with them. Friday night, Mark's family came over for more fun. We had a baseball game, pool, some Rock Band Superstars playing~ just an all-around GREAT time with family. We had lots of stories going on...it was great reminiscing. I kept thinking how much fun gram and gramps would have had if they were with us.
We decided to leave Saturday to have a day at home before Jesse has to go back to work-- but we surely look forward to our next trip out there. I'm hoping more of our family can join us. :)