Color Rush 5K

Friday night my sister and I piled into the car with her 4 kids and headed up to Melrose (just a 2 hour drive one way ) to run the Color Rush 5K with some of our Aunts and Cousins!  My little cousin is a gymnast and this race was a fundraiser for the gymnastics team and she needed to get 25 people signed up so we figured that was a good enough reason to drive way too far for a little race!  The traffic heading North on Friday afternoon was worst than I imagined, it took us almost 3 hours to get there and I was starting to regret our decision however once we were there I was so happy we made it.  It was great to hang out with family before the race and take part in all the fun activities that they had for the kids, the race was fun (not our best times but these races aren't about record times but more about having fun) and the color party after the race was unreal.  I was completely covered in paint and the mess was totally worth it!  Such a fun night with family and I think this might be a tradition we continue for years to come.

Cousins Weekend!!

Every summer my cousin Sheila and I try to get together for a weekend of fun with our 5 boys as well as one extra as Colton brought a friend with for the weekend!  This year we met at her parents lake place for the weekend (back in June, yes I am behind with blogging).  We spent the days just relaxing around the house, swimming at the beach which is just a mile down the road, grilling delicious meals, sipping fabulous blended drinks, swimming off the docks at their place and of course spent one night making Smores over the fire.  We also decided to head to town one morning to meet my Aunt and her 6 kids to watch the parade.   The kids collected enough candy to last them until Halloween!!  It was such a fun weekend and I hope we can continue these for many summers to come, I love that I have so many amazing cousins that I enjoying spending time with.

My life in Pictures

So I am way behind on blogging, it's amazing how summer can get so busy and the little free time I have I just want to lounge on the couch and do nothing!  But tonight the boys are with their dad, my house is actually clean (first time in months) and the laundry is done so I am going to put on my new favorite Netflix series, Frankie and Grace, and I am going to blog away and try to get caught up!

Swimming in the pool at Clint's Place!

Colton's team took 3rd in their final tournament on the year!

This is my favorite thing about summer - kids just show up to hang out and then off they go on their bikes to gather up more friends!

Exploring the Park at Vermillion Falls in Hastings!

Colton and the bearded dragon at Scout Camp!

The boys were exhausted after Scout Camp!

Grilled Dinner - doesnt get much better than this!

I am one spoiled girl! He got me flowers for no reason, I wont ever complain about that!

Setting up Camp at We Fest!

Mason loves to help me bake.  The special this night was banana bread!

My Godson, spending some time with Auntie at the park!

Bike Rides!  Making the most of summer nights!

Dinner on the deck, in swimsuits!

LEGOS!!  This is pretty much a way of life when you have two boys living in your house!

More Swimming - this kid might be part fish!

We spent an afternoon exploring Minnehaha Falls Park.  

We Fest 2016

WE Fest might be my favorite part of summer!  After I went last year I knew I was hooked.  And when I threw out the idea to my cousins that we should all go together I never imagine it would be as much fun as it was.  14 of us bought our tickets and for the month before the event we spent plenty of time on Facebook messenger trying to coordinate and plan for our 4 days of fun!  I went up to set up camp on Tuesday with 2 of my cousins.  We got the two campers and the giant motor coach set in place.  We put up two shade tents.  We set up chairs and we became friends with our camp neighbors.  We enjoyed more than our fair share of beers and we just relaxed until the others arrived.  By Thursday at lunch almost everyone was there and the fun was ready to begin.  I am proud to say that I have some of the most amazing cousins and they really know how to have a good time.  I wont go into details about what happened at We Fest, because well some things are just better left as memories in our heads.  I will share some pictures and I will just say don't judge us, we let loose, we had fun and the memories are all worth it!  By the time it was Sunday morning we were all ready to go home and get some sleep, drink something other than beer and fireball and take a long hot shower!

WE Fest 2016 was amazing and tickets to WE Fest 2017 have already been purchased (and the group has grown to 20)!  Let the countdown to the best part of summer begin once again!