No Words

Some friends of the family lost their home to a fire about 4 weeks ago. Mike and Kristy and their two kids Rachel and Mikey live across the street from my parents and at about 1am on a Saturday their home started on fire. They all escaped unharmed but the house is a complete loss. They are an amazingly strong family and coping with it the best they can. The house is going to be torn down today (which is why I am home, Colton and I are going to go watch) and then the rebuilding can begin. They were able to save some items but not much. They allowed me inside the house to take pictures on Sunday. I spent several hours in the house, shed some tears for their loss and took over 200 pictures. I will share a few pics of the devastation and believe me when I say that there are not enough words to describe the feelings you have when you are looking at the devastation.

This last picture it the hardest for me - this is their camera (full of pictures which of course cannot be recovered/replaced).

Oktoberfest!!

I went back to my German Roots this past weekend. We went down to New Ulm to celebrate Oktoberfest! We had a blast. We spent Friday evening at the Morgan Creek Winery sipping wine around a campfire (well I was drinking Mountain Dew). That night we went back to the hotel and warmed up in the Hot Tub. Saturday morning we headed back to New Ulm to take in some German Festivities. We started off shopping, Frankie was on a mission to find 'Das Boot' and we finally found them at a little shop called the Guten Tag Haus. Then we went to lunch at Veigels Kaiserhof, which was some of the best German Food ever! Yvonne tried some Sauerkraut and Meatball soup, which to me sounds horrible but I tried some of hers I was amazed - it was delicious. After lunch we enjoyed a Horse Drawn Trolley around town - this sounded like a great idea but it was COLD!! We ended our day at the Holiday Inn where all the indoor Oktoberfest activities were taking place. The beer was good, the food was great and the music was entertaining. Frankie bought his first german hat and of course had to get his first pin to go on it. We had a great time and enjoyed many laughs thanks to Aunt Sandy and her stories. We again ended our night with some swimming and relaxing in the hot tub. Frankie even showed us his mad skills by doing some cannonballs... it was like being a kid again! Okay here are some pics:

I had to throw this pic in because he is just so cute! With the warning of snow we decided to pick the few pumpkins that survived this year! For some reason we ended up with one yellow pumpkin and even a green one! I am not sure what happened but at least we got a variety - we may have invented some new kind of pumpkin!!

The Curse of the Ax

I went to the Gopher vs Wisconsin game last Saturday - it was cold, rainy, early in the morning and so much fun! There is something awesome about getting all bundled up to watch outdoor football - Priceless. It was a very intense game, but in the end the Badgers held on to the win and the AX, maybe next year Gophers! Here are just a few pics!

Friday Night Memories

It is nights like this that make everything worth while! Colton and I are on our own this weekend, Frankie is out of town helping a friend get his deer stands ready for the upcoming hunting season. I picked Colton up from school, made a quick trip to target, came home and ate some Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets for dinner and we have been just hanging out the rest of the night. These are the moments I cherish the most, when your 3 year old just walks up to you for no reason and says "I Love You Mom" you realize everything that you worry about in life doesn't matter, all those long days at work are worth it, and all those dishes in the sink can wait until tomorrow - it is these little things that count the most. We have been playing and talking and hanging out all evening. He has so much to say and I know sometimes with our busy lifestyles I don't stop long enough to listen to him. He is gonna grow up before I know it and when I look back in 20 years these are the memories I will cherish the most! We just called daddy to say Good Night, Colton loves to talk on the phone especially when it is his daddy on the other end of the line. The rest of our evening will be spent cuddled up on the couch in our matching Vikings Jammies with a bowl of popcorn watching Earth - a Disney movie about all the vast animals that inhabit the earth! Colton loves this movie and has watched it at least 10 times in the last week (Thank You Grandma Yvonne for letting us borrow it). I hope you are all had as memorable a Friday night as I did.

Are you ready for some Football?

We went to the Gophers Home Opener on Saturday and it was awesome! We arrived at the tailgating lot about 45 minutes before it opened. We had a few beers and hung out until it was time to enter the lot and set up camp! We started tailgating at noon - 6 hours prior to kickoff!! Frankie was our personal chef for the day and of course the food was fabulous! He made us Ribs, Prime Rib on a stick, Chicken and Veggie Kabobs, Shrimp and even warmed us up some chicken wings! We ate way more than we should have but when the food is that good you just can't stop! After eating until we were plump we played some games, enjoyed some beers and then packed up camp so we could head inside for the game! TCF Stadium is BEAUTIFUL!! The game was awesome and the Gophers pulled out a Victory which was the icing on the cake! Overall our first Gopher game of the Season was a complete success! And then on Sunday we made some chicken wings and nachos and watched the Vikings run all over the Browns! What a great weekend for Minnesota Football Fans!

Labor Day Weekend!

We spent Labor Day weekend at the lake! The weekend consisted of canoe rides (including Blind Canoe Races), Kayak and paddle boat rides, lots of swimming (for Colton), fishing, Bingo, board games, lots of eating (seriously I ate enough in two days to last me until Thanksgiving), watching beautiful sunsets and watching the moon rise over the water with vibrant orange colors and of course there was plenty of laughing! Frankie's dad came to visit over the weekend as well so Colton got to meet his Grandpa Berberena for the first time!! This weekend was such a great end to another amazing, jam packed summer! Colton again proved to me that he is growing up right before my eyes as he rode a Power Wheels four wheeler all by himself! Seriously when did my baby boy turn into such a little man, how does it happen so fast?? As always I took more than enough pictures, I think I might need to go to treatment or something for my photography obsession because it is getting really bad. I can barely go to the bathroom without wanting to bring my camera with just in case I need it (okay I am kidding but that is the direction my obsession is heading)! Anyways here are some pictures from our weekend at the lake.

Also had to include a video on my little man cruising on the 4-Wheeler!