Baby Brother Got Married!

This weekend my youngest brother Justin married his longtime love, Shantara Lynn in a ceremony back in our hometown. We had lots of fun helping them celebrate. Congratulations!

The fun and beautiful couple.

Purple power!

Lucy and Grandpa

Jason and Chrissy

Mom and Dad

"Don't feed the zombies" - all the grandkids!

Mom and Grandma

We couldn't let those Canadians think they were too far from home...

Iowa Christmas

We had a bit of an early Christmas with my family, which also coincided with the Big Overmohle Christmas. It was a great time and as always, the kids were spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa and had lots of fun playing together. I treasure this time with my family, and it's wonderful to see Lucy grow her relationships with her cousins and her grandparents!

It was a "Frozen" kind of Christmas for Lucy!

The kids are always there to help Grandma and Grandpa open gifts!

Uncle Josh!

The customary trip to Santa's Castle.

Giving Grandma some moral support before her church choir performance.

Snowman pancake at Lakeshore Cafe.

Summer Weekend Warriors 8/29: Des Moines (Part 1)

This long holiday weekend was so packed I have to split it into 2 parts!

Friday afternoon, Lucy and I headed to Des Moines for our annual get-together with some of my high school/college girlfriends and their kids. 14 kids and 6 moms, are we prolific or what? Kids ages 10 years to 5 weeks old. I think this might be it, but you never can tell with this bunch!

As you might imagine, this photo is nearly impossible to take...

Aside from the 4-hour drive down being one of the longest of my life due to constant (and repeated) questions from an excited 4-year-old whose Daddy had let her nap for an hour already that day, it was a fabulous trip. We spent Friday night in Newton with friends Amy and Broc and their two boys. Lucy enjoyed playing with light sabers and of course their dog, Gus.

Goofing around before bed.

This old boy is 13 years young!

Saturday morning we headed to Des Moines to meet up with everyone else at Monkey Joe's, a bounce house place. It was just too darn hot and humid to try and do anything outside, so this seemed like a good alternative. It was pretty loud in there, but the kids seemed to enjoy it and the moms got to catch up a little bit.

I'm pretty sure my kid was one of the reasons the staff kept coming on the  PA system
to remind kids they were supposed to go down the slides "feet first."

(Semi-) managed chaos!

After bouncing, we went to a nearby restaurant where we had a separate room reserved to have lunch and let the kids run around. Dana and her crew brought along some fun activities for the kids. The mustaches were especially entertaining!

Just look at this crew! And that's not even all of them!

Guess I'll be teaching my daughter the fine art of
waxing the upper lip sooner than I thought...

Lucy was quite at home with the dress-ups!

Saturday night was spent with the Houghtons, and more fun ensued...

The kids put on a show and even made tickets and wristbands.

Ironman and two princesses. I'm still not sure what the plot was,
but there was a lot of dancing so that was OK with me.

Gardening in PJs/princess attire

 Girls, we really must try to get a picture of all of US, and not just all of our kids. I only got 1/3 of us in a photo. Next time - was great seeing you all!

Summer Weekend Warriors - August Recap

Well, I haven't been very good about keeping up during the month of August, but for good reason! It's been very busy, and every weekend we've been on the road. We've truly kept up the "Weekend Warrior" mentality through this last month of summer. So I'm going to be realistic about this and not try to recap every weekend individually. So here's our August in a nutshell...

The weekend of August 4th, we welcomed Daddy home from his week-long fishing trip to Canada on Friday night. Saturday was his birthday, but we left him behind to play in a softball tournament, and went to Le Center, MN to celebrate our niece E's 2nd birthday.

The birthday girl.

All 4 cousins in one place - this rarely  happens!

All 3 of my brothers and I in the same place - I don't remember the last time this happened!

Saturday was Daddy's birthday, but we couldn't all get back together to celebrate that day, so we took him out to eat on Sunday.  We were happy to have our daddy home, and just enjoyed the day all together.

The weekend of August 11th we were in Okoboji, IA for a family reunion. This is an annual event, but a little different this year because we spent a long weekend instead of an entire week. This worked out really well because everyone was there at the same time, instead of people coming at different points in the week. It was a good turnout and we had lots of fun catching up with family and seeing how big all the kids have gotten.

We made the trip to Arnold's Park.

The big change this year was that Lucy was all over the rides!

Lots of cousins to play with!

The weekend of August 18th, we made a quick daytrip down to Hospers, IA for our nephew E's 3rd birthday. It was a lot of driving for one day, but we were feeling like we needed a little home time after being gone the previous weekend.  We left a little earlier than needed so we could take our time and stop at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store near Jordan, MN. All in all a great trip, and Lucy even got to ride a 4-wheeler for the first time. We were very tired the next day and stayed in our pajamas well into the afternoon. :)

No, we did not buy this...but who can pass up a photo opp with a sucker nearly the size of your head?!

Birthday boy!

We got to see Uncle Justin (and Lynn!) three weekends in a row! Unheard of!

The last weekend of August brought Lucy and I to Des Moines for our annual get-together with some of my high school/college girlfriends and their kids. We had grand plans for a picnic in the park and some boat rides, but it rained all day long. Amy and Matt were kind enough to open up their home so we could eat, chat, and let the kids run around. It is always great to see everyone and it's amazing to see how much the kids have grown from year to year. No new kids this year, but our group continues to expand, as Kristy is expecting Baby #3! Next year will be even better and we hope to have everyone there, as we were missing Dana and her family this time.

Best attempt! 8 of the 9 present would consent (some grudgingly) to be photographed.

We got some quality time with our friends S and J, thanks for the hospitality!

So, yeah. That was August! There were plenty of other activities to fill our weekdays too, and it's safe to say we're all a little exhausted and looking forward to having a long weekend coming up.

Christmas 2009 Tour: Iowa Stops

We finally got down to Iowa to celebrate Christmas with my family. Lucy and I drove down the morning of New Year's Eve, and Husband and Brandon caught up with us the evening of New Year's Day. The little bug and I had a good solid day with Grandma and Grandpa O., and on New Year's headed to Grandma White's to see a lot more family. Even though it wasn't the traditional Christmas Eve celebration, which got thwarted by snow this year along with everything else, it was a nice relaxing time and it was so nice to see everyone.

Lucy got to spend good quality time with her cousins (and I with my nephews), D and E. Two-year-old D liked to be around "Wucy" and would pat her head or get on the floor with her. E is 3 months younger than Lucy but catching up fast. He's a big kid too! I'll be anxious to see if he has a growth spurt like she did between 4 and 6 months.

We are also grateful for members of the Overmohle side of the family braving the cold and coming over to visit. Lucy gave a few coy smiles to her great-grandpa, and had fun with Great Aunt Beth and Great Uncle Bob, and cousins Shelby and Blake. I think Shelby had a good time too; she created this photo:

The best part though, was that all of my brothers and I, and their spouses, were "home" at the same time. That hasn't happened for quite awhile, and we had a nice little Christmas celebration of our own. The kids (big and small) were spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa, and it was a messy, jolly good time. It reminded me of Christmas when we were kids...paper flying everywhere, laughter, the light in the kids' eyes. I hope that happens many more times in the future.

Celebrating Family

Lucy has a new cousin! Little E was born on August 19th, and this past weekend Lucy and I traveled to Storm Lake to meet him. His mom and big brother came over to my parent's house to hang out with us on Saturday afternoon. He is such a little sweetheart...holding him, it was hard to believe that Lucy was ever that small.


Earlier that day, we got to take a tour of the new elementary school where Grandma Diane works. Great-Grandma Mardie also joined us, and afterwards we girls all went to lunch. It was kind of cool to think about 4 generations of ladies all lunching together. Great-Grandma couldn't believe how much Lucy had grown!


Lucy also got to see her Great-Grandpa at breakfast on Sunday morning, and aside from all that excitement, she just enjoyed spending time with her grandparents. We had a great weekend!

Good Times

Well, I'm back from my trip to Des Moines and still recovering. This weekend took a lot out of me for a number of reasons - not all of which I will elaborate on here - but overall it was a good trip. Everyone made it our little annual reunion, and it was fun to see how big all of the kids are getting, and to meet the newest addition, Sydney. She's only 7 1/2 weeks old, and such a little cutie! All but one of us made it out to the Iowa State Fair that night, and a good time was had by all, footloose and kiddie-free. Here's a rambling list of the night's events:

Big pig - bigger bull - Butter (doesn't look much like) Shawn Johnson - huge dahlias - baby animals - Varied Industries Building - touch Floyd of Rosedale - pork chop on a stick - Coke with cherry syrup - help lost little girl - Kristy shows up - bite of gyro - learn some friends won't eat lamb - Bud Tent - Beer #1- pose for this photo:

- spill half of beer on Laura's back - back to Varied Industries Building - split cup of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies - Bud Tent - Beer #2 - find table in Wellmark Olympic Pavilion - marathons are long - discussions about the German flag - watch Michael Phelps win #8 - join crowd in collective roar - seek Grilled Pineapple on a Stick - run into old college friend - wait in line - try Grilled Pineapple on a Stick while walking back to pavilion - SO GOOD! - leave Pavilion seeking Hot Pepper Cheese on a Stick for Amy - Kristy goes home - fresh out of Hot Pepper Cheese on a Stick - approach Grandstand and hear Def Leppard in concert - sing Def Leppard songs while walking to Skyride - try to take picture of guy wearing "Boobies Make Me Smile" shirt - get on Skyride - sing Def Leppard songs on Skyride - get off Skyride - watch Grandstand fireworks - wait for Amy to buy treat for her hubby - catch the bus to our cars. Drive to Amy's. Sleep.

For those of you keeping tabs, the mullet count was surprisingly low, in fact downright disappointing. I figured considering the Grandstand act there would probably be some real winners, but I didn't really see anything that could even touch "Achy Breaky" status. Then again, we left basically right at the end of the concert, so we probably didn't seen the full flood of Def Leppard wannabes seeking to squeeze one last beer out of their big evening out.

There's no place like the State Fair.

Off to Where the Tall Corn Grows

I'm off to Iowa today for my annual trip to catch up with my girlfriends and go to the Iowa State Fair. Here's me last year trying a "Monkey Tail" (frozen chocolate covered banana). I predict trying a new concoction on a stick for this year. Any suggestions?

Okoboji Hangover

We're back from Okoboji and still recovering...I think I'm going to bed soon (9:30 is early for me). We had a good time catching up with family, and I especially had fun playing with my nephew Little D. He was in a pretty good mood most of the time and it was a hoot seeing how big he's getting, and how many new things he can do.

Friday night the annual Bean Bag Tournament was held, and Brandon experienced the thrill of victory with my cousin Jeremy. They are both left-handed, so there were many "theories" expressed correlating their win with their southpaw nature. We enjoyed some time around the campfire and all in all it was a great evening, despite the COLD overnight temperatures. We definitely weren't expecting it, and sleeping in the tent was quite chilly. Between that and a leaky air mattress, we did not get a good night's sleep.

The weather wasn't extremely cooperative on Saturday, so that dampened the fun a little bit. Brandon did get out in the kayak for a little while with Dad and Jeremy, but it was still windy and pretty chilly out there. I never got the chance to go out, as it rained most of Saturday aftenroon into the evening. We were all crowded in the cabin, but took a break and went to Pizza Ranch in Spirit Lake. Later that evening Kristi, Emily, Tami and I (cousins) went to a bachelorette party for our future cousin-in-law, Allison. It was a good time and nice to spend some fun hours with my cousins.

Saturday night we slept better on a new air mattress (and with more layers on). Sunday morning we packed up, said our goodbyes to the fam, and had brunch and some nice conversation with Mom and Dad before heading home. Turns out the dog had a few mishaps while staying with the in-laws, so that was a bit of a damper on an overall good trip. All in all though, it is good to be home. Now off to bed I go...

What Matters Most

This weekend we traveled down to Storm Lake to witness the baptism of our nephew, D. Husband and I were honored to stand up as his sponsors. We were glad to get back to Iowa again and see the family.

D is getting so big! We were lucky to be able to spend quite a bit of time with him, as he stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Friday night, and mom and dad joined him to stay through Sunday. It had been about 2 1/2 months since we last saw him, and he has really changed. He can hold his head up and look around, and is working on sitting up and rolling over and all that fun stuff. He is curious about colors and textures and can grab hold of things. Most of all, he is full of smiles and coos and sometimes you can really get him to giggle. It's the cutest thing. Here he is with my brother Josh, checking out his hat:

It is always so nice to be at "home" (it will always be home) and just hang out and have all of my brothers there. We don't have to do much - aside from the baptism, it was just a lot of sitting and talking and running a few errands here and there - with a late night game of "Apples to Apples" thrown in there (ever played? It's pretty fun!) Although the time was short and the drive sometimes seems a little long, it always feels so good to have that time. No matter what is going on - new houses, stressful jobs, etc. etc. etc. - family is really what matters most.

There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays

Husband and I got back today from a trip down to Iowa to have Christmas with my family. It was a jam-packed weekend and a full house at the 'rents: 8 adults, 2 dogs and one baby.

Friday night was pretty low-key; some of us didn't get there until around 9PM so there was just some sitting around and catching up, and of course holding the baby. This was the first meeting between baby D and his Uncle Josh, and also Husband. He's grown since I had last seen him, and is starting to try out some facial expressions (mostly "the poop face"). We teased a smile or two out of him every once in awhile. Unfortunately he is getting over a cold, so he wasn't feeling too great a lot of the time.

D found a comfy spot on Husband.

Saturday morning we had Christmas with our little family, which was fun. It's unique to have a little kid around again, even though D is way too little to have a clue what's going on. I have to say that our family scored the best gift from Mom and Dad (in my opinion) - Guitar Hero III for the Wii. We are going to have some fun unleashing our inner rock legends. Unfortunately our TV is on the fritz, so I haven't been able to try it yet. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it!

Saturday afternoon all of us "kids" went to visit our grandma, who just had surgery a couple of weeks ago. Shortly after we arrived with lunch, our aunt, uncle and cousin also arrived with lunch (great minds think alike!) so we made a little party of it. I think Grandma enjoyed visiting with us, especially since some of us are unable to make it back for Christmas Eve at her house this year. Husband and Josh also had a good time going through one of Grandma's old cookbooks, noting recipes such as "Oxtail Soup" and educating themselves on "how to freeze ice cream" and what to do when a recipe calls for "gold nuggets" (corn).

Saturday evening was spent in the lunchroom of the local church school, getting together with my dad's side of the family for a Christmas celebration. We have to rent a space because we are HUGE - counting everyone and their spouses, kids, etc. we are 72 strong if everyone shows up. We had 57 there on Saturday night (at least making an appearance). That's a pretty good turnout! The family just keeps growing - there were 4 great-grandchildren born this year alone.
Josh and Cousin Blake called to coordinate outfits before the event.

Sunday morning we got back together to attend a mass in honor of my late grandmother, and then had a breakfast following the service. We added an aunt and uncle and about 10 more extended family members there, so about 70 people! My family is a force to be reckoned with...and I kind of like it that way.

Tomorrow it's back to business as usual. The holiday season can get a little crazy, and it's easy to get caught up in the stress of it all. Actually, the sermon we heard in church this morning reminded me that we really need to think about setting aside all that makes us anxious, and just enjoy the moment. Don't look for big miracles, but appreciate the little miracles you receive every day. Little things add up to extraordinary things. However that happens for you this holiday season, make the best of it!

Cuddle Bug

This weekend I traveled down to Storm Lake for a little open house we held for my nephew Dylan. This was a chance for some of our relatives to meet him for the first time. We had a nice little turnout, and he was held by a few aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as his great-grandma and great-grandpa. No worries, Auntie got some nice cuddle time too!

This picture isn't from this weekend, but I stole it from my Dad's photos because I think it's cute. He seems quite comfortable in this position; he fell asleep like this on my shoulder yesterday!

Aside from the open house, I was able to visit an old friend of mine from high school who recently moved back to Storm Lake. Jason and Erika have a beautiful home on the lake, an adorable daughter, and he just started a surgical practice. Life is good! It was so nice to catch up with them after several years of emails and cards. They were previously living in the southeast U.S., so it's nice having them back where there are more opportunities to visit.

All in all a nice weekend, but I'm tired. Lots of traveling lately! I also missed Husband and Brandon - Husband had his office holiday party to attend, so they didn't come along this time. As we roll into the holiday season, I hope we have some more time to relax and enjoy being together.

Hope everyone else had a nice weekend as well!