Minnesota Madness

Over Memorial Day week Justin and I (and JJ) visited Minnesota! My grandparents (on my mom's side) flew out too. JJ did really well on the planes, and even slept most of the time. We flew out to celebrate my big little brother Brian's high school Graduation. It's hard to believe that 4 years ago I graduated from the very same high school. I even went back to visit my former art teacher Mrs. Porter, found a new craft project (coming to the bog soon :) and ran into my old photo teacher Doc.  

Brian after graduation, he looks so happy to be done with school! p.s. the darling girl he has his arms around is Joycelyn, his girlfriend.

Justin really enjoyed having time off and getting to spend more time with JJ. He loved how smiley JJ is in the morning

We also took time to enjoy some baseball, Spencer had his first two games while we were there. He pitched in the first game, and played right field in the second game.

Braeden played in the outfield both games as well. He did really well even though he was nervous since he was hit by a pitch a few games ago. It was really fun to cheer on my little bros, I wish I could do it more often.

Everyone also enjoyed playing with JJ. He was definitely the center of attention! He is smiling more and more everyday, holds his head up on his tummy, and even rolled over 3 times!

Our Culinary tour of Minnesota included Culvers, Panera, Raising Canes, and Osaka (pictured) We also ate at Old Chicago, Ramy's, Noodles & Company, and Famous Daves!

For my dad's birthday I got him a homemade mozzarella kit. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but it worked! and I was pretty much giddy the whole time. You start with a gallon of milk and a half hour later you end up with about a pound of fresh mozzarella cheese. We even shared our creation with the family atop homemade grilled pizzas.

In my parents backyard they have tons of strawberries. One morning we picked them and ate them with pancakes, no sugar needed since they were super sweet!

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with my girls Kat and Amanda. Kat lives in South Dakota and was visiting MN for a couple weeks. Luckily her last day and my first overlapped so we could see each other. Amanda brought over some butter toffee peanuts (ridiculously delicious) for us to eat while we caught up, and told stories. The next day I also got to spend some time with some of the other techies at a little reunion BBQ.

We also watched movies, went to the Mall of America, played video games, stayed up late, made biscuits and gravy and cinnamon rolls, saw Avengers, slept in (well some of us) had a girls night, went to church, skipped school, and most of all had a ton of fun just spending time together! I am so grateful we were able to make the trip out there and can't wait for our next family adventure!

UP NEXT: CRAFTS (MARCH, APRIL, MAY, JUNE)