Senior Pictures

Last weekend Neil took Senior Pictures for Jeff. He hasn't worked on editing them or anything, but the raw pictures turned out great! Here's a sneak peek!

This is just such a Jeff picture! His favorite sarcastic look :)

I can't believe my little brother is a senior already!!!!!

Vacation!

One week, 2 countries, 3 states, and 1,550 miles.

Last week was our vacation! It was an amazingly busy week spent with my husband and family!

Monday officially started our first day of PTO from work. We slept in a little before hitting the road for our first of four destinations for the week. We made it to Clark just in time for me to pick my niece up from daycare and head to my Grandma’s to have lunch with her, my mom, my sister, Melissa, and her two boys. It was so nice to have lunch with my Grandma, it’s not too often that we are able to see her because when we go back to Clark it tends to be such quick trips and she is unable to drive down to Sioux Falls on her own. After lunch we headed to my parents’ house for the afternoon to spend some time watching our niece and nephews. We babysat until around 4 when my brother got home from Oklahoma where he had a basketball camp. He only had an hour to unpack, repack, and change before we jumped in a car again to drive to Minneapolis for the night. We met up with his girlfriend, Cassie, in Clark and made our way to the cities. We only made one stop along the way at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Hutchinson, MN for supper. Jeff had BWW for the first time the week prior and loved it so much he insisted we eat there. Unfortunately, his second visit at a BWW was a major disappointment. The food was good, but the service was horrible. The manager greeted us and took our order, which was messed up and had to be corrected. We were then ignored the entire time we ate and when we were finished eating she stopped by to grab my glass for a refill, but never returned with it. We finally had to flag down a server to get our bill and then learned that he was suppose to be our server, but his manager never told him that. Jeff and Neil both filled out detailed comment cards on the manager.

We spent most of Tuesday wandering the Mall of America. Neil introduced Jeff to another new restaurant, Bubba Gump Shrimp, where he had crab legs at a restaurant for the first time. Neil and I wandered around on our own most of the afternoon and gave Jeff and Cassie freedom to do their own shopping. They met us at the entrance at 4pm and we made our way down to the light rail to go to the Twins vs. Dodgers game. We had to walk all the way around the outside of the stadium to get to the right gate, but it was worth it for Neil because we ended up walking right past the Dodgers General Manager. We then had about a half hour wait outside Target field before we got to go in and find our seats. Our seats were just 14 rows above first base. Neil got to watch the Dodgers warm up from right behind the Twins dugout. It was a good game, even though the Dodgers lost 4-6.

Wednesday we spent pretty much all day in the car! We left Bloomington at 8:00am and met my parents, Steph, and Kayla in Fargo around noon before heading up to Winnipeg. We got to the border around 5pm and were amazed that there was no line at all. We were asked the simplest of questions and five minutes later were through to Canada! We spent that evening at my uncle’s house with the rest of the McGraw family.

Thursday was Ashley’s graduation. Neil, Jeff, Cassie, and I stayed at the hotel with Steph and Kayla because we didn’t want to deal with a 16 month old at a graduation of 300 people with standing room only! We found quickly it was a very good thing we didn’t go because after being stuck in a car the entire day before Kayla just wanted to run around. My parents even left the graduation right after Ashley’s name was called and were back about an hour after the graduation started. We waited a bit to go to my uncle’s house since they had to stay for the entire graduation. When we finally went over there they were just arriving back. We spent that day just visiting at my uncle’s house. Winnipeg doesn’t have graduation open houses like we do so there weren’t other people around at all or even the other side of her family so it was nice to just be able to sit and relax for a day.

Friday we headed back to Clark. We stopped at my aunt and uncle’s house to say good-bye quick and were on the road by 1:00pm. This time we had a bit longer wait at the border since it was Canada Day. We were able to get in a fairly quick line and only had about a half hour wait. Unfortunately, my parents made it in a much slower line and had an hour wait. Our only stop for the day was in Fargo to get gas and we made it home by 7:30pm. Cassie headed straight back to her house in Redfield and we thought we were going to get to go home and just sit for awhile, but Steph’s husband had a friend in town from Arizona and they wanted to go out so we got to babysit Kayla for the evening. Luckily after only an hour of being at Steph’s, Kayla went to sleep. We were planning to stay at Steph’s that night, but they ended up coming home around 3am and for some reason Neil and I were both still awake so we decided to go back to my parents’. When we went out to our car we found all four windows rolled down about three inches. We have power windows and although the car was unlocked, Neil had the only set of keys inside with us. We know we didn’t do it since I drove and I hate having windows down and would have remembered rolling all four down. We checked our wallets, the trunk, and under the car before we left, but nothing was missing or moved. I’ve never really believed in ghosts, but we have absolutely no idea how our windows got rolled down….

Saturday was our day to actually do nothing and we literally spent half of it catching up on sleep! We did meet up with Steph and James that evening for supper and Clark’s Street Dance, but were home fairly early.

Sunday we were debating whether we should just go home and have a day to unpack and catch up around our house or stay and celebrate the 4^th with my family. Jeff had a baseball game in Canova which is about halfway to Sioux Falls so we ended up going to that and then heading home. We even took Brownie to the game and he did amazing around all the people! We made it home around 8pm, got all our bags inside then just sat and caught up on our DVR shows.

Monday was the 4^th of July! We didn’t do too much to celebrate. We went out for lunch, went to Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, unpacked all our bags, grilled supper, and ended the evening by sitting at our living room window watching the fireworks at the Fairgrounds, and all over Sioux Falls. It was amazing to see the fireworks in every direction we looked!

It was great to spend so much time with my family, especially my little brother. He’s a teenage boy and always on the go so I don’t get to spend much time with him. I realized we are very much alike, in subtle ways. We kept saying the same thing at the same time and we both had to unpack our bags when we first arrived at the hotels, no matter how exhausted we were. I was also very excited to get to know his girlfriend better. I always wondered how overprotective I would be when Jeff started dating, but I’ve found that I’m really not. Cassie is a very sweet girl and, most importantly, Jeff’s himself around her.

Also, have to have my proud sister moment….a few weeks ago Jeff was voted athlete of the week at the Watertown Taco John’s and then when he went to his acceleration program yesterday morning he found out he won athlete of the week there for the previous week! He has farm boy strength and extreme motivation, he was bored Saturday so he just up and went for a 7 mile bike ride! I am so proud of all his accomplishments and can’t wait to watch him in his senior year of athletics!  

Favorite Recipes

I love cookbooks. At least a couple times a month I try to find a new recipe to try so we're not always having the same meals over and over. Today I tried two new recipes that were both absolutely amazing and simple. So I decided to share my recipes when I find any worth sharing because who doesn't need new meal ideas?!?!

Zoo Day and Catching Up

Wednesday I took the afternoon off to spend with my sisters, nephews, and niece! We had been planning on a Zoo Day for awhile and it finally worked out with my schedule and theirs to come down so that I would be able to go with them. It was an absolutely beautiful day for the zoo and Waylan was so excited to see all the animals!



Ready to go to the zoo!

Poor Waylan had a rough day at the zoo. Just shortly after we got there he was running to see the next animal and forgot to watch where he was walking. All of a sudden he slipped in a mud puddle the size of him and was covered in mud. Waylan is not a fan of being dirty, but luckily Melissa was prepared with extra clothes and got him all cleaned up pretty quick. Later he stumbled and scraped his knee on the sidewalk and a little bit later he scraped the same knee again! Then when we were seeing the last few animals he ended up with a blister on his foot and had to sit on the stroller the rest of the way so he didn't have to have shoes on. Thankfully, he still had a lot of fun and enjoyed the zoo!


We walked around the entire zoo and saw all the animals on display. The kids even got to feed ducks, swans, goats, and cows! Kayla and Westen were a little hesitant feeding the bigger animals, but loved watching Waylan and us feed them and were more than happy to throw food in the duck pond. I, of course, did my job as aunt and spoiled them with animal food, carried them when they wanted to be carried, took a lot of pictures, and bought them ice cream sandwiches to see how messy they could get (Melissa only gave me a B+ on getting her boys messy, I'll just have to try harder next time)! 

Kayla was fast asleep before we even got out of the zoo parking lot, Westen was asleep within blocks of leaving the zoo, and Waylan was asleep before we even got back to my house which is only 10 minutes from the zoo! I'm sure my sisters were able to enjoy a nice, quiet ride home.


Thursday I had plans to meet up with a friend, Paige, who I hadn't seen in literally over a year. I think the last time we saw each other was at my wedding and we have only talked a couple times in between. She met me at my office when I was getting off of work. We went out for supper and enjoyed a nice long walk around my neighborhood with some much needed catching up. I definitely realized how much I missed her! During my senior year at SDSU we saw each other once a week in the Greek Life Office between classes and would sit and talk until we had to head to our next class. Thankfully, we were able to chat and catch up as if we saw each other just yesterday and hopefully we'll see each other again soon since we're living in the same town for now! I love having friends that I don't need to talk to every day to stay friends, whenever we find the time to catch up it's as if no time has passed!

Spontaneous

Neil and I typically aren’t very spontaneous people, but this weekend we were! With Neil having a part-time job it’s not very often that he gets two full days off on the weekend, but thanks to Memorial Day yesterday we both had Sunday and Monday off. Friday night we were trying to figure out how to make the most of our rare weekend together and couldn’t make a decision. Saturday we woke up and decided we were going to head West River to visit Neil’s family, we hadn’t been out there since August! After checking with his parents and sister to make sure they’d be around Neil headed to work until four while I finished painting our basement (finally!), cleaned the house, and packed so we were ready to go when he got off work. We made it to Spearfish around 10:30pm mountain time and were able to enjoy all day Sunday out there and half of Monday. Sunday we went to Newell for lunch and stopped in to visit Neil’s grandparents. When we got back to Spearfish Sunday afternoon Alex and our niece were home so we got to see her for the first time in six months! She’s such a sweetie. She was a little bashful around Neil, but when I went to check on Brownie downstairs she came to find me with Neil and ran right up to me and gave me a hug! Candace even told me after she put on her Disney princess pajamas she said she was sure Auntie Sam would love them, which of course I did. Sunday evening his parents very kindly volunteered to come to Spearfish to babysit our niece while we went out for supper with Candace and Alex. After supper we headed over to Deadwood and did a very little bit of gambling, Alex won $66 and Neil lost $5. Neil and Alex played a game of pool in the sports bar while Candace and I sat and talked. I don’t think Candace and I have ever just sat and talked just us two and I loved it! I love how close I am to my sister-in-laws because that was a major fear when I found out Neil had three sisters. I know how protective a sister is of her little brother, but they’ve all welcomed me into the family and made me feel included. We also saw Ryan, Whitney, Gary, and Aileen in Deadwood and were able to talk to them for awhile.

Monday we had planned to leave fairly early, but Candace invited a bunch of family over for Memorial Day lunch so we hung around until everyone showed up. We were able to see people we haven’t seen since our wedding and meet a new little Brunner for the first time! We didn’t leave Spearfish until close to one, and even though the six hours home was a long ride it was totally worth it!

Of course, I have to mention Brownie too. We took him with us for his first six hour drive and he did AMAZING! He sat on my lap the whole way there and back and we only had to stop once for him to go to the bathroom. He loved looking out the window and all the extra attention. He behaved well all weekend, but was exhausted when we got home. There was just too much excitement to sleep in the car and by bedtime last night he willingly walked right into his kennel to go to sleep.

And lastly, an update on my dad: He’s been very busy out in Pierre getting ready for the flooding. He’s just been maintaining the radios for the most part, but he says everyone out there is scrambling to get ahead of the water. There are policemen at every intersection making sure dump trucks can just go straight through without having to stop anywhere in town and the Governor even lifted the CDL requirement for people to drive trucks. They put up spotlights last night so everyone’s been working day and night nonstop. He was told they would probably be there for more than 10 days, but the good news is they cancelled the two week drill (for now) and they told my dad as soon as my Grandpa and little brother are ready for him to come home and plant his fields someone can come get him from Pierre. He’ll be able to come home, plant his fields, and then have to go back, but at least he’ll have a crop in! Thank you for all the extra prayers, God continuously amazes us and is working everything out in a very unique way!

Farmers

I have so much respect for farmers. It seems like every year's a tough year, but they continuously struggle through and do what they have to. My dad's a farmer and I can't imagine him doing anything else. I was raised on the farm and seeing my dad work day in and day out, struggle to get things done, and work from before the sun rose to after the sunset made me have so much respect for him. I don't think farming is something that can be taught, I think it's born in you.
This year has definitely been a struggle for SD farmers. The non-stop rain has made their efforts to get a crop planted worthless. My dad always struggles this time of year because he's also in Guards. Every year in the beginning of June he has to leave the farm and go to a two week Guard drill which means he has to have everything in the ground before that time rolls around or he may just not have a crop that year which equates to not having an income that year. Last year my brother-in-law was able to help out and get my dad's beans in for him while he was gone (thank you God for a support family!). This year is turning into even more of a struggle for my dad. He hasn't been able to do much with all the rain and his two weeks starts June 4th, just a week away. Last night he received even more of a set-back. His Guard unit was activated to go to Pierre, SD to help with the flooding for 3-10 days, they left this morning at 8am. We're praying that it's only the 3 days and he can be back on Monday and have five days to work like crazy. We're also praying the rain stops and he can actually get something accomplished. All in all, God's hearing some extra prayers from me today! I have faith that everything will work out for my family, but it can't hurt to say a few extra prayers.

One Year

One year ago, I married the most amazing man I’ve ever met. Our wedding day was perfect; there was not a single thing that went wrong. Honestly, our wedding day could have been a disaster and I wouldn’t have cared. I am a huge worrier, I worry about everything, but I did not have a single worry on our wedding day. The only part that mattered was that he said “I do” and I said “I do”. Our marriage is what matters, and it has been just as perfect as our wedding day. I’m not saying we’re perfect or life is perfect, but we get through the ups and downs together and come out even stronger than we were.

I truly married the perfect man, for me at least. He’s smart, funny, caring, romantic, spontaneous, optimistic, and balances me. He would literally do anything to make me happy. He knows what to say no matter what mood I’m in and can make any day better with a random text telling me he loves me. He cleans, cooks, and does laundry without needing to be asked and without any complaints.

We celebrated out first anniversary with an hour couples massage, shopping, Oh My Cupcakes!, supper at Carnaval Brazilian Grill, gelato at Nucci’s, and going to the movie Bridesmaids. It was an amazing, relaxing day. With Neil’s busy work schedule lately we haven’t had the chance to just spend a whole day relaxing together and simply doing whatever we want so I was glad we were able to find the time to do that and celebrate our marriage.  

I love you, Neil, thank you for being my best friend and an amazing husband.