Fishing Trip

I keep wanting to put "our first fishing trip of the year", but really, it was only MY first fishing trip this year.  Evan has been to the river with Denver and his Grandpa, and he's taken the kids several times to go fishing either when I've been at work or trying to get stuff done around the house in peace and quiet!  Its so nice that the kids are finally the age where Evan can take them to do things and I can get stuff done without it taking twice as long, and or doing things not once, but twice. :)

The first fish on this trip, of course it was caught by Denver!

He was sooo excited!

Makenna's first fish on this trip, which was also the first walleye caught on this trip.

She wasn't too interested in a picture with her fish.

Kenna and Papa fishing.

This fishing endeavor took place when my sister was here the 2nd time, and Jacob joined us.  He was excited to catch a fish too!

Daddy and Denver with the 2 biggest fish from the trip.

New Years Eve 2010

This year was the hardest, most difficult New Years Eve.  We were supposed to spend New Years Eve in Fargo celebrating and getting ready for the wedding of my dear friend Kara and her fiancee (now husband) Noah.  The wonderful winter blizzards had to make there way through right before we could leave for Fargo which prevented us from being able to be a part of their special day.  I don't think I could have ever prepared myself for the emotions I felt and the days leading up to the wedding and following knowing I had missed such a special day in such a great friends life.  Denver was crushed when he found out he was no longer going to get to be a ring bearer and cried and cried and kept asking when he was going to get to be a ring bearer.  That didn't make it any easier for me.  None the less, we are so happy for Kara and Noah!

While I was super bummed and not in the best spirits we made do with the weather and still tried to have a good time.  My parents made it to Sioux Falls before the bad weather hit Sioux Falls.  On New Years Eve we stayed in a hotel with them and our friends Brandon, Ashley, and Berkley joined us for the evening.  We had a good time swimming, eating, and playing cards.

Believe it or not, the only photography done was by Evan so thank him for documenting this holiday!

Berkley swimming with her Daddy

Kenna swimming with Grandma

Kenna with Papa

Denver floating around.

Another camping trip!

Yes, we did squeeze in another camping trip!  I had many of my friends think we were absolutely crazy going camping in October, but it turned out to be a beautiful weekend and it was a great time camping with Papa Rodney and Grama Verni.  Evan and my dad go deer hunting out west with several other people every year.  This year the ground that they usually hunt was pulled from the public hunting land so they were forced to find new ground to hunt.  My mom thought what better way to find that land than by all of us going out there for a camping trip.  This way the kids, mom and I were also able to see where they hunt and have some good family time, along with a little camping trip that we wanted to do with them, but weren't able since the cows didn't leave until October!  We drove up Saturday morning, after I got home from working all night.  I slept in the car while Evan drove.  We spent Saturday just hanging out; fishing, playing on the jungle gym, eating, campfire, etc.  The guys made it a late night with some fishing in a small thunderstorm!  I thought they were crazy, especially since the fish weren't biting...but they kept hoping!  The next morning we packed up and went to the public hunting ground where we then separated our ways.  The guys went to check out the new land and the kids took a nap while we drove back to the campground.  We then did a lot of indoor games (as it drizzled some and every thing was wet from the night before) and I napped as I had a call shift that night (that I thankfully ended up not having to work).  The weather was perfect and we're so glad we were able to squeeze it into our busy schedule!

Flying Babies

Marshmallows with Grama

Apple Orchard

After running crazy all week getting ready for the sale I was pretty tired, but my birthday was Sunday!  All I asked for us to do as a family was to go to the Apple Orchard.  So we did just that the day before my birthday along with my dad, my sister, and her two boys.  Of course, all the cows weren't gone yet and there was still lots of things to do on the farm so we continued on "Waltner time", but eventually we got to the orchard and enjoyed the day as a family.  I have to say that was exactly what I wanted!  The kids had a blast doing every thing they got to do and nothing makes me happier than watching my kids have fun and being with those I love most.  Unfortunately my mom had to be out of town for work, so she missed out on the fun.

The train was a hit!

Jacob and his Papa

Its amazing to see the love all of these kids have for their Papa (and Grama)

Of course they enjoyed the farm animals and of course Makenna wasn't scared!

Playing on the straw bales.

Papa got all the big kids wristbands so they could play on the inflatables.  They had a blast!

 The picture before and the two after is of a blowup giraffe (if I remember correctly) and they went through the body (which was a tunnel) with different "obstacles" inside.  The kids didn't want to come out and the guy in charge had to go get them! :)  I warned the guy before they went in, that my kids would be the ones to do it so be prepared!

 Caleb had fun too!  Lots of fun things to see.

 Caramel Apples!!

Here's a video of Jacob going down the slide.  Bare with me as I'm still learning how to use my video on my camera and I didn't have a tripod to keep the camera steady so its shaky as I'm resting my hand on the bouncy slide!  Also, any time there is a moment that it "sticks" on the video its because I'm taking a picture at that point so it just prolongs that shot before it continues on to "what's going on" at that time.

For some reason I forgot to video tape her going down!

Jacob loved the train so much he became a little obsessed over it and wanted to go back on it.

As you can tell in the pictures about Denver started to get pretty crazy on the slide.  He spent lots of time watching the "big" kids go down and they would jump and bounce as they went down.  Here's a video of him going down the slide towards the end.

This inflatable was for bigger kids and I didn't know if Denver could do it, but he convinced me to let him try.  He did it and did really well at it.  Daddy got a little too into it and started timing him and coaching him as he went through it over and over.

And here's the video of him going down the slide the first time doing this inflatable, I think! :)

 Hayride to go pick apples.

 Picking apples.

 Watching a tractor with a wagon between the trees.

 And they were exhausted when the day was done!

I thank God and all of my family and friends for a wonderful birthday and the past 27 years!