Valentine Delights

The girls and I had a great time putting together some treats and goodies for Valentine's day.  Angelique really had her "craft-on" and made some little Chocolate Kiss mice for her classmates as well as custom Valentines for both Steve & me.  

Abby, Hannah and Kippy frosted and decorated heart shaped sugar cookies, which we gifted to some dear friends and their piano teacher after munching a few ourselves.

 

We had our traditional family Valentine supper with red/white/pink foods.  I even made these delicious sugared grapes for dessert.  It was super easy - just wash the grapes, then sprinkle with raspberry jello to coat and then refrigerate for 2-3 hours.  The coating made the grapes sparkle and added a real flavor punch!

Pinterest has continued to be a source of inspiration and creative outlet for me.  This adorable Valentine swag was made from colored felt (cut and sewn into hearts), felted pom-poms and some embroidery floss. 

I had so much fun making the hearts that I ended up with two swags!

Potters Way 2011

Potters Way has become a tradition over the past several years for pumpkin picking and corn maze craziness in the Fall when we come to the farm.  The more cousins we can get to come with us, the more fun we all have.  This year Kaleb and Makenzie, along with Grandma Rose participated. 

Despite the super windy day, the weather was warm enough for t-shirts.  We road the "Pumpkin Express" hayride over to the giant patch were each kid carefully selected their perfect pumpkin.  Angelique wanted a HUGE pumpkin and I told her as long as she could carry it, she could have it. I thought I was being so wise, but that little bugger carried that immense pumpkin back to the Pumpkin Express herself!  I need to come up with better rules in the future because the trunk of our car barely closed once everything was loaded.

Unfortunately, there was a terrible wind storm that hit the Oakes area in early July, which decimated the original corn maze at Potters Way.  So as a fun substitution, a scarecrow walk was created and we each got to vote on our favorite scarecrow.  We had a lot of laughs selecting and imitating our favs. I certainly have happy memories of that day!

Experiencing Sioux Falls

Labor day weekend, our family went to Sioux Falls to celebrate Gina & Tom's wedding. While we were there, we had some time to have some fun ~ Lindgren-style. After breakfast, I took the family to see Falls Park, which I had only recently discovered this past summer with my BFF's.
We did a ton of walking and went up into the tower which had a great view of Falls Park as well as the downtown buildings. It was a surprising cool morning (only 65 degrees) and fairly breezy, but once in the sun, it felt perfect.
As we explored, I was clicking away on my Nikon, trying to capture the beauty.
We walked from the Falls Park to DTSF (Downtown Sioux Falls) to see the sites and to take in the Sculpture Walk. I'll have to say, we had a ton of laughs as we worked on posing in imitation of the bronze sculptures.
Some of our imitations, were pretty spot on, if you ask me! Steve about killed me with his pose of a pregnant woman & a man in pain. Kippy's raccoon impersonation & bad-hair donkey face make me laugh out loud. I love Abby's stop-action shots with both Kippy & her dad.

I was surprised to find that my ipod case looked just like the Pagan Apples sculpture. Who knew?
There was a lot of beautiful sculptures and each of us had several favorites. It was like being at an art museum, only better because we were outside & weren't being judged for our crazy antics.
Of course, I think pictures of my Abby girl....
and Kippy-girl are the most precious of all.
We ended our exploration with a wonderful lunch at Phillips Avenue Diner, which also happened to be the first solid food Abby had been able to eat since getting her upper braces on two days earlier. Good times!

Kayak Adventure on the Mississippi

Earlier this summer I snagged a Groupon deal for an 8 mile canoe trip for the family on the Mississippi River for half price. The origin of the afternoon trip was in Clear Water, MN through a company called Clear Waters Outfitting Company.
We originally scheduled to go on the trip August 6th; however, gusty winds and rain caused us to cancel. We were able to reschedule for Saturday, August 20th, but the only catch was there were no canoes available, so we chose the tandem kayaks instead.
After watching a safety video, we were given maps, got fitted for lifejackets and loaded up in our kayaks. Abby wanted to paddle with Steve & Kippy wanted to be with me. The weather was a little cool, but very pleasant. The partnership in our respective kayaks worked out very well. Steve & Abby were definitely faster than Kippy & me.
If you have ever kayaked before, then you know the steering is done by the paddler in the back, and the front paddler sets the pace with the rear paddler matching the strokes. We brought along waters and some mixed nuts & dried fruit for snacks.
It was surprising how quick the current in the river was moving. We had a slight breeze to our backs, so with that plus the current, we didn't have to paddle extremely hard to move along. We pretty much had the river to ourselves which was so peaceful. There were several dragonflies which would hitch rides between our two kayaks.

We sang songs and played a couple of word games. One song we tried to sing was from the Disney Pocahontas movie, "Just Around The River Bend..." but we were a complete fail because "Just Around the River Bend" was the only part of the song we could remember!

A big discussion surrounded what was the name of the raccoon in the movie. Do you know? None of us were 100% sure. Steve thought it was Reeko and I thought it was Teeko. Once we got on dry land, we contacted the resident Disney expert (Kristy Sell) and found out the correct name was Meeko. We all had quite a laugh over that.
In the end, it only took us 2 hours to travel the 8 miles to the pick-up spot. No one over-turned, attitudes were great and we all gave the experience a thumbs up. Next time, I think we will pack a lunch so we can pull off onto one of the islands and have a picnic to make the adventure last longer.
We highly recommend giving it a try!

Our most memorable rodeo yet!

We are so lucky to have a professional PRCA rodeo to attend in our area each August at the Red Horse Rance Arena. The entertainment is top quality and the outdoor arena is fantastic. This year (August 12), we made sure we went very early so we could get our chairs set up in a prime location. In this arena, there are bleachers on the west side only and the east side is terraced so people bring their own chairs and blankets to sit back and enjoy the show. Of course, the earlier you are, the better placement you have for your chairs. The gates opened at 5:30 PM and we were first in line and got our favorite seat locations so we could see the saddle broncs, bareback and bull riding up close. Steve had checked the weather and we knew we were going to get some rain. In anticipation, we brought rain jackets, ponchos & umbrellas. This was not our first rodeo, folks! We have been rained on before in previous years.

The opening of the rodeo is the best ever with the flags and the gorgeous horses. There is a very meaningful recognition for all the past and current armed service members, a blessing for all cowboys, cowgirls and livestock and finally a beautiful sung National Anthem. It brings tears to my eyes every single time.
The first event was bareback bronc riding. (Don't judge the pictures too harshly as they come from my cellphone.) There are a few things to note in this picture. First of all, cowboy & horse are magnificent! Second, there are some rather dark skies in the back ground. Third, there is a rather large white tent in the background and one small tent canopy to the right of it.

Just as the first rider in the first event finished, an enormous gust of wind lifted the large tent straight up in the air! A huge amount of dirt, along with the aluminum tent legs and canvas began spiraling toward us. I stood straight up, screamed "Girls! Get down." and lunged for them, tucking them under my body as best as I could. Steve flopped down on top of us all. The dirt and wind blasted us. Our chairs went flying. And within less than 30 seconds it was over. We sat up and made sure everyone was ok. Abby had dirt in her eyes, I had dirt in my mouth and stuck to my lipgloss. Steve's Harley hat was MIA, but Kippy found it for him 30 feet from where we were sitting. People were scrambling to get their belongings and get out of dodge.
And here is where the large white tent landed. Right on top of the livestock pens. None of the animals were hurt. None of the audience members were hurt. None of the cowboys & cowgirls were hurt. It was amazing how the protection from the opening prayer kept us all safe.

The rodeo continued on. And a few hardy people stayed including us. We got our chairs back together and our rain gear on & umbrellas out because it started to rain. And rain.
And rain. Ponchos were used to try to keep our legs dry. Kippy even tied one of Steve's extra rain jackets around her legs.
We tried everything to stay dry, but the buckets of rain just kept coming and we laughed about how wet we were getting.
What I like about this picture is you can see the few stragglers in the VIP boardwalk section and also see how muddy the arena became. Also, note: no white canopies in the background. The rain never slowed down the rodeo at all. The livestock, cowboys and cowgirls continued to work hard. It really was a great time.

Three hours later, when it was time to go we loaded up our soggy chairs and trudged back to the parking lot. However, the grass parking lot was now a dark swampy mess. We were sinking down into muddy ruts up to our ankles. I almost lost one of my flip flops. When we reached our vehicle (Honda Accord), we could already see many cars were stuck in the muddy mess. Never have I wanted a 4 wheel drive pickup truck more in my life! Steve started out driving, but the car quickly spun out in the mud. Steve had me switch and drive while he got out to push the car. I should also note Steve was the only smart family member to be wearing boots instead of flip flops. Unfortunately, our car was really stuck. From out of nowhere, another guy showed up beside Steve & they were able to push our car backwards and got it unstuck. Slowly we tried to navigate. Several additional times, the car spun out in the mud and Steve would just keep pushing to get us out. The girls were silent in the backseat as this process was repeated time and time again. Eventually, after almost 25 minutes, we navigated up the side of the ditch and made it to the road. The car was covered in mud. Our feet & lower pants were filthy. My only regret is that I didn't get any pictures of the whole muddy mess, but I was too stressed out trying to get the vehicle out! Ultimately, we prevailed and I think 2011 will be the most memorable rodeo for our whole family.

Camping at Itasca

It is amazing how much coordinating and packing were required in order for two families to be able to camp at Itasca State Park. The planning has been in the works since last year and then in July, when the MN State Parks shut down because of budget problems, we thought our plans were going to have to wait until 2012. Luckily, with some intense coordination, we were able to get a couple of days to work out and we are ever so glad we did!
Steve ended up getting a carrier for the roof of the van so we could have some moving around room in our vehicle and actually fit more than our usual 4. The bike rack was able to hold our 4 bikes, but it took us almost a half of a day just to get our gear organized. I am ashamed to admit that it had been 2 years since we had even set up our tent.
We were able to get adjoining sites and set up three tents for our group of 4 adults, 6 kids and 1 dog. Kippy & Madi had the smallest tent and they also claimed Bella as their bunkmate. Those three were happy campers to be together. Next we had a large tent for Miranda, Abby, Dani & Kami. The adults stayed together in the largest tent complete with two queen sized air-mattresses, but I'm thinking Derek would say theirs was mostly an airless mattress. Ha!

As soon as we had the campsite set up and our bellies filled with some excellent grilled brats and dogs, we headed to the Mississippi headwaters.  Since it was nearly 7:00 PM, on Sunday, August 14th, we practically had the entire place to ourselves.  Madi, Kami & Kippy had their swimsuits on and immediately decided to get wet.

One of the funniest experiences was watching Kippy & Madi come up with games to play with their swim towels and the stone pillars.  Here they are showing off their "guns", which eventually morphed (as games tend to do) into them putting on a show in unison with their best muscle moves, then morphed into balling up one of the towels, tossing it back and forth like a hot potato and finally playing keep away.

Unfortunately, there was one little snag in the game playing which occurred when Madi tried to throw her shorts up over the beam and got them stuck.  The dads were called in to help out and Steve ended up using a towel to snag the shorts and save the day.  Campfire s'mores finished out our fun day or so we thought...

Just when we finally we all tucked into our respective tents and sleeping bags, a gang of raccoons came to visit.  Soon they had finessed the lid off of our Rubbermaid dry food container and were fighting viciously over the loot they had discovered.  Derek and Steve had to go out and chase 4 raccoons away, but not before they made off with a bag of crackers and a sack of buns.  We discovered in the morning that their dirty little paws had tried and tried to open the cooler as well.  Apparently they wanted more to go with the buns and crackers.  Luckily, those clever buggers couldn't pop the tight fitting top off of the cooler.  The Huberts were more prepared for the opportunistic predators and kept all of their food safely locked in their van.  We will be smarter next time (I hope).

Monday, August 15th was our activity day.  After picking out 6 bikes at the rental for the Huberts, we hit the trail.  I got to be the line leader while Steve & Derek picked up the monkey tail.  I totally had an ulterior motive for being in front - it was so I wouldn't have to listen to any crabbing and fussing!  The route we took was rather challenging for some of the oldest kids (think teens), but Dani and Madi were more than willing to keep the speed going with me!  The bonus of having a mix of 6 kids is that they can encourage one another and the Parental Units can tease and laugh at them all.  tee, hee

I can't recall how many miles we ended up going, but by the time we hiked to the Fire Tower, the kids were seriously starving, full of bug bites and not very joyful.  Luckily, the Parental Units didn't care at all about the crab-fest.  We paid a nice lady to use up almost all of her bug rub and then proceeded to climb the tower. Heather made her maiden voyage to the top of the tower.  She was thrilled and it encouraged Kami to give it a try as well and they were successful!  WTG, Girls!!

After getting back to camp and getting the blood sugar back up for the tired little campers, we went back to the Headwaters for some cooling off.  It was a such a wonderful time and I hope we can do it again next summer without having to plan for two years!

Lindgren Life in a List

I have not blogged much of late, but there has still been plenty going on in the Lindgren household. Mostly it has centered around our two lively daughters.

• Abby has been involved almost daily in practice for the Middle School musical, Aladdin, since the beginning of January. The show performance debuts today! We are excited to see the second performance tonight and will also go to the final performance on Thursday night with Grandma Shirley in attendance.

• Steve is on Spring break this week, which means he is able to go to lunch at OLV with Kippy, have a somewhat leisurely schedule & knocking off several fix-it items on the honey-do list, all while I have been seriously jealous of his freedom.
• I have been able to go cross-country skiing almost every Friday morning since mid-January, when I purchased my own ski equipment. It has been the perfect stress-reliever for me. Steve has gone skiing with me several times as well and we finally got a method worked out so we begin and end at the same time. It takes mad wizard skills, but we got it figured out.
• We have been selling and eating lots of Girl Scout cookies, thanks to our soon to be Jr. level girl scout, a.k.a Kippy. Wish we had sold more so I would have ate less.
  
• Snow, snow & more snow... winter has been dragging on and on and on, but was so very happy to escape over President's weekend for a girlfriends' weekend with Lori & Heather. It was energizing, therapeutic, & productive in terms of laughing, shopping, bonding & crafting.
  
• Last week, Steve & I got to watch our niece play hoops at the Regional Basketball tourney in Fargo. It was great to watch, even if the scoreboard didn't reflect the effort the Tornadoes put into it.
  
• Best movie so far this year {actually the only movie I have gone to in 2011}... The Fighter. It was fabulous. Two thumbs up from Renae & Steve even if we had to drive to Alexandria to watch it since the Fergus theater closed the beginning of January.
  
• Seven weeks of Lent started last week on Ash Wednesday and the girls and I are jointly working on our preparation for Easter by abstaining from meat daily. Meal planning has been a bit challenging, but it has made us more mindful of sacrifice both physically and spirituality.
• Abby finished up the Speech season with her last contest in Underwood on March 14th just in time to start the Track season. With all the extra time spent taking her back & forth from events, perhaps it won't be so bad to think of her driving herself. What? Driving??? Forget I said anything... I must be sleep deprived.
  
• Text message tally for February: Steve = 157 Renae = 574 Abby = 1199 I am speechless. Literally.
  
• The girls aren't the only ones involved in extra-curricular activities... Steve is on the OLV school board & Knights of Columbus while I have AAUW, OLV Endowment board meetings and responsible for decorating the Church over Lent.
• My biggest obsession so far in 2011... My Fitbit. Steve gave it to me for Christmas and I keep telling him it is the best Christmas gift I have gotten EVER! I wear it almost 24/7, with the exception of having to charge it every 7-10 days. It tracks sleep efficiency (as in how many times you wake up each night) as well as activity, steps, & mileage. There are more numbers to compare and track and I am positively in love with it. I already had to replace one Fitbit because I was sweating so much while cross-country skiing that the first one shorted out. Thankfully it was still under warranty so crisis was averted and I was back to tracking within 24 hrs.
• Reading, reading and more reading... the four of us keep our library cards active and are checking out or returning books at least twice a week.
• Kippy's newest obsession... Spore.
  
• Progress is being made on my 2011 Theme... Power. I attended a 20 hour IMPACT class at UND the first weekend in March and am still processing all of the lessons learned.
  

Lots of other stuff, but I think I hit some of the highlights that are at the front of my brain right now. I am glad we are busy and I have much to be grateful for. I am working to stay-in-the-moment and practice daily gratitude even if I fail at documenting.

A salute to Valentine's day

Our family tradition is to celebrate Valentine's Day together with a supper themed around red, pink & white foods. We generally decide on a menu a few days in advance. This year the Valentine's menu was spaghetti in homemade tomato meat-sauce, artisan bread, strawberry banana smoothies and
pink Valentine sugar cookies for dessert.
Although there was one GIANT chocolate chip cookie for my sweetie, who has been my Valentine since 1987...

yup, that is 25 YEARS!!!

I love homemade cards and this one made by Kippy for her daddy was especially sweet.

The inside reads:

"There is ying,yang, chocolate, vanilla, you and me, Father and Daughter. There can't be one without the other. Love you lots, Angelique"

The girls each received a little goody bag of from us...

One can never go wrong with books and socks, right?

My Valentine cracks me up and wouldn't stop tickling me when trying to take a picture. Funny guy!
My family has my heart for sure.