An amazing evening

to remember!  And it all was for a good cause... raising money for Our Lady of Victory school. This is the third year for the steak and wine dinner, but what made it really special for us was being part of the VIP table for the first time.  We shared the VIP evening with 4 other couples (David & Kelly, Mikey & Susan, my mom & dad, and Derek & Heather).

Who doesn't love a chance to dress up and get out of the normal routine.  Plus, it was my very first limo ride!  We enjoyed hors d'oeuvres at Stella's in Battle Lake and had a quick beverage at the Ol' School House before arriving in style at the transformed gymnasium for "Bahama Nights."  Good food, great friends, laughter & games.  Perfect evening!

 But guess who was the luckiest gal of them all??

My beautiful momma won this sparkling pair of diamond earnings in a raffle drawing due to my dad picking the lucky number "58"!!!  Now that is going to be hard to top next year!

P.S.  I received lots of compliments on my sparkly bronze dress... which was a rental compliments of Rent The Runway.  I highly recommend this website for a one-time special event.  You will feel like a million bucks!

An Egg-citing Easter

 It had been a L O N G five months since we had been back to the farm.  Mostly because we celebrated the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays at alternate locations AND since my folks had been frolicking down south for the past 3 months. It was so nice to get back to my familiar childhood home, but mostly to see mom & dad again!

I brought along a few projects for the cousins to work on together.  One project was "Fun-in-the-middle" cupcakes.  It was a multi-step process to mix up the batter, partially fill the cupcakes, squeeze in some fun chocolate into the center, cover with more batter, bake, frost & decorate, but the kids did a great job.  Nixin was the most excited because he was in charge of adding the sprinkles to the cupcakes.  He was so careful about it.  Of course, everyone LOVED eating them the most.  Nixin was adamant that if you didn't eat a "Fun-in-the-middle" cupcake, then you would NEVER have any fun AGAIN! I didn't want to miss out on fun so I ate TWO!  hahaha 

  It wouldn't be Easter without dyeing the eggs.  Some of the eggs used were brown eggs from Kaleb's faithful hens, which made for some interesting color combinations.  The kids were pretty creative and the  fairy dust glitter not only made the eggs sparkly, but pretty much everyone's faces too. Nothing like a little glitter to make your nose itch, right?

 One of my favorite reoccurring conversations of the weekend was with my seven year old nephew, Nixin.  He was constantly surprising me with his unique talents.  When I complimented him on how great he was with puzzles, he told me he was a "Puzzle Master".  Then when he mixed up the cupcake batter, he became a cupcake Master.  Soon, I realized there was nothing this kid couldn't do.  He really is a MASTER & I love him to pieces!

Lest you think the weekend was all baking & crafting... I want to assure you that there was some good old fashioned redneck recreation.  This included speed target shooting with Steve, Russ, Kaleb & me giving it a go.  Nothing beats the smell of gun powder! Russ was the champion, hitting 5 targets in 3.3 seconds.

When Sunday morning rolled around, I sadly discovered that we had forgotten the garment bag with our Easter Finery hanging back in Fergus Falls.  This left three of us with nothing fabulous to wear... Abby smartly packed her clothes in her suitcase, so she was the only one with her intended outfit. A quick SOS call to my niece, who happens to live across the street, and I had a dress.  I borrowed heels from my mom and I was good to go.  Kippy had to be a little more strategic, but the pj's she just gotten from Grandma Rose doubled as a dress.  Abby lent her a cardigan and presto - a cute Easter outfit. Steve recycled the button down shirt he wore on Friday and went with jeans.  Not a very coordinated family, but we made due and that is all that matters!

 While we were at church, Russ & Kristy the Easter Bunny was busy hiding 165 eggs filled with candy throughout the farm.  I know there has never been such creative hiding in the history of Triple R Farms.  The crazy bunny even hid 3 real eggs that were stolen from under the hens!  There was a least an hour of running around hunting up eggs with Nixin being the clear winner.  Remember, he is a MASTER at finding eggs.

Mom prepared a wonderful feast and Uncle Bob & Aunt Judy were able to join in.  Lots of laughter and many wonderful memories = an Egg-citing Easter.

Steve's new ride

Good-bye Soccer-Mom-Mini-Van of the past 8 years, you have served this family well.  Numerous family vacations, camping trips, soccer games, family events, birthday parties, hailstorms and general running around. Over 150,000 miles, almost all driven by Steve.  He didn't complain {too much}.




 Some concerns over the continued long-term viability of our 2001 mini-van, including the heat going out over Christmas and the starter-thingy beginning to be temperamental, caused Steve to begin the hunt for a replacement.  This has been going on for the past 4 months.  But finally, this week, he found a vehicle with the features he wanted (V8 with towing capacity), 4 wheel drive,  room for extra passengers (seats 7), low mileage and the right price.




 Meet Steve's new Armageddon vehicle...  2008 Jeep Commando Commander in all black.  It looks like all that is missing is some type of mounted machine gun on top.  I think he was looking to "man-up" his vehicle after the mini-van.  I think he made a great choice.  Although the boxy shape makes me want to call it the "Sponge-bob Square Pants" vehicle.  Although I think Armegeddon is going to stick.

Vieques trip Part 1

Our "Spring Break" destination this year was Vieques, Puerto Rico.  Planning for the trip began back in late July last year after a weekend spent with the Mathern's.  I think we may have actually invited ourselves along on their annual trip to the island (which we consider the Mathern's Island since they own land there). 

 Lance was the trip planning master which included booking flights, lodging, rental vehicle and excursions as well as a fabulous PowerPoint presentation showing highlights of the island.  And like a true planner, he kept all pertinent information housed in his trusty magic green folder.

 So we truly were able to just pack our bags and board the flight, knowing Lance had everything under control.  We had a 5 1/2 hr direct flight from Minneapolis to San Juan, Puerto Rico early Saturday, March 10th.  Steve was only one of us 4 who was able to sleep on the long flight while the rest of us made fun of him because we were super jealous of his mad-sleeping-skills.

 A quick 20 minute, puddle-jumper flight in the afternoon and the Mathern's island was in view.

We stayed the next week in this fabulous three bedroom Hilltop Hacienda, just outside of Isabel II, with views of the Atlantic ocean

 from the large veranda.

 This is the bedroom that Steve & I stayed in.  The windows were left open during the day to catch the ocean breeze, but we quickly learned that at night it was better to close the windows due to some barking battles some of the local dogs got into.

I loved that we could still hear and see the ocean from our room.  Saturday the 10th was pretty much a travel day for us.  We arrived in Vieques around 4:30 PM, but by the time we got our bright blue jeep and got checked in at the Hilltop, we were ready for a late supper (at Coconuts) and good night sleep.

March 11th, was our first official beach day.  After getting provisions at the grocery store, we got in about 5 hours at Orchid beach (aka Playa La Plata).  The soft sugar sand was amazing and the sound of the surf (on the Caribbean side of the island) was calm and relaxing. The mixed clouds kept us from getting very toasted, much to the disappointment of Denise & me.  Lance and Steve got in some snorkeling and spotted a stingray in between time on the sand.

Nothing beats a relaxing beach day like Bushwackers at a local restaurant in Esperanza called Bananas.  "Bushwacker down!" Our waitress, Tami from Wisconsin, was da bomb and kept treating us to extras.

Celebrating Steve

on his 29th 43rd birthday!  Steve got to indulge his sweet tooth with some homemade double chocolate brownies, Butterfingers (his favorite candy bar) & a delicious dessert at Bello's. A painted paperweight rock, compliments of Kippy, with his motorcycle gang inscribed on it and an iphone made his ibirthday complete. We all had fun spoiling our favorite "man guy" on his special day!

7 is HEAVEN

This little boy has our hearts since the second he arrived, on March 22, 2005.  His bright blue eyes, his mischievous smile & his amazing sense of humor are just some of the things that make our nephew so special.  We are constantly quoting this "ONE-GUY" in our daily lives and can't want to see him to wish him happy birthday in person in a couple weeks.

We know Abby is your "FAVORITE" and has been since you were a little toddler, just remember we all LOVE you.

Even when you show us your "ANGRY" face!

A very memorable wedding

We got to welcome a new member to our family this past weekend when Chad Carlson married our niece, Megan.  It was a beautiful wedding with a wonderful reception and fun dance.  Truly an amazing celebration.

Such a gorgeous couple and their love really shines and touches all those around them.

Proof that I should never take pictures after 2:00 AM.... blah!  Still a very memorable wedding even if we got very sleep deprived.