Vice President Sarah Palin????

Imagine my surprise when I woke up and turned the radio on this morning and heard that Senator McCain had chosen Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his VP candidate. She's making quite a name for herself and is surely bringing the State of Alaska into the forefront in the country. I'm not sure if this will help or hurt him, but I'm sure it will keep the State of Alaska voting Republican. Alaska has voted Republican in the last 40 some elections. All of the news stations are saying that having Palin as a running mate will hopefully bring some of the Hilary supporters over to the Republican side. All I can say is "wow"!

SD and ND

Well, after spending almost a week in Minneapolis with my sister, we made the trip to SD. It was good to get home. One thing that you have to love about home is that it never changes. Everything was the same as it was a year ago (the last time I was home). Okay, not everything. We did have some new cows and new kitties!One thing I always look forward to when I go home is the fresh veggies from the garden. Unfortunately a few weeks before i got home the area had a nasty wind/hail storm go through (120+ mph winds!) There wasn't much left of the garden. There were a few pea plants, some carrots, some green onions and tomatoes. The boys had fun eating fresh garden peas, something they haven't done before. I guess they apparently are taking the peas out of the pods on all of the peas they eat now. Whoops, guess mom and dad didn't see that one coming.

As I had my suitcase empty trying to reorganize some of my stuff, Colton thought it would be fun to sit in it. Of course this was after Caden had already did it. That little stinker loves to do everything his brother does!

One of the funniest things that had to happen was when dad was playing with Caden and Colton. He would still their blankets and when the boys would take them back dad would pretend to cry. Somehow the word crybaby came up and dad would call the boys crybabies and then they would call him crybaby back. After Raquel left I call her for something and dad asked if the boys were around. Raquel put Colton on the phone and dad called him a crybaby. You could hear Colton laughing. Dad said it a few more times and finally Colton said Crybaby. It's so cute!!!!

After 5 days at home, I spent a few days in Edgeley with Eric's folks. It was great to see them. I'm proud to say that Deb has been smoke free since December. I cannot believe how much the kids have grown. Brookston is in the 7th grade and is starting football practice. Braeden is a 6th grader, Brinley is a 4th grader and little Bridger is a 1st grader. I think I have all of those grades correct. It's hard to believe that Brinley wasn't even 1 year old when Eric and I started seeing each other. How the time has flown! While in Edgeley, I got to see Shawnda and Chad. They are always fun to hang out with.

After Edgeley, I went to Brookings to see my best friend in the whole wide world. Of course, I'm talking about Alethea! I got to see their new house in Aurora. Beautiful! I got to hang out with Leath, Corey, Cody and Brady. Time went by all too fast. We went to hang out at SDSU for a few hours taking in the bookstore and visiting a few old professors. And I can't forget the SDSU Dairy Bar. Homemade SDSU ice cream. Yum! I also went with Brady to his 4 month check-up. He's growing so fast. I checked Leaths blog yesterday and saw that she had a post of Cody's first day of school. I cannot believe that he is that old already! I miss them all so much already.

After Brookings, I went back home for a couple more days, then headed back to Minneapolis for a day and then came back to Bethel. Wow, where did they time go.

Trip to Minnesota

Well, it was a short 3 weeks down in the lower 48 but it was packed full of fun. This is the post on the Minnesota portion of the trip (I'll do a separate post for SD and ND). I spent the first 5 days in MN with my sister and her family. The day after I got there, we went and say my grandma and got to go on a pontoon ride with a few other of the elders. Here's a picture of Raquel, the boys and grandma on the swing down by the lake where grandma lives. We had alot of shopping to do. I needed to make up for a whole years worth of shopping. I had a lot of fun between shopping and playing with my nephews. Caden (who's 5) had a soccer game while I was visiting. He scored 3 goals. He's much more into soccer this year. Last year when I visited, all he wanted to do was to lay on the grass and relax. This year, he's really into it. Here's Caden warming up.

And this is how Colton entertains himself while Caden is playing soccer!Colton also had a joint birthday party with his cousin Gracie (Doug's sisters girl). Raquel and Doug got out the slip and slide and pool for the kids. Caden knows how to do the slip and slide, but Colton would run down the slip and slide and then "plop" down in the pool at the end.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy and girl with their cakes. Gracie couldn't wait to dive into her cake!

I also got my hair cut when I was in Minnesota. I went to my sister's hairstylist. She just happens to be from North Dakota and spent her summers in Edgeley (where Eric is from). Her grandpa was actually in the ambulance when Eric was born! Here's a picture of the new style.

We also had the opportunity to visit with a couple of my aunts and we went to eat at a drive-thru. We had alot of fun and the weather was perfect. Okay, maybe it was a little hot and humid, but we had shade so it wasn't too bad. Here's a few pictures of Caden and Colton.

Before signing off of this post I'll leave with a picture of the afghan that I did for Colton over 2 years ago. I never got a picture of it before I gave it to him and Raquel kept on "forgetting" to take a picture for me.
I'll update soon with a post on the visit to SD and ND!

23 hours and counting

Well, in about 23 hours, I will be on a flight to Anchorage to start my journey home. By 11:30 am my time, I will be on a flight to Minneapolis. I should in Minneapolis at 7:50 pm central time. I will be on the plane for about 5 hours. I'm planning on stopping by the library today to see what kind of books I can find. I'm also looking into a few audiobooks to put on my mp3 player. Since Eric won't part with the laptop, I'm looking into borrowing a portable DVD player from one of the guys Eric works with. I suppose I should probably start packing the suitcase. I have most of my stuff laying out, I just need to put it in the suitcase. I feel like I'm forgetting things, but then I remember that the last time I went home, I had a bunch of wedding stuff I was taking home with me. This time it's just clothes. Also, it's only for 3 weeks and not 2 months!

I'm hoping you have some warm weather down in South Dakota and Minnesota. We are sitting at 48 degrees this morning. I don't think we have gotten above 60 degrees for most of the summer. I'm tired of the cool, dreary weather.

Well, I need to go pack. Talk to you all later!

The countdown begins

Well, the countdown is on. I official was done with work today. I am off contract for the whole month of August. I will be headed home on Tuesday morning, 9:30 am Alaska time, 12:30 Central time. I should be in Minneapolis at 8:00 pm on Tuesday evening. I'm excited to get home to see everyone. I will be spending a few days with Raquel and family and then head home. I'll be home for about a week, then off to Edgeley for a few days to visit Eric's family. After that I will be heading to Brookings to visit Leath and the boys. Then back home for a few more days before heading back to Minneapolis to head back to Alaska.