Family Fun

Last week my parents were in town and this weekend Eric's family is here. My parents took EJ to Rocca Berry Farm to pick strawberries. EJ couldn't pick them fast enough to fill his cheeks! He loved the stramberries and loved the big tractor at the farm.



Here's EJ with Daddy and Grandma, who introduced him to an ice cream cone. He loved it but it will stay an "outside" activity! He was so sweet when he wanted to share his cone with all of us.




EJ loved his time with grandpa and even watched a whole episode of "Go Deigo Go" while sitting on his lap.



Grandma Carol and Uncle Andy came for a long weekend and we had a blast at the pool. There was also a lot of running, tackling, and cuddling!!





On Saturday, we attended Nate and Anna's wedding. They had a lovely ceremony and reception and we hope they are having a very fun honeymoon in Orlando this week! Here's Eric with the groom before the ceremony.


Here are my sweet friends from Nebraska Baseball. We've spent many hours, rain and shine, watching inning after inning of baseball together. It was fun to get dressed up and celebrate together outside the baseball stadium! This was the first of three weddings on the coaching staff this year.



The bride on the dance floor at the reception. She was a beautiful bride and it seemed like she had a fabulous time at her wedding!

Today I got 10 inches cut off my hair to donate to the Beautiful Lengths Program!!! I did this in honor my sweet friends who are battling cancer.


My hair will go towards making a "real" hair wig that the American Cancer Society will distribute to a cancer patient in our country. The ACS teams with Pantene Beautiful Lengths to make the wigs and then they are distributed for free through select American Cancer Society wig banks across the country. It takes six hair donations to make one wig so spread the word about this great program or the Locks of Love program for children's wigs.

http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/index_home.jsp
http://www.locksoflove.org/

EJ didn't seem to mind the change...or maybe he was too busy enjoying his summer watermelon! Here's the new do…

Welcome Baby Katelynn!

My cousin, Chalayne, had her baby girl yesterday. Katelynn was 8.5 lbs and 21 inches and everything went well. Big sister, Ally, did wonderful with her!

A Wedding in the Family

Eric's step-sister, Nicole, got engaged to Brian in Austin last weekend. They met at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where they both graduated from in 2007. They are looking to have a spring wedding in Austin. It will be a great celebration!

Doggie Splash!

We were surprised when Forsberg jumped in the pool with EJ. EJ thought it was awesome and proceeded to splash him. Forsberg played along and even caught his ball mid-air when EJ threw it at him. It didn't matter that the water was freezing...they both had hours of fun!

Precious Babies!

I got an email from Danni today stating that they are all doing much better. Yay!!! She is feeling better and the babies are all thriving as you can see from the photos she sent. No word yet on when the babies will come home or on Tom's treatments other than they are trying to get as much rest as they can. Thank you so much to all of you who are praying and keeping them in your thoughts.

College World Series

EJ made his first trip to the College World Series in Omaha. We went to the elimination game for Virginia and Cal State Fullerton. Here we are in front of the park.





This was the first game that EJ has been at with his Dad instead of being at games to watch his Dad's team. However, he didn't watch much of the game because of the airplane and banner flying over head advertising a restaurant. He was enthralled with the plane and the Dippin Dots he shared with Eric.



We got to see our friend, Kellie, who was out with the Cal State Fullerton team. After the game we all went to the Cheesecake Factory, where EJ had his first slice of cheesecake. Eric, Kellie and I were lucky to get any as EJ wanted it all for himself.

Minnesota Weekend

We just returned from a recruiting trip to Minnesota. Eric worked 14 hour days evaluating players at the Metrodome over the weekend while EJ and I enjoyed sightseeing and visiting with my family.


Here's EJ with his second cousins, Ally, Jonah, Cole, Tara and Leah. They are all kids of my cousins, Barb, Chantel and Chalayne, whose mom's are my mom's sisters.

Tractors, Boats and Trains, oh my!





On Friday, EJ and I made our way to the St. Croix river to a cute little town called Stillwater. The main street had neat antique shops and restaurants but we skipped the shopping to watch the ferry boats, visit the Minnesota Zephyr train, and John Deere Tractor we found. EJ loved every minute.


Each morning EJ and I would drive Eric to the Metrodome and the first morning the hotel breakfast included doughnuts. I gave EJ one with sprinkles in the car and he was in doughnut heaven. He licked every sprinkle off and then handed me the soggy doughnut. It was too cute.




EJ loves trains. He talks about "Choo-choos" all the time and we are in the process of building his train table. Even with all that, he didn't like his first train ride on the toddler train at the Mall of America. He was pretty freaked out and wanted to sit on my lap, which was against the rules. On the other hand, the fake "Batmobile" was a big hit!



My cousin Jen met up with us on a really neat street in St. Paul with great restaurants and shops. We had fun catching up and she gave him the coolest light wand that he hasn't stopped playing with.


When Eric's recruiting was done we met up with my cousin, Chalayne and her family (Dirk and Ally) for dinner. Ally is a few months older than EJ and they get along great. We were hoping Ally's little sister would be born this weekend but she wasn't quite ready yet.






Ally is really good at sharing! EJ still needs to learn how to share without crying about it!

It was a fun weekend and thanks to all my family who went out of their way to see us!

While we were in Minnesota we heard that Eric's stepsister, Nicole, got engaged over the weekend! Congrats to Nicole and Brian! We look forward to celebrating with you!

Some good news on Danni. She is home from the hospital now. My mom ran into her mom (they live next door to each other) and she said Danni is home from the hospital but has to take it easy as she is still experiencing swelling. She gets to see the babies every day and depending on the nurse at the time, even gets to hold them. They have a few more weeks in the hospital. Her husband started his second round of chemo this week so please keep praying for them. Thanks for all your prayers!

Summer Fun

EJ and I have been enjoying summer so far. After nap today we went to the park where EJ climbed the stairs and went down the "big boy" slide all by himself. I didn't have my camera (shocking, I know) but maybe next time I'll capture it. When we got home it was still really warm so off came clothes and into his kiddie pool he went. I was lucky to get this smiling shot as he was very intent on throwing rocks into the pool so he could retrieve them. After all that fun he had a quick dinner and then looked at me and said, "nigh, nigh?" I finally found a way to wear the kid out!


Yesterday, we checked out the pool at our health club and it has a graduated entry which is awesome for little ones. There is also a basketball hoop in a foot of water so that was a big hit. Even with all that, he found adventure in shuffling around in my flip flops.



This shot was in Old Navy in Omaha. When EJ saw it his eyes grew as big as saucers. Thankfully, it was only a quarter and he had the best time bouncing the ball. When we got in the car for our 45 minute trip home he "bounced" the ball. I pulled over and got it for him with a warning that I wasn't going to do that once we were on the highway. As you can guess, he "bounced" the ball again and it stayed under the seat until we got home. That didn't go over well but that's life!




I hope you are enjoying your summer and if your travels bring you through Lincoln, look us up!