Sisters Baby Shower

Last Saturday we finally celebrated my sisters baby shower!  I have been looking forward to it since my sister first told us she was pregnant!  My mom and I had a so much fun planning it!  We had lots of help getting it together and making the final day so beautiful!  Thank you to everyone who helped set up, clean up, and take home!  It was so much fun and SO HOT!  We had turned on the swamp cooler to the clubhouse but "someone"(my mom) forgot to turn on the air conditioner too!  We were all melting, but still had a great time!  I am so so excited for my sister and Rick.  This is something my sister has wanted since before I can even remember.  This is a dream come true for her.  I'm just so happy for her and for our family too!  We get to have another baby in our fam!  Yay!!  She has picked out a beautiful name, Madalynn Nicole Mott.  And I just love her so much already!

Here are the pics from the shower and some maternity pics I took of her also!

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Our trip back "home"

A few weeks before South Dakota we got to go visit my dad and Lynn.  We always enjoy it there and truly is just our "other home".  We wish we could be with them more often!  We had a wonderful trip out there!  We went to Brookfield Zoo and they were having a Dino exhibit.  We also went to our usuals, Portillos and Salernos.  We took a drive up to Lake Geneva.  It was so beautiful.  My dad wanted to take us to this chicken place for dinner. They are known for the broasted chicken.  He was right, it was delish!  We had a great time and did some relaxing too!  We can't wait to see them again in July when they come out for my sisters baby shower!

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South Dakota

We had such a great time on our vacation this summer!  My mom and Jerry joined us and we rented a mini van and took off for Mount Rushmore!  Absolutely one of the coolest things I have ever seen!  And it's just beautiful country up there anyway!

We drove through Custer State Park, which had lots of beautiful scenery and some tight squeezin tunnels!  Our first night in town we went to the sunset memorial at Mt. Rushmore.  They did a little tribute, played a film and then as they sang the song America the Beautiful you slowly saw the Memorial being lit up!  It was very beautiful and of course I cried.  Like I always do!

We had a lot on our schedule the next day!  We went back up to Mount Rushmore for more pictures during the day.  We then stopped at Bear Country USA.  It is very cool.  You stay in your car as all the animals are out in the open and you drive through the park.  They have Elk, Reindeer, Mountain goats, Longhorn sheep, BEARS, Wolves, Mountain lions, and some buffalo.  It was very cool to just be driving along and bears walk right past your car and wolves are sniffing bumpers.  Brayden was loving every minute.  My mom made fun of me because I would only roll down the window an inch at a time to try and get pictures.  I was so afraid one would pop right up in my face as I was taking a picture. LOL  At the end they had a few animals and baby bears you could get out and look at.  The babies were adorable!

After Bear country we headed over to Reptile Gardens.  This of course was lots and lots of snakes, crocodiles, alligators, birds, and turtles.  It was fun to see how freaked out my mom and husband were.  We got to pet snakes and a baby croc!

That night we had dinner and headed back to the hotel for a relaxing night of swimming!

The next day we headed out to see the Badlands.  It was an area known for fossils and crazy rock formations coming up out of the land.  It was pretty cool.  We also stopped at this place called Wall drug.  It is this little tourist "trap".  It was a cute little stop.  They had lots of little shops and some random things for the kids to see.  Like a huge Jackelope and TRex.

After we got back to Rapid we stopped at a cute little park called Storybook Island.  It was this huge FREE fantasy theme park for kids.  Lots of things to climb on, run thru, and play on.  All having to due with nursery rhythms or disney characters.   Great place for kids to run off some steam!  I actually wish we had more time here!

We then headed over to Old MacDonalds Petting Farm.  They had a pig races, Pony rides, and a train.  You could pet every animal and feed some too!  It was great and perfect to enjoy for a couple of hours.

We were wiped out that night and just got dinner and headed back to hotel.

Monday we stopped at Dinosaur Park on our way out of Rapid.  Totally random place but Brayden loves his dinosaurs and loved this.  They were life size and OLD.  Could use a little upkeep but hey it was free!  W

We then began our drive home.  Back through Custer but a little different route.  We took the wildlife highway this time and got to see quite a bit of deer, buffalo, and antelope.  We stopped in Custer at the Flintstones Bedrock City.  Again, totally random, but totally cute.  And it got Brayden out of the car for our long ride home.  He had lots of fun even though he has never seen the cartoon.  It brought back lots of memories for me though!

We made it home by about 10:30 that night.  It was a fun trip and I never knew there was so much to do in South Dakota.  Definitely a kid friendly vacation and a place we will totally visit again!  Cheap and close to home!  Totally doable!

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Winter fun!

We have been pretty busy doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that this winter!  Brayden has tried some new things and is a pretty adventurous little boy!  Love it!  I think the only thing he won't venture out in is Potty Training!  Not only is he adventurous but he is very stubborn also!

We have done a lot this winter and kept ourselves pretty busy!  Brayden has been enjoying his sport class at the rec center!  I think he knows how do soccer easily but would rather play basketball because he wants to use his hands!  He is doing well at both!  They just had their last day and did a field day of relay racing and tug-o-war.  The kids had lots of fun!  I just actually signed him back up for the next session since he enjoyed it so much!

We also have been finally having some snow.  Not that it sticks around long but long enough that Brayden and I were able to meet up with my sister-n-law and niece to go sledding.  Last year Brayden was a little freaked out and wouldn't go down by himself. This year he was all in!  I had to fight him to let Ravyn go with him or me!  He wanted to do it all by himself.  And he thought it was so cool to lay head first on his stomach and go down!  He liked to hit the little snow ramps too.  Love my brave kiddo!

Roller skating... well maybe the 5th time trying is a charm.  We have gone to the pixie class a few times and he just can't get the coordination down for this.  He never wants to go out into the rink.  He would rather play skee ball!  So we had Gary's uncles Birthday party there last weekend and he actually gave it a go again.  Tho he didn't last long he still tried it and went around a few times.  He used the plastic skates this time that go over your shoes and the handle bar on wheels to hold in front of you.  That all totally helped.  But still not his favorite thing to do. He did win at Limbo tho!  Probably because he was one of the shortest and smallest kids out there!

For one of our family nights we went bowling! After a few times of daddy and I  showing him what to do, Brayden didn't want any help doing this either.  He carried his own ball and would shove it down the alley.  It was so fun!  He got to use the bumpers and therefore got a much better score than me!

We are definitely ready for spring!  Yesterday was so nice out that we played outside for awhile in the afternoon.  I am looking forward to swimming and playing at the park as I'm sure Brayden is too!

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Weight Loss Journey

If you would like to follow me on my journey of becoming healthy!  Here's my other blog!

http://www.shandrasdoordiejourney.blogspot.com/