Let Freedom Ring...

Happy 4th of July! Yesterday we met our good friends, The Exsted's, at the Edina Parade. This is our second year going to the parade and we really hope to make it a tradition. It is such great way to remember what the 4th of July is all about... Although we do love a great BBQ, the parade gives us a great chance to talk with the boys about our amazing country... Here are a few pictures of our little patriots....

Honoring the troops...

Let Freedom Ring...

This was the funniest part of the day.  Sutton HONEST TO GOODNESS said and I quote, "Excuse me Police Guys, can I peeze take your picture?"  As you can see, the officers had no problem posing for our budding photographer.  HILARIOUS...  

One of our BFF's...

Today we went to Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis with our friends Kyle, Jen, Caedon, and baby Norah... We played at the park, tossed rocks into the lake, walked on the bike path, and even rolled down the hill.  The three boys are ALWAYS like three peas in a pod.  They get along so well and really have a blast together.  It is such a treat spending time with them!  Here is a picture to show how much we love our friend Caedon (a.k.a Caedon Caillou, affectionately named that by Sutton since we know another Caedon).  

GOTTA LOVE THE BLONDIES... 

Thank you Mr. Kyle for taking this cute picture of us together!  

Art Class

This summer the boys are taking a couple art classes at a kids studio. It is so stinking cute... These pictures are from our "Father's Day" class. We took this class with our good friend Tucker! Sutton and Shaeffer worked together to make a picture of Daddy and of G. Tomorrow we are taking a "4th of July" class so we'll see what kind of art we get from that...


Here we are just getting started with our portraits...  

First we painted Daddy's skin....

Then we painted his mouth and shirt...

We added the final touches to the tie, which neither G nor Daddy wear, but polka-dots are fun!

Waiting with Tucker to "share" our finished products... They call this "TADA TIME"

TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA...TADA.....

Can you tell which one is G and which one is Daddy?

Upper Room Block Party....

Sunday night our church hosted a neighborhood block party both for those of us who go to the UR,  and for the people who live in the neighborhood where our church is located. I worked the "snow cone" booth and had a fantastic time meeting new people and giving funny names to the unique snow cones people ordered.


Sutton and Shaeffer enjoyed a snow cone...  

They had a wonderful time going through the maze...

And the slide was a big hit, although they were FILTHY when they were finished....  

Here we are waiting to dunk "Miss Betty" in the dunk tank... When we first arrived, Sutton saw his teacher "Miss Betty" up in the tank.  He had never seen anything like this before and was asking all sorts of questions (how did she get in there, can I swim with her, etc..).  He also would NOT leave the dunk tank area AT ALL. We tried to bribe him away with sweets, games, slides, friends, BUT NOTHING worked.  We stood there for about 10 minutes just watching.  

FINALLY we got them to "try" to dunk Miss Betty.  Fortunately for Miss Betty, S & S didn't hit the target this time... She did offer to let them push the button and dunk her, but Sutton did not want to do that...  He gave her a high five and we were finally on our way!  

DZ Reunion Pics....

Hey DZ ladies... This is just a quick note to tell you how to access the photos Ben took at the reunion. 

1. http://www.bendodds.com

2. Once you are in the site, you will need to click "client" at the bottom of the page

3. You will be asked to submit a password... The password is "dzreunion"

4. You can watch the slideshow as many times as you want :)... 

EZ-DZ's...

Well we just returned from our long awaited trip to AMES, IOWA for the ISU-DZ reunion. Ben was the "hired" "Joe Photo" for the weekend and has not downloaded or processed any pics yet, but I did take a few "casual" pics from our time in Ames. The above pic I stole from Ms. Michelle Moseman... It's a pic of our "class"...  The pics below are from Friday and Saturday night after the "formal" portion of the reunion was over and we were feeling more casual!  

Lynn & Kevin... My BFF's!  We met them out on Friday night....  



This is the after party on Saturday... We changed into our comfy clothes (it is AMES!)                                    

Ben had no problem making friends!  

and we know Ben loves to dance!  

Pushed or Not....

That is the mystery surrounding Sutton's fall yesterday.... Did he receive a "love tap" from his little brother or did he just trip over his growing feet????    Either way, Ben was home alone when this happened and he did a great job cleaning and comforting Sutton's wounds....