There was a birthday party at the mansion...

Jett turned one this summer while we all lived together! What a fun time to celebrate this little man!

Fresh wild flowers picked by Ava.
The party guests, aka Jett's brothers and sister, Cameron, Beck, Makai and Ava.
Singing and taking pictures. This is Mark and his wife Leatha. God knew what he was doing by having us all live together this summer. I adore their whole family, and consider Leatha a friend.
Eat your gluten free chocolate cake! Yummy!
This is proof, birthday boy ate dinner before his cake. :)
Enough said.

A summer at the Mansion.

Welcome to Lisbon Iowa. This was our view every night for 2 months. I probably took 150 pictures throughout those 2 months, trying to capture the beauty of it, so here's 1 of 150.
Daytime shot. What a vast difference from the desert we came from! They are both beautiful in their own ways. :) Oh---and Ashley Ahrens, here's the shout out I said I'd give you while showing all the green. ;)
This was our house for a summer. Wow. What an experience it was! The one and only time we'll ever live in a place that the master suite was 2500 sq. feet.

More ND Pictures!

This is my best friend from high school Stephanie (Leier) Coombs. She stopped with her ADORABLE little family, Jason, Elise and Anna, in Hurdsfield for a quick visit. It meant so much to me that they did that! I'm so thankful for Stephanie's friendship over the past... 14 years! (wow, that is weird to write that)
I was able to see both of my Grandma's while back! This is Grandma Waldoch, we spent ALOT of time together while I was in High School. I loved every second of it, she's hilarious! And if you ever need a dance partner, Orine is your lady.
Here's Gma Weckerly, yeah her teeth aren't in, but she was actually in the hospital here. So then it's ok to not have your teeth in. :)

Over the summer, we visited MN and I visited ND! Yey Family Time!

This is my youngest brother Landon (20) and his girlfriend, Kelli whom I got to meet (finally)! She SO sweet and poses like my mom! :)
This is random I know, but FRESH green beans from my Mom's garden! It was fun to pick them and see the AMAZING foods she's grown. They were delish! Who needs a farmers market?! (just kidding! I do!)
A lovely day in Maple Grove MN, visiting my brother Jordan (24-ladies, he's single!). We played bocce (see next photos, and yes, Jordan rarely wears a shirt) and relaxed in his apartment. Jeff took me on a Northewestern College Tour that weekend, Yes people, the Jeff Thune Legend returned! Ha! It was so fun to see the grounds of all those college stories and most importantly the football field. Ah...glory days. (Don't have photos of the field, don't be confused.)

Photo updates, finally!

Let the photos begin....

On our drive to Iowa...we stopped in Colorado!

Here's me with Jeana Cost, one of my best friends. We were roommates in college in Fargo. We met at a country club pool that we both worked at, the summer after our freshman year. She's such an amazing friend, mom, employee, and wife! She's balanced school and Mommyhood for MANY years, and I've been completely blown away by her and her stamina! It was SO nice to be able to stay over night with her and her family in Denver CO, they've just moved there within the year and I'm so excited for them and their new adventure! Only problem her and Jeremy have...they are snowboarders, and not skiers. :)

Jeana's precious family! Jeremy, Elsie and Owen.
Every time that I've ever stayed with the Cost's (in Fargo) Elsie crawls into bed with me halfway through the night. This time, since Jeff was in bed with me, she brought Jeff some 'friends' while I was in the shower.
Ah, memories! Here's Jeff on his old stomping grounds in Vail Colorado. In his pre-me days, he was a ski instructor for a few winters. What a stud. :)

Iowa City Iowa...we've arrived (and so have 4,500 Freshman students (plus upper classmen) to U of I.)

We are moved into our rented place (hello 'stuff', hello bed...we've missed you these past 3 months, hello just the two of us), the students have arrived (wow...they are everywhere!), I got a job (a barista at a coffee shop called Bread Garden & Market, so very thankful for it!!), our car got towed today while I was at work (so fun to walk up to the parking lot and your car is gone after a 6am to 2pm shift), SALT (the college ministry) starts THIS wednesday, Veritas meetings on Sunday nights have grown so much(!), the students are back ("like, oh my gosh" said in a valley girl voice), my Mom came to visit for a week last week (and clean things that I didn't even know existed in our place...thanks mom!), the Ruckus we bought (used, cheap, our 2nd 'vehicle') in mid June has only had to be filled with gas twice (Yey!) and have I mentioned the students are back?

That was a recap in a sentence of our past 23 days...I will upload pictures from the summer etc sometime this week :)

Miss you all!

PS-Our house still hasn't sold, please continue to pray for that...thank you thank you thank you.