Minnesota Vacation

We recently took a trip to Minnesota. We were able to squeeze in visiting with a lot of friends and family along with a business trip. Every June there is a convention for our Church Synod in Mankato, MN. So, we have an excuse to go to MN every year!

We drove out there again this year (4,205 miles round trip!!). It seemed like it was going to be a VERY long trip when 20 minutes into our drive Abel announced he had to go potty....and here I was concerned about how Elisha would do on the trip! I shouldn't have spent so much time worrying though. Both of the boys were fantastic! We basically stopped to eat and use the bathroom and then it was right back in the car. Elisha slept almost the whole time and Abel had a DVD player, books, and a couple toys to occupy himself with. We read a whole chapter book on the way out to MN and he loved it!
 
Our first stop in our trip was Salt Lake City, UT. We stayed with Pastor Aaron Hamilton, his wife Heather, and their lovely family (thanks again!!). They have 2 boys that were just the right age to play with Abel. He loved it. They like to dress up as super hero's and Abel really likes Spiderman right now. It was a match made in...well I won't say Heaven because they had their moments, but it was quite a match.:)

We left the Hamilton's on Monday morning and made our way to Missouri. Samuel has a classmate that is now Pastor in Jefferson City. There oldest son, Judah, is our godchild, so we took the opportunity to go stay with them for a couple days. We (meaning Samuel) drove through the night and made it to their house by 10:00 am on Tuesday. If you give Samuel a Mt. Dew he can drive for hours!

Picnic at the nature center

At the Merseth house we were given the tour of their farm and promptly took naps. :) After we were rested up a bit though we had fun. The boys played together quite a bit. Jeff took them all on a 6 wheeler ride and then they went swimming in a pond. We had some great cooking (thanks Megan!) and enjoyed being able to get to know Judah a bit more. We also went on a tour of a nature center and had a fun hike and picnic.

6 wheeler ride!

Enoch and Elisha

Judah, Andrew, and Abel

Abel took this picture:)

With our Godson Judah (and everyone else:)

Nick and Kelly with the boys

 After the Merseth's we drove up to MN to see the Bloedel's. Nick and Kelly Jo are Abel, Simeon, and Elisha's godparents. We are also their son, Charlie's, godparents. We had two fun days with them as well. There was a wonderful thunderstorm on the first day we were there. It made us feel like we were certainly back in MN!

Abel, Elisha, Annie and Charlie

At the Bloedel's house there was a mini basketball tournament, boccie ball, and fun on a slip n' slide. The kids didn't really get how to run and slide so they laid on it and Uncle Nick pushed them down it (they got some good speed!).

A little cold from playing in the slip n'slide

Isn't he cute?? :)

Great action shot of the slip n' slide!

We roasted marsh mellows on our last night

After the Bloedel's we went to Mankato for the Synod Convention. On Sunday we were blessed to witness the affirmation of Baptism for our good friends newest son. We then went to 3 picnics! A brunch after church, a Gullixson family picnic, and then the Synod Sunday picnic. What a day!

I would like to think he just doesn't want us to leave, but....

During the Convention we stayed with the MacPherson family. Marie is a classmate of mine from college and they have graciously hosted us for the past 3 years. It is a fun place to be because I get to hang out with Marie all day, Abel has friends to play with all day, and when Samuel gets back he gets to talk with Ryan....it couldn't work out nicer for us (and I think they enjoy it too, we already have "reserved" our space for next year:).

The kids playing with playdough!

At the end of the week we also got to see another classmate Jessica and her family. She just had a baby as well. We got a picture with all the kids present. It seems to grow every year (thanks be to God!).






During this week we also got to spend some time with Samuel's Grandma. She had us over for dinner on Monday and then we were able to see her 2 more times before we left for home. It is always fun to see Grandma. She told us some fun stories from when her family went to convention.

We then went to Samuel's parents house for the remainder of our vacation time. Samuel's sister Beth was able to come from Michigan with her little girl, so we were able to see all of Samuel's siblings.
We spent one day at the Como Zoo in Minneapolis. Abel had a good time and so did his cousins.

Happy Boy!

On Saturday Samuel's brother Andrew and family came to visit again. The kids played really well together and Grandma was kept pretty busy running after them! We had a traditional Gullixson biscuits and gravy and even made homemade ice cream (well, Samuel made it and we all enjoyed it:). We did some raspberry picking and Samuel made a horse for the kids to ride on. It was a fun day. Grandma had a friend come over to take some family pictures of us all. They turned out really well. (I will put those up at a later date)

The next day Samuel's godparents came to visit for a little while. It was fun to see them again (and they brought wonderful desserts!). After their visit Abel and Lillian played in the pool together.

We had a fire and made smores with Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandpa took the kids out to play on the tractor

I love how Elisha's shirt says BIG :)

We left on Monday afternoon. We took a brief detour to Mankato to see Grandma again and we also got to see Ruth, Paul, and John. It was fun to visit with them even though it was brief. Elisha and John were due a week apart. However, John is now 4 months and Elisha is 2! They are however roughly the same size (although Elisha seems to have a couple more rolls on him...). It was fun to see them together!

Ruth with Elisha and Abel

Great Grandma with her two newest great-grandsons!

We then took off and drove through the night to Salt Lake City again. We got there in the afternoon and relaxed. The Hamiltons graciously hosted us again and said we can now consider them friends:) (which we do!!).


And to top off our vacation, 20 minutes from town Abel again announced he had to go potty....:)

We made it home on Wed. at 5:00. It was a long trip, we had fun, but we are thankful to be home again. Thank you to everyone who hosted us! And thanks be to God that He kept us safe throughout our trip!

I have to say, this is the best picture of the whole trip. Two quite, sleeping boys! :)

One Month!

Our dear Elisha is one month old already! Isn't he so cute and chubby? :)

There are more pictures of him that I want to put up, but the computer is going slow, so this will have to do for now!

Elisha is a very content baby. Thankfully if he cries it is something that is able to be taken care of. He also is a great sleeper. This last week I had about 3 nights in a row where he slept about 4 hours in a row! It makes a world of difference in how I feel to get that much sleep! Hopefully when we return from our trip we will be able to work on more of a schedule for him (and me) so that our days go a little smoother. There have been a few smiles, but nothing consistent. We are all looking forward to him being a little more social (we may regret that later though!!).

And here is the proud big brother. Isn't he cute? :) He wanted his picture taken too. Abel is doing great with Elisha. Just today I asked him to go to my bedroom to listen if Elisha was awake yet (I was busy in the kitchen). Well, it was taking him a long time to come back so I went to see what he was doing. He was sitting on my bed next to Elisha's and singing to him. He told me he was trying to get him to go back to sleep by singing to him. Such a good big brother! 

Mule Day's

This past week was a big week in Bishop. It was the annual Mule Day's. It is a rodeo of sorts celebrating mules (they used to be a big part of the economy around here). We went to the festivities last year as well. This year Samuel volunteered to help. One of our members helps out each year and thought Samuel might enjoy it. Before the Mule Day's actually started though we went up to the Gilliland's house so Samuel could learn how to harness the mule's.

 

First, Samuel and Doctor (that's what we call him, he used to be a family practice dr. in town) went out for a ride with Elsie and Emma. Then once the mules were tired out he took Abel for a ride and then they even let me hop on board. :) It was a fun day (and check out the beautiful scenery!!).

This is what Elisha did while all the excitement was happening.

 
So, this is basically what Samuel did a lot of while volunteering. He is in the blue shirt sitting on the rail. His job was to help set up the obstacle courses in the arena and take them down. I think he did a lot of gate opening too...Abel and I went one morning early in the week so we could see Dad being a cowboy.

We went to the parade on Saturday. Abel got all dressed up as a cowboy and had a fun time. The highlights of the parade are the horse drawn fire truck (with a real dalmation dog on board too!) and the Borax 20 mule team. They used teams like this to haul borax out of Death Valley.

We just happened to sit next to some of our neighbors at the parade.

The 20 mule team....

 

...and this is what they hauled...if I remember correctly this wagon is a couple tons (when it is empty!). 

Dad the Cowboy with Abel at the fairgrounds

Mule Day's may sound funny, but it is actually a pretty cool thing around here...it is what puts Bishop on the map (actually I'm pretty sure Bishop is on many maps and none of them have to do with mules...). Anyway, if anyone wants to experience mule day's we would love to have you!! :)