The Journey of a Lifetime

Ryan and I have decided to pursue our forth adoption and add another beautiful baby to our family. We couldn't be happier and are thrilled! Join us in our journey in adopting baby Schlenner!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Amaze'n Farmyard Trip




We took another road trip this weekend and went to the Amaze'n Farmyard outside of Paynesville, MN. We had a blast petting and going into the pens of all the barn animals!!!!!!!!! Miniature ponies, goats, sheeps, puppies (no we didn't buy a puppy...but thought about it!) chickens, turtles, etc. It was a fun "hands on" experience!!!!!


The girls played with the animals, played in the corn, went on pony rides, train rides and MORE!!!!


Definately worth the trip!!!!!!!!!!! It was a super fun time

Friday, July 22, 2011

Road Trip to Butterfly House

After the zoo trip we took a detour to the Seratoma Butterfly House! Another amazing experience for my babes! We do this every year-but we love it all the same every year!

You'll have to ask professor Jocelyn what kind of butterfly this is....she knew most of them!

Ahnya liked this experience. She said the butterflys were "very very nice." She had a duck and a goat bit her fingers at the zoo! She screamed so loud I thought we were going to get kicked out! Seriously! The child has zero pain tolerance!

Gabriella was lucky enough to have a butterfly land on her hand! Jocelyn was very proud of her big sis!

Here's my girls and sweetie, cousin Deacon. Anyone notice Ahnya's smile is getting WORSE! She doesn't even smile...now she wrinkles up her nose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now when I tell her "ok, let's SMILE pretty Ahnya," she now says back to me, "Oh (sigh) stop it momma!" Again, I'm not exaggerating!

Trip to the Zoo!!!!

I took the girls to the Zoo this week! And of course I brough Nana, too! And, my nephew Deacon! She's a super great help too! It was unbearably HOT! Like 98 degrees HOT...and I'm not exaggerating that at all! We were tired of going to the pool, staying inside (because it was so hot 3 days in a row), and I was tired of pushing "refresh" on my laptop waiting for news from our adoption agency...so we packed and went on a road trip to the zoo!


We have a family friend named Allison who works at the Zoo. Every year we are lucky enough to schedule time with her to meet us and bring us in the pens with the animals and feed them!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the most wonderful expereince EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's Allison with the girls and Deacon in the giraffe pen.
Gabriella and Jocelyn are feeding and giraffe's! They loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahnya was terrified!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And we wrapped up the zoo experience by riding the carosel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a fun trip to the zoo!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

3rd Annual Lance Weekend

Last weekend we had a fabulous weekend with our besties at the lake. Angie and Carl hosted us, Meyers and the Bourne families!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was crazytime fun! The kids and babies had a blast, too! There's nothing better than relaxing and catching up with friends and family.

Nate and Carl definately had some deserving rest and relaxation!

The kids get along together perfectly and love each other dearly!

Thanks for a great weekend Lance's! We love you to pieces and look forward to the next year celebration!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Thunderstorms at Lake Reno

Alexandria area had a destructive thunderstorm that rolled through last night. The girls are I were at the lake and luckily hung out downstairs for a couple hours. The storm uprooted trees and left us without electicity until late into the night. Thankfully my laptop battery was charged and we watched a movie and had snacks by candle light.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

More Summer Time Fun



Here's a picture of the house on Lake Reno!!!

The girls love going for jet ski rides!!!!!!!!!!! Ryan loves pulling them in the tube!!!!!!!

Gabriella and Jocelyn are old pros on the jet ski!

Gabbi and Jocelyn with some friends at the lake on the tube. There's never a dull moment!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Summer Time Fun

We are loving spending time at Lake Reno this summer. It was a very good move from Minnewaska to Reno. We have oodles of room in the house, more space outside, the beach is great, and the girls have wonderful friends to play with there. Gabriella is enjoying getting up and putting her swim suit on and going right outside!!

Jocelyn is also loving summer time and she's very active. Her favorite thing to do is whatever Gabbi wants to do!!!


I basically run my buns off all day (and night) long with the girls. We do sleep in until 8:30 a.m. but we start running the minute we wake up. It's go-go-go!!!! Playing in the lake, swimming, looking for shells, countless snacks and meals, bike riding, games, etc. We are loving the summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok...Ahnya is completly nuts. I know I've posted before and stated that Ahnya's behavior is goofy...but honestly, it's gone from crazy to beyond crazy!!! She will not let me take a "normal" picture of her. She has no idea how to smile! Her sisters are excellent with the camera-but Ahnya....Oh my!!!!! I have given up for the time being on trying to make her take a picture. She just performs and does her whackiest pose for the camera. So here's Ahnya...just being herself!

Here's Ahnya at the beach in the sand! She could sit all day in the sand and play!!!!

Hugs to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Happy 4th of July!!!!

We celebrated the 4th of July at the Johnson farm! It was hot and beautiful out! Perfect day for spending time with family!Ahnya, Jocelyn and Gabriella pose for their 4th of July picture!!!

Our cousins from Chicago came for their annual visit to spend time together. The Sumoski's have 3 beautiful girls. And our girls adore them to pieces!!!!

The kids had a blast swimming in Nana's pool she set up for the occasion.
Here's a fun picture of the ladies on the back patio. (Left to right) Nana, Shelly, Lois, Sharon, Benay & Ahnya.
We ended the day with fireworks over Hawk Creek. It was a very fun and memorable day!!! Can't wait to do it again next year with you all!!!!!!!!!!!!