June & July Review

June: We went to a lot of parks, went to the splash park a couple times, went to four birthday parties. I don't have many pictures from June so I honestly don't remember much more than that! :)

July: Jared's sister Lydia and her two kids, Micah and Bea came to visit. They stayed at Jared's parents the majority of the time, but one of the nights they stayed at our house. We had a great time with them. They were here during the fourth too, so we all went up to Jared's grandparents cabin in Spirit Lake. It was super windy up there, so we weren't able to get in the water, but we had a great time visiting with family and the kids were able to have fun in their make-shift pools. :) We love when Lydia comes to visit and had so much fun with them!

Lauren and her great grandma Muriel (Jared's grandma).

Lydia, Bea & Lauren.

Brenna & her two boy cousins, Micah & Easton.

Brenna stayed a long weekend with my parents in Burlington. They did A LOT together...went to the Farmers Market, took the dogs on several walks, went to a couple parks, went to the pool, etc. She loved her time there and didn't get home sick one bit....she didn't even want to talk to me when I called. She was too busy playing :)

Burlington has a farmers market along the Mississippi River on Thursday nights. They went to get some sweet corn.

This is a bike my parents found Brenna on a garage sale for $1!!! My dad is teaching her how to ride.

We went to visit my brother in Minniapolis in July too, but we forgot our camera. It was really hot that weekend, so we couldn't do much outside, but we still had a great time....grilled out, went to the Mall of America, watched a movie, went to our favorite ice cream shop, etc. On our way out of town my friend Nealy took family pictures of us. I will post some pics later this week. She did an awesome job!

At the end of July the girls and I took a road trip to Madison, WI. All my girl cousins on the Bohlen side got together with all our kids (which are all girls) for the weekend. We had a great time together. It was so fun to catch up and to watch all our kids interact.

I'm Back! :)

I know, I know...it's been a while since we've posted anything. Ok....a LONG while! I thought I'd get everyone up to speed on what we've been up to the past few months, so I'm going to do four or five different posts in the next week (or two...or three) highlighting the last several months of our lives. Then hopefully after that I will be better at posting more consistently.

I will start with May & June.

We went to a couple of weddings in May. One of those was our college babysitter, Ashley. She's watched Brenna during our weekly connection group (couples Bible study) for two and half years....basically since Brenna was a newborn. She is an awesome babysitter and has become a great friend to Brenna and the rest of our family. Brenna was so excited to go to her wedding and she even got to dance with her!

Lauren was dedicated at our church in May. As Lauren's parents we dedicated her to the Lord and promised to teach her the truths of Scripture and raise her in godly home. Below is a picture of the group of parents and their kids....if you look close you can see Lauren's picture on the screen.

The girls and I took a road trip to Burlington to visit my parents

and also attend a bachelorette party for my friend Mindy...we've been friends ever since we met in kindergarten! It was fun to see some friends from high school and to catch up with Mindy. I am so happy for her and her new husband Matt!

While we were gone, Jared had spent a lot of time doing landscaping in our yard and also building a trellis. Didn't he do an awesome job? He is so handy!

At the end of May we went to Bree's birthday party. This is Brenna's best friend. They are only four months a part and love to spend time together. It will be fun to watch them grow up together.

Below are a couple of random pics.

Happy Birthday, Lydia!

We love you and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!!!

Sweet Lauren is Six Months

Our sweet Lauren turned six months today! I can't believe it. She has been such a good baby and we love her to pieces!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mommy, you are awesome. Thanks so much for all you do for me and our family. Thanks for playing with me, reading books to me, taking me to the park, taking me to mommy and me music, making me meals every day, washing my clothes, changing my diapers, teaching me God's truths and being my best friend. You are the best mom I could ever have!

I love you this much....BrennaMommy, I think you are the best too! Thank you so much for the last 5 months of meeting my every need. Thank you for all the time you've spent nursing me, even when I am difficult. You are so good to me and I appreciate all your hard work. Thank you for changing my diapers, for feeding me, for clipping my toe nails and finger nails, thanks for washing my clothes and my burp cloths :), thanks for being willing to get up in the wee hours of the night to care for me. You are an awesome mom and I am so grateful for you.

I love you....LaurenSteph, thanks for being an outstanding mom to our daugthers. You are so good at your job and I appreciate you every day. Thanks for the love and support you give our daughters and for all the patience and kindness you show them. You are a Proverbs 31 wife and mom and I thank God for your gifts and abilities to raise our family to know, love, and obey God. Keep up the great work and thank you again for all you do.

I love you....Jared

Bohlen Family Weekend

My parents, brother, and sister-in-law came to visit us last weekend. We had a great time together as usual. Our weekend included garage sales, taking walks, celebrating my mom's birthday, church, DQ (a family tradition), and jumping on our neighbors trampoline.

I LOVE this picture of Brenna that Dana took.



Our neighbors are building a deck and Brenna is pretending that the pile of wood is a stage. She was showing off her moves and her pipes...and practicing her D6 songs. She had a pretty captive audience too.

Trampoline fun!

Fun is always had when Uncle Ryan is around!

Dana cuddling with sweet Lauren.

Lauren is getting so big! She's already 4 1/2 months old.

Can you say static!?!

Brenna helping Aunt Dana make cupcakes for Grandma Bohlen's birthday. They were delicious!

Brenna had a lot of good quality time with her grandma. They took my mom's dogs on a lot of walks. During one of their walks, my mom taught her what a fire hydrant was and how to say it. So now she looks for them whenever we are on a walk or driving around town. It's so cute to hear a 2 year old say "fire hydrant". :)

Thanks for coming to visit Bohlen's! Come back soon!

Easter Dinner at Van Cleave's

We had dinner and an egg hunt at Jared's parents on Easter day. We had a lot of fun together.

Brenna & Easton having fun playing outside together.
Marlee looking cute in her blue and green dress!

The egg hunt begins....Brenna loved looking for all the eggs.

Is this a pose or what! :) Showing off her treasures.

Checking out all of their finds.

Family picture...not that great of Lauren, but it's HARD to get all four of us smiling without blinking at the same time.

Happy Lauren

I can't believe our baby Lauren is already 3 1/2 months old. She is such a great baby and brings so much joy to our family. The last few weeks have been full of smiles from her. You barely have to look at her and she will smile at you. It is so cute. She usually only gets fussy if she's hungry or tired. Lately, she's been enjoying the bumbo seat and her play mat and loves when her big sister comes and chats with her. If I had to guess, I'm assuming Lauren will be an extrovert.

The picture below was taken a few months ago, but thought I'd still post it!