Camping At Yellow River

My family and I went on a camping trip to Yellow River, it's in Harpers Ferry, IA. We only camped for the weekend and we had a BLAST!!!

My parents brought the horses for us to ride and their dog Dandy. Dandy is Dagen and Rylie's puppy. They take him riding with him...so he is MASSIVE compared to Dagen. Here is a picture of Dad and Rett beating up Dandy.

Retters swore this was a sand pile, I'm going to pretend I don't know how much horse urine is in that gravel :)

Making the fire. We all ate lunch at different times as sometimes we were in different places. But we all ate together at night :)


Dad, Everett, and Emma scoping out the campground.


Everett riding Rex all by himself :)

Yellow River has a couple COLD streams that run threw it. these are pictures of us in the water.

Retters showing off his swimming skills
Emma loved it where it was shallow, not so much in the deep water!



There was this pretty rock in the deep area that my dad wanted us all to take a picture on. The only down side was it was in 5ft of freezing cold water. (I don't think I am fully explain how COLD it was. Our skin was RED when we got out from being so cold. But the plus to a cold spring is, its clear/clean water.
Isn't this a great picture of all of us :)

While we were there Ashley, Chris, Cody, the kiddos, and I went into Prairie Du Chein for a little while. I couldn't be that close to Wisc. and not get some cheese :) Ashley, the kids and I also went to a swimming pool (the water was up to high the first day we were there to swim) while the boys went fishing. We all had a great time and I can't wait for the 2nd annual Meyer Camping Trip!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMA

Since I know you don't like cheesy things I will just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY and we all love you very very much!

The Kiddos Party

Since I'm very far behind on blogging I guess I will start with the kiddos birthday party. We had the party in the back yard again, it seams to work out pretty well that way. It was so hot that we asked all the kids friends to bring swimsuits so they could swim. It was a blast, thank you to everyone that came, it really means a lot to Cody, the kids and I.

Their Cakes, Emma had Little Mermaid & Rett had Toy Story

Make A Wish

Yummy

Everett's gift from Chris and Ashley

Kevin's gift to the kiddos

Rett, Camden, and Emma in the pool

Our Guests


Emma & Auntie

5 Years and Counting

Five years ago today Cody and I were wed :) Here is a quick overview of our wedding. We picked the 14Th of May because it was the first 14Th that landed on a Saturday. We started dating on the 14Th of February so I just liked 14's. Coincidentally Rett was also born on the 14Th (July).


We kept our wedding party small, I'm kind of sad I didn't have a couple other people in it. But I'm sure those people understand :)

I had the CUTEST flower girl EVER! Jenna Knecht

Since that date we have had a couple milestones:
We Bought a House

We got a dog

We Had a Baby

We Got Another Dog

And they had puppies

We Got A Brother In Law

And We Had a Baby Girl

Kind of a busy 5 years if you ask me. :) This weekend Cody and I are going to house on the rock, just for a little get away. We got an awesome deal on tickets, our room, and massages so it should be fun:)

Mothers Day and Mothers Days Gifts

For Mothers Day I thought it would be fun to make garden stone with the kids hand prints in them as gifts. I went to K-mart (I hate Kmart but that would be a totally different post) and got two kits, the kits said it made four each... that was a lie! So to make the most out of it I convinced Cj to at least help me attempt to make them. The plaster dried before one kid, let alone the second could put their hand in it. Cody decided it would be much easier to buy Quick-Crete and I suggested buying "flower pot water catchers" as the molds. This worked SO MUCH BETTER! And was cheaper than what we spend on the plaster ones. (I was able to take one of them back.)
Cody mixing the concrete (told you he's good to have around)


It decided to rain right before we started "our project" so we had to resort to the garage. I know it's a mess I'm sorry.

The kids didn't seam to mind the mess

This is after they put there little hands in them. It was a two person job so I'm sorry there is no action shots of that :)


All done, aren't they pretty? Rett helped me paint the hands and Cody pointed out as we were walking up to his mom's house that Rett painted six fingers on Emma's hand. Awesome lol

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We had alot of people we had to hit for Mothers Day, My mom, CJ's Mom, and my two grandma's. We tried to fit everyone in Saturday so we could spent Sunday at home, we weren't successful. Saturday we went to My Grandma Lou's where my parents were building a new hitching rail for her.(my dad had stole Everett earlier in the day and taken him to Grandma's with him) After that we went to Grandma Ila's where my uncle grilled for us.(mmmmmmmm it was yummy) Then on our way home we stopped at Craig and Jackie's house. Sunday we woke up late :) that's a wonderful Mother's Day gift right there! Then we got ready and headed out to my parents house. My mom made lasagna(I know how crappy she had to cook on Mother's Day but no one makes it as good as she does.) Cody, Dad, and Rett went mushroom hunting and Mom, Ash, Em, and I stayed at the house and talked. My sister had to head back to Iowa City so we all called it a day there. Cody and the kids wanted me to pick out some flowers for my birdhouse at Thiesens but nothing really caught my eye so we were home bound. Cody decided he should mow before the rainy week ahead. While Cody is mowing the front yard I will move everything(TOYS!) out of the way, and pooper scooper. Yes!, pooper scooper you could say I get the shitty end of the deal lol.(I really don't mind) After that was dinner and then a movie. We watched Hachi (I'm not sure on the spelling on that) its a SAD movie about a very loyal dog! I had a great Mother's Day and I hope all the other Mommy's out there did too!
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(I would insert something mooshy her about my mom, but she doesn't like that soo) Thank You Mom for everything I love you!

Rett and Em

Just when I thought my kids were always going to dislike each other..... They have decided maybe they do like each other. Maybe it's just Emma maturing out of the baby stage, I don't know. All I know is it's about time lol! Today when we were playing outside both kids played tag and would run up the slide and slide down real quick and then run around and do it all over again. They both also like to play in the sandbox together, and play cars in the house together.

I think Everett and Emma always fighting with each other bothered me as much as it did because, I think sibling relationships are VERY important. Both of my parents but especially my dad would always say that you stick up for your family. I see people who don't talk to there siblings on a regular bases and I just think it's sad! Out of everyone in this world I will know my sister the LONGEST! (Given we both die of old age) I don't know if that sentence is confusing so let me explain what I mean. I came along 18 months after my sister so for my sisters whole life expect for 18 months I have been there. Now your thinking well Dusty your parents were there, well it pains me to say but they will pass on before I will. So I just think the person that your going to have your LONGEST relationship with should be VALUED. If god forbid something would ever happened to Cody and I, I want my children to KNOW they will always have each other. Threw fights, girlfriends, boyfriends, wives, husbands, children.... threw every aspect of their lives!

** This is not meant to be an attack at anyone who doesn't speak to there siblings I'm just simply explain why it's important to me that my children are close

***The pictures are from when we were feeding the ducks. It was a little windy can you tell?

Iowa City Again

My sister and Chris are buying/building a house, so Sunday we loaded up the kiddos and drove down to IC to see the progress. The house they are buying is in Tiffin. In Tiffin there is this AWESOME campground that we checked out. It's our plan to camp there this summer, but first it had to meet so requirements :)

1.) A place to fish with Boat Ramp (Cody's requirement)


2.) A playground (The Kids requirement)


3.) Trails to walk on (My requirement)

4.) A Beach for swimming (Rett & My requirement)

5.) Electric Hook Ups (Sanity requirement)

It met all of the requirements so we are planning a 5day camping trip sometime this summer.

Ashley and Chris' house is turning out AWESOME! They have the wood floors in and the walls all done. They plan to be moved in by mid June. When we were walking threw it Everett kept telling my sister where his stuff was going. EX: when we went into the basement Everett said "a toy room here" and when we walked into her walk in closet "this is my room" and when we walked into the spare bedroom "put Emma's bed here." I guess he's moving him and his sister to Tiffin :)

After leaving Tiffin we went back to Chris and Ashley's apartment for supper. The boys played TACKLE football and were a little tired after.


Emma didn't nap all day and passed out on the way home. She did very well though for as tired as she probably was.

Some pictures from the AWESOME playground.....
Emma got stuck in the middle of the slide so Aunt Ashley went down to rescue her :)


Rett going down the slide
Even Cj had to try out the slide

Emma insisted she could do this

****all the pictures were taken with my camera phone so I'm sorry the quality is a little off.

Girly Girl/ Tom Boy?

Everyone always asks me if Emma is a Girly Girl or a Tom Boy and my answer is always both. This child LOVES to have her hair done. For this up do she sat there the whole time without even a whimper while I french braided her hair. She loves for her Aunt Ashley to come over so she will do her make-up. She Love love loves! her toe nails being painted. BUT and its a big BUT she also loves trucks, getting dirty, wearing baseball caps, playing with the dogs and horses, and following Everett around. So the answer to the question is Emma is a perfect mix of Tom Boy and Girly Girl just like her mommy :)