Emma's Birthday

For Emma's birthday we waited to give her, her presents until Cody got home from work. Did I mention our AC quit working the day before? Our thermostat was at 86 degrees and all the kids were miserable. The plus to the AC going out was Cody left work early so then Emma's didn't have to wait as long to open her presents. And Cody fixed the Air.... that should have been present enough :)

Can you see how hot they were :(

Everett went to Kmart with me the day before her Birthday and picked out this Play Doh thing...She loved it :)

We got her this Little Leaps Fridge Animals thingy. ALL!!! Of our friends have either this one or the ABC one so we felt left out:) Side note see the profile in the upper right corner? It's Rett but doesn't it look just like me? I actually thought it was me for a second.

Of Course they had to play with the Play Doh afterwards :)

Then we went to my parents' house for supper.

Rett's face in this picture is priceless!




Don't you love the candle?

Present Time :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Happy 25th Birhtday Babe!!!
We Love You So Much!!!!!!!!!

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!!

Camping At River Ranch

Cody wanted to go camping last weekend, but I wanted to make sure the kiddos got to see the fireworks. So camping close by was our meeting in the middle :) Normally we camp at the city park in Nashua, the one right on the lake. But this time we camped at the one out in the country. I really really liked this campground because it wasn't as crowded as the city park and they had a lot of activies you could do like: renting "fun" carts, renting paddle boats, and if you want to tube they will drop you off so you can float back to camp. Friday night our friend Megan, Everett and I rented a paddle boat and took it for a little cruise. When we were getting off the "dock", the dock moved and I fell butt first into the water. Pretty funny actually because the only way I agree to go was in I didn't have to get in the nasty pond water.

Then it was time to make smores....


Emma didn't really want to roast her marshmallow, she kept saying Hot. Which is fine with me, I would rather her want nothing to do with the fire!

Then it was Everett's turn

What a "pro"

A lil burnt for my liking, but hey :)


Emma wasn't a fan of the smore, she liked the plain marshmallow better

Retters liked it until...

He got sticky.

Then it was time for bed, I was a little worried how they would sleep with them both being in the same "room." I put Emma in a pack n play (that she can crawl out of) and Rett slept on the fold out couch. But they did fine both night, Saturday morning Cody and I were woken up by them giggling at each other :)

How sweet :)

On Saturday Craig and Jackie took the kids for a little while and us adults went floating down the river. It was just what we needed nothing beats laying in the river getting a tan on a hot day. After tubing the boys went fishing and Megan and I went floating in the Cedar Lake. Then supper and the fireworks.

When we woke up Sunday it was raining so we pretty much packed up and came home. It was a GREAT weekend, Everett asked if he could like in the camper forever!?!?

The Fireworks

The Fireworks for Charles City were postponed until last Saturday, due to rain on the 4th. We went to the Sonne's to watch them, they had a perfect view. I still miss the fireworks over the river though, we couldn't hear the loud BOOM from where we were sitting :(. It was quite the process to get the kids to stay awake until the fireworks at 10:00! We were camping all weekend in Nashua so they were pretty pooped by 9:00, but we go them there. Once we were there they loved it. Emma would clap and say pretty. Everett was also sad he couldn't hear the boom, but he still had fun!

Cuddling with Daddy

"look prettttty"


Zach & Rett being their normal silly selves :)

This picture would be sooooo cute if a stupid skeeter wouldn't have bitten her eye!!!(don't u just wanna pick her up and squeeze her :) )

100th POST & Picnic With Dad

Last Wednesday we met Cody at the New Hampton park for a picnic on his lunch break. They did have picnic tables but Rett insisted we sit on the blanket. It was nice to see Cody over his lunch break and the kids really liked eating outside.

Us Eating

My kids love these Kool-Aid Jammers, I let them have it hoping they would burn their sugar high off in the park!



Everett had to lay down and eat like daddy.


She was a lot more gutzy this time.

Have I never mentioned Everett makes friends well? Almost a little to well. He walked up to this girl and was said"you wanna come play with me?" and he never left her side until she had to go home. I guess I don't have to worry about him not being socailized.

Everett kept calling her "Spongebob Girl" because she had Sponge Bob Crocks on.

Emma just stared at them for the longest time. I don't know if she was jealous that he didn't want to play with her or just liked watching them.


Everett was in this thing until I made it move (it's like a hampster wheel) and Emma quickly dropped to her knees after that!

CLEAR LAKE :)

Cody's Aunt/Godmother Mary Ann has been asking us to come see them for probably 3 years and FINALLY we made it there :) They live in Clear Lake, right on the lake so we went pontooning. We had so much fun, almost makes me want a pontoon if not for our lack of money.

Papa I got My Shades On Lets GO!


Grandma Jackie, Everett, and Aunt Brandee

Emma was a little unsure at first.



Emma and Mary Ann


Juice Break


Mike let Everett drive the pontoon.


When he was driving he down shifted just like on his Power Wheel. Only Cody’s child would know at 3yrs old that there had to be a shifter on there somewhere.


They loved looking at the water. One time when we stopped by some girls (probably around 16 years old) Everett yelled “Hi Ladies”


Emma didn’t take a nap all day. I was counting on her sleeping on the way over, but that didn’t happen. Both kids were still very well behaved even without naps. Emma was sleeping before we even made it off of I35 to The Avenue.