Dear Adelaide...

You may have beaches, and my mom may brag that she can have a garden year round, but I know you don't have anything like this...









Australia or not....not even Adelaide can beat Utah mountains in the Fall.

The Twin Cities

At the end of August Jon and I were able to visit his brother in the Twin Cities. His parents and his sister were able to come as well, and even though we missed Dr. Al, we had a really good time. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have, but like they say.....a baby changes everything. Even your picture taking abilities.

The Shaw's have become big boaters. Jon's brother made sure we had a great time and made sure everyone tried something new. Jon became quite the wake boarder






The kids took a couple of face plants on the tube..funny for us, not so funny for them.

Pre-face plant

Jenny gave us a good laugh trying to get up on the knee board, and even though I missed it...Derek gave everyone quite a show when he gave Jon a nice birthday present with a glance of him in red bikini bottoms....classic. I will not however be sharing any of those photos with you.









We were lucky enough to find tickets to a Twins game in the new Target stadium.













It was pretty much the VIP treatment. Waiters to bring you drinks, comfy padded seats, private bathrooms. That's how I think all sporting events should be. The Twins won in a pretty intense game and it made me more of a baseball fan than ever before.



We had a few late nights enjoying a little rock band. The kids even got into it.

All in all we loved our visit to Minnesota. I loved being with all the Shaw's. It's a shame we didn't document it better, but I know we'll be back and I've promised myself I'll do better in the photo department next time....I hope.

Another Lawn Mower

Growing up I always wondered if my dad ever felt jipped because he never had a son. Instead of attending sporting events, he went to dance recitals. Instead of going to the father son outings, he took us on daddy daughter dates. Instead of having a son to sit and watch sports with him, we had special family home evenings where he would explain the complexities of football to us (favorite family night ever by the way). He even made our camping expeditions better by investing in a portable toilet that we could take on backbacking trips, and we were all too happy to carry that in our packs up the 5 mile trail.
During those years of drama, broken hearts, and the normal everyday thrills of raising girls...he never complained. I never heard him say he felt left out because he had all girls and no boys. He may have felt it, but never voiced it. I think as the years went by, he loved being the only man. I found it to be a blessing. Growing up I thought my dad was the perfect man. And to this day, I still think he's pretty close. I knew that he would always be the best example of what kind of qualities I wanted to find in someone.
My parents will often say that they were happy they were only given daughters because they have been blessed with great son-in-laws, which is true...but I knew Kevin was only waiting for the real pay day...grandsons. He says that he only wants them so they can come over and mow the lawn for him. I was happy to tell him this week that he had another lawn mower coming his way. Our little one is a boy and we couldn't be more excited, but I secretly think Kevin is the most excited of all.