Our little man is 3 months old!

Okay, this is the last post that I need to do to be all caught up!  Kyler turned 3 months old on July 12th, our little man is getting big!  He really likes to sit up and see what is going on all around him.  He also still loves to be outside and see the world.  He has really started making lots of noises and talking, it's pretty funny.  During his 3rd month he had several "firsts", he had his first trip to Minnesota, first time swimming in the like, and his first Sturgis Falls celebration!  Stay tuned for more we are heading up to Minnesota again!    

Kyler, Madison, Denver, and Jordann at Brett & Karen's shower

Getting ready to go to the Sturgis Falls parade

Chillin' with dad

Hmmmm.....

Smile!

Ummm.... :)

July 10th Storm

We got home from Minnesota on Thursday, July 9th, at about 8:00 at night.  We were awakened at 3:30 am Friday morning to our weather radio going off telling us we were under a severe thunderstorm warning.  Erik got up, turned it off and then went downstairs to go to the bathroom.  While he was down there, he decided to look at the radar to see the weather.  When he turned on the TV, the radar popped up and then the power went out.  He came back upstairs where Kyler and I were sleeping, got me up, and said he thought we should go to the basement because we had just lost power.  We grabbed Kyler out of his crib along with some flashlights and headed for the basement.  While we were sitting down there it was so loud!  I thought our windows were going to break, it was hailing so hard and the wind was so strong.  At one point I asked Erik if we still had windows because it sounded like it was hailing inside our house.  After a little while when things had calmed down, Erik decided to go upstairs and check things out.  He came back down and said that we had trees down but he couldn't see a lot because it was still dark outside.  After we thought the storm had passed we headed upstairs.  I couldn't believe what we saw outside, it was still hard to see because it was dark, but when the lightning came you could catch a glimpse of our yard.  I put Kyler in his swing and tried to go back to sleep downstairs in our spare room while Erik headed outside.  As it got light out it was crazy to see what had happened.  There were trees down everywhere on our street and you couldn't even drive down it.  All of our neighbors were out looking at the damage.

We then spent the next three days cleaning up our yard.  We have decided that we have the best neighbors, everyone was out helping everyone else out.  We have a neighbor a few houses down that works at Benton's, so he went and got a huge semi truck and we went up and down the street loading up all of the brush from our yards and he would take it out and dump it north of town.  By Sunday afternoon our yards were cleaned up, it was great!  However, we still didn't have power, we didn't get that back until Sunday night around 9:00 pm.  Take a look at the pictures below from our yard and neighborhood!

Our house before the storm last fall

Standing on the sidewalk outside our house looking south

Looking at our back yard

Looking at our house from across the street

Standing in our driveway looking at the street

Our front yard

Our front yard again

Our front yard and the semi we loaded up several times

Our back yard after we worked and cleared away brush

Our house now!

Our front yard now

Our front yard again

4th of July

I know I am really behind with this blogging business, but I hope to catch up here over the next few days.  After I get caught up, you will see why it has taken me so long!  Over the 4th of July we went up to my parent's cabin in Northern Minnesota.  It was Kyler's first big road trip and he did pretty well.  It normally takes about 7 hours to get up to the cabin and that's with stopping one time, just Erik and I.  On the way up we made 3 stops, which wasn't too bad and it took us about 9 hours and that includes the stop-and-go traffic we hit north of the cities.  Kyler did well in the car thanks to Baby Einstein DVDs and our portable DVD player!  He only had a few crying spells and they were pretty much because he wanted out of his seat-which is to be expected!  We had a great time while we were up there.  We were able to get away for a week; my parents and brother were up there for the first two days and then it was just Erik, Kyler, and I for the last few days.  Kyler got to dip his toes in the lake for the first time ever.  He wasn't too sure about it at first, but after he got used to the temperature, he diddn't mind it.  He would sit on the edge of the lake in the sand and watch the water come in and out.  We know that next year he's going to want to be out there all day!  

We were also able to do some water skiing while we were up there, which is always a fun thing for us.  I have been able to water ski since I was little; however, Erik has been learning and working on it every summer since he first came up with my family when we were engaged.  Last summer he was able to get up for just a few seconds, but this summer he did it!!  I wasn't able to get a picture of him skiing, hopefully I will when we go up later this summer, but he made it half way across the lake, a big turn, and part way back across the lake, it was great!!

Below are some pictures from our trip, enjoy!

Family picture while down at the lake

One of the beautiful evening sunsets

Kyler relaxing in a blown up boat

Laying on the floor hanging out

Playing in the sand with dad

My dad, brother, and Erik cutting down a tree

Kyler's first time putting his toes in the lake

The Blanchard Family!