Pool, Trail Ride, and a Party!

Well, summer has been rolling right along! We made a $15 investment in a pool for our deck and it has been well worth every penny!

In addition to the deck pool, we also go into Miller and use their pool after work some evenings.

I had the opportunity to ride in a wagon train ride from Phillip to Ft. Pierre SD for 3 days. They actually had to cancel the ride for 2 days, prior to my arrival, because a couple horses died from extreme heat. The days I rode were nice and we got an early enough start that we were done riding by early afternoon each day. Here I'm getting a drink with my horse-they had a tanker truck that delivered more than 20,000 gallons of water during the whole trip.

The trail ride followed a historic Indian route along the Bad River. This pictures is of the sun just starting to rise on the final journey of the wagon train. The two of us would get up early in the morning and just watch the world come alive. It was very peaceful and serene. We crossed some beautiful country on the ride!

Darcy came and camped out with me every night. She would have loved to ride but we didn't have a horse for her and she went back to Pierre during the day to watch the girls with her mom. Darcy, the girls and Darcy's mom would come out at supper time and then they had music groups perform and historians speak on the history of the trail. The girls loved seeing all the horses!

We started off in our tent for the first night. That changed pretty quick on the second night when a storm came up and showered us horizontally with torrential rain. We put down all the seats in the suburban and slept in there for the remainder of the trip. The next we battled a ferocious wind storm that shook the suburban and trailer. Dutch, our horse, ended up breaking his halter and tearing off the license plate by rearing back during the storm. Did I mention that our port a potty blew away too? It was an exhilirating experience with rustics twists. It added up to minimal sleep but refreshing. Thank the Lord for suburbans!

There were supposed to be about 250 people on the trail ride with some on horseback and others in wagons. Some dropped out after the first couple days but I think there was close to that number on the last day. There were many more people than that at night when people came to the campsite for the programs and to see friends and family.

You meet a lot of people on these rides and everybody is willing to take pictures. We had an awesome camp site the last night and Darcy rode Dutch around the camp for a while that night.

We had to go up some pretty steep, winding roads the last day but all the teams made it. This is a family I met from White River, SD who is related to our former Principal at Sunshine. It's a pretty small world!

We ended the ride with a parade through Ft. Pierre. It was a great experience and I'm grateful that it worked out for me to do this for a couple of days.

The trail ride ended on Daraby's birthday, so we got a hotel room at the Ramkota that night. Darell, Deb and their kids joined us for a night of swimming and hanging out. We had a party for Daraby on Sunday after church. Grandma Wanda is holding the balloons for the party-Daraby was more excited about the balloons than anything else!

We did a simple picnic lunch with subs and chips and then Darcy's mom made cupcakes for dessert. Daraby preferred licorice!

Daraby loves her cousins and it was great to celebrate with the Beck family!

Enjoy the last couple weeks of summer-the school year is coming up rapidly! We have been blessed with time together with family and friends throughout the summer and are now transitioning into school mode.

Thanks for tuning in!

Summer!

After a wild school year, we took a trip back to MI to spend time with the family and see Susan and Michael get married

Daraby made quick friends with a cat that she met

We climbed up to the top of the lighthouse at Little Sable Point

Rachael was able to spend over a week with us in MI. She got a little frightened at the top of the lighthouse but was able to pose for a picture with Darcy and Grandma

The girls loved playing in Joel's boat-in the garage:) We never got out on the lake with Daraby and Dakota, however, Joel, dad and I nailed the bass one early morning at Stoney Lake

Sand and Water+ Grandpa and Joel=Lots of fun

There's a great animal farm close to the cottage that we took Daraby and Dakota to and they go crazy over petting all the animals...I wonder where they got that from?

Dakota is petting a goat her own size

Darcy and Dakota are chomping down on an ear of corn together

All in all it was a great trip back and we enjoyed seeing many friends and family members. God has blessed us with incredible friends and family who are a source of encouragement and laughter along the journey of life. Though traveling with two young girls brings about some challenges, they did very well. It is awesome to see them interact with other kids and start to recognize and relate with family members.

We look forward to many other summer festivities in the weeks ahead and we appreciate you tuning in for the latest!

A Spring Stroll

We are back on the blogging path-averaging about 1 month. We had a wonderful Easter weekend and spent Easter day in Pierre with the Beck and Strande families.

While in Pierre, we did the annual easter egg hunt at the governor's mansion and we got a family picture with the governor!

Darcy and I went to Chamberlain early in April for the SBA Junior/Senior Banquet and had a great evening of food and entertainment without our kids!


It's hard taking pics of Daraby because she always wants to see the pictures in the screen. So we got a quick shot off here before she reached for the camera.


Dakota loves to walk...as long as you are holding her hands!


Daraby's enjoying some icecream with Dani and Marley after church. They love playing together and Daraby talks all week long about going to church and seeing Marley and Dani.

As we move quickly through the spring season and rapidly approach summer, we are reminded of the song "How Great Thou Art". It is refreshing to see the snow and mud give way to green grass. We thank the Lord for his faithfulness and look forward to that day when we will be with him forever.

We've enjoyed a lot of time outside lately and are getting lots of miles on our stroller. Darcy has been sewing and creating lots of gifts (pictures will be posted later). I've been staying busy with school and have enjoyed riding my horse when I get the opportunity.

That's all for the time being. Thank you for tuning in!

Spring has Sprung (at least we hope so)

Our spring kicked off with a trip to Colorado the beginning of March. The 60 degree temps felt like heaven compared to the bone-chilling temps we've had throughout the winter in SD.

Dakota enjoys some fun in the sun on the playground

The girls kept grandpa and grandma busy chasing them through all the playground toys.

We spent a morning walking around the garden of the gods

Daron and Rachael got some time in with the girls as well. We stayed in Colorado Springs for two days and then went out to Silver Thorne, CO for two days. Some of us went out skiing at Copper Mountain for an amazing time on the ski slopes.

Darcy has been making some incredible crafts including some pillow-case dresses!

It is now April and we hope spring is here to stay. We had an awesome trip down through Nebraska and into Colorado over our spring break and had many opportunities to catch up with friends and family. We are grateful for the ability to travel and that our break coincided with dad's spring break. Darcy and I also got to spend some time shopping and hanging out alone- without the girls.

As soon as we got back from spring break, we hit the ground running at school. We are on the home stretch in the fourth quarter of the academic year. We had a "Mega-Teen" retreat last weekend where we crammed in 230 people on campus. Our nephew Daly was able to come and take part in the weekend festivities. The speakers challenged all of us in our media choices and developing convictions in our relationship with God.

The girls are doing well and continue to grow. Daraby's vocabulary is expanding rapidly while Dakota is getting the basics of "momma", "daddy", and "Abby". There are tough days but all in all the child rearing is going well.

We are now truly traveling in style as we just purchased a hot-rod '91 Lincoln Town Car. It may not be the most fashionable ride around, but it is probably one of the smoothest. We are trying to put the suburban in semi-retirement after putting 20,000 miles a year on it for the last 3 years. We'll see how that goes.

Speaking of traveling, we do plan to get out and about this summer. We have a trip to MI planned for Susan's wedding so we will try our best to connect with some of you when we are back. Otherwise we will spend some weekends in Pierre with the family there and possibly another trip out west (we'll see how far the budget stretches:)

Thanks for tuning in and we pray that you are blessed in your endeavors this spring!

-Andrew

More Valentines Love!

On the morning of Valentines Day Andrew got up and made us girls Belgian waffles from scratch for breakfast. The girls ate great that morning.


Dakota is always happy as can be when she is eating. She eats almost twice as much in day as her big sister. Still she remains pint sized. The Dr says, "feed her." If only she knew the amount of food Dakota puts down in a day. (I love the long johns Dakota is wearing. I see her daddy in her all the time.)

Ahhh I have a smiler. Daraby is starting to smile for the camera and actually look at it. Here she is eating her waffle, "All Gone!"

She hates walking in the snow and constantly asks, "hold you?" which means, "hold me?" It doesn't make much difference since we know what she is saying. She is carried a lot since she hates to fall down. It has been super slick and icy this winter outside our home.

She may hate the snow but she loves the sled! Andrew or I will take the girls for sled rides. Abby often pulls them. This isn't the best photo but if you look closely you will see that Abby's leash is hooked with the sled's rope. Abby had to stop to smell the dead rabbit. Reminds me of the dog on up that goes nuts when he hears, "squirrel!"

She is growing up so fast and looking like a little girl. She isn't a baby anymore! She's a girl! She is looking like it, acting like it and speaking like it. I like this stage but wish it was nicer outside for her to play. She gets a bit bored in the house all day.

Playing, "Outsiiiiiiiiiide!" as Dara would say.

My favorite Valentines Day Card that I made this year. I had to take a photo before I sent it off. Lovely colors if I can say so myself.

I heart you! This pillow is a version on Vanessa's tutorial pillows. You can make one too. This is currently my favorite site. I tweaked this pillow quite a bit from her version since I don't want to be a copy cat. Love her website! It is a must see! Click her link here!

This is another version. I've made several now. I have many different shapes. Beautiful- I'll admit!

I've been hand stitching a lot. We've watched two movies in the last couple weeks and I stitched through both of them. Andrew wasn't happy that I would not cuddle.

"What is wrong with you? You're like an old lady? Snuggle with me...." said Andrew. So I did for a few minutes and then like an addict I was stitching away.

These are a few of the projects that have had me hard at work- and Daraby too. She is the best little polyfill stuffer! Honest. She has little hands and loves the stuff. At first I told her no way. But she was so curious so I let her mildly help at first but she made fast work of it. She is the official pillow filler now. The kid loves to work and work beside me. I believe her love languages are acts of service and quality time. She loves to work and serve others and in return she likes to be with people and animals.

May you be blessed this weekend! May I leave you with the words on Dara's shirt, "Tweet Love!" ~darcy