Norwegians In The House!

My family and I were so honored and excited to get a very special visit yesterday from some cousins from Norway! They flew half way around the world to meet Mickey, see the sights and visit us...how cool is that?! The last time we saw them was 19 years ago when my Mom, sisters and I went there. They are all such easy going good people, we really enjoyed our time together and can't wait to see them again before they return to the "land of the midnight sun". Here are some photos of us all together:


This is the whole family together: Lars, his wife Aila (in the middle), their 3 boys Marius, Brede, and Sondre and Aila's sister June. Aren't they beautiful?!

Here's cousin Aila and I. We felt so sorry for them since we had a marathon photo shoot in Mom and Dad's backyard with the whole crew in various combinations. :)

This was the first time our girls got to meet the family from Norway so of course I had to capture the moment on film. I love this picture!

And finally, here are all of the adult cousins: my sis Shelly, moi, Aila, June, my sis Lisa and my bro Greg. I think we are a good lookin bunch! :)

We hope they all have a wonderful trip and are so glad that they came to see us and look forward to the next visit in a week or so. WELCOME TO AMERICA!!!!

A Real Grown Up Night Out...Hooray!!!

What a whirlwind the last couple of weeks have been! I've been so busy I haven't had time to blog with birthdays, my trip to NY and a visit from some relatives from Norway. I wanted to share a few snaps from a wonderful night out that Doug and I had this weekend. We attended the annual banquet for Schwans at a local Hilton hotel and it was awesome! We got to spend the night for free, and enjoyed a wonderful semi-formal dinner and dance on Saturday night. Considering that my hubby has been working 12 hours a day, we thoroughly enjoyed the alone time! We had a lovely three course dinner, open bar, and a midnight snack. The company gave out tons of cash and other awesome prizes to boot too. The live band rocked the 80's tunes (which I lived) and the room had an awesome big flat screen TV and the comfiest beds on the planet! I was struggling to find time to get a dress, but Dillards came through for me at the last minute and saved the day. I had to go to the hotel straight from working all day Sat. too which explains why I look tired in the pictures. I think we clean up nice though! :)

Doug's Birthday Shout Out!

Our wonderful husband/father is celebrating his 46th birthday today (yup, only 8 days after mine), so we have a special message for him from his girls:

Thank you for everything you do for us: working so hard, driving us to school, making coffee, keeping us laughing and being our protector, and the million other important things you do to make our lives better...

Thank you for being such a cool person: we all love to hang out and be silly with you, tell jokes, and play games (not to mention the pranks we pull on each other)...

Thank you for putting up with us: we know it's hard sometimes to swim alone in the "estrogen ocean" around here (even the dog is a girl, tee hee)...

Thank you for loving us...we know you're not the "mushy gushy" type, but we know how much you love us and we love you right back!

Thank you for being YOU! We love, respect, admire and appreciate you and we hope you have a wonderful day!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

All Our Love,
Kim, Kaley, & Caroline (and Cheyenne too) XOXOXOXOXO

Tales From the Big Apple

I am back from NY and had to share some pics from the trip, I had a blast! Pull up a chair, I got crazy with my new camera, LOL! I think I was the only one on the plane coming in that was excited to hear that it was 30 degrees when I arrived...I LOVE the cold weather! I actually had to buy a coat for this trip as I didn't own one since it never gets cold where I live and I'm always hot, ha ha. So I had to snap this first shot of what was on the ground (it's the closest I got to snow):


I was so happy that I got to stay with my BFF Renata for this trip...this is her pretty home. It was great getting to spend time in her world!
I was really excited about this "old" snow that was in her front yard too. :)
This is her back yard, her pooches are lucky to have tons of land to run free in. (See M, this really is her yard, tee hee).

After I got in, we met Renata's friends Jean and her daughter Lian for dinner. This is the absolute cutest 4 year old ever trust me! :)
The next day, we headed into town for some shopping and pampering, here's BFF striking a pose...isn't she beautiful?!Love ya Ree!
I thoroughly enjoyed strolling through town in the cold shopping and was able to rack up some good gifts for the kids there. This was such a refreshing change of pace from the big city...

Then we hit the nail salon for mani/pedi's...that was pure heaven and our toes were too cute!
Later that night, we met at the drinking hole where we grew up with some friends and had a great time and stayed out waaaayyyy too late. I paid the price the next day (Cuppa Joe you would have been proud) my friends. I just have to say that these guys were friends of my friends but treated me just like they knew me forever too and really made me feel at home. They get extra good points for putting up with me as I don't get out much either, ha ha!


Here's friend Risa and I...I hadn't seen her in 9 years! We used to go trick-or treating together and have sleepovers back in the day. :) (sorry for the blurriness but there were libations involved, what can I say?!)





Kim, Renata and Risa...together again...hooray for old friends! Thanks for a great night girls!
And what would a trip down memory lane be without a snap of the house I grew up in...it was the greatest. It was so cool to drive around and see everything now (even with a hangover, tee hee).
Here's our silly self portrait (tradition)...me and Ree...she is THE best friend a girl could ever have! One of these days I should do a picture post of just these of us through the 30+ years we've known each other...

Lastly, I'll leave you with a warm fuzzy...this is Quincy, Renata's "puppy". How adorable is he? He slept in the bed with me my first night in NY and was a perfect gentleman...his Mom was right when she told him he was a good alarm clock for visitors. :)Well, if you're still with me thanks for reading blogger pals, hope you enjoyed my recap!

Shameless Plug

I am on my way to NY tomorrow for a visit with my BFF to celebrate my birthday tomorrow, but had to brag on my hubby for a minute. He started a new job over the holidays with Schwans. Do you know them? They deliver top notch frozen food in those adorable yellow trucks? Well the hours have been grueling for him but he loves it. If you knew him you'd understand why as he loves to eat , LOL! Their specialty is ice cream which is something he indulges in every night before bed (how does he stay so fit?!). Blogger Sis Chris and her hubby can attest to how yummy their ice cream is since they got a taste while they were visiting recently. So I just wanted to share these pics of him and thank him for all of his hard work and let him know that even though I may gripe sometimes we appreciate everything he does to take care of us! Here is our Schwans man:

Here he is with his truck in our driveway for a visit...

Doesn't he look cute in his uniform? :)


OK, I also wanted to send get well wishes out to little Lindsay Cecile who had tubes put in her ears today...you are all in our thoughts Chris!

I will hopefully get a post up from the Big Apple soon so be sure and check back in blogger buds and have a great weekend!

Variety IS the Spice of Life!

As I sit here on a cold and rainy Saturday, feeling hungover from the girls sleepover last night, they are getting ready to go for a walk (cabin fever has set in I guess). Something dawned on me as I watched and heard them prepare to leave the house. Kaley will wash her face, laboriously brush her hair, and put on a designer hoodie and flip flops. Caroline quickly changes out of her pajamas, throws her hair into a ponytail, puts her sneakers on, and grabs her toy mouse while her sister finishes getting it together. Then, iPods in hand and dog on leash, they head outside to enjoy the rare and brisk weather. I yell out for Kaley to take her cell phone and wish them a good time.

I've always known that my girls are as different as they can be, in looks and personality. Caroline looks like my "mini me" as we're frequently told and Kaley acts exactly the same way I did at her age (my Mom's best revenge, tee hee). I have also often described the sister relationship as "love/hate", no matter who I am referring to (myself included). I see it in my girls too. Although they are complete opposites, they would go to the ends of the earth for each other (again as I would for my sisters) no questions asked and I truly love that about them. Sometimes I wish that the "hate" part of sisterhood in our house could disappear, but today I realize just how boring that would be.

This simple act of going for a walk together on a cold and rainy day, reinforced that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being different! In fact, I am so glad that my kids accept each other for being different as they do their friends. That makes me proud and happy for them for I know if they remember that as they continue to grow into young ladies it will serve them well.

I think this post goes into the category of yet another thing that my children have taught me. :)

Creeping Towards the Big 40 (kicking & screaming)

OK blogger pals, maybe I've had too much time on my hands to think since I've been home sick for a few days, or maybe it's because my 39th (and last acknowledged) birthday is in 6 days but I am stressing about 40 already! Anyone felt like this? I know most of you are younger than me, but I took 30 very well but I guess I'm not ready to bid farewell to the 30's in a year. Once I start thinking about all of the things I still want to do before the dreaded day approaches, I start realizing how fast the time flies and how much my kids are growing up seemingly overnight and it freaks me out. Most of my friends have younger children than me too, so that in itself makes me feel old, LOL! Lately I notice constant silly reminders that I am soon to be a dinosuar by our society's standards. I sure hope someone can relate and put my mind to rest. I know that I am a great person and am blessed with a wonderful family and support group of the best friends ever, but can't get the words "over the hill" out of my mind. I would guess that I'm like most busy Mom's...too hard on myself! Here's hoping I start to accept the inevitable over the next year and eventually embrace it. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest friends...whew!


UPDATE: After chewing on what you all had to say, I realized I shouldn't "sweat the small stuff" and God knows I have better things to worry about than how old I am, LOL! Seriously, I figure it's out of my control so I have to let my anxiety about it go and try my best to set a good example for the rest of my friends who are right behind me. Thanks for the reality check! :)