Strawberry picking 2020.

We went strawberry picking and it was amazing! It's one of our favorite summer traditions. Many fun traditions have been cancelled this year due to COVID, so it made this outing feel extra sweet that we got to do it! It really is the little things. They didn't even have the animals, tractor ride, or fun picture signs like usual, but we didn't even mind because it just felt so good to go do an activity! We had super great weather too, which was awesome. We went with a friend and her foster daughter from our church, and it was fun to share it together!

First strawberry tastings! Ellory kept saying, "These strawberries are sweet!" every time she ate one and Lucy had juice just dripping all down her chin. :)

I think the girls did more eating than picking. They had a lot of fun!

How perfect were their strawberry dresses for this outing? 

Usually you pay by weight, but this year they did it differently (to limit exposure), where you prepaid for your box as you drove in, so then it was a fun challenge to try to fit as many strawberries as we could in it since we already prepaid for it! We got a lot! We shared some with several friends and still have a lot left! We ended the time with playing in their giant sand box and eating strawberry donuts and shakes. A very fun summer morning!

Check out strawberry picking in 2019, 2017, and 2016!

Fun at the zoo and Jorie's 2nd birthday!

It was so good to be back in Des Moines again (where my parents live and where I grew up), after not being there for almost five months! The girls and I went up a few days early and Kley drove down for the weekend. We got to celebrate Jorie (our niece) turning two! She really likes Monsters Inc. right now, so she had Mike and Boo on her cake. So fun!

We had a fun girls morning at the park on a beautiful day!

Friday afternoon we got to go to the zoo with my parents! We hadn't been able to do an outing like that (because of COVID-19) in a long time, so it was fun! All the indoor things and several outdoor places were blocked off to keep social distancing, and you had to buy advanced tickets for a specific time, so it was different than normal, but we still had a great time! It felt so good to be out and about doing something fun and normal!

It's hard to see in the picture, but the otter was swimming right in front of the glass!

Train ride! Being able to do special things with my girls (and parents) is my favorite!

We went in the afternoon (which was during their rest time), because that's the only time we could get tickets, but the girls did great! I'm so glad we went.

Kley made it Friday night- yay! We roasted s'mores around my parent's fire pit.

Happy 2nd birthday to Jorie! We love you so much!

I love this picture of my dad and Lucy. They had water toys set up for the kids at the party, and Lucy played hard and ran tons of laps around the yard because she was so excited, and then wore herself out, so she was recovering with grandpa. :)

They had the cutest lemonade stand set up for the kids to play in!

Bad lighting, but thankful to be together and so fun to celebrate Jorie!

While we were in Des Moines, Keaton and Rose (my brother/SIL), had the girls over one night to have a movie date night before bed. They were so excited to have a date all by themselves at their new house (they recently built and moved only a few minutes away from my parents- awesome)! It was so thoughtful of them to ask to do that and I would love to do dates with Jorie and Murphy someday hopefully soon!

Uncle Kley got to hold Murphy for the first time! He had a cold back in January when we first met him, so he didn't hold him then. So glad he could now!

It feels so good to see family again and resume some normal activities! Very thankful!

First Des Moines trip in months!

We went to Des Moines again recently and it was amazing! We hadn't been there in almost five months, so it was special to go back again. The girls were so excited! My parents and my brother/his family live in Des Moines, my sister/BIL from Minneapolis were there for a couple days too, and my youngest sister is home for the summer from college, so I got to see everyone! My sister, Karlie, is pregnant and this was our first time seeing her pregnant, so that was fun. Can't wait for another niece or nephew!

We had some beautiful days and nice weather to be outside! So glad parks are open again after being closed because of COVID-19 for awhile. 

The girls love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa!

I can't get enough of their smiles on the swings!

This was also a special trip because we got to see Jorie and Murphy (my niece and nephew) a lot! We had only seen Murphy (who is almost six months), once before back in January. We had really missed them and it was so much fun to play together again. Jorie just turned two, so it was neat this trip because it felt like she was more on an equal playing field with my girls age wise since she's getting bigger, so they got to play together and interact more. Norah and Jorie were holding hands and laughing so much, it was the sweetest!

Lucy loved blowing bubbles and would take the biggest breaths beforehand. 

The hand holding! :)

Love seeing the four of them together!

Jorie has the best smile! So very thankful to be able to see family again.

T-ball and Blastball 2020.

Summer rec activities are happening in our town and we are excited! It feels so nice to have something on the calendar and the girls are enjoying having an activity after not having really anything on the calendar for months because of COVID-19. It's only been a couple weeks (Norah has t-ball twice a week and Lucy and Ellory have blastball once a week), but it's fun to see them grow already and have fun. Lucy was super into it and participated with gusto. Ellory was slower to warm up and liked to draw in the dirt. Norah was nervous and scared her first night, but did so great the second! She participated well and enjoyed herself. Kley is a coach for both teams and is doing great!

Lucy waiting in line to catch a ball and Ellory drawing in the dirt. ;)

They were supposed to yell out, "Blastball!" when they caught one and it was so cute.

Norah practicing her hits!

Fielding games and catching practice.