Labor Day 2026- pool and Fields of Fun.

We enjoyed our Labor Day tradition of hitting the closing day at the pool and opening day at Fields of Fun (our local pumpkin patch)- what a fun way to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall! It's always fun to compare the pictures of annual traditions and watch how much they grow each year! Love these sweet girls- they are growing up and so thankful to be there for all the moments!

I remember when their faces could barely reach the holes and now they have to squat and Norah can just stand there!

They were playing games and laughing at the pool and it was so sweet to watch! We also got to close out the day with supper at Culver's with De Jongs- yay!

Labor Day weekend in Rapid City 2026.

We headed up to Rapid City for Labor Day weekend to visit my grandma! It was a quick trip, but so glad we were able to go. (We were originally going to go for a few days in July, but we couldn't because of my unfortunate kidney stone surgery.) It was nice because my parents were already there visiting too, and my sister Kayla drove up to our house and then road with us to come too!

Group photos are me favorite, especially with family we don't get to see all the time!

We love you, Grandma, and so glad we could visit!

Special time with Gigi! (All the great grands call her Gigi.)

We went to Bear Country USA and it was such a nice outing! It was nice that my grandma could join too since half of it is drive through, and for the walk through part they had a golf cart she could ride on and the driver was the nicest tour guide.

It was fun to see all the different animals, like bears, bighorn sheep, bison, reindeer, etc. Some were so close to our van!

Yay for Aunt Kayla joining the trip too!

The walk around part had lots of smaller animals like raccoon, skunk, otter, badger, prairie dog, etc. I loved that the baby bears got to have watermelon, my favorite!

What a special visit and fun time together!

So fun that my parents were there too!

We got to go see my cousin Rachel and her daughter Taylor's new apartment and swim in their pool!

The girls were very excited to go paint pottery. We had done this a couple times before on visits and were thrilled to do it again! My mom, Rachel, and Taylor got to join too. (My grandma went home to rest a bit in between activities, so I'm glad we got to do a great mix of things that my grandma could join us for and things to keep the girls busy with too, it turned out great and we packed a lot of fun into one day!)

The whole gang (like all of my family there, plus my grandma, aunt/uncle, and two cousins and their families) had supper together at Pizza Ranch, and their Pizza Ranch is special because it has a huge arcade! It was quick weekend trip, but very thankful we could make it happen and that we got to see our family there!

Ending the night with dominoes with Gigi, a precious sight!

Recent reads 2026.

Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts by Jennie Allen- This was a good mix of conviction and encouragement- sad that our negative thoughts can consume us so much, but so much hope in taking our thoughts captive for Christ. We don't have to stay stuck in harmful thought patterns and we can surrender our minds to Him and embrace the hope and healing He can bring. Satan wants our thoughts to stay trapped in overwhelm and incapability, but through Christ, we can experience renewal and freedom!

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett- This is a story about three grown daughters who return home during COVID in 2020 to help at the family cherry farm in Michigan. While picking, the daughters ask their mom the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor that she acted with/dated before he was famous. The story weaves back in forth in time to present day and to back in the day when she was telling the story about him. I listened to the audio version, which was voiced by Meryl Streep, which was neat. While parts of this story were slow moving to me (the second half was better than the first in my opinion), I liked the picture of the ordinary life and that the small things are what matter most that she chose for her husband and girls. 

My Friends by Fredrik Backman- Wow, what storytelling! This was a longer one, but a very compelling story. It's about one of the most famous paintings in the world of the sea. Most people don't even notice the three kids sitting on the end of the dock because it's such a small part of the painting, but Louisa, an artist herself, wants to learn about them. She comes into contact with a friend of the painter and they journey together to the painting's hometown and she learned about their lives. It goes back and forth between present tense of their journey together, and past tense telling the story of the four friends. 

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo- Oh my, in looking this one up I just discovered there is a sequel! While many rave about this love story, there is something about it that is not incredible to me. The story is interesting to read, that's not what I mean, but it's about Lucy and Gabe and their 13 year love story, but really they aren't together for the great majority of it. She's telling the story to him, while she's married to someone else. That part doesn't sit well with me, and also I didn't love a few scenes that were too spicy. It was a story that I was interested in hearing what happened, yet I'm not jealous of their story, if that makes sense. I feel this comes off as more negative than I mean for it to though, because it was an enjoyable story to read. 

A Mom's Guide to Lies Girls Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free by Dannah Gresh- If you have a daughter in the 9-12ish range, this is a must read! It was so good. This is the companion for moms, and the Lies Girls Believe book is for the girls. I read the girls book out loud to Norah as our bedtime devotional, and then read the mom guide as my own devotional. The mom guide has the exact parts your daughter is reading in it too, but with extra notes and ideas. (So I didn't reread those sections since I was already reading them with Norah, but I read the notes that went along. It would be a good idea to use both the girl and mom books at the same time.) I will definitely reread this with Lucy and Ellory too later on! Norah was 11 when we read it and about to go into middle school, and that was a really good time to read it. It goes through 20 different lies tween girls are tempted to believe, and how to counteract that with the Truth from the Bible, and also has some chapters in general about identifying lies and replacing them with His truth. I would highly recommend this for young girls!

First day of school 2026.

Back to school is here! Norah is in 6th grade and is in the middle school building! Lucy and Ellory are in 4th grade. Thankful for a good start to the year and for all the teachers that are preparing long and hard to invest in our girls! Praying for a great year and that our girls would be light and love for Him in their classrooms! Norah, Lucy, and Ellory, we love you so much and pray you trust in His nearness with you wherever you go!

Love you Lucy!

Love you Norah!

After the first day treat!

Annual before school tradition of getting their nails painted at the salon!

Love you Ellory!

Kennebunkport, Maine- Steph's bachelorette weekend.

I got to go to Kennebunkport, Maine for my good childhood friend Stephanie's bachelorette party! I missed Kley and the girls and was hard to leave, but I'm glad I could support Stephanie and they had a fun time at home together! They got to see Papa and Amma, go to a movie, see friends, go to the back to school inflatable party, and the church end of summer pool party, so I'm glad they had lots of fun things at home.

Maine was beautiful! I had never been but heard wonderful things. The hotel we stayed at had the best hotel breakfast ever and was so cute. We did some shopping, walked around and enjoyed looking at the beautiful houses, ate good food, played some fun bachelorette games, and enjoyed a boat cruise.

This was on the boat cruise! It was unlike any boat I'd ever been on because it was truly sailing and definitely tipping over to whatever side the wind was blowing again, so we really had to hold on, but it was a fun experience! It was a bit cooler/cloudier weather, but that's okay and better than being crazy hot.

The beautiful bride- thankful to be friends our entire lives!

There were these massively gorgeous hydrangeas all over and I wanted them!

A very fun sight we got to see on one of our walks was Walker's Pointe Estate, which is the 11 acre Bush compound. Stephanie is a huge GW Bush fan, and it was extra amazing because we saw Laura Bush on our walk! She was out walking with a friend and her security detail- so cool!

Such a beautiful place!

This was outside our hotel. Stephanie, it was fun to celebrate you and we can't wait for the wedding in Italy in October!