Missing My Computer

Still no computer.  After taking it in to get fixed they deemed it junked.  So now we are computer shopping.  I loved my computer.  I feel like I'm slightly out of touch and I don't take nearly as many pictures without it because I'm so used to instantly uploading my photos.  Moving on.....

I'll try to recap you with photos from end of September/all of October. 

Tuff's trip to Colorado

 
These photos are taken with his cell phone.  Remember Southwest lost his carry-on luggage, which had his camera in it.  Big horn sheep close enough to catch.

Some neighborhood elk. 

Tuff's hole-in-one from October 7th.

September 29th fall beauty in Brainerd Lakes area Minnesota.

My sister Dana and her husband Greg joined us and later went trap shooting.

My sisters Cydney and Dana.

Me and Cyd.

Our silly jump...especially Tuff.

Keeping with the fall theme, we thought it was so beautiful outside we should take a photo shoot with Lamby (most of you know this is Grace).  As you can see in the photo below she was excited and wearing her adorable lamby knit hat made special from my sister Heather.  

Well...the excitement left her face as soon as we got to the shoot sight.  The photo below pretty much sums up what her face did for most of the photos we took.

Here she is faking a smile.  Come on Lamby, we all know this isn't your real smile.

Ok an outfit change and maybe a little closer to a smile. 

She also did this tight lip face below for many photos.

Photo shoot over.

Photo shoot over and she's back to smiles.

I was finally able to upload the video of Grace saying Momma (all the way back on October third).  She says it but probably doesn't know what she's saying.  Its pretty awesome anyway. 



Tuff is still enjoying fishing the river multiple times a week.  He keeps the freezer and our tummy's full of good eatings.   Below is a little walleye and decent sized northern pike. 

No more golfing though.  The club closed for the season October 14th.  They threw a big party for the close.  Grace was being a gem as usual.

 She is our sweet love.  So gentle and kind already.

Maybe a little hair growing?

Going down for a nap with so much love on her face and two bottom teeth now.

Saturday the 28th we drove to Princeton, Minnesota for my nephew Soren's 4th birthday party.  They made owl cupcakes.  Take a cupcake, frosting, oreos, chocolate chips and a candy corn.  Brilliant.

Tuff and I watched Finn, Beck and Bo for the week while their dad and mom were out of town for business.   A little fun at Target.

We created a yummy Halloween theme treat one of the nights.  Chocolate cookie dough truffles. 



Nice job kids.



The big news in the area is that Costco just opened in Baxter, which is about 30 minutes from my parents house.  We attended thier grand opening party.  You think the samples there are awesome right?  Now imagine the party, where workers walked around with trays of goodies and the cafeteria was open and free to try. 

Rocking on a horse at Costco.  She doesn't seem thrilled about it.

Cute as ever shopping with us all day.

Senior Pic Remake

Please scroll down to view the senior pic and the senior pic remake.

Stay tuned.  We have loved our time in Minnesota but it is coming to an end soon. 



Bad Luck Good Luck

BAD LUCK

Hi all.  Sorry we have not updated the blog in a while.  Tuff accidentally stepped on our computer the last week of September!  Its in the shop until the end of October, according to its estimated finish time.  Anyway it had all our pictures which are backed up on an external hard drive but we don't have a computer to use in the meantime.

BAD LUCK

Tuff flew to Denver September 19th.  They lost his luggage!  Yes still gone.  He had a carry on and they took it for lack of space in the overhead bins.  That is the last time he had it.  In it was a lot of special things but they were just things.

GOOD LUCK

Tuff got a hole-in-one (his first) on Sunday, October 7th.  He was playing in the Legacy Challenge golf tournament.  He sent a great shot just to the left of the green, it hit the fringe and rolled rolled rolled all the way in the hole!  Way to go Tuff.

GOOD LUCK

Grace's said her first word October 3rd.  Momma!  Its on video which is on the stepped on computer......but lets forget about that and leave with the good luck.

Summer Wrap Up: Fall is Here

Suddenly the weather has cooled and now it seems fall is here.  Even the trees are dropping their leaves.



A few mornings a week Tuff, Grace and I take the golf cart out for a drive to check out the sights and critters.  Keep in mind my parents live on hole number one at the golf course so most our drives are on the golf course and the river which runs parallel to the course.  Here are a few pictures from our morning adventures. 

Getting ready to head out for our drive.  Mornings are getting cold.



This little buddy was in our neighbors tree.

Hummingbird sighting before they fly south.

Beautiful foggy morning (shot taken from my parents yard looking at golf course).

Hole 18 through the fog.

A deer enjoying a drink of water. 

Trumpeter Swan.  I heard them fly over my parents house and we found them about 1/2 mile down the river.

Mommy and her little critter. 

Baby Paint Turtle walking across 11 green.

Grace really wanted to play with the turtle. 

Another foggy morning.  This time a picture from 17 fairway.

Done with one of our morning adventures and Grace usually starts her morning nap.



Tons of turtles in the pond by hole four.

Forming a train!

Northern Flicker woodpecker. 

Speaking of woodpeckers.  They've been eating at the edges of my parent's home.

So Tuff got out a pellet gun, drew a woodpecker on a board and started to practice.

Then my dad joined in on the fun for a bit.

First shot hit the feet and second was the finisher. 

Below is the best shot I got of one of the culprits (Hairy Woodpecker).

No woodpeckers were coming around while Tuff was practicing his shot so he tried to call them in with metal on a shovel.  Haha!  Tuff keeps us all entertained.

The birds are still alive.  No sign of them the last few weeks.

Last week my mom played in a senior golf tournament and she took first net!  It was really fun to watch her play since she only hits the links about five times a year.  94, which included two birdies on the back nine,  is pretty good for rarely playing.

Tuff got his first golf handicap a few days ago.  4.4 is pretty awesome.  He's had a lot of practice this summer. 

A few weeks ago we traveled to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to watch my little sister Cydney play a college golf tournament at Wildflower Golf Course.  Cydney plays for North Dakota State University (NDSU) so of course Grace wore the appropriate attire. 

As you can see in the photo below the golf course is in the prairie. 

It was very windy and not very warm.

 A Striped Gopher Tuff found in the plains of the golf course.

Getting into position to watch Cydney putt:



Best place to watch the putts from.

Cydney finishes an up and down at Wildflower.

The last two Saturdays we watched my nephew Finn play in sixth grade football. 

Finn is number four and seen below at quarterback.

At cornerback.

At defensive end.

Post game smiles from number four.



Yesterday Tuff went out fishing on the river right by my parents home.  He gave me a call and told me to run to the river bank right away and bring the camera.

This was what he caught.  A big Northern Pike; the biggest Tuff has ever caught.  What makes it even more impressive is the river is not very big and very shallow.  Who knew there were fish this big in there?

Tuff said he fought the fish for 20+ minutes and the fish was completely played out so didn't flap around after it was caught.  He released it and it lives on.

Ok enough about us.  Its time for a Gracie update.

Here she is helping me lift weights.  We started her off with the one pound dumbbell.  She's listening intently at my instructions. 

First pair of jeans.  First time in a belt too.

First time having a go at rice cereal.  Oma fed her while I held her. 

She also tried squash a week later.  Loves it!

Look who can sit up no problem. 

Grace watching YouTube video of a baby babbling and her talking (screaming) back at it:



Sitting up is easy peasy.  Why didn't I think of this earlier?

Learning to drive motorcycle. "Ok turn the key....what's next?"

"This helmet is too big."

Sleeping Grace while daddy and mommy golf.  She's wearing her golf socks of course.

Precious moments.

Another cute sleeping moment: