Happy Anniversary!

Four years ago today, I married the most amazing man in the world! Our lives are always an adventure and I am glad to have Kristoffer by my side as we go through life. Each of the last four years of marriage, something exciting has happened. Our first year together we packed up everything we owned and left everything we ever knew to move to Minnesota and then bought a house 10 months later, talk about adventure! And of course our most recent year together brought the new adventure of welcoming Karter into the world! I am excited to see what God has in store for us as we begin our 5th year! I love you, Kristoffer, we have grown and changed together and I am blessed to share my life with you!

Brad Paisley has a new song "Then", and I think of us when I hear the chorus...I thought I loved you 4 years ago, but it doesn't compare to now!

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you,
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

Table Manners

When Karter was little, he was such a hard burper that when he would finally burp we would make such a big deal about it. Well, now fast forward a few months and we still make a big deal about it. He thinks burping is hilarious! So much so, that now I hear him in his crib fake burping and laughing at himself! Last night, we were all fake burping at dinner (great manners, huh!?), and Karter started doing these extremely long ones. Of course he just thinks he is the funniest thing. Soon we are going to have to teach him that not everyone finds burping to be so funny!!

Anniversary Weekend - Part 3

On Sunday, we woke up and celebrated my 1st Mother's Day. Kristoffer took care of Karter in the morning so I could get ready for church. Before we left, they surprised me with a gift certificate for a manicure and pedicure and a lilac bush (that we still have to purchase). After church, we all changed into our Twins gear and took Karter downtown to his first baseball game! Daddy was pretty excited to share this experience with his son!

Karter was amazed by everything going on. We sat in the first row of the upper deck and he liked standing up to look over the edge (no worries...we were always holding on to him!). He loved being at the game, but the first time the crowd cheered it REALLY scared him. He calmed down after about 5 minutes and then he was good for the rest of the game.

We went to the game with our friends, Brian, Mary and Martha Davis, from church. They are avid Twins fans and were excited for the chance to spend the afternoon with Karter (and us)!

The Twins were playing their third game of the series with the Mariners. Kristoffer's all time favorite player, Ken Griffey Jr., now plays for the Mariners. So he was SO excited that Griffey was the DH for the game.

Karter tried so hard to stay awake for the whole game...

...but eventually he fell asleep on daddy's lap. It doesn't get much cuter than that!!

Kristoffer was really excited when Griffey came up to bat in the 8th inning.

Earlier in the game he had made a prediction that Griffey would hit a home run...he was just a little off on where he said it would hit, but unfortunately Griffey did hit a home run. It sparked a comeback for the Mariners.

We all put on our rally caps and cheered hard for the Twins.

They rallied in the 9th, but not enough to come out on top.

It was a fun game to watch and we had a great time spending the afternoon with the Davis family. The game was an ending to a weekend full of celebrating our love and life together...as well as my 1st Mother's Day! What a fantastic weekend it was!

Anniversary Weekend - Part 2

On Saturday, we loaded up the car again and made our way to Austin. Our day begin with breakfast at a place that claims to have Minnesota's largest donuts. They were definitely the largest donuts we had ever seen....and oh so good!

After filling up on sugar, it was time to visit the SPAM museum.

Hormel's Corporate Headquarters are in Austin and they sure do love their SPAM there.

The guy at the admission desk said that posing with Spammie was the thing to do! He practically made us put Karter on top of him for the picture.

We had to wait a little bit for our tour to begin, there was a bus load of Hawaiians that had gotten there before us. SPAM is extremely popular in Hawaii, so apparently they have a lot of Hawaiian visitors each year.

All the cans are kind of mesmerizing!

That is a lot of SPAM!!

Kristoffer LOVES history, so he was in heaven reading everything...Karter didn't enjoy it quite as much.

He did have fun though! We spent two hours looks around and he was great the whole time.

Karter and Mommy had fun pretending to be workers on the assembly line.

But then things turned serious! Kristoffer and I had a "friendly" competition to see who could fill and pack 6 cans of SPAM faster.

I'm proud to say that I can pack SPAM 30 seconds faster than my husband! What an honor...

Karter was eager to try to eat the SPAM, until it was actually time to get a taste. We will not be serving SPAM at our house anytime soon, it made him shudder and he spit it out.

We had such a fun time together, we decided to do something we never do...buy t-shirts! Now we can proudly display our support for SPAM. It was a great day with my favorite boys!

Anniversary Weekend - Part 1

Each year for our anniversary, we try to get away and explore a new small town. This year, our trip began at the Cabela's in Owatonna, MN, with our final destination being Austin, MN. On Friday night, we packed up the car with all of our gear (Karter requirs a lot of stuff!) plus Rascal and headed to Owatonna to spend the night.

We decided to stay in Owatonna because we wanted to stop at Cabela's and pick up a few things that we needed before our camping trips begin this summer. You can see some pretty interesting things at Cabela's...

...this guy is kind of scary...

...and these two are kind of cute!! Karter was pretty fascinated with all of the displays, and couldn't stop staring at the elephant that he was standing under.

After Cabela's we had a delicious dinner at Famous Dave's and then checked in to the beautiful Super 8 Motel. It wasn't the nicest place to stay...but it was cheap!

Once we were all settled into our room, Karter read us all a bedtime story. We all had to rest up for our adventures the next day...

Afternoon at the Zoo = Lots of Pictures!

Karter's top 2 teeth are coming in and making him a little cranky in the afternoon. So, yesterday I decided after lunch we would head to the zoo to give us both a little break from our normal routine. We made it to the zoo around 2, but I didn't realize that they closed at 4. It worked out great though, all of the school groups were gone and there were many exhibits where we were the only ones there. It was fun being able to take him out of the stroller and let him explore (and get some good photos) without other people around. I'm really glad I have a membership, because I didn't have to worry about seeing everything trying to get my "money's worth".

Without a doubt, Karter's favorite part of the zoo is still the aquariums. It was adorable watching him try to catch the fish. He would walk along the glass reaching for them.

He thought the dolphins were funny.

This boy has no fear....

...he was trying to reach for sharks...

...and didn't even think twice about sticking his hand in to touch a sting ray!

There is a nice playground area between the regular part of the zoo and the farm area. Usually, this area is insane and I would never dream of letting Karter play at the park, but yesterday we were the only ones there! It was great!

Karter didn't think I was getting him back to the top of the slide fast enough, so he decided to try and climb back up himself.

He loved the spinning toys.

Look...no hands! He loved the park so much, he through a major fit when I put him back in the stroller. It was nothing a little snack couldn't handle though!

He was laughing at all of the goats running and jumping on the tables....that was until this pesky goat tried to steal his Cheerios.

Sharing a little snack with a cow named Daisy.

It was a great day at the zoo with my little man. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get this guy a tissue!

Pictures of the Day - Big Boy Jams

Last night, Karter wore some new pajamas. Partly because all of his footie pajamas were dirty and partly because he wakes up sweaty every morning.

Doesn't he look so handsome with his hair all slicked over!

Apparently he wasn't phased by the short sleeves or exposed feet...he slept all night, just like always!

Goodbye Old Friend!!

This morning I had my very last pump! All of its parts are already washed and stashed away in Karter's closet. I was very happy to say goodbye to my old friend this morning. I truly believe that, when it is available, breast milk is the best thing for babies. I am extremely proud and happy that I have been able to provide for Karter for so long, but am very happy to be done! I spent many hours over the last 10 months with my pump and now that phase is behind us.

Karter is now 100% on whole cow's milk. It was a much easier transition than either of us thought it would be. He gets milk 4 times a day (2 bottles and 2 sippy cups) and we just substituted one of those with cow's milk until they were all changed. He really likes it, and is starting to like it cold.

It was actually a little more emotional for me than I thought t would be when Karter started drinking cow's milk. I think it was just the thought of him not actually relying on me as much anymore...just another sign that our baby is not so much of a baby anymore! When Kristoffer and I talked about it, he said "Yeah, now he relies on me!" Karter is a big boy now, not eating anything that is just for babies. He is 100% on table food and cow's milk.