Mud and Blueberries

This past weekend Paul, Tanner and I went to Sturgeon Lake for a relaxing weekend by the lake. It was only us Nyquists, my mom and Dad, and my cousin Jake. It was so nice and relaxing. Saturday had some weird weather with heavy rain, then hot and sunny, then rainy again and so on. But we thought it would be a perfect time to go out in General Andrews Forest and do some mudding on the four wheeler and one of my dad's new toys: a Polaris Ranger while Tanner had some quality time with his Nana (my mom). It was so much fun and we just happened to catch the blueberry season just right. There were so many berries that my mom, Jake and I decided to go out berry picking again on Sunday morning while the Tanner and Paul enjoyed the beautiful morning by the lake. I have a whole gallon of blueberries to use in homemade blueberry pancakes, muffins, pie, cobbler, syrup...oh the possiblites!!

We jumped in the lake in all of our muddy clothes after we got a couple pictures. The lake felt like bath water compared to those cold puddles we were playing in.

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Bouncing Baby Boy

Tanner LOVES his Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo. I got it from my BFF Bonny who used one with her son and swore by it- Thanks Bonny! Tanner likes to play in there and is really getting the hang of bouncing. I HIGHLY reccomend this product to anyone who has or is expecting a little one. It rocks!!

4 month Stats

I just can’t believe 4 months has flown by since having Tanner.  Today we went up to see Dr Voegel (Tanner’s pediatrician) and get his 4 month shots.  Everything is checking out just fine.  Tanner is a healthy happy little boy.  What more can a mommy ask for right?

Here are Tanner’s 4 month stats-

Height: 25 inches

Weight: 16 lbs 1 oz

Overall he is right in the 75th percentile for height and weight, same as he was @ his 2 month.  Next check up isn’t until Sept for his 6 month…YES 6 MONTHS as is 1/2 a year!!  I can’t believe it!

We might have to think about expanding the “Quist Club” sooner rather than later…They just grow up too darn fast!

Green Beans Anyone????

This morning I went out and picked beans in the garden...I think 2 rows was quite enough. I can pick a whole sink full every 4 days...

We also have a bunch of peas, a couple peppers, a few small onions that needed to be thinned out, and a few yellow pear tomatoes. There are tons of green tomatoes (yellow pear, cherry, and regular) just getting ready to ripen. I better get my freezing and canning supplies dusted off....

Tanner's first Twins Game

On Sunday, we went to the Twins Vs White Sox with 35 of my family members (ages 3 1/2 months to 73 years). My Grandma and Grandpa Huesmann got everyone tickets for Christmas and gave everyone $20 to spend at the game for their birthday present. It was AWESOME!! It was so fun to get together with EVERYONE! It was also a lot of people's first visit to the New Target Field...Including Tanner! It also wasn't bad that the Twins won in dramatic fashion scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th! Here are some pictures from the game:

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Family Photo
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Baby--- check, Beer---Check..... Daddy's got his "essentials!

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Mommy and Tanner

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This is Sadie's family :) Notice Jada in the background...HILARIOUS! Can you tell game time was their usual nap time??

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My mom and dad...Dad is being a dork like always.

(this was seriously the best out of the 5 photos I tried taking of them)

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Here is MOST of our group we were with. I am sure we were QUITE the sight!

We LOVE the TWINS!! Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa!!

House repaint- 95% done

Here is our house before :)
Here is AFTER :) (Note: we still need to finish the landscaping but anything is better than the iris jungle that was over taking the front. We also still need new house numbers and a new flood light)

After getting new windows this fall, I am also going to get some red shutters to helps with the accent color :)

Pictures of the back yet to come...

And it continues....

As I sit here drinking my morning coffee and letting Tanner sit in his bumbo trying to pick up his assortment of toys that lay in front of him, I am reminding myself to do just one thing....TAKE A DEEP BREATH and RELAX!!!

It seems like we are in the thick of the hectic summer schedule....Fourth of July weekend Tanner and I went to my parents cabin in Sturgeon Lake, MN and Paul met us there after going to a friend's 30th birthday. It was an AWESOME long weekend with lots of swimming, washer toss, laughing and great family time (unfortunately I didn't take my camera out at all). I feel so lucky to have Tanner be part of such a warm and loving family. He was such a good boy and even went swimming in the lake a couple times. It was so hot and I think he really enjoyed it. (more so when we let him play in the water naked). I stayed up at the cabin until Tuesday, which was also my 27th birthday. It was hard to tear myself away from the lake. I just love it up there!! But there was stuff that needed my attention here at home...

This week the boys (Paul, and my cousins- Brandyn and Jacob) got the first coat of paint on the house and it is looking awesome already!! We are getting closer and closer to posting the before and after pics!! Also this week, is our town celebration-Danube Fun Days!! Again my family is heading down here to partake in the festivities which started on Wed with an ice cream social and ends Sunday with the Fire Dept Keg shoot. (Its where teams form Fire Depts around the area shoot there hoses at a keg suspended above the street on a cable. The first team to push the keg all the way over to the other side wins...It is apparently a BIG deal out here) This year Paul will be participating so Tanner and I will spend our Sunday down at the park cheering him on!

I stayed up til 1 am last night (after some homemade iced mocha) and was up and 7 today prepping for the arrival of 20 guests. I think everything is set. The yard is cleared and ready for campers, the sheets are washed on all of the guest beds, my food is cooked, and my house is on it way to being clean...right after I finish this cup of coffee :)

So the busy life of this farm wife and country mama continues.....

Hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as the Nyquists!!

Country Fest 2010

Boy did I have fun!! I missed Tanner like crazy but really enjoyed the time with the girls. I forget how much I laugh, joke and just let loose when I am around a bunch of women that I absolutely love. I finally have my voice back today :) Here is a picture of all the WONDERFUL ladies that we camp with :) Our "Flamingo Rodeo" themed campsite was a hit!! I hope my life works out to allow me to keep going to this every year. I just LOVE it!

My little swimmer- 3 months old !!

Look who's 3 Months old today!!!

Tanner had his first dip in the pool today and seemed to have a really good time. (Don't let the pictures fool you- As soon as I put down my camera and jumped in with him he was smiling and cooing) After we got out I undressed him and let him lay naked on his towel in the shade. He LOVED that and was smiling and laughing. Looks like he is quite a little exhibitionist already :)

Busy Busy busy....

Like I've been saying before, things are VERY busy around here lately and don't really look like they will be slowing down for a few weeks. The exterior of the house is almost completely stripped of all the paint and almost ready for it's first coat of primer. This is thanks to Paul and the TONS of help that my cousin Jake has given. (We are paying him to do some work for us) We would never be able to get it all done without his help. Hopefully the painting will begin soon and I will be able to post before and after pictures before too long.

Also, this week I am prepping for my annual girls weekend at Country Fest in Cadot, WI. It is something I look forward to every year and can't WAIT for everything we have planned. This year there are 11 of us going and then we camp next the same girls we always do so there will be 15 ladies total. We have decorations for our campsite, t-shirts, games, pedicure supplies, a pool, LOT of food, cocktails and girl talk...and OH YEAH- the concert too. The headliners this year are Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, and Reba! It is going to be SOOOO fun. Of course this means leaving my little Tanner Man for a LOOOOONG weekend but I am trying not to think of it. This might be my last year for a while depending on when I am pregnant again and where our family is at so I am focusing on that rather than how much I will miss Tanner. PLUS, he gets to spend 4 days of very good quality time with his daddy. It will be good for both Tanner and Paul to have some time alone together. It's also good for me to have some Mommy-time without having to worry about bottles and diapers.



After country fest, I am coming back up to the cities next week to visit with some friends who live out of state and will be here visiting family and friends. They each have little girls who were born in March. One born just hours after Tanner and one the following week. We shared pregnancy stories and keep in touch via e-mail with our mommy stories.

Also on tap for the first part of July are: finish painting the house, a 30th birthday party for a good friend at their cabin, 4th of July weekend at my Mom and Dad's cabin, my 27th birthday, and hosting my grandparents, parents, sister and family, brother and family, aunts and cousins at our house for Danube Fun Days.....

Looks like I better stay ultra organized to pull this all off....

Photo edits

I did some editing on Tanner’s pictures and these are the ones I ended up getting printed.  I airbrushed them, removed the scratch he had on his face, and added some extras.  I love it!!  And I am VERY happy that I know i can save $$ on his milestone pictures by doing them myself!  Have I said how much I LOVE my camera??!!??

 

 

 

 

3 month pictures

PS....I am in NO WAY a professional photagrapher but I do think these turned out pretty well :) Little Life Photography is my made up professional photography name. Who knows...I might delve into this idea of family and child photography soon. Right now, it just makes me feel fancy!

Sleepy Boy....

I feel very grateful that I have a baby that likes to sleep!! He went to sleep last night at 10:30 or so and slept until 5:30 this morning. After a quick changing and feeding he fell right back asleep and is still sleeping...it's now 9:30 am. He has been doing this more and more lately which is just fine by me! He's just getting so big and saying bye-bye to that middle of the night feeding which I actually didn't even mind too much. He is just growing way too fast.

Small Town Livin

My blogs have been fewer and further in between lately for multiple reasons, including but not limited to the following: it's summer and I am outside WAY more, we have LOTS of house projects going on around here, Tanner isn't much of a napper- he will sleep TONS at night but sneaks only catnaps during the day, and my life just doesn't seem to be very blog-tastic lately. I am just living life in my small town and forming quite the routine which is cozy and nice for Paul, Tanner and me but to my followers probably nothing too exciting.

We did end up going on an impromtu day trip to East Bethel/Oak Grove/St Francis yesterday. My cousin Ashley graduated last week and had her grad party. We were planning on staying home adn starting to work on the house but decided that it was a better idea to go help Ashley celebrate. YAY ASHLEY!! She will be attending Bemidji State in the fall. While we were in the area, we decided to go check out the St Francis Pioneer Days fireworks. They were pretty awesome and I tried to get some pictures. Of course Tanner slept through most of them, even the BIG booms. He only started stirring a little during the extreme grand finale. Overall I was VERY impressed with the display. Nice work Franny town.

Tanner's first fireworks experience.

Also as part of our trip to the northern burbs, we recruited an employee to help with the scraping, priming and painting of our house, my 16 yr old cousin Jake,. Unfortunately it is supposed to be rainy AGAIN this week but I am sure we will still find plenty to keep him busy. I can't WAIT to see what it looks like all painted. Our goal is to have it all done before Fun Days (our town summer festival) Jully 7-11.

One interesting thing that did happen this week was that Paul went to a friend's house on Fri night for a bon fire. While he was there he met a guy named Aaron that I just happened to ride the bus with in elementary school and graduate with. Aaron was down visiting some college friends who live a couple towns over and happened to end up at a party that just happened to be 2 blocks from where I live in good ol' Danube. He and Paul got to talking and realized the connection. I love random stuff like this. Just proves that we are all way more connected than we may realize. Just one more reason to treat people well, even strangers, you never know how you might be connected.

I am attempting to take Tanner's 3 month pictures this week too so stay tuned!!

Yard work, yard work, and more yard work

Ok, so here is the view out my patio door into my back yard. I wish I would have taken pictures a year ago when we moved in because it didn't look nearly as nice as it does now. We live on a small lot in town 50x150 but we make the most of it and have awesome neighbors so it works for us. I took some pictures yesterday of the work we did. First off..notice the pool. It's nothing fancy but sure will be nice to have when these hot Minnesota summers strike down here SW farm country. Plus it was FREE!! Along with enough chemicals to get it up and running. Anyone who know Paul and me knows we LOVE free!

Notice the pretty little rock circle around the pool? Even though we live in one of the FLATTEST regions in the country, our yard seem to be very uneven so some sand and field rock border do the trick just fine. And again the price is right...FREE!

Next onto or lovely lilac bush which was a weed, prickly bush collecting machine. I don't know how many handfuls of weeds and debris I cleared out from under here before digging it up, putting in edging (Well, Paul did that), planting flowers and adding mulch. It looks so much better I can't even believe it. It looks like someone actually lives here now and cares about the yard.

Last but not least is my pride and joy..(well besides Tanner). It's my garden!!! Look how lovely and almost completely weed free it is! It took Paul and I a good couple hours to get it to look so pristene. I can't wait for the veggies to start coming in so I can start canning and making baby food for Tanner.

I also took a bunch of "before" pictures of the exterior of our house so that we can do a comparison when we are all done painting and landscaping. I would post them now but the peeling paint and dug up front yard might lose the dramatice effect if not pair with a hopefully amazing "after" pic. Stay posted for house updates...We are a busy crew around here!!