Welcome!

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. ~Thomas Jefferson




Thursday, September 10, 2009

Joy in the Kitchen!

I decided I needed to blog about cooking. Cooking and baking are two of my favorite hobbies... playing on the internet is another! What a great combination! I also thought my older children who've moved away from home could find use in my blog because I'll post the recipes of some of their favorite foods so they can learn to make them themselves. :)

Check it out at http://joy-ajoyfullife.blogspot.com/

Let me know what you think!

Joy

Monday, August 31, 2009

The Back To School Parade

One day a week or so before school started, Grandma Bolander invited us all over for a Back to School Parade. :) The girls were SO excited to decorate their bikes and take them to Grandma's. They paraded up and down the driveway, ending up in the orchard and then when Grandpa came out, they did it all over again! Grandma served cookies and punch in the shade of the orchard. What a fun day full of memory making!

Here are a few pictures.... We had McKay & Wesley leading with the lawnmower, Jaylyn and Nicole on bikes, and then Myelle was pushing Bentley in the stroller with Grandma helping. Notice that Grandma is carrying her school books. :)













Thursday, July 30, 2009

Traveling and Traveling!

Dave & I counted up on the calendar last night & we've been away from home a total of 13 days this month! No wonder I feel like I can't keep up with the house! We've been camping, family reunioning, rescuing kids, and lastly, we drove a propane truck back to Minnesota and then after Dave attended a few meetings we flew home.

Here are a few pictures of our adventure!

Dave & I as we were ready to leave...



The Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago White Sox game we got to attend courtesy of CHS!



Our Cushy ride there....



The Wrangler Inn in Mobridge, SD - fun little hotel & terrific restaurant!





Meeting Dave's Mom's second cousin Bernice & her husband Warren in South Dakota! We had so much fun catching up and meeting in person after exchanging a few letters over the past 15 years.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Family Reunion Fun!



We hosted our McKinnon family reunion this year at Bear Lake. What fun it was to see everyone again and meet for the first time younger cousins and in-laws! It had been over 10 years since we attended this reunion. We'd forgotten how much we love you guys!

Here are a few pictures...

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Holiday Food Art!

Occasionally I find the urge to be creative. Not often, but once in a while. We had a small party for the 4th of July and I (with the inspiration of another) spent about an hour creating our centerpiece.


Here is a picture of a much fancier design that inspired me... absolutely beautiful.



It was a lot of fun letting the little girls help thread the skewers and they had so much fun eating their creations! We'll definitely try this again.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Early Summer Fun!




We've had a busy schedule since Memorial Weekend! We had our usual campout in Mom & Dad's orchard and this year we had a photographer come to get a few family pictures!

Here is one of Mom & Dad with their children and spouses...


And few more with just the kids in the orchard where we were camping:



We also went camping at Stoddard Creek the next weekend - we had fun! Here are a couple of pics of the kids there....


Myelle and Wesley usually have fun playing together. They're buddies. :) Audra & Erick & Mom & Dad all came with us. We rode 4-wheelers that Mom & Dad shared, ate wonderful food, hiked and biked, and relaxed and visited around the campfire. Best of all Dad played his harmonica - my favorite part of campfires. Brett & Brianna joined us for the evening on Friday... we had fun visiting with them as well! Next time we'll have to try to get the whole family camping at once!

Many more activities planned & hopefully I'll have myself organized enough to post more often this summer!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

A few pictures... Why not?

TWO DAYS IN A ROW! So I guess you may not be as impressed as I am. lol

I've been feeling so blessed lately with such terrific kids, a wonderful husband, a great life all in all. (okay - so there ARE times things aren't so great, but why dwell on it, kwim? )

Here are a few pictures from our Adoption Hearing Day. The first is our family... well, most of us, we are missing Brett & Bri and Erick.



Here are Dave, myself, Wesley and our lawyer, Kevin Peterson, and Judge Boyer, who, even though he knows us personally, still approved our adoption!


Here's the whole crew of us who attended the hearing! Thanks everyone, for sharing our exciting day!


What a blessing to be able to add to our family through adoption. I know some judge our sanity and question if it is responsible to have such a large family.... and I can say without a doubt... yes, we ARE crazy!... Crazy in love with our kids! And with such a responsibility comes so many blessings it becomes easy enough to handle.

Life IS Good! I have never felt Gods hand in my life more than on this decision. It is through His will that we are able to enjoy this blessing.



Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Hidee Ho!

Yep - it's Tuesday & I have a ton of things I SHOULD be doing instead of blogging. BUT I had to point out that Audra prettied up my blog for me... and even added one of my favorite Chicago songs for us to listen to when we hang out here. Thanks Audra!

So the adoption is FINAL! Woohoo! And yesterday was Brett's birthday - Happy Birthday Brett! ... and on Sunday we are blessing Wesley at church. Audra is on bedrest until further notice (which I think means - until you deliver :D ) so I'm trying to help with Myelle and help her keep up with general house stuff. I don't know that I'm doing very well helping.

The weather is BEYOOOTIFUL today! Around 40 degrees and the sun is shining it's little heart out. There are puddles everywhere, but it's okay as this is the path towards spring. :)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Almost Final!



Wesley is 8 months old today! We've had him since he was 3 weeks old. What a sweet little boy. :) In 2 days we have our hearing for the finalization of the adoption! I'd like to say "how times flies", but I have to admit that it has been a tedious wait. Once everything is finalized we can have Wesley blessed and have him sealed to us in the temple! THEN I will relax and he will be ours forever.

Wesley learned to crawl just after Christmas. Now he crawls everywhere. FAST! He is pulling up to furniture and hangs our our legs when he wants held. One busy, busy boy! We are so blessed to have him as part of our family.