A White Wedding at the White House

This is the White House in Kragnes. Chris and I were married here almost 7 years ago. This is a very sad picture for me to look at. We drive by this on our anniversary every year and I hope it is still there this July 26. -RL

Flood Pics '09 part 1

This is the mark the flood is supposed to reach. If it goes over this, the dike will be breached.

As of this posting, the neighborhood was going to build up another foot of sandbags on top of this. All that white, is snow and ice built up along the encroaching river. We had over 7 inches of snow yesterday.

Getting closer every hour....

This is a view of the river from my parents' deck. It comes up about 1o feet onto the trunks of the trees.

This is a part of the deck that had to be ripped out to accomodate more sandbags.

A view from the safe side of the barricade. You can see the water right up next to the sandbags.

This is a portion of the vast wall of sandbags protecting my parents' house.

Mud Puddles

We went to Brainerd last week to see Grammy and Boppa Dale. While Chris looked on wincing, I allowed my boys to jump in the mud puddles and get completely soaked and muddy. I can't believe this picture I got of Elliot. I was just snapping randomly and quickly. So happy I caught this face of Elliot's. It's one of my favorites.

These boys are a great team. They really play well together and look out for one another. When waking up in the morning or after a nap, Elliot immediately starts saying, "Eeetee! Eeetee!" which is Ethan to him. Not mama, dada....nope, he needs his Eeetee. -RL

The 2009 Flood

We are in the midst of a possibly historic flood here in the FM area. I'm on my 4th day of sandbagging and my arms, wrists and back have never been more sore. These pictures cannot even begin to display what is going on up here, but hopefully, I'll post some more pictures as we near the crest date. This first picture is what it looks like behind Bobbie and Dennis' house. You can see the water behind the hay bales, but that water is only from rain and melting snow. The river has not come through yet. If anyone can come and help, there is plenty of work to be done. It's hard work, but so rewarding to see people come together. We need all the help we can get! -RL

This mud is nasty to walk through. And it's everywhere. It used to be grass before Bobcats, forklifts and many volunteers came through.

Sara came home today to help with the massive effort of protecting Brentwood.

Ethan is not too little to realize the importance of helping others. The sandbags are heavy, but he doesn't quit!

He is rewarded with wheelbarrow rides through the mud. He's a good comic relief for everyone.

This was day 2 of sandbagging. We're behind Bobbie and Dennis' house and had just finished the sandbags you can see behind us.

At this point, we are not so dirty. An hour after this picture was taken, we were mostly covered in mud.

Words and Words and More Words!!

Here is, as promised below, a very sweet video of my littlest saying some of his words in his adorable voice. -RL

My Elliot

Just a few random pics of Elliot at 20 months. He's growing up so fast and changing every day. Ethan didn't really say a lot until he was over 2, almost 3 years old. Elliot does not stop talking....ever. I'm going to video all his words this week and put them on here. He says no, yes, more, all done, all gone, mama, dadda, Bobbie, Boppa, brother, Emma, pup, kitty, book, ball, Elmo (over and over and over), Grover, Big Bird, mouse, moose, nose, mouth, ears, eyes, toes, Hi (insert above pronoun here), car, pig, horse, and poop, as in "Mama, I poop." And several more that I'm forgetting, but are so adorable coming out of his perfect little face. Look at this little man, have ya ever seen a more happy-to-know-ya kind of face?! -RL

Extreme closeup of eating!

Aunts & Uncles and the Children They Spoil

Here is Uncle Derek and Elliot. Derek was bouncing Elliot on his legs and he couldn't get enough of it. You figure out which "he" I mean.

Auntie Melissa looking so cute smiling at Elliot. Why is everyone in this family photogenic except me?!

Auntie Kendra helping Ethan work on his Darth Vader laptop that they bought him for Christmas. I'm glad someone helped him figure it out--I'm still confused. -RL