FL Trip - for trigg

 

MN Fishing Trip - 2023

 Big fish club

Track - Johnston Running Club

 This spring, Trigg ran track with the Johnston Running Club. I helped coach and we had a blast! He ran 200, 400, 800 and jumped into some relay events too! 

The boys had some success in the relays! Walking away with ribbons!

Trigg going hard through the turn

Let's go dragons!

Running hard

Another relay exchange

This meet was out at Waukee

Getting those hand offs

This was the finish of the 800

These pictures loaded backways... and their off

The start of the 800

We had a slight rain delay, so we waited it out in the back of the Jeep!

Running hard at Valley

Trig vs Trigg, working hard and pushing the pace!

Trigg had a great season, learned a ton about running track and what events he likes! He is starting to lean more towards the distance events and is looking forward to cross country this fall! (So is his coach!)

Seven Oaks - Boone

 The kids learned to ski last year, so we were excited to get out again this season and remember how to ski! It came right back to them! We headed up to Boone to ski/snowboard at Seven Oaks

We met our friends, the Kopps and Trigg got to bring along a buddy, Brandt tagged along and tried snowboarding!

Chair lift photos are the best!

Trigg and Brandt... I think they are all smiles!

Having fun in the snow!

Just like riding a bike, we all remembered how to have fun on skis/snowboards!

Thumbs up from these dudes

Group photo!

Mom and the dudes

Fun in the snow!

These two...!!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

 We do a Secret Santa gift exchange at our house, we each draw names and then head to 5 Below, our budget is $5. We spend 15 minutes browsing the store, meet back up and tell what has caught our eye and then secretly go shopping for your gift.

This year, I got Heather and pulled the Russian nesting doll trick with wrapped gifts...

The kids and I thought it was great... Heather was less amused!

G has the best expressions when opening his gifts!

Joy!

Shock!

He was excited for his new soccer ball... Then Trigg opened his gift from Garrett, a huge bag of Mike 'n Ikes!

T was pretty excited too!

We surprised Trigg with a drum set for his big gift this year... time for a family jam session

Let's rock!

We also surprised the kids with getting them dogs.... just kidding, we dog sat for MJ and Pixie!

Garrett's happy place

Nashville

 For our anniversay this year, Heather and I took a vacation, just the two of us, to Nashville, TN, the home of country music! 

Day 1, we went to the iconic Grand Old Opry for a tour and to check out the history of the music

Giant guitars on the front lawn!

The tour was great, we got to see everything from behind the sceens to the famous stage!

What an iconic venue

After the Grand Ole Opry, we went over to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Cenvention Center, so just walk around their huge indoor atrium and gardens. It was decoracted for Christmas with giant ornaments....

 and 16 celebrity decorated Christmas trees

We found all 16 trees and took a picture in front of each one...but that's alot of pictures, so I just included these two.

And, of course, huge guitars hanging from the ceiling!

We also went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, another amazing tour of how country music became country music

Such a rich history and amazing to see how many artists have impacted music!

We also went and explored The Gulch, a great nieghborhood between Nashville's Music Row and Downtown. Lots of shops, food and plenty to see! Pit stop at Hops & Crafts for a snack and a beer!

Walking around Nashville, you can't help but see all the awesome murals on the sides of buildings!

The dutch girl!

We found the iconic "What Lifts You" butterfly wings!

...and I found some good wings too!

The Ryman!

On our last day, we headed to the 12 South neighborhood to explore, shop and eat!

We stopped at Five Daughters Bakery for some doughnuts...they were pretty solid!

We had a great time exploring Nashville, listening to live music and seeing the city at Christmas time! We would highly recommend it and would totally go again!