Our week without Ben : (

Ben spent all last week in Northern Minnesota fishing on Lake Kabetogama near Voyageurs National Park with my dad, my brother and my uncle. Ben never offers an abundance of details but he said the fishing was pretty good. They had a couple fish fries and he brought home a few packages of walleye so they must not have done to bad. He must have had a good time though because he keeps trying to talk me into going there next year. I am resisting because it is not family friendly. No beach or playground for kids. There are plenty of other resorts to visit in MN.

Ben wouldn't have his picture taken so here is dad with a big catch

Ryan and I were left to fend for ourselves and we had our hands full. Not only was Ben gone but Brad and Donna were also gone. They went to visit Lynn, Michael and Colt in CO. Ryan and I had to chore our 400 chickens, 8 calves and Brad/Donna's 9 horses and 3 dogs. YIKES! We did just fine though. Just a little time consuming. I knew ahead of time that they would all be gone at the same time so I didn't plan much for Ryan and I during that week. We were available to keep an eye on everything. Plus my grandparents came to help us out from Sunday thur Wednesday. It was so nice to have them around. Never fails, they are always there to help anyone and everyone.

My grandparents were able to go watch Ryan swim at the pool and watch him at his creative movements class while they were here. Most of my family live 2.5 hours away so no one really attends Ryan's activities which is tough for me since I grew up with family attending all of my activities. I was overly excited for my grandparents to be there to support Ryan.

BIG SHOCKER COMING!!!! My project for the week was transforming the flower gardens! Donna had big beautiful flower garden while they lived here and I have done nothing with them for three years. I am not a gardener. It just isn't something that I enjoy. But I was taking care of Donna's flowers while they were gone and I guess it motivated me to work on the flower gardens at my own house. Plus my uncle tipped me off to some cheap mulch. I figured if I was going to do it now is the time. My grandparents helped me weed the jungle. After they left I used RoundUp for some of the little tiny annoy weeds, sprinkled Preen all over then put down 22 bags of mulch. It was a lot of work in the heat but now that the hard part is done I am hoping it will be easy to maintain.

Ryan caught a toad while working in the garden

Since Ben was on a fishing trip Ryan and I decided it was fitting to go to the Story County Conservation Fishing Derby at Hickory Grove with the Travis family. They had a nice little set up and Ryan had a great time. The first 144 kids got a free bag full of goodies and door prizes were given out. Ryan caught two fish ALL BY HIMSELF. He casted by himself and reeled the fish in by himself. I took the fish off the hook but Ryan threw the fish back in the water.

Cainan, Ryan and Treyton Beautiful photo taken by Anna

On Friday we went to a playdate at Jenn's house. The kids played outside in the water all morning. It was a perfectly hot day for playing outside. One of my favorite things to do is hang out with friends. I get as much out of the social interaction as Ryan does especially when Ben had been out of town.

Two of my favorite 1 year olds - Aubrey and Maddy

All in all it was a good week but we are happy daddy is home. We are also happy that grandma and grandpa are home too.