Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Mom!  

You are an amazing person and I am so blessed to be able to call you Mom!  You have shown me what true love, compassion and determination mean.  There are so many times that I look back and say "thank you" for teaching me life lessons.  You have been there for me through everything and for that I am truly grateful.  I can only wish that I will be half the mom to my children one day that you have been to me.  I love you more than you will ever know!

Enjoy your Mother's Day and know that all three of your daughters love you to the moon and back!

Love You Mom!

Antigua

As promised, I am going back in time and recapping some of the trips Laramie and I have been on recently.  We had a great winter traveling and it was a perfect winter to travel, since it was SO LONG!

At the end of January, Laramie and I went on our honeymoon to Antigua.  Its an island in the Caribbean just southeast of the British Virgin Islands and north of St. Lucia.  The island was absolutely beautiful and the weather was amazing.  We spent a few of our days relaxing by the pool and then a few exploring the island and doing some snorkeling. 

The first night that we were there, we just relaxed and got to know the resort.  The second night, they had a luau on the beach with dancers, a fire eater and delicious food.

On one of our days, we had a cab driver take us around the island.  We went into town to do some shopping, but then we also went to Nelson's Dockyard which used to be an old British Colonial naval base.  Now it is home to some of the most exquisite yachts and sailboats.

After visiting Nelson's Dockyard, we went up to Shirley Heights which had some of the most breathtaking views.  You could see miles of open, clear, blue water.  It was amazing!

We stayed at the Sandals resort.  The accommodations were great and I would highly recommend a Sandals resort.  The people were fantastic and the resort was awesome.  There was always something to do during the day and in the evening.  They had great music and great food.  Here are a few pictures...

The very last day that we were there, we spent the entire day snorkeling.  We went on an excursion that took us out to some great reefs and to a little island where we got to do some hiking as well.  One of the places we stopped was called Hell's Gate.  Basically, on one side is the calm, Caribbean Sea and on the other side is the roaring Atlantic Ocean.

We enjoyed our day of swimming, snorkeling and hiking.  It was definitely our favorite day!

Here are a few additional photos that were taken throughout the week.

 We had a fantastic time and are already planning our next trip back down to the Caribbean.

Grenada maybe?

May Snow

Well, it has been awhile since I last blogged.  And when I mean awhile, its been over 4 months!  There have been so many things going on over the past few months and we have done a lot of exciting things.  We have been to Antigua, went skiing in Northern MN, visited Clearwater, FL and many other exciting things.  I plan on taking the next few days to catch everyone up on all of those and share some fun photos.  However, lets start with the events of today...

SNOW STORM IN MAY!!!

When I went to bed last night, the last snow report I heard was saying up to 6 inches for Southern, MN.  In typical fashion, they were wrong!  Lets try 15.5 inches (reported by the National Weather Service.)  This is the view from my bedroom window this morning when I woke up...

After realizing there was no way that I was going to be getting out of my driveway until the driveway was clear and the snow plows came through, I took my camera out to take photos of all the snow in our yard.  Not only did we get ALOT of snow, it was the wet, heavy snow!  I looked out to the backyard and saw that our big tree had some large branches that snapped...

Laramie spent all day trying to get the branches cut down.  The scary part was that there was another branch that looked like it could snap and was right over the neighbors garage.  We got that one taken care of right away.  We were fortunate enough that we didn't lose power like some did in Owatonna.  However, the power line in our backyard was dipping pretty low due to the weight of the snow.

I finally was able to get out of the driveway around 9 am and went to work.  The roads are now cleared and the snow has already started melting.  Here are a few additional photos of the day...

He doesn't know where to start. Hahaha.

Hopefully after this "nice" little storm from Mother Nature, she will start being nice and let us have spring.  Please...