My herd

What my family will do for a free dinner at Chick-Fil-A.  

Josie now knows what a cow says :)

More birthdays

 

Jesse serenaded me on my birthday :)

 Asher made me the Statue of Liberty

 and my dear dear wonderful husband sent me to a spa for the afternoon (after surprising me by taking the day off work, letting me sleep in, and serving me breakfast in bed).  It was one of those spas where you hung out in a "relaxation room" in a fluffy bathrobe, drank mimosas, AND had heated toilet seats!  Joel even had a cupcake delivered to me while I was there.  I don't know how he will ever top this birthday - it was PERFECT!

I really hate it when my birthday is over but can't whine for long as it is full swing into Joel's birthday.  He of course had to go to work (boo) so we were only able to make the evening as wonderful as we could.  This chocolate peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache helped :).  Next in cue is our anniversary!!!

A month of birthdays...

July is a favorite month in the Thorson household (well at least for this Thorson).  This month includes my birthday, Joel's birthday, and our anniversary.  But the month begins with America's birthday-another birthday we love! We began the celebration on the 3rd with a family camp out in our backyard (my kind of camping!).

 Cooking hotdogs and Smores over our new fire pit (a birthday gift from my parents-thank you Mom and Dad!).

 Our backyard set up...the fire was quickly extinguished when a thunder storm came through.  But my family stuck it out in the tent telling "spooky" stories.  I was so proud of them!

 I of course ended up inside with Josie (I was not cut out for the 90 degree sauna that the tent became).  I was wondering around the house and found zombies at the window at around 10 pm!  Spooky!

 Josie on the 4th.  We did a backyard BBQ with our neighbors and she did face painting for the kids! Our day included corn hole, great food, sparklers, local fire works, and another late night for the kiddos.

 My kids were most excited about being allowed to have a coke.

 Just have to toot my own horn...I was pretty proud of my flag cake :).

 Whoops...pictures got out of order but here is Joel and I in our hot 2 person tent with the 6 members of our family!  I think we need a bigger one!

Jesse was happy in his own little corner.  Now why does he have a blanket on?!

Family

June has been a month filled with family.  It was such a blessing to see the kids enriching their relationships with family they always hear about but don't often see.  Thanks to the Fox and Thorson family members who have recently invested in our lives!

It has been 2 years since the kids have seen Auntie Mara.  For those math challenged, yes, that means she had not met Josie until this moment in time!  Of course she was a hit with all the kids and we all had a wonderful time catching up on her travels and life.

 Asher always has lots of hugs for Grandpa.  He is usually stuck to Grandpa's side like glue.

 A large portion of the "Fox" family gathering to celebrate cousin Jess's college graduation.  We were definitely missing and thinking of the family members not there!

 Great Grandma Fox is always smothered by the kids but she seems to like it!

 We had a little shopping day but due to some complications from my foot surgery, I still have some walking restrictions.  Don't tell me I'm the only one that has had visions of racing one of these around?!  Apparently not because Grandpa had some fun too!  I had to keep giving the kids turns on it with me.  Sad to say they do not go as fast as I had imagined.

 The shopping trip would not be complete without a trip for Anna to show off her favorite place: the American Girl Doll store.  Anna has gotten pretty frustrated with Josie stealing all of her babies, especially her precious American Girl Doll Emily.  Big thanks to Grandma for solving this problem for us!  Josie got "Juliet", her own "itty bitty baby" American Girl Doll.  This was good because Josie pulled a doll off the shelf and was holding onto it for dear life and screaming bloody murder when we tried to take it away.  Juliet helped solve that problem :).

 Aunt Kim brought some treasures from Russia.  Doesn't Jesse fit the bill?  I promise this is root beer!

Jesse with his pal Uncle Pat.  Uncle Pat and Aunt Priscilla live an hour from us here and have been true blessings in this whole foot surgery problem! Thank you thank you thank you!