Welcome Bren Donald!!!

There is always a time of excitement when one of your close friends is expecting a baby. It seems as if the 9 months takes forever as you sit with anticipation to see how cute the new little one will be. Tasha and I have been friends since grade school and have rekindled our friendship over the past couple of years (post college) I have also gotten to know her husband Don a bit better as well.

A close group of us girls from high school try to get together once a month. We had dinner on Tuesday, June 30th so we could see Tasha one more time before baby Shim arrived.

I got a text on Tuesday the 7th saying Bren had arrived. Unlike many couples this day in age, Tasha and Don wanted the baby's arrival to be a surprise so they did not find out what sex the baby would be. How exciting that their first little one is a boy.

I had the opportunity to go to the hospital on Wednesday the 8th over my lunch hour with my other friend Tasha, to see the little guy....he is just perfect and adorable in every little way :) Tasha and baby were doing great.

Here is wonderful little blurb about how baby Bren got his name: Bren Donald is a family name. Bren is after Brenda Mink, Don's mom who passed away in 1999; and Donald is a name that's been passed down through four generations: Donald Walter Mink (Don's grandfather, Jeffrey Donald Mink (Don's father), Donald Henry Mink (a.k.a. Don), and now Bren Donald Mink.

Congratulations Tasha & Don. I am excited to watch the little one grow!!!

Weekends

Oh the dreaded Monday has arrived. Why do the weekends have to go so quickly, especially one like we just had that was absolutely beautiful out. Oh well, I guess I have to make money some how!!!

This past weekend was really nice. We had a wonderful dinner on Friday with Brian's family at Biaggi's in Maple Grove. We all ate way too much and then went back to their house for the most delicious chocolate cake that Bry made. YUM! Then some friends came over for a little bit and it was off to bed.

Saturday started off with just a little bit of sleeping in (only til 9:30) and then it was time to hit the river. It was a cool morning, but beautiful out. Our friends Melissa and Yost met us at the launch and we just floated for a good part of the morning. Then our friends Mitch and Molly were in town from WI, so they joined us as well. Eventually Yost and Melissa had to leave, so Jeremy and Laura came out. About 5:00 we all finally took a run in the water. The boys used some wake skis and us girls wake boarded. It was my first time ever and I got up on my 3rd try. Molly got up on her 2nd and Laura was a pro, she got up right away, but has also done it before.

We finally got off the river about 7:00. We all freshened up and headed over to Melissa's mom's house for her surprise 50th birthday party. We missed the surprise but ate some food and hung out. Then it was back to the house for a bonfire. I think we were all pretty tired from being in the sun all day, so we called it a night by 11:30.

Sunday Brian went golfing and I did some stuff around the house and then it was off to the ski otter show. Brian skied yesterday and did a great job, considering it was his first time in the show this year!

What a wonderful weekend we had. Looking forward to next weekend...hopefully it will be just as nice outside!

July 6th

Monday night after work, Brian asked if I wanted to go out on the river fishing for a bit. Of course I said yes, the sun was out, the weather was beautiful and the fish were not biting!!!! I did catch a northern but that was about it. The sunset was the best part of the evening.

July 4th

4th of July has to be my most favorite holiday! Our family tradition is to go out to Prior Lake and be on the boat all day. Then at the end of the day we go to Sunder's (our family friends) to watch the fireworks.

This was Brian's first year joining us on the 4th and despite the rain in the afternoon, I think he and I know I had a good time.

Logan was a trooper and had fun checking out the fire truck on shore. None of us really even went in the water much as it was so cloudy, but hopefully next year the weather will be nicer.

July 3rd - Time with Friends

Ahhhh - holiday's. You gotta love them - especially when you get a day off work and even better, when it is a Friday!!!! We started the day off by sleeping in a bit, after being out at the Taste of MN the night before. Our buddy Adam spent the night so I made a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon. Then Adam helped Brian tear up the carpet in the basement so we can start remodeling the bathroom downstairs. After all of that was done we mowed the lawn so we could enjoy the rest of the weekend.



We were one of the only other couples/friends in town for the weekend so we called up our friends Matt and Jenni to see what they were up to. They were heading over to Matt's parents house. They live on a private lake and so we went out and skied for a little bit and the boys got some great bare footing in, along with a couple of good wipe outs too...which i did not catch on camera. We stayed there for dinner with Matt's parents and sister and then headed over to their townhouse in Blaine.Upon arrival at the townhouse we cracked open a couple of beers and started playing bocee ball. It was a lot of fun and our friend Nick joined us too. Then we were wishing we had fireworks to light off. They guys wanted us to go buy some from somewhere and we said no. Jenni thought they had some in the garage but could not find them, so finally we went to go buy them under the white tent at Menard's (according to Matt). There was no white tent at Menard's, so we ended up going to Target. In the meantime on our way back to the house, Brian calls and says, "we found the fireworks, we don't need any." Uh...we just bought some...oh well - more to light off. We had a lot of fun lighting off both the legal and illegal fireworks. Then we started a bonfire and made smores. It was a great night!!!!

Taste of MN - July 2nd

Catching up on posts today!!!!

So we didn't have much planned for the 4th of July weekend, other than to have fun, get some sun and hang out with all of our friends who didn't have plans...so that is exactly what we did!!!

Thursday night Brian thought it would be fun to go to the Taste of MN after work. So we figured out who was around and took off. We had a lot of fun. Stain was the music for the evening. We drank some beers, at some food and had a great time people watching. We ended up going to Psycho Suzie's on the way home and met up with Rook, Jim and Adam.

We had a really fun night! Check out the crazy things we sa

Birthday Celebration #2 - Wednesday July 1st

Happy Birthday Honky!!!!

We surprised Jeremy on his birthday this year! His girlfriend Laura took him out to dinner at Axel's and stalled him until we could get there! He was pretty surprised!!! We gave him a shot of tequila to start off the night. Then we headed over to Green Mill and met up with a few other friends to celebrate his big day!!!! Since it was a Wednesday and we all had to work the next day, we called it an early night around 11, but we still had a great time!!!!

Birthday Celebration #1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNI!!!

Last Friday the 26th of June we celebrated Jenni (and Tom's) Birthdays. After the Ski Otter show we went to Trattoria da Vinci for a late night pasta dinner - YUM! From there we went to Alary's (which is DEAD) in the summer. There we had some yummy grape ape shots (just for Jenni) and played some bags. Tom was also celebrating his birthday and joined us as well. Brian's cousin Corey was in town from South Dakota so she also joined us. Jenni's official birthday is July 1st, but we sure had a fun time celebrating!!!