I Apologize

I am going to apologize for my...let's say. . . . . . 2 month (or so) hiatus.

But I am back! And so we have a lot of catching up to do...

I've made myself pretty busy between now and the end of last school year... not that I'm complaining. I 'm having a great summer so far.

We've been having some good golfing days (yes, the sun has been shining here)... although I will tell you it's kind of hard to concentrate when you are golfing with this...

I got to spend an extended weekend with one of my cousins. :) It had been so long since we made time to hang out together!

This summer I have also had one of the greatest experiences of my life... South Dakota Girls' State.

It was so much fun. I met so many new people and became closer to old friends! It is definitely something I will never forget. :) I also won a scholarship for being the best attorney! (That made my mother happy..which is always good.)

 

The Scotland girls that went together!



 



There were nationalists and federalists. I was a nat :) The primary election night was definitely the best of the whole week! You can't even imagine... some people have tagged the phrase "It's a girls state thing..you wouldn't understand." :)

I've also had some fun time for friends.. of course :)

We've had BBQs... (I have yet to master the art of cooking...I tell my mom often that the genes just weren't passed down).

...and campfires :) The boys think they are good at getting this started..when actually it was my dad's starting block that got it going. (The girls stuck it in the bottom when they weren't paying attention...It's okay to feed the men's egos once in awhile;))



And of course..we have made it to Minnesota to see Happy Mom (for whom this blog post is dedicated :P)and the family! I had a great time both times... the first was to see some Twins games (they won both! every time we go its a nice W..i think they should invite me back every time...my poor dad is a Ranger fan...the outcome isn't as great for him!)... and the second time was for some nice relaxation! (although the weekend didn't necessarily start off that way... a GPS was involved and we will leave it at that... it is a different story for a different time.)

I got a nice picture of Cuddy and Danny!

Always a Twins fan:)

At the Cabin!! I have to say this looked like fun:)

Little guy loves to be silly!!
This is maybe my favorite picture ever:)





Little Guy also loves his naps :)





Royals. Twins. Rangers.
It's interesting during some baseball games.

I've also been keeping busy with softball..we have a pretty good team this year. (In case any of you are wondering i'm batting a .368 and play 2nd base...:P)

My best friend Jaymie thinks she's pretty cool in her catcher's gear.. :)

Sorry about the angle...I have yet to master another art.. that of rotating a picture.

On Father's Day we went to Yankton and checked out all the flood water coming from the dam...and all i can say is literally...HOLY BUCKETS!

And me and Soy finished the day with some good ole fashioned knee volleyball. :)

(The chairs being our net..) I decided to add this because it's more of a weekly occurance... until the ball flies too far and we get an earful from Mom.

My friend ANNA is back from GERMANY! If any of you facebookers hadn't noticed we had been counting down for the last 30 days :)

There will be another blog post on this one ^ mainly because we just have so much to say!

And this one's for you Happy Mom... :)

Ryan really enjoyed the birthday cake i baked him the other night. :)

That about wraps it up... I promise I will do my best to try and stay updated from here on out!! Thank you Happy Mom for keeping me on my toes :) I am having a great summer and I hope the same for the rest of you!

You Can Tell It's Springtime...

You can tell it's springtime because I've been busy. REALLY busy. Really Really busy.

I don't have time to catch up 100% so I'll touch on a few highlights.

Prom.

Play.

Sound like enough to keep a girl busy?

You'll hear more about all 3 of these later. :) 

Birthday Fun!

This past weekend I celebrated my 17th birthday.

Friday was the day of my actual birthday. 

We had a basketball game Friday, and following that some friends and I went up to the bar for some pizza and...

birthday cakes!!!!!! :)

After that we went home and played some just dance. One of the individuals (who is a good wrestler) took turns pinning every one of the boys at the birthday party. It was pretty fun.

Until we got the call from upstairs to shut up.

Some of my favorite (and most comical) birthday wishes that day included:

* "Happy Birthday Mrs. Mauer!!"

* "Happy Birthday SHOCKA!!" (for those of you that don't know, I had an imaginary friend named Shocka when I was younger, and for some reason a few friends found out and the name has now been passed on to me.)

* And of course, someone couldn't forget this one: "Happy Birthday Sydney! I'll make sure nobody orders the clowns for you today!" (I absolutely DO NOT like clowns- and this came from someone with an inside joke-- a very unfortunate story that will be saved for a later time.) :)

Saturday we had a game in the Corn Palace. That's always an experience.

And Sunday was of course...SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

To be honest I really don't like either of the teams, but I picked the Packers to win in two of my classes, so that's who I ended up cheering for! I came out lucky there!!!

Of course there were a few other distractions at the party as well...

 

All in all, it was a good weekend. :) I got to spend a lot of time with great friends and my family gave me a great birthday (paying for the pizzas and presents and cakes).

I'm still holding out for one of my birthday presents though...

P.S. I will be blogging about Minnesota sometime (hopefully) soon. I am still (patiently- I swear) waiting for some pictures coming to me by email. On another note: I have a newfound (somewhat--still working on it) patience. It isn't all about me! If don't reply right away when things are asked of me, then I shouldn't expect one either! Especially during a busy season. :) Thanks for the inadvertent lesson Happy Mom. :)

Winter Ball

Before the German left (Goodbye for Now) we held a "prom" for her.

She was upset because when her brother visited, he came the 2nd semester so he got to go to prom.

When she found out what we were planning, she said "Ha! I'm so important they are HAVING a prom for ME!)

The night was fun. Many pictures were taken, and some goodbyes were said. It was a nice preview for our prom coming in March. You will be hearing much more about that seeing as I am on the prom committee.



Goodbye For Now

The other day a goodbye was said to a close friend.

The German had to go back home for this semester. She'll come back and visit this summer, but until then we will be missing her back here. Her plans are to come to college and live here for the rest of her life.. so that's why we only say "Goodbye for Now".

She won't be missed by just the girls either!

And we learned the Shulz game from her too :) 

You'll be missed!!!

A Bit of Holiday Catching Up

The holidays started off with some Thanksgiving Fun.

The family followed up with some Christmas decorating.

Lights Lights Lights!!!

 

We finished up with putting the angel on top of the tree.

Even Sherby got involved! (Christmas is his favorite time of the year-- i'm sure it has nothing to do with the tree.)



Exhausted afterwards..

A few days before Christmas.. the family arrived.

Christmas day was spent with Happy Mom and her family and many cousins including new baby B!

Opening presents!!

 

Family time!!

 

Baby B!!



Sherby got into the season again!!

New Years' Eve was spent during a blizzard, so needless to say there was nothing going on. No pictures were taken.

Thanksgiving Fun

Thanksgiving weekend was a lot of fun for me.

I got a lot of catching up with the family.

Happy Mom, Little Guy, and Big Poppy visited and we had a good time.

The fun started Thursday Morning when they arrived. Then came Grandpa and Uncle Doug for dinner.

We had turkey, stuffing (yay happy mom!), chocolate cake, dinner rolls, and appetizers.

(The appetizers and dessert was last minute because [congrats!] Cousin Channy had her baby boy!!)

One plus side, nobody was sick this weekend (from the food that is--head colds are a different story, and they have been going around our household too).

We went to Grandpa's on Friday, and spent the weekend there.

We went out hunting a bit but not much was seen.

 

Well okay, we saw a few things.

We came home Saturday night, and Happy Mom and the family left Sunday Morning.

We'll be excited to see them again at Christmas!! And all in all it was a great weekend. :)