Tessa's B-day Post

                         
                                HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
                             

             Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister, Tessa! It seems like just yesterday that we were dressing up as Laura and Mary in Little House on the Prairie, building forts in the woods, or playing school with our dolls...and now here she is 15 years old! Tessa is a beautiful, happy, talented, and spunky young lady who never ceases to bring a smile to my face. She is my closest friend, my partner in crime, ;) and someone whom I truly admire. Her love for life is contagious, and her love for Jesus shines through her smile ..I'll let the pictures say the rest. =)

                                                     Picking Blueberries in our back yard.

                                                              "The Sisters Restaurant"                            

                           
        I know it is really hard to tell from this picture, but Tessa has a HUGE sweet tooth. =)

                                                       
                                                       Clowning around with the cousins. :)
     

                                                                      Awww!

  *Best buds*

Tessa always managed to keep up with the big kids, even when it came to hiking up steep rocks!

Tessa and "Millie"

Picking out a Christmas tree with our exchange student, Luba, from Tajikistan.

This was taken right before Tessa almost drowned in a river. We are so thankful for God's hand of protection over her life!

                                       

                                   Taken with Grandma Pat before Tessa's baptism at Story Book Lodge

   

                            Spunky!                                   

                                           but not enough to hold the slimy fish she caught. :)

 We make a great team. From snow forts to blanket forts, to tree forts, we were perpetual builders. :)

 Tessa is always up for a good board game!

 Grandpa Jim <3>

                                                                     Entering a mining cave

Pioneers :D

                                   Walking the field at the Metrodome...Tessa is a die-hard Twins fan!

          She won first place at the Washington County fair for one of her quilts at the age of 8!

                                                                           Goof ball. :P

Gangstas!

Besties!

Weirdos :P

Posted by AnaLise



Florida

So I thought I should update everyone about what's been happening in this VERY busy home. ;)  Thanks to Christmas break I've had time!! (I know...excuses excuses...) =P  One thing that was a big highlight, was Florida!  We spent a week down there enjoying our family vacation time. :)  

The first half of our visit was spent in Venice, relaxing in the sun...and well simply enjoying a time to take a break and enjoy the scenery.  The last few days we spent in Orlando...being "typical tourists". ;)

Here are some pictures from our time spent there...we're so glad God made this work out! :)

Jonas and Isaac...the sand castle experts! ;)

Shark's teeth hunting...at the end of our trip we found a total of 140! 

We saw quite a few exotic birds.

Lucas...the "rock explorer" lol =)

Jonas and "Papa" :)

We took a boat tour at a Natural Reserve

If you look closely...there's an alligator in the water

Jonas doing his "Sea World" song/dance :)

While in Orlando, we went to Sea World, as well as the Disney parks.  See what I meant by "typical tourists"?! =P

Inside one of the shows

Lucas found an...emm emm...let's just say an interesting buddy =P

Dad and the boys went ocean fishing....and brought back some delicious fish for us to eat!

This picture made me laugh =P

Very intense players lol

A picture of a picture...inside one of the rides at Magic Kingdom  =P

"King of the mountain" ;)

Some zebras we saw on the safari tour at Animal Kingdom

Pictures at the airport...=)

Nice one Ize =P

Me, being really weird...lol =P

Yeah....really weird!!

Ok...at least I'm not the only weird one!!

Pay attention to the signs...lol =P

That's it for our Florida experience...=)

Hopefully I'll blog more soon!

Posted by Tessa