Jamin didn't have to start work yet today, as he has most Sundays this summer, so we had some nice family time. Zaria enjoyed some extra "papa time."
We also had Dan and Gwendolyn over to help fill a few boxes. Gwendolyn wanted me to take a picture of her-- I told her to pose and this was the result. The thinking 3-year-old.
Since Jamin's sister Jennie was still in town from the family reunion, we had her and their folks over for breakfast this morning. Zaria was enjoying having Grandpa David help her with her new pink shoes.
Meanwhile, the pounding began today. Somehow, we all managed to take a morning nap through some of the pounding, though Jamin said it sounded exactly like the pounding that happens on his semi door to wake him up after a load is finished. I guess we were pretty beat from getting back late last night from our drive back from Bemidgi.
Zaria had fun at the park in the morning with Grandma Dawn and Aunt Katie while Jamin and I went to church with Dad. She also got a new "princess skirt" from the dollar store that she was pretty pleased about.
In the afternoon, we joined up with a fair number of Jamin's relatives at the family reunion. The above photo shows all of Jamin's dad's siblings in birth order. L-R: Ronald, Coral and Knute (they're fraternal twins, a few minutes apart), Alfred, David, Herbert and Richard. They go by Ron, Coral, Knute, Al, Dave, Herb and Rich. They're all very intelligent and had some great stories to share during the reunion. I was so glad we made the trip up. The youngest family member to make it was Ron's first great grandchild, Emery, who was just a few weeks old.
In preparation for a family reunion tomorrow in Bimidgi, we drove up north to Dad and Dawn's cabin so we wouldn't have two 4-hour trips to drive in one day. Our trip up went surprisingly fast, broken up nicely by us switching drivers and stopping for dinner at Taco Bell, I suspect. One snafu to our lovely trip: we forgot to bring the Pack N Play along for Zaria to sleep in. It was pretty tough getting her to sleep on the floor where we made a bed out of blankets, but she did eventually get to sleep. That also meant we had to switch rooms with my stepsister Katie when she was already settled in, but she took it in stride.
We celebrated my Great Grandma Ethel's (Cubby's) 103rd birthday today. Above she's pictured with her three sons, Gerald (my stepdad Dave's dad), Gene and Dave, and her daughters-in-law Barbara, Karen and Lynn. Great Grandma is in great shape, though she has trouble hearing people.
The youngest and the oldest ladies of the family all sat together at one table. It was very cute. Zaria enjoyed seeing and playing with her cousins Becca and Tricia again. The 3 great grandmas are (L-R) my Dad's mom Alpha, my aunt's mom Judy, and my stepmom's mom Wilma. They're also pictured in the group shot below.
Family picture with all the siblings on my dad's side. Renee and Kurt came to town for a visit, and Jason and his wife Caralee came, as well as my stepbrother and stepsister, Scott and Katie. The last time all 5 of us were together was at my grandpa's funeral, so it was a special day. Mom and Dave came too, and Dave volunteered to be the photographer.
So, not only did Jamin have to work on his birthday, we ended up taking him to the ER for Fathers' Day. He got a piece of broccoli lodged towards the bottom of his esophagus and for a while he couldn't even swallow his own spit without it getting stuck. After some attempts at medicinal treatments, he still had trouble, but could at least swallow liquids. We were a little late, then, for Gwendolyn's third birthday party, and he had to watch me eat pizza and cake while he was only able to get a glass of Yo-J down. Still, we had fun spending time with family, and we even got Zaria in a swing for about 2 minutes to take a picture of the three cousins, Elena Zaria and Gwendolyn. Gwen was trying out her new tricycle and Zaria would not let go of this little doll.
Above is a big group shot of family members at my mom's cousin Diane's funeral today. A few of my mom's siblings, Julene, Judy, and Jonathon were able to attend. I think I might've been the only cousin-once-removed. The two characters in the center hamming it up are Diane's sons Corbin and Benjamin. I don't think they ever take a serious photo. Maybe I'll add one more to prove my point.
The three girls in front are my second cousins that are identical triplets. They were born one month before I was, and it just so happens one of them is pregnant and due on my same due date! Don't ask me who is who though, I still have no idea.
It was so beautiful out today. Jamin got home in the afternoon, so we were able to eat dinner together and take a walk. Zaria and I had gone out earlier with Jamin's mom, but she was happy to push her stroller around and look for ducks and dogs again. I loved the sound of community softball players in the background.
We had a little baby shower for my cousin Leslie today. She's due in late July with her second child. Her other child is a boy named Tristin (pictured below) whom Zaria enjoyed bugging. She was feeling much better today and enjoyed making the rounds. She thought that Tristin's paying attention to a video game was a great reason to stand right in front of his face and babble to him. It was probably good practice for him to be an older brother soon.
We were visiting Mom and Dave this evening to play games and do some taxes, and it was so nice out we all decided to go for a walk. Princess (the dog) helped and actually pulled Zaria's stroller to a certain extent. Maybe spring is here?
We had a fun time with my Dad's side of the family today for Easter, and of course Zaria was having fun in the limelight, being the baby of the group. The above picture shows my cousin Vicki with daughter Lauren on her lap, and then my uncle Tim and Dad on the couch. The kids (Lauren, Zaria and family friend Matthew) had just finished collecting their Easter eggs. Zaria got the idea of putting eggs in her basket, but had the most fun opening the eggs, dumping the contents, and then putting it back in the egg. Probably good she didn't get interested in eating the jelly beans at this age. She was having much too fun walking around and exploring, and fortunately it was mainly her fingers that went in her mouth.
We had a special Mother's Fellowship today, an Easter celebration service. One of the activities we did was to write down our burdens and nail them to a cross. Then, without looking at what was written, a couple of the leaders pulled all the slips of paper off and brought them outside to be burned in the fire pit outside. There are some large windows that look out into the garden area that includes the fire pit, so we were able to watch as our burdens went up to God in smoke. It was amazing. I wept a little, probably partly due to pregnancy hormones kicking in. I am just so grateful to God that instead of the possible horror I was dreading of an ectopic pregnancy, I am blessed to have two healthy growing babies inside.
Arms usually out, Zaria is getting more and more confident walking around. It means she can get into more things, but so far hasn't gotten into any trouble. We also had a visit from Jamin's folks this evening. They came over and played Boggle with us and enjoyed some Pannekoeken that I attempted for the first time. (I tried it first to make sure it wasn't too much of an experiment-- it was pretty good, but not quite as fluffy as the real thing.) Marla enjoyed the family of Squiggles in the book she's looking at. I think Zaria will enjoy that one when she gets a little older and can appreciate some of the humor.
We checked out a library pass to see the Minnesota History Center, so we enjoyed going today as a family, complete with picnic lunch. So of course it was a gorgeous day with all sorts of great views around St. Paul . . . and I forgot my camera again. I took a few shots with my camera phone, including the one below of Jamin looking at the historical MN license plates within the transportation portion of the museum. Interesting reading some of the blurbs on our transportation history when there's an important transportation bill being voted on next week. Surprisingly, Jamin is for an increase in fuel tax to improve transportation even though his paycheck is viciously gouged to pay for his truck's fuel. 
Today was a tough day and I never did get a picture taken. Jamin worked an extra long day, and I went to Mom and Dave's house to play Mexican Train Dominoes, and then we got a call from my aunt Judy saying we should get to the hospital to see my grandma. She had surgery on her sciatic nerve earlier this week, and I guess it's a very tough recovery. The drugs they gave her to get off of the narcotics caused her to be apneic-- so we had to remind her to breathe and keep her up. I grabbed the above photo from last year for my picture today, with Grandma Victoria holding Zaria. Hopefully she'll recover enough to hold Zaria again soon. I've joked that she's bound to get better with all her out-of-town sons coming to see her, and it was fun to see some relatives at the hospital, though we sort of overcrowded the room. Judd came from Arizona, Jim from Colorado, John from South Dakota and Jerry from Virginia.
Happy birthday Marla! We had Jamin's folks over for dinner this evening, though her actual birthday is the 16th. Special surprise-- Jamin's brother Bill was in town, so we were also able to have him and his daughter Elena join us for dinner. Nice to visit with them, and nice to have less cake sitting around our place! We put candles on the cake for her to blow out (she said she couldn't remember the last time she had candles), and then had her cut the first piece. Elena said that was a tradition for the birthday person to cut the first piece so we went with it. We also attempted a timed family picture of all of us, which I think is pretty cute even if it looks like Zaria's ready to attack my head.
Jamin and I went sledding today! We bundled up a little too warm because you really get hot climbing those hills. We also had my stepbrother, Brian, and his girlfriend Mindy over for dinner this evening, and Mindy brought her little boy Aidan, who is pictured below. It was fun to finally meet Mindy and her son, and of course Zaria enjoyed having a playmate for the evening.
This shot is actually after most of the clean-up. I managed to get quite a few cards done-- through April, even. Cassie worked on some too, and I definitely had a lot more to do. I guess that should be expected when you have blended families and in-laws.
This is actually the sun setting, not rising for a New Year. I was way asleep when the sun rose. It's a nice view of Minneapolis from my grandparents' place. We went there today to help celebrate my Uncle John's 60th birthday today. My mom decided to stand on her chair to help direct us in the singing of the happy birthday song. Zaria was also quite an attention getter for the evening.
