Justin and I had a very long, great and full weekend! 2 birthday parties and 2 baby/friend visits. It was a great time and I wish we could have spent more time at home. I hadn’t been home to see my family since Christmas, and I’ve decided 4 months is way to long to be away!
The festivities started off on Friday evening with a Birthday party to celebrate our good friend Randy’s 45th birthday. It was a great party, which started off at Sweet Occasions for ice cream, and then we got take and bake pizza from Homemade Pizza Co. Yes, that’s right – dessert first then the main course! It was great.
The pizza was AMAZING!! I highly recommend it. Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games…Randy decided since he had a house full of somewhat competent and reasonably strong people, he may as well have us move his furniture around – so we did!
We had a good time, with good food and good music played on the newly moved piano. Susan also brought cake: peanut butter, chocolate and banana…hello Elvis Cake! Unfortunately we had to leave the party early since Justin and I needed to wake up early the next morning to head to Minnesota! After 6 1/2 hours of driving we arrived at my parents house in Smalltown, MN aka, Spring Valley. We had Malcolm along with us of course, because he would be severely upset if we didn’t allow him 4 days of playing with his favorite “Auntie” Shadow!
This is what they do almost the whole weekend when we come to visit. The do take some breaks for naps, potty time and eating, but mostly they just play! By the end of the day, they are both EXHAUSTED and they plop down and sleep through the night, which is great for us because WE get to sleep through the night! YAY! Malcolm gets very sad when he and Shadow are separated…poor puppy…
On Sunday we celebrated my dad’s 60th Birthday, which officially was April 14th. I don’t think he looks a day over 30! He and my mom both. I hope I inherit the looking young forever genes! My older sister Shannon and her husband John did the cake. She even decorated it to match the dessert plates my mom had bought!
It was really yummy, too 
Dad got a lot of good gifts, mostly $ and gift cards. Shannon and John got him 60 $1 scratch off lotto tickets. I made him a slide show with pictures of him from baby to now…it was neat, if I say so myself and it seemed to go over pretty well. He of course got the obligatory bottle of Seagram’s 7! One of the neatest gifts was from my grandparents…a poster sized picture of my dad playing basketball! I’m guessing the picture was taken sometime in the 70’s.
The day after the party, Justin and I headed up to visit Dave & Bethany and their new baby Abigail. We had a good time hanging out with old friends, talking and going to Pizza Ranch for Abby’s first outing! It was great to see them all, as I miss my camp friends dearly, and Abby is such a beautiful baby!
Before we left their house, David had to show off his breast feeding skills…um, judging from the look on his face, I don’t think it’s going very well…
On the way back from their house, we saw a sign posted for a farm that sold bison meat. Justin and I were very excited, as we both love bison meat. We decided to turn around and go to the farm to purchase some meat. We drove down the country road, figuring there would be a sign pointing the way to where the meat was for sale. No such luck. Sadly, we were unable to attain any delicious bison flesh, but we did get a pretty sweet picture of a couple of curious bison.
The next day (we’re on Tuesday now people, in case you’ve lost track), we headed out to return to Chicago and our real lives. On the way, we stopped for a way to short visit with Susie and Erik, and of course our beautiful goddaughter, Jannah! Jannah’s newest trick is crawling. We got to witness the trick, and it was pretty sweet. She’s growing so fast! We picked up Erik from campus and headed to Noodles & Co. for lunch. I of course had the Pad Thai, because if it’s on the menu, I’m gonna eat it. Jannah had a good time showing off her opera skills to us…
Jannah was pretty tuckered out by the time we got done with lunch, and she passed out in the car, with her buddy Justin watching over her. He carried her from the car and put her in her crib when we got back to the Brekke residence.
It’s good to be home, but I also wish we could have spent more time with our friends and family. Even with ridiculous gas prices, I think more trips will be required, soon!
