South Dakota 2017

After years of saying we needed to meet Brandon's family in South Dakota, we finally did it!

When the boys and I went to North Dakota in June for Brandon's cousin's wedding, Aunt Paulette and I started talking more and more about making the trip happen (and how Brandon was even saving vacation time so we could go!), so after getting home, Paulette started looking at Black Hills cabins and found the PERFECT one!

Fast forward 3 months and we were on the road to Rapid City!

Mal and Evie walking around the roads near the cabin

Jackson wasn't excited at all about being in South Dakota!

First night at the cabin!

We ate like KINGS the entire trip -- each family/group took turns cooking breakfast and dinner, and on the first night the Petersons/Dekkers grilled steaks. 

This was a tough day... after MONTHS of our little history buff (Jax) reading/talking/watching documentaries about Mount Rushmore, he ended up getting a 24 hour bug and was a mess the entire day :( He didn't feel like doing much of anything, cried a lot, and just wasn't himself. 

Not even the bust of Gutzon Borglum could get him excited.

After about an hour, I took Jax to take a nap in the car. I got him bundled up really well and he fell asleep right away.

Gabe with his wonderful Great Great Aunt Paulette and Cousin Evie

Daddy and Gabe checking out Mount Rushmore while Jax and I stayed in the car.

Spongebob popsicles from Great Grandma Bonnie

After Mount Rushmore, we took a trip on the old 1880 Train...

...and poor sick Jackson literally cried and panicked the entire trip, especially when our window was open. 

Gabe did great, too! *eye roll*

All-you-can-eat crab legs in Deadwood... yum!

Feeling MUCH better in Deadwood (the second day of the trip)! 

Walking around the casino while the dads gambled

Photo by Jax

Everyone took it easy on Day 3, so we made the trip back to Mount Rushmore... Jackson enjoyed it SO much more when he wasn't sick! 

Last night :(

Cousins Paulette and Sandy

Birthday boys and their birthday kuchen

Craft night!

Unplugging in the Mountains

Wow... it's been about a month and a half since I last blogged *insert solemn face, big eyed emoji here* I know that it seems like I have forgotten our little corner of the internet, but I swear I haven't -- in fact, I think about blogging A LOT and miss it.

This last month and a half has been quite the journey... we closed on both houses (the House Hunters townhouse and the one we bought), moved out of the HH house, moved into our forever home, and have basically been cleaning, unpacking, painting, and setting up ever since. Between that, being almost 31 weeks pregnant (WHAT?!) and exhausted all the time, having articles to write, AND being the mamma to a very busy little guy, sitting down to write a blog post just hasn't been in the cards.

*sigh*

However, I have made it my goal for the week to at least do a quick Jackson update and bumpdate (since we are both growing so fast, ha), so stay tuned! In the meantime, I thought I would share some pictures from last weekend's quick mountain getaway!

As many of you reading this probably already know, my Aunt Millie passed away on July 6th... it still doesn't feel possible that she is gone and I basically try to not think about it since I get a sick feeling every time I dwell on it. Anyway, my Aunt Millie has this gorgeous cabin that she has always generously shared with the family and before she passed away, she told everyone to sign up for dates to go. I was honestly a little skeptical to do it (since by that point we knew her passing was inevitable and I figured I would do better just not going back to the cabin at all vs. going and thinking the whole time about how we could never go again), but Brandon got me talked into at least putting our name down for a few nights.

I'm so glad he did because this weekend gave us some valuable family time that we wouldn't have had otherwise. I would be lying if I didn't state that I had a huge lump in my throat a good portion of the trip, but I could definitely feel Millie smiling down at us, happy that we were enjoying one of her favorite places.

Toasting to BBQ and family time with our Shirley Temples :)

I (obviously) didn't get to partake in the pitcher this time...

I often worry that we brought the wrong baby home from the hospital (since he obviously looks nothing like his dad)...

It was weird waking up and not having to worry about unpacking or meeting writing deadlines... but I somehow managed!

The caption says it all... oops. 

When I was little, the loft was my favorite room in the cabin -- so glad to see my son enjoying it as much as I did!

Our first ever family hike... we even saw a moose!

Since there is a county wide fire ban, we decided to make our s'mores inside... however, I forgot the marshmallows (among a million other things) so we improvised with cookie dough. 

Aside from having terrible acid reflux Friday night (and forgetting my heartburn medication at home :/), the trip was nothing short of perfect! We slept in, over ate, did lots of walking/picking up and throwing rocks (Jax), and just overall enjoyed each others company.

Thank you, Aunt Millie, for sharing your cabin with so many of us through the years. Some of my fondest childhood memories took place in this home and I am so happy to get the chance to share it with my family! 

Carol & Annie Do Vegas (Again)!

A few months ago, I was laying around dreaming of future vacations and remembered how much fun my mom and I had when we went to Vegas in 2013 when I was pregnant with Jackson... after shooting her a quick text, we had a weekend decided and booked our plane tickets the next week. Once again we had the BEST time in Vegas and had a blast eating our hearts out, seeing shows, and shopping until we dropped. Here is a quick picture recap of our "Annie's pregnant again so let's go to Vegas to eat a bunch of food and see some shows" trip:

Since the buffet at Paris is our favorite place to eat, we decided to go ahead and give them and their rooms a try -- absolutely GORGEOUS and the beds were super comfortable! (Since our flight arrived at 7 am, we shopped a bit, grabbed breakfast, checked in at 10 am, and basically spent the rest of the morning and afternoon sleeping and relaxing in our lovely room.)

I think I've explained it before, but ever since visiting in 2011, we have always taken a picture with this statue at Harrah's for my Aunt Judy -- since there were no nice looking employees around to take our picture, this awkward selfie (of me -- mom looks cute!) had to suffice.

First night = Menopause the Musical! 

The most important part of the trip: the food. 

We spent practically all of Day 2 shopping, so I didn't feel so bad eating my weight in rich foods.

Second Night = Paul Zerdin (the ventriloquist who won last season's America's Got Talent.)

Before retiring to our room, sharing a sandwich, watching Dateline, and doing foot rubs, we did a little more shopping and chocolate tasting at the divine Hexx. 

Since Brandon has Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays off, we took advantage and flew out early Thursday morning and came back Saturday afternoon. The trip was way too short (as vacations tend to be) but we had such a fun and memorable time that I will treasure forever! 

Can't wait to do it again when we're expecting Baby #3 ;)