last camping trip of summer

we said one last 'hurrah' to camping for 2010 and went down to southeast minnesota. we traveled to a beautiful tiny town called lanesboro. it had 60 miles of biking trails along a river, the best pie shop in the midwest and camping! we took the girls in a biking trailer and rode 15 miles or so to a pie shop where we each had our own piece of pie essentially. maya downed her own piece of key lime and evan and i shared raspberry cream, which i have to find a recipe for, simply delicious. we camped and had tinfoil dinners and loved being outside. the girls helped evan build a fire and watched for fireflies. a lovely weekend spent outside.

an eating tour of the twin cities

we'd start off for the most fabulous breakfast you will eat in the twin cities at the egg and i. it's a total dive and the parking lot is ALWAYS full. this means one thing: it's GOOD. this was recommended to us last summer by a friend and i have not tasted such a delicious breakfast. my favorite is the kamikaze pancakes which are filled with blueberries, walnuts and bananas.
after we roll out of the egg and i, yum would be on the agenda. yum is a funky, contemporary newer restaurant in minneapolis. it serves a variety of homemade foods like meatloaf, soups, chicken salad as well as amazing sandwiches. and they have the BEST FRIES in minneapolis, complete with delicious sauces to put on your fries.

for dinner we'd venture into punch pizza. it's right downtown on the mississippi river and features an oven that the pizzas are baked at 800 degrees for 90 seconds. the pizza sauce is unlike any i've ever tasted. my favorite is the toscano: proscuitto, arugula, and goat cheese. and finally to top off the day we'd head to st. paul. we would stop in at sweets bakery on marshall avenue. we actually just tried this place yesterday which so conveniently happens to be next door to maya's favorite train store called choo choo bob's. evan and i had a peanut butter cupcake and the frosting was the most delicious tasting frosting i've ever had. i was licking the paper afterwards. if that doesn't say delicious, i don't know what does!

Nauvoo

My lovely parents drove all the way from Utah to come for a visit! We drove down to Nauvoo which is only 6 hours from here and met them for a weekend visit. My great aunt and uncle are there serving a misson and we were able to see them perform. We went to the temple, Carthage, went for a horse ride, had custard and loved being together. The girls were beyond thrilled to be with Grandpa and Grandma. Then the next week they came to our house and worked like crazy. Evan and I are surprised at how little we accomplish on our house with two little ladies! But thanks to Mom and Dad we did so much!

And yes I am pregnant, and I wasn't trying to hide it, just didn't blog about it-with the 3rd I'm a little bit more tired! For those that don't know....it's another LITTLE LADY and I'm due September 4th. We are thrilled. I had all of these grand plans to have a garden this year, to make quilts and other sewing projects, but the girls and I go to the lake everyday and I'm completely happy with that. So, any of you have any name ideas? We've already used two, and we're fresh out of ideas. :)

Sneaky Brynnie

She loves to tilt her head to each side and smile, and she'll do it on command but also when she is trying to be sneaky and do something that she has been told not to. But sometimes how can I say no to that little face?

The Lady is 4

Can't believe my little lady is 4. Seems so old. Grandpa and Grandma Rawlinson were here to celebrate for her big day. She kept saying for weeks "I'm just going to save a little of this (whatever food she was eating) for Grandpa and Grandma." It was great. I love every stage about her and am so thankful she is mine.

Favorite place on earth

I'm on a roll....every few months or so I actually update this thing!

We have had a great last two months. We traveled to Utah for my youngest sister Carly's wedding the beginning of May. It was a wonderful event, and I have pictures of it somewhere....on a cd, I just need to download them. So eventually those will appear on this blog. We made the Utah trip our summer vacation and were able to go camping and see my absolute most favorite place: Calf Creek Falls. I camped there when I was 7 and then again in college and Evan and I were last there in 2007. We actually camped in Capitol Reef National Park-it was amazing to say the least. So all you people that live out west, go see Capitol Reef; it won't dissapoint. My parents and two of my siblings came and we loved it.

I love Utah for the change of scenery-there isn't another place like it. It soothes my soul to go to the desert and just be in awe of the beauty. Cheesy as that sounds-it's the truth.

The little ladies were troopers, they love to be outside, love to camp and be in the dirt.

We are now back to Minne and we'd love to say that we love summer, just as soon as it stops raining we'll say that.

saturday hike

evan took a well deserved day of fly fishing last saturday and so the wee little ladies and i took a hike. i do love how many parks and trails minnesota has. this one was not more than 10 minutes from our house. the ladies were happy as clams until the end and then they BOTH wanted me to carry them. :)

little utah trip

a few weeks ago i was able to go to utah for the wedding of my best friend. i left minneapolis and it was a balmy and gorgeous 62 degrees. i flew into utah and it was 30 degrees and snowing! the wedding was beautiful and i was so thankful to spend some fun moments with best friends. i even escaped to utah without my little ladies, thanks to evan (who by the way surprised me when i got home and had painted our bedroom, the entryway, and part of our living room-he is amazing). i also was able to attend a session of conference. so happy i could go with my younger sister carly. simply incredible to sit in the conference center. i miss the opportunity of being able to go to the conference center, now that i live away from it. i also was able to fit in some quality time with my grandma rawlinson, whom i adore. and even some shopping with aunt debbie, the best shopping partner in the world. my mom and i fit in a beautiful 5 mile walk around wellsville and everytime i go home i love seeing the beautiful wellsville mountains. oh how i miss those mountains. nothing like a good visit to home.

and then she became a photographer

my little ladies love to look at the pics on our camera, so much in fact that we have gone through 3 cameras, but they haven't been into taking pics themselves until now. i was flipping through the camera this week and found this beautiful one. love her eyes.

hello again

Evan and I standing with our new vacuum that was used to suck up 800 pounds of dust from sanding closets. The insides of our closets were plastered with a cottage cheese texture. Yum!

My Dad with Maya. She followed him around all weekend while he was here. He gave her the hat she is wearing. She guards it pretty fiercely from Brynn.

Brynn and my Mom.

What happens when I bake bread.

We have had a few things happen in the Fetters household-we bought a house! We had an offer in on this house in September and it finally came through the end of January. What a trip to close on a house-Evan and I both felt like 12 year olds at the closing. In Minnesota there are two types of homes, well I guess 3. 1: Houses we could NEVER afford, these are all in the city or on a lake. 2: Charming, lovely homes built in the 50's but with an unattatched garage. 3: Super ugly split level homes built in the 70's. So we have a little split level. It's all because I wanted an attatched garage. I had two winters of an unattatched garage, and decided that was enough. Our home is not a typical split level, as in it has an entryway! We love the space, and are little by little fixing the inside up. The peach with forest green shutters on the outside will change eventually, but for now we're just working on the inside. My parents came out the week that we moved to help do some work on the house. I am so grateful to them for coming to help us. They did so much from helping with the girls, painting, sanding, cleaning, driving, and the moving! I would not have made it doing this alone. We worked like crazy but had a great time. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming! We are loving our new home. We have learned much about home maintenance in just the month or so we've lived here. We now know a good contractor, plumber, heating/ac guy, and hope that we don't have to use them again any time soon! But we love our home and are so happy to be in it. We love having a yard, and a park within 1/2 block, and I have a dishwasher. I nearly wept using it for the first time. Glory be hallelujah.

More pics to come of the before and afters, because there are PLENTY.