Miss Ella Takes a Ride

It was a full day of driving today, but I'm happy to say we finally made it to Keystone, Colorado! Ella was such a trooper. She watched videos, played with her My Little Ponies from cousin Alaina, consumed plenty of juice boxes & crackers, and had some lovely chats with Grandpa. This mama is relieved to have made it, despite her nasty cold. I think all the rest & fresh air coming our way will be quite healing.
Tomorrow we'll be able to explore Keystone in the light. My parents have been here 4 or 5 times, so they know all the good spots. I'm excited to check out the running trails. In the late afternoon, Ella & I will be driving 2 hours south to visit good friends who made the move out from Duluth last spring. They have Owen, Ella's friend who kissed her last winter while standing in a cardboard box. The photo is in the 'Mama's Apple Pie' post.
About the pictures: In the 3rd photo, Ella was using a French fry as a phone to call her cousin, Malena. :)

The Girly Got Hitched

My sister is married! Jenny & her HUSBAND Rob tied the knot in a small, court house ceremony yesterday afternoon & celebrated today with a big outdoor picnic. As my wedding gift, I provided the cupcakes. I'm so happy to add Rob to the crew of boys in the family. He's a great guy. Unfortunately, I didn't catch a photo of the entire family. They have two beautiful kiddos. Hailey is 3 1/2 and Wyatt is 5 months. Adorable!
As I write, I'm lying on the floor of a little hotel room in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Ella & I are traveling out to Keystone, Colorado for the next 10 days. All of my posts will be from my iPhone, so I can't do much about formatting. The posts will be simple & short, but it's my goal to get something up everyday. I've tried to make
That promise in the past & it hasn't quite panned out, so we'll see what happens this time. As long as we all undertand that they'll be simple posts, I might follow through on this one. Keep checking back to see how we do!
Pictures:
1 wedding cupcakes
2 the newlyweds, Rob & Jenny
3 happily smiling with my little sister
4 the original Scott girls & baby Maira

Photo Friday: Journey of a Cupcake

It's been a busy Friday! I catered my first wedding today in Minneapolis and have another tomorrow in Bainerd. Yikes! I'll post 'after' pics soon.

Are You a Warrior?

I enjoy running. Although I don't get to do it as often as I would like, I get out when I can. I've always imagined it would be great to run with Pete, maybe even do a race together, and be one of those couples who can chat through the entire thing or run along the lake while pushing their kid in a stroller. Can you picture it? Lovely.

I had almost given in to the reality that Pete just doesn't like to run and would probably never run with me when I came across an ad on Facebook (you know, the annoying ones on the side of the page that try to target you). The ad was for the Warrior Dash. This was way last fall or early winter. After reading that the race was 3 miles up & down on a ski hill and included 10 crazy obstacles, I immediately sent Pete a link. And just like that, he was hooked. What can I say? I know my man. He just can't resist a hardcore challenge like this one. So we registered and trained together. Then, on July 24, we dropped little Ella off at Miss Shauna's so she could play with Bella, and headed south of the Cities to see if we could meet the challenge.

We were pumped waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the ski hill.


Once we were at the hill, we met up with Jen & Mike and Jen's sister & brother. All these pics came from Jen. So glad she has a sweet camera! Keep this pic in mind. You'll see it again later.


Jen & I had to practice our warrior faces.


Mike & Pete were ready to take on the competition.


This was not my warrior face.



The obstacles were sweet. We climbed over junk cars and hopped over tires, jumped over walls and crawled over cargo nets. Just before the end, we slid down a huge hill with water and leaped over fire. That's Pete in the black. Nice air.



Then we reached the mud. This was the part I was most looking forward to. We crawled through it with strands of barbed wire overhead.




We are warriors.


And warriors eat turkey legs.




Remember this from the beginning?


Tons of people donated their shoes. An organization collects them, washes em up, and sends them to third world countries. Love it.


In the end, we celebrated with the other 24,000 warriors over the two days of the event. I seriously recommend this race. They take it all over the country. Check out warriordash.com for info.


Ah, the end to a perfect day. Friends, turkey legs, beer, and mud. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Thanks, Jen, for the pictures!

A Hot Afternoon

I absolutely love that Ella has a cousin so close to her own age. The girls have spent lots of time together in the last two weeks playing at the park, celebrating birthdays, and running through the sprinkler. This was just such a day. Mama Bex & I relaxed on the deck with Baby Maira while the girls played in the water and had a few adventures.
(This post is being sent from my phone, so the formatting may be a bit off. We're staying in Sauk Centre this weekend while we celebrate our friends' wedding! Pics to come.)

Photo Friday: Canal Park

We'll never get tired of watching the ships come through the canal!

L&J's Wedding

Last month we made a weekend trip to Milwaukee for Louis & Jillian's wedding. (Jillian is Pete's cousin and made a gorgeous bride.) Ella was (nearly) an angel in the car. I'd say that's pretty good considering we spent more than 18 hours driving. We headed out of Aitkin right after Pete finished work on Thursday and made it all the way to his parents' house in Marshfield. The next morning we completed the drive to Milwaukee in time to check in to our hotel and head downtown for the rehearsal dinner.


The ceremony took place in a picturesque cathedral where Louis & Jillian met more than 8 years ago. It was fun to be a part of that history. Ella almost made it to the ceremony but was whisked out as soon as the bride made her entrance. We thought they didn't need to hear Ella's little voice making comments on the dress and the windows and violins playing in the balcony, especially if they were recording it. Pete very sweetly took her outside to play so that I could enjoy the ceremony. He knows how much I love weddings. What a man.


Afterward we took a few pictures outside. Ella loves her Papa Olsen.


We thought it would be quite nice to have a family picture taken since we were all dressed up. Ella would have none of it, though. With the lack of a nap, we couldn't blame her. (But wouldn't this make a great Christmas photo?)


Between the ceremony and the reception, we did some exploring along the lake (Michigan, that is) in Milwaukee. We ended up at a Whole Foods Market for a little snack.


Ella loved the noodles. Daddy tried to show her how to eat them.



A little ended up on his shoes.


Ella didn't make it long into the reception. Good thing she had a big, cozy bed to cuddle in! Well, that's what she had hoped, anyway. She slept in the Pack n Play. We got the big, cozy bed. But she did get to do lots of cuddling with us while watching cartoons over the weekend.


Big beds & TV. Exactly why we like hotels!

It was a great weekend in Milwaukee celebrating such a great couple. We also got to spend lots of time with Grandma & Grandpa Olsen and Aunties Kristin & Kathryn. We hope to see you all again soon!