Happy 29th (+1) Birthday Leah!

These pictures were taken the weekend of Leah's BIG 30th Birthday. As most of you know, Leah is a huge Reba McEntire fan. I had found out that Reba was going to be at a near by casino Jackpot Junction, and I knew I needed to get tickets for the concert. It just happened to workout that Leah's birthday landed the week of the concert, so I decided to make a weekend out of it.

Leah's cousin Tommy (and family) agreed to take the kids off of our hands for the night, so I looked around for a nice place for the two of us to stay. Looking for a place between where the concert was and to where our kids would be was important, and I wanted something different than a hotel. I lucked out and found a great bed & breakfast in the little town of New Ulm, MN. The name of the B & B was Deutsche Strasse Bed & Breakfast. That place was beautiful.

I reserved the Black Forest Suite, which was their top of the line room that included a hot tub. The place was great and the hosts were so nice. We literally had a whole wing of the house to our selves, because our room used to be the servants quarters back in the early 1900's. It was great getting into the hot tub after the concert.

Oh yeah, the concert! How could I forget that. We made it to the casino early enough to get a bite to eat at their buffet. It was okay for buffet food and it filled our stomachs, so you can say mission accomplshed. We headed over to the outdoor concert arena. It just so happened to be the perfect night out, and to top that off, we were only 11 rows from the stage and almost dead center of the stage. Reba did a great job (as always), and Leah and I had an awesome time.

The next day Leah and I were able to do a little exploring into the shops in downtown New Ulm. Leah was able to talk me into yet another 6 figurines, because we all know how much of a shortage she is in need for those... NOT! No, they were really nice ones and they will (hopefully) finish off the collection she already has.

When Leah returned to work on Monday she had flowers, balloons and cards waiting for her from her co-workers. Later on that day I helped with adding three more dozen roses, because a lady can never get too many flowers. Looking at her cube you would have thought it was a flower shop.

Here's to wishing you a Happy Birthday babe! I can't wait to spend many more with ya. I love you!

Our Big First Grader

This morning we took a picture of Elijah of his first day in first grade. He was so excited to finally wear some of his new clothes and being able to ride the big yellow bus to school. He is so big; it is amazing how quickly he is growing up.

This weekend there was a little competition between Eli and Momma as to who had a more important day today (September 4th); it was his first day in public school/first grade, while Leah was celebrating her 29th + 1 birthday. That's quite the toss up if you ask me, but fearing for my life, I had to side with Leah (to Eli's disappointment). No sane husband would ever say his wife's birthday is not more important than anything else going on in the world (especially when she is turning 30!).

We are really looking forward to hearing all about Eli's day and are hoping everything went well for him today. We know there are a lot of changes and new rules to learn in such a short amount of time, but we know he is up to the task.

Good job, Big Guy, Mom and Dad are so proud of you!