Disney Live

Here’s a few pics from the weekend we recently spent in Grand Forks. We had tickets to the Playhouse Disney Live Tour Sunday at the Ralph, so we went down Saturday morning and stayed at the Canad Inn. I highly recommend this hotel to anyone! It was very nice and reasonably priced and Lauren had a blast at the waterpark!! We spent most of the weekend there and wore her right out! She was still pretty excited to see Mickey and all his friends.

Halloween

Halloween at our house was pretty uneventful this year. Lauren had been pretty sick the week before with a fever and cold. So, Saturday, she was pretty laid back and just not herself. She didn’t even want to put her costume on that night! But, being the good parents we are, we forced her to get dressed so we could drag her to a couple places before she finally just pooped out for the nite! Poor baby!

We did manage to get a few pics first.

Wedding Fun

My brother Derek was married to Bettina on October 10. Lauren was the flower girl and Grant and I were privliged enough to also be part of their big day. It was a whirlwind weekend full of family and fun. Lauren was so excited to be a princess for the day and loved wearing her dress!

Here are some pics from the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. My mom, with the help of lots of family, made an awesome meal!

Here's Lauren and Ellie taking a break from rehearsal dinner to catch up on their reading.

Sisters forever!

Family Pic Time.

Derek with Dad's cousins Lee Wright and Chip Burgess who made the trip all the way from Cinci.

We all spent quite a bit of time decorating the armory for the reception and dance. Here's a couple pictures after HOURS of work from ALL parties!

I think it turned out beautifully!

The wedding was beautiful and Lauren did a great job! She jumped the gun just a bit and ended up walking down in front of the best man (Uncle Chris) and maid of honor (Bettina's cousin Heather) instead of after them! Oh well. Grandpa sent her down the aisle ahead of Derek and Bettina when they went out so she got to throw her petals!

The reception was great and lots of friends and family from near and far were there! What a special day! We all had a great time dancing the night away. Lauren actually made it until about 11 that nite. She was having so much fun!

It was a beautiful wedding and we are so proud to have a new sister! Congrats, Derek & Bettina!

Lauren’s Third Birthday

Here’s some pictures from Lauren’s third birthday party. We spent the weekend prior to her birthday in Fargo, so we stayed at the Holiday Inn and enjoyed some fun pool time with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Derek, Aunt Bettina, and friends Ang and Brayden Olson.

I can't believe she's three already!! Where did the time go?Enjoying some swimming with Brayden, Daddy and Grandpa.

Here's the birthday girl with her birthday (cup)cake!


Family pool time.


Happy Third Birthday Lauren!

Black Hills Trip

Here's a few pics from our vacation this summer. We went camping in the Black Hills the last weekend in July with some of Grant's family. It was a great time. Lauren had a blast camping and with her cousins. We stayed at a campground right outside Mt. Rushmore. I tell you, we drove by it every day, and each day I had to look up in wonder and awe. Amazing place!

Our family at Mount Rushmore National Monument. It was Lauren's and my first time and it was amazing to see!! We took a nice hike up the mountain for a closer view, did a little shopping at the gift shop and had some tasty ice cream at the end of our hot day! Here's a picture of all the kids before our 'hike.' Lauren can be such a little ham!

That afternoon, we drove through Custer State Park on their "wildlife" trail. Custer State Park is known for having the largest buffalo herd in the U.S. I guess to them, TWO buffalo is a large herd, as that's all we saw on our two hour nature drive!!
Here's Lauren feeding the only animals that we did see in the Park, the beggin' burrows! They certainly weren't shy.

The next day we stopped at a place called 'The Cosmos". I can't even really describe what it is, and my pictures don't really do it justice. Suffice it to say, it's an ODD place.

Here we are TRYING to stand up straight. Things get a little whacky in the Cosmos...

Logan being tested in the 'truth' chair. Hope he doesn't fall flat on his nose, cuz that's what it looks like he's going to do. Only two of those chair legs are on solid ground...

After trying to figure out what weird supernatural forces were at work in the Cosmos, we were all quite hungry, so we drove in to Rapid City for lunch and to check out a few sites, like the Reptile Gardens. Guess which of us didn't go there....

Lauren, Grant and I checked out Storybook Island instead. Basically, just a big park with a bunch of storybook character figures. Lauren was in heaven!! Especially since Cinderella and her coach and four were right next door to The Cat.

After a VERY hot afternoon at Storybook Island, we headed to the water park for some fun. Our little fish had a great time!

Our big fish too...

The next morning, Lauren was up bright and early of course, so she and her dad walked down to the lake we were camping next to.

Some fish were harmed in the making of this photo...

Can't go to the Black Hills without becoming a bit of a cowgirl!

And here we all are, exept Uncle Verlan who was taking the picture. It was a GREAT weekend. So much fun, so many things to do and see. Lauren loves camping just about as much as we do and she did great staying in Aunt Missy's new camper. There's nothing better than sitting around a campfire early in the morning, catching the morning sun and reading a book. Or at nite while roasting marshmallows. It was a great time and we can't wait to go back! I will put up more pics on our picasa site for anyone interested.

Family Fun

Whew! It has been a busy couple of weeks for us here at Casa de Tagestad. We celebrated the 125th Centennial for Bottineau two weekends ago with lots of fun, family and sun. Lauren was so excited to have her cousins Isabella, Alexander, Tanner and Logan here for the weekend. She would just follow them all around shouting "Alesandr..., Izbwella! Come here. What are you doing? Wait for me!!"

Uncle Derek and Aunt Bettina had lots of fun with Lauren and her slide Friday afternoon.


We watched the longest parade in Bottineau history, I am sure of it, on Saturday morning. Still have candy left over!!

Over 200 entries, including my tough, honorable, still-going-strong Grandpa.

We are so proud of you Grandpa Everett!!!



Rode a few rides at the fair....



Got together with all my cousins and such up at the lake and took some pictures of us all. Quite a good looking bunch, if I do say so myself!!

(Literally, all my cousins!!)

....and our kids and spouses...

....and our parents (and Grandpa, of course!)


Sunday was a nice, low-key Father's Day. For Lauren and I at least...we spent the afternoon napping while Grant was up at the Derby at the fair.

All in all, a great but busy weekend!

A Beginner's 5K

Last weekend we were in Fargo for the Fargo Marathon and 5K Walk/Run. I had decided a few months ago that I wanted to try to run in the 5K to help push me into getting back into shape. I was never much of a runner, so it was a long road of almost daily training to get ready. Then we headed down to Fargo last Friday for the big race. It was pretty cold Saturday morning (37 degrees cold!) as I stood in line waiting for the start and as Grant and Lauren stood along the route waiting to cheer me on. It was a great experience and very exhilarating to cross the finish line after 38 minutes of running. Definitely no record-breaking time there, but better than I expected myself to do, so I will take that! And Grant and Lauren were there waiting for me at the finish. It was a great day. I had a wonderful Mother's Day as well with a leisurely breakfast and some afternoon shopping before heading north once again.My biggest fan and I before the race.

It was all due to my family's support!