Giant's Ridge and Luke's birthday

Friday lunch at Giant's Ridge

We had our annual Bishop weekend away this weekend--this year we went to Giants Ridge-- and everything was perfect!!

We had beautiful weather and the leaves were already starting to change.

Friday night my dad, Shelly, Ryan and Luke golfed the Quarry, while my mom, Bishop and I hung out and went swimming.

Saturday we all went for a hike. It was pretty cool at the start of the hike, but we all warmed up as we hiked and it was nice and sunny.

Hiking is exhausting!

Bishop got to go swimming again Saturday afternoon and he went under water for the first time. He did great! He never cried or fussed, he loves the water!!

Bishop had so much fun with his grandparents and Auntie Shelly and Uncle Ryan! We played cards and had lots of laughs!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Luke's birthday. We celebrated last night with my family and we took off for home this morning. It was a little more eventful of a drive home, as Bishop was overly tired and refused to fall asleep for the first part of the ride home--I think he was used to CONSTANT attention and felt a little deprived. :) We will celebrate as a family tonight at Al Vento, our favorite restaurant.

All in all, it was a great week and weekend! I love spending time with my family!

Wicked

On Tuesday my mom, sister and I went to Wicked! I had heard so many great things about it and everyone was right-it was SOO good!! We were all very impressed and entertained!

It was a great girls night out! Great idea, mom, thanks!

Wednesday morning I had to leave really early for work, so Grandma B got to hang out with Bishop for awhile and since then he's been talking up a storm. He started with "da da" and is now saying "mum...ma ma" along with all the other stories he's telling us! It's so fun chatting with him!

Labor Day Weekend

Wow-It's hard to believe the summer is over, although I absolutely LOVE the fall weather and everything that comes with it--football, jeans and sweatshirts, the colors and so much more!

We've had a few laid back weekends lately, so that's been nice. We've taken quite a few walks around the lakes (Harriet and Calhoun) with some stops for lunch, icecream and swinging!

Bishop LOVES the swing!

Going down the slide for the first time with Daddy!

On Wednesday we helped Jenny celebrate her 30th birthday with a surprise birthday party at Lord Fletchers! It was a blast and my closest college friends were all able to be there, so that was great! Luke, Kaela, Luke and I picked up Jenny on a boat and then took a cruise around Lake Minnetonka before bringing her to Lord Fletcher's for her 2nd surprise! Bishop stayed with Grandma Eileen and Uncle Jake and had a great time while we were gone.

The Luke's

Hiding before the big surprise

The Birthday Girl!

Friday night we celebrated Dan's birthday on a pedal pub! I expected it to be fun, but it was SO much more fun than I could have imagined!! We pedaled around downtown Mpls. We made 2 stops, but it was the most fun being on the pedal pub! It was a great group of friends! Bishop had a sleepover at Grandpa and Grandma B's, so that was fun for all of us. Bishop was able to visit all his Great Grandparents, too!

We tried out the backpack for the first time and Bishop LOVED it!! He was ALL smiles!

Yesterday we tried to take Bishop to his first Twins game. We planned on scalping tickets, but there was such high demand we couldn't find any reasonably priced tickets. We ran into Brooke and Brandi and ended up hanging out with them at Kieran's, which was more fun anyway!

All this walking around looking for tickets is tiring!

Last night we BBQ'd with the Heller's and got to spend some time with Baby Liam! It was a great day!

Tomorrow it's back to reality, but we have a fun, busy fall ahead of us.

Everyday our house gets closer and closer to being completely done!! It is SO exciting!! We're SO close and we no longer have any plastic hanging in the house and we can walk on our carpet with no shoes...ahhh.....

August

I apologize for being so slack in my updates, this house renovation has taken quite a bit more of my time than I had anticipated. Work has also been busy and when I'm not dealing with either of those two things, I spend my time with my 2 boys! :)

We moved back home last Saturday and let me say, it is NICE to be home!! It's really true, there's no place like home. The house looks great and should be done 3 weeks from today! Everyday gets closer and closer and it's exciting! This was a picture from last weekend.

The mudroom

The new living room

Bishop has been doing great! He started eating rice cereal and vegetables, so that's been fun. We also transitioned him into his crib and he's adjusted VERY well (much better than I thought). We let him "cry it out" a couple of nights ago, which was tough, but last night (and so far tonight) he's gone down easily and he slept 10 1/2 hrs last night, which was WONDERFUL!!! Bishop had his 6 month birthday on August 10th and he's sitting up and playing, it's so fun! He loves to laugh, giggle (especially with daddy) and smile. He's such a happy boy, we are so blessed!

Bishop eating rice cereal for the first time

We celebrated my Grandparents 65th Wedding Anniversary on August 15th at Sunnyside. They are doing so well!

We are trying to soak up as much of the summer as we can!! I will try to update this blog much more often now that we're home!

House Renovation

Wow-it's been awhile since I've last posted. Life has been very crazy the past week! This is a long post, so sorry for that!

Monday was my 30th birthday. We celebrated on Saturday night at Lowertown Music Fest, where we saw Cloud Cult AND Mason Jennings play at an outdoor venue. Cloud Cult and Mason are my absolute FAVORITE bands, so I was SUPER happy! We took the city bus (my first time) with the Steffen's and Jones', so that was fun. Bishop was with Grandpa and Grandma B, so we stayed at the Steffen's, which was fun too! Bishop stayed with his grandparents because we were in Owatonna helping MY grandparents move into an assisted living apartment. On my actual birthday Shelly took me out to lunch and Luke and Bishop took me to Al Vento for dinner, so that was nice. We temporarily moved into our friends parents condo in downtown Mpls, while they sheetrock our house.

It's been a very stressful week transitioning to the condo and we've done a lot of running back and forth. Thursday night Luke was on the road for work and Bishop and I got to the condo to find out it had sustained water damage during the day and there were industrial fans and devices to remove water from the air in the condo....it was too much to stay at the condo, so we stayed at Auntie Shelly and Uncle Ryan's (which was a nice treat)! Things have settled down and we're able to stay at the condo again.

Today was the Bishop Open in Eagan. The golfers included Grandpa Ray, Barry, Bob, Jon, Shelly, Ryan, Luke, LeeAnn and Patrick. Bishop, myself, Sharon, Jennie and Darlene joined the golfers for lunch. It was a great day!!

Our house looks great and it's so fun to see the progress they've made. The sheetrock is on and they will sand next week and put the stucco on the outside. I did some "shopping" this past week for light fixtures, faucets, toilets, etc, so that was fun. It will all be worth it in the end and they should be done in 5 weeks!!

Froehle Family Reunion 2010

Wow! It's been a long time since I've updated the blog and a LOT has happened in our lives since then!

I will try to update this as much as possible.

We spent a week in Colorado for the Froehle Family Reunion 2010! We drove and Bishop did great on the drive out and back! We went on a bunch of hikes with Bishop and he was such a trooper. We went on some pretty intense hikes--including a hike to Black Lake....it rained and was windy for part of the hike. I wiped out on the way down and Bishop was covered by the poncho (he "hiked" in the Bjorn with his dad). It was an 11 mile hike, which was tough, but it was so beautiful!! We hiked in the Rocky National Park as well as Roosevelt National Park.

We were able to spend time with Froehle's from all over the US--I love seeing all the relatives and it was a wonderful time together with family. There were 75 Froehle's who made it to the reunion this year. Some highlights include:

• Hiking, hiking and more hiking (we hiked a total of 30 miles or so)
• Whitewater Rafting with 9 other Froehle's down the Poudre River with some intense Class IV rapids
• Cooking dinner for 50 Froehle's with Luke and his cousin Melissa
• Casino Night, the Olympics and the Talent Show
• Swimming in the pool with Bishop
• Spending time with family we don't see that often

It was a wonderful reunion and we are already looking forward to the next one!!!

We got home on Sunday night at 11:30pm, after driving straight through and getting home in 13 1/2 hrs (record time for having a baby with us). We knew there had been a lot of work done to our house while we were gone and that things would be quite invasive, but it was quite the eye opener when we got home. We have plastic zippers all over our house, which makes going up and down the stairs quite difficult. The house looks fantastic and they are moving along at record speed!! The house is completely framed with the windows and doors in. The radiators and boiler are out of the house and they continue to work on putting in the duct work, electrical work, etc. Sheet rock should be put in next week and then things will zip right along. It's exciting and it will be so nice when it's all done, until then, we're just trying to get by! :)

Happy Retirement Rich!!

Congratulations on your Retirement, Rich!!!!!

Rich retired on Thursday, July 1st and we celebrated with the annual Barn Dance on Friday, July 2nd!! It was Bishop's first barn dance, so it was extra special!! We are all so happy and proud of you, Rich! The Barn Dance tradition started a few years ago (probably 5 yrs ago), after the barn was raised....before the barn dance was the "barn raising" weekend when everyone would come up to help Rich build the barn to store the firewood. Now we all reap the rewards of the barn dance, where we hire a blue grass band to play. This year was extra special since it was Rich's retirement party, so lots of friends and family came to celebrate!

Saturday we went to the Hold Steady Concert at the Cabooze. Grandpa and Grandma B came up to watch Bishop so Luke and I could go enjoy a night out together! We had so much fun!

On the 4th of July we went out on Lake Minnetonka with Paul, Jadee and Johnny!! Bishop had such a great time on the boat and playing in the water!! We tried to stay for the fireworks, but Bishop wasn't going to fall asleep, so we had to leave around 9:30--we still had a great time!!

Today was a great day! Luke went for a bike ride with Tony Meysenberg, while Bishop and I went to the grocery store. We had a picnic at Lake Nokomis Beach with the Bitzer's and Meysenberg's--Bishop just LOVES the water, it's great!! Bishop went on the swings for the first time today and he absolutely LOVED it!! He laughed and giggled the entire time, it was so cute!! Auntie Shelly and Uncle Ryan came over this afternoon....we hung out and went for a walk--it was so great to see you both!!!

I got home Thursday and it's been SO nice being home!! Bishop is such a happy guy and he's really into playing with his hands and feet these days!! He loves sucking on his hands--he'll try to get as many fingers in his mouth as he can!! He is so a good baby, we are so blessed!! He makes everything SO much more fun!!