Mom's 60th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!


Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

We surprised my Mom back home in Leota on Saturday. We had this planned early in the summer in order to reserve this weekend in everyone's busy schedule. My mom loves having all of her kids and grandchildren over at her house and everyone was there to show her how much we love and appreciate her.

The kids were super excited about the "surprise" part of the party. They wanted to hide and jump out! Poor Grandpa had to do a lot of lying to pull of the surprise and we all told little white lies about what we were doing this weekend.

The entire family after church

State Fair 2011

The state fair is a favorite for many Minnesotans, but not for the Miedemas'. We again attempted the fair this year for the sake of the children and for Grandma Miedema who has never been to the fair. The Zeinstras' have a cow there almost every year and so we found the cow and watched Macey show in the ring. Our kids are very obvious "city" kids when walking around the barn.



Carter vs Cotton candy

Hailey and Taylor on the "Tornado"

The classic: The Giant Slide

Little Farm Hands.

In conclusion: lots of $$$$$, lots of walking, lots of people.

House Guests

We love having visitors and last week we had double! Matt & Ang VE and their three kids came up from Iowa to visit as well as Jeremy, Leanne, & little Cullen from SD. We had a big dinner party on Sunday night and also had the Beckering family join us= 11 kids, 8 adults, and lots of fun!


Silly faces!

Cullen received lots of love and attention

The Science Museum

Brittney Moves In and Hailey's Mask Making Camp

We have a new tenant at our home! Mike's niece Brittney moved in last week Sunday into our spare room. She plans on attending Normandale Community College this fall and working as a server at one of the Granite City restaurants up here. We are super excited to be a big part of Brittney's experience here. The kids also think that it is super cool that she is around all the time and talk her into playing Barbies, board games, and jumping on the tramp.
Taylor helped put together Brittney's new dressers from IKEA.

Hailey attended an art camp last week that focused on mask making. They made 4 masks throughout the week and on the final day had a masquerade ball.

Lake Tahoe!

Mike just completed a 10 day seminar on the epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular disease at Lake Tahoe, CA. This picture above is from a hike near Lake Tahoe



The kids wanted to see a picture from an airplane.

The conference consisted of 24 "fellows" and many faculty from around the country. Mike was gone for 2 weeks - though we both thought it felt like a month. He doesn't ever want to be gone that long again but it was an excellent educational experience and Mike got to meet many of the leaders in cardiovascular prevention.

Lake Tahoe

One evening, the group had a evening dinner at the resort owners' home on Lake Tahoe.

The "Five Lakes Trial" is near Lake Tahoe and is a mountain hike which ends with a group of small lakes at the top.

Mike at the top of the "Five Lakes" trail. It was 70 degress but the winter snow hadn't completely melted yet.

Paddle-boarding on Lake Tahoe, which is a 1,000 feet deep on average and the clearest lake in the world.