Month in Review

I love the month of July - not only because my birthday is in July (7/27), but because it's historically been a month filled with fun, sun and time with family and friends. The pictures posted in this particular entry will show what we've done this month.

I became a certified storm spotter in April and have had a lot of fun - especially this last month - tracking storms, determining what cloud is which - and I have even had the chance to call in some rotation!

Here's a cloud that Parish and I spotted in between Princeton and St. Cloud. I placed arrows on the clouds that I was watching - pretty soon, we were under a tornado warning and the sirens actually went off on July 19. This day went from being sunny to wind gusts of 50 + mph in a matter of an hour.

This picture - is from wdio.com - but I wanted to post it because of the obvious cloud that was hovering over Grand Rapids on July 14. I couldn't believe this. It is so beautiful yet so dangerous looking all at the same time. Luckily, this cloud didn't cause as much damage as it could have. Thanks goodness. You can see more pictures of this cloud at www.wdio.com under Weather Photos.

We celebrated my great aunt anna's 90th birthday on July 12th. It was so nice to see all of our family again. Pictured here is my mom (doesn't she look great?) and my cousin Colleen - who is more like an aunt to us.

And here is the birthday girl - Anna - 90 years young. Anna is my Grandma Caddy's sister - the only people left in my grandma's immediate family are Anna (90), Aggie (95 or so?) and Tom. What a fun group!

Here's Parish and I yesterday, on my birthday. We went golfing, had a nice dinner and spent most of the day relaxing. The bulb went out on his flat screen TV, so we ordered that yesterday and are just waiting patiently for it to arrive. In the mean time - we'll be playing lots of Yahtzee or electronic monolopy!

Here's Jackson on July 3 - we are very lucky to be able to watch Princeton's fireworks from the comfort of our own deck. It's nice not to have to drive over to the fairgrounds, find parking, etc. Last year - Jack didn't know what to think, but this year - he loved being outside with us!

Finally, on July 17 - I had the chance to meet some of my old roomies in Maple Grove for dinner and drinks - it was so great to catch up with them! (LtoR: Natalie, me, Janelle). Can't wait for next month!! :)



It's been a great month so far - I just can't believe July is almost over! Where has the time gone?