Our great granddaughter

Madelyn Halonen, the 3rd great grandchild to visit us in Brainerd.  Steven, John, Laura,
Sarah and Kathryn came to spend Saturday with us and had their niece Madelyn with
them.  Her dark hair amazes me.  Michelle hasn't washed the color out yet.  I always
managed to get our dark headed kids turned light to match Charlies.  But when they got
older it turned dark again and now it looks like many have it turning light again.  I just love to see that!

Birthday muffin from Perkins

 After seeing Dr. Watkins, lunch at Grandma's Restaurant and then to Perkins to pick up some muffins.  Went to Marvin and Nathalie Johnsons for coffee and muffins.  Got a candle from Perkins for the birthday celebration.

Then with Marvin and Nathalie on our ride we went to Chris Jensen Home to visit Marvin's sister Viola Peterson.  So here we are, the 3 surviving grandchildren of Herman and Anna Liisa Koponen.  The last cousin we lost was Gil Jarvela but I guess there would have been no way to get the four of us in a picture.  We relived history and heard some stories for the first time.

What's new!

Well, I am not sure when the last time we posted was, but here is what has been happening the last two months.  We have been spending a lot of time playing with Connor!  At Connor's two month check up he was 14lbs 11oz and 25 in long.  He is in the 95th percentile for his age, which from what I hear, is just like Ivan was as a baby. 

Ivan is working hard at work in the office.  I think that he is really showing the bosses that he is serious about his job and wants to move up in the company.  He is joining a bunch of different teams, and is now presenting during the monthly shop meetings. 

As for me, I am just enjoying having Connor at work with me and playing with the two other kids I have full time. 

Connor in his Baptismal suit.  What a hanson little man!!

Connor loves going "swimming" with Ivan!

Connor and the cat playing together!

Here are the three kids I have at work everyday.  Anna (4yrs) loves helping with the babies!

Connor is "talking" with Auntie Jenn and Uncle Rick.

These two are from the MN Zoo.  I took the three kids out for their first field trip with the two babies.  Fourtunatly everything went smoothly.  But I have a new respect for parents of twins!!

That's about it from here!  Hope everyone has a great fall!
~MISSI~

Woot! Woot!

I have a computer! My favorite computer did not survive the move back to the heat. I'm quite certain it wasn't the bumps they hit on the way. The case of salmon jars, that were not packed in anything other than the case itself, survived. I haven't found one broken thing yet. Must have been the heat that fried the thing. Back to my usual easy photo processing software this morning and hopefully back to the world of blogging or blog hopping.

We're renting a house in north Phoenix. We've gone about as far from our living situation as we possibly could. Scratch that. We should have a community pool and gym ... that might do it! We're in a house that is almost half the size of what we had. I'm anticipating much less cleaning time and much more crafting time in my world. The back yard is the size of a postage stamp. Enough grass for Duke to roll around on and scratch his back, little enough to mow it in about 5 minutes. We do have a guest room. That was a necessity!

The heat. It was suppose to be done before we got here. I was quite looking forward to temps under 100 and it hasn't happened yet. Maybe a day or two. The evenings are wonderful. Several months ago if you told me that I would think 86 degrees in the evening felt good ... I'd have had your noggin examined! Ask me now and I'll tell you I have a pretty good memory recall of waiting for the sun to go down and the cool to complete our day. I laugh to think that we will probably be wearing our wonderful Alaska State Fair Carhart Clearance purchases! Good thing!

The girls still aren't in school. It is beyond ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. First we had to find a place to live before we could find a school within its boundary. Either that or drive them to the other side of town. At some point that might work (or not) but at present I'm hoping to be working in the very near future. Driving kids probably would work ... picking them up would not. Regardless, the high school we're near is right around the corner and a good school. It worked out perfectly. The problem is that the office couldn't get transcripts from the previous schools last week. This week the administrator (who we must meet with for admission) is at a conference Mon thru Wed of this week and there was no school Thurs or Fri. Monday? I'm hopeful. So are they. Enough vacation even for them!

More later.

For now ....

a small slice of beauty from a visit in Fairbanks.

Some photos of the girls...

Attempt at a photo shoot... Hailey 5 months and Heidi 2 years 5 months.

I just love little hats, Miss Hailey isn't quite the fan of them, but they are so cute for the short time I can keep them on her head.

 Had a garage sale in September... Heidi was harboring the books. She is a book worm, will try to read anything she can get. Love it when she reads to her sister, some of the stories actually resemble the book and other times it is about their day.

 Heidi has learned to LOVE fishing. She is has slowed down a little bit on asking to go, but used to ask everyday if we could go fishing. She picks the worms before we leave home. Notice the worm she is holding. Our FISHING consists more of feeding the fish worms. She doesn't ever want to keep the fish we do catch, but rather insists that I throw them back.

 Over Labor Day weekend we went to Brainerd. "Pappa" took Heidi, Shawn, and I fishing. Jen and Grandma stayed home with Hailey. Heidi had been telling everyone for days prior that she was going fishing and in a boat. She was so excited.

 "Pappa's" fish!!!!!

 Shawn told Heidi all about the big blue cow... we had to go see it. Heidi was disappointed that it wasn't real! It had an impact on her, she keeps asking to go back to see the big blue ox and tells everyone she touched the ear and the horn!

 Feeding the horses at Bob and Lorraine Lee's. Heidi is quite the animal lover!

 Miss Hailey checking out Ruth Lake wishing she could go fishing :)

 Heidi has also not yet learned her fear of heights!! How many of you, remember being on this slide? It makes me sick to my stomach! It might be that my 2 year old is standing at the top of it, she would have climbed it all day long if she had anyone to keep going with her.

As for life: Miss Heidi is doing well, she accompanied me to work on Friday and worked hard. She got rewarded by many co-workers and others in the building with all sorts of treats!

Miss Hailey got her first tooth a couple weeks ago and the second one has popped out already. Guessing she is going to be getting many of them in a short amount of time. She is on the move, was just scooting backwards, but now goes forward too. She just now went from laying down to sitting up on her own, we won't be able to keep her still. She goes on all 4 and rocks and tries to move her feet! She was in to the doctor the other day and is at 17 pounds. She has her 6  month well child check on Monday. Will be fun to see how tall she is getting!

Shawn has been busy with work. It had been slow, but picked up as of recently. Hoping he gets all the jobs done before the snow flies. He is currently over at Randy's as someone is combining our barley we planted there. He has mostly finished up with haying. Got a lot of bales this year again, which is good.

My life is pretty consistent, go to work, come home and be with the girls. Doesn't deter much from that! Still loving my job!

Shawn turns the big 40 this April! He has been complaining that he is too old for our little children and doesn't have the energy it requires...So the ultimate birthday gift to him is possibly the birth of our 3rd child on his birthday. I am almost 12 weeks and baby is due on his birthday! Heidi says she is having a sister! We shall see.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Connor William Kuoppala Baptism

An easy date to remember for Connor's baptism, 9-11-11.  Another child was also
baptised, after Connor.  Then to 500 Main St. in Farmington for some good lasagna
and salad and fruit.  Day was beautiful.  These old timers were a little tired by the time
we got home!

Ron Mayry passed away

Ronald Mayry died this morning. Could someone with texting abilities, please text our parents. What do people think about me getting a plant from the Kuoppala family?

Busy busy

Just took these pictures, thought I'd throw them up here!  Its been a hectic, problem filled last 'few' weeks.  Lots to do, and it feels like there is no time to do it.  I believe I have had to ask a few times, what day it is!  Either I'm getting old?  Or...  The nights I've gone without sleep, are starting to mess with my head.

One of those small problems...  err  Maybe its not so small!  From this... (an intermodal box trailer)

Add in a fair amount of steel, a whole lotta time...  And you get something like this, that you start to question shop door sizes!  That childs story, about the steam shovel that dug his way down in the basement, and then couldn't get back out when the hole was done...  That story crossed my mind several times during this thing...  making sure we could get it out.

But hey, all's well that ends well (or so they say).  Shes done, and on the road to get tires, brakes, lights...  But, this is only the first one...  One more to go!

Before I go to take another nap (not sleeping much? Yikes, how many naps per day before you are sleeping too much???    As I started to say, before I go take that nap, figured I'd mention Jades new website.  She doesn't have too many pictures on it yet, concentrating on learning how to use HTML first..

Website, is here --->  http://www.jadessnapshots.com/

Alright, a pillow is calling my name!





Just playin...

Jade is helping me out by filming me, so I can see all of my mistakes on film...  In the "moment", I don't realize I'm doing a lot of the things that I'm doing, but seeing it on film later, I see just how atrocious my riding is.  No wonder my racing is at the level its at!

Anyways...  I'm just playing around with posting video, so unfortunatly for you, your my guinea pigs :-)

There will soon be a little Frans running around our house!  We had an ultrasound last week and found out we are having a little boy!!!  We are so excited and the girls can't wait to have a baby brother :)

Jenny

Welcome to Alaska!

For the past 4 weeks or so we've been busy keeping the sink free of dishes and the floors downstairs free of dog fuzz. We've been mowing the lawn, keeping the laundry caught up and the bathtubs scrubbed.

Now we get a break for a bit.

We had an offer this week on our home, we counter offered and they accepted!

Our planned closing date is August 2nd,

after which we're renting back the house for the month of August.

So ... we're issuing an invitation to you all.

If you've been hankering to see a bit of Alaska ...

we'll be here for another couple of months.

Then we're heading back down south

where I'm going to promptly plant some orange trees. :)

Hailey's Baptism

Hailey was baptised on Saturday

A not so great picture of us...

 Aunty Jen was able to come. She filled in for Godparents Ken and Kari Kako

Little princess got tired

With Grandpa and Grandma

Heidi was quite excited about the cake :)

Hailey getting a little loving whether she wants it or not.

A busy weekend

 After Paul Kaurala's wedding in Babbitt we went to Iron for Hailey's baptism.  She is really giving Grandma a once over. 

On Sunday after the Sunday School Picnic we went to Otsego for Denise and Andy's
engagement party.  Lots of people.  Lots of food.  Gift opening was last.  Wedding will
be on Tuesday, September 20th at the Rockford church.  There are so many weddings
that you can't necessarily get a Saturday.  I think Heather was going to post other pics
of the baptism. 

our hike

Monday, May 16, 2011

Havasupai Hike

Frans and I hiked the grand Canyon last weekend with Kieth and Kim, Gary and Jessica and Loren and Jessica.  I was dreading that it would feel like a kesti reunion with us intruding, but it didn't....it was really fun!!  I would highly recomend this hike to everyone.  It is long, and tiring, but not too difficult, and the views along the way and at the bottom are so beautiful!  And at times it felt like we were not in Arizona at all.  And it was an experience just to see the Indian tribe at the bottom and see how they live.  Sure made me appreciate all that we have!!  We spent the night at the top in our truck in the parking lot on Saturday night, and we began hiking in at about 6:15 in the morning.  It took about 3 hours and 45 minutes or so to get down.  We hike back out on Monday morning, and it took us 4 1/2 hours to get out.
Pictures don't do it justice, but here are a few.

This last picture was taken right around sunset by Frans with the tripod.  The water is really this color....soooooo amazingly beautiful!!  I wish that I could have sat down here with my book and my hubby all day in a hammock!
We got a mule to haul our stuff down, and that was such a great Idea.  I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if I had to carry a 30 or 40 pound pack down!
Jenny

Grand Canyon Hike

Told mother I would put pictures of our hike into the grand canyon. Will put more on in a week or two. the hike was amazing and breath taking.

Grandchildren of Emanuel "Manna" Himango

Was disappointed that I didn't get a picture of Donald and me at Glady's funeral as we
are the only surviving grandchildren of Emanuel Himango.  Today we went to Leonard
Himango's funeral in Cloquet.  His dad and my dad were 1st cousins.  Good thing we
got there early as Donald was just coming out the door; had a doctor's appointment
so couldn't stay for the funeral.

Life at our house

Heidi is fascinated with water and washing dishes....

The first thing she wants to do is go outside... she doesn't believe she needs to wear pants :) 

When the weather is gross, we still find things to do :) She loved her snowman and was sad when it melted

 Thus far we have 8 lambs (We lost one of them). This one had to be in the house a couple of nights and Heidi dressed it with a scarf.

Heidi loves the phone and calls "Pappa", Randy, Liz, and Jen most often. She tells them all sorts of stories.

Miss Hailey is growing like crazy!!! Today she is 11 pounds 3 ounces and 23 inches. She was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 20.5 inches at birth :)

Heidi is becoming a big "helper" in the kitchen too!

The Easter Bunny brought socks to a very sock OBSESSED little girl

And of course the girls got chocalate too!

Shawn had asked Heidi if the Easter Bunny brings eggs. She stated "no, chicken eggs". We had to explain that the Easter Bunny brings big colorful eggs and hides them outside. It was fun to have a 2 year old engaging in an Easter Egg Hunt

It is baby time on the homefront... Thus far we have 1 goat who had these 2 "baby goats", 6 ewes have had 9 lambs total (though we lost one), 9 calfs born thus far and 10 cows left to calve, 24 more ewes to lamb, and 6 more goats to "kid"

Heidi is the "little farm girl" and loves to see her "baby goats", "baby lambs" and "baby cows" daily!

She is a bit too courageous for her mom's nerves somtimes

Some of the lambs