Stephen F Austin University campus tour

We spent the day after we got home from spring break doing a college campus tour at Stephen F Austin. We all really liked the campus and the homey feel of it. Claire said it is definitely on her list of potential places to go! Their mascot is the Lumberjacks and they say "Axe 'Em" with a hand signal. Surprisingly, we got Claire to let us take a picture of her making the "X" in "Axe Em"!

Spring break 2026 in Naples, Florida!

We had such a blast with our family this spring break at my brother's house in Naples, Florida! So many fun activities were completed in this week. There was iguana hunting, professional soccer game watching (where the only time a goal was scored was when Uncle Brandon went to the bathroom!), golfing, horseback riding, bocci ball playing, shopping, hibachi eating, beach walking and sunset watching, card playing, and pool floating! Plus lots of great company and many wonderful memories made together! Feeling so very blessed to have such an amazing family with such close bonds!

Grandma Rachel comes to visit!

We got to have Grandma Rachel come to visit for a week and a half at the end of February and we enjoyed every moment of her time with us!

National Honor Society induction!

After doing all of the work herself (she didn't even ask for any help from her parents on this one), Claire was accepted into the National Honor Society! We are super proud of all of her hard work and effort she had to put in to make this a reality!

Claire's final high school swim meet....ever....

Claire has decided, after 10 years of dedication and hard work, to throw in the towel on her swim career. She has chosen to not continue swimming her senior year of high school. It is bittersweet, but we have definitely seen the drive and passion go away from her throughout this junior year of swim. We are excited to see where the next chapter in her life leads her! This is just one of the first "lasts" we will be experiencing as she gets ready to head off to college, as senior year will bring about many "lasts" that this momma is going to have to work on handling....

Christmas in Minnesota 2025

Claire and I got to spend Christmas in Minnesota this year with our family. Jeff stayed back due to work requirements, but don't worry...he definitely got lots of golfing in while Claire and I were gone! First we did lots of family photos together.

Then we sent the cousins outside to attempt sledding behind the side-by-side and to play in the little bit of snow that covered the ground

Then we played lots of minute to win it games

And took more pictures! Then we had some fun at Grandma Rachel's house playing some of our old games from my childhood!

Finally, we got to get out into the fresh snow to play a bit and I put Claire to work shoveling Grandma's sidewalk (something she had never had to do before). Then we ended our trip with a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa Naustdal. We are definitely very blessed!