Family, Work, & a Wonderful Weekend (by Linger)

The Lindgren's have been busy and I'll use this Sunday evening to sneak in another blog before the new month becomes us.

So, June. This month was a blend of the family and professional life. Laura's working hard at her counseling job and, for myself, I was hit with a much-needed barrage of writing contracts. I was awarded a contract to rebrand a credit union, involving writing brochures, web content for their new site, radio scripts, and possibly some TV spots soon. I've also written some radio ads for a cell phone co., and while I've always been leery about writing marketing materials, I'm finding joy in it.

I've also been doing some work for my very good friend, Jen Hofmann, who founded Inspired Home Office (blog). She's developing some very cool audio products, recordings from her organizational classes, and I am the lucky dude who gets to edit the audio and scrub up the transcripts. Very very good stuff. I've already started applying some of the principles. Thanks, Jen! ;-)

The only hiccup in all of this is the hours I have to work (and how Laura has to be home alone during the evening) to complete these contracts. So it goes. I am confident these times will pass, and I am willed to enjoy every moment I have with my gorgeous, lively family. I'm also very thankful for the contracts, experience, and opportunities.

Onto the weekend.

Friday. This was our anniversary. Six years of marriage and we took the opportunity to celebrate as a family, since we didn't have anyone to watch the kids until Saturday.

We decided to go to a beach at Buffalo State Park just outside of the F-M area. We enjoyed an albeit humid, but warm day to play in the sand a water. Before we hit the beach pics, we'll start this picture montage with our newest Lindgren, Mr. Gavin Paxton 'cause he's stinkin' cute:




BSP BEACH:







Saturday. Our date day. Thanks to Nana and Grandpa Lindgren, Laura and I were able to take a day to ourselves (our last date being in early April). We went out to lunch together, and then played tennis together (we wanted to do something active). After tennis, we decided to do some browsing downtown before we went to buy some food for a picnic at Lindenwood.

We bought some sushi, a french baguette, cheese, grapes, a piece of cake, and some Pinot Noir (but we soon later found out that I forgot the damn corkscrew!!!). Even though the wine remained corked the conversation made our date all the better. We traced back our history together and discussed how we can make each other even happier for the future.

No pictures of this event -- sorry.

Onto Sunday.

Ava has had the opportunity to take care of her neighbor friend's butterflies, since he's been gone for awhile. Here she is having fun outside with the one remaining butterfly (of the four total). She even mustered up the courage to touch it. ;-)

BUTTERFLIES:





We also all decided to brave the ND winds and go swimming at the Fargo South pool. I'm glad we did.

I've been taking Ava and Gavin during the Laura's work week, and today's the first time we got to go as a family. I really enjoyed watching Laura and Ava play together in the pool, as Gavin and I set off into deeper waters than usual. The wind got the better of Ava, so she eventually decided to lay down on a towel and soak in the sun (a suggestion as per mommy).

Here are a few pictures of the pool experience:









Here, simply, is a picture of me and Gavin chillin on his play gym. Laura thought she should capture this moment.



Below is a video of Gavin "giggling". I use quotations to indicate what you will hear when watching the video. The kid's a future kung fu enthusiast, methinks. ;-)