Summer Fun Continued....

Trips to the beach...

The boys and I spent a cloudy, chilly day in Kenosha, WI. Went to the public museum and the lakefront.

We spent a day at Green Meadows Farm in East Troy, WI. The boys got to hold / touch everything and even got to milk a cow!

We spent the day in Chicago with Grandma Polk, Aunt Janel, Andon & Presley.

Now...we mustache you a question:

Would you like to see the fun we have in our backyard?

With our slip & slide:

Dancing:

Bubble baseball:

Our Summer Thus Far...

You will have to settle for a lot of pictures - playing catch up!

The first weekend of June we got a limo and headed into Chicago with 4 other couples for Cameron's birthday!! We had such a fun evening!

We had the extreme pleasure and honor of being part of Jamie & Keaton's wedding (Jamie is Cameron's cousin in Pittsfield, IL). Cameron was the officiant and I was the "woman in charge" (at least according to Jamie)! We endured extreme heat, crazy storms and a cold front all in one day for this wedding! And Jamie smiled through all of it and looked stunning. And Keaton looked pretty good too! 

I took the boys strawberry picking...not sure how much Kale smuggled out in his belly!

We rode out one of the worst summer storms at an indoor pool!

We enjoyed our first kiddie cocktails at one of our favorite home town restaurants - Mickey Finns!

Dane LOVED his first round of golf lessons!

We endured a nasty stomach flu (it skipped Cameron) and mosquito bites that swelled up the size of golf balls!

Many trips to many different parks!

And we enjoyed a nice little hometown 4th of July!!

Stay tuned for more Hatten summer happenings...hopefully I will get them posted before Christmas!

Blog Neglect

I think I've all but given up on this blog! What happened to me? I used to love blogging, but now it just seems like another thing in my already long list of things! I have been planning to do a big catch up post for at least a week and clearly, it hasn't happened yet. I'm a fallen blogger. I think it will get better again this fall when we're back into a normal routine and the boys are in school...at least, I hope.  I am running really hard to get my business off the ground, Cameron has a pretty demanding schedule with his new job and on weekends we try to suck up as much time together as a family that we can! And that is our life right now...I am feeling 2 steps behind all the time and I can't seem to get ahead! But we have 5 days at Disney World coming up in August and we're so excited about heading back! I will update as soon as I can...until then, I hope you're all well in bloggerland!

Living Life to the Fullest

This weekend I had the opportunity to get away for a fun weekend of celebrating Jamie's upcoming wedding. Jamie is Cameron's cousin and is headed down the aisle of matrimony on June 21st. What started as a crazy, fun day day on the lake of the ozarks went horrifically wrong and ended in tragedy. We were on a rented boat with our own driver and came upon a drowning in progress. A patrol boat was already attempting to rescue the young man and our captain tried to assist as well. The officer ended up jumping in and trying a last attempt to save the victim, however it was too late - the gentleman went under and never resurfaced. 

Why am I sharing this? Well, for one - I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I watched someone die. And that it happened so quickly. We obviously didn't know the full story and it's starting to come out in the news articles I have read. Secondly - I know what I believe and I also know what my family believes...if you're the praying type, pray for this young man's family. I cannot imagine having to deal with a death that was so incredibly tragic and completely avoidable. A life cut short at age 20...and a family left without a son, a brother, a grandson.

Thirdly - like it said - it happened FAST. I mean minutes from the time we pulled up to the scene before he went under and never surfaced. You never know the time, you never know the place, when your time to meet your maker is here there is no going back, there is no re-doing, there is no changing things. LOVE deeply and tell people how you feel. LIVE life to the fullest - enjoy your time here on this earth. NO REGRETS. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. 

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/06/02/brandon-ellingson-lake-of-ozarks-handcuff-drowning/9865347/

This is our captain's account of what happened:

http://www.ozarkwatertaxiandcharters.com/?p=149

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.