New York City Was Amazing!!!!

Jake and I had an absolute amazing 5th Anniversary together in New York City! We're glad to be back home with the kids again, but enjoyed every second together at the Big Apple! Here we are after seeing the Broadway Show, Mamma Mia, in Times Square on our last night in NYC. I love you Jacob Raymond, thanks for an amazing trip!

We stayed at the Edison Hotel, which was literally 30 steps from Times Square! Great location, we were able to walk pretty much everywhere!

The day we got there we were offered free tickets to the David Letterman show. We couldn't pass those up, plus Adam Sandler was the guest speaker! Pretty awesome!

The first night we took a bus tour of the city at night. Behind us is the ball that drops on New Year's Eve in Times Square, so cool!

The view of New York City's skyline from the Brooklyn Bridge.

We loved being at Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty is gorgeous!

The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island was beautiful.

We were amazed by the amount of immigrants that came through Ellis Island. We are so thankful for our ancestors!

Celest "with" money on Wall Street and Broadway.

Jake completely "broke" on Wall Street and Broadway, ha!

It was amazing to see Ground Zero. They have started construction where the two World Trade towers were. Hard to believe that tragic day happened almost 9 years ago already.

Our view from on top of the Empire State building...the city was beautiful with all the lights!

NYC at night.

Couldn't resist a photo opportunity with a "Celeste pizza!"

Checking out the elephants at the history museum.

Jake loved our time at the museum. That's a history/geography teacher for you!

Central Park was absolutely beautiful.

Jake taking in the scenery of NYC and Central Park.

We toured most of NYC on double-decker buses like this one.

On the night of our anniversary Jake took us to the Broadway Show - Mamma Mia. It was amazing, probably the highlight of the trip!

Couldn't resist a photo of the NYPD.

Roslyn Is Officially Walking!

Our baby girl took her first official steps yesterday (June 28). I am so grateful I was there to witness it in person! Thanks for taping Heath...you're the best!

Happy 5th Anniversary To My Amazing Husband!!!!!

Happy 5th Anniversary to my amazing husband Jacob Raymond. He truly has given me the best 5 years of my life! I love you Jake!

Off to the BIG APPLE with my Hubby Tomorrow!

Jake and I are heading to New York City tomorrow to celebrate 5 years of marriage! Pretty excited! Will miss the kids, but enjoy having some meals in piece and quiet the next few days, ha!
This is by far my newest favorite photo with my baby girl!

My parents took family photos for us this past weekend in good old Redwood Falls.

Hard to believe our wedding photos were taken out here in this same rock garden 5 years ago...time flies!

My parent's yard keeps getting more beautiful every year! So thankful for them!

Last Friday we headed home to good old Redwood Falls for the annual MIC Parade. My dad carried the flag in the parade and Andray was so excited to see Papa Larry carry the "big flag!" My mom made this cute sign for Andray to hold and Andray just yelled out "Papa Larry, Papa Larry" when my dad walked by. Trust me, the tears were rolling, very special.

Dad looked so handsome carrying the flag. So thankful for all he's done and continues to do for our country. You're our hero Dad!


Thanks to Aaron and Megan for letting Roslyn borrow Isa's t-shirt which says, "That's it..I'm going to Grandma's!" Too cute.

Roz loved the parade as well and just sat on mom's lap clapping, pretty cute! Looking forward to the Richmond parade now!

It didn't take long for Andray to figure out that all the candy by the curb got to go in his bucket, he loved it!

Andray was happy to see his Godfather Jacob at the parade as well!

Uncle Jacob thoroughly enjoyed holding Roz at the parade and giving her a bottle, pretty sweet.

On Sunday I had one of the most memorable days of my life...my cousins Kristen and Cassie took my Gram, Susie, Jeff and my mom out for lunch. We watched the Twins game on T.V., had pitchers of beer and just talked. It was the most relaxing "family gathering" that we've all had in years! To top it off, we surprised the group with Twins tickets to Target Field on Labor Day. We can't wait to bring everyone, especially since Grandpa would've loved to see the facility! We sure do miss Grandpa Shorty...talked about him a lot on Sunday. We a great day!

Welcome Easton James to the Stang Family

Jake's sister Rachel and her husband John had a baby boy on Friday the 11th! Easton James...and he's perfect! Both Rach and the baby are healthy which is the most important part! We are so thankful Andray has a boy cousin to play with now!

We were so excited to meet Easton James on Friday at the hospital! Hard to believe just one year ago Andray was the size of Roslyn and Roslyn was the size of Easton. What a difference a year makes!

We just had to bring John a bottle of "EJ Brandy" to the hospital! Easton's smaller than the bottle, crazy stuff.

Rachel and John asked Jake to be Godfather of Easton yesterday at their home. Pretty special...he's a keeper!

Jake was so happy to hold Easton while the rest of us ate...one happy Godfadda!

Rachel & John Had Their Baby!!!

Well, Jake and I are officially an Uncle and Auntie again. Only problem is, Rach and John aren't saying what they had until we come up to the hospital! I'm leaving work shortly to go pick up Dray and Roz and Jake...can't wait to meet the new bundle of joy! Thank you God for a safe delivery, both mom and baby are doing well!

Rachel and John are in the Hospital!

We finally got Roslyn's 1-year photos back from the photographer and are pretty excited. For the most part Roz was a "deer in the headlights" during the photo shoot, but at least there were a few photos to choose from! Also, Jake's sister Rachel and her husband are in the hospital as we speak! Can't wait to meet our new nephew/niece! I'm pretty sure it'll be a boy since it'll be born today, on the 11th, and Andray was born on the 11th of March! Too fun! Just pray everything goes okay with the delivery!

As you all know, our baby girl LOVES CAKE! She had so much fun destroying her cake at the photo shoot. So different than Andray, he just pointed and smiled at his cake.

When I found this dress in the store I just had to buy it for Roslyn to wear, it reminded me of my wedding dress, which is draped in the background of this photo. My wedding bouquet is on the floor next to Roslyn as well, pretty special for me. Hard to believe Jake and I will be married 5 years already in just a couple weeks.

Camping at El Rancho

Well, we survived our first official weekend camping as a family at El Rancho! It was El Rancho's Blue Grass Festival, so Jake and Eric were busy helping with the set up and maintenance. Sarah, Skyler and Ella were a great help for me with our kids. Andray and Roslyn both loved camping. Here we're standing in front of the stage where all the music was played. Andray was so excited he hardly slept, which was hard on mom and dad (ha!), but it was worth it. We're looking forward to camping on the 4th!

Four Stang cousins enjoying the outdoors and camping!

Roslyn loves to stand now by herself and walk around holding people's hands. Ella had fun playing with Roz on the picnic table! If you can't tell, Roslyn is pretty excited.

Ella was a good help with Andray too. Here we are waiting for the tractor to come around with the trailer and pick us all up to bring us to the stage where the music was being played. So cute.

Roslyn loves pizza we found out this weekend. Couldn't resist taking this photo of her by one of the concession stands.

Andray was so excited to get on the trailer with his Godmother Sarah!

This photo is a little bright, but our brother-n-law Eric was driving the tractor at the time we jumped on. Andray was so excited when he saw the tractor and trailer coming!

Skyler was such a great help with the kids this weekend! Here, Roslyn is waking up from her morning nap and Skyler helped get her out of the crib! So fun!

Dray of course brought some trucks along to play with. He loves this semi truck/trailer that I found at a garage sale!

Andray knows that the fire is "hot," so he does a pretty good job of staying away. He loved eating the smores though!

I enjoyed roasting marshmallows with Roslyn. She really didn't know what to think!

Dad made a surprise visit to our house last night. He had a conference in the cities and decided to drive to our house and stay over night. The kids were so excited! Dad (aka Papa Larry) enjoyed feeding Roz her bedtime bottle on the couch, pretty special.