and we're back home! after what felt like an extremely long absence, i'm back in my home with the best bed EVER and another room for samuel to cry himself back to sleep in. after the car blowing up, two state fair trips, eating galore .. six pounds worth... err!, Clue (the boardgame) till you're blue in the face, and samuel waking up 2 -3 times a night it was seriously time to come back:) i did get a new best friend out of the deal ... gma and gpa's sam the dog loves me now. i did have to bribe him a little:)

it was a busy trip to say the least starting with the car... it was tragic. it died young and had to go to the grave yard. the piston blew and required a new engine. grandma came to our rescue. luckily we were only about 45 min south of minneapolis! lol... we were trying to look on the bright side, because the dark side also involves samuel crying all the way to coon rapids.

the next day it ended up being around 55 degrees. i thought i was going to freeze to death. i hadn't brought warm clothes coming from 90 degree weather... i just assumed it would be hot... nope! we had dinner with friends that night and warmed up by the fire. which dave was in charge of for some reason... honestly, i'm surprised i still have eye brows! i did get nice and toasty warm though:) we had a great time!

another day involved the minnesota conservatory... which i love! the obvious reason is that it's absolutely beautiful and it was a gorgeous day out... warming up from the previous day! auntie deborah and gma and i took samuel. just as we were about to leave the announcement for sparky the seal(i think) came on and informed us that he would be doing his show... of course we had to go see him;) (the free zoo is right next to the conservatory) samuel passed out in an awkward position 2 minutes after the show ended and we were out of there.

on senior citizen tuesday we made a trip to the minnesota state fair... lol.. it's the day that worked for the entire helm squad:) dave's classic line for the day was "this is the longest i've ever been at the fair and it's the most i've ever seen!". it's true, there were things that i had never seen before! like... the baking and jarring ribbons. usually i get in that building and get kinda bored in the quilting area and just walk out... who knew if you would just stick it out a little longer you could get to the back where some cool stuff was!?! well i'm sure it's not cool to everyone;) we also watched some dude turn wood... boring? well kinda, but it was pretty interesting for a minute or two! lots and lots and tons of yummy food and it all went down hill from there! about 8 hours later we were crashing in bed!

state fair trip number two just involved me and samsam keeping sarah company... literally all we did that time was eat:) oh wait, we did make it down the big slide:) AND secretly fed our friends two year old lots of cotton candy... i think that actually was the best part;)



dave also spoke at a church on the one of the sundays we were there... and did a great job i might add;) i love that my hubby loves what he does... he's not only an encouragement to me but it also helps me want to be his helper.

there were a couple more meetings with friends, some yummy homemade pizza's, key's pancakes, and lots and lots of clue in the mix too! so much clue in fact that i probably drove my bil absolutely nuts! on the other hand the sil loved every minute of it... probably cause she was always winning!

all in all it was a great trip back. samuel has adjusted back to his schedule nicely and i'm finally able to sleep through the night again;)