2 Peas in a Pod

In the middle of July, we spent a week on Ottertail Lake, where my mom's family has a couple cabins.  My cousin, Mark, and his kids were up from Oklahoma City visiting.  His son, Hunter, and Jacob hit it off right away, and they were inseparable. 

 I'd say these 2 are life-long buddies

Baptism

As a kid growing up, I remember my Dad always telling me, "My greatest priority as a parent is to make sure you get to Heaven".  I'd nod my head and smile, but I always thought it was an odd thing to say.  Shouldn't his priority be to make sure I was fed?

Or I had a warm bed to sleep in?

Or see me get into the right college?

Or marry the right guy?

But it wasn't until I held Jacob, Sophia & Jack in my arms after they were born, that I realized the reality of my dad's priority.  Our time on earth is so short, and life is so fragile.  The only guarantee we have to always be together is to see them chose to follow Jesus, so we can spend eternity in Heaven together.

This past February, our church held an indoor baptism and Jacob decided it was time to publicly proclaim his faith in Christ.

So, on July 14th, with Craig by his side, they were baptized together in Lake Johanna.

What a joy-filled day!

The Color Run

This past winter, I signed up to run in the Color Run 5K with a couple friends.  Within 24 hours of the run, my friends ended up having to back out, which left me to run the race by myself.  As someone who has a physical and mental adversion to running, doing this by myself didn't sound like much fun and I was tempted to back out.

Jacob approached me with a whole new idea...what if he took one of the spots and we ran it together?

At first, I thought there was no way!  Jacob had never run a 5K before, and I really didn't think he'd be able to finish.  But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that the worst case scenario would be that he'd get tired, and we'd have to leave the course.

Much to my surprise, Jacob hung with it the whole way.  I motivated him when he got tired, and he ran ahead when I got tired, which meant my only option was to chase him down.  I couldn't lose face by losing to a 7-year-old, right!?! 

In the end, we completed the 5K in 32 minutes...a 10 minute/mile pace.

Not bad for 2 non-runners!

In fact, we had so much fun, we decided to do it again next year...and run a few moe 5Ks inbetween.

A Little Bit of California Sunshine

We were so blessed to have my Grandma Mozelle and Uncle Bob visit this summer.  It has been a couple years since my Grandma's health allowed her to travel to Minnesota for a visit, so this was a special treat.  Due to Craig's crazy travel schedule, the kids and I were home alone most of the week, which afforded us the time to spend most days with them. 

We went shopping and posed as mannequins.

Can you spot the imposters!?!

 One of the many things Grandma and Sophia have in common is their love for puzzles.  So they spent and afternoon doing as many puzzles as they could together.  Nana helped too!

And what visit would be complete without a picture of 4 generations of Prentice Girls?

Sophia and I are pretty blessed to be named after such an amazing, beautiful, Godly woman.

Happy 4th!

What a wonderful 4th of July holiday! I can honestly say that this was probably one of the most beautiful weeks of weather we've had in a long time over the 4th! Sunny, warm, and wonderful. It's weeks like these that make me proud to live in Minnesota. Now if the other 51 weeks of the year would follow suit.
Per tradition, our family spent the day of the 4th in Walker for a potluck with Grandma Teresa's side of the family and the Kiddie Parade with all the cousins. This year's theme was Rock n' Roll. It was fun to watch the kids playing blow-up guitars and singing into pretend microphones.
The Person clan headed back to Grand Rapids and enjoyed some time in the water before heading out on the boat for the amazing Pokegama Lake fireworks. Every year they put on a great show...and this year was no exception. These were the 1st fireworks that Jack has stayed awake for, and he LOVED them! Each bang was as new and as exciting as the last.
A couple days later, the Stocke's and Mossengren's came over to the cabin to spend some more time together. Grandma put together some fun relay races for the grandkids to do, while the adults enjoyed corn hole and ladder golf. The 4th of July is always such a fun time of year...one this family always looks forward to, and is always sad to see it go by so fast. Hope you all had a fun and safe 4th!

Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Jack - 0

Mazy - 1 

Swindling Uncle Chad

Jacob's always in the market to earn a buck or two.

So the weekend before the 4th, Jacob was working really hard to lose his 2nd front tooth in order to encourage a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

Despite his best efforts, it wouldn't budge.

Then one evening, while on a boat ride at the cabin with the family, Uncle Chad told him he would give him $20 if he could lose the tooth by the end of the night. 

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Uncle Chad wasn't worried.  Afterall, that tooth hadn't budged in weeks!

Jacob hunkered down in a corner of the pontoon and went to town on that tooth.

He pushed.  He pulled.  He twisted.

And within 20 minutes, the tooth was out, Jacob had 20 bucks, and Uncle Chad learned a valuable lesson...

Never underestimate a 7-year-old when money is involved.