Dodson Journal

Wazee Lake

2011-08-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, Jeff finished his Advanced Open Water dive training (through PADI). He had two dives to complete before his certification would be achieved. The dives were scheduled to be done at Wazee Lake in WI. It's a 2+ hour drive, so we drove out together.

We met the dive instructor and the others in the class at a gas station in Black River Falls before heading to the lake. The lake is a reclaimed mined and one of the deepest lakes in WI (depths up to 350', I believe).

This is a gorgeous lake!

While he did his first dive, I lounged around the car - playing on Facebook and napping.

During his second dive, I decided to check out the beach.

Source

This beach was absolutely gorgeous, with the. softest. sand. ever! The water was perfect, too.
I did feel a little weird hanging at the beach by myself, though, but was worth it to cool off a bit.

After Jeff's 2nd dive, we went for a short dive together. It was only about a 20min dive because we were getting low on air. I'd definitely consider this my first real dive, and it was so fun! It was the longest, deepest, clearest dive of my life. :-)

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from underwater.

There are a few more pictures in my Picasa Scuba! album, if you're interested.

Swimming with the Sharks

2011-07-20T08:33:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday, Jeff and I headed to SeaLife MN.

As a newly certified PADI Open Water Diver, Jeff was excited to get back underwater. I decided I needed a little more time to practice before diving in front of an audience at an aquarium, so I went as an observer this time.

I'll join him next time. :)

The package deal included a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium (I didn't go on this), a dive in the freshwater tank, and a dive in the saltwater tank.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the freshwater tank.

A few from the saltwater...

Jeff had a blast!

Here is what he wrote in an email to a friend:

Diving at SeaLife was frick'n awesome. The sharks and the sea turtles were huge. A couple big sharks went right over my head, and a giant sea turtle came right up behind me and pushed me out of her way. It was sweet. Also, in the fresh water tank, several sturgeon nipped at me with their weird hose-like mouth (it doesn't hurt, just freakie). Clarinda got some great photos of me from the underwater tunnels, and I took some really cool videos inside the tanks.

I haven't had a chance to go through the videos yet, but hopefully I'll get a chance to post them soon in a separate post.

In the meantime, feel free to watch the whole slideshow.

RAVE - Hastings/Prescott

2011-06-19T10:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Jeff, my brother, Dan, and his girlfriend, Chelsea, and I went on a RAVE - River Action Volunteer Event. We grabbed our raingear and bug spray and headed out to Hastings to help with river restoration projects in Lake Rebecca Park.

The four of us in the parking lot waiting to begin

We split into groups. Some groups went to pick up trash; our group got to help with buckthorn removal. Buckthorn is an invasive species that has become very troublesome. It was first brought over from Europe to plant in yards as shrubbery but now plays a part in decreasing biodiversity.

Jeff and Chelsea pulling Buckthorn

Sometimes it was a two person job!

After we finished pulling buckthorns (no, we didn't pull them all - just worked for about 1/2 hour on the project), we donned our PFDs from Wilderness Inquiry and loaded up 6 24-foot canoes to head to an island to pull garlic mustard plants.

All the PFDs had different species written on the back.

While paddling we got to go under this cool bridge and see trains going by. We also saw 3 bald eagles and a huge eagle's nest. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the eagles. :(

The canoe trip was about 3-4 miles. The thunder started while we were working our way down the river. As soon as the last canoe (ours) was unloaded, the skies really opened up and the rain began to fall. Hard. Since it was accompanied with thunder and lightning, they decided to call the event early, and we loaded back into the canoes to head to Prescott, WI, to meet our shuttle to get back to Hastings. Luckily, Prescott was very close by, so we were soon back on shore. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to pick any garlic-mustard, as some people were talking about taking some home to make into pesto. Yum!

Dan and Chelsea on the shuttle back to Hastings. She claims to have been miserable, but I don't buy it.
Just look at that smile!

We were soaked through and through! Before hopping in the car to head back to St Paul, Jeff and Chelsea took off their pants for the 30 min drive. Have you ever tried to put back on soaked jeans? I'd imagine it would be difficult, so back at our apartment, these two just made a run for it in their skivvies.

Ok. Well, Jeff stopped to pose for a picture.

After we got dried off and cleaned up, we all went to the St Clair Broiler for some dinner. It was delish!

I don't know about the rest of them, but I know I'm looking forward to the next RAVE in July! :)

Cocina del Barrio - Edina, MN

2011-06-01T10:08:00.000-05:00

Last night Jeff and I went to Cocina del Barrio in Edina for dinner after our dance lesson at Arthur Murray's studio.

We were in a bit of a rush because we wanted to get back to the studio for a group dance lesson, so we told the host when he was seating us that we were short on time.

Our server, Matt, greeted us at our table, having been informed by the host of our time crunch. He was fantastic. We asked him for suggestions on what would be quick, and he pointed out some areas on the menu of which to steer clear. Before he even left the table, we decided on the Chicken and Black Bean Tostada (per his recommendation) and the Grilled Flatbread.

The tostada came up very quickly - even before our drinks arrived!

At first we were skeptical. We weren't sure how it would taste or even how to go about eating it, but we dug in, and oh wow! It was fantastic!! It was a perfect combination of flavor and texture. Now, I really wish I had taken a picture with my phone.

The flatbread arrived just as we were finishing the tostada. I was pretty full by this time, I must not have been that hungry to begin with. so I didn't savor this dish as much. It was really good, too, but definitely not as delectable as the tostada. If I had to choose one over the other, I'd definitely choose the tostada. Hands down. I believe Jeff would second that as well.

Shortly after the flatbread arrived, our server dropped off our check. We really appreciated that, since we had said we were in a hurry.

Their menu appears to have a good selection of meat, chicken, and fish options. The service was prompt, friendly, and catered to our needs. Overall, we would definitely recommend this restaurant (and the tostada)!

Neglectful

2011-05-30T09:25:00.003-05:00

Wow! We've been neglectful in sharing our adventures with you. Naturally, I should be studying for my final while I wait for the rain to stop and the skies to clear, but instead I find myself in blogger.

Jeff and I have done so many fun things that have gone undocumented. I even found 3 posts in my drafts that were never published. They date back to *gulp* last July. I'll start with posting them, so be sure to rifle through the archives to find the following posts:

Camping with Friends - June 2010
Blizzard 2010 - December 2010
Restaurant Review of Capital Grille - March 2011

We've missed posting lots of other things, too. These are just the few that I've begun and never finished. I'll work on playing catch-up over the next few weeks.

I know you've all been dying to know what's been going on with the Dodsons!

Restaurant Review - Capital Grille

2011-03-02T10:30:00.002-06:00

I met Jeff at the restaurant after work. I simply gave my name to the host, who immediately saw that Jeff had already been seated. She brought me right to our table, which was a perfect little booth nestled in a corner. After bringing me to the table, she offered to take my coat to the coat check and return with the ticket. What a great start to the evening! The server was wonderful as she made sure to ask if we were headed to the theater that evening or had any other time constraints.

We didn't.

We were just out for an evening of good food and good company together.

It was Restaurant Week, so they had a fixed menu at a really great price. We could've still ordered from the full menu as well, but we both opted for the special.

The food was absolutely succulent. We each ordered the 8-oz sirloin, cooked medium, and it was the perfect combination of flavor and texture. This steak simply melted in our mouths. The mashed potatoes and creme brulee were equally pleasing. The drinks were a little on the expensive side, but the atmosphere and food made it worth it!

If dining here on a normal, non-Restaurant Week evening, the dinner would have been much more expensive. I would recommend this restaurant but probably only for a special occasion, as it is a bit spendier than we'd normally like to spend on just a regular date night.

Blizzard 2010

2010-12-13T06:19:00.035-06:00

This past weekend was one of the five worst snowfalls in Minnesota history. It was an all out blizzard! We were very thankful that since we no longer own a car, we didn't have to worry about shoveling!

Outside our garage, the snow was knee-deep!

This car across the street from our building was completely snowed-in.

Early afternoon

Same car, later in the evening

Without the pressure of having to shovel, we decided to bundle up and take a walk. It was really beautiful!

Perfect height for Sallie!

This bike owner is going to be sorry

Street corner at Laurel & Cleveland

There's a park bench under all that snow

Normally, this would be a sidewalk up to JRC.

After our walk, we noticed a neighbor stuck in our alley, so we grabbed our shovels to give her a hand. We ended up shoveling and pushing her to get her back out onto the street and into a nearby parking lot.

It was a pretty neat experience because there were a quiet peacefulness lingering in the air, and there were so many people outside walking around with shovels looking to help out anyone who needed it.

Apparently, there's nothing like a blizzard to bring a community together!

She's SO Cute!

2010-12-11T13:02:00.000-06:00

Ok. I know this post is nearly identical to the previous post. But I just can't help myself!

She's. just. so. gosh. darn. cute!

Our Little Snuggle Bug!

2010-11-28T17:20:00.000-06:00

All curled up for a little nap I-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T13:17:00.055-06:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year! We spent the morning lounging around the house. Jeff got to sleep in (My sleeping in was thwarted by Sallie. :(); I spent some time editing some photos.

My brother stopped by in his way to our parent's home to pick us up.
What a nice guy! :)

We spent the early afternoon putting the finishing touches on dinner. I made a scrumptious, Roasted Fall Vegetable Salad (a new recipe. got lots of compliments on it. yay!) and a fruit salad ambrosia. We also had all the regular Thanksgiving fare - turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, etc. My sister, of course, made her really yummy orange rolls, and PIE! There were 15 of us, and we had 9 pies total (2 sweet potato, pumpkin, lemon meringue, pecan, french silk, banana cream, apple, and blueberry). Yeah, we LOVE our Thanksgiving pies. :))

After dinner, a few of us took our Thanksgiving walk - a tradition we started a couple years ago. Here's a few pictures.

Silly Selena

Little girls walking the dogs

What's so funny, you two?

That's a might big snowball!

Such good little dog walkers

It was so bloody cold outside that our walk really only lasted about 15 minutes or so. We just walked to the park (a very short distance) and back.

Back in the warm house, there was some lounging around.

Tatiana playing with Abby

Sallie lounging on the back of the sofa

Most of the entire family gathered to play a game. It's usual to have so many of us join in. We were playing BuzzWord.

And having a blast. Enjoying the game and the general frivolity.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

1st Snow

2010-11-13T11:56:00.009-06:00

We awoke this morning to a most beautiful blanket of freshly fallen white snow.

I absolutely LOVE the first snowfall of the season. I find it to be so peaceful and calm. It's like being enveloped in a warm snuggly blanket.

Here's a couple pictures of the snow from our apartment window.

Now, if the snow didn't have to come with the price of COLD,

we'd be so much happier. :)

Playmate?

2010-11-08T06:09:00.000-06:00

The other day, Jeff gave Sallie this toy to play with. It wasn't a new toy, but one we hadn't given her in quite sometime.

She played so well with the toy! It was like it was her best friend.

Sometimes, she would take a little break and snuggle with it. So cute!!

We're considering getting her a real life playmate. Someone she can play with all day - without chewing its ear off.

Ramos-Ferber Wedding

2010-10-29T06:04:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, Jeff and I went out to Oregon for the wedding of an old friend of Jeff's. It was so much fun...and oh, so beautiful! The wedding was held at a secluded ranch on the Umpqua River in southern Oregon.

Big K Ranch Lodge

In addition to the Lodge and Guest Cabins, it was a working ranch with cattle and everything.

Grazing Cattle

In addition to the cattle, they had a bird preserve. Hunters can come and hunt for pheasants and other game birds. We walked around the grounds a bit Friday evening and saw a few pheasants.

There is a glimpse of a pheasant in the center of this photo.
Sorry for the poor quality; our camera was not cooperating very well most of the weekend.

Jeff must have just missed the pheasant in this photo, but it's such a nice crisp photo that I had to include it.

The lodge was located in a beautiful valley. Any direction you looked there were mountains directly in your view.

Gorgeous mountains surrounding the lodge!

Miles of the Umpqua River made the border of the ranch from the neighboring ranch. There was a very cool alluvial fan of rocks where the trail from the lodge met up with the river.

Me standing on the alluvial fan, looking out at the river

Saturday was the wedding. The bride was stunning!

The ceremony was lovely! The view was breathtaking!

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Ferber

The best man was the bride's 11 year-old son. Awww!

Best man's toast

Apparently they practiced a lot for their first dance and wouldn't let anyone know what they were dancing to or see them dance before the reception. It was fun to hear all the anticipation that created; the mother of the bride was particularly excited to see what they'd been practicing.

First Dance

During the reception, Jeff and I popped outside for a bit.

We found this jacked up van to be pretty hilarious and thought of it as a marker of being at a wedding in the Pacific NW.

There were many other vehicles jacked up as well - mostly big, huge trucks.

Of course to even it out, there was one Porsche Spyder in the lot as well.

We were a little concerned about the weather when we were leaving MN. The forecast was for rain the entire weekend. Luckily, the rain didn't really start until everyone was comfortably in the lodge enjoying the wedding and reception.

The evening and nighttime showers gave us a beautiful treat the next morning. I love it when it rains in Oregon. Everything is so green!

The fog coming over the mountains was spectacular!

It was such a wonderful, beautiful, relaxing weekend! We're so grateful we had the opportunity to attend this wedding.

Fun Airline Stories

2010-10-25T11:51:00.001-05:00

Jeff and I recently flew to Eugene, OR, and I thought I'd share a couple funny stories from the flights.

J: Do you hear that buzzing sound?
C: No, I don't hear anything.
J: It sounds like someone's alarm is going off. It sounds just like the alarm on my phone, but it can't possibly be mine because I turned off my phone before getting on the plane. (reaches down to his phone just to double check)
C: Oh yeah. Now I hear it. It IS your alarm.
J: What the...? I know I shut off my phone. (takes phone out to shut off alarm)

Oddly, his phone continually would turn itself back on throughout the trip.

Here's another one.

C: quizzical look on her face
J: (cuz we're always on the same wavelength) The fly? Yeah, I saw it come on when we were boarding.
C: Well, let's hope so!

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WICKED!

2010-09-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, a friend of mine, Lisa, sent out an email asking if anyone was interested in going to see Wicked--suggesting we make it a girls' night out.

I was super excited!

Jeff was super excited, too. Yeah, he totally wanted to crash the girls' night! I also invited my sister, gave a ticket to my niece for her birthday, and invited an old friend.

Last night was THE night!!

I was so excited! This is the first Broadway play I'd ever seen. We've been to a couple other plays but nothing with this much acclaim.

I was also excited because the old friend I invited was my roommate in the summer of 1997...and that was the last time I'd seen her. Reconnecting with old friends is always such great fun!!

Jeff and I grabbed some dinner at Mackenzie's before the show. It was conveniently located right next door to the theater. My friend, Heather, joined us, and then my sister and niece joined us, too.

Wicked was showing at the Orpheum theater in Minneapolis. What a gorgeous theater! We'd never been inside this theater before. I had no idea how big and old it was. Today, I had to look up the history of the theater. Fascinating! It originally opened in 1921. Jeff figured it was so old by noticing that it the lighting had been converted from gas lamps to electrical fixtures. The Hennepin Theater Trust actually gives tours of their theaters (including the Orpheum). I'd definitely LOVE to take one of those tours.

The play was fantastic! We were in the center of the very back row, so definitely not the best seats in the house. I still enjoyed the play immensely. I especially loved the storyline. It was incredible! I loved the little twists and turns and the tie-ins to the Wizard of Oz. I loved the music and the acting! I loved the fun company of the people I went with.

There were 20 or so of us that went together as a group. I didn't get a chance to socialize with them all, but it was definitely worth the group rate!
:))

Overall, it was a fabulous evening out! Thanks, Lisa, for organizing it all!

Back to Blogging: A Title I Am Particularly Proud Of - "Tuesday, November 04, 2008 - "Tragic Ending to our House Hunting Saga"

2010-09-15T19:50:00.000-05:00

NOTE: As part of SITS Back to Blogging event, here's one of my best titles (certainly not a blogging strongpoint of mine). This was originally posted on November 4, 2008. We have since moved away from the apartment. :-)

After much back and forth with the City of St Paul, we decided to forego buying a house and continue renting.

Luckily, it only took less than a week of searching on Craigslist to find a fantastic place.

Our new address is:
2254 Benson Ave
Unit E
St Paul MN 55116

We have conveniently relocated to the W 7th area. We're about 10 min from school, 10 min from my parent's house, and 15 min from church. Perfectly located!

We rented a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo from a nice young couple. It's an upstairs condo, and we're nearly completely moved in. Everything's here but not quite unpacked just yet.

Of course, Sallie moved with us. There was no way we were going to give her up. She's way too cute and adorable, so that was one of our criteria in our apartment search. She's adjusted very well to our new place. While we are nestled in between two very busy streets, our condo is located in a wooded area right next to the railroad tracks and lots of other housing complexes. It's very residential, and Sallie loves going for walks.

Back to Blogging: A Post I Wish More People Had Read - "Talking with Sallie"

2010-09-14T18:46:00.002-05:00

NOTE: This was originally posted on December 24, 2008. As part of SITS Return to Blogging event, I'm posting this post. I wish more people had viewed it, because it's so funny to see Jeff and Sallie singing together. We often bring this video up whenever we want to show off how awesome our little girl is.

Back to Blogging: The First Post I Ever Wrote - "Welcome!"

2010-09-13T09:40:00.004-05:00

As part of SITS Back to Blogging event, I am re-posting my very first blog entry for the Dodson Journal! This was originally posted on February 27, 2006.

Clarinda decided she should do some updates to our website this morning. She was shocked and appalled to discover that we hadn't made any updates since November! That is such a shame...

In light of this, we've decided that our website is too cumbersome and difficult to update frequently. We checked out a friend's blog and thought that might be the way for us to go, too. We hope to keep this updated much more frequently. We'll shoot for once a week, but hopefully at least a few times each month.

We haven't decided yet if we will try to update this retroactively or just going forward--probably a little of both.

While I have much enjoyed this blogging experience, I doubt that I've kept up with it nearly as well as my intentions were in Feb 2006! There have been several stints where this blog has been severely neglected. Perhaps Back to Blogging will inspire me to keep up with it.

Camping - Afton State Park

2010-09-12T10:06:00.035-05:00

We went camping this past weekend with some friends of ours. It was so much fun. We've really discovered that we enjoy camping. This was our second trip with summer! :-)

This particular campsite was a hike-in. It was rough, as there was quite the hill to traverse before getting to our site. With all our gear (yes, we did try to pack light), it was quite strenuous, and we were pretty pooped by the end.

So, what do you do after hard work like that?

Reward ourselves with a fire!

Enjoying the fire

What's done there, Sallie?

The next morning, we all went for a walk around the park. Afton State Park certainly is beautiful. The clear, blue skies and perfect temps probably helped a lot, too.

Sallie leading the way!

We came across this little log shelter. Not sure what it's purpose is exactly, but we thought it would was a great photo opp.

Our friends

Next to that little shelter, there was this cool brick wall.

Another photo opp?

Yes, indeed!

The Dodsons...and Sallie (of course)

At the end of our little morning hike, there was a beautiful look-out.

Jeff's turn

Clarinda's turn

Here's what we saw. Gorgeous!

I love this pic of Sallie! She looks like she's about to chase after something.

Family Vacation 2010: Big Lake

2010-08-29T10:57:00.161-05:00

We just got back from our 3rd annual family vacation up north. As usual it was so absolutely gorgeous up there.

Day 1

We picked up the rental car in the morning and then drove to pick up Trevor and his girls. I sat in the back seat with them. It was a little squishy but not too bad. We met up with the family near Hinckley (about half-way) for a late lunch.

Shortly after that, we realized that Chelsea (my brother's girlfriend) was driving all by herself since she wasn't staying the entire week. I offered to ride with her, so she wouldn't be as bored. ☺ It was very fun to talk and get to know her better.

We arrived late in the afternoon, after driving the 4-5 hour drive. We didn't do much that day. Just settled into our cabins. Relaxed.

Day 2

Trevor, Dan, Chelsea, Jeff and I decided to tackle the BWCAW via canoe. This is something we'd been saying we'd do every year! There is an access point at the other side of the lake from the lodge. We didn't make it very far into the Boundary Waters, but it was a lot of fun.

There were SO many water lilies and lily pads. I really wanted a picture.
Unfortunately, this was the best I was able to get.

Trevor kayaking into the BWCAW

Dan & Chelsea

Day 3
We drove to Bass Lake and hiked the trail to Dry Falls. It's not a very long hike, but it is quite rugged! Most everyone went on this outing. Most of those who went jumped into the lake, too. It was COLD, but the water coming off the falls was so very warm. Delightfully warm. It was so fun to go swimming in that big beautiful lake. And lounge in the warmth of the waterfall. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on this outing (or just didn't take any pics).

Day 4
Another day for hiking. We tried a new trail. I can't remember which one. I think we probably walked in about a mile or so. Rested for awhile, and then returned back to our cars and the lodge.

Grandpa pointing something out to the girls.

We didn't bring any water bowls for the dogs, so they got to drink right out of Dad's hands.

We had to cross a little foot bridge on our hike, so I made everyone stop on our way back to get a picture of all the hikers.

If you look real close up the trail, you'll see a speck of black. That's my sister. I wasn't really feeling the brisk pace they set, so I lagged behind with Sallie.
Soaking in the beauty of my surroundings.
Also helping to prevent Sallie from getting tangled in everyone's heels.

Day 5
We mostly hung out on the pontoon this day. We had the pontoon all week, but Jeff and I hadn't spent much time on it prior to this day.

I love the look of the sunlight on Big Lake.

I found The Lovely Bones in the little lending library at the lodge. I was quite glued to it for most of the trip. I wasn't sure I'd like it but was quickly sucked in. I would definitely recommend this book!

Sallie lounging on the pontoon.

Day 6
Bass Lake was so awesome back on Day 3 that we decided to go back again. It was a very small group this time - just Jeff, me, Trevor, and Tatiana. This time we brought (and used) the camera.

View of Bass Lake from up on the hiking trail

Jeff the Conqueror ☺
Bass Lake near Dry Falls

Rushing torrent of Dry Falls (taken while out in Bass Lake. We ♥ our tough camera)
The Falls were COLD and flowing at what seemed a mere trickle compared to just two days before.
It was a little disappointing.

Tatiana swimming

Clarinda swimming.
I don't know what it was but both times we went, I loved swimming so much that I just didn't want to get out.
(I think I swam more in Bass Lake in those two days than in Big Lake all the other days combined.)

Until I saw this guy. Then I was pretty much DONE with swimming (at least that day. in Bass Lake).

While we were swimming, Trevor was exploring.
He found the reason why the falls had shriveled.
A beaver dam. ☺

Day 7
On our last day, the entire family took the pontoon out to an island for lunch. It was fun to hike around the island. The lodge has a camping site on this particular island, so there was an easy place to dock the pontoon. (The camping site was very nice as well: a mess tent for cooking and a couple sleeping tents with cots.)

Sallie rolling around

Mmm...there's the scent!

Guess I should roll around on it again. ☺

Treva looking out at the lake

What perfect form!

Shortly after our lunch on the island, Jeff, Trevor and his girls, and I loaded up the rental car and headed back to the cities. Everyone else returned the next afternoon.

Until next time...we ♥ you Big Lake Wilderness Lodge!

Good-bye, Frannie!

2010-08-04T10:15:00.000-05:00

We're sure gonna miss you!

We welcomed the Franster into our lives in May 2008, but on Sunday, we said our final good-byes.

She was a good car, and we had some really fun times with her.

But now she is gone, and we are sad.

But also very excited about this new stage in our lives...without a car.

We're looking forward to a much healthier, lower stress life.

We'll be biking around town. Yep, even for groceries.

We're looking forward to exploring our neighborhood more and discovering all the fun local shops within biking distance.

We've decided to live a simpler life here in St Paul where we're not all-consumed with material things.

We're gonna focus more on us and our relationship and the beauty of the world around us.

Wish us luck in our new endeavor!

PURGING

2010-07-23T08:53:00.000-05:00

Jeff and I are making the move to a more simplistic, less materialistic lifestyle.

We're hoping to enter the Peace Corps in two years when we've both finished our programs at school. We're really excited, but we know that it will definitely take some adjusting, so we're beginning the process now.

Last weekend, we sold

Nintendo Wii Console With Wii Sports Game + 7 other & Wii Fit

Play Station 3 (40 gb) In Perfect Condition

Black & Decker Power Tool Set

Double Doored TV Stand / Cabinet

AND

Great couch / earthy tones

We're still hoping to sell many more items like our car and our TV.

It's hard letting go! But also freeing. :-)

I'm loving the look of our much more minimalistic living room. There is so much space without a couch or a TV! It's actually very comforting.

I've been neglectful...

2010-07-14T13:25:00.000-05:00

I usually spend most of my time updating my personal blog instead of this family.

Jeff and I have had so many fun, amazing adventures, and you all are missing out! (I know I have NO ONE to blame but myself for this, but still...)

Hopefully, not for too much longer.

I vow to begin updating this blog much more regularly.

Look forward now to some backward momentum. I'll start with June 2010 and work backward through time. I think I'll even post-date these, so I don't look like such a slacker!

Enjoy!

Camping with Friends

2010-06-28T06:05:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, we went camping with some good friends!

It was our first camping trip, well, ever.

Other than the KOAs when we moved from Oregon back to Minnesota.

It was really fun to relax in the outdoors with another couple.

And Sallie, of course!

Here are a few more pictures from our overnight camp-out.

Jeff deep in thought

Making lunch the next day

Being a good girl while we packed everything up.

We had hoped to go canoeing while we were out camping, but due to some inclement weather, we decided to just head back to the Cities. The weather had been much worse closer to home, but it had pretty much cleared up by the time we'd returned. We took a short canoe trip down Minnehaha before ending our camping trip.

Despite a bit of rain, it was a great weekend!

Graduation Season

2010-06-18T05:03:00.000-05:00

This was quite the year for graduations in our family!

My brother graduated from the University of MN.

May 21, 2010

Here's the whole crew that came out to his commissioning ceremony to an officer in the US Marine Corps.

(Actually there were about 5 more people that weren't in the pic

that came out to celebrate, too)

Congratulations, Corey!

Next up...my niece graduated from 8th grade. She wrote a speech that was selected to be given during the ceremony. She did an awesome job!!

June 4, 2010

Congratulations, Selena!!

Third on the docket was my sister's graduation from Saint Mary's University. B.S. in Business.

June 6, 2010

Way to go, Treva! (Isn't she gorgeous!)

Last but certainly not least...my nephew's graduation from high school.

June 13, 2010

You're awesome, Emillio! We're so proud of you.

Curious about the leis? My sister-in-law made them for each of the graduates. Aren't they fun?! Emillio received about 5 or so more, filled with candy.

Orange Glow

2010-06-17T21:16:00.027-05:00

I looked out the window tonight around 9pm, and there was a fantastically orange glow. After a few minutes, I asked Jeff if he'd looked out the window.

He hadn't.

Once we both were aware of the eery beauty that was outside, we threw Sallie's leash on her and took a little family walk across the street to campus.

Naturally the pictures don't really do it much justice.

You'll have to just trust me that it was gorgeous. and oh, so eery.

We can't forget Sallie.

Isn't she the cutest?!

Less than 15 minutes after coming back inside, it was pitch black!

Sallie's Favorite Commercial

2010-03-17T21:24:00.000-05:00

Whenever Sallie notices this commercial come on Hulu, she takes notice! It's hilarious to see her jump up and bark at this begging puppy on the screen.

Ken Carter, “Average is Just Not Good Enough, Period.”

2010-02-25T10:35:00.000-06:00

Jeff and I saw Coach Carter when it came out back in 2005. We thought it was a great movie. Inspirational! When we found out he was coming to the University of St Thomas to speak, we were really excited! I put it right on our calendars and starting inviting people.

If you've not seen the movie, here is a brief clip:

What would be your impression of this coach? He seems strict. He doesn't pussy-foot around. He speaks the truth. He stresses team unity. He cares about these kids.

This was not the man who showed up at St Thomas. Jeff and I were so disappointed in this speaker. Perhaps he's been doing this circuit too long. He was a goofball! It was almost like it was it was doing a stand-up comedian routine instead of a motivational speaker. He didn't seem prepared. He was repetitive. This guy loved to hear himself speak. He spoke for about an hour fifteen, and then had another 45 min of q&a (where he never really answered any questions...and there were some good questions).

There were about 4-5 guys in the audience that he continually harassed. The first couple times he smacked them on the chest, it was a little funny. BUT it continued throughout the entire speech. His big thing was that it was OK because he has personality. What kind of a message is that? He insulted them on several occasions. But it's ok....he's got personality. I couldn't believe it!

A couple friends of ours from church came with us to this event. We were embarrassed that this was the first time we'd ever really hung out with them, and it turned out to be such a disappointment to us.

While the overall experience was unsatisfactory, he did make us laugh. He is funny. Just at times it was very inappropriate.

While many of his statements were contradictory, we did like many of his one-liners. Here are a few that struck a chord with us:

There is a difference between being broke and being poor. Being broke is when you don't have enough money; being poor is a state of mind.
Do more than you're paid for as an investment in your future.
Don't get paid by the hour, get paid for the value you bring to the hour.
What you think is what you become.
What you do a lot, you will do well; what you do well, you will do a lot.
Success is only 6" away - the distance from one ear to the other.
Knowledge is not power, using it is.
If you write something down, it is 10x more likely to happen.
You have to improve yourself 1% each day. In 100 days, you'll be 100% better.
Every night write down your greatest accomplishment. Then when you're having a bad day, read over that journal for some validation. It will turn your day around.
You need to be a good follower before you can be a great leader.
Haters are just misdirected fans.
What is the world going to be like if you don't reach your full potential?
A goal is a great idea with a deadline.
Successful people will go from one failure to the next enthusiastically.
As we let our light shine, we inspire others to do so.
Spring follows winter every year.
You will never accomplish anything great when you're comfortable.

In and of themselves, these lines could be motivational.

During the lecture, I had a pretty good time, actually. I was laughing. hard. Then it went on and on and on. The jokes weren't as funny any more.

After it was over, and we were talking about our experience, we realized just how mediocre it was.

Halloween Piñata

2009-11-14T22:32:00.000-06:00

I'm not quite sure how to upload a video to blogger with the new editor, so I uploaded our piñata video to Facebook and just embedded it here.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-14T21:07:00.000-06:00

Our family was a little off this year for Halloween...we had the party on November 7th! Even though it was a week removed from the actual holiday, the party was great fun!

Marna and Selena did a fabulous job decorating.

These pictures don't really do it justice because the flash made it look so bright. In fact, the lights were dim giving an eery look to the room.

We had some great costumes.

Abby from NCIS

He wasn't even sure exactly what he was supposed to be.

Frankenstein's Monster

(of course Dad kept saying she looked more like the Hulk)

A vampire

A bat

Not pictured: a clown and a highway construction worker

We played Apples to Apples...

Had a cupcake decorating contest...

Demolished a pinata (I'll post a video of this later. Need to edit it together first)...

And bobbed for apples...

We find bobbing for apples in a tub of water to be incredibly disgusting, so we opt to bob for apples hung on a string without using our hands. It's much more fun...and sanitary.

Selena finished the night off with some snack scultping...

And promptly eating, of course.

Happy Birthday, Marine Corps!

2009-11-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday, November 7th, Jeff and I had the unique opportunity of attending the 234th Marine Corps Birthday Ball.

It was so much fun to don our fanciest clothes and enjoy a fancy meal in the company of so many servicemen.

My brother joined the Marine Corps shortly after 9/11. While serving in 29 Palms, he met and married the love of his life, so the Marines have definitely been a blessing to his life. A few years ago, he was accepted into the officer training program which allowed him to work toward his undergraduate degree, which he will complete in May. We will miss him immensely as he leaves MN next summer to continue his training at Quantico in VA.

Since he will be moving, this was our last opportunity to attend the ball, so many of our family chose to support my brother in this unique way.

My brother with my parents

Our little sister and her husband

Sisters

I didn't get good pictures of everyone, but my older sister's husband, my brother's wife (of course), and my brother's wife's cousin (from CA) all came out to the ball as well.

Everyone looked so fabulous!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-26T11:53:00.001-05:00

Saturday night, Jeff and I went to our ward's Halloween party. I even got Jeff to dress up with me!

Here's our costume:

Can you guess what we're supposed to be??

Here's a close-up...

Did you guess from this one?

We had to explain our costume to many of the people at the party. If you haven't guessed it yet, here are a couple of clues.

Our names are Gene and Jean.

We are dressed in all blue.

We are two.

We are....

A pair of blue jeans!!

hee hee hee

We had fun at the ward party. I brought spider cupcakes for the cupcake decorating contest.

I got the idea from my friend's blog, Recipe Shoebox, and I think they turned out really cute!

Here are a couple of pics of the rest of the cupcakes.

Of course I thought mine were the best and was lobbying like crazy for people to vote for them. Jeff and I were helping with one of the games, so we didn't even end up voting!

Well, I didn't win.

Here's the winning cupcake:

(Sorry it's a little blurry. I neglected to take an individual picture of it, so I had to crop it out of a different picture.)

This lovely cupcake was entered by the Allison and Jeff! When she won, she said that Jeff made all the shoes by hand out of marizpan! I leaned over to my Jeff and said, "He made the shoes out of marzipan! How could I even compete with that!"

As I mentioned, Jeff and I helped out with a game. The kids had to throw little orange and black balls at a velcro Ghost dart board. It was fun to see the kids play this game--especially the littlest ones, who didn't quite understand throw and simply placed the balls right on the board. :-)

Radio Golf

2009-10-16T23:43:00.004-05:00

Tonight, Jeff and I went to see Radio Golf performed at the Penumbra Theatre in St Paul.

Radio Golf is a play authored by August Wilson, who is an African American playwright with many awards and accolades. He is most well known for his "Cycle Plays" of which Radio Golf is the last in a series of ten. Each of the cycle plays depict for us a segment of African American life in the U.S. by decade. The ten play cycle starts in 1900 and ends near 2000, with Radio Golf.

Here's the blurb about this play from the Penumbra website:

"It's 1997 and Harmond Wilks wants to become Pittsburgh's first black mayor. His ticket to win the election rides on redeveloping the "Hill District," the neighborhood he grew up in. But when the past begins to catch up with him, secrets get revealed that could be his undoing. Harmond discovers that victory will come with a price. Join us for this timely look at race and American politics.

Starring: Terry Bellamy, James Craven, Abdul Salaam El Razzac, Austene Van, and Kevin D. West."

Jeff recently read this play for his English class at St Thomas. While going to see the play performed was not part of his assignment, it was something that we both desired to do.

We're both so glad that we went! Since Jeff had previously read the play, the character development became more alive, and he was able to better understand the motivation of several of the characters better.

The first act of the play was pretty lighthearted, filled with plenty of laughter. After intermission, the play took on a much more serious nature, and everything that Harmond Wilks had worked for began to crumble. His career, relationships, and life began to fall apart, leading to heated confrontations with his wife and best friend/business partner.

This was an excellent play. We would definitely recommend it to others, so if you're in the St Paul area and looking for something to do, the play runs for another week (until Oct 25), and I believe there are still a few seats available.

One of the highlights for us came after the play had ended. We hung around to see if we could catch any of the actors. We briefly congratulated Austene Van on the portrayal of Mame Wilks and expressed how much we enjoyed the play.

We also shook hands and spoke with James Craven for several minutes. His portrayal of Harmond Wilks was quite powerful. Jeff mentioned how much emotion he was able to put into the play that wasn't necessarily expressed in the written word of the play. He explained to us that bringing that level of human emotion was something that the acting company did. This is true of all plays. Those performing really bring it alive. He also commented that we should be sure to tell our friends about the play and that there were still some seats available before the final performance on the 25th. We were fascinated to learn that after a few weeks reprieve, this company was then going to Pittsburgh to perform the play as part of the Aunt Esther Cycle for the Inaugural Season of the August Wilson Center. Awesome!

We also met Kevin D West (Roosevelt Hicks). After telling him how much we enjoyed his performance, he asked Jeff what his name was and then introduced himself as Kevin West and said he was pleased to meet us. Wow!

It was incredible to meet these actors, and as we were leaving Jeff wondered out loud why no one else really stayed late to meet the cast. I don't think it is commonplace to do because we were the only ones except for a handful of people that personally knew the cast members. Jeff really felt that meeting the actors, shaking their hands, and introducing ourselves, really connected us to the play.

What a fun date!

Ethics and Law of Rule in African Leadership: Case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2009-10-15T22:48:00.003-05:00

Tonight, Jeff and I had an opportunity to go and listen to Dr. Oscar Kashala, 2006 & 2011 Presidential Candidate, Democratic Republic of the Congo and National President, Union for the Rebuilding of the Congo.

It was fascinating!

I was really struck by the humility of this man. To him, those going into leadership must do it to serve the people. When asked, during the Q&A portion, how he intended to win the election when he was not in the country, his response was that his campaign was based on the people and the party in place. He is very well educated, holding an M.D., Ph.D., and D.Sc; He is an internationally recognized cancer specialist. Dr. Kashala is also a faculty member at several universities in DRC and in the US, one of which is Harvard University. On top of all that, he holds an executive position at an American pharmaceutical company. All of this is evidence leading to the assumption that he is humble, because of his willingness to leave all that he has accomplished in the U.S. to return to DRC (a very dangerous country - especially for a presidential candidate!). He seemed to really care about making changes in his country.

I was also struck by how human he seemed. After expressing gratitude to be at the University of St Thomas speaking and thanking many who helped make his lecture possible, he paused to say he needed to consult with his Communications Director because he did not have his speech at the lectern with him. This got a laugh from the audience. Throughout his speech, there were a few quips here and there that provoked subtle laughter from the audience. I thought it really helped to keep me focused.

Here are a few, sparse notes that Jeff attempted to take while listening to the lecture. I, of course, didn't bring anything to take notes with or on, but many of the same things struck me as well.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is very rich in resources.
It has the highest infant/maternal mortality rate in Africa.
87.3% unemployment rate
99% of the population lives in poverty, on less than $1/day.
Many families do what is known as "eating by rotation." (Ex. In a family of four, the parents eat one day, child one the next day, child two the next, then back to the parents).
Africa's colonial past has been devastating, leaving a power vacuum.
DRC is lagging behind Africa in development.

Ethics is a moral compass guiding one to what is right and wrong (can vary).

Rule of law enables obligation, rights, etc.
It allows for arbitration.
It is a standard of how to behave and punishment for failure.
It is necessary for an efficient society.
It is critical - no individual should be exempt.
It is crucial for economic development.

Leadership is the ability to compel all people to do what you believe is right.
It cannot be isolated from the people.

A major problem for post-colonial countries has been that the leadership that rose up against their suppressors was that of a particular caliber. When fighting for freedom, a different type of leader is needed from one who can operate a country. It is a different skill set. This has been problematic for many countries in Africa.

Service in government, at any level, is a privilege - and should be treated so.

What can't people with money affect change for good and take a leadership role for the community??

Good leaders must have some level of intelligence; the current president of DRC was educated only to the 4th grade level!

DRC is selling all its resource rights - mineral, water, forest, etc.

Congolese people are traumatized; rape is rampant; families are murdered.

Overall, Jeff and I truly enjoyed this experience and hope to take advantage of more lecture opportunities in the future. We also hope to somewhat follow the future of DRC. Dr. Kashala seemed to make a lot of sense to us, and we will be curious to see if he is able to get elected and affect the change necessary to end corruption and better his country!

All Settled In

2009-10-12T08:51:00.002-05:00

Well...nearly.

We've still got a few totes in the livingroom. Most of them are empty and just need to be moved out to the garage.

It's really beginning to feel like home.

For those of you who may not know, we recently moved (again). Our new address is:
2057 Laurel Ave Apt 3
St Paul MN 55104

We LOVE our new apartment so much!! It is right across the street from campus, which makes it very easy for us to walk to class or the shuttle to Minneapolis (that's where my classes are). Plus I've been taking advantage of walking to the gym a few times a week to workout. It's been fantastic! I've discovered that my shins can actually handle running on a treadmill. Yeah! I can only hope that one day they'll be able to handle running on the street again. I miss running. Wow...what a tangent!

I've seriously been neglecting this blog, but I hope to get much better...starting NOW! Jeff and I have done lots of fun things this year that have not been documented, so I hope to get some posts up about some of our adventures this past summer (and maybe even earlier in the year as well).

I may not be able to blog every day, but hopefully at least once or twice a week.

Come back soon!!

Road Trip 2009: Leg 4

2009-07-06T12:22:00.016-05:00

The morning after we arrived was Graduation Day. Mel woke Randy up by telling him that some of his friends had vandalized her van during that night and that he needed to come and see.

Of course everyone else knew that they were getting him up early to surprise him with a car for a graduation gift.

This video is hilarious. Check out how Mel had to point to the car for Randy to even look in that direction! 6:00AM was just way too early!!

After Randy's surprise, Jeff and I headed to Spokane to pick up his mom, Jerilyn, and Hannah our niece.

On our way back to Bridgeport, we stopped at Grand Coulee Dam. This was the 2nd dam we'd stopped at on this trip. It was incredible. It's amazing just how big and powerful these dams are.

We stopped at the vista point, a few miles from the dam. For some perspective on the size of the dam, the little holes that you can see kind of in the middle of this picture are so big that 2 semi-trucks could drive through them side by side!

Before returning to Bridgeport, we made a stop another dam: the Chief Joseph Dam. This one is actually in Bridgeport. In fact, Jeff's brother, Bill, works at the dam.
You can walk down stairs into the river. This was as far as I wanted to go. There are at least two or three more levels that are under the river.

Hannah and me at the bottom of the stairs

One of the main purposes of our trip was to attend Randy's graduation from high school. I brought my camera to the ceremony, but I didn't take a single picture! Terrible, I know.

The next day was Bridgeport Days. It's kicked off with a parade.

Here's a picture of Bill and his son, Billy, kicking off the parade with a half-track.The finale of the parade was some mariachi dancers. They were neat to watch. I took a video, too, but I was too far away to catch any of the music on the video, so here is just a picture.

There were a lot of cars and a couple of floats between the half-track and the dancers, but I didn't really get any pictures of them. It was a pretty fun parade--especially for all the kids in Bridgeport. There was a LOT of candy being thrown to the crowd.

Cousins RaeAnne and Parker wanted to show that they were glued at the hip (being good "buddies" using the buddy system as we walked from the parade to the park), but couldn't quite get their hips together.

There! That's better.

At the park, Eli and RaeAnne bought inflatable swords.

This was really fun! This tricked out car was actually in the parade! It would adjust its hydraulics while driving along the parade route; it was very cool to watch, but I didn't get any pictures during the parade. I was glad to see it parked like this when it was time to go.

Jeff remembers that they would always spill the Chief Joseph Dam during Bridgeport Days, but Bill informed us that it wasn't going to happen this year. We were totally bummed.

Imagine our surprise when we got a phone call saying it was spilling! We grabbed our shoes and were out the door so fast! It was quite an experience to see.

First, we when to the top overlook to get a great aerial view.

When we got down to the base, we were suprised to see some of our family had come to see the spill, too.

From Left to Right: Brianna, Hannah, Diva, RaeAnne, Sallie, Me

Here is a picture of Jeff down at the bottom of the stairs. With the spilling, he was able to go down about two more landings further than Hannah and I had the day before.

Sallie was not impressed. Every time the water was splash, she would jump back as far as she could. We tried to get a better picture or a video, but she wouldn't get close again.

After taking lots of pictures of the dam spilling, we rounded up most of the kids and headed to Alta Lake. It was fun to go swimming in a lake that was in the mountains. It was pretty awe-inspiring for this MN girl. We've got lots of lakes out here, but they are not nestled in the mountains like this one.

Back at Bill & Mel's, RaeAnne and Sallie had so much fun together! Here they are taking a rest. After a few days at Bill & Mel's it was time to head back home. Here are a few pictures from our home stretch.

Sallie would do this cute thing while sitting on Jeff's lap. She would tuck her head into the holes in our steering wheel. I wish we'd gotten a better picture. It was so funny!

We all know how much Jeff likes to get Sallie to sing! Here is a final video of the two of them singing while driving down the freeway.

Road Trip 2009: Leg 3

2009-07-03T22:04:00.013-05:00

The 3rd leg of our trip takes us through Northern CA, the Redwood National Forest, up near Seattle, WA and the Rocky Reach Dam.

Before we even left Susanville, we took this fun video of Sallie with her head out the window--just enjoying being a dog!

The following pictures are from the Whiskeytown State Park. We stopped here for a bathroom break and decided to make lunch while we were stopped. We didn't even need to leave the parking lot; it was so beautiful!

This was neat! There are buoys out in the lake that normally we think of as a warning to keep boaters away from swimmers , but these buoys are actually used to keep warm water away from cold water. This apparently helps to protect the Chinook salmon.

Along our drive, we found ourselves following a particularly beautiful river. After a couple of hours, we decided we needed to stop and take some pictures. Here is a short video from our vista point.

As we were driving to the Redwood National Forest, we suddenly looked out and found ourselves at the Pacific Ocean. We hadn't really made the connection before that we would be driving right along the coast. We couldn't resist pulling off the highway and driving a scenic route.

Stairway down to a little beach

Surfers

I just love flowers, so I had Jeff take a few pictures of some beautiful ones along the coast.

We made it to the Redwood National Forest. Just before entering the forest, we came upon this castle carved out of a Redwood. We couldn't resist stopping. Jeff actually took quite a few pictures, but here is one of the entire thing. We're pretty sure it was a fountain; although the water wasn't running. Such detail went into this carving; it was stunning!

I loved the bright yellow flowers against the green foliage.

Sorry for the poor pictures. I'm not very good at taking pictures from a moving car.
We passed quite a few trees like this one. With all the bark removed, it's pretty easy to tell why they're called redwoods. :-)

Just couldn't resist these pale pink pretties.

Here we are hugging a tree. This is a little deceiving because we are not even close to being able to touch each other's hand on the other side of the tree. This tree was HUGE!

Looking up the base of a tree.

The next morning, we made it to Seattle. We drove across a really cool bridge. I wasn't really able to get any good pictures as we were driving, but here are my attempts.

Looking out the front at the beginning of the bridge

Looking out the back at the end of the bridge (again, please excuse the poor photography)

These overpasses were really neat. They were completely covered with trees. I doubt that cars drive on them. Are they built just for looks or are they pedestrian bridges? We don't know.

More from the window as we passed through Seattle

Our final destination before reaching Bridgeport was the Rocky Reach Dam.

Here is the fish ladder that helps the salmon survive the dam.

You can go inside and view the salmon that are swimming through the ladder.

Here are the turbines that generate the energy.

Jeff's hometown is Bridgeport. It's just up the river and home to the Chief Joseph Dam.

The museum had some cool mechanisms where you could create electricity.

And let there be light...

Here is an outside view of a turbine (obviously not in use).

Every year they plant an American flag with flowers.

Stay tuned for the final leg of our road trip. It will include a surprise for Randy's birthday, Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph Dams, Bridgeport Days, and some other fun pictures.

Road Trip 2009: Leg Two

2009-06-29T14:22:00.014-05:00

After finding our way through the forests of WY, we continued on our journey towards Yosemite National Park.

The roads were straight with not a lot of traffic, so we decided to see what our car could do. Actually, it can go much faster than this, but our first time doing 100mph was definitely worthy of a picture.

She just loved being in the driver's seat!

We decided to take a bathroom break at a rest stop in Echo, UT. It was so beautiful!

There were so many ground squirrels! Sallie was afraid of them; she didn't chase after them like she does regular squirrels. Perhaps it was the sheer quantity! There were probably hundreds scurrying around.

We drove by the Great Salt Lake, but we didn't take any pictures. We were almost at the end of the Salt Flats before we decided to take a picture of them, so here is the one picture that we got of the Salt Flats in UT.

The Road to Yosemite continues...

At certain points in our drive, we just couldn't resist the urge to pull over and take pictures of what we could glimpse out of the window.

Here is beautiful reservoir that we stumbled upon.

Sallie found something interesting as well.

We finally arrived at Yosemite National Park!

Poor Sallie had to wait in the car whenever we got out to take pictures. :-(

The bottom of the Cascade Waterfalls

The water was so clear and pure looking. I really wanted to take a drink, but settled for dipping my hand into it. It was COLD!

There was this cool little cave near the bottom of the falls.

Bridal Veil Falls

We were right at the base of these falls--so close, we could feel the spray. Lots of people thought it was raining, but it was just the sheer force of the water hitting the river.

Here it is...El Capitan...the reason for the trip to Yosemite. It was spectular!

After spending a few hours taking in the beauty of Yosemite, we continued on our journey to Susanville, CA, to see Jeff's sister's family. They moved to CA about a year ago, so it was the first time we'd seen their new house. Here are a few pictures of Sallie riding in the car on our drive there.

It was on this trip, that Sallie first experience the thrill of sticking her head out the window. She LOVED it! Anytime we were passing through a town where we had to slow down, we would roll the window down for her. A little piece of doggie heaven.

Stay tuned for the next leg of our trip. It takes us through CA, along the CA coast and the Redwood National Forest, and up to Seattle.

Road Trip 2009: Leg One

2009-06-23T22:50:00.008-05:00

Well, we've been back home from our road trip for two weeks, so I thought I shouldn't put off updating our blog any longer. We spent 12 days in the car driving through some magnificent areas of the country. We had so much fun and took so many great pictures! This post is of our first leg which began on May 29th and continued through Sunday, May 31.

Our first stop was in Sioux Falls, SD. I read about Falls park online and thought it would be great fun to check it out. Jeff and I LOVE waterfalls, so this park was a definite treat. While the magnitude of the falls were nothing compared to Multnomah Falls, there were so many falls in the park it was still so beautiful!

Something fun about these rocks were they did not look real. We had to literally knock on them to reassure ourselves that they were not painted Styrofoam. These pictures really do not describe how fake these boulders looked.

After walking through the park for a short while, we found a quiet picnic area and ate lunch. It was a great way to spend our first pit stop.

Our next scheduled stop was in Casper, WY. On our way, we drove past the "World's Largest Bulls Head!" This picture was taken from our car window.

Sallie is in the car with us all the time, but she was not prepared for a long trip on the freeways. The loud sounds of the higher speeds and the semi trucks were too much for her. One of the only ways that she would settle down at all was in Jeff's lap as he drove.

We spent the entire Saturday (5/30) with friends (Molly, Edis, and Amani) in Casper, WY. We spent the afternoon walking around Alcova Reservoir. It was so beautiful!

Amani is one of the most adorable little girls ever! You can't really tell in this picture but her eyes are gorgeous. So big and brown, with luscious eyelashes!

Amani found a real friend in Sallie. They played really well together both inside...

And outside!
We also learned that Amani loves to swing. Molly told us that she would be happy to spend hours out there just being pushed and pushed and pushed some more. Sunday morning we left Casper, WY, to continue our journey, heading to Yosemite National Park. Molly and Edis attempted to get us to look at an atlas before leaving, so we'd have a general idea of where we should go. We didn't listen and decided to trust Frannie (the GPS system in our car). Frannie took us down a road that took us behind Alcova Reservoir.
It was at this point that we really should have turned around to try to find a route that was more well traveled. Again, we decided to put our faith in Frannie. The paved road ended not too long after we passed Alcova Reservoir. We found ourselves winding through Seminoe State park on what could only be described as forest service roads. They were dirt. They were rutted. They were a bit scary at times. We were getting nervous that our car, with its fancy low-profile tires, would get damaged or something would happen and we would have no way of getting help. In the midst of our frustration we decided to say a prayer for comfort and guidance and to be able to enjoy the beauty that surrounded us.

Shortly after our prayer, we drove right up to this beautiful mountain. It was absolutely breaktaking!

Sallie and I got out and walked along the road for awhile. I was counting my blessings that the Lord had heard and answered our prayers. Being a MN girl, I was also fascinated at the sheer power of the mountains. I could feel such a power of peace as I walked along that mountain road.

We came across this spectacular reservoir! I believe it is the Seminoe Reservoir. It was gorgeous, and we never would have been able to see it, if we hadn't taken Frannie's route.

Stay tuned for the next leg of our trip. It takes us through the rest of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Yosemite National Park.

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T08:22:00.008-05:00

In honor of Mother's Day, here is a video of a day in the life of a mom! This is great. Enjoy. :-)

On a more sober note, here's a tribute to mothers everywhere--especially mothers of teens. You are LOVED! Beware: this might induce some tears.

And for the finale...haikus as tributes to our moms!

(a picture from our wedding)

Marna,

You're thoughtful and kind.

We love our Sundays with you.
We love you so much!

(One of the few pictures I could find of Jeff's mom)

Mom,

You're loving, caring.
You are always on our minds.
We love you so much!

(one of the few pictures I have of my mom; this is with her first grandson)

Mom,

Though no longer here,
I'm a reflection of you.
I miss you so much!

Who Wants to Work on a Day Like Today? Part 2

2009-04-26T09:17:00.003-05:00

We shot this video on our walk the other day.

Sallie loved romping in the tall, dead grass around Crosby Lake. Of course, she did most of the really cute things when the camera was not rolling. :-(

Sorry about the sound. We had no idea how windy it was until we were back home watching this video.

Who Wants to Work on a Day Like Today?

2009-04-24T18:55:00.007-05:00

Today was beautiful! I just couldn't concentrate on the Vietnam War, so instead we decided to take Sallie for a walk along Crosby Lake near our home.

Here's Sallie sporting her Urban Backpack. It's the first time since the fall since she's worn it.

I'm ready to go!!

Help! I've got something stuck in my paw!!

Can anyone tell me what kind of bird this is? All I know is...it's pretty!

We finished our walk by hiking up a scary cliff. You'll have to take my word for it, because this picture doesn't do it any justice. This is Jeff at the top.

Taking a Step Back

2009-03-18T16:05:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official.

We've rid ourselves of our cell phones. Now we will rely solely on our land line.

I'm actually very excited about it! No more being tied to the phone. No more worrying about leaving it somewhere. No more being available all. the. time.

Of course, it also means no more texting. :-( I'm really going to miss texting.

But...think of the freedom that will come with no phone tied to my hip!

We were able to transfer my cell phone number to our land line, so I don't need to give out any new numbers (a little added bonus!). Hmm...if you need to reach Jeff, you'll just need to call my old cell number.

This is gonna be great!

Silly Sallie

2009-02-17T22:09:00.004-06:00

I was babysitting Isabel the other day, and Sallie did the silliest thing...

I got down on my knees to play with Isabel, and Sallie didn't want to be left out, so she climbed right up on my back, bringing her little toy with her.

Here's a fun little video, too.

Talking with Sallie

2008-12-24T14:50:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T11:01:00.005-06:00

Tragic Ending to our House Hunting Saga

2008-11-04T20:37:00.003-06:00

After much back and forth with the City of St Paul, we decided to forego buying a house and continue renting.

Luckily, it only took less than a week of searching on Craigslist to find a fantastic place.

Our new address is:
2254 Benson Ave
Unit E
St Paul MN 55116

We have conveniently relocated to the W 7th area. We're about 10 min from school, 10 min from my parent's house, and 15 min from church. Perfectly located!

We rented a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo from a nice young couple. It's an upstairs condo, and we're nearly completely moved in. Everything's here but not quite unpacked just yet.

Of course, Sallie moved with us. There was no way we were going to give her up. She's way too cute and adorable, so that was one of our criteria in our apartment search. She's adjusted very well to our new place. While we are nestled in between two very busy streets, our condo is located in a wooded area right next to the railroad tracks and lots of other housing complexes. It's very residential, and Sallie loves going for walks.

Sunday

2008-09-23T20:38:00.007-05:00

August 24th (hard to believe it's already been a month) was a very special Sunday.

We visited my sister's ward to hear my niece give her very first talk in Sacrament. She just turned 12 in June. She was so excited to speak in Sacrament! I think she was asked to speak on a Wednesday and had her talk completely written on Thursday. Thankfully, she did not get my procrastination gene. :-)

Here is her talk:

"I was asked to give a talk about how education is important to life.

Well we should always work to educate our minds and our hands so we can succeed in our chosen fields. Our education should be an influence for good and our use of it should distinguish us as people of integrity. A good education will prepare us for opportunities as they come and will help us be an asset to our families, the Church, and our communities.

In chapter 130 D&C: 18–19 it reads, Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.

If you’re now a teenager, people have probably stopped asking you what you want to be when you grow up and have started asking you much harder questions like “Are you going to college?” “Are you prepared to take the standardized tests you need for admission?” “What are you going to study?” “Have you thought about internships or trade schools?”
If all those questions make you want to scream and run away from getting more education, that’s normal. Your education and career choices are a big deal, but preparation can take the fear out of making those big decisions. So don’t run away just yet.

Shanna Butler told a story in the New Era, Nov. 2004 and it says: Elder L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has said, “It is never too early to determine the direction you want to prepare yourself for. Don’t wait until you register for college to decide what you want to study.” Christian McConner-Hughes is 17 and just got accepted to BYU in Idaho. He wants to study Japanese and become an interpreter. He’s been a part of the Chicago Illinois Stake’s mentoring program for a few months. He’s a good student but Christian needed to catch up a little on his physics homework, so he signed up for a program to help him right away. Christian has also prepared for his future by attending seminary. Craig Nelson, who is responsible for the career counseling center at LDS Business College, says, “Seminary and institute provide a great rounding to your education that you can’t get any other way.” Education in both spiritual and academic things is a great way to prepare for the future. You also need to be financially prepared. “You have to look realistically at how you are going to pay for your education,” Brother Nelson says. “The money does not appear magically. but careful planning and faith can carry you through your education and your career. President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said, “We encourage our youth in every country to get an education. Even if at times it seems hopeless. With determination and faith in the Lord, you will be blessed with success. It is a dream well worth pursuing. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen."

I think that only the first two paragraphs were in her own words, but she did a wonderful job with her presentation! She didn't even seem nervous to be up on the stand or at the pulpit. It was a very proud moment for her and her family.

The other special reason for a visit to my sister's ward was to witness the ordination of my nephew to the office of Priest. Another proud moment for my sister and her family.

What a good looking 16 year old!

Here are a couple of other pics from the day.

Our Little Girl

2008-09-13T22:39:00.006-05:00

Now that we're going to be homeowners, we thought we'd need a cutie to come live with us. We've actually been debating getting a dog for quite some time. We weren't allowed to have one in our apartment. :-(

We just couldn't resist this little cutie-pie from the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley.

We've renamed her Sallie. Her name was Susie, but I have a niece named Susie, so she needed a new name.

I'm already totally in love with this little girl, so there will probably be lots more pictures in future posts.

Welcome to your temporary home, Sallie!!

We close on your new home on Sept 30th!

Holding Pattern

2008-08-19T12:18:00.002-05:00

So...

We are in a crazy holding pattern. We have less than 2 weeks until we need to be out of our apartment, and we have no home. We will be staying with my parents for a short, indefinite time.

The day after the bank accepted our offer on 1323 Randolph, we found out that St Paul, who is financing our house, did not have any money. They will get more money, but they do not know when. As of right now, they are not showing the house to anyone else, so chances are still very good that we will still get this house, which is very good news.

I'll keep you updated!

WE GOT IT!!

2008-08-07T15:36:00.008-05:00

I'm very excited to announce that our offer was accepted! Our 3rd pitch was a HIT! Whoo hoo!!

They have us down for a closing on August 29th, but we're hoping to get everything done sooner. We do, afterall, need to be out of our apartment by the 31st, so the sooner we can close the better.

Our new address will be:

1323 Randolph Ave

St Paul MN 55105

We will be directly across the street from a grocery store, Copper Dome diner is on one corner, and PJ Murphy bakery is on the other corner. So much convenience within walking distance!

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we work towards a closing.

We're trying new things!

2008-07-27T13:33:00.005-05:00

If you were to ask either Jeff or I what we like to eat, you'd get a resounding..."Anything but fish or seafood!" (Actually, there are probably a few other things that could be added to that list as well.)

Of course, over and over again, we hear how good fish is for you. Lots of people enjoy it.

So, we finally decided to give salmon a try. On a whim, I purchased some at the grocery store. I figured if we didn't like it, we'd only be out $5, and I'd know not to try that again.

Jeff agreed that I could make it for dinner. Here is the recipe I decided to try.

I thought I had lemon pepper, but I didn't. I did have garlic pepper, so it turned out to be way more garlic that lemon. I served it with mashed potatoes (instant) and green beans (canned).

It was my first time, of course, so I think I may have over cooked it. I thought it was a tad too dry.

I was surprised at how non-fishy it tasted. I mean, once you got passed the smell. :-)

It was...wait for it...actually all right. Jeff and I agreed that it would even be OK for me make salmon again.

Big Lake Wilderness Lodge

2008-07-25T22:21:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, we took a trip up north to spend some time at the lake. The lake we chose was Big Lake near Ely, MN.

We went with my Dad,

Marna,

Emillio,

AJ,

and Selena.

We had so much fun, and we took a lot of pictures. Check out the slideshow on the right for a quick view. I hope to put some into scrapbook pages and post them in a future post. Right now, it's past my bedtime, and my mouse it almost dead, so I need to call it a night.

Hopefully this is enough to whet your palette.

Come back soon!

Strikes

2008-07-23T14:50:00.000-05:00

In the last post, I mentioned that we were going to put in an offer on a house in St Paul.

I'm disappointed to have to report that we didn't end up putting in an offer because there were already two offers in, and we knew we wouldn't be able to outbid them.

STRIKE ONE!

So...we decided to put in an offer on our 2nd choice home. It wasn't in the same location, but we thought that it might be the house for us. We sat down with our realtor and filled out all the paperwork. And we waited. Last week, we found out that another offer had been accepted.

STRIKE TWO!!

We are going out house hunting with our realtor again tonight. Hopefully, we'll find something that we love! And we'll put in an offer! And they'll accept it! And we'll be able to close in a few weeks!

If we strike out again (three strikes, you're out, right?), we'll probably just look for a cheaper apartment--one closer to campus. You see, on June 30th, we put in our 60-day notice to vacate our apartment at the end of our lease. On July 1st, our apartment was rented. August 31st is our last day, so hopefully we'll have something lined up before that day comes...and it's fast approaching.

Wish us luck!

Update / Restaurant Review

2008-06-28T08:45:00.000-05:00

OK, so I guess I've been pretty lackadaisical about updating our blog.

We've even taken some pretty cool road trips complete with great photos! We went to Lutsen, MN, in the beginning of May, and Nauvoo, IL (for my cousin's wedding) in the middle of May. Hopefully I'll take some time to blog about them soon.

About a month ago, Jeff and I found ourselves in a Slumberland Clearance center. While waiting to check-out, I sat on a couch by the register. I immediately fell in love with this couch! So comfortable, so soft! Too big, really, for our apartment.

So...we began again the discussion of whether or not to buy a house in MN. After much discussion, the search began. We found a house that holds lots of opportunity for us to really make it exactly what we want and that will fit our needs.

Being city dwellers at heart, this property is less than 1 mile from downtown St Paul, and within walking distance to the Xcel Center and the shops/restaurants on West 7th. We LOVE the location.

Unfortunately, we didn't get approved for nearly as much as we would've liked. Good news is, it is bank-owned, so hopefully they'll accept our very low-ball offer. If you don't mind keeping us in your prayers, we'd really appreciate it.

Last night, we decided to actually go out on a date--something we haven't done in quite awhile. Since I've always considered myself more of a Minneapolis girl than a St Paul, I thought we should go check out the area that we'll hopefully be moving to.

We decided to try El Patio.

This restaurant really helped sell me on the location and St Paul. We dined outside, and it was so relaxing! We leisurely talked about our future as we munched on chips and salsa. Our food was delicious and our server was great! I definitely see us returning to this restaurant and checking out the others that are close by.

Movie Review: 21

2008-04-19T11:25:00.001-05:00

Jeff and I went to see 21 last night. Click here for a trailer. (You have to watch a brief commercial before the actual trailer.)

We both really enjoyed this movie!

This post was actually written on 4/19/2008. Not sure why I didn't end up publishing it. Maybe I was going to expand more on what we liked/didn't like...

New Favorite Sport

2008-04-13T21:41:00.000-05:00

Last night Jeff and I went to our first Roller Derbie!

We were kind of skeptical (or at least I was), but it was actually very fun to watch. We took some pics (unfortunately, it was too dark for good pics) and some video. The videos that were turned out well are too large to upload to this blog. Maybe we'll be able to edit them a bit to get them down to an appropriate size.

My sister plays hockey, so we're trying to get her to tryout to be a MN Rollergirl. Tryouts are at the end of June. I told her I'd even tryout, too!

Visit the MN Rollergirls website for more about this exciting sport.

New Toys

2008-03-05T18:35:00.000-06:00

We moved into a large 1-bedroom apartment at the beginning of February. Now we have all kinds of room and have begun the process of filling out the empty spaces. With both Jeff and I in school, we have decided to use all 3 of our desktop computers--one for Jeff, one for me, and one for entertainment (we run our TV through a computer). Using all 3 computers, presented us with a dilemma: we were short 1 monitor.

Our solution:

Yep, a 42" plasma TV. :-) It is SO nice.

For Jeff's birthday, I wanted to get him something really special. We'd been discussing this purchase, so I went out and bought a Wii.

We've been having lots of fun playing tennis in our living room. My family gave Jeff 3 additional games. I haven't tried any of them out, but I'm sure they'll be lots of fun!

We certainly enjoy our new toys. BUT now it makes it even more difficult to concentrate on our studies. So far, I think we've done quite well.

Wish us luck balancing school, work, and play. :-)

Don't Hug Me!

2008-02-11T11:10:00.000-06:00

Another New Year's Resolution that we made was to do at least one cultural thing every month. We missed January, but we have a couple of things marked down for February.

We have a relatively loose definition of cultural. We just want to get out and do more things than just go to the movies or something. We want to experience more things in life. Our cultural events will include: plays, museums, zoos, galleries, lectures, etc.

Our first event was this past Friday evening (2/8). We saw Don't Hug Me at the Hennepin Stages Theater in the Hennepin Theater District. It was hilarious--so much so that Jeff really had exert quite a bit of effort to control some of his guffaws.

You know it's good when we are still quoting lines from the play two days later. :-)

It was a Minnesota love story--poking fun at the Minnesota cold, accent, and unique sayings (e.g. "Ya, sure, ya betcha!", "Oh, for sitting on a cat!" or "Oh, for fartin' in church!"). The acting was great!

My parents joined us for the play and the 4 of us went out to dinner beforehand at Zelo. This was fabulous! Jeff ordered a NY Strip and it was the best he'd had in a long time--definitely worth the price. My pasta was delicious as well, and their tomato basil soup was SO good. The atmosphere was really lovely, too.

Did you Caucus??

2008-02-06T08:43:00.000-06:00

Last night was Super Tuesday--an opportunity for people in 22 states to attend their local caucus or primary.

It was an opportunity for Jeff and I to legitimately get out of class early. :-)

Well, that was our original desire to go. Neither of us had ever attended a caucus, and being 30 (and very nearly 30), we thought it was time for us to enter the adult world of political awareness. We didn't know what to expect at a caucus nor did we really know which (Democrat or Republican) we should attend. I believe that both of us had only voted once previously--one voted Democrat in 2000 and one voted Republican in 2004, so we didn't really feel that we were really aligned with either political party.

Even driving to the caucus last night, we were still undecided. We reached the turn for the Republican one first, so we decided to check it out. We were mostly interested in just observing to see what it was all about, because of all the people that we'd asked, no one really knew what one was or what occurred at one.

Here is what happened:

We found the location of our address on a map to determine our Ward (12) and Precinct (4).
We gathered into an auditorium where letters from the candidates were read.
We were then divided into precincts and each met in a different room (Or at least that is what was supposed to happen. In reality, they were short on conveners, so our precinct was combined in one room with another one.)
We nominated and voted on delegates and alternates. (I'm still unclear as to what this means and what the delegates do--except it's something on March 8)
We took the straw poll on the presidential candidates. (Romney & McCain were tied in our precinct)
We nominated and voted on a Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary for our precinct. (No one was volunteering for these positions, and the Republicans apparently need more volunteers in Minneapolis, so Jeff volunteered to be Vice Chair, and I volunteered to be Secretary. We were uncontended, so we easily got the positions.)

Even though there were 50+ people crammed into a classroom at Minnehaha Academy, and they were getting a little unruly, since most people just came for the straw poll, and probably didn't know all the other stuff that was going to happen, we still really enjoyed it.

So, now we've aligned ourselves with the Republican party--at least for two years, because that's how long our positions are.

What started out to just be a curiosity and an excuse to get out of class early, turned into our becoming more active participants in our community. Our friend, Catherine, would be so proud. :-)

A New Year's Resolution

2008-01-28T13:38:00.000-06:00

Jeff and I sat down and wrote out a few resolutions that we'd like to accomplish in 2008. Throughout the year, you can look forward to updates on the progress we make on a couple of them.

One of our resolutions is to read together from the Book of Mormon everyday. We decided on the Book of Mormon because it is what we are studying in Sunday school this year. This way we can prepare together for the upcoming lesson each week.

We started on Dec 31st, and I am very pleased to say that we have been very diligent. I think we may have missed one day, but we easily made it up the next. It has been very good for us!

I know that the Lord will continue to bless us as we commit to reading together every day!

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

2008-01-28T13:17:00.000-06:00

This is a little delayed post, but I just received a digital copy of this photo from our ward's Halloween party.

These costumes turned out so cute!

The day after this party, my family ran the Gray Ghost 5K in Anoka, MN. We were a "school of fish." Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of our costumes, but it was the same general idea as this pic--except I was a "sun"fish and Jeff was a "paddle"fish.

I was dressed in all orange and yellow with orange and yellow pipe cleaners in my hair to form sun rays; Jeff was dressed in all green with a strip down the front and ping pong paddles in each hand. Then we had the fish head and tail pinned to us. Also in our school was a catfish, dogfish, 1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish, and monk fish. I brought along a ruler, too, to lead us in the ABC song. It was such a fun race. :-)

ABC's of Thanksgiving

2007-11-19T19:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday in Sacrament the youth speaker extended a challenge to all the congregants. She challenged us to make a list of things we were thankful for from A to Z.

We thought it would be a great idea for our Family Home Evening tonight.

We is a list of what we came up with tonight for our ABC's of Thanksgiving:

A: alphabet, agriculture, anthropology, astronomy, algorithms, aspirations, Atonement, anatomy, air conditioning, airplanes
B: botany, biology, beavers, bed, baptism, bridges, buildings
C: Clarinda, children, Christmas, charisma, chapels, Christ, candles, computers, calendars, creativity, Chicago, capitalism, conservation efforts
D: development, devotion, dads, day, democracy, dreams
E: elephants, energy, electricity, electromagnetic field, epistles, education, e-mail
F: fish, food, flowers, flour, family, fun, fantasies, freezer, Fall, friends, fruit, Family Home Evening
G: greatness, geometry, geology, geography, good grades, gospel, games
H: happiness, home, humility, hats, heaven, habitats, hearts, hygiene, history, holding hands, hugs, help, helicopters, Hamburger Helper
I: individuality, independence, ice cream, islands, intellect
J: Jeff, jam/jelly, jokes, journeys
K: kindness, Killer Bunnies, kites, kisses
L: lakes, light rail, libraries, liberty, life, laughter, light, landscapes
M: music, moms, marriage, municipalities, movies, mathematics, money, modern conveniences, manual manipulation (opposable thumbs), mass transportation, maps, Minneapolis, minimalism
N: nitrogen, night, nutrients, negotiations, New York City
O: outdoors, oven, ordinances, Olympics, old growth forest, oxygen, order
P: prophets, pursuit of happiness, privilege, posterity, pumpkins, public transportation, parachutes, photography, priesthood, Portland, play, processes
Q: quality, queues,
R: revelation, refrigeration, Restoration, reading, rest, reliability, respect, resourcefulness, righteousness, Relief Society, road trips, rainbows
S: Superarmitron, squirrels, silliness, spirituality, Seminary, spontaneity, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, skyscrapers, seasons, sunshine, scripture, sleep, Sundays, shade, scenic views, and of course our Scion XB
T: technology, trains, toys, time, trees, trade, taste, touch, temples, tunnels, TV
U: urban centers, umbrellas, unity, understanding
V: violins, vitality, vision, vacations, vegetables, variables, vitamins
W: water, walks, wellness, willingness, watermelon, wishes, work
X: x-rays, xerography
Y: youth, yogurt, yellow, Yellowstone National Forest,
Z: zoos, zippers, ziggurat, zoology

Waiting for my real life to begin - Colin Hay

2007-10-17T14:36:00.001-05:00

Jeff and I just watched an episode of "Cane". The previews that we had been seeing for it all week had featured this song, and we watched the whole episode just to get to the end when the song was featured in the last few moments.

We love the sound, and the lyrics are beautiful, too. This video is just audio. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Another thing we love about our apartment...

2007-10-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

Location, location, location!

Last night Jeff and I went for a walk. In about 7 minutes we were at Minnehaha Falls!

I LOVE the falls! The rushing water is so beautiful. It was dark, dark outside (I think it was around 8:00 PM), but still you could sense the power of all that water. I think we'll definitely be finding our way back there. It's fun how close by it is.

Here are a couple of pics. Sorry for the poor quality. We only had Jeff's phone with us. We have the exact same model of phone, but I think mine takes better photos. Go figure!

The other day, we also walked down to the Mississippi River. That was a fun walk, too, but no pics from that. We were too preoccupied doing Latin vocab. Ahh...the life of a student...and a student's wife. :-)

Dodsons are on the move...again...

2007-09-10T11:03:00.000-05:00

This time we kept our move relatively local. We just moved from Eagan, MN to Minneapolis, MN. That's only about a 15-20 minute drive!

Our new address is:
4540 Snelling Ave #112
Minneapolis MN 55406

We found a lovely studio apartment in a fabulous building right on the Hiawatha Light Rail. You can visit the building's website: Oaks Hiawatha Station.

Our little studio has a decent sized kitchen including a dishwasher plus a washer & dryer in the unit!!

We are back in the ward that we attended when we first got married.

Life is GOOD!!

We are so overwhelmed with excitement about being back on our own in an apartment that we love!

Plus classes are going very well for Jeff--despite all the reading--and Clarinda is really enjoying her job at SC Johnson.

Oh, we will post some pics of our new place once we're all settled in.

Best Birthday EVER!!

2007-08-18T06:08:00.000-05:00

I had my 30th birthday last Friday (Aug 10th), and it was so awesome!!

As I was biding my time at Keewaydin, waiting for 2 p.m. to come around (that's time to go home on Fridays, 'cuz of summer hours), I got a much anticipated phone call with good news! I was extended on offer to cover a 6 month maternity leave for the Admin Asst at SC Johnson Target Team in Minneapolis. I had interviewed for the position on the 8th and was very hopeful that they would choose me...and they did! How exciting to have something lined up for at least 6 months. Plus, now I can hope that at the end of my temp assignment, they will love me working there SO much that they will want to hire me. :-) Hey, you gotta have hopes and dreams!

Shortly after receiving this good news, I got a text from my wonderful husband saying that he was awarded over $31,000 in financial aid! Whoo Hoo! And the best part of that is that over $20,000 of that is FREE money (institutional grants). That was such, such great news!

Who could ask for anything better?!

Well, after work, I went and got my hair all chopped off. It turned out really cute! (Even now, days later, when I'm styling it myself). I went to a salon here in Eagan, Ficocello's. My stylist, Erin (I think) was terrific. I wasn't all that specific in what I wanted, and she created something so perfect. I love it!

Here are a few pics of my new haircut, and some of me/us all dressed up for my birthday dinner. I apologize for the quality of these photos. I'm not sure what the deal was, but Jeff took these with the camera on his phone. Our camera phones usually take much better pictures that this (at least mine does), but at least this will give you an idea of how sexy I/we looked for my 30th birthday dinner.

Jeff, my Dad, Marna, and I went downtown (Minneapolis, of course) to our favorite steakhouse. My Dad and Marna had actually never been there before. Morton's Steakhouse is phenomenal! We love the ambiance (very classy), and their steaks are to die for! So tender and juicy and melt in your mouth! Jeff and I actually split everything--a NY Strip, a baked potato (I honestly don't think that anyone could eat an entire baked potato on their own; they're HUGE), and garlic green beans! Delicious! Oh, and I can't forget the cake! Molten Chocolate Cake with Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream. Divine! It was a perfect ending to a wonderful birthday.

Riverview Theater

2007-08-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

Jeff and I thought we'd splurge Saturday night and go out to a movie.

Well, we found this really awesome theater in the Longfellow neighborhood of South Minneapolis.

Here is a blurb from their website:
"Even though we feature state-of-the-art projection and sound systems, our customers enjoy the opportunity to "step back in time" and experience movie-going as it was in the 50s, when neighborhood theaters were in abundance. Some of our customers walk to the theater and enjoy arriving early in order to relax in the spacious lobby on the mod couches and chairs."

We were so impressed with the atmosphere of the theater. It really felt like a step back in time with the decor of the lobby. However, the actual theater (there is only 1 screen) was really impressive!

It was so much fun! I'm sure that we'll make our way to this theater again and again.

Oh, the best part, of course, is the prices! We got 2 movie tickets, a medium soda, and a medium popcorn all for only $9!!

If you've never been to this theater (and live in the Mpls area), you really ought to check it out!

Riverview Theater

The Bakken

2007-07-30T19:33:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, Jeff and I checked out the Bakken museum in Minneapolis.

The public libraries in the area have a really cool program! You can check out passes to local museums, zoos, and historic houses. Each Museum Adventure pass that you check out allows free admission for up to 4 people.

I couldn't decide which pass to check out first. I'd wanted to visit the Bakken for quite some time, so I figured it was a good place to start. I really hope that Jeff and I will be able to check out all of the museums!

Anyway, the Bakken was awesome!

It is located right on Lake Calhoun, but that's not really what made it awesome. The museum is all about electricity. I learned a lot of things. It was a very interactive museum, too. If you've never visited this one, I'd highly suggest it. It's especially good for kids.

Well...except for the Frankenstein presentation. It's a little spooky and could frighten small children. Of course, it's great for the big kids that Jeff and I are. That was easily the best part of the museum!

Downtown Mpls

2007-07-26T15:31:00.000-05:00

On July 9th, I began working a temp position downtown Minneapolis. We love downtown Minneapolis!! Jeff promised to send some pics of the old Federal Reserve Bank to his Art professor from PCC because they had studied that building in her class. So, after work, I walked down to Peavey Plaza to enjoy the water fountain. Jeff picked me up there and we drove down to where the old bank is and the new library.

Here are a few pics that I took with my camera phone while we walking around.

The Fourth of July

2007-07-26T15:10:00.000-05:00

This is one holiday that always seems to be chock full of fun things to do.

This year, Jeff and I went to 4 picnics.

Picnic #1--The Christianson's
We stopped at the Christianson's for a little while. It was fun to catch up with John and Geri a little, and of course, chat with Lindsay and Dave. I also ran into Jessica Abrahamson (not sure what her married name is) who I went to seminary with many, many years ago. We weren't ever in the same ward, but our two wards did have early morning seminary together. I think her dad was even our teacher. She didn't really remember me though. :-( The food was good, and after a short while, we head out to...

Picnic #2--Uncle Rodney's
Every 4th of July, my Uncle Rodney invites everyone out to his house on Lake Minnetonka in Deephaven. Rodney usually takes a few boat trips out with the kids and whoever else might like to join them. Unfortunately, there isn't too much intermingling, but it's still fun for a once-a-year type of get-together. After some brief socializing, we headed out to...

Picnic #3--The Parsons'
McKenzie's birthday happens to be on the 4th, and she turned 30 this year, so we didn't want to miss out on this party. There was tons of good fun, and we were hungry again by this time. :-) Plus we got to visit with some friends from our old ward who we hadn't seen for nearly two years. It was fun to get reacquainted with a few of them. It was funny how one sister looked exactly the same as she didn't two years ago--VERY pregnant!!

Picnic #4--Back Home
Not really much of a picnic because no one was hungry from the day of gorging; it was more of a gathering place for fireworks. My family has scoped out a great viewing point for the Eagan fireworks. It's about a 1/2 mile walk, but you really can't ask for a better show! Corey, Lina, Trevor and Jeff stayed behind, but everyone else got to experience these fireworks up close and personal. I took a LOT of pics with my camera phone--some even turned out quite well.

It was a long, but very enjoyable, day!! Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th as well!

Selena's 11th Birthday

2007-07-17T21:07:00.000-05:00

This is a little slow in coming, but here is a short blog on my niece's birthday.

Little Selena is growing up so fast. She just turned 11 on June 27. As per usual, we celebrated the following Sunday at Dad's house.

Enjoy the short slideshow!

Days Four & Five of our Eastward Trek--June 18th & 19th

2007-06-22T20:12:00.000-05:00

The mornings on our trip never seemed to start as early as we would've liked. We had intended on leaving Molly's house around 8 a.m. on the 18th, but we didn't actually make it out of the house until around 9:30 a.m.

We drove the 4 hours to Mt. Rushmore. Here are a couple of pics.

Mt Rushmore

Honestly, Mt Rushmore was a bit of a disappointment. It was much smaller than Jeff had anticipated. For me, there just wasn't a lot to do around there. Plus I think we were just so ready to be finished with our trip, that we just weren't all that excited for one more thing to stop and explore.

We didn't stop at Wall Drug in Wall, SD.

We did have a very relaxing camping experience at the KOA in Kennebec, SD.

KOA Kennebec, SD

Jeff built a fire; we roasted marshmallows. We slept in the back of our Scion.

Jeff had a heck of a time sleeping in the car, because every time he'd fall sleep, I'd have him roll over. It was quite a sleepless night for him, made even more frustrating as he watched his wife enjoy a deep slumber.

The next morning, Jeff awoke at 6:30 a.m. and built a fire. I continued to sleep until around 8:30.

In the morning, we played a round of their free mini golf. Take a look at our slide show for a couple of pics of their very elaborate course. :-) We also played several games of table tennis.

Then it was soon time to pack up and head out.

We didn't stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.

About 60 miles East of Albert Lea, we thought we were being attacked by a crop duster. Seriously, we thought a plane was right over us, but we couldn't see anything! After a little bit of us twisting and turning our heads to look out the window to see what was the matter, Jeff thought it might be something with the car. When we pulled over, he revved the engine, and we sighed a big sigh of relief that it didn't sound like engine failure. As soon as we got out of the car, I noticed the flat tire!

We just wanted to be home!

Now we had to change to the spare, and it would be that much longer before we would arrive in Eagan.

Once that headache was all cleared, we were back on the road (at a slightly slower pace than we would've liked). We finally arrived at my parents house around 7:20 p.m.

Whew!! We made it!!

Day Three of our Eastward Trek--June 17th

2007-06-21T09:33:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning, we needed to check out of our Kamping Kabin by 11 a.m. After enjoying a bit of a lazy morning--I blogged while Jeff slept--we finally got really moving around 9:30. We checked out with 10 whole minutes to spare!! :-)

Our next destination was Casper, WY. A good friend of mine from Cottey lives there. I had made plans with Molly for Jeff and I to arrive around 3:30 or 4, and it was only 2 hours from our campsite, so we had some time to spare.

We visited the old WY state penitentiary. We took a self-guided tour, which we were not supposed to do. Their website said, "Free admission, tours $6.00." We interpreted that to mean that you were free to walk around on your own, but if you wanted a docent, you needed to pay the price.

So, we walked around on our own. It was creepy!!

Once we got to the kitchen, we met up with the tour, and were told that we weren't supposed to be back there without a tour guide. Oops! We had gone through the whole place anyway, so we were ready to be done.

Click on the link below to view our pics from the Old Pen.

Old Pen

We were also surprised to find that Martin's Cove was directly in our path to Casper, WY. In case you don't know what Martin's Cove is, it is an LDS historical site. During the migration West, there were two handcart companies that were hit by an early snowstorm--the Willie and Martin handcart companies. Martin's handcart company took shelter in a cove near Devil's Gate, and now you can visit this site. On days other than Sunday, you can even push a handcart on a 5-mile trek. Our visit was on a Sunday, so we were unable to push a handcart, which is probably a good thing, because I'm not sure that we would've made it.

We barely made the 1-mile walk to Devil's Gate and back.

Martin's Cove/Devil's Gate

This historical site is also commemorating the Sun Ranch. At one time, it was over 1 million acres in size. That's huge!! This area also marks where the Mormon, Oregon, California, and Pony Express trails all crossed. I didn't realize that they all took basically the same route.

Walking/driving around this area really made me realize how difficult there journey was. I know that I probably couldn't do it today. Of course, we've been spoiled with modern technology. It also made me realize how beautiful their journey was. Even being stuck in a snowstorm with loved ones dying around you, I'll bet many of the pioneers still revelled in God's marvels and the beauty that they were beholding. There is only so much you can take in when driving 80 mph done the road. Imagine the beauty you experience when walking alongside the mountains.

We also got very philosophical in our little trek to Devil's Gate. We got to thinking about all the beauty that God created in the Earth. Artists throughout time have tried and tried to duplicate, but no work of art can compare to what our Heavenly Father created for us to enjoy.

It was a nice place to spend our Sunday.

We even ran into a couple missionary (Elder & Sister Mellor) that had served a previous mission in Minnesota. I believe they served in Willmar, and I grew up in Alexandria, so we knew some of the same places. It was fun to chat with them for a bit, and we left the Visitor's Center grateful to be members of the church where the world suddenly seems much smaller.

By this time, we were actually running late. We were still about an hour or so from Molly's house. She had specifically given me her phone number, so I could call if we were running late, early, etc. Unfortunately, we had no cell phone signal in all of WY. :-( I think we finally arrived around 4:30.

Molly & Edis have the most beautifully, decorated home! We fell in love with it as soon as we entered. I wish we would've taken some photos, unfortunately, our camera didn't come out once during our short visit. I didn't even get any pics with her and I, but that doesn't mean we didn't fully enjoy our visit with them. I had forgotten what a great storyteller Molly was--and so funny! I think that the four of us pretty much laughed non-stop from the time we got there until bedtime.

We wish we could have stayed longer, but by this time, we were really starting to be ready for our road trip to end, and we knew we still had quite a bit of driving ahead of us.

Here is one last album of Day 3. These are just some pics of the beautiful WY countryside. Some of these were taken before Martin's Cove and some were taken after. The ones before were all taken from the window of the car as we drove along. We actually pulled over for the ones after Martin's Cove. Before this road trip, I never really realized just how beautiful WY was!!

WY Countryside

Day Two of our Eastward Trek--June 16th

2007-06-17T09:39:00.000-05:00

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn, but actually crawled out of bed around 7:30. Between breaking down camp and our long, luxurious, hot showers, we were back on the road by 9:30 a.m.

We were headed for Salt Lake City. I had never been to Salt Lake before (or Utah for that matter), so it was one stop that we definitely wanted to make.

We had intended on doing a temple session, but after our late start, we decided it would be too stressful to try to cram it in. We just walked around Temple Square.

It was SO hot! I don't care what anyone says about dry heat vs humid heat...95 IS STILL HOT!!! Even with 15 SPF sunscreen, I got a little pink (and a little red around the neckline of my shirt because, oops, I forgot to apply it there).

It was so bright and sunny out, that our pictures didn't turn out as nice as we would have liked. :-(

You can't really tell, but Jeff is sitting next to a cascading fountain in this pic of the SL Temple.

The Salt Lake City Temple
There was this really cool bench under this really cool tree. The pic isn't real clear, but the bench is made to look like tangled tree branches.I really liked how these two pics turned out of us on the bench under the tree.

After walking around a bit, we met up with Stephanie and Dave Allen for some lunch. We had some very yummy burgers from Crown Burgers near Temple Square. We decided to walk the 3 blocks, without realizing just how long SLC blocks were in that area. It was a very hot, uncomfortable walk, but the food definitely hit the spot.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten to change my wristwatch to Mountain time, and we didn't realize it until Jeff consulted his phone. I thought it was only 2:15, but in reality it was 3:15. We still had 4 more hours of driving to get to our campsite.

But we couldn't stop in SLC without seeing the Christus.

After just a few minutes in the Visitor's Center, we hopped back into the car on our way to Wyoming. Our campsite was 4 hours away, and we wanted to get there before dark.

Somewhere in WY, we made our second stop at a Wal-mart. We needed more insect repellent and we thought we'd get some camping towels. We spent way too much time at Wal-mart, but still stopped for gas before getting back on the road.

We finally arrived at the KOA--Rawlins a little after 8 p.m. with some nasty looking clouds lurking above. Since the sky looked stormy, it was already so late, and we wanted to get in a little swim before the pool closed, we decided to upgrade to a Kamping Kabin.

Black Betty (our Scion) in front of KK3

Front view of KK3
Dining area
Porch swing

BED--Yeah!!

After our quick swim and after we got all settled into our kabin, we were very grateful that we'd upgraded. The wind was fierce, and I think that there was a bit of rain as well. And, of course, there were NO bugs!! Of course, there didn't seem to be very many bugs outside either. Maybe bugs don't like the WY climate...

Day One of our Eastward trek--June 15th

2007-06-17T09:23:00.000-05:00

Originally, we had hoped to leave Trudy's bright and early Friday morning to head to Twin Falls, ID, our first camping site. Unfortunately, after the day we'd just experienced, we were very achy, Jeff's knee sounded terrible, and we were tired. Needless to say, we weren't moving with any sense of urgency.

I think we finally got on the road around 10:30 or 11.

In Pendleton, OR, (about 2 hours into our trip), we made our first stop at Wal-mart. We needed some food, toiletries and insect repellent. With our food bag and cooler stocked, we were back on the road.

I think we finally got to the KOA--Jerome/Twin Falls around 7:30 or 8 p.m.

The first thing we did was fog our campsite. In all of our excitement of beginning a new adventure of camping, I think we forgot how much bugs there would be and how much they would annoy us/creep us out. Jeff used nearly the entire container of this fog repellent. Plus he doused himself in 30% DEET repellent, and the bugs were still crawling all over him--or at least it seemed that way.

After fogging our area, we set up the tent.

Then we donned our swim suits for a soak in the hot tub!! Ooohhhh it was so nice on our aching bodies to rest awhile in the hot, bubbly tub!! Unfortunately, the chlorine levels in there were dangerously high, so our eyes began to burn a bit. We soaked as long as we could.

Then off to bed...in a tent...on an air mattress... :-)

Anna Sophia (Black) Zendt

2007-06-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in our Moving Day post, having dinner with Erin, Joe and Anna was, by far, the best part of our day!!

Here are a couple of pics of our dinner with the Zendt's.

Mommy, Daddy, and Anna

Time to say Good-Night to Anna

Anna and me (I loved how she was looking up at me in this one...)

Me and my good friend, Erin Black

Moving Day--June 14th

2007-06-17T08:49:00.001-05:00

This was probably the worst moving day Jeff and I had ever experienced--since we've been married and including when we were single. Fate was definitely working against us, as it seemed that everything that could go wrong, did.

It all started with the credit card machine not working properly at the truck rental place. Not as many people showed up to help as we thought would be coming.

Then the biggest road block was that all our stuff was not fitting into the truck!!

We were moving all of Jerilyn's stuff to Trudy's house in Dufur, OR, and all of our stuff was going to a shipping yard in Portland to be loaded into Relocubes(R) to be shipping to MN. What this meant was that we needed to load the truck very specifically. Jerilyn stuff took up a lot more of the 24' truck that we'd envisioned, leaving us with not much room for our own stuff. After much frustration, a LOT of phone calls, and my breaking into tears, we were finally able to finagle all of our stuff into the truck for the drive to Portland. All of our stuff was packed in nice neat totes and boxes, so hopefully that was able to secure our belongings against breakage. We will wait to find out next week when we unload our stuff.

About 12 or so miles into our trip up to Portland, a terrible annoying alarm started going off in the moving truck. I wasn't able to experience this, so I don't know exactly the words to describe it. Basically the alarm was telling Jeff that the brakes were bad. Luckily they seemed to be working fine--unless you're looking at it from my perspective. I was following him, and his brake lights were not working. Let's just say it is quite nerve-wracking to follow a huge truck and not know when he is braking--especially for me with my poor distance judgment.

Finally we arrived at the shipping yard, transferred out stuff to the cubes, only to find ourselves in the thickest of rush hour traffic--1 1/2 to 2 hours behind schedule.

We arrived in Dufur without too many further incidents. Well, there was the gas station...but I'm not going to go into that...

Of course, all of this didn't seem so bad once we got to the restaurant to have dinner with Erin, Joe, and little Anna.

Anna is honestly one of the cutest little babies I've seen in a long time. She is about 3 months old now, and even though we kept her up way past her bedtime, she was still a sleepy cheerful. I even got to hold her for a bit, which was very fun for me. :-)

Camping...in a TENT...!?!

2007-06-12T10:05:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows us will read this with some amount of disbelief.

Yesterday morning, our plans to stay with a couple of old friends in Salt Lake City fell through. As I have never been to Utah before, we really wanted to keep this location on our itinerary. At first we were at a lost as to what to do. We didn't know anyone else in the SLC area that we felt comfortable asking to stay with and we knew that staying at hotels would be too expensive.

On our drive home, as Jeff processed the information, it occurred to him that it might be kind of fun to buy a tent and camp along the way (with our queen size air mattress). We figured even with the cost of buying a tent, it would probably be cheaper than staying in a hotel.

Now we will even be able to break up the long trip from Mt Rushmore to Eagan--our last leg.

We checked out the KOA website (www.koa.com) and are now even more excited to begin our road trip on Friday.

Thursday is moving day.

Tomorrow is last minute packing day.

Oh, and one of the great perks of staying at a KOA is that most of them have free wireless internet. We'll be traveling with our laptop, so hopefully we'll be able to keep our blog updated as we progress along our road trip. :-)

On the move...again...

2007-05-24T22:41:00.001-05:00

Well, Jeff and I have been out here in Oregon for going 11 months. For those of you who know us, it sounds about time for us to move. We've been married for just under 2 1/2 years, and this will be our 3rd 1000+ miles move.

First we moved from Minneapolis to Brooklyn. Then we moved from Brooklyn to Oregon. Now we are heading back to the great state of Minnesota!!

We'll be living in Eagan for this first few months at least, and then we'll see where that leads us.

We're really looking forward to re-connecting with some old friends!!

Man...has it really been 4 months!!

2007-05-06T14:33:00.000-05:00

I guess Jeff and I have just settled into the monotony of school/work, eat, sleep... :-(

Nathan got to come and visit us this past weekend. It was kind of a last minute deal, but as always, it was fun to have him with us.

Jeff picked him up in Salem Friday afternoon, and to kill time before driving to Tualatin to pick me up from work, they went and checked out some electric cars. This bit Jeff with a real hankering to buy an electric car. Don't worry...we didn't splurge that much! :-) However, it might be a real possibility in the (not-so-distant) future.

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Portland Saturday Market. There were a lot of really cool things there. It really made me wish we had more $$ to buy art, jewelry, crafts, clothing, etc from these local artisans. Maybe someday...

The highlight of my weekend (and this is no joke) was after we returned from the Saturday Market. Nathan got to spend some quality time with grandma, and Jeff and I did yard work. Yep, you read that correctly! I mowed the lawn--not once, but twice. Yeah, it was that long. While I was mowing, Jeff was weed wacking. It was actually a lot of fun. My back and feet are a little sore today, but the yard does look much nicer. Both our mower and weed wacker are electric. It was pretty funny at times when we both had cords strung out in the yard where the other needed to be. I'd never used an electric mower before that was pulled into the house while you used it. It felt a little like vacuuming. :-)

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post. I hope to get up some soon...

San Francisco Day 2 (and 3)

2007-01-01T11:20:00.000-06:00

We really wanted to go to church while we were in San Francisco, so we looked up the closest meetinghouse to our hotel and put in a call to the bishop of that ward. We wanted to know if they were having any schedule changes due to it being Christmas Eve and all.

We never received a call back, so we just went at the regularly scheduled time. Unfortunately, I guess we ought to have called the bishop of the other ward as well, because they combined wards for Christmas Eve. We missed Sacrament meeting, but at least were able to stay for Sunday school and Relief Society/Priesthood.

We really fell in love with these combined wards. Most of the ward was younger adults (30s & 40s), so we felt right at home. Plus their meeting schedule ran like clockwork--each ending on time and beginning on time. It was very refreshing.

When we move to San Fran in a few years, we hope to be able to attend one of these two wards.

Check out the architecture of the church building!! It's unlike any LDS chapel that I've ever seen. Very Gothic.

After relaxing for a few hours after church, we hopped on a bus to the Golden Gate bridge. It was pretty cold and windy out there by the bay/ocean, but it was fun to see the bridge up close at night. We walked to the halfway mark, made some phone calls, and then turned around. It's kind of like walking the whole length, right?!

Here are some pics from our venture out to the GG bridge:

Monday morning, after checking out of our hotel, we decided to stop at UC-Berkeley and walk around campus a little. It's one of Jeff's goals--getting a PhD in Philosophy from UC-Berkeley--so we decided to see what the campus was like. It was so quiet on Christmas morning! It is a really beautiful campus. Huge, compared to the community college that Jeff is currently attending.

The campus is beautiful, but we didn't really take too many pics. Here is a pic of a grove of trees in the middle of campus. There was even a guy doing yoga or tai chi or some other type of meditation. We didn't ask.

That was the close of our trip to San Fran. We spent the rest of Christmas Day driving back to OR. We were grateful for the good weather. Well, it was raining pretty good the last few hours, but at least it wasn't snowing!! Too much snow as caused the Siskiyou pass on I-5 to close, so we were happy we didn't have to experience that.

We spent a good chunk of the drive home learning interesting facts about the states--what's the highest point, the capitol, the largest city, its rank in size and population, and the nickname. Not sure that we remember any of it, but it was a fun way to pass the time (as least for me). It took a little too long for Jeff. Of course, I had the answers and he was doing the guessing. Maybe that made a difference. At any rate, it beat doing another 4 hours of the alphabet game--our game of choice on the trip down.

Hope you enjoyed our pics as much as we enjoyed our visit. I imagine we'll make the drive down there again sometime in the next few years.

San Francisco, baby!

2006-12-29T23:48:00.000-06:00

The Thursday before Christmas, Jeff and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! :-)

It was a wonderful day. We had a late lunch at the Olive Garden and spent a few hours at the Portland Temple. (Yep, Dad. We finally made it to the temple.)

On our way home from the temple, we got to talking and decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to San Francisco! We got a really good deal on a hotel room, so we loaded up the car and made the 10-hour drive down I-5.

It turned out to be a wonderful way to spend Christmas. We walked around the hills of San Francisco. For those of you who have never been to San Fran, believe me when I say they are not joking when they refer to the "hills of San Francisco." It was really beautiful.

Hope you enjoy some pics from our trip.

View from the balcony outside our hotel room.

Golden Gate bridge from a park on a very steep street.

Coit Tower

Alcatraz Island

San Francisco Cable Car

Crookedest Street (Lombard between Hyde and Leavenworth)

Driveway on the Crookedest St

Poofy tree-lined street (Lombard past the Crookedest part)

Wouldn't you like to live here!? We know we would!!

The streets are so steep here that you actually need to be sure to park at 90-degrees, so as not to roll down the hill. I'm sure that people living here never forget the "up, up, and away" reminder to turn your wheels toward the curb when parking on a hill (when it's not designated to park at 90-degrees).

One way to help pedestrians with the steep streets...
The put these mini-steps on some of the streets. These steps are more like little ridges--only about 1-inch high.

TransAmerica Pyramid
2nd tallest building in San Fran

Downtown Skyline from our favorite viewing point
(Top of Vallejo St at Taylor St)

A chinese mural in Chinatown

Another view of the TransAmerica Pyramid

View of the TransAmerica Pyramid

The TransAmerica Pyramid had a very neat park for its "Employees, Tenants, and Friends." This is a pic of a pond in the park. These frogs are really frolicking; some are even playing Leap Frog.

A really neat business plaza--all decked out for Christmas

Interesting heads near the Port of San Fransicso

San Francisco at night

Christmas 2006 with Nathan

2006-12-29T21:51:00.000-06:00

Nathan came to visit us for a few days the week before Christmas. We had Christmas one week early on Monday, December 18th. We read the Christmas story in Luke for Family Home Evening and then Nathan opened his gifts.

Here are some pics from our Christmas:

As usual it was a joy to have Nathan come for a visit. We look forward to spending New Years with him. He'll be with us to ring in the New Year. :-)

Thanksgiving Day (actual)

2006-11-26T21:33:00.000-06:00

Jeff and I had a lovely Thanksgiving Day. We went over to the Blackburn's home for dinner around 2 p.m. and stayed until 7:30 p.m. It was fun to hang out with them and get to know them a little better.

We know the Blackburns (Monte and Solana) from church. They have three children (Kallin, Aidan, and Isley). In addition to the 5 of us, Monte's parents and younger brother were also at dinner. The food was delicious and the kids were entertaining.

Isley is only 14 months, and she really took a liking to me. We usually sit behind them in church, and Isley has a habit of handing me things over the pew. This continued in her own home as well. She'd bring me things and climb into my arms. It was fun to have a little girl to play with. My youngest neice will be 5 in June (and they all live in MN), so it's been awhile since I've had attention from a little one this age.

Monte's brother, Ben, also showed us his costume from this past Halloween.

Yes, there is a real man behind this stick figure. This was by far one of the coolest costumes we've seen in awhile. We turned off all the lights so that it would really illuminate. It kind of freaked out Aidan and Isley--they both started crying a bit. We had to turn the lights back on to reassure Aidan that it really was Uncle Ben. It was actually quite funny how Isley was a little frightened, but once the lights were back on, she'd peak her head around the corner--hoping to catch a glimpse of the scary stick man.

When we first tried to take a pic, the flash went off, and this is how it turned out. I thought it was a nice pic to have to show the contrast between the lights being on and off.
I bet Ben had a lot of fun on Halloween walking around the campus of Western Oregon University.

Nathan

2006-11-23T13:59:00.000-06:00

Nathan came to visit last weekend. It was a pretty lazy weekend, but still fun to have him around. We had Thanksgiving dinner Saturday evening. Check out the posting on my blog for pics of the dinner (www.clarindas.blogspot.com).

Here are a couple of pics of Nathan:

After a shower. Oh to be little enough to wrap the towel completely around yourself TWICE

Balancing on the exercise ball--with a little help from the couch. :-)

Activities Committee

2006-10-16T11:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Jeff and I accepted new callings in our ward at church. We are now members of the Activities Committee. Our first upcoming activity is the ward Halloween party. Sounds like fun!

We will continue to serve in our previous callings as well. Jeff is a Sunday school teacher; I am the Relief Society Enrichment Leader.

The Dayton ward is so grateful to have us, and we are so grateful to serve!! Losing ourselves in the service of others, helps us to keep our sanity. Well, I feel that way at least. It helps me to feel grounded--if not busy. But hey, a busy bee is a happy bee. :-)

Nathan's first visit

2006-10-09T09:53:00.000-05:00

Nathan came to visit us this weekend. For those of you who may not know Nathan, he is Jeff's son, my stepson. He is 7 years old and full of energy!

I thought it was a lot of fun to have a child around the house. For as much energy as he has, he is still very well behaved. He was such a big helper, too. He helped set the table every night! Plus he helped with just about anything I asked him to do.

We had a very busy day on Saturday!

He had a soccer game in Salem, OR. It's fun to watch these little guys play. Nathan is actually quite good. Unfortunately, the team they were playing yesterday were even better! Oh well, you can't win 'em all...of course, they don't even keep score yet.

Dad and Nathan before the game.

Nathan wearing a silly hat (?)

It's the cover for a camping chair; he was pretending to be Cat in the Hat.

A couple ACTION shots...

After the soccer game, we headed to the International Rose Test Garden in Portland. Jeff needed to visit the garden for one of his classes (Art 101), so we thought it would be fun to kill 2 birds with one stone. I've wanted to visit the garden for some time, so it was a bonus for me as well.

Jeff taking notes at the Garden.

Nathan is such a little ham; he loves to get his picture taken.

The little guy tried his best on this one, but our heads got a little trim. Oops! What do you expect from a 7-year old, I suppose. :-)

Day at the Beach

2006-10-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

Before life got too crazy for Jeff with classes, we decided to take a drive to the Oregon coast. It's only about a 1 hour drive. I had never been to the coast before, so it was exciting for me.

It was peaceful to watch the waves come crashing in.

It seemed weird to me that something so fierce and strong could actually exude a feeling a peace and calm. I was definitely enjoying it.

We walked along the beach together--hand in hand.

Jeff pointed out all the dead crabs on the shore.

I hope we get to go back again sometime soon.

Check out the mountains in the background!
And the crashing waves were so beautiful!

Shadows in the Night...wait it's midday!

Jeff named his Henry (for the day).

We have a short video clip of our beach experience as well. It's about 1 1/2 minutes. If you'd like to see it, let me know and I'll attach it to an e-mail.