Sing us a song...

Mark and I had a great time on our getaway. We went to Cederburg, WI.
Where we stayed at the Historic Washington House Inn.
It was a fun trip. They have a bunch of cute shops and antique stores...so we just kinda wandered around, sampled the local coffee shops, ate at fun restaurants and just relaxed. It was kinda cold and rainy there most of the days so we couldn't do any fun outside activities but we did get to get together with some friends who live in Milwaukee.
Cederburg is just a 20 miles out of Milwaukee; we went there a few different times during our trip and everytime we were driving there we would see an exit sign that made us think of Prince....maybe it is because Prince is a fellow Minnesotan....or maybe he used this exit sign as his muse in creating his own sign. You be the judge.

Prince's Sign:

WI exit sign:

Another thing that was kinda strange was that throughout the trip we were bombarded with Billy Joel songs....he was frequently played on local radio stations so we kept hearing him in the car as well as in the random shops, one restaurant was playing a greatest hit album. Seriously I don't think I have ever heard so many Billy Joel songs in my life as I did over the three days we were in Wisconsin. What was even stranger is that I don't think I ever heard the same song done twice. If I learned anything on this trip it was how big of a repertoire that man has!

Baby Baby

Yippee, it's spring break time again! Let the relaxing begin. It could not have come at a better time, things at work have been stressful and I am so glad to have a week off. To kick off spring break, I got to meet Maxwell and Lucy. They are the newly born twins of our friends Anne and Paul. They were born a couple of weeks ago, they were premature but are doing really well. Here is little Maxwell...



And here is a picture of me and Lucy!


They are so cute, I can't wait until they are home from the hospital and I get to hold them. Congratulations again Anne and Paul!

As for the rest of spring break, Mark and I are heading out of town for a few days to get some much needed rest and relaxation. We are going to a small town in WI known for their cute shops and antiquing. It's not too far from Milwaukee, so we are going to get together with some friends while we are down there. Hopefully there will be a fun story or two to tell when we get back.

My Funny Valentine

This Valentine's day was fun from start to finish. Our friends Kristin and Piergiorgio were visiting. So Kristin and I devised a plan to surprise our husbands with a Valentine's day breakfast. Not just any breakfast mind you...but one that we had made for our roommates at Dordt many years ago. Pink Heart Shaped Pancakes!

Don't they look tasty? Well maybe not...but both Mark and Piergiorgio liked them.



That evening Mark and I met up with our friends John and Darla and went to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat". It was by far the best production I have seen there...thoroughly entertaining. So all in all, I must say Valentine's Day 2008 was a great success.

Congratulations Rick & Allie!

This past weekend my cousin Allie got married. I was her personal attendant, so I got to spend the day with her. It was so much fun and everything looked beautiful. Here are some photos from the celebration.

The happy couple!

Cam and my cousin Trisha.

Me and Mark.

It's time to get things started

Well another Christmas has come and gone. It was a great holiday. Filled with fun with friends and family. Here are a few photos of how we spent our time in Willmar.





Every year Anne and I get together with my Grandma for Lefse making.


My parents dog Kaylee loves attention...even if it mean being covered with bows.


The Annual Cousin's Christmas photo.

And last but not least Cam and I kept up our Christmas tradition of putting fun things in mom's nativity scene. For those of you who are not familiar with this tradition you will have to read my blog post from last Christmas. This year we did a little something different and put two things in the nativity. The first needs no explanation:



The second is an inside joke for members of my family. My Grandma has this wooden elephant that is a toothpick holder. (Random). So I asked her if I could take it for the nativity and she thought that sounded like fun. When mom saw it, she knew exactly where it had come from. I thought it fit in pretty nicely. As always mom didn't notice that either of these items were in the nativity until they had already been there for 3 days.

Somewhere in my youth or childhood

So there have been many times in the past two months that I meant to post something...but then something came up and I never got around to it. Last night however I experienced something that made me so gleeful that I have to post about it.

Months ago Mark received a gift from work for a project that he had put a lot of time and energy into. The gift allowed us to go on-line and purchase any number of things from local retailers. Mark however saw one thing and knew what he wanted to do. So he came home and told me that we were going to go to the Ordway to see "The Sound of Music" in December. I was of course excited, but it was still summer at this time and December seemed really far away. Last night however was our evening at the Ordway..and it was amazing!

We arrived at the Ordway last night and were very excited to find that our seats were fourth row center! When the actors came on stage we could see the sparkle in their eyes, and every raise of the eyebrow. It was so awesome! The performance was wonderful. I found myself sitting in my seat with a huge grin plastered on my face for most of the play.

At first I was kind of shocked by my reaction. Primarily because this wasn't my first trip to the Ordway or even my favorite musical (that title goes to Les Miserable -which I have seen at the Ordway twice now). No my reaction was stemming from something deeper. A connection that I have held with the "Sound of Music" since I was a child. I have seen the movie and have sang those songs for as long as I can remember. I know the words of every song, and the voice inflections that are used by the actors as they deliver their lines. I don't think a year has gone by where I haven't watched the movie at least once. As a child I used to go to my grandma's and we would listen to the soundtrack on her record player. She would tell me of the story of Maria Von Trapp and how Maria was scheduled to speak at one of her women's ministries events but she never got to come because she became ill and passed away soon after.

Yes, I think last night was spectacular. A night that reconnected me to some of my childhood memories, and to my love of music and theater.

Feels like Home

Sorry for the lack of postings. My life seems to have become rather hectic since we moved into our new place. As promised here are a few more photos showing what we have been up to. We still have lots of work ahead of us, but it is starting to feel and look like home.

For more photos scroll down to my Flickr Badge and click on any of the pictures you see there, then you can see all of the photos I have taken thus far. More will be added eventually.

Finally...pictures of our house!

So it has taken me a while to get these posted....primarily because when we moved it took a while to hook up the computer, then I had to find the box with my camera cords in it. But now I can post a few pictures. These pictures are of our house during some of our work. First the outside....we haven't done much with that except to take the metal awnings off....curb appeal will be next years project.

Then the following pictures are of our living/dining room. Here you will see the color we painted it. It used to be a khaki-ish pink color. Since these pictures were taken mark took out the carpet and redid the hard wood floors. They look fantastic. But those photos will come later.

Next our Master Bedroom...this use to be a Mint Greenish color and we decided to go just a little darker.

So just so you know not all our rooms are green. In fact the only ones that are green are the ones that you can see here. I haven't taken pictures yet of our family room, the kitchen, bathrooms, any rooms in the basement, the hot tub room, or Mark's wood shop...so those will have to come later. So stay tuned and eventually I will post the finished products.

A good year

Yesterday was Mark and I's one year anniversary. To celebrate we took a much needed day off of our house renovations. It was nice... we just relaxed all day and basically did nothing.

We did the whole traditional "eating of top of the wedding cake" thing. I must say that I was shocked at how good it tasted after being in my grandma's deep freeze for a year. There was minimal freezer burn...amazing really.

Anyways, it was a perfect way to celebrate a wonderful first year of marriage.

Oh...and just so you know my next post will have photos of our house.

I'm an Escrow!!!

The title of this post is for all those Gilmore Girls fanatics. It just makes me chuckle. Also it is my way of say that Mark and I are now home owners! That's right today we closed on a house. It seems strange to think that I will now have a house of my own. One that Mark and I need to do all the up keep on, and that we have creative control over! Yippee! We now have monstrous amounts of debt! But that is okay because we will no longer be paying rent. Hooray! Photos and more about the new house will be forthcoming...so stay tuned.

Willmar Weekend #4

This weekend Mark and I had our last scheduled trip to Willmar for the summer. It was time to celebrate my Grandma Harriet's 90th Birthday. Her real birthday is not until September but we decided to celebrate early so that some of our out-of-state family could join us while they were visiting for the summer.

My grandma is a pretty popular lady. It was an open house and during the four hour period of time about 150 people came to help her celebrate. It was fun and Grandma had a blast. I am afraid that after this celebration her real birthday is going to seem a little boring. With that being said Happy early 90th Birthday Grandma!

Willmar Weekend #3

This past weekend Mark had the opportunity to take part in one of my childhood summer traditions when we went to Willmar to attend Sonshine 2007. It was Mark's first time to Sonshine and we had a lot of fun. I even introduced him to my favorite Sonshine Cuisine, the Walk-n-Taco! Look how much he is enjoying it!

For those of you who have not yet been introduced to the Walk-n-Taco let me tell you about it. You take a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and cut the long side of the bag open. Then you put taco meat, lettuce, cheese, salsa, and sour cream in the bag...and voila a taco treat you can eat on the go! It is one of the things I look forward to each year at Sonshine. This year, I am proud to say, I had a Walk-n-Taco everyday we were there!

The food was not the only fun thing about Sonshine. Mark and I also enjoyed a lot of great concerts. I am proud to say that Mark is now a fan of TobyMac and Relient K (two bands I have liked for a while but who Mark kinda mocked), and he introduced me to Cool Hand Luke who I thoroughly enjoyed, and we both discovered Jackson Waters. We highly recommend you check out that CD. One concert that Mark and I knew we would enjoy was Switchfoot. It had been a while since either of us had seen them live, so I think we forgot how great of a live band they are. By the time the concert was over we were reminded of why we like them so much. So in conclusion I hereby dub Willmar Weekend #3 as a success.

Willmar Weekend #2

This weekend Mark and I traveled to Willmar for my 10 year reunion! In some ways high school seems forever ago...but in others it seems like a just a few years. My junior year of high school I transferred to Central MN Christian School, where I was part of a class of 30. This past weekend about 15 of us attended the reunion. It was fun getting to hear what everyone has been up to. There were quite a few classmates that I have had at least some contact with since graduation. But there were a few I hadn't seen since graduation, and others I lost track of after college so it was good to catch up with them again.

There was only one activity during the course of the evening and it was fun. Prior to the reunion we all answered the question, " What is one thing you have done in the past 10 years that no one would have expected you to do?" Then we were all given a sheet with every one's answer and had to guess who did what. I am proud to announce that no one...not even my friend Krystal who I have been in contact with during all 10 post graduation years...answered correctly when my response was read.

So here is the answer I gave to that question. "I got a tattoo and I got it done at the same parlor that the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Shaq got some of theirs done."

Would you have known that was me?

Willmar Weekend #1

Starting this past weekend, Mark and I will be in Willmar 4 out of the next 5 weekends for special events. The first event was the US Wedding Reception for Kristin and Piergiorgio. Here are a couple of fun photos from the day.

The Reunion of Heather and Kristin Doll. (They were in charge of the gift/card table.)

Mark and I with the happy couple. Other highlights included catching up with old friends, Kristin's dad informing me that he had purchased a bottle of Meijers Cold Duck just for me to drink that afternoon, the fun musical stylings of the local band "Potluck", and having the opportunity to teach Piergiorgio the chicken dance. All in all, I am happy to report that Willmar Weekend1 of 4 was a success.

Adieu, Adieu to You, and You, and You

Tonight I said good-bye to my beloved Gilmore Girls. For the past seven years they have been a part of my life...even during the first four seasons when I didn't have TV, my mom and dad taped the episodes for me and sent them to me in the mail.

Watching the series finale was strange for me... surreal even. All I can say is thank goodness for DVD box sets. They are not quite the same as having new episodes every week...but they still make me laugh.

So good-bye Stars Hollow...farewell Lorelai and Rory. You will be missed!

Movin' on Up

Good-bye worlds-most-uncomfortable futon. So long, so-sat-it-is-nearly-impossible-to-get-up-out-of couch. We no longer have a use for you. That's right, Mark and I are now the proud owners of a matching couch and loveseat.

They provide us comfort, while offering us a style and color that compliments our other decor.

Now I am looking forward to when we geta place of our own and can paint the walls...then it will really look even more homey. And although merely propping the painting up against the wall has worked thus far, I think we will now concentrate on actually hanging it on the wall over the couch.

That's Amore

This week one of my best friends is getting married....in Italy....and I will not be there (I couldn't get the time off because last week I was off for spring break). I am sad. I would never had thought I would miss such an event. She is one of the people who knows me best and who I can always count on even though we spend most of our time on separate contintents. She is the only person who has a doll of me that she brings with her on various occasions for fun photo ops, and the only person that i have a doll of that I take on adventures with me as well.

So this blog entry is for Kristin and Piergiorgio. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you guys. Since you (Kristin) are a big fan of "Roses are Red" poems I thought it would only be appropriate to write one for your special day. (Sorry there will be no strange dough person to accompany this one.)

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
You guys are super
Happy wedding to you!

I am looking forward to celebrating with you in June, and even more excited for when we get to come visit you in Italy. Congratulations you guys, I love you!

Job Perks

So I have decided that my favorite perk about my new job is that whenever District 287 (the district I work the most in) is out of school...I have the day off (except in the summer when I am part-time). This past week they were on spring break, so I was too. It was great. Mark took a few days off of work and we went to Red Wing and stayed at the historic St. James Hotel, and enjoyed the cute novelty stores, the fun art scene, and the antique shops. It was so fun just relaxing and doing nothing. Then today I was able to just go out for coffee with a friend, and discuss how the arts, social justice, and the Chistian community can blend together to form something beautiful, and life impacting. I love spring break.

Me, Melanie, God, and Snow

It all started in 2001 when Melanie and I were working as Resident Counselors at a group home in California. When you live at the group home with your clients it is difficult to get time off...because even on the holidays someone needs to be at the house with your clients. So when I got to fly to MN just after Thanksgiving, I was excited. I was only going to be there for a long weekend though, and that just didn't seem like a long enough time. So Melanie and I decided that we would pray for a snow storm so I could be with my family longer. I told my family about our plan, and they agreed it would be great...but I don't think they actually believed it would happen. Then the day before I was scheduled to fly back to California it started to snow....and snow....and snow....in fact it snowed 29.9 inches over night! The crazy thing was it was only in Willmar. If you went 10-20 miles out of Willmar they got about 12 inches. I remember watching the "Today Show" and hearing them mention Willmar by name. It was crazy! Needless to say, I got was stranded for a couple of more days. It was fantastic.

Next it was Melanie's turn to go home to Michigan. She was going to get to be home for Christmas but would only be there for a few days. Once again we prayed that there would be a snow storm which would allow her to have more time with her family. I know it seems crazy...but it worked! On the day of her return flight all planes were grounded due to snow and ice, so she got to stay an extra day.

After these occasions we would often joke with others about how if they have a weather related issue they would like prayer about they should come to us. So when Mark and I decided on an outdoor wedding in the middle of August we prayed for no rain, and for cooler than average temperatures....and once again it worked!

Now some people would could say that we could have just been lucky those three times, but I don't think so because just last weekend I had yet another prayer answered in the form of a snow storm. You see, last week Melanie was in Michigan for her job and she purposefully got a 2 hour lay over in Minneapolis so that we could see each other (it is worth it even if I we can only hang out at the airport). So when the storm came in I was sad because I knew that there wasbe a chance I wouldn't get to see her. Then the night before she was suppose to come Melanie found out her flight was cancelled. They found her another flight but the lay over in Minneapolis was only going to be 40 minutes so I wouldn't get to see her. I was bummed. So I prayed. Then the next morning she called me and told me she just landed in Minneapolis and they informed her that her next flight was cancelled and she would now have a 7 hour layover. This not only meant that i would get to see her, but it gave us enough time so she could hang out at our house (which she hadn't seen yet). Granted it was difficult getting out of our parking lot to pick her up from the airport, and we got stuck multiple times in our parking lot after we dropped her off...but it was all worth it. It was so fun to see her again. So once again I find myself saying....Thank You, God!

Welcome to my Subconscious

At the beginning of February Mark and I joined a fitness club. We have known for sometime that we need to be more proactive in living a healthy lifestyle (get more exercise, eat smaller portions, eat less processed foods, etc.) and so we have slowly been making some changes. I've been feeling pretty good about how we have been doing so far but I have noticed a strange thing happening ever since we started going to the gym to work out.

You see, after the first night we worked out I came home and went to sleep and dreamt that I (along with members of Bluer's all-star band) was going all around the twin cities in the search for the perfect donut. During the course of the dream we would go to different bakeries and I (and I alone) would take a bite or two out of random donuts.Then after discovering it was not all I had hoped it would be I would get in the car and go to the next place. Through out the dream the task at hand (finding the perfect donut) was of the utmost importance. Every one involved in the search understood the seriousness of the matter.

Now, if that dream was not strange enough for you...the story gets better. Last night Mark and I went and worked out again. Then when I went to sleep I found myself having a very similar dream. This time it involved Mark and I on a search for the greatest chocolate malt in the metro-area. Once again we would go place to place, sampling their chocolate malt. Then we would move on, when it didn't meet our standards of excellence.

Coincidence...I think not. If I had to guess, I would think that the next time we work out in the evening I will be having a dream about the quest for the perfect piece of cake...no, I take the back the perfect french silk pie....no, no, no the perfect chai ...or maybe creme brulee...mmmm cheese cake...