The Olympic Spirit

I heard a joke last week about how they should put "normal people" into each event of the Olympics, to give everyone watching at home an accurate comparison to the real athletes. I've been giggling all week, imagining some random guy pulled from the crowd, participating in synchronized diving, gymnastics, or track.

Well, we have the next best thing right here! Check out Jason and I as we tear it up in Rhythmic Gymnastics! I think we do a pretty good job. :-)

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Hey, look, an update!

So, I know we (meaning I, Becky) haven't updated our blog in FOREVER. But at this very moment, I am uploading all kinds of photos documenting the last month or so of our lives. It's taking a while, but soon you will see some of the fun things we've done so far this summer! It's been a busy one, full of house-ness, traveling, and get-togethers, and there's still plenty of it left!

Here are some photos of just some of the great stuff that's happened this summer:

Jason's birthday weekend at the cabin

Our weekend in Newtown

Mom, Theresa, Emily and spent a weekend together in Chicago

Enjoy!

Planes, Trains, and Snowmobiles

Last weekend we went up to Wadena to visit Dad, Loni, Eliah, and Danny, and what an exciting weekend we had! It was full of new experiences, and fun times with family. Here are the highlights:
• We flew in a 4-person airplane, and even got to fly it ourselves for a bit! Dad is working on his pilot's license, and the three of us and the flight instructor spent over an hour in the air on Saturday. Although I was terrified at first, it was fun! And if we are are ever on a plane and someone comes running out of the cockpit yelling "Can anyone fly a plane!?!?" we can say yes! Well, sort of... if it has a propeller in the front....
• Another new transportational experience: our first trip on snowmobiles! I am a bad Minnesotan for never having ridden one before, but I can finally say I have done it. Snowmobiles are great! I'm trying to convince Jason that we should get one, and I can ride it to work.
• This was a new one for Jason: watching a live hockey game. Danny's team creamed their opponents on Saturday, and Danny even scored two goals. We both really enjoyed watching 2nd and 3rd-graders on the ice!

Yes, We're Still Around...

I know, I know, we haven't posted in FOREVER. There's been a lot going on, and we are just enjoying our very full lives! I (Becky) have been swamped at work—the only reason I have time to post right now is that I'm waiting on Quark to finish an operation (surprise, surprise).

So what's new? Too much to mention in the span of 5 minutes, but here are a few things, in no particular order:

• Our church small group recently finished the book "Questioning Evangelism" by Randy Newman. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know how to share their faith with others in a respectful, conversational way. A few weekends ago some of us had the opportunity to attend an apologetics conference at the U of M, where Randy himself was one of the speakers! The conference was very informative and thought-provoking.

• Jason and I are taking a trip to London in March! We will be traveling with my dad and sister Emily, and seeing my cousin while we are there. We are SO excited!

• We recently traveled to Des Moines for a weekend to reunite with some of our closest college friends. It was a very relaxing weekend, and great to reconnect with everyone.

Hmm... that's all I can think of for the moment. Back to work—and we'll try to post more often!

b

Ay Carumba!

I originally intended to make something with a Christmas theme... but I couldn't pass this one up. Enjoy!

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It's snowing (again)!!

Joy

This weekend was great— we spent a lot of time working on the house, which was wonderful. The kitchen is officially unpacked! Jason put all the cabinet doors back on, and it is almost to the point where I can post some before/after pictures. Stay tuned.

Also this weekend, I took a 4-1/2-hour trip to IKEA with Theresa. It was so fun! She got all kinds of things to furnish her future apartment, and I practiced great restraint, but still managed to get some necessary and fun items for the house.

We also had dinner with friends on Friday night, at a great restaurant called Doolittle's. If you come to visit us, there is a 90% chance that we will take you there (unless you are a vegetarian). Their rotisserie chicken is amazing.

It was so nice to relax at home this weekend (in between projects) and spend time with friends! Things are really starting to come together at the house—and Jason is turning into quite the handyman!

I'm starting to feel like I need to do some Christmasy things to get ready for the holidays! Blame it on the stores having their Christmas stuff up BEFORE HALLOWEEN, but I am ready! Ready for lights, decorating, trees, parties, etc. Does anyone have any fun holiday ideas/plans in the works?

b

Happy Halloween!

So, I saw this costume at Target, and I had to have it. But of course, I didn't buy it the first time I saw it, so after much searching I am happy to say that it was found once again, and Mocha dressed up as a rooster for Halloween. The first time I put his costume on him, I just laughed at him for a good five minutes. SO funny!

I'd also like to make the disclaimer that as ticked off as he looks in these photos, the cat actually didn't mind dressing up! He was more angry at having to sit on our laps and pose. After the photo shoot, he happily wore his costume for another 10 minutes before I took it off.

Progress

Here's some what we've been doing for the last three weeks...

Our colors


The cat thinks we're building him a playground....


Cupboards are painted, walls are next!


Theresa is happy to spend her entire weekend painting things green


Kitchen drawers


Yay, the living room is painted! Color: Water Fowl (ave aquatica)


Jason paints the entryway green


The lovely view from our living room window

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2 years today!

One Year

"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go..." Genesis 28:15

This week marks our one-year anniversary of moving to Minnesota. The year has gone by so quickly, with so much newness and change. New jobs, new apartment, new church, new cat, new friends, new climate, and now a new house.... We have been so blessed in our first year here. We love our church and are forming deeper relationships with our friends there. We are growing into our jobs, and learning to thrive at work each day. God has provided for us in more ways than we could have imagined.

I remember all the pre-Minnesota talks, wondering where we would live and work, how we would make friends, would we be happy here? It's amazing how much energy we spent on worrying, and trying NOT to worry. Once again, hindsight shows that we never need to worry about anything, because God is always faithful.

Our new house has been taking up most of our time lately—painting, cleaning, repairing, etc. This weekend we will be doing some more painting, in the kitchen and entryway. It's so exciting to see how different the house already looks from when we first bought it! I hope to post some pictures of our progress very soon. Next weekend is the big move, and then we are excited to curl up in front of the fireplace at our new place, and NOT move for a while!

HOUSE: Part 2

We are home owners!! The closing last Friday went smoothly, and we are so excited to own our very first home. I really can't mention enough how much my aunt, and our agent (Melissa's mom) helped us through the process. We couldn't have done it without them. We are so thankful that we were able to work with people we know and trust, and they both worked really hard to help us out. And we are just so grateful to God for providing us with a great place to live, and to share with others. We are truly blessed.

Here are a few pictures of the house—these are just the ones the seller took, but I know our Missouri relatives have been itching to see what it looks like! I will try to get some of the photos WE have been taking up here soon. Also, we have several projects lined up before we move in, so expect this blog to start sounding like an episode of Trading Spaces....

HOUSE

Most of you have probably heard by now, but in case you haven't—we're buying a house! We looked at house for about 3 weeks, and made an offer on one that we loved, and a few nail-biting paperwork-filled weeks later, we are about to close on it. Next Friday, by the end of the day, we will be home owners! I have been holding back from getting TOO excited, because it seems like every time we move forward, something else STILL has to be done before we can really feel like we ARE GETTING the house. But the closing was scheduled today, so we're feeling pretty good about it!

The house is 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, split level, with a great yard in a great neighborhood. It has 2 fireplaces, hardwood floors upstairs, and basically is more than we ever expected to find. I'll try and get a few pictures up here very soon.

We have been so blessed, and have felt so protected and guided during this whole time. Everything has gone very smoothly so far (knock on wood) and we have had wonderful people helping us through the process. We are so thankful for that! And so excited to own our first home!

At Last - Vacation Photos!

Jason and I at the Branson Landing - we ate at a GREAT Mexican restaurant and watched the fountains!



Trying to get a picture of ourselves in front of the Dixie Stampede building. That show was one of my favorite parts of the trip!



Beautiful Branson at sunset



The Titanic museum at night - this museum was pretty cool, and featured a lot of rare artifacts and photos.

I'm So Excited!

Shows, shopping, relaxing, fun times, all with my favorite person - it's gonna be great!

Birthday

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Da-ad,
Happy Birthday to you!

D.C. is the place to be

I (Becky) had a great time in Washington, D.C. the weekend before last. I attended the ALA (American Library Association) National Conference. Highlights included meeting and greeting lots of publishing bigwigs, seeing some of the momuments in D.C., gaining more knowledge about the educational publishing industry, and seeing design trends for children's books.

A couple other highlights that were captured on film were seeing Marilyn (for the first time since college!) and surfing with my boss/coworkers on a giant inflatable wave!




(Bob looks like such a natural!)

Una actualización con fotos

Last weekend we attended Greg and Kelsey’s wedding, which was SO MUCH FUN. Many of our best friends from college were there, and it was wonderful to see Greg and Kelsey start their life together. Good times all around. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend:

During the ceremony




The gals in black and white



Jason and me



Nobody puts BJ in a corner



Greg and Kelsey!



I am trying to organize my photo life, so hopefully we will post more pictures in the future. For now, here are a couple bonus pictures of the cat!





The season is winding down for me at work – just trying to get the last few books out the door. Once the majority of things are done, I’ll post some links to the books, so you can see what I’ve been doing for the past 6 months!

Jason has been busy at work as well. In case you haven’t seen one of his latest creations, here is a Hummer with a wrap that he designed:





How cool is that??

At last, an update!

Well, the past few weeks have flown by! Two weekends ago we were in Missouri for Kali’s high school graduation. Last weekend we were in Milwaukee for Theresa’s college graduation. It was great to see both of them be recognized for all that they have accomplished – Kali was valedictorian of her class, and Theresa graduated magna cum laude!

This weekend, we are at home. Plans include spending time with our bipolar cat, eating an exciting Peruvian dinner prepared by Jason, laundry, relaxation, and going to a Saints game! I am teaching Sunday School this weekend, and Jason is playing in the worship band. It should be a great weekend!

Next weekend we will be in Des Moines for the wedding of Greg and Kelsey! Wahoo!!

I have great pictures from the past two weekends, which I hope to add soon (maybe over the weekend?)! In the meantime, enjoy your Memorial Day!

For some reason I have this song in my head… “A-camping we will go, a camping we will go…” Where did THAT come from? Anyways… later!

Balance

I seem to be struggling lately to have a sense of balance in my life. I feel like I’m always playing “catch-up,” always behind on something. Work has been so busy, and our lives outside of work have been equally busy, if not more so. Everything we’ve been doing lately has been great, and we enjoy what we are doing (teaching Sunday school, playing for worship, learning about finances, hanging out with friends and family, etc.), but we are starting to feel the drain of too many full evenings. How do you decide what to say no to? How do you do the things you want to do, and still leave time for the rest of life? How do you live in an intentional way, instead of being dragged around by your schedule? I don’t want to let things stay so crazy that I am rushing around all the time, neglecting the things that really matter, or not doing what I truly enjoy. The balance between free time and obligation escapes me. If anyone has some good ideas about living a balanced life, please let me know!