Moosin' around in the North Woods

Eme + Jon + Stress + Snow = 2 fantastic head colds...two thumbs up!

Eme and I headed up to the great north woods of Minnesota's Gunflint Trail along the North Shore of Lake Superior (a.k.a. Jeff's Happy Place) for some outside play time with my family. Even though it was cloudy most of the time it was still fun to be outside in God's creation to enjoy the snow covered wilderness. We hiked up Britton's Peak (pretty small), ate at Sven & Ole's Pizza (A-mazing!), stayed at Adventerous Christians in the Patten Cabin, and x-country skied around the AC. Tip: Check a map before heading out on a remote, wooded x-country ski trail an hour before dusk. Eme, Micah, and I made it around the AC loop...up and down hills, around corners, over rivers, dodging branches, and squinting to see a dimly lit map (because it was dark). We made the entire 4.5 mile trek!

Remember when sledding down even a small hill put a smile on your face like Kaitlyn? Snow is so much fun!

I was keeping Elissa "close at all times" just like the sign says.

You may remember these views from Jeff's August 2nd blog entry. It's just a bit more...white now!

Yes, we got colds on our way up north. A little medicine and crisp fresh air did us good though!

And no, we didn't see any moose this time :( But we did capture a photo of a northland creature in this self-portrait of us. You can see him just over Eme's right shoulder.

The View of an (almost) Empty Cookie Plate!

After a fabulous snowy Saturday of baking Christmas cookies with my mom, Michelle, and Margaret, I had so many cookies I couldn't justify keeping them all to myself. Tis the season to spread joy, right!?! I wrapped up a mound of cookies and brought them to work. Only a minute had went by after unwrapping them and cookie had already been snatched. Now, if you work in an office environment you know that whenever free food is unveiled it immediately draws people to it like a giant magnet. My favorite are the walk by snatchers who think you don't see them, but keep walking to avoid the awkward conversation of taking yet another cookie! It is now 1:45 pm and all that is left are a few spritz. Rave reviews for all, especially the oatmeal, coconut, chocolate chip cookie (which isn't technically a "Christmas" cookie, but still delicious)! I'm not sure who to shout out for that one, but it was a hit.

May you feel the presence of Christ this Christmas and encounter him even in the smallest of activities this season. Have a safe and joy-filled Christmas!

Happy Birthday Nancy!

Yesterday evening we celebrated Nancy's, Jon's mom, birthday. The party ended up back at our house with a couple of yummy pies!

Happy Birthday Nancy! May you be blessed this coming year and I hope your day was filled with love, laughter, and joy.

Global Warming Anyone?

For those of us in Minnesota we saw temperatures fall dramatically from about 37 degrees Saturday afternoon to -5 this morning! According to Paul Douglas (renowned Twin Cities weatherman), "This is shaping up to be the coldest December in Decades." Which reminds me, I haven't heard our friend Al Gore in a while...Maybe his tongue is stuck to a flag pole.

Back and Forth

It wasn't me running from one end to the other... it was my awesome nephew, Oliver. Margaret came over so that I could play with him while she worked on his quilt. It was a fun afternoon. He brought alone his little walker deal and walked back and forth. He would go into a couple rooms and try to shut the door but then walk right back out.

Here are a few more pictures:

Thanks Oliver for a fun Saturday!

Thanksgiving Evening... Stylizing

After Thanksgiving dinner everyone seemed to disperse to either playing games, working on our basement, or for my sister and I, work on painting a stylized tree. Without Michelle, I would not be as far as I am and almost finished - just a few small touch ups are left. Being that she is the artist in the family, I asked her if she would be willing to help. After we had dessert, She jumped right in taking the 8.5 x 11 in. paper picture and penciling it life size on one of the basement walls. It was fascinating to watch it come to life as we painted together for almost 4 hours. (I think we both didn't want to stop!)

One of the interesting pieces to the painting is that all of the colors that were used were taken from paint we already had, paint that is somewhere else in our house - Kinda fun! Besides absolutely loving the tree, the little bird in the corner is my favorite. Here is a picture of our new thanksgiving tradition (a least it should be), but to get the full effect you need to see it in person.

Thanks Michelle for your help!

What more could we be thankful for!

Thanksgiving was such a fabulous day. Thank you everyone for making our first Thanksgiving back in MN wonderful.

It started early with getting the pies (Pecan, Apple, and Carmel Pumpkin) ready and in the oven before we had to put the Turkey in.

Jon's mom and dad were the first to arrive to help with the Turkey - it was delicious!

13 people in all!

We had home grown potatoes - a lot of them. We filled an ice cream bucket with the leftovers!

No pictures, but my Mom brought fantastic buns and my sister brought the corn, which again, we had plenty of. I am certainly thankful for Thanksgiving for all the leftovers!

Quick Fixes

Over the weekend, my sister Margaret and her fabulous son came over to help us work on our basement. Since I don't have any baby containment items, such as a crib or fencing to block steps, we had to improvise! What we came up with was an over-sized Rubbermaid container with a little chair padding on the bottom. A cozy destination for any youngster.

He also did a fantastic job of entertaining himself by jumping up and down, holding onto the edge. But alas, good things came to an end as we realized it was perfect chin hitting height - mid-video. Try to imagine him jumping for a good 20 sec before...

Change you can believe in

Here's an insightful Chicago Tribune article regarding a social experiment a 14 year old girl conducted at school during the campaign.

Phil Joel - formerly of the Newsboys

After a long Saturday of driving and celebrating the wedding of Jenny and Jarred (congrats!) and after getting home around 11:45 pm, church on Sunday morning was not easy to get up for. Our friends had invited us to their church to visit and we wanted to go, it was just was just a matter of getting out of bed. To our surprise they had a guest worship leader for the day- Phil Joel, formerly of the Newsboys. He sang a couple songs and Jon and I turned to one another thinking the exact same thing, he sounds strangly farmiliar. Sure enough, one of the pastors stood up to introduce him. In his New Zealand accent he started to discribe his new calling, Deliberate People - check it out! It was certainly a blessing and worth getting out of bed for!

It's a beautiful Morning

I get so excited this time of year - anticipating Thanksgiving, Christmas, ski trips and sledding. It all starts with that first snowfall and the sweet serenity of looking out on a fresh coating. Although traffic picks up and the inevitable blizzard looms, I just want to say that I love winter and all that it has in store. I find it truly captivating and feel blessed that we have such large windows to be able to enjoy each snowflake (and the draft that blows through them).

I say Wallpaper, you say _______

In our basement we had a lovely shade of green wallpaper covering our walls (for those of you that have seen it... I'm sorry!). Yes, I said "had" because it is no longer. Much to our surprise, we just started tearing it off the wall last night, and it indeed came right off. We had no idea it was going to be so easy. Granted, there is still the adhesive on the wall, but getting through the wallpaper to the adhesive is half the battle. It took a little over an hour and a half and we had every strip of wallpaper off the wall and in the trash. We weren't expecting to tear apart our basement like that, but how can you resist when it was so easy.

I don't mind wallpaper, in the right application, but something about it always makes me want to pick at the seams. I'm glad in this case, it didn't matter!

Election Day Snafu

Eme and I eagerly awoke a little earlier than usual to make the short trek to Grace Free Church in Fridley to cast our votes. We arrived just after 7 am and there was a line out the door. After waiting about 10 minutes we saw our neighbor two houses down from us that we just met at a little "ice-breaker" get together set up by our neighbors right next door...still with me? (Side note: it's nice to live in a neighborhood in which people get together to get to know each other!)

Ok, so we said "hi" to Tom (he was in the I-O line and we were in the A-H line) and we continued to sign our names in the registry. Then we funneled back into one line and he was right behind us. So I turned around and started a little small talk with him..."Hi Tom. So who are you going to vote..."

This is one of those moments when you are mid sentence and you realize "what am I doing???? Just stop talking!" You should have seen the look on his face when I started my sentence with "who are you going to vote..." His face puckered up and started to turn red. He seemed so uncomfortable it was almost as though he had just eaten a lemon.

But to his relief I finally finished my imposing question with "...for mayor of Fridley? We've only been here a month. Is the current mayor ok?"

The tension melted away and, with almost an excited response, he said, "Oh the current guy...Lund? He's ok."

I then tried to ease his mind further by reassuring him I wasn't going to ask any other political questions. Just the one about the local election. I made sure he understood I was not going to squeeze his political ideas from his head right in the election line. I'm not sure you quite grasp how much I attempted to undo my slightly (ok, highly) inappropriate political question IN THE ELECTION LINE!

Neighbor Tom, thankfully, understood that I was only asking about the local election of mayor to which neither Eme nor I could possibly have assessed in just one short month of residence in Fridley!

After that somewhat awkward exchange we continued to discuss safe, non-political, non-partisan topics such as metered lights, commute times, polling place locations (as in Tom saying he has cast his ballot at this location for as long has he can remember), and other neutral topics.

Before we knew it we were in the voting "booth" to cast our votes, received our red "I Voted" stickers and headed to work.

FYI - In case you haven't heard...

1. Starbuck's is offering a free cup of coffee if you go in a say that you voted (no proof required).


2. Ben & Jerry's is offering a free scoop of ice cream today after 6 pm I think.


3. Krispy Kreme is offering a free donut for voters as well.

We have not participated in any of these free offers...yet. We don't drink coffee and do they even have Ben & Jerry's in MN?

GO VOTE!!!

VOTE!!!!!!!

Here's a cool website that offers a quiz to see which candidate reflects your same ideology

Glass Booth

I'm sure you know who you are going to vote for tomorrow, but make sure you understand each candidate's stance on taxes, abortion, social security, same-sex marriage, same-sex (civil unions) privileges, etc. I could explain my stance on each issue, but many of you know where I stand. Besides I'm sure you appreciate the fact that leaders, whether it be pastors, mayors, CEO's, head's of households, or...President's of the United States are expected to act responsibly, morally, and ethically. It is an imperative pre-requisite for any leader to uphold to the highest moral standards.

Ok, stepping off my soap box now...GO VOTE!

I do need to say one more thing though...The DFL candidate for the MN U.S. Senate seat makes me sick!

Tin Man Friday??

Eme and I prepared for our delectably free lunch by bringing tin foil to work this morning. Tin foil you ask? Yes. You read correctly...tin foil. See, Eme and I have heard a rumor that Chipotle (one of our favorite eateries) offers free burritos on October 31 to those who dress up like a burrito. Hence, the tin foil! (If you have not been to this fine eating establishment, you MUST give it a try!)

So Eme roped in a couple of people we work with and drove to Chipotle for our free lunch. In the car we started to "dress like a burrito" by wrapping ourselves in tin foil. We were excited! We were nervous! We were...ready for our free lunch! We joyfully hopped into line that was extending out the door (like I said, the place is awesome!), but noticed no one else was dressed like a burrito. Strangely enough, people were dressed in strange suits and business attire...weird. But then a couple girls with burrito tin foil hats got into line behind us. We turned around and our burrito group had a moment of camaraderie with the girls behind us. After our "moment" we turned back around and realized we might be a little over dressed for the occasion. Eme was dressed like a futuristic Super Woman with tin foil around her forearms; co-worker #1 took the burrito dress alike to heart and wrapped tin foil around her torso and arms; co-worker #2 looked like a Virgin Mary trying to warm up after she fell into a freezing Dead Sea as her tin foil was wrapped around her head and upper body (you know those crinkly foil blankets that conserve heat?); And I discreetly folded tin foil around my wrist for a fashionable burrito double take (I couldn't put my reputation as a sane person on the line...even though it is Halloween).

So, there we were, standing in line discussing how there is a shiny side and a matte side to tin foil....

And then we saw the sign posted right in front of the burrito/taco shell warming press unit thingy. Those of you who have been to Chipotle before know what I'm talking about. They have 2 warming presses there but never use both of them. Anyway, we saw the sign that read...

"Free burrito, burrito bowl, or taco today, October 31, 2008 from 6:00 pm to closing"

If you noticed we dressed up like burritos for lunch and the sign read "from 6:00 to closing" realized what we realized as our hearts sank and our spirits tanked. I reluctantly stepped up in line and said with a downtrodden voice, "burrito...no beans...carnitas...chili corn...yes (to cheese and sour cream)...chips and guac...a small drink...these are together" pointing to Eme's burrito with mine. And then as a last ditch effort I said, so we dressed up like burritos! Is today free burrito day?!??! With a chilling, curt, and almost heartless tone the cashier said, "from 6:00 pm to closing! Come back and you can get a free one."

Ugh. We tried so hard and came up short. I would go back for a free burrito tonight but I don't know if I can do Chipotle 2 times in one day. We'll see...I am always up for a free meal!

BTW - In case you have an annoying urge to pronounce Chipotle with the "L" before the "T" (Chi-pol-tay)...DON'T! It is pronounced "Chi-pote-lay"!

Halloween and Hockey

The two just seem to go well together. Jon and I, instead of passing out candy this year, will be attending the Gopher Men's Hockey game at Mariucci Arena. Having only been to high school games, this should be a real treat!

Geocaching at Afton State Park

Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL fall day so we decided to explore the bluffs and rolling hills of Afton State Park along the St. Croix River with Pete and Heidi. Just before we left for the park I remembered Jeff telling me about a Geocaching program all 72 MN state parks are participating in this year and grabbed our Garmin.

We arrived at the Ranger station and inquired about the program. While the seasoned Park Ranger was trying to find the information a young bystander (and AVID geocacher) giddily jumped in with the correct coordinates to type into the GPS unit for the first geocache. As I wrote down the coordinates, he was so overcome with excitement he asked if I had a username online. To his disappointment, I said "No, unfortunately I don't." He replied with a downtrodden voice, "Oh, that's too bad. I could have said I met you online."

I should mention that, although this geocaching kid was a little strange, it was encouraging to see him so excited about being outdoors enjoying God's beauty rather than sitting inside playing video games.

Anyway, we successfully obtained the starting coordinates and we were off on the treasure hunt!

We found the first cache and we quite excited! On to #2!

In between #1 and #2 we came across this beautiful overlook. We had to stop and take a photo...High school prom (fall casual) style.

Geocache #2 was tricky, but we found it "on, under or AROUND."

We found out the official geocaching loop was shorter than we wanted to hike. So we took a permanent detour and traveled north to the lookout spot we overheard the Ranger telling someone else about.

We hiked along the river for a while and then climbed up a steep hill back to the real trail and headed up the bluff to the overlook.

The overlook was worth it as it looked south to view the river and sloping hills on both sides covered with trees. Unfortunately, we were about a week late to see the peek colors, but the browns and reds were still vibrant from the oak trees.



It was a fun day as the sun was out and was around 55 degrees. A PERFECT fall day! Sunday, however, turned bitterly cold as it snowed in the morning...what a contrast! Ahh, Minnesota weather! Eme and I wouldn't have it any other way! We love the 4 seasons...especially fall.

What's your favorite season? And what's your favorite outdoor spot in MN or western WI? Eme and I are always on the lookout for a great outdoor adventure!!

NKOTB

Many of you probably heard that I received free tickets, through work, to go to the New Kids on the Block concert that happened at the Xcel Energy Center downtown St. Paul last Tuesday night. It was ridiculously hilarious. I laughed pretty much all night. A bunch of my coworkers and our friends took over the company suite to step back in time to our youth. The Startribune quoted 13,000 people were in attendance with 95% of them being women in their late 20's to late 30's. They may not have been totally in my era but I remember them quite well. My friend Amanda and myself made sure to commemorate our time there with this self portrait.





Also, here's a little taste of what I experienced. (sorry for the rapid span of the audience)

Singing Step by Step, here are Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, Danny and Donnie...

Dome-Be-Gone

I can taste the hot dog and hear the crowd roaring already! I got a chance to go see the new Twins ballpark (Target Field) in progress today and it was fantastic! Besides all the cool construction going on with sequencing, it was awesome to see the park in motion. They are pouring the final concrete deck this month, much of the masonry is in place, exterior stone is in place, interior studs and drywall are being hung, one escalator is in, a few menchanical units and ductwork is in place and they had the first section of the "halo" in place.

Thank You!

We just can't say it enough... Thank You, Gracias, Merci beaucoup, Danke schön, Mahalo, Tack! We love our new popcorn popper. Thank you Gary and Nancy, it's the perfect addition to our new home!

It's the little things!

Jon and I, along with Margaret and Oliver, went to the arboretum on Saturday to enjoy the beautiful colors. Oliver was so good as he was buckled up all day, either in the carseat or the stroller. I got to sit next to him in the car and I just love when he does this (see video). It makes me smile!

And, for your viewing pleasure... My poor attempt at the modern day "Blair Maze Project". Pay close attention to the little boy crouched at a dead end. He scared me more than anything else!

Viewpoints

As Eme mentioned, we are settling into our new positions at Mortenson. It's funny, out of almost 500 people we are on the same floor of a 6 story building! Many people would not like working so close to their spouse and we have been told so by a few different people. But Eme and I don't mind. In fact we actually like it! Plus we get this great view of downtown...if I stand up from my cube and if Eme walks over to my side of the building.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Breakfast for Dinner

Last weekend we were blessed to be able to visit Grandpa Bill and Vi in Mankato. After visiting a while, Grandpa decided he wanted pancakes for dinner. We loaded them into the van and a couple of us started walking (we didn't have enough room in the van for everyone) and we had an early dinner at Perkins.

Couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you to everyone that helped us move, clean, and organize. We've already highlighted a few pictures below, but here are a couple extra that you haven't seen. (sorry to those I didn't get a picture of, I was not at the top of my picture taking game!)

New Hire Orientation

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Jon and I as we began and now finished our first couple of weeks in the Mortenson Minneapolis office. It has been a good transition - adjusting to a larger office and new people. We both feel as if we are brand new to the company sometimes because of all the learning that needs to be done about the different operating group. At the end of last week we even sat through an abbreviated new hire orientation to get the Mpls facts straight. It's definitely different, but we are both enjoying it.

On our way

We're on our way to the apple orchard on a beautiful fall day in southern Minnesota!

shag

Eme finally found a good use for her shag rug we (we) got for our wedding.

And beef brisket...dinner!

Butter cookie

Shaved chocolate

Command central

Caraway

Palette

Today's special guest painter is...my dad! Just a little more paint and the upstairs will be IV pretty good shape!