MIA

My apologies for not informing all of my blog-followers that I would be out of town for 9 days.... Ryan and I just got back from our vacation with the Merrills to Alaska!! I will do my best to get the AK posts up soon -- but with this week being MOVING week, I can make no promises.

We are packing the Truck and moving on Thursday ... wish me luck.

K.

I'm trying to be like Jesus

For the last 9 months Ryan and I have had the coolest calling ever. We have been team teachers in the primary in the Minnetonka Ward. The first few months we taught 8 four-year olds, or the sunbeam class. We loved coloring and playing make-believe (Noahs ark), and anything and everything else we could think of to keep their attention! They were so cute and as soon as we got our next assignment, we were wishing we had those little sunbeams once again. But pretty soon our new class stole our hearts, too.

The last 7 months we have been teaching the 9-10 year old class. With 9 children, and one of them having down-syndrome, its an understatement to say we had our hands full. They kept us on our toes, and we are so sad to be leaving them as we make the move to Chicago. We have learned so much and have loved teaching them the coolest Old Testament stories of Adam and Eve, Moses, Abraham and Isaac, Gideon, Samson, etc etc. We are still keeping up with our Old Testament family study though -- its so great to remember these amazing stories.

Here's probably the worst photo of Ryan and I. But the only photo we have of our class.


I tried to embed a video that Ryan sent to me for Valentines Day. But it didn't work :(

Froyo
I love Frozen Yogurt. My obsession of course started in California when you could find any little place that would allow you to pick out your flavor of yogurt and then dump on as many toppings as you want and then you pay by weight of your treat. When I moved to Provo, luckily the Froyo sensation followed me and I could still get some pretty good frozen yogurt whenever I wanted.

Froyo in Minnesota? Not so much. Its been pretty disappointing to not have a plethora of frozen yogurt places to choose from. My husband tells me its because its Dairy Queenland out here... too bad I'm not a DQ girl. So, what do I to feed the hunger for yummy frozen yogurt? COSTCO.

It's creamy and delicious and the best part? It's only $1.35 for a huge cup filled to the rim. Today I had some errands at Costco, so my lunched consisted of a few samples and then a full cup of Frozen Yogurt.


Yum.

Flowers make me smile.

You all probably know this already, but I love love LOVE flowers. They are so beautiful and can brighten my day in an instant. I am so grateful for the beautiful yard that my house has and all the flowers that were planted before me so that I could enjoy them!

It started with daffodils and tulips, and now we are mid-summer and I have hydrangia and day lily's and all sorts of other treats to enjoy. Here are a few of my lilies:


Even just getting to buy flowers to stage my house makes me smile.

My toe toes.

There is just something about getting a pedicure that is so amazing. I'm not sure if its the relaxing massage-chair you get to sit in, or the fact that you are getting pampered for an hour, or the result of perfectly painted toes, but the combination of these things is just magical. I don't treat myself to this too often, so each and every time I get a pedi, the magic returns.

The things you don't see

I am copying this idea from my cousin-in-law, Sheree. I like it. I like to post about the fun adventurous things we do, or the little things that make me smile, like the flowers in my yard, but there's a lot that goes on over here in Minnesota that you don't get to see.

Like me, on my hands and knees scrubbing my bathroom floor with bleach at 7am. Why, You might ask? Because we have a showing on our house at 9:30am, and I need my house to look sparkling clean, which is harder than it looks.

We have had our house on the market for 5 weeks now and it might as well be 5 months with the way I feel! The market is at an all time low, and even with lowering the price 3x we are still only averaging 1-2 showings a week. We pray every day that our house might sell, and I know this will all work out in due time. However, in the mean time, I am left to using the spare minutes of my day and any spare energy that I have to scrubbing the bathroom floors, and cleaning my baseboards, along with every other household cleaning chore you can think of.

Not always fun, but definitely necessary and hopefully the hard work will pay off so we can give away our little piece of paradise we have enjoyed for the past 10 months. It's a painful process but we find comfort in knowing Our Heavenly Father blessed us to live here, and now needs us somewhere else.

The 4th Part II

Sorry for the delay ... things have been a little busy around here lately, I'll try to keep up with my posting.

On Sunday, the actual 4th, we went to church, and were surprised to find that 1/2 of the electricity wasn't working-- which included the AC! It was weird to walk into the building with no lights in the hallway and only half of the lights working in the chapel. All the doors were open but Sacrament meeting was still HOT. We survived, though, and had a great time teaching our 9 year olds in the heat :)

After church we had a bbq- Hunt Family Style. I found tri-tip steaks (which are unheard of to find outside of central CA). I made my momma's famous potato salad and her famous baked beans and then my favorite mid-west sweet corn. YUM. I guess I was too excited about the steaks to take a picture of the whole spread :)


After dinner we headed to Excelsior for the MN Orchestra concert and fireworks show. We brought dessert along for a little picnic. I was quite proud of my patriotic trifle! The concert was amazing I loved hearing all the patriotic music--- and I think Tom and Jeralyn really enjoyed it as well. The fireworks display was one of the best I've seen ... but I decided to snuggle up next to my hubby & leave my camera in my bag :)












On Monday we made a big breakfast and then headed to to explore. We went to Minnehaha Falls which were so beautiful, and then were lead by Jeralyn on a hike. We had no idea where we were going, and it was so much fun to explore! Where we ended up was well worth the journey.





















After our little adventure we hit up an ice cream truck for a treat. It was so hot and humid that day that we needed an immediate sweet cold treat to hit our lips. We then took Tom and Jeralyn to St Paul. The gorgeous Victorian homes on Summit Ave never get old, nor does the beautiful St. Paul Cathedral. After a walk across the bridge over the Mississippi we decided to check out the Science Museum. Boy, was that fun! I was kind of surprised how much I enjoyed getting in touch with my science side :) We were surprised to find a good 'ol midwestern rain storm when we went to leave. Ryan and I volunteered to run and get the car-- and we literally RAN! 5 blocks later and we were soaked head to toe. It was so much fun.












Tom and Jeralyn wanted one more Minnesota treat--- and that was Lions Tap burgers. A round of 1919's and a few burgers and our stomachs were happy.



We had a such a great 4th of July weekend with Tom & Jeralyn-- we can't wait for your next visit!

4th of July Weekend- Part I

I love the 4th of July Holiday. Everyone is happy, friendly, and most importantly, grateful. It always means family, bbq's, fireworks and of course, wearing RED WHITE & BLUE.

This year the 4th was especially fun because we got to share it with Ryan's parents who came to visit us in Minnesota! We enjoyed lots of bbq's, humid weather, concerts in the park, canoeing the St. Croix river, hiking along the Mississippi river, and so many other wonderful things. Thank you for a fantastic holiday weekend, Tom & Jeralyn!!

At the Minnesota Arboretum


Their Dalias are just SO amazing!!


On our way to canoe, we got stuck in some heavy traffic (a one-way road and a holiday weekend will do that to you!) At one point we ended up Main Street, USA! It looked so quaint I had to take a photo.


My father-in-law, Tom, and I were pretty excited about this teapot-water-tower!! It is so cool. Why can't Hopkins have a cool water tower?


Out on the St. Croix








Saturday morning I got to go antique shopping with Jeralyn, where we scored this gem:

THANKS Jeralyn!!

Then we took Tom and Jeralyn with us to a 4th of July bbq with our friends from the Minnetonka Ward. Tom liked taking action shots of us:

(I'll spare you some of the other action shots, like me diving into my chicken leg).

Then we headed over to the Mill City Museum-- this awesome old mill that had been destroyed in an explosion has been converted into a museum so you can learn about the old Mills. It was pretty sweet.


We had dinner at PUNCH, my favorite pizza place in the twin cities and then went to the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra concert at the Lake Harriett Bandshell with Rob and Allyse!

Leaving my heart in Minnesota

One of our favorite things to do in Minnesota is be on the water! So naturally when Ryan's cousin, Rob, and his wife, Allyse moved to Minnesota for the summer we wanted to show them the ropes on canoeing in the Chain of Lakes. Unfortunately we made a minor mistake and put ME in the steering spot (the back of the canoe) so... needless to say it was a little more of going in circles than it was showing them a thing or two. A friend of mine from school also just moved to Minneapolis for his job, and so he and his wife joined us out on the water as well. What a fantastic group date night. I love loved it.

The chain of lakes are a popular spot for working out --- but mostly just running, biking, rollerblading, etc. This was a first for us:


Another first was eating at the Tin Fish- a little fish shack right next to the lake. It was so yummy!






Once we got on the lake we realized how peaceful and serene it was that night.


Rob and Allyse






Our friends Pete and Courtney


My handsome paddler. And my best view of the night :)










Thanks for a great night everyone!!