Winter Fun!

We enjoyed the warmer winter weather this week --and took some photos with our new camera!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all enjoy your holiday season!

Third Place

I was very sad when I found out that all of our hard work in office decorating only amounted to a third place ranking. The Admissions Office entered the Bethel Christmas Decorating Contest. We were going for "most creative." Sadly, two other offices were apparently more creative than us. (no, I'm not bitter)
Anyway, please enjoy pictures of our "Gingerbread Lane!"

Note: the Gingerbread house is complete with gumdrops!

I spent a lot of time working on this over Thanksgiving break...and, even though we didn't win, I think it was worth it!

Birthday Weekend Part 3

(Parts 1 & 2 are below)

Part 3 includes going to Old Spaghetti Factory with friends,
Carly and Amanda. Old Spaghetti Factory is definitely a favorite of mine. We had a nice dinner and then a bunch of the waitstaff sang 'Happy Birthday' to me. I blew out the candle in my spumoni. Then, after dinner we went back to Carly's to watch the movie "Elf."
**Thank you for the pictures, Carly.

Birthday highlights:
(things that made me smile when I woke up this morning)
**Favorite Quote: Caidron, "I DO like wet croutons!"
(that would be stuffing)
**Princess Ice Cream Soup/Cake
**Kate making a cake for me on Sunday morning before church!
**Seeing so many friends!
**Erik's daily cards and small gifts this week.
**Getting into First Place for my Fantasy Football League!

Birthday Weekend

Part 1

Unfortunately, my family Christmas was canceled yesterday because of the weather. Well, actually it was postponed to Jan. 1. I will just need to put the food in the freezer, and have them up here next week. The good part of the weather causing canceled Christmas' is that we were able to go over to Bill & Carol's to have an early Birthday party. Shane and Kellie came over too! We had a full turkey dinner (since Carol had already made one for her canceled Christmas). Then Kellie and I swung the kids in a blanket. They LOVED it!

Caidron helped me blow out my "Birthday candles."Sorry, Carol, but I have to post the photo of my ice cream princess cake! Carol made an ice cream cake for me in a princess cake mold...unfortunately, it never came out of the mold. BUT, it tasted fantastic!!

Part 2

Thanks to Holly, the whole gang joined in for lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Minneapolis. (it was really for our annual Christmas celebration and Macy's display...but it landed on my Birthday...it's a nice way to spend the day) I love the food at Rock Bottom!

We followed that by a short walk in the skyway to the Macy's 8th Floor Display, "A Day in the Life of an Elf."
It was VERY good. I recommend it.

Thanks for a great Birthday everyone!!

Happy Birthday Bobby!

It was fun to celebrate Bobby's Birthday with him last weekend and also to see friends we have not seen in a while. (sorry this post is late) Bob, I hope you had a great time and enjoy your gift! :)

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving is always a fun holiday. Not a lot of pressure...just a nice long weekend with family and friends. And, of course, we have a lot to be Thankful for! We enjoyed Thanksgiving Day in Owatonna with Mindy's family. We had a nice meal and then just hung out, watched some football and had dessert before heading home. Unfortunately Kya was not feeling well that day...lets just say the evening ending with a 'bang.' Kaleb is getting to a fun age...smiling & fun.On Friday, we headed to the cabin with Erik's parents for the rest of the weekend. Mindy spent most of the weekend working on the Bethel Admissions Office's Christmas decorations. We entered our office in the Christmas decorating contest. Erik spent most of his time helping his dad with outside chores, like chopping wood. We had a good time!