Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Erik and I had a busy weekend. We went to Shayna and Joel's wedding on Friday night. It was very beautiful and I am so happy for Shayna!! Joel seems like a great guy...just what Shayna needs!!

On Saturday we spent a lot of the day packing. We are planning on doing most of our move on Friday evening. We'll probably start around 4pm. Let us know if you want to come over :) We'll be moving most of our belongings into a storage unit. The rest will be going to Erik's parents as we'll be living there until we are able to buy a house.

Sunday morning we went to church and then had lunch at Bill & Carol's. We had not seen them in a long time. It was great to catch up with them an
d play with their kids! Kayla has been calling me "Mae Mae," just like her older brother, Caidron, did. Caidron used to call Erik, "Eeekuk" but Kayla just started calling him "Acko." It's fantastic. So cute! We really enjoy those kids.

Sunday evening we went to Rachel's house to celebrate Fat
her's Day with Erik's Dad and Grandpa. We had a wonderful meal with them and we were in charge of bringing dessert. We were at a loss for creative ideas and called Rachel....she had a great idea that was a hit for Erik's Dad, Randy! (see photo below --click on it to enlarge)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Ok, We're Moving For Sure....

We finally heard last night that our renter has been approved and we will definitely be moving out of our apartment by June 30th. We've been packing, but we have a lot more to do. We'll be working on that this weekend and we'll probably be moving next weekend. We are still waiting to hear about the house. So, we will be moving into Erik's parent's guest room. We hope that we will not be intruding for too long. We're very excited about getting our own house. We'll keep you posted!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Here Goes Nothing...

So, I'm putting this out there just so I'll have more people to keep me accountable. This week I have officially applied and have been accepted into the Masters in Organizational Leadership Program in Bethel's Graduate School. I'll be set to start this September. I'm a bit nervous about going back to school though. It's been a long time. I think it will be great...but a lot of work! The best part about it is that if Erik stays on track with his MBA and I stay on track with this program, we will graduate together in May of 2011. That sounds like forever from now, but we can motivate each other to get through it all. I'm a bit mad at myself because if I would have started the program when I should have (2 years ago), I would be finished already. Oh well, I hope this time I am motivated to go for it. You'll all have to keep me on track and ask me how it's going in September!

In other news...we still have no news on our house or our apartment! I had a bit of a breakdown today as I was realizing that we need to move out in a week and a half and we still have not heard if we have officially been approved to get out of our lease! I called the rental office to see if they had any word on whether my co-worker had been approved to move in or not and we found out that they had not even found his rental application yet. He had put it in the office drop box, where they told him to put it, a week ago!! I was so upset when we figured this out. I have been feeling so unsettled...not knowing if we are moving, when we are moving and whether we are going to get our house or not. Aahh. We need to figure out a rental truck and a storage space...not to mention figuring out when we actually plan to move.

Also, this weekend we celebrated my Dad's 60th Birthday! We met my family at Cracker Barrel in Lakeville on Friday night. We had a nice dinner and my dad opened his gifts. My mom gave him what was quickly named a "money tree." It was a rose bush with some ten dollar bills tied to it. It was the hit of the restaurant. Literally every server in the whole place came over to see it at our table! Kya helped my dad read his cards. I was very impressed with her reading. She just finished first grade and is doing fantastic! She also got a hair cut (for her Birthday in May). I was a little sad to see all of her long curls cut off, but her new hair cut is so cute! (see photos of her long hair at the bottom of this post)
She's a cutie, but she's a little spit-fire!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Searching, Searching, Searching...and Still Waiting

The house hunt continues.... We're still waiting on the first house (short sale) that we offered on. Many of our 'second choice' houses have already sold now. It has been very frustrating as we continue to hope and wait for this house as we watch other great houses come and go. We don't want to pick something that is not our first choice, but we don't even know if we are going to get our first choice house!

Luckily there are more homes coming on the market these days. So now we have a few more options to look at. I think we'll probably continue to wait on the first one and then go from there depending on what happens. However, maybe we'll see a house we love even more as we're looking!

We also don't have an actual answer on our apartment lease situation. We've been told by one office that it is still ok to move out June 30th, but this has not been set in stone...or on paper. We hope it will work out and we're very grateful to be able to save some money --even though it will be inconvenient (for us and Erik's parents). We should probably start packing our non-necessities soon... so, if we are moving, we'll be ready.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts...I know this seems small, but it has been very annoying to live with so much uncertainty.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Rainy Weekend

This weekend was pretty laid-back and relaxed. It was pretty rainy. We ended up going to the cabin for Wisconsin's Free Fishing Weekend on Sat afternoon. We were actually there for less than 24 hours. Erik caught quite a few fish. I was pretty much lazy and watched HGTV most of the time. When I did go out on the dock to try to catch a fish, I had absolutely no luck. Then Erik took the fishing pole back and literally caught a fish on the very next cast. That is when I decided to go back inside.

It was nice to have a relaxing weekend without many expectations. Although, I should speak for myself...Erik had to work on a huge project for school. He's actually probably giving his presentation as I type this. I'm sure he'll be glad when it's over.

Small Update...

We found out this weekend that the letter we got in the mail is actually 'standard.' According to our rental office, our original plan of moving out by June 30th should still be fine. We left a voice message at the headquarters office but have not heard back. So, I guess we don't know for sure yet.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Ok, Maybe it's Not Official

Right after I wrote that last post, we got a letter in the mail saying that we could not get out of our lease. So, now we need to figure out what's happening with that. We were told by the rental office last Saturday that we could. Pray that it will work out please! At this point, it not only affects us but it also affects my co-worker.

It's Official!

We're moving out of our apartment by June 30th! (if all apt. applications come through ok) But where are we moving?!? Ha, we don't know!

Yep, it's true. We were able to get out of our lease two months early, thanks to a co-worker of mine who was looking for an apartment. We're excited to save a little money on rent...however, we are still waiting to hear on our house! So, in the meantime, Erik's parents are being gracious enough to let us stay in their guestroom until we finally get a house. This will work out nice as they are not far from work for either of us. We're hoping to be in a house by mid-July or early August at the latest...but we're STILL waiting (and looking)!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Linder Weekend!

What a great weekend! We pretty much spent our weekend at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Inver Grove Heights and had a fantastic time. Erik's cousins, Tim & Laura Linder, got married on Saturday. We went to the rehearsal on Friday night. Erik played guitar and we both sang in a small choir for the wedding. It was so fun to be part of their big day. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding.
The bride and groom rode off in Erik's Dad's Chevy!
Randy even got a chauffeur hat for the occasion!
Then Sunday morning Tim & Laura's daughter, Sophia, was Baptized. We are so blessed to be Sophia's godparents! We got to be a part of her special day as well. Sophia is such a sweet little girl. Erik and I are very excited to be in her life.
After celebrating Sophia's Baptism at Tim & Laura's house, Erik and I both were exhausted from the weekend's festivities. I ended up taking a very long nap! Erik took a smaller nap and then started working on his homework. Unfortunately, we missed dinner with friends...but I think we needed the down-time. We enjoyed the weekend with Erik's family. It was fun to see everyone and celebrate with Tim & Laura! Congrats!!