TA DA!

A few weeks ago my friends and I saw some chairs out by the garbage dumpster.  Since people are constantly moving in and out of here, there is always furniture and stuff just left out for anyone.  As we passed by, I thought, "those are really cute chairs.... I think I want them!"

As we were running I kept thinking about the chairs and thinking how fun they would be in our breakfast nook in our new house.  So, I let my friends talk me into it and they helped me carry them home. Here's what they looked like before:

And here's how they look now:

Thank you IKEA for your wonderful selections on fabric, and home depot for the paint.

Total cost of my little project: $25

I can't wait to put them in our kitchen! I had a lot of fun with this project and now I'm ready to re-do my dressers...... I'm saving that monster project for when I have a garage.  Adios, and remember, the next time you pass a dumpster, there might be something you need! :)

Minnehaha Falls

When we moved here three years ago, my parents helped us move.  After we moved in, they stayed for about a week and a half.  We were NEW to the area so we didn't know much, but one place we took them was Minnehaha Falls.  It is really pretty, and oddly, we haven't been back since going with my parents.  Until a couple weeks ago.  We took Scott's parents, along with our niece and nephew.  It was fun, chilly and windy, but fun.  

Grandma and Grandpa with the kiddos

Scott and I.... and Glenn

All of us.....

It was a beautiful day, and a great way to spend some time together.  We even tried to fly Will's new kite.  We also tried to have a picnic but only lasted a little bit since we were all freezing.  These MN winds are always CHILLY!

Celebration Dinner

Our graduation festivities began with a graduation dinner the night before graduation.  It was at a really fun restaurant called the View on lake Calhoun.  We got to meet a lot of Scott's classmates and professors and enjoy some really yummy food.  The best part, we got to spend time with family, as just adults.  Our good friends were gracious enough to watch all four of our kids for us while we enjoyed an evening out. 

Thanks Wes, Lorinda, Glenn, and Martha for coming and celebrating with us, we love you guys so much and it meant so much to have you there with us.  

We also got to celebrate with our good friends the Lee's.  We've loved getting to know them and their cute family and we will really miss them!  Brian's parents were here and it was great to get to know them also.

The whole clan... looks fun, doesn't it?!

Brian, Joni, and Brian's parents

Great job Brian!! We are really going to miss you guys!

The Mortensen's - 

The graduate... and the wife.

Our sweet friends Ainy and Umair

The dinner was great, and it was fun to celebrate with family and friends. I'm so proud of Scott and all he has accomplished, and we love our families so much.  Thanks for coming to celebrate with us during this very busy time in your lives!

Graduation Part 2

Graduation was great.  It was so exciting to see Scott get recognized for all his hard work.  I'm so proud of him and love him so much, I don't think I could ever ask for a better a man to be married to.  Great job Scott, I'm proud of you and I feel so blessed to have you a part of my life.  

On to the events.... sorry for the picture overload and the random order.

This is not a good picture, but if you look close, you can see Scott walking across the stage after recieving his diploma.  It was pretty funny, at both his ceremonies (MHA and MBA) there was a lady at the end of the line squirting Purell into the graduates hands. Thanks Swine Flu, or H1N1 or whatever the heck people call it.

In the morning we attending the MBA graduation ceremony.  Because Scott did a dual degree he got to go to two ceremonies.  Here he is the happy graduate at his MBA graduation.

The processional - MHA graduation

A little family picture after the ceremony.  

The proud parents.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful parents! We couldn't have made it through this whole process without the help, love, and support of our wonderful parents (both sets!)

After graduation, we thought we had to take a little photo outside our 

little beloved apartment 1029.  We sure will miss this place!

This is how Will spent most of the day, either on Dad's shoulders or Grandpa's.

The Minneapolis skyline - from a bridge on campus.  MN is beautiful this time of year, it makes me really sad to leave!  Can you tell it was a bit windy?

Another family shot after the ceremony......

Scott and a few of his classmates before the processional

Another family photo.  Wes and Lorinda and their family were so supportive to come up and spend time with us even though they are in the midst of packing and moving themselves! We love their kids and we are trying not to think about moving so far away from them!

Scott and his buddy Brian - the proud graduates.  GOOD JOB GUYS!

A picture of the ladies, I love how Ivie and Norah are both staring at Ainy.  She is pretty and they loved her!

A kiss for dad!

Will's favorite way to ride.... he's got a great view from way up there!

Two brothers.  Great friends. 

Graduation was such a great experience.  I know I've already said it a million times, but I feel so blessed right now.  We have an amazing family who we just love and can't get enough of, and I'm so proud of Scott.  We are happy and life is good!  Now.... on to new adventures! I can't wait to get into our house!

Graduation Part 1

He's DONE it! We are OH SO PROUD, and happy, and excited, and grateful, and blessed, and overwhelmed, all at the same time.  My wonderful, incredible husband graduated today.  Will and I thought he deserved a few kisses, it was such an exciting day!

A little family pic. 

More graduation fun, pictures, and details to follow.  But right now, I can barely keep my eyelids open, we are exhausted! I'll try to get things posted soon..... I know you'll all be waiting.

PHANTOM of the OPERA

Last night Scott and I had a date night.  We've been super lucky, last week we had our anniversary and a date, and this week we got to go on another date!  It has been great to get out and enjoy being out of school!!

We saw Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheum.  It was fantastic! We both really enjoyed it.  They had some really cool/crazy/amazing special effects.  They even had fire! The voices were great, for the most part.  We both felt like the Phantom's voice was good in some spots, but not strong enough in other parts.  

Here we are in our seats inside the theater.  i love the  inside of the theater, it is so pretty, it is really historical and beautiful.  No, we did not intend to match in our pink shirts.  I told Scott that I get priority over PINK, so if anyone should have changed, it should have been him! :)

Here's the Orpheum.....
Outside, after the play.
A group of our friends also came.  They had much better seats than we did ;) but they were still gracious enough to meet us outside after to chat and snap a picture.  We've had some good times with these guys and we sure are going to miss them!!

and last but not least.... the gals!

What a fun night.  Every time Scott and I get to enjoy something like this we always say we want to do it more often, it really is well worth the money.  There are so many talented people out there and amazing performances to see.  We are excited to see what Cleveland has to offer!

If you haven't seen the movie of Phantom, you really should watch it, it is great, and the play followed it to a "T."  We're planning on purchasing the movie sometime soon, we love the music!!

The Potato Party

One of my dear, sweet friends is moving to Idaho.  A few of us got together to give her a little farewell party.  In honor of Idaho, we did a potato party.  We had baked potatoes, and vanilla ice cream that looked like mashed potatoes with caramel "gravy."  We could let Joni leave empty handed so we bought and signed a Mrs. Potato Head..... in honor of the SPUD state of course.

We are going to miss you Joni! Here's a picture of all of us.  We've met so many great friends here in MN, I need to start rounding up pictures of all of them! For now, here's a few of us:

Mashed potatoes and gravy ice cream!

Mrs. Potato Head.... doesn't Joni have such a contagious smile?!

Thanks for a fun night gals! Best of luck to you Joni, I hope you find peace and happiness in the land of the spud! :)

Year six

Yesterday was our anniversary! SIX wonderful year, I can't believe it.  I know it may not seem like such a long time to many of you, but it does to me... especially when I think of what we have accomplished in those 6 years.  Here are just a few:

• We both graduated from Utah State with our bachelor degrees
• We both graduated with our Master's degrees, I at Utah State, Scott here in MN
• We had the most special person come to our life, our little Will, who is always the light and life of our family.
• We've bought two homes together, sold one ourselves
• We've lived in Logan, MN, and soon to be OH
• Since being married, I've learned to cook, sew, crochet, make jewelry, ski, run (okay, I know that everyone knows how to run, but I should say I've become a little bit of a "runner"), most importantly, I've learned how to love unconditionally.
• We've been blessed to travel to several places: San Diego, Mexico, Bolivia and Peru, various trips around Utah, Idaho, the Headwaters of the Mississippi, The North Shore, Nauvoo, Chicago, New Orleans, Florida, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Kirtland OH, Washington DC/Virgina/Maryland.... and countless places around MN.
• We worked at countless jobs, most importantly, the job of parenting.  The others: Al's Sporting Goods, Deseret Book, Utah State University, Birch Creek Golf Course, IHC, and Scott has had several jobs here at the U of MN.

Through all this, we are happy, healthy, and love each other more than we did six years ago.  We've grown in so many ways as people, as a couple, and as a family.  The best part? It has ONLY been six years, we are so excited to experience life together as a family.  We have so many blessings, we couldn't ask for more!

the outside days....

Here's a few action shots of what our days look like, lately.  

This is Will and Marcus, they are great friends.  They love to play outside and run around together, along with Anthony, Lucas, Tyson, Keating, and a few other boys.  Life is so exciting at this age, and they have so much fun enjoying the beautiful outdoors! I love seeing them play together, it is so fun.

Will likes to pretend he's a gorilla, so here he is walking and crawling like a gorilla.


I love our days outside.  One of the things I'm going to miss most is being able to walk out my front door, have 8 different playgrounds to choose from, and always having other moms to chat with while our kids run and play so well together.  That is one of the greatest things about living here!

my sleepy little guy

So lately we have a streak of wonderful weather.  That means that we literally spend ALL day outside, and Will LOVES every minute of it.  There are LOTS of little boys here and they play, play, and play and run and run and run, and laugh, and just have a great time outside.  

The hard part to all this wonderful playing is that we've been adjusting naps.  Every few days Will takes a nap, but it seems like most days he doesn't take one.  So, on the days he doesn't nap and we spend all day out side, here's what happens.

5:30p - convince Will that we HAVE to go inside.  Lots of whining and crying

5:35 - walking home, the crying REALLY starts.

5:45 - at home, we're washing hands, still screaming because he wants to stay outside and play

5:46 - he sits on the couch and passes out, and can not be woken up no matter how hard I try.

A couple days ago he fell asleep eating dinner, it was pretty funny, I wish I had had my camera handy! SO.... here's some photos, they are pretty self explanatory:

The best part of this whole scenario.... bedtime doesn't roll around until about 9:30p.  I think I'll revert to forcing the nap every day, things go so much smoother.