Summertime...the livin's easy

When I last updated this blog I was reveling in the excitement of my new job and there was still plenty of snow on the ground. Well I am back again and while the job still feels new I’ve been there over 7 months and, while I hate to say it, snow is right around the corner.

As you can imagine a lot has happened over the last 7 months. Everything from meeting my new nephew Parker to finishing our basement, it has been a busy summer and I’ll do my best to recap all that busyness.

My new job is at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in downtown St Paul. I work in the consumer affairs office where I do mediation between customers and their utilities. While it can be stressful at times I truly love my job. It is always interesting and is something that I am really good at.

It is quite a change from previous job, trading a forklift and Carhartts for a cubicle and dress pants, but I have not missed my old job one bit. My agency is fairly small and has roughly 50 employees in all. My department consists of a manager and 3 mediators so it’s also on the small side.

I am fortunate to work with some really good people. Everyone is nice and very sociable, as you would expect for a job that involves a lot of communication skills. The office atmosphere is really relaxed its comfortable working with each other. It has been a change in dynamic coming from the yard at Menards with a large department of all guys to a small department of all women. The transition has been just fine though.

With a new fancy indoor desk job I needed to replace my sudden loss of manual labor. I had already made plans to start finishing the basement but because I was always so tired after working all day I never started working on it. Well that changed because I sit at a desk all day so I was eager to come home and do some physical work.
I have almost no history, background, knowledge, experience etc. in construction but I decided that it was our basement and I wanted to be the one to build it. Also we saved a good chunk of change with me doing all the work.



So night after night I would spend hours working down in the basement. I started with nothing but concrete floors and walls and finished with a totally usable living space! It took me about 3 months from start to finish. I was really pushing to get it done before the weather got nice and I wouldn’t want to be inside. We did have the carpet installed but that was the only part I didn’t do myself. Katie helped with hanging drywall and painting and Katie’s dad was always very helpful if I had any questions or needed to borrow any tools.



With the finishing of the basement we finally got to buy a cool new TV and a sound system. We also bought a nice new couch and inherited a nice table which is great for games and stuff. The basement went from unfinished to entertainment central.



With the basement finished summer arrived and with it several weddings. Over my birthday/memorial day weekend there were 3 weddings we were invited to. My cousin Missy was getting married in Iowa and Conner was moving to Omaha to join the Sorry Jeff clan. While we really wanted to go to both of these weddings we took part in the wedding of my best friend Jake Vetter. Jake asked me to be the best man and his wedding was in Redwing which is closer and with gas prices it was really a no brainer which wedding to go to. Their wedding was pretty sweet and I sometimes still can’t believe Jake is actually married.


Wore my Spiderman shirt under the tux for good luck

Just two weeks later we got to see two of our really close friends Sam and Zeb tie the knot at an amazing outdoor ceremony. They really had one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to and it was even better since we knew both the bride and groom pretty well.

June brought Katie’s bday and since she was turning a quarter century I decided to go all out and give her a whole birthday week! I think I pulled it off pretty good and she was pretty happy with the whole week.

Also in June was the threat of a coming state government shutdown. In the past this may have not caught my attention much but now it was my job in limbo. As the shutdown date drew closer it seemed obvious we would be getting some time off.

The shutdown lasted a whopping 20 days. This was the longest time I had off from without school or work that I could remember since basically junior high! At first I just sat around relaxing and enjoying the time off….but I soon got bored and Katie got a list going of all the stuff I could do. So I did a lot of little fixes around the house and errands that needed to be done. It was a really good time to get stuff done. During that time it was also very hot and muggy…110+ which was not good. I did manage to get the front and back porch refinished which was nice.




We also got a nice grill from Max which has been great! We have been grilling out a lot and really enjoy cooking outside.

Speaking of Max a bunch of us went to the Weezer concert at the state fair. It was a perfect day in my mind for the fair because it was kind of cool so all the people and walking around didn’t feel too hot. The concert itself was awesome! We were right up front and center with Steve, his sister and a high school friend Justin. Motion City Soundtrack opened for them and it was really cool to finally see them live. Then Weezer played a great show that ended with a good fireworks show. It was a great end to a fun day at the fair. Oh and Steve got the superman underwear Rivers wore during part of the concert.



Coming back to work was crazy hectic with projects that needed to be done and were now behind on the timeline. I recently finished up with m big yearly project and we were in the process of getting a new brochure that we made printed. It had been a massive headache the entire time and I’ll be happy when it’s done.

About a month ago my little sister Holly had her second baby. A little boy named Parker. He brings the baby total to 6 or 7 if you count Sydney but she is 4 so she is not quite in the baby stage. On top of all that Holly is getting married in two weeks!!



We have a busy October this year. We are starting out with a bang with Katie and I taking a nice relaxing weekend away to Lutsen the first weekend in October. The following Friday is Holly’s wedding. The next Saturday we have a wedding for a friend of mine in Rochester. That morning Katie is running the Nerstrand Big Woods half marathon and then we will race right from there to the wedding.

To help Katie train for the marathon I have been biking next to her while she runs. I have ran with her in the past but her pace is quicker than mine so biking was the best option to get me to come along but still have her train at a good pace.

On a side note I had not been biking in years and I really missed it. I am really glad that we started doing this training as I have really enjoyed getting out and biking.

So back to the hectic October…

The day after the marathon/wedding I will be flying out to Portland, OR for training for my job. I am really excited about the trip since I have never been to Oregon before. Then from there I will be flying from there to Albuquerque, NM for a week of some more training!

I have never traveled for work and I am very excited but at the same time I’m going to be gone for HALF of October. We are still looking into having Katie come out to Portland for a part of my time there so that we won’t be apart for 2 full weeks. After that the holidays will be coming up fast and before you know it, it’s January.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I just spent this whole week doing jury duty. It was a pretty interesting experience. I was called for a case right away but I did not end up getting selected as a juror. I spend the other days sitting at the court house waiting all day to be called for another case but it never happened.

All in all it has been a pretty good summer. I wish the weather had been a bit more cooperative but you never can know with Minnesota weather.

If you actually managed to make your way through this rather long post thanks for sticking it out and I hope that I report back sooner with another post before 7 more months pass by….but with as busy as it looks to be I wouldn’t rule it out.

I got a job!

Well it finally happened. I got a new job! That’s right, after 5 years slaving away at Menards I have moved on to bigger and better things. It happened rather fast but everything seemed to go smoothly, for me at least.

So as many of you know I have spent countless hours looking for jobs and then applying for said jobs, mostly with no results. Not even a sniff of interest or an interview. Sure from time to time I’d get some sort of bite but nothing really promising.
One of the main places I had been looking for jobs was through the state of Minnesota. Their application system is pretty clunky and it was not yielding much in the way of results. Fed up I decided to contact the recruiter for a job posting that I really thought I had a shot at. He gave me some helpful insight but offered no guarantees.

Well I applied and much time went by. I figured I had not gotten the job and was really feeling defeated. Even with “help” I couldn’t get an interview. Then one day as I was job searching, with no luck, I got an email asking to select a time to interview for the position! I was blown away! I selected a time I felt would be the least interfering with my current work schedule and began preparing.

I had only had one “real” job interview before and while it had went well I obviously didn’t get the job. So I wanted to be sure I would not in any way squander the opportunity I had before me. I thoroughly studied the job requirements and duties and put together some extra documents that had been requested. I even compiled a list of references even though none had been asked for.

The interview. I had told myself during the long dreary drought of job searching that if I could just get a face to face interview I could land a job. Believing this I did not have nearly the anxiety or nervousness typically associated with situations like this. I went in and to my surprise I was met by three interviewers! Still I remained calm and confident and told them why I was the right fit. I left the interview feeling really good and now anxious for the results.

I was told that a candidate would be recommended to the commission board and that I should hear back the following week sometime. Also that the job would start the Monday after that! So not really any in between time.

As the week went on I tried not to think about the job and instead focus on other things. It was insanely hard and I found myself almost constantly worrying about it. I wanted the job so bad I was beginning to believe I would be crushed if I didn’t get it. When Wednesday rolled around I hadn’t heard anything, same for Thursday. I began to lose hope.

Friends and family who had been excited about my interview were now steadily asking me if I had heard any news. I told them “no” but was not expecting anything until late in the week…so Friday was not out of the question.

When Friday came I told myself that I would call during my lunch break to see if there was any update on the job. By now I was convinced the chosen candidate had been notified and that those who had not been selected, me, were simply not yet notified. Ten o clock came and I could wait no longer.

My thoughts were consumed and I had to know something. One way or the other, good or bad, I must know! It was driving me crazy. I was manic over the possibility of landing the job one minute and depressed over being none the closer to a new job the next. It was a shaky state that I wanted no more of. So instead of waiting till lunch I took a break and called the job to find out the verdict.

When I spoke with the lady she informed me that a candidate had been recommended but that they had no decision yet from the higher ups. She assured me that I would be notified of the outcome as soon as they knew. This comforted me for now and eased the nerves. I at the very least knew I was still in the running and that gave me renewed hope, hope that would explode into unadulterated joy in just a short time.

I returned from my break moments later and as I swiped my card to punch back in I felt my phone vibrate. I checked and saw an incoming call. It was a number, one that looked familiar to the one I had just called. I had just come back to work and therefore I could not answer the phone or immediately take another break. So I let the call go to voicemail. The next few minutes were a mix of feelings so quickly changing and diverse I could hardly stand it. I had to know what the message said.

I snuck off to some remote location in the yard and stealthy retrieved the message. It was short, but oh so sweet. I had not been offered the job, yet. The message from the department manager stated that she had apparently missed my earlier call and would love to talk to me and aked me to give a call back. Love?! Typically not a feeling you convey to a person whom you will be giving unpleasant news. That is unless you are cold and heartless. But did I have the job? I didn’t know for certain but I felt very good about my odds.

Not wanting to keep her waiting I asked to take another break not 10 minutes after my last 10 minute break. The walk to the car was the most anxious and butterflies in the stomach I got during the entire process. i was sure I had the job but still, this was it, D-Day.

Sure enough I made the call and got the news I had so desperately wanted to hear. I was being offered the position, and though I’m sure clumsily, I accepted. I was told they wanted me to start the next Monday if it was possible and I told them I would do the best I could to make that happen. I told her I would call back that afternoon with my start date and to get any other information I would need.

I hung up and just sat amazed. I had what I had coveted, dreamed of and so desperately wanted. What do I do now? Spread the word of course! I instantly called Katie and even before she picked up I was shouting “I got the job!” repeatedly. She was so happy and proud and I could not have gotten to that point without her support and encouragement.

Next I called my dad who just yelled YAY!!! and told me to tell my mom. When I called her I played it less joyously, trying to have some fun with it. I called and said hi and said in a solemn voice that I heard back about the job. She replied in an inquisitive yet uncertain “oh…and?” To which I calmly replied matter-of-factly “I got the job.” She didn’t believe it and was so happy when I assured her of its truth.

By now I had been on more break than work in the last hour and while I knew it no longer mattered what I did that day at work I felt I should go back and tell my boss. What would he think when I tell him I’m done? It’s my last day? Right now? Five years of working coming to an end on such short notice. Not to mention the several fired, quitting, transferring employees already occurring. Just how would he react to one more thing?

I went back punched in and went outside. By now my pocket was vibrating constantly, so many calls and texts from friends and family congratulating me on the good news. All the while I broke the news to my fellow yard guys. They were all very excited for me and knew I had paid my dues. Still it was weird to think this was my last day. Just like that, I was done with something I had spent so much time doing. Some people I would not even get to say bye to, others I would in near disbelief. Telling my manager still on my mind.

I went back inside and approached my boss. I said “can we talk?” “Sure” he said and I replied, “Let’s take a walk.” He knew then something was up and said straight up, “are you quitting?” I wasn’t going to dance around it so I said flatly, “Yes. I’ve been offered a job.” To my surprise he was not mad. He said “You know you’re screwing me over right? But congrats!”
The rest of the day seemed odd. I couldn’t wait to be done but at the same time, done. That was it, over and in an instant. I said goodbye to those I could and walked out wondering what life was like on the other side of the weekend. Would I be good? Would I fit in? Was it a mistake?

Those thoughts were mostly squashed by feelings of freedom and accomplishment. Excitement and joy. I got a job. A new, real, office type job. I had joined the workforce I had so eagerly wanted to be part of.

I got a job.

Snowmageddon!

If you are not in Minnesota and haven’t heard or are in Minnesota and are just getting up from a long nap allow me to be the first to tell you that it has snowed. 15+ inches of snow in St Paul! Which is the biggest snowfall since the Halloween Blizzard in 1991. It started late on Friday night and lasted nearly all of Saturday.

I left for work at about 4:30 AM and actually had no trouble getting there. As the day went on though we could not believe how much snow was coming. No matter how much we shoveled or plowed we couldn’t keep up. I wish I had called in. It was dead obviously. Anyone who did go shopping that day is an imbecile in my opinion.

After 9 hours of feeling helpless against the storm at work I got ready to go home. I dug my car out and had to drop a coworker off. The drive to near his house was rough but manageable. After I dropped him off I got stuck on my way towards a somewhat plowed road. Thankfully I had bought a small shovel at work before I headed home. I used that to shovel my way to the intersection and finally got onto Snelling.


The drive home was somewhat perilous. Drove through several red lights and nearly got stuck a few times. At last I came to my street but when I turned...I became stuck. I called Katie to come help me get unstuck. We decided that there was no way to get the car up the street so we shoveled out a spot by the curb and left the car there. Total time from work to home was more than 2 hours.

The trek home was crazy. Just over a block to the house but the snow was so deep! In some place nearly up to my waist! We got in cleaned up and I called the Tag and Tow line and told them what my situation was. They assured me I would not be ticketed as long as I promptly moved my car after the plow cleared the road.

So Katie made some homemade pizza and we ate dinner and watched Gone with the Wind. I fell asleep as I was exhausted and am not sure how I ended up in bed.

The next day I called into work because there was no way to get to work. After Katie made a hearty breakfast I geared up to go outside and shovel the sidewalks and get the car out. To go with the epic amount of snow the temp outside was now -20 wind chill.



After clearing out behind the garage and noticing the alley was not plowed I made my way to the car. It was still in the same spot...on the same unplowed road...with a ticket! So ticked off I have to deal with this.

Anyway I noticed on the walk to the car that enough snow had been packed down so that I should be able to make it to a plowed street. I did some more clearing of snow and tried to get out. After trying several times and getting stuck a passing person offered help...only it was a guy I used to work with! He helped guide me to backing out and I got on the street again. I sped down the road and made it to the plowed street. After that I walked home and cleared the sidewalk and the porch and came in.



Long day! I’m sore and tired. I am inside and warm watching football. So it’s all good now.

PS The Dome collapsed! How crazy is that?



Oh well hopefully we don’t have to deal with any more blizzards anytime soon.
We can’t wait for our cruise in January!


J/K

Catching up

Hey there every peoples! It’s been about 3 months so I figure I should probably give a quick update on what we got going on lately. When we last left you we were looking forward to our first real vacation since our honeymoon. While the family trip to the Branson, MO area was nothing spectacular it was a welcome break from the daily grind of werk and such.

Katie and I headed down the day before everyone else so we could do some hiking in MO before we went to the resort. So we left after work and headed out. We weren’t quite sure where we were going or what we were doing that night. Let’s just say we saw Omaha at night and it was cool. We tried making it to KC but decided to stop at a Motel 6 in St Joseph MO. I had fallen asleep at some point and when I awoke we were driving around somewhere in St Joe. I asked Katie where we were and she said in town looking for the motel.

After what seemed like driving through and around the entire city we finally figured out where it was. As we pulled in Katie said, “It looks like it’s closed.” I said, “That’s because it’s a Red Lobster!” The hotel was behind the restaurant and confused us at 2 AM. So I went in and got a room. We went to the room and…there were bugs crawling all over!! So needless to say we left and decided to keep going and finally we just pulled into a rest stop outside of downtown KC and slept in the car. It was a pretty cool experience actually and we even saved some money! We woke up that morning around 630 and continued to head to our destination at Ha Ha Tonka State Park to do some hiking.

After a few hours we reached the park and got out to hike. There was a cool old “castle” that we hiked to and walked around the ruins. It was neat and perched on a nice overlooking cliff. We hiked down to the lake below and back up. It was very hot and just as we got back to the car it started raining so we decided that was all the hiking we were going to do for the day. So we began our trip to the resort. All the while we had been listening to “I Am Legend” on audio book. It was a very good book! I think better than the movie in some ways.

So anyway we spent the week at this resort outside of Branson and enjoyed relaxing in the sun. Katie would swim and read by the pool. All the babies loved swimming and we spent lots of time at the pool. We also played a lot of night tennis and catch. One of the days we spent the day on a pontoon riding around a lake and even did some cliff jumping! It was a good vacation all in all!

After enjoying the summer and with fall approaching we decided we needed to get out and camp one more time before it got too cold. So we made plans to go camping but our place was full so we switched to St Croix state park in Hinckley. We spent the weekend there enjoying the fall colors and campfires. On Saturday we hiked for 14 miles and we didn’t even get to where we were headed! So the next day we drove to this old fire tower lookout. It was so cool being above it all and seeing the colorful trees. It was also I little scary considering there was not much for safety when climbing the tower. Katie made cool meals for us to cook over a fire. She even made muffins using hollow oranges! It was a fun weekend.

Now as the cold sets in we are looking forward to a winter vacation. We are thinking somewhere warm like a cruise or maybe taking advantage of the cheaper off season in Europe…which will still be warmer than Minnesota in the January.

We’ve now been in our house about 6 months! We can’t believe it. It seems so new to us yet totally feels like home. My dog from growing up that has lived at my parent’s house while I was in college and before we got the house has joined us. It was a little weird at first…for us and him but now it seems weird if he’s not around. He mainly lies around but is fun to play with him and have a dog around. For the most part we have loved having him in our house but one thing we don’t like is when there is a storm….he FREAKS OUT! He has always done it so it’s nothing new…just haven’t dealt with it for a few years.

Of course since he doesn’t like storms we’ve had a lot. In fact I’d say that the severity of the storms and the loudness of the thunder have been more intense than anywhere else I’ve ever lived. Its crazy how loud it has been and how much it has caused him to freak out…and keep us up all night. Oh well he is pretty easy other than that so we won’t complain too much.

As for the weather there was a pretty nasty hail storm that hit a while back and caused some damage to our siding. A few people in the neighborhood have gotten new roofs and or siding. We have had all sorts of people come up to our doors trying to sell us new roofs and such but so far we haven’t gotten anything done.

Inside the house we got a few new things going on. We are planning on putting wood floors down on the main level sometime soon. We have the flooring it’s just a matter of finding time to install it. As for our rooms we have essentially been settled in since June but our spare bedroom had been lacking a bed so finally a few weeks ago we got Katie’s old bed and put it in there and now it definitely feels like a bedroom now. In the sewing room/office we moved some stuff around and even got a new big chair so I can sit in there while Katie sews.

Katie has been sewing more lately. She has been making baby blankets for all the babies and even whipped up a couple little ball type things for them to play with. They all seem to love their presents! It’s nice for them to have stuff made and not just bought. It feels a little more special.

Speaking of kids…the babies are growing pretty quick. Baby Katie is walking and even starting to talk. Sydney and she could get into lots of trouble as they get a little older. As for the twins…Tyler is a big boy. He recently weighed in at over 17lbs! while Anna is a dainty 14 lb 12 oz. Mason on the other hand is catching up. Although he is a few months younger is almost the same weight as Anna and is practically as long as Tyler. He is a little monkey. Oh and Julie is ready to go any day now with their little baby! No name yet other than Lil Sharky. He is expected on Nov. 28th!
All the babies dressed up for Halloween. Anna was a banana and Tyler was a football. Baby Katie was a duck and Sydney was a panda bear and Mason was a monkey! We had trick-or-treaters this year for our first Halloween with a house. They seemed to start late but came on strong and we even ran out of candy!

With all those babies to take care of Travis was hoping to get a more secure job instead of just contract work. Well thankfully he did. He is a director at Best Buy! Besides being a great job that he likes to do it has great benefits and is now a secure position that he hopefully can be at for a long time!

In other news my mom recently had a pretty extensive back surgery to help fix her spine. Her spine was something resembling a crazy straw and they basically fused it to a titanium rod so that it will remain straight. She will need care for some time and has to be in a large protective cast for several months so it’s going to be a long winter for her. On the plus side her spine is straight and she totally grew like 2+ inches!

Thanksgiving will be a bit harder since she won’t be able to do a lot of cooking but everyone will be helping out! On thanksgiving Katie and I along with her family will be running a 5K that morning should be interesting. Then we will have lunch with my family and then dinner with Katie’s side of the family.

We are looking forward to putting up our own Christmas tree for the first time and having a Xmas of our own! Although we are not looking forward to the cold and darkness of winter again.

This past Monday Katie and I both took the day off of work to celebrate our 3 year anniversary of dating. It was nice to have a 3 day weekend and just to spend a day together. We went down to Mall of America and took the light rail up to downtown Minneapolis and had lunch at Fogo de Chao. I cannot say enough about this place. Beyond incredible service! I’ve never felt so taken care of by a wait staff in my life. The food was incredible too! I don’t typically like steak but I couldn’t get enough. The price is pretty high but if you go for lunch it’s a lot cheaper. After an amazingly enjoyable lunch we took the light rail back to MOA and went to Underwater Adventures. We name dropped Katie K and the guy totally let us in for free! It was a very cool place, kind of trippy but very fun. The jellyfish exhibit was awesome! After that we came home and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and evening at home.

Well that’s about it for us for now. Hope to keep this more updated in the future.

J/K

So....whats new with us?

Well you last heard of the joy of finally getting a house. We closed on May 21st and it’s almost August so...allow me to fill you in on the mad busy happenings of the last 2 months or so.

House
Like I mentioned before we closed on our wonderful new home on May 21st. It was quite a crazy day and it almost didn't go through but somehow it all managed to come together and we had the keys in hand that evening. In the week that followed we spent mad amounts of time preparing the house for our soon to come moving in.

The house is located in the North End of St Paul close to the Maplewood border and 35E. While the neighborhood it's located in is comprised of mostly older homes, 50+ years or older, our house is just a baby at a mere four years old. Despite its newness it has an old style to it that doesn’t make it look too out of place. The front porch in particular gives it a classic feel.

With the house being essentially brand new there was not a lot that needed to be addressed prior to moving in. In anticipation of us getting the house Katie had selected a variety of paints with which to cover the walls. So each evening and on our days off of werk we would paint and clean the house. Also Katie's dad Tim came over and helped with painting and several little fixes here and there.

By the 27th we (mainly Katie) had the entire house painted and everything cleaned and ready for move-in. So that day after Jon got off werk his Dad brought the cube van over to the apartment and together they loaded up the apartment and headed over to the house to move-in. When Katie got home from werk she finished cleaning the apartment and grabbed the last load of stuff to be brought over.

It was exhausting hauling everything in on one day and we pretty much just got everything inside and called it a night....or so it seemed. Jon stayed up late putting all the furniture in the living room in their places and setting up the entertainment center along with the TV and wireless internet.

In the first few weeks after we moved in we painted a few of the remaining white walls and made the place feel more like home. The upstairs has three bedrooms and a full bathroom. The master bedroom has some nice windows and a walk-in closet with a little window of its own. The two bedrooms across the hall are a guest bedroom and an office/Katie’s sewing room. The sewing room is packed to the gills with desks and shelves which themselves are loaded with papers and books and stuff. That room also has a walk-in closet which is nice for a spare bedroom. The guest room is finished but is missing a bed until we get it from Katie’s Dad’s house.

New additions to our new home or things we’ve had to buy now that we own a home.
Apartment living is requires less things than home ownership. Since moving in we’ve had to buy a few necessities based on our new situation.

Lawn mower – Having a yard, albeit a small one, requires some type of lawn cutting device. Based on the size of our yard and wanting the easiest to use piece of equipment we decided on a reel mower. It’s the kind that doesn’t have an engine or anything. It’s just a handle and some spinning blades powered by you pushing it. We picked it up from Menards for about half the price of a gas powered mower. On top of that it never needs fuel, takes up almost no space in the garage and has so few parts it’s easy to fix if it breaks down.

Washer/Dryer – During our time at the apartment we pretty much just brought our laundry to one of our parent’s houses on the weekend and did it there on the cheap…or free I suppose. Now faced with owning a home and the prospect of having our own major appliances we set off to get a washer and dryer. We checked out a few places and did some research. We really wanted Maytag and didn’t want to spend too much but didn’t want to skimp either. We ended up getting some pretty amazing high-end Maytag ones for a reasonable price because people didn’t like the color!? I thought they were black but they are a dark green that we think looks cool. With that major purchase out of the way we thought we were done until…

Furniture – We didn’t have a table and kind of thought we could get by without one but in the end decided it would be a good idea for when people come over and the extra seating couldn’t hurt. While browsing and the nearby Slumberland Clearance outlet we happened upon a nice high-top table that could transform into a bigger table when needed. Also Katie felt that the old broken down couch in the living room needed to be retired so we perused the selection for a new couch. We tried out several and made our cases for some and at last settled on a nice Italian leather couch with a chaise lounge on one end. Both fit very nicely in our home and the old couch fits in nicely with the drums in the unfinished basement.

Patio chairs – So we have this awesome front porch that is just begging to be occupied on those perfect summer nights, and some of those nice stormy ones too! But alas we had no outdoor furniture that we could relax on. So we got two swivel rocking chairs to go on the front porch and they are great for sitting back and relaxing or reading or updating your blog…like I’m doing right now.

So that pretty much sums it up for the house. We have been living here for two months now and it definitely feels like home. We’ve already had several of our friends over for fun nights of food and games.

We love that the house is close to major roads and shopping but is also within walking distance of some cool little businesses, particularly a neighborhood ice cream shop that has one of the nicest owners you’ll ever meet. Things we don’t like…well it’s a long drive for Katie to werk and some of the neighbors can be loud later in the evening that we would like but it’s really hasn’t bother us. Otherwise it’s really turned out to be a lot nicer area than we had thought.

So other than houses there have also been some other crazy/fun things that have happened in the last few months.

We went hiking at Taylors Falls one Sunday afternoon and also camped at Tettegooche State park for a weekend. We hiked 7 straight hours that Saturday. It was the first time we went camping together and we hope to go a few more times before it gets too cold.

Katie’s dad recently returned from a trip to Argentina that he went on for a wedding. He got to see and do many cool things but probably the most amazing was his visit to Iguazu Falls. It’s like Niagara Falls on steroids and then some. Also currently Katie’s brother Chris and his wife Laura are spending the better part of a month in and around Spain.

We have a family vacation to a resort just outside of Branson, MO planned for this August and we are working a planning a trip overseas for this coming winter/early spring. Top spots on our list? Europe, Thailand and Easter Island.

Speaking of family….let’s just say it is growing at a rapid pace. This year’s family Christmas photo will include a whopping FIVE new family members and if Holly gets serious with her boyfriend it could even be six! Whoa. So how’d we get to this point?
Well Julie and Travis have been trying unsuccessfully to have a baby for a few years and have turned to adoption in search of starting a family. They became parents on May 14th when TWINS Tyler and Anna were born. Julie and Travis adopted the Twins and are in the process of adopting their older sister Katie.

Meanwhile…..Julie is pregnant! Not sure how but God werks in amazing and sometimes confusing ways. Julie is due end of November with a boy yet to be named. On the topic of pregnancy Holly once again stole center stage when she announced on Valentine’s Day this year that she was pregnant! The situation is a bit foggy and we’ll leave it at that.

Fast-forward to last night…Holly went into the hospital on July 27th with minor labor pains and after a few tests it was determined that the baby was in trouble and an emergency C-section would need to be done immediately. We got the news at 1 am on the 28th and raced up to Mercy hospital in Coon Rapids. By time we arrived the baby was already born and being tended to while Holly spent a miserable night recovering from emergency stomach ripping apartness. The baby was not due until August 7th but this strange turn of events gave him the 28th of July as a birthday and kept him in line with the family male tradition of being born on the 28th. As of today Holly is doing much better and her baby boy Mason Riley Brown is doing good too. He is 20 inches long and weighs 6 lbs 9 oz.

Oh and in other news Jake McLellan became a married man on July 24th at an awesome wedding! It was full of cool outfits and dances. It was also a time to catch up with some old friends. Specifically our long lost friends Micah and Lauren whom we discovered are pregnant! (SO EXCITING!!!)

We have been hangin out with our awesome friends Charles and Lydia a lot this summer and can usually be found on Wednesday nights at Bakers Square partaking in "pie night." They are looking for houses now and we think they should totally move in somewhere near us!

Overall it has been a crazy busy summer and we have enjoyed it immensely! Looking forward to our upcoming vacation and just basking in the last month or so of warm weather. Until next time….

J/K

At last!

We got a house!

Super busy moving and painting and all that but more complete details to come!

J/K

Busy weekends

So the last two weekends have been pretty busy for us. We went double dating with Jake Vetter and Sarah Ooms in Rochester last Friday. We were going to eat at Applebees but decided to try the mongolian BBQ HuHot that was right next to Applebees. It was good and interesting. Maybe not exactly what we were craving but still good. We then went bowling. It was a fun night and it was great to meet Sarah for the first time. On Saturday night we had our last young marrieds group meeting. It was sort of a wrap up hang out time that never got around to the bonfire. Although some sorta German sounding drinking game was talked about it turned out to be something about hitting a hammer on something....we didn't play it. Then Sunday was Sydney's 3rd birthday! She was all cute in her birthday dress and got HAIR as one of her presents that she really really liked. Combined with some sunglasses and a ridiculous looking tutu she was hilariously cute. Julie made three Disney princess cakes that looked so cool and tasted just as amazing! It was a fun night that capped off a busy weekend. Then this last weekend Jon had to work but we still stayed busy. After work on Saturday we went to Mall of America and Katie signed her and her brother Chris up for the 5k walk for breast cancer for Mothers day. We then went home where Katie made some yummy tasting burgers. Then we headed to Chris and Laura's place for an end of the 1st year of law school party for Laura. It was fun to play around the fire and see friends. On Sunday while Jon was werking Katie Chris and her Dad did the walk at MOA and later Katie and her Dad joined Julie and Travis and Jon's parents at Rosedale AMC for a free showing of Letters to Juliet. When Jon got home from work and they were done with the movie we all went up to Andover for Volleyball and family time. All in all it has been a busy set of weekends lately and with Pam coming this weekend it should be another busy weekend followed by back to back birthdays and the Lost series finale in the coming weekends! WOW...May is such a busy month.
Oh and in house news....the window is fixed and our file is being reviewed for underwriting...so things are coming together on that front and we are still hopeful for a May move-in.
Oh and Katie has started her new job and so far has been enjoying it! So glad that it has been a positive change.
OK Until next time
J/K