Struggling....

I'm struggling with scheduling the weekend of the festival....I have to work on Friday and I'm leaving early for this DAMN concert I have to chaperone my husband for. How far is Elk River from St. Cloud? Here's my hang up - I need to pick up my kids on Saturday morning before the festival, but really don't want to be driving all around the state that day. I also realized it's our anniversary that weekend...so, please talk me into coming anyway - I'm struggling with what to do. I want to do it all, just can't figure out how! What's the story with tents? Does anybody have tents or are we renting or what? We have a screen tent, but I wouldn't sleep in it!!! It keeps the mosquitos off your supper though.....oh, heck, I do want to come! I'm just a little nervous about camping in a tent with three kiddos. So - we'll keep in touch of course!

Green with Envy

Hello ladies! I must say that I am EXTREMELY green with envy at reading all of these posts regarding the F-ing Festival. How fun. And how absolutely depressing that I won't be able to be there. You all suck. (HAHA Just kidding! :)) Mandy - Congrats on the new little one on the way! Scanders - I'm still with ya in the "No Kids" stage, so have no fear! :) Seth and I do have some fun news, though -- WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is in Marshall and we close on the 30th of May. We are SO EXCITED. It is in the older part of town where there are big tall trees and nice neighborhoods and I have found out since we bought it that I already know some of our neighbors! We are, at long last, moving on to that next stage in our life -- being in debt for the next 30 years! :) HAHA - Seriously, we are super pumped. It will be great for us to be back in Marshall and we're looking forward to having our OWN HOME, our OWN LAWN, our OWN STUFF!! Anyway..I don't have much else to contribute, but I wanted to update all of you on the exciting news in our lives. I miss all of you and would love for you to come check out the house whenever you can - there will be TWO guest bedrooms (since there aren't any of our own kids around!) and there's even a second bathroom, although one of them will probably be designated the BOY bathroom for Seth. :) Anywho - I will stop blabbing..love you all and MISS YOU..Sarah

Yay!

I will book the sites tomorrow-for Friday and Saturday night? Who can be there when? I think Micaela can do Friday and Saturday...

I will then send an email out to all the address I have (the evil power of facebook makes it easy to contact the women we haven't heard too much from).

I will do some talking to some people at church, I think a couple large tents would be really fun, I found a small tent hard to put little ones to sleep...but yes, we can work on who will bring what later.

I'm excited...the 3rd annual festival is drawing near!!!!!

let it be...

Ok, the Backstrom's have a plan! Yahoo! We are heading down to Elk River Friday night for the concert and staying at a friends house in Elk River. Saturday morning, Kevin is going to ride back up north with another friend who lives north of us, and I'll stay in the Elk River area (after retrieving the kids from sis-in-law in St. Cloud) and camp with all ya-all! We would prefer not to haul the camper that far, considering Kevin would not be able to help with the tear down, so the problem is that we do not own a tent. But, those are details we can work out later. So, Elizabeth, I think you should book it. Would you agree it would be nice to have input from all those who have not inputted their inputs yet? But, I'm up for this latest plan! I'm sorry it didn't work out to be here - maybe some other time! We're always up for a hoe-down here! Or just some grilled pork chops! I'll keep checking here for updates!

input

I, too, looked a little bit at Lake Maria State Park...I'm not sure if they have sites which accomodate Rvs or not so we'd want to check that if Amanda were bringing her trailor. Oh and Amanda, nice try by trying to put me in charge via a blog entry. Unfortunately it's not going to happen this time because I've got five papers and a test left to do before the semester ends in a week and a half. :)

Mandy - CONGRATULATIONS!!! While I'm a little weirded out that so many of my friends have children, I do think it's wonderful. I told my mom and she was just as excited as I was!

An idea

Okay, I did some searching for places near Elk River-that seems like a nice central location, no one has to drive over 5 hours. Lake Maria State Park looks lovely and they have sites available for our weekend in June. Shall I book the sites? Here is some info about the Park...(in case you go searching and notice that they do have camper cabins for rent-I checked and they are booked for our weekend)

Address
11411 Clementa Ave NW
Monticello, MN 55362

Phone
(763) 878-2325 Business 1
(763) 878-2620 Fax

State Park offer backpack camping, cabins, group camp sites, hiking trails, horseback trails, picnicing, fishing, interpretive programs and displays.
Type of Accommodation
Camping, State Parks

Directions to Accommodation from Nearest Town/Intersection
From Monticello, CR 39 west to CR 111 to Park entrance. Follow State Park signs.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rates
Daily Camping Rates: $12

Additional Rate Info
Group camp $50/night or $3/camper - whichever is greater. Camper cabins $35.

Dates Year Round
Availability Reservations: www.stayatmnparks.com or 1-866-857-2757.

South it is!

Guess what - my dear husband, even after telling him of my plans for that weekend, has made more plans for me! We're going to Elk River on Friday for a David Allen Coe concert. (don't ask - I don't even know what he sings - but Kevin's in love!) So, perhaps a destination down there would work out better anyway! Our concert is on Friday night, and I don't think Kevin was too thrilled about rushing back up north Saturday morning - so, let's put Scanders in charge! he he.... We'll just make something work! Congratulations Mandy - I think you mentioned getting sick of sex anyway - and that's not good! :) We're very happy for you - a boy would be good! Wish we could hear from Breanna, Becca and Amy - HINT HINT. What is everyone's plan? We'll keep in touch! Love ya all!

Location, location, location

Hello friends!

1. CONGRATS to Mandy and David! I'm really hoping for a boy, we need some balance. Maybe I'll bring Isaiah to the festival just to spice up life :)

2. I think we should consider camping a littler farther south. I camped at Norway beach last summer and that was a nice spot. Maybe Scanders would have some good south ideas. Even if its without a camper, we're tough and can do it! Maybe we can even have a rain site just in case.

Thoughts?

Hang in there ladies-we'll get this figured out!

Elizabeth

December 8, 2008

Guess what? :) That little baby up there is 6 weeks, 3 days old, and as of today is 9 weeks old with a heartbeat of 170 beats per minute. Isn't that amazing? Oh yeah, and its in MY BELLY!!!

So sorry I haven't gotten back to you about this whole frolicking festival thing. Needless to say, I've been a bit exhausted at night, and that along with the nauseousness that worsens sometimes at night, I haven't been really up for sitting at the computer. TV and a couch is way less taxing. :) Here's my input... If I'm being totally honest, I'm not sure that I'll be able to make it all the way up to the northland for the festival. I love you all so dearly, but we have about three longish trips in the next month before we head out to that 1300 mile Maine drive, and with the price of gas, I'm not sure that we can hack it. I will do my best if camping up there works the best, and it sounds like we have a lot of great options to make it fun and comfortable up there... but I can't promise anything. I would be more likely to make an outing in the Cities, which cuts my drive in half, but I know adds immensely to the travels of some of the rest of you.
So, that is my input. Please take it with the knowledge that I want you all to do what is best for the WHOLE group, and I will work with what the decision is. OK? :)

I am buying time from "Daddy" right now who is giving Julia a bath after a really long day at work, so I'm going to head up and relieve him. I'll check back here as much as possible and I'll try to get back on any questions in a more timely manner. The nauseousness is easing a little bit, so that is helpful. I actually cleaned for the first time in about 5 weeks yesterday. Those of you who lived with me know that that is a crazy long time for me not to clean. And I didn't care one bit. :)

Anyway, I love you all!! My blessings on you making the festival decisions. You are wise and incredible. :)

Mandola and little one cooking inside. :) Maybe a boy for our estrogen-heavy group ?

5 years ago

Some of us graduated five years ago today. I never imagined I would be where I am today. If the past five years have gone this quickly, what does that say about the upcoming five years and beyond?

Camping Update

I called the state park yesterday, and the site that has electric hookup, there are 4 spots left, none of which are next to each other. I talked to the park ranger dude, and he said we can all hang out at one site during the day, but as far as sleeping, we have to split up and sleep with only 1 camper or 2 tents at each site. Not a huge deal. Otherwise, there's another site without electricity that is closer to the swimming beach that is wide open. We have a camper, and I think it'll be useful with or without electricity....

Another option - there's a little resort outside of Pelican called Leisure Lane that I'm going to check out! It's on Prairie Lake - a very kid friendly beach. I'm checking into things - MANDY, LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK?!?!?! I'll keep you posted!

Amen!

Let it be so...I think as soon as Mandy (the one who has to travel the farthest) give us her blessing on the location, you should book it Amanda. Either your house, or the camping site-I'm up for either (as we learned last year, we need no grand location to have a really good time).

Mandy-if you want us to go farther south-don't be afraid to say so.

And I hereby swear not to talk about children the whole time :)

Love you all!


Elizabeth

LET'S GO CAMPING!!!!!!

I want to go camping!!!!

I think Maplewood or Amanda's would be good and I think we should plan on the second week in June!!!

More thoughts....

After I posted the last little bit, I got to thinking - having it hear would be a lot easier, with all the little ones anyway - but I thought of some more amenities available here - we have the grill, screened in porch, hot showers, we could take the kids for a nature walk :) - just some thoughts. Camping does sound like fun too - I need YOUR FEEDBACK!

Are we camping or what?!?!?

So - word has it that the 2nd week in June is the weekend for the festival! How many are up for a little camping? I would be more than happy to line something up - and if it's near us, Kevin will help set up the camper and all that good stuff! I'm picturing all the ladies and lots of tots in Maplewood State Park. It's near Pelican, and it has TONS of walking trails, a nice swimming beach, playground equipment, etc. It would be a good spot for our group of people. I'm going to call today and see if anything is available for that weekend. I won't book it yet, but we should soon if it's something we want to do! The only negatives are that each vehicle would need a state park pass, and I'm not sure how much that costs, but it adds to the expense for the weekend of course. OR - we could set up the tents in my backyard! HA HA!! Just kidding! Or if camping is NOT what everyone wants to do, that is totally fine too - but Elizabeth is right, we need to get rolling! I would be happy to offer my home to guests too! We have a big yard, lots of room to run, giant swing set that Kevin built from High Line poles, we have a slip-n-slide, a little swimming pool, chickens for chasing and all sorts of fun stuff for the kids. So - what's the plan? Please give us feedback - or, Elizabeth and I will start making harassing phone calls! :) Talk to you all soon!

The festival

Just a quick note tonight...I haven't updated my preferences on the site Elizabeth set-up (which is cool) because I don't know my schedule at all for this summer. Since I'm doing my CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) this summer, I have to make myself available to their schedule which includes weekends and evenings. I won't know until the end of May what my schedule will look like for June and definitely have no idea about July. August is out because Matt and Sarah will be moving here the first weekend and then I'm hoping to spend the rest of the month in Mexico working on my tan. I hope everyone is well. Has anyone done anything fun during spring? At least, some of us have experienced glimpses of spring - some of you are still facing winter.

The Festival!

Hey ladies,

According to our Doodle Planner, its looking like the 2nd weekend in June is still the best...however, many more ladies need to place their votes! Here is the link again in case you missed it...

http://www.doodle.ch/gw2p992aw8q6ihun (you can also go back and edit your vote if needed, little link on the far left)

I know I need to get my June schedule figured out and I'm sure others do too, so if we could move on this-that would be great! See y'all soon!

Elizabeth

Can you identify?

I'm not asking you to identify what the frozen contents of this Ziploc bag are, but I would like to ask the question. A few days ago I thought it would be a good idea to thaw something from the freezer for a few meals this week. Among the ice cubes and frozen vegetables I saw a cool whip container. Knowing it wasn't cool whip, I wondered what it could be. It was eventually identified as soup but I didn't know where I got it. Then tonight I was assessing what else could be thawed from my freezer, and noticed a ziploc bag (picture above is not actual evidence, but remarkably close to what I saw). What's in this bag that has tinfoil surrounding it? Upon further inspection, I realized it was frozen ham from Easter. Do you ever find yourself unable to identify freezer items? Perhaps you're doing the logical thing, which my mom taught me to do, and you label everything and put a date on it so that even when there is nothing but freezer burn you know that it was pig's feet at some point.

smart and funny

Hello again! My pastor emailed me some definitions from this new book he just got...its a great way to think about "church-y" words! Enjoy!

absolution A series of words that, when spoken to a repentant sinner, result in that sinner's complete forgiveness - much to the chagrin of the self-righteous.

atheism The personal choice to be at the whim of earthly powers because you can't stand being at the whim of God.

Bible A book that Christians believe is so holy and inspired that they almost never read it for fear that it might draw them closer to God and neighbor or change their lives in some other inconvenient way.

Canon Not to be confused with a large weapon (this canon only has one "n"), the canon is the list of books comprising the authoritative, written Word of God - which sinners often use as a large weapon to bash each other.

Laity Those people who don't need special degrees, titles, clothes, or roles to know that they are called by God.

Love Not a thing that is blind but the act of actually seeing the needs of others and of putting their needs higher than yourself or your needs.

Martyr A person who would rather die than allow you to help make dinner.

Member (1) One who joins a group in order to avoid expectations of participation; (2) God's partner in mission.

Ministry An office instituted by God for work in God's world, the holders of which often spend too much time in their offices.

Pastor/Priest A sinner who is so aware of the power of sin in his or her own life that he or she feels called by the Holy Spirit to announce that God loves sinners.

Perichoresis The attempt to describe the numbers "three" and "one" without using math.

Predestination The extremely disturbing idea that God actually knows what God is doing.

Reformation A revolution within Christianity that started in 1517 and is either still happening or needs to happen again, depending on whom you talk to.

Religion A system of beliefs and practices that is meant to nourish a life of faith and a relationship with God, which often causes despair and drives people away from God, for the sake of good order.

Revelation Reason's embarrassing brother-in-law who married into the family and is often the source of awkward pauses in the conversation at family meals but who brings things to the table that nobody else can.

Simultaneously Saint And Sinner Being at one and the same time who you think you are and who you really are.

Sin (1) Why people suck, (2) How people suck

YHWHTh Hbrw nm fr Gd, whch w dn't xcly knw hw t prnnc bcs th vwls wr lft t

thankful...

for some reason the random topic of Scander's and Breanna's posts make me so thankful to be friends with some of the most thoughtful, intelligent and forward-thinking women on the planet. You all are awe-inspiring!

B-I've been jammin' to that CD you made (at Christmas time maybe?) and don't think I ever said THANK YOU for that. I'm trying to convince Micaela the 'Dancing Queen' is the greatest song ever...it'll take a few more attempts. :) But I look great dancing in the driver's seat, so that's what's important...right?

Um, its been a REALLY full, long day and I'm so tired...so excused my random babbling. Love you all!

e

SIGG

Yes, Sarah, I had also heard this..only I read it in Glamour magazine, so I don't know how credible they are. But, I bought a SIGG water bottle and I like it. It is made from recycled material too. BONUS!
Peace out homies.

Nalgenes negatively impact health!

Nalgene use is hazardous, what?! A friend told me about this today and I was shocked. I knew that continued use of ordinary 'disposable' water bottles such as Ice Mountain or the generic brand was not good to reuse, but Nalgenes? They're hip, cool, and everybody's got one. (Okay a lot of people have them). Apparently there is a chemical that is released in the plastic that can have an impact on the brain as well as reproductive hormones. This is also the case for baby bottles. Matt told me read about it and they purchased new baby bottles, but I didn't think it would apply to my beloved Nalgene seven years. The chemical released is BPA, which is espeically prevelant if bottles have #7 on the bottom. Check out the article link as well, which gives more details about certain numbers on bottles. I would also caution against the solution of always buying new Aquafina bottles because the amount of plastic used to make disposable water bottles for the USA would fuel hundreds of thousands of cars for a year. (I know an odd comparison, but it's equally environmentally detrimental.) Oh, and of course if you go to Nalgene's website they will say that #7 plastics are okay and BPA free. Hope you don't carry stock with plastic #7!
Stay informed!

http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/realmoney/articles/plastics.cfm

Please Pray for Pelican

Hi ladies - I write with some very sad news. You have maybe heard on the news that our high school band was in a bad bus accident this morning. My cousin Nichole (a junior bridesmaid in my wedding if you remember her) was in the accident, but thank God is fine. One small scratch. Others were not so lucky. One girl was killed in the accident. Her name is Jessica Weishair. She was in 9th grade. And though I didn't know her personally, I can't help but keep thinking about the fact that she's "Kim and Stacy's daughter". (family friends) And I think of all of you who have daughters and myself - and what it would be to lose a daughter. Unthinkable. Love those little love bugs with all your heart - and when you want to put your head through a wall (like I sometimes do) because they won't listen or cooperate, just stop and think of life without her. Unthinkable.

Hi Friends

Wow...it has been awhile since I have blogged, but I guess no news is good news. I feel like the time has flown by this winter, and I am so so so so so glad it is spring-like finally. Although, I hear that northern MN today will still not be spring-like...sounds more snow-like.
Well, let's see...not much has happened here, it has been a beautifully relaxing year so far. We are getting news from the superintendent in our district that we need to be cutting lots of money this year. Who knows what is going to happen...scary.
Other than that...Chris and I and some friends are going to northern CA in the end of June. That should be very fun. Tomorrow, Chris and I are going to the Twins game.
So...it is fun to hear from you all. Talk to you soon!
Breanna
This is kind of a random blog, but I just woke up...forgive me.

Hey Beauties!

Hello friends! I am SO glad March is over! Lent and Holy Week were much harder for me this year...not sure why, I think it was more personal than the actual tasks being any harder or time consuming. I'm still working on the middle school musical in EGF, but that's over in 2 weeks...yahoo! Otherwise-I'm daily challenged by my very argumentative 2-year-old-it took 5 tries to get her to bed tonight! And everything I say, for example "It's time to eat dinner!" is answered by "No, it is NOT time to eat dinner" and that is her response for everything I say! My mantra is "Its just a phase, its just a phase..." :)

So-at work I use this online meeting planner a lot-I have musicians fill it in so I know who is available from week-to-week. I thought it might help us land on a good weekend for the Festival, I agree that if it needs to be moved for the optimum amount of women to be there we should do that. I set up the Doodle to include all weekends in June and July (the dates listed are only Saturday-I figured you will all assume that the weekend could include Friday and Sunday too)...so fill in your info and we'll see what we get! :) http://www.doodle.ch/gw2p992aw8q6ihun

Hope we hear some more updates soon! Blog traffic has been light ladies!

Love to you all,

Elizabeth

A Wonderful Visit!!

Hi everyone!! How are all of you doing? Amanda, I have been thinking of you and how things are going being a working mom. How is your job? Are you enjoying your time away from mommy-land?
Speaking of mommy-land, Julia and I had the greatest visit up to Lake Park to meet Addyson Olivia Laux this week. An added bonus was getting to see Elizabeth and Micaela, too!! How exciting. Addyson is just the cutest little button, and of course, Lindsey is going a great job being a mommy. It was so fun to hold a little baby again!! :) Our visit was short and sweet, and now we're back in Wisconsin where the reality of going back to school tomorrow is not really very exciting at the moment. :)
Mr. Louie Lauer joined us for Easter last weekend!! It was soooo fun. He was on his way home from Gettysburg, PA, where his brother is currently living, so he made a pit-stop here on Friday night and we got to see him until Sunday afternoon!! It was so much fun. Louie is the same old Louie you will all be glad to hear. :)
So, the F-ing festival date that we have set is really the only one that will work for me, but that doesn't mean that you can't change it! As much as I'd love to see all of you, we should pick a weekend when MOST of us can come. Elizabeth had the idea to set up some sort of doodle or something on here so we could all give input... we'll have to see what that is when she gets to it, but it sounded helpful. :)
Well, not much else is new here...no news on the baby front here, which is sort of starting to bother me, but I am trying to be patient. I'm sure God knows what he's doing. :)
Anyway, I wish you all a great week!! Hopefully we'll be refreshed by the signs and smells of spring!!

Love you all,
Mandola

p.s. How strange/weird/freaky :) is it that like EVERYONE we know that is a Hoyum 7 mom has had girls? FUN, but a little weird, don't you think? :)

Not a good student.

I said Scanders taught me to add pictures, I never said I learned anything.

Set in Stone?

Is the weekend of June 14th for the F'ing Festival set in stone, or could that be changed to accomodate Miss Boerboom? What about the 7th? And, Scanders gave me a lesson in adding pictures to the blog - so here is my newest angel! (six months old already!!!) I'll add more next time I unload my camera!

P.S.

ONE MORE THING!

Mandola! The song "Falling Slowly" is one of my new FAVES!! I didn't realize that it had won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards!!! It is so amazingly beautiful and I could just sit and listen to it over and over again (ok, so sometimes I do because it is very comforting! :)). I have not yet seen the movie, but am looking forward to the next time we actually go to the video store so that we can rent it!

Thanks for the song, dear!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

Love,
SarahB

News from the southwestern corner of the state!

Hey all...

I haven't had anything too exciting to write as of late and therefore have just enjoyed reading more than writing in the blog...I do, however, have some news (both good and bad) to share with you.

The good news first: Seth got a new job! A GREAT job! He is now a Regional Sales Representative for USBank in Marshall and will be covering the Great Plains region, meaning we'll get to travel to exciting places like Iowa (ok, maybe not so exciting!) all the way down to Texas (SLIGHTLY more exciting!). There's more to the story surrounding how he came upon this position (he was approached by someone who currently works in that particular dept. who strongly suggested he apply b/c he would be a great fit!), but it gets to be very long and probably boring, so I'll just leave it at that. One of the reasons that this is very exciting is because it gives us a little bit more room to work with financially in the event that I would like to find a new job (SOON WOULD BE WONDERFUL!) and also in the case that we purchase a home..something we've been looking more seriously into recently.

The bad news next: I must admit that I've been procrastinating on telling you all this because it is indeed very sad. Seth and I will be in Estes Park, Colorado the weekend of June 13-15 for his best friend Jason's wedding. Jason and Lisa are some of our dearest friends (Jason was a groomsman in our wedding and he and Seth have been best buds since junior high) and Seth will be a groomsman in the wedding, while I will be singing for it. We are both SO excited about heading down there to be there for J and Lis, but I am SO INCREDIBLY SAD that I will not be able to be at this year's Fing Festival. :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:( I am not really even sure what else to add to this..I am just so sad and disappointed and I'm not sure that there's even a way to convey this over the blog. Just know that my heart hurts knowing I will not get to see all of you....:(:(:(

Other than those things..I LOVE keeping up on everyone's news with the blog..it's so great to read about the things going on in all of your lives! (I know I say that all the time, but I MEAN IT!) I think of each and every one of you often..I love you all so much.

SarahB

Chicken BBQ

Hello Amanda and all the ladies,

Here is the BBQ Chicken recipe from the F'n festival 2007! I'm almost certain I found it online and probably used a converter to get the recipe for a large group, because these are huge amounts! So, use your judgment if you're not serving this for many, many people. :)

6 chicken breasts
4 1/2 c. ketchup
9 TBL brown sugar
3 TBL Worcestershire sauce
3 TBL soy sauce
3 TBL cider vinegar
3 tsp hot pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

mix all ingredients in crock pot, add chicken last. cook on high 3-4 hours, then shred/cut chicken (I remember mandy and I thinking shredding the chicken would have been easier doing before it got all messy in the sauce, or you could just serve whole breasts)

And in response to Amanda's email-I think the camping sounds lovely! I did a camping trip with some friends over Labor Day and with some online sign-ups it was easy and no one had to bring a lot of stuff/food. I don't think location will be a problem for us either.

I brought Micaela into Urgent Care (after a VERY long day at church) because she has pink eye and a nasty viral cough and runny nose...gross! So, we're having a slow morning so I can decide about taking her to day care or not. Mandy-I told Micaela that Julia is using the potty and somehow she thinks I said we are going to Julia's house...we've had a few temper tantrums about that! :) I told her we'll see Julia when Lindsey's baby comes...hurry up baby laux! Scanders-my emotions are frustrated...Lent cannot be over soon enough for me, just a lot of miscommunication and mistakes (mostly, mine)! I actually really like Holy Week and then I feel like I can finally breathe come Easter. 2 more weeks....

Leap Day

Preface: It's after midnight and I've just had a fair amount of beer, so if I seem less coherent than normal, you will know why.

This week has been filled with lots of different emotions. School is fine, but I'm struggling with being excited with being purely academic. I continually look for more ways to have balance in my life (b/n school and the 'real world').

This week a friend from Kenya brother died. She's here and he's there, I can't imagine what it would be like to be so far away. They've uncovered that he was chemically poisoned...how awful!

One of my housemate's dad went into the hospital on Tuesday, and it looks like he's not going to get better. Their diagnoses are inconclusive at this point, and she is feeling unsure if she should travel home or not. Like me, her parents went through a divorce at a young age and she (like me) still struggles with some of the issues around that and the relationship with her dad.

On the flip side, I had the best time in a long time from 7-10 tonight. Because it's Leap Day (who really notices the extra day?), Student Services planned a campus wide Game Night. Staff, students, and faculty convened in the library to play a variety of games from Cranium to Catch Phrase to Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Pictionary, Taboo, cards, Bingo, Scattergories, and more. It was such a fun time! I think I will try to intiate this event more than once every four years.

Where have your emotions been? Do tell! Take care my wonderful friends!

Gall bladders, sunburns and blizzards...oh, my!

Hello my friends! I just got back from a week-long vacation in Austin, TX where my dear friend Annie lives. The adventure began before I even left-the plan was to pack on Tuesday night and leave Wednesday after work. Well, Tuesday I wasn't feeling well and all day I had this pain in my stomach that was getting worse and worse...after putting Micaela to bed I drove to the ER to find out I was having a gall bladder attack! After an ultra sound the Doc. said I had to have it out and I fell apart...then he said "Calm down, you can go to Texas and have it out when you come back!" So, with strong drugs in hand...I went home. Mandy and Scanders..the ER just isn't the same without you.

In Texas Annie had all these great ideas of fun things to do-we did a yoga class in a coffee house, took a Brazilian dance workshop, went to the Obama Rally, hit some really fun bars, took a hike, watched a really bad movie in a bar-movie theater (so cool!) went kayaking on Town Lake in 80 degree weather (that's where the sunburn came from), ate at all the best local spots (we both avoid franchise dining at all costs) and most wonderfully I reconnected with my amazing Annie. Annie and met in kindergarten and have been B/F/F ever since (yes, we still use that term) I think had I gone to visit her 2 years ago we would have been too different and not enjoyed the same kind of things. But, God has so lined the stars of our lives up-because this was just the most amazing trip with the most amazing friend. The travel home was a disaster with a blizzard in Chicago delaying my flights, so I didn't reach Minneapolis until 2am. Matthew came and picked me up so I slept in his attic for a few hours so I could drive home. This wouldn't have been so awful except I hadn't slept or eaten and there were SQUIRRELS running through the ceiling right over my head. He assured me they couldn't get in, but nothing is comforting at 4 am when you just want to sleep.

So, yesterday picking up Micaela after not seeing her for 6 days was the MOST FUN THING IN THE WORLD! She gave me the greatest, longest hug and continued to hold me hand or hug me all evening long. Sigh...I'm in love.

I hope you've enjoyed my story. I also will cast my vote for the camping in June! Sounds perfect! Love you all!

Elizabeth

Recipes

I love to cook and I love to try new recipes! (and lucky or unlucky for you, I love to share them!) I've had a fun couple of days and wish to pass the recipes on to you ... maybe this will be something I can contribute to the blog from time to time....call me Martha! :)

Chicken - Rice Taco Toss

1 lb chicken breasts, chopped (raw)
2 Tbls butter
2 C water
2 C Salsa
1 Can Whole Kernal Corn, drained
1 pkg chicken flavored rice

Saute the rice in the butter until golden brown. Add - water, salsa, chicken, corn and season packet from the rice. Bring to boil, simmer 10-20 minutes, until rice is tender, chicken is cooked and most of the liquid is gone. (cover for the first 10 minutes, then uncover to evaporate excess liquid)

To serve - place a small bed of shredded lettuce on each plate. Top with chicken mixture - then sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped tomato and guacamole or sour cream and finish off with crushed corn chips.

The whole family loved it!

Then - when your sweet tooth kicks in - you HAVE GOT to try this super healthy and DECEPTIVELY DELICIOUS muffin!

1 pkg lowfat brownie mix
3 cups All Bran Original cereal
2 1/2 Cups water
1 1/2 t baking powder

Soak the cereal in water for 5 minutes. Add powder and brownie mix and mix well. Place in paper lined muffin cups and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. These are delicious and only 120 calories, 1.75 g fat and 3 grams of fiber!!! Wahoo! Happy cooking everyone!

Congrats Amanda!

Congratulations on the new job, Amanda! Sometimes some of the best things just fall from the sky, or through the telephone.

Tomorrow will be the fourth day of the new semester and I'm already behind on my reading. This is not something I'm particularily proud of, but it happens. I completely misjudged the amount of reading I have due tomorrow for my pastoral care class (160 pages instead of 80, yes that's twice as much). And the funny thing about it is that we haven't even met as a class yet, tomorrow will be our first day. I've noticed that's common practice however. I'm not sure if that's a grad school thing, or something unique to the institution I currently attend.

Friday I had an interesting experience with a friend from Nigeria. He asked me to bring him to Brooklyn Park (a NW suburb) because he had accidently purchased two different sizes of shoes. I agreed that I could drive him and asked if he knew where it was. This is how our conversation went:
Sarah: Do you know where it (the store) is?
Festus: You don't know where Brooklyn Park is?
S: Yes, I know where it is, but where is the store?
F: Oh, you just go to Brooklyn Park, and it's right by the traffic light.
S: Do you know which traffic light?
F: Yeah, it's the second one.

Fortunately I got on the right street with the right set of traffic lights, and we were able to find the African market that was tucked away, bearly noticeable to those no familiar with the location. However, once inside I became aware the small store was frequently visited. I imagine there were 25-30 Africans there knowing exactly what they wanted and I was the lone white girl poking my nose around at all the different items. The afternoon with Festus progressed with some more unique experiences that I believe can only be had with an international individual. It's invaluable to be able to have the continued experiences with people from different cultures than our Western society which is so dominating.

In response to Amanda's proposal for camping at the Fing Festival, I'm all for it!!! I'm really for anything because I just like hanging out with all you lovely ladies as long as children is not the only topic of discussion. :)

How's everyone else doing?

Changes

Hello all! I know I haven't written in a very long while - but, here I am now! Life in Erhard is very exciting these days! First to update you on the offspring - Ella is in preschool this year and is loving it. Her teacher refers to her as "the little mother" - apparently, she's quite a caregiver to her classmates. She's four and acts fourteen - saying things like "it's like totally your turn dad" when playing Sorry with her dad. And oh - "whoa baby - way to go dad!" Also, while playing games with dad. She's a great help around the house - she's begs to wash the dishes all by herself. Don't be too jealous - I don't have a dishwasher, so she's the closest thing I have to relief in the kitchen! :) Oh, Marie - there's something about Marie. That kid is the funniest bunny in bunny town! She talks up a storm, but at the same time she has this real quiet goofiness to her - she's mischief all right! When the house gets quiet, mommy PANICS. Seriously. And baby Grace is growing up too quickly! She's rolling and getting her first tooth as we speak.
Now - on to ma and pa. Kevin drove 22 hours in a truck with three buddies to Texas to hunt wild boar. Yikes. He was gone for 10 days and had a WONDERFUL trip! Many a stories came home with him - however, no pig. On the other hand - my husband is currently locating a very special taxidermist. One who could mount an ARMADILLO. Yes - I am the proud owner of a Texas Armadillo! And some people think we're just a bunch of rednecks here east of Erhard!
And as for me - I have some major changes taking place in my life. Last Monday - I received a phone call informing me that a bank in Pelican was interested in interviewing me for a position as a personal banker. At first I sort of laughed, because I have it pretty good right now home with the kids and teaching lessons. But - after much MUCH deliberation, I decided to interview for it and they offered me the job. After much MUCH more deliberation, I accepted it! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So - long story short, I'm going to be done teaching lessons at the end of this month and start at the bank on Scanders birthday. I don't know 100% that I'm ready for this, but it's too good of an opportunity not to at least give it a try. I'm ready to stake a claim as a woman and not JUST a mom - being a mom is the most important thing in my life - but to able to separate myself from that and the puke that I have running down my back 10 out of every 12 hours each day is something that I'm ready for. So - this is an adventure that I'm very excited about! Big changes here!
My other big change is my adventure to capture health! I have discovered a workout video that I absolutely love and has got me walking my butt off! It's Leslie Sansone - walk away the pounds! I have to say, it has worked wonders, and it's really fun! I've walked about 200 miles in my home since Grace was born! It's helped me to lose all the baby weight, but even more importantly, I know I'm doing something for my health! I have so much energy and I feel so good! I encourage you to try it! The best part - Ella does it with me - so she's learning the importance of exercise! She has fun doing it - and likes to think she's better than me at marching in place! It's great!
Anyway - I need to get my butt off to bed! I hope all is well with everyone - it's fun to check this blog out from time to time and see what everyones up to! We are looking forward to the F'n Festival too! I know I'm still fairly new to this whole thing - but I have one thought to share! What about a seriuos campout? Like, hit a state park ( there's a great one right here! ) - we have a camper and we could teach the kids to pitch a tent! I'm talking - cook our meals outside with all the bugs and coon and roast marshmallows before bedtime! You probably are cringing at the thought, but if you're not - let me know! :)

Once

Hi girls!  

   Okay, so last weekend, David and I saw the movie "Once" and it was so good.  I had never heard of it, and at first I was crabby that he came home with some weird movie but it was GREAT!!  The music is incredible.  I KNOW that all of you will love it, so it is now your assignment to go get this movie.  :)   If you YouTube the words "Once: Falling Slowly"  you will hear my favorite song from the whole movie.  It makes me want to cry it is so beautiful. :)   WATCH IT!!

   Okay, that's it.  I hope that all of you Minnesotans are going to caucus on Tuesday.  I did it last time and it was FUN!! :)  It might seem a little scary, but its cool to hear what people think.  I encourage all of you to try it.  You will learn something! :)

Okay, those are my two plugs for the night.  I love you and miss you all.  Watch the movie. 

Love,

  Mandy

    

The Vonderful Visit!

Hey beautiful babes! Today in East Grand Forks it is -15, but with windchill it feels like -32! There is an advisory to not go outside for long periods of time...WHO LIVES LIKE THIS? So, I'm holed up with Micaela all day today...yikes. We had a great time travelling to Packer-land with Lindsey. I was nervous for the long drive, but both ways were easy and went pretty fast! I borrowed a DVD player for the car from a friend and I have to say it saved my life! After the sun went down we just popped in a movie and had smooth sailing.

It was very fun to watch the 2-year olds bonding-here are a couple more pictures. Its really sad we didn't get any pics of the three grown up girls! :)

So, in our many hours in the car, Lindsey and I were brainstorming about the F'n festival. And here was our thought...what if we did like a Como Park/Zoo party? And then get a couple of extended stay hotel rooms (With a pool) near by? It would mean a little more $$ but if we filled the rooms to capacity, it really wouldn't be so bad. Then we'd have enough room for everyone, and kitchens for cooking if needed. We'd have kid space...and more importantly NON-kid space and there would be no planning/pressure on anyone.

That's just one idea-if someone would like to plan something more eleborate...that could work too!

Okay, time for lunch! Hope you're all staying warm! Mwah!

e

The Vonderful Visiters :)

Hi everyone! I just wanted to post a quick one here and show you the fun times had by all last weekend here in Green Bay. :) Elizabeth, Micaela, and Lindsey made the rediculously long trip out here and we had a great time!! Micaela and Julia got along so well. They had fun playing, as you can see. They pretended to be puppies, chased Elizabeth into the bathroom, make brownies, and laughed and laughed. Their conversations were something to listen to. :)
Anyway, I hope that you are all doing well!!! It is going to SNOW her tomorrow, enough for a potential snow day. I'm crossing my fingers. :) Have a great rest of the week. Are you going to cheer for the Packers this weekend? I am! Don't knock it! Its exciting!! :)

Love you ladies very much,
Mandola

Looking back, looking ahead

Looking back:

I had a nice time in St. Louis, MO visiting Matt, Sarah, and Katherine. I think I shocked everyone when I told them I didn't want to have kids. No, I wasn't going for the shock effect, but it's interesting when everyone thinks that it's a common goal to have children. It's good to clear the air. This however doesn't mean it might not happen some day. I did have a lot of fun with Katherine; I look forward to their move to MN in August and my potential move to St. Louis in May. (I'll keep you updated.)

Looking ahead:

The 3rd annual Friends, Fun, and Frolic Festival falls on the weekend of June 13-15. Mark your calendars! We had a great turnout last year and we can only hope for just as much action this year.

BO

Hi everyone!
First of all, let me say that there surely IS an open invitation to ANYONE who wants to join Elizabeth and Lindsey on their trek to WI this weekend. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see you!! AND, there is a play-off Packer game this weekend which will make the whole experience even more fun. :)
How is everyone? Things are are sort of calming down after a long holiday season. It has been so fun to be around Julia over Christmas. Yesterday in the car, Julia asked me if Jesus was born in Minnesota. :) I just about died laughing!! I suppose since we were with my mom and dad for the holidays she thought Jesus really was born there. Funny what she can think up in that brain of hers. :) I posted a bunch of pictures on her blog from Christmas time, so if you want to check them out, the address again is severtsons.blogspot.com
And now for the BO title of this blog entry. I am super pumped about BARACK OBAMA!!! I just realized as I was writing this that he has unfortunate initials. Mabye PMS would be worse. Anyway, I didn't know how he would fare, but I am very excited, inspired, and hopefull that something wonderful might happen this election!! Yeah!! :) :) :) :)
Well, I could blab about more, but you'd probably be bored. Oh yeah, I got an aquarium for Christmas!! I got it set up last night, but have to wait a few days to put the fish in. It will be so fun to take care of many fish instead of our lone goldfish in a bowl.
Ok, that's it. Come and visit if you can!! :)

Love you and miss you all,
manders ( a name which JULIA frequently calls me!! :)

Whew!

I've survived Christmas! It was a close one this year-and I'm glad to have a couple of quiet days to regroup. For some reason it was harder to work on during the Holiday-probably because Micaela is old enough to be excited about it and I didn't want to miss fun activities like cookie decorating....oh, well!

So, I'm really sad to not be seeing any of you this Holiday season and I've been thinking about some alternative ideas....let me know what you think about this thoughts:

1. We get a couple of extended stay rooms in the Twin Cities for a weekend in Feb-March. Its easy to have kids there and more room than your average hotel room. My Dad and I did this for an Oct. wedding and it was affordable and really nice (full kitchen, pool). I bet with advance planning we could find a weekend that would work!

2. Do Bible camps rent out cabins/rooms during the winter? Would Luther Crest or GLBC (?) have some options for us? Maybe alumns could pull some strings?

3. You all trek up to EGF to stay at the Damico family resort :)

Lindsey and I are traveling to WI in a couple weeks to see Mandy :) maybe that could be a 4th option for anyone that wants to join us (if that's okay with Mandy....guess I shouldn't invite a party to someone else's house....he he he)

Well, I'm going to knit and watch a movie tonight---another hot Friday night! :) Love you all!

Elizabeth

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone....
Well, we were going to get together on Saturday night/ Sunday morning. However, that is probably not going to work for people. So, maybe we should just call it off for now and wait until all people can get together.
What do you think?
Elizabeth has to work on Sunday and I haven't heard from Mandy yet.
Let me know.
Love,
Breanna

I would be available any of those days. Christmas with the Becthold family has been scheduled for the 23rd, which is when we will be in Walker, so that weekend is free. I also got a Christmas card from my grandma that says "Have your friends decided if they are meeting here? Fine with me :)"
How cute is she. I would like to see her anyway since we are not going to be able to make it to Osakis for Christmas this year :(.
Or, anyplace would work for me. Just let me know so I check on availability of Grandma's house, etc. I would love to see you all.
Happy almost Christmas!

I swear that deep down I am a Grinch

Hello all -

Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa (or whatever might be your taste) Greetings to ALL! I was just chatting with Seth about the last weekend in December (we unfortunately/fortunately have family Xmas' stuff going on until then), and we determined that we are probably going to be around the Twin Cities area for that weekend! If anyone else is around/available, I have a family Christmas in Fairmont on Saturday the 29th, but would be available Sunday to get together for at least a little while somewhere around Minneapolis driving distance. Unfortunately (and I really mean UNFORTUNATELY) other than that I am completely unavailable for the next few weeks/weekends due to both family things and WORK. Yay for Corporate America once again. (I just had this conversation with Scanders earlier this evening!) This is by far our busiest time of the year, so even THINKING about asking for time off would be rather ridiculous. The thing is, sometimes I just think that seriously, honestly, from the bottom of my HEART, deep down I am truly a Grinch. Well, maybe not a GRINCH, but I am not a big Christmas person. I just get tired of the whole "I deserve this! I want THIS!" or the pressure to buy certain gifts for people (namely me!). I just think the whole concept is rather ridiculous. I would rather that people spend their money on things that are FAR more important than me, especially those people who are spending too much money around this time of year anyway. It's just not really my thing. Ok, I am done venting about how I truly feel about Christmas...I hope I haven't been too much of a Debbie-Downer for the evening.
Let me know what y'all think about the last weekend in December (which other people have mentioned as well! :)) and we'll try and get something planned!!

Love and hugs,
Sarah

I saw this on a man's shirt

Chess:

Proof that one woman can do

more damage than 13 men...

and two horses

Maybe you should stay home

Yikes. Maybe you should stay home for awhile, Sarah. Sounds like a bummer of a day! :) I think things will get better.
Being around after the 27th will be tough for me. Possible, but tough. David and I are planning on driving back to WI on New Year's Eve morning so we have one full day of "recovery" at home before we have to go back to work on the 2nd. The 28th, 29th, and 30th could work, but I will be in Iowa with that part of my family for the weekend. I could leave them to come and see you, and I might even get the "go ahead, you deserve it!" card, so if that works out, I'm there. :) Anything after that will not work for me, though.
Does this help? As for Breanna's suggestion about a weekend later, we could try that, too, although I'm POSITIVE I'll have to bring Julia with because David has a recital and series of concerts coming up for the next two months, and I KNOW that getting away just to pee will be a challenge. :) Fun times.
There's my two cents!

Love you lovely ladies!!
Fa la la la la la la la la.

Mandola

A 2nd option

Hello friends,

Yikes-stress, sadness and car troubles...we really need to get together so we can spread peace, joy and of course, Mandy will fix any car troubles you have! :)

So, if option one isn't working out...what about Dec. 29th or 30th or New Year's eve? Mandy, are you still around? I could take that Sunday off (the 30th) and be pretty available that weekend, I think!

Elizabeth

short end of the stick

Do you know anyone who always seems to have some sort of drama happening to them, either self-incured or not? Well, the last week and a half, I feel like I have had some mini-drama taking place. Here's the scoop:
Okay, so yes, I was hit on Thanksgiving on the interstate and thankful for that, but it has made me a bit more cautious in driving, especially in construction zones. Well, the day after Thanksgiving I had some work done on my car that ended up costing me quite a bit more than I expected. One of the maintenance repairs was balancing my tires, which was needed badly. A week later, I was driving on the interstate and there was a crash that had just taken place and the cars were on the shoulder. Well, when I realized what was going on, there was no time to swerve into the other lanes because they were full and I had to drive over a bunch of glass. Along comes Monday night when I had to pick up someone from the airport and lo and behold I've got a flat tire. The tire got changed last night, and of course the spare was low, but I hobbled to the repair shop this morning. Thankfully I didn't need a new tire and the expense was minimal. However, upon going to my car in the lot, I did not notice a metal piece sticking out of the car next to me. So my thigh met the metal and ripped a favorite pair of my jeans and cut my leg. Lastly, as I was driving home, it occured to me that the steering wheel was not centered so I'm thinking I'll have to get my tires balanced once again. Short end of the stick. Thanks for reading about my drama. :)

Howdy

How are we all doing today? Well, I know that the holidays can be a crazy busy time. Should we do a gathering some other time on a weekend when we can all be there? I mean, honestly, I would love to see all of you, but I am already stressed out about the traveling and stuff that are involved with the holidays. However, if the few of us that can get together want to, that is fine too.
Just a thought.
I love the new blog. I think it is very pretty and feminine.
Talk later.

Hello Girlies!

Hello, hello! I do have to admit that it's been a little while since I checked the blog (I am unable to access it at work and we've just gotten everything set up and worked out with our cable/internet provider in Cottonwood) and I was quite aghast at the new design! (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA In a GOOD way, of course!!!) I seriously think it's VERY cool - it just threw me off when I first got into it - I thought I had maybe made a mistake or something! Anyway, first of all, please know that I am alive and well, and although these past few months have been very difficult for me, also know that I still love each and every one of you. For those of you who don't know, Seth and I went through a very, very, VERY rough time this summer/fall. It's a very long story to tell it all, but to update you all, we are doing much, much better. It FINALLY feels like we are back to normal and back to "us," if that makes any sense! :) I also want to apologize to all of you for not staying in touch..for some reason that still doesn't QUITE make sense to me: through all of the difficult times, I didn't want to talk to ANYONE. It was so strange for me because as you all know I very much am an open book when it comes to my emotions. Anyway, for some reason, the things we were going through were too difficult for me to talk to anyone about. And I truly mean that: anyone. Please do not think that I care less about any of you or that any of you seems somehow to mean less to me: that's not it AT ALL. I don't really know how to explain it - I just hope you can all try to understand and still love me! :) Ok, so beyond that: Seth and I are now living in Cottonwood and really enjoying it. The snow this weekend was an awesome excuse to stay in our house all day on Saturday and do absolutely NOTHING! :) HOW FUN! (Sometimes it's just necessary for me to have an excuse to do nothing!) Other than that, there has not really been a whole lot new here...life goes on day by day..I got another promotion at the bank so I am now a Service Manager 2 (one step higher than I was before). That was a fun and unexpected surprise! Ok, stop blabbing, Sarah..the last week in December is, of course, one of our busiest weeks at the bank - I work that whole week (besides the 25th) and will be unavailable until that weekend (meaning Friday evening). Let me know what final plans are and I will see what I can do, ok? I hope you're all doing well. I am so incredibly thankful for all of you. There isn't a single day that goes by that I don't think of each of you!!!! I LOVE YOU!!! SBooms

a quick note

Regrettably, I will be unable to meet during that week in December. I'm going to be in St. Louis from the 22-29ish, having fun hanging out with Katherine. Oh, and Matt and Sarah. Sorry.

Elizabeth- I received some good advice when I felt on the fence about MA or MDiv. Go for the MDiv from the beginning as it is easier to switch tracks later on. Of course that might not be quite the same for MSM, but I can still see some validity. I'd love to talk more about it with you - I'll try to call soon.

On another note - does anybody like the different look? There has been no response so I'm inclined to think you're just wimpy and not willing to share your thoughts, or you're indifferent. Take care!

Yay!

Ms. Severtson-do I get extra credit for responding early and doing my homework on the weekend? The proposal sounds PERFECT-I can make it any of those nights, if I had to choose I first pick I'd say Thursday the 27th would be the best for me. I'm so glad you all said after Christmas, because I work everyday between now and Dec. 25th @ noon. Then I'm free as a bird!

Scanders-seriously I am so thankful you are alright, this might be the first time we're all thankful you follow the speed limit. :)

I went to the Concordia concert on Friday night with a group from my church-it was surreal to be back there and seeing everything. I cut through the music building on my hike from the car and got to see Dr. Clausen...then I watch the flurry of the robes and black dresses in the cabinent room for a second. The smell of Memorial alone brought back so many great memories. Then I walked past our house-which is painted an ugly color, but it looks in better shape than it did 2 years ago. Mandy-do you remember how much time you spent sitting in front of the mirror taking out your nose ring for the recorded concert? Ouch.

So, these past 2 weeks have been filled with confusing thoughts for me! I've had a few important people in my life encourage me to consider the MDiv program at Seminary (so I can be more like Scanders!). I have thought about ordained ministry since Concordia and am wondering if I should change courses. The Sacred music program is still very appealing to me, but something isn't sitting right...and whenI think about the big picture of my life, I think that ordination might be in the future. Wow. So-this week I will begin moving on these thoughts and see what happens. I'd appreciate any prayers because thinking about all of this and moving and being Micaela's mom and being single and divorced...its a lot to think about.

We have our first blizzard over the weekend and I'm not even crabby about it. I think it was nice of God to give us a whole month off from winter, no snow until December is pretty crazy! So, I'm welcoming it so far...give me a week and I'm sure I'll be crabby about it.

I'm excited to see you all soon! :)

Elizabeth

A Christmas Gathering?

Hi ladies! Happy last week of December! Ahhh, the week of CRAZY rehearsals in Memorial Auditorium. Fun times. For real. :)
I don't have a lot of time, but I must express my complete thankfulness that you are okay after the car-accident, Sarah!! That must have been scary. I know that we are all said a prayer of thanks that it wasn't something way worse. We love you! :)
Breanna and I talked on the phone tonight (I feel so lucky!), and we were discussing some get-together things. Being married teachers with family far away, we came up with this: The days we have open are basically the Wed, Thurs, or Friday after Christmas. The Friday would be pushing it for me, but I could maybe pull it off. :) Breanna's grandma is up for hosting a partay at her place in Osakis if that would be a good central spot for everyone! It could be an over-night slumber party, a lunch and lazy afternoon, or whatever it is that works for people so we could see each other for ANY amount of time. :)
So, it is now your assignment to respond to this as soon as you can. :) 10% of your grade will be docked for each day late after Monday. he he
I hope that we can come up with something!!

Love you all!!
Mandola

absence

Has the new look frightened everyone off from posting? I know you all have plenty to say - let's hear it.

a little extra thanks

Yesterday our family shared in a little extra thanks as my grandpa and I entered my aunt's house for Thanksgiving. We were driving on I-94 and before we knew it, another car side-swiped us. I'm sure we were going at least 60 mph, because that's at least what I drive on that road. But the impact was not significant enough to injure anyone, just enough to damage the side of my mom's car. As we were waiting for the state trooper to arrive and then later for the police report, the words of my mom popped into my head, "Always go to the bathroom before you leave home." The funny thing is that I thought of carrying out that action before I left to pick up my grandpa, but I figured I would be fine on the drive down to his house and then up to my aunt's. Needless to say, that was the first thing I did when we finally got to our destination.

How was Thanksgiving for everyone else? Any out-of-the-ordinary foods and/or experiences?

Fair Trade

For one of our weekly forums, I arranged for a speaker to come from Equal Exchange to discuss the topic of Fair Trade in our world. I did this in anticipation of a Fair Trade Fair I'm arranging on campus which will be the week after Thanksgiving. I'm excited for the things I ordered and also for what other vendors are bringing. That aside, I found the information our speaker shared to be highly insightful. And as a consumer, I find an inner debate constantly taking place in the products I buy. Yes, I want to buy products that are fairly traded because then it means the workers might actually be receiving a living wages, it supports local business/farmers, and hopefully allows for stronger economies to be built in suffering countries. But what I discovered today, is that is not necessarily what is happening.

At the store a person can find 'Fair Trade' products many places. But what does that really mean? Do Starbucks and Wal-Mart really carry Fair Trade products? What do you think? Well, the answer is yes, both large, multi-million dollars industries carry Fair Trade. Great, right? Not exactly. What this means is that a small percentage of the products (sometimes as little as 1%) are purchased fairly traded so they are able to put on a good face for the consumer. The reason they are willing to buy Fair Trade, which is not as profitable, is due to the fact that they're using subsidies from their other products to fund the Fair Trade ones.

I think this is a real problem. One possible solution our presenter shared was having some sort of percentage mandate on much of a companies sales are Fair Trade if they really want to present themselves as ethical companies paying living wages to farmers. Another suggestion: since Fair Trade products are generally more expensive, thus excluded part of the population, grocers should raise prices of all their products. Before you're quick to negate that option, hear me out. The low prices that we pay for groceries barely pays for the workers that are harvesting, packing, producing, and transporting our food. Most of the money is in the hands of the brokers. So, if grocers charged a higher price, they would thus be saying they care about the farmer and their living wage. A follow-up concern to this of course is, "I can no longer afford to buy groceries because they're expensive." Perhaps this would force us to take a look at another pressing issue: a liveable wage. If people aren't able to pay for their groceries, then there's something to be said about how the society isn't supporting them? Or, perhaps we're importing too many of our products. I understand that MN is not sustainable in growing bananas and other common foods we like to have, like coffee. However, why can't a bulk of our produce come from small, local agricultural communities? If this happened, it would also cut down on fuel cost/CO2 emission from shipping products across the globe as well. All of these things, rest on the fact that some large companies would actually take the time to think about people and what might be best for communities. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's and upward climb from where we're at.

Hi Amanda!

Manda, Okay, you promised pictures of all the beautiful girls-I'm excited to see them!

Breanna and Scanders-I would love to spend time with you in Dec. 6-7 but I don't think I can make it down to the Cities anytime soon-since I'll be down there after Christmas and again in January for Luther stuff. Lindsey and I are going to try and get together that weekend if you feel like traveling north :)

So-just in case we don't make a gathering possible before Christmas...here is a question. What about a New Year's Eve bash? Probably in the Cities since that's maybe the most central....although Breanna's grandma's place is a nice location too (if that's an option). What does everyone think about that?

I'm just getting over the flu, which was awful. Of course I got it Fri-Sat-Sun..the days Micaela doesn't go to daycare, so I feel guilty she had a very boring weekend of books and movies while I laid on the couch (or ran to the bathroom every 10 min)...blah. Now I'm at work and lacking the motivation to get anything done. Oh well! This weekend the Youth Choirs I direct are doing a Cantata of the "Tale of the Three Trees" I'm so nervous. There is a lot to be done between now and Sunday!

Its been great to read every one's post...I love checking this thing! Take care all!

e

Hello all!

Hi! Welcome Amanda!!! It is fun to hear about life on the "farm"! Lindsey...CONGRATS! How exciting. Others.....hi.
Well. I vote Dec. 7th ish. I will be in the Cities with Sarah attending the Concordia Christmas concert on Thursday of that week and took Friday off, so I could just stick around. Let me know what is up with that. On Nov. 16th ish, I will be going to watch my little sister (who has a boyfriend...weird) play Peter Pan! FUN!
Ok, all is well here.
Love you!

Cock-a Doodle!

How exiciting is this? Thank you Sarah B for introducing me to this blogging business...I have this cousin, love her to death, but she's always talking about this thing called 'blog' and I kinda figured it was some sort of teenager weird thing, but it turns out it's not! And thank you Sarah A for inviting me and getting me hooked up. This could be a little fun!
So, I just got in from picking eggs. It's about 9:30 pm and silly Kevin forgot to pick eggs today. So, I'm out there with my flashlight and the goose (yeah, there's a goose too) freaked out on me and the other goose (yeah, there are two geese) honked so loud I about had a heart attack and so did the duck, have a heart attack, (yeah, there's a stinking duck too). But the two geese, Hank and Johnny as in Jr. and Cash are moving out tomorrow and they're taking Loretta, as in Lynn, with them! Wahoo! Those are some messy creatures! So, I'm picking eggs after dark...aah the life of a hobby farmer wanna be! It's been our family project. A few years ago, Kevin and I decided it would be fun to raise chickens and our own eggs. I seriously go through roughly 70 dozen eggs a year doing cakes, maybe even more and with egg prices these days we're saving thousands! :) So, after much debating, we finally took the plunge. Kevin built a chicken coop. It's not just any chicken coop - it cost our entire tax return and then some, with better windows than my house and a roof that will last much longer than the roof over my head. Kevin never does ANYTHING at less than 100% when it comes to stuff like this. My neighbors have nicknamed it the Taj-maCoop. It's been wonderful though, and the whole project has brought our family closer together. It's something that we do together each day - feed the chickens, pick the eggs and give them their daily petting. Kevin even named one Mandy. I think she's hooking up with Sven, the rooster, so she doesn't care too much about us these days! So, if you're in the area, bring the kids by the petting zoo for a little fun!
If you're looking for Halloween fun next year, come to Pelican Rapids! My husbands employer throws a "boo bash" for school age and younger kids. They basically turn the entire warehouse into a giant Halloween party with games, hot dogs, those big blowy upy things that kids can climb on and everyone dresses up. Kevin said they had nearly 1000 kids there this year! They get to do a little "trick or treating" and end up with like 5 tootsies in a bag. They give them other fun things instead, like stickers and tatoos, (press on of course) and spider rings and stuff like that. Anyway - just a hoot of fun! Or perhaps a cock-a-doodle of fun! :)
All the kids are well! Grace is growing up too fast and so are the other too. Time seems to be moving faster than ever! I'll get pictures on here next time!
So, this is so great! I'm going to be writing more soon - but for now - Lindsay congratulations! Mandy good luck! Sarah, come back! :) I miss you already! Thanks again for the great visit! Hope everyone is well and we'll talk more soon!

Love -
Amanda

The Stranger from De Pere

Hi everyone! I am finally sitting down and writing to you all. It is a miracle, I know. I know I've been a slacker, but I promise it is not that I'm lazy. :) We finally got a new computer, and every freakin' time I sit down at it, I feel like a big fat moron. We got a Mac, and it is beautiful, but its been awhile since I've run one, and there are definitely a lot of differences. Anyway, it took me about a week just to figure out how to get our pictures onto a website. So, I did the grandparent blog first, as they've been desperately wanting pictures of their darling. :) And I finally have time now to get to my favorite peeps. :)
First of all, Congrats Lindsey on your baby girl!!! How fun!! Elizabeth is right...sort of weird that we're all on the girl train here. There will be a new generation of Hoyum 7's! Wow! Its like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants--the mom's were friends, and then the daughters become friends. How sentimental. Ha. :) And it is fun to hear that things are going well for the rest of you. Moving...seeing babies...all very exciting.
Well, as you may have seen by the pictures on the "other" blog, we have had a whirlwind month here. Julia has been keeping us busy. She is soooo talkative now that it is sort of weird. She had her 2 year check-up on Friday, and the Doc was like, "Oh my gosh!" She says words like, "actually," and phrases like "This morning I sang a Raffi song!" It sort of freaks me out. She just listens to absolutely EVERYTHING she hears, and had some sort of alienish brain to remember it all. Today I made the mistake of saying "I don't care, Julia, you need to clean up your toys." And then I got "I don't care, Mommy," about 16 times. Stupid mommy! Other than the weird talking, she seems to be normal. She loves to laugh, play, and lately, she is really singing a lot.
David has been very busy lately, which is good for him, but sort of hard on me. He was gone basically all weekend. That means that Julia and I are home together all the time, and I tend to get a little stir crazy. Hopefully his schedule will calm down a little bit. He is doing great things, and I am proud of him, but it is still hard to be the little woman at home. Not a role I'm used to or am particularly fond of.
A few weeks ago we went to Door county with our friends Micah and Pete who came out to visit. Door county was fun in the summer, but man, it is soooo beautiful in the fall. It was actually breath-taking. We had a fun day driving around and seeing the sights. I also made the trip to Granite Falls a few weeks ago, during our "MEA" break. I actually took one of the days to go to a music convention in Madison, and then drove like a lunatic to arrive in GF at 12:30 am on Friday. It was great to be there for two days anyway. It is hard to be so far away from family and friends. I got to see my sis play volleyball which was really fun. Her team made it to the section finals last night, where they were sooooo close to winning against a 6-time-in-a-row State Tournament Team. The match went to 5 games, and all games were close. I was just itching to be there. Bummer dude.
My job seems to be getting better. We end the quarter on Wednesday, so we'll see how many of my kids drop choir. :) I think I'm starting to know them better, and they're starting to get me. :) I think anyway. It's still hard, but I'm getting used to it and actually enjoy it some days.
I don't have much exciting news to share. I did take a pregnancy test about a month ago and it said it was positive, and I was so excited until a week later I got my period. I had to go to the doctor, only to feel like a moron...to make a long story short, the pregnancy tests today are very sensitive, and I was "pregnant" but the doctor thinks that the egg never implanted. So, I was pregnant enough to pass a test and make my period a week late, but that was it. So, more of the fun times to come. :) I'll let you know when/if the big + sign appears again, but I'll probably wait awhile in case this happens again. It kind of sucked, but life goes on. :)
I am all about getting together! We will be in MN for a majority of Christmas break, so that is the time that works best for me. it is a little hard to get to MN for a weekend, but if it were in the Cities, I could possibly make it. Northern MN would be a no-go for a short time-frame. Sorry...
Well, I'm getting a little droopy, so I'm going to go. I miss all of you so much and just revel in reading this blog. Keep the posts coming!!

Love,
MJ

p.s. Elizabeth-- I was not going to get a costume for Julia, either, until her daycare announced that they were going to be having a big party, and everyone should be dressed up! Julia was a little freaked out...I think she had fun a daycare, but the trick-or-treating thing was kind of weird. And do I want her to eat all of that candy? No! Don't let anyone feel like you're a bad mom. I think you're great. :)

Look at all that action!

Wow-I didn't check the blog for a few days and look what happened! (Its like when you go to the bathroom at a restaurant and when you come back your food has magically appeared)

Lindsey-thank God you're having a girl! I think we have enough specimen's for a investigation of Hoyum 7...what did they do to us?

Mandy-I also just checked out your blog. Wow-that's the cutest witch I've ever seen! Micaela was nothing for Halloween, she doesn't even know it happened and that doesn't make me a bad mom, it just makes me a mom that works late on Wednesdays! (sorry-that rage is not directed at you, but at the countless disappointed reactions I get when people ask me what M was for Halloween...seriously people, its not like I missed the birth of Jesus).

A gathering? Really? How about Nov 16-17? I know that's soon, but that's what I got. Or December 7-8 (we could celebrate a certain lovely lady's Bday).

Life up here is funky-that's the best word I could find. We've moved into my Dad's place, which was an undertaking I was SO unprepared for. I'm still not unpacked or feeling very settled. Work is okay...feeling a little unmotivated these days honestly.

Micaela is doing fine, sorta of used to the new place. Although to prolong bedtime or get what she wants she's now using the tactic "Talk to papa" as in "let me go upstairs and ask Papa and he'll give me whatever I want." Really fun.

Okay, I'll stop posting now because apparently I'm crabby. But I really do hope a Gathering happens soon. Shall we begin the voting? My ballot is cast above.

Some new news...

Hey, ladies! I love reading about what's been going on in everyone's lives. Sarah B., congrats on the move! Sarah A., congrats on the niece! Breanna, I was very sad to read about your student; it is so tragic when someone dies so young. Mandy, I recal a Friends episode where VapoRub was used to spice things up. :) Sorry I haven't posted in a while; we live in the land of no high speed internet, and apparently my employer has decided this should be a "blocked site", so I haven't been able to catch up lately. As far as a gathering, yes! We should do that! And I would definitely love to volunteer my house, if people don't mind driving to Lake Park. However, I would be equally happy to travel anywhere else as well.

Ryan and I had our first ultrasound yesterday. Our baby is a healthy, normally developing little girl! I kind of had a feeling she would be a girl, but I'm super excited to know for sure.

Hope all is well with everyone. Take care!
Lindsey

Help!

Hello dears!

I am writing to request your assistance! I am sitting as we speak at Amanda Backstrom's home, east of Erhard, MN, and we were just discussing the fun details of the blog. Our dear friend, however, does not have access to our wonderful blog, and I am COMPLETELY unfamiliar with how to get someone else added as a user/author. Is there someone out there who may be able to help us in this matter??? Please? PRETTY please?! :) Manda is VERY excited about the idea of joining and I know we would all LOVE to have her join us! Her email address is akbackstrom@yahoo.com, if that helps at all.

Ok, we are heading out to Robbie's birthday party (remember freshman year, Scanders or Elizabeth?!)...so either email Manda or let me know what I can do to help! Thanks so much, lovely ladies!

Love you!
SB
P.S. Grace is BEAUTIFUL! :) (just like her mom and big sisters!) :):):)

Grandma Vonnie

Yes, that is right. The world's coolest Grandma has given me permission to use her house sometime to have a get together. I think this area is a good location. Let me know your thoughts!

November

Do you know that last November there were several days above 60 and even one above 70. I can't help but feel that this year will be the same. While I don't want to complain about this because when I walk around campus I enjoy not having a bulky coat, I can't help but think of global warming. How can any one deny what is happening to our environment?
This weekend my dad is turning 60 so I'm coing to Alexandria. Sometimes I think it's strange to think of my parents growing older - especially now that they're grandparents. Here's a photo of when Katherine was here a couple of weeks ago.