Happy Birthday Nick!

Nick, Nicole & Tara

I just wanted to wish my brother a happy 25th birthday. I feel so lucky to have such a great brother. Maybe because I just have one brother, makes him seem more special, but Nicole and I sure think he's neat. I can't believe he is 25, but I guess I did just turn 29, which I can't believe either. Nick, we miss you lots and can't wait until we see you next month. We hope you have a great day even if you do have to work and go to school. Nick is the best brother anyone could ask for and I hope this year will be a wonderful year for him. We wish you great success in school and in life this year. I love you lots and miss you just as much!

The Bowdens visit

We had visitors for the second time this month. The Bowdens, friends from Bozeman, came to see us last Friday, and they stayed for three days. We had such a great time with them and we felt so lucky that they made the effort and the drive to come see us, especially with the way gas prices are these days. We got up bright and early (early for Jon & I) Saturday morning and we drove up to St. Paul. Jared and Lorae wanted to see the St. Paul temple and they also wanted to take advantage of being at the temple to do sealings. Jon and I stayed outside with the kids while Jared and Lorae did sealings for an hour. After the temple, we drove in to St. Paul to the Como Zoo & Conservatory, and it was a zoo trying to find a place to park. Once we finally found parking we, really enjoyed our time there. We got to see all sorts of animals, monkeys being the favorite. We also got to go in a butterfly exhibit. It was an enclosed area with many tropical plants and all different kinds of butterflies flying around. It was really neat! We also walked around the conservatory where we saw all kinds of pretty plants and gardens. The zoo was really fun, but the kids were more than ready to leave. From there we went to the Minnesota Science Museum. What a neat museum? Lorae and I really enjoyed the area where we learned about different illnesses. The kids got to do a lot of hands on stuff from discovering diseases to creating a tornado. We ended our trip to the museum with a tour of the dinosaurs, which Danny thoroughly enjoyed. Sunday was a much needed relaxing day. We also celebrated my birthday by having birthday cake and ice cream. As you can see from the pictures Ruthie really enjoyed her cake and ice cream. Monday was another fun filled day. We went to the park for a couple of hours and had lunch. When we got home, the kids got to run through the sprinklers and then we ended the day with a yummy BBQ at another park with friends from the ward. Jared and Aaron Budge (Aaron is in our ward in Mankato) grew up together, so we go together for dinner, so Jared and Aaron could catch up. I think they really enjoyed seeing one another again. We had a wonderful, busy three days. It was sad to see them leave this morning. We've sure missed them while we've been here. We keep telling them they need to get a job out here when Jared finishes school. We'll keep our eyes and ears open for any positions open in the Chemistry department. We hope you enjoy the rest of your "two week trip"!

The bruise!

Showing off my war wound

Ouch! What a bruise!

This is a little silly to do a post, but I thought I'd do it anyway. Last Tuesday, Jon and I decided it was time for a little spring cleaning. Our blinds desperately needed to be cleaned, so I started the task while Jon was at the dentist. I should have waited for his help, because I got injured while cleaning the first set of blinds. I figured the blinds would be easier to clean if I took them down and laid them on a sheet. When I went to take the blinds down, all of the wood slats fell out. Obviously the men who put them in when the house was built didn't put the slats in correctly. Anyway, I left the slats out and put the bar that the blinds hang on back up. I didn't latch it back in, so it was still a little loose. A little while later, I had forgotten that I'd loosened the blinds and I pulled the string to make the blinds go up and the whole thing fell on my arm. The bar came tumbling down right on my arm and left a beautiful bruise. I couldn't believe how tender the bruise was. I thought it was quite and impressive bruise, so I had Jon take a picture of my arm. Needless to say, I had Jon help me with cleaning the rest of the blinds. Everyone has been giving Jon a bad time about beating up on me. Thank goodness he'd never really do that.

My birthday!

Me with my new bike.

The new birthday bike.

This post is a little late, but last Wednesday, June 18th was my birthday. I had a wonderful day. Thanks to my parents and Jon's parents, I had some money to spend on whatever I wanted, so Jon took my shopping. Shopping of any sort is not Jon's favorite thing to do, but he was so sweet to take me shopping for four hours. Jon gave me a cute black and white skirt for my birthday, and I was on a hunt for the right shirt to go with it. Thanks babe for being so patient and willing to go shopping with me on my special day. After shopping, Jon took me out to a really nice Italian restaurant called the Neighbors. The food was so good, and we were pretty full when we left. When we got home, I got to try out my new bike that Jon bought me. There are a lot of bike trails around Mankato, and I haven't had a bike for a long time, so Jon bought me one for my birthday. Now we can go for bike rides together. Yeah!! Later that evening, we met some friends of ours, Aaron and Carrie Jeffrey at Dairy Queen for ice cream. I had such a great day. We didn't do anything elaborate, but it was fun, because I got to spend the whole day with my sweet husband. I also got to talk to both of my parents, Nick and Nicole, which really made my day special. I sure miss you guys and I can't wait to see you in July.

Happy Father's Day!

I just want to wish my dad a Happy Father's Day. I have such a wonderful dad. He is someone I can trust, someone I can look up to and he's always been there for me when I've needed a shoulder to cry on. He always knew when something was wrong and he knew just how to make me feel better. Before I got married, he was the number one man in my life; and because of that, it was tough for me to let go. Even to this day, I'm still a daddy's girl. I want to thank you Dad, for all that you've done for me. For the love and support you've given me and for letting me know how much you care. I miss you Dad and hope you know how much I love you. I can't wait until the day Jon has a little girl too, so he can have the same kind of relationship you and I have. I love you!

I really do look forward to the day that Jon becomes a dad. Just yesterday he had an awakening experience. He went to the hospital to give a blessing to a lady in the ward who was having a baby, and being near the nursery and seeing all the babies really made him nervous. He said he was really questioning if he could be a dad. I know he will be a wonderful dad when that day comes. I've seen how he is with our friends kids and he will do a great job.

I also have a good father-in-law who is such a good example to his family. Thanks for all you do for each of us.

Happy Father's Day!

Lukes came to visit!

Hannah's cute smile!

Jacob's cute chubby cheeks!

Jon & Hannah playing the Wii.

Jacob watching Jon & Hannah play the Wii.

Tub time!

Our friends the Lukes came to visit for a few days. We had a great time having them at our house. They took a two and a half week vacation, and we were lucky enough to be one of their stops along the way. They got to our house late Wednesday evening, and they left around 2:00 today. Thursday morning I had to work, but I was told I didn't miss much. We went to the mall later that afternoon, so Hannah could ride the carousel. She thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted to ride a second time, but this time on the kitty. I was lucky enough to be the one to ride with her the second time. It was quite a fun carousel ride! It rained and rained while they were here. Thursday we had a huge storm come through. We even had tornado warnings, but luckily one never came through. Brent, Cami, Jon and I played Settlers and Ticket to Ride a couple of times, and we put lots of hours in playing the Wii. Jon broke down and bought a Wii a week ago, so he and Brent had a great time playing. Cami and I got our turns and we even got a little competition going. Hannah had a great time trying to shoot the balloons and Jacob loved laying on the floor watching everyone play. Jacob also learned how to roll over while at our house. He rolled over all by himself for the first time yesterday afternoon while his mom was out running. She missed the first time, but he did it again for her later that evening. I got sick Thursday evening with a cold, so I ended up not going in to work Friday morning. I've been training a new gal at work, so I hope she did okay. All in all, we had a great time with the Lukes. We sure miss having them close. We miss you guys and we're so glad you stayed with us for a few days. Now we'll get ready for the Bowdens visit in two weeks.

Seminary is over!

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention that seminary is over. The last day of seminary was Friday May 30th. I didn't feel near as happy as I thought I would. It was a great experience for me. I really learned a lot about the Old Testament, since I've never read the Old Testament before now. It was fun getting to know the youth, well as much as you can get to know them at 6:30 in the morning. We have great youth in our ward, and I enjoyed teaching seminary. It was very frustrating at times and extremely challenging for me, but it was a good experience. I think the thing that was the most challenging for me was preparing lessons. I sure haven't missed having to prepare lessons this week. It just stressed me out having to prepare a lesson every day, and it got worse once I started working. I tried to stay ahead on my lessons, but it was challenging somedays. The last two weeks of teaching, I also got to work everyday, so I was getting up at 5:00 every morning, so I could shower and get ready before seminary. It was a little crazy, but nothing I couldn't handle for two weeks. Thank goodnes it didn't last longer than that. After having this experience, I see why I'm not a full-time teacher of any sort. I will leave the teaching up to Jon. I hate preparing lessons. I actually feel like I have my freedom now, because I don't have seminary nagging at me in the back of my mind. I just couldn't do much, until I knew my lessons were prepared, and that drove me crazy. Anyway, I am grateful for the opportunity to have taught seminary, but I am glad it is over. Now I worry what my next calling will be.

Good-bye McMillans

I just wanted to say how much we are going to miss our friends the McMillans. Brock just got hired on as a professor at BYU, so they left Mankato Thursday afternoon headed for Utah. We are going to miss their family a lot. Brock and Jody were the first friends we made here in Mankato. They were kind enough to invite us over to their house for Sunday dinner, when we came out to look for a house. We ended up staying at their house for 6 or 8 hours. We had such a great time with them. We played several rounds of Sequence. For any of you that know Jon, you know he can be competitive, well Brock and Jody are too. Jody sure had a great time trying to get back at Jon. I don't know what it is about him, but quite a few of our friends wives, love to take it out on Jon when we play games. He's not going to know what to do now that Jody has moved. When we left their house that first night, I told Jon, "I know we'll be good friends them," and we were. Taylor, their oldest daughter was in my seminary class, and I am really going to miss her smile and fun personality. She won't have any trouble making friends. We got to stay with their kids for four days when they went to Utah to look for a house, and we sure had a great time getting to know the kids. It was sad that we really got to know the kids the best just before they moved. We wish you the best of luck in Utah! We wish we could be moving right along side of you. Maybe someday, we too will be moving back to Utah. We'll see you in December!