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!

Spring life!

The view out our back door

Another view from our backyard

Red blossoms now turned a dark pink

White blossom trees

Beautiful green trees at a park

When we left on our trip to Bozeman, there were a few trees that had leaves, but for the most part things were still pretty brown. When we got home, over a week later, everything was so green. Mankato has just come to life. Our lawn was so long when we got home, so Jon mowed it this week, and now it doesn't look too good; not because of his mowing. Very few people here have sprinkling systems, so you water with a hose and sprinkler. We haven't bought a sprinkler yet, but we need to get one soon, because our grass isn't very green anymore. We also have a dandelion problem, so we are trying to get that under control. I didn't take any pictures of our yard, because it isn't all that pretty right now, but we are going to plant some flowers and get it looking nice. It's been fun to have a yard to do some work in. This is the first time since we've been married that we've had a yard to take care of, so we are still learning. Anyway, I wanted to share some pictures with you, from around town, so you can see how beautiful it is here in Mankato during the spring. I'm still in awe of how green and beautiful everything is. I took two pictures of some trees that are completely covered in blossoms. I don't know what type they are, but they are absolutely beautiful. I've seen three colors of blossoms, white, pink, and red. The pink ones have really faded now, so they aren't as pretty, but I took a picture of a white tree and a red tree, which has faded to a dark pink color. Hope you enjoy a little of sprintime in Mankato.

Montana Trip

Jon reading to Hannah

Adam & Marisa

Marisa is 5 months pregnant

Evie, Hannah, Ruthie, & Danny

Jacob Luke

Ruthie Bowden

Hannah Luke

We had such a great time on our trip to Montana. Monday morning, we went to breakfast with our parents and my brother Nick before they headed home. Jon and I stayed for a week visiting friends. I went in to work to see my co-workers. It was good to visit, but I was glad not to be working there anymore. It was a great job, but I am enjoying not having to work very much. We spent every evening with a different family. Everyone was so kind to invite us to dinner. We had dinner with the Bowdens, Lukes, Blatters, Caffreys and the Zetterquists. We stayed with the Zetterquists during our trip, because they don't have kids yet, and they had a spare room and bed. Thanks so much for letting us stay. It was great! We didn't do too much, other than a lot of visiting. We did get to go see the movie Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian with the Zetterquists, and we also went hiking Saturday morning. Jon got fried on our hike; we should have worn sunscreen. It's amazing how quickly your body gets acclamated to lower elevation. I struggled on our hike, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I'm a little weak, I used to have no problem hiking in the mountains. Ruth and Tracy invited me over for a girls luncheon. We had a great time catching up. I was sad others couldn't come, but I understand schedules get crazy. All in all, we had such a great time. It felt so normal to be in Bozeman again. It almost felt as though we hadn't really been gone for nine months. I cried when it was time to leave, I felt like we should still live in Bozeman. I didn't want to leave our friends again. Coming home to Mankato this time, I really felt like this is my home now. The longer we are here, the more I know it will feel like home. We sure miss all of our great friends in Bozeman. We look forward to seeing you next year on our trip to Utah. We loved seeing all of you and thanks for your warm welcome.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you. Jon and I were fortunate enough to spend Mother's Day with our own mothers this year. Both sets of parents came to Bozeman to be with Jon for graduation, and it just so happened, that graduation was the same weekend as Mother's Day. We had a very nice day! Jon made dinner for our mothers, I helped, but he did most of the work. It was wonderful just to be with them. They are both wonderful ladies, and we are very lucky to have been blessed with such amazing mothers. We love you both and appreciate all you do for us. We hope to live closer to both of you again someday. Mom I want you to know how much you mean to me. You have been such a great example to me throughout my life. I appreciate all that you have done for me throughout the years. You are a wonderful mom, and I am proud to be your daughter. It was fun spending Mother's Day with you. I love you! Kathy thank you for raising such a wonderful son. He is so kind and thoughtful, qualities I know he got from you. Thanks, you are a great mother-in-law.

Graduation!

Last July Jon defended his dissertation, so he was officially graduated, but I thought it would be great for him to walk at graduation this year. We drove back to Bozeman for graduation, which was May 10th. It was great to see Jon in his graduation gown and then to see him on stage as his name was read, and see him hooded as an official PhD graduate. Jon's parents, my parents and my brother Nick all came up to spend the weekend with us. Our good friends Adam and Marisa went out of town for the Mother's Day weekend, so they were kind enough to let us stay at their apartment. It was tight quarters for a few days, but we had a good time. It was wonderful having family with us for a few days. Congratulations Babe! I am so proud of you. I love you!!