It's October.....what?!?!?!

Ok, so it's been over a month since I've posted anything. Whoops!

Updates....

1). Things are going really well with Ryan. We've enjoyed having her here! She's enjoying student teaching and starting to feel more like a teacher.

2). Nemo is still a hoot. He got himself into a little accident last week. He was at the groomer's and managed to smack his head on the grooming table when they were taking him off of it. He had a "doggie black eye" and needed to use a cone for a couple of days. He's doing much better now, but his eye is still red.

3). Bobby hit a deer! Yes, on the way back from the vet after Nemo's fight with the grooming table, he hit a deer. Luckily, it was close to our house so I could come get Nemo while Bobby dealt with the police report and stuff. We're currently borrowing one of Pat's cars while the RAV4 gets fixed (Thank you Pat!!).

4). School is going really well for Bobby. He doesn't like one of his classes, but he'll survive! He is in his third semester, so I'm thinking he'll be done maybe fall of 2011? We'll see!

5). I just got a new job. In fact, I start tomorrow! I will be a full time interpreter with NE Metro District 916. I have been subbing with them for a while but am now taking on a full time position.

6). In September, we had 2 weddings, both in the same weekend. They were both a blast! We went to Winona the first weekend in October for Homecoming. Bobby went the whole weekend, Ryan and I just went down Saturday for the day. Got to see lots of old friends, but I'm glad we just went for the day!

That's the last month of our life in a nutshell! I'm experimenting with a new site through Shutterfly.com. If I like it, find it easy to use, I'll switch over to that one!

Hope you're all enjoying fall!!

Birthday, California, and all kinds of other updates...

Well, I'm officially 27! I had a great birthday weekend! Burger Jones on West Lake St is fabulous! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun burger place!

California was also a blast! We had a little stress getting there....we had to wait for 2 or 3 flights before we finally got on (we were flying standby). We flew into LAX, and hopped on a Super Shuttle to get us to Anaheim. We got all checked into our respective rooms at the Crowne Plaza Resort and went on a mission for dinner. It was only 3 PM but we were STARVING! We ended up at the Red Robin next to the hotel just because we were so hungry. I managed to get a migraine through the traveling so Anna and I made our way across the street to Target for Excedrin and Tums (dinner gave me heartburn). The boys were looking for a bar and had no success. They went to a liquor store and crashed in their room.

Friday was really when the vacation began. Anna and I started our morning with a shuttle ride to Disneyland. We decided not to pay the $72 per person for the park and just went to Downtown Disney. Had breakfast at a little cafe, did some shopping, got a Wetzels Pretzel and went back to the hotel to sit by the pool. We stopped into the Fossil store so I could get my watch battery replaced finally. I had it in my purse becuase I was going to do it back home but I just ended up doing it in CA! While we were waiting, one of the salespeople was asking us about MN. "So do you guys have all 4 seasons?" When he asked Anna if we'd been to CA before, she said, "We've been to DisneyWORLD a few times..." He said "Yeah, I suppose people on the East coast do go to Florida more..." Ummm, we're not really from the East coast.

When we finally got out to the pool, it was cloudy and cool! We still got some reading/studying (Anna's) done. It was actually cool enough to sit in the outdoor hot tub, so I did that. We went back to downtown Disney for dinner, had a $5 margarita (VERY strong!) and stopped by this outdoor bar that was there for a few drinks. Needless to say, we were feeling it by the time we got back to the hotel! We each got to see our husbands for a few minutes before we crashed.

For whatever reason, we both woke up at 7 AM both days....I think our bodies thought it was 9 AM. So Saturday we decided to check out Garden Walk mall, it was this fun outdoor mall....except it opened at 11 on a Saturday! We took the Disney shuttle (it was a short walk from there) and got to the mall like 10:30...so we walked around to see what was there. At 11:02 we went to Bar Louie for lunch. We had yummy zucchini chips, I had a burger and she had a chicken sandwich. After being completely stuffed, we said, it's warm out, let's get some sun! Went back to the pool and actually got to enjoy the nice weather! We went back to Garden Walk and had dinner at McCormick and Schmick's, which was fabulous! They actually had a Blizzard Family themed menu. So on the specially prepared side of the menu they change the titles to be WOW and Starcraft items. We just couldn't pass it up!

Josh came back early so the 3 of us went to this place called Tutti Frutti. You just fill up a cup with frozen yogurt and toppings, then they weigh it and that's how much you pay. It was really good and really cheap! We got to hear a little about the weekend from Josh....then he and Travis went out and Bobby came back, drunk.... he ran into some of his buddies and already went drinking. Travis and Bobby went to the Ozzy Osbourne concert at the end of Blizzcon, so he was exhausted. I got to hang out with him a little bit at the end of the night.

Sunday we were up EARLY (3 AM to be exact) to get on a shuttle back to LAX. We got in to MSP at noon and came back home to our puppy!

We had a great time and I think Bobby and I would both do it again next year. Anna and I had just a great time on our own relaxing and doing whatever we wanted to do. Very worthwhile trip!

We went to the State Fair on Thursday night and ate until we could eat no more! We might go back again so Ryan can come with us! Tonight, Millie and I are celebrating our birthdays together with our friends! Should be a fabulous time!

New Roommate!

The roommate has arrived! My friend Ryan (female) is going to be staying with us until mid-December. She is a student at Winona State who will be student teaching up here in Champlin this semester. She's originally from Chicago, but WSU doesn't have any contracts with schools out there. She didn't want to stay in Winona or Wisconsin, so she got placed up here. She's hoping to find her own apartment at the end of student teaching, but who knows.

She arrived yesterday afternoon and the two of us worked ourselves out unpacking her car! Fortunately, Nemo gets along great with her. He would actually prefer to be in her room. It could be that her room is still kind of new to him (we usually leave that door closed) and it also could be because he likes her!

Amid all of this, we're also trying to get ready for our trip to California next week. We leave Thursday (probably in the morning) and get back Sunday afternoon. Anna and I will be doing our own thing in Anaheim, while the boys are at BlizzCon exploring all the fun WOW things. It'll be nice to chill out at the pool and do some sightseeing and all that fun stuff. It's not a long trip, but better than no trip!

Not to mention on top of everything.....tomorrow is my birthday! I'm the big 2-7! Officially late 20's. I can't complain, I've been getting all kinds of coupons and stuff to get free things for my birthday. Desserts, meals, coffee, lots of fun stuff! We went out with Pat and Kara on Friday night for dinner at Bella. It's a restaurant near our house that was YUMMY! Today we're doing lunch with my family at Don Pablo's. Then tomorrow Ryan and I are getting pedicures, the 3 of us are going shopping then doing dinner at Burger Jones in Minneapolis. Should be a fabulous birthday!

Colroado or....bust??

Well, we're finally in the relaxing part of the summer! I just got back from Colorado Springs, CO on Monday. I was at the CODA International Conference for 4 days. CODA stands for Children of Deaf Adults, which I obviously am. This was my first conference, this was the 24th conference for the organization. It was the best time I've had in a long time. I wouldn't say I've struggled with being a Coda, but going to the conference definitely opened up my eyes to the "deaf parts" that I have and how those make me who I am today. I met so many great people not just from the U.S. but from the WORLD! The conference was here in MN in 2006. I had just finished my first year of ITP and wasn't really sure what CODA was all about and if I was ready to start that journey. Then it was in Spain, then Indiana. Finally, in Decemeber, I decided the 2009 conference would be the time to start! Not to mention, my college roommate Lauren lives there, so that was a big incentive! I feel like a new person. I've had the chance to meet people like me, and share stories, experiences, struggles and successes. Next year's conference is in Fremont, CA, and I'm already saving up for it!!

I always knew I was a Coda, and thought I knew what that meant. I still don't completely know what it means for me, but I now have so much more insight into the last 26 years that I can really begin to embrace that part of me and get to know myself better. Everyone's Coda experience is different, some more negative than others, and I've had some struggles in my life. But the only thing I can do now, is look back on those struggles and see how I came out of them and realize that I'm a better person now that I found CODA and have so many more people I can go to if/when those struggles pop up again. I'm feeling really good about myself and things can only continue to get better!

What does the summer bring for us?? Well, the Aquatennial Block party is Friday night, we always go with friends. We really don't have much going on except seeing friends, finally enjoying our weekends (now that I'm not needing to work weekends), and just hanging out until our trip to California in August! Happy July!

A Visit From Olympia, WA!

WOW! It's already July! Well, we have had quite a busy last 2 weeks of June. Bobby went to Winona that weekend of the 19th for Steamboat Days and got to see old friends and have some "guy time". Then, my college roommate, Julie came to visit!! She was here June 22-25. It was not long enough! We had lunch with Pat when she got here on Monday then had a relaxing night in. Tuesday she got some alone time with Stefanie then we all had lunch together. We got to have dinner with my parents that night, which was nice. In college her parents were like my parents and vice versa so she wanted to visit with them for a bit. Wednesday was all about us! We went to Maple Grove, did some shopping and had lunch at 3 Squares. It was FABULOUS! We met Karen for dinner and rented "Nights in Rodanthe". Thursday we drove to Des Moines, IA to meet her parents. She was going to Illinois for a friend's wedding that weekend, so we decided to get a few more hours with her and just drive her instead of her flying home. It was great to see her parents, they are a riot! I was incredibly sad to have her leave, but grateful that she was even able to come out here. Next summer, I'm going to try and get to Washington and spend more time out there than the last time.


Friday, I headed to Brule, WI for the 3rd annual Girls' Weekend. My friend Allison, from high school, has a family cabin up there. There was 8 of us, mostly from high school and then a couple friends of Allison's from college. We checked out the local bars, went to a winery and of course, did a canoe trip! My week off from work was fabulous but went much too fast!!



Now it's July! We're going to enjoy our July 4th weekend this year! Last year Bobby was working nights and didn't get to have any fun with our friends. Tonight we're going to Karen's, tomorrow is Millie and Jeron's then Josh and Anna's, and Sunday I'll be going to the Taste of Minnesota with some of my girlfriends!

Have a happy and safe 4th!

Weekend with Family!

We just got back on Monday from a weekend long trip to New Jersey to visit Bobby's family.

We left early Friday morning, and our first stop was to see grandma and grandpa Murtha. We got to see their new apartment and have dinner with them at a really good little Italian place. Saturday, Pat's brothers drove down and we all had lunch at a fun diner near the grandparents' home. After that, we drove to north Jersey to see John's side of them family. We went to Uncle Tom and Aunt Toni's house for pizza. Aunt Jo flew up from Florida, so it was fantastic to see her! On Sunday a bunch of cousins along with Uncle Bill and Uncle Mike came over and we had a lunch BBQ. I finally got to meet cousin Jen, her husband Rob and their 8 month old son Ryan! After lunch we took a short drive to see "Aunt" Karen and her family. We had a BBQ at her daughter and son-in-law's place. Lots of yummy food! It flew by, but we had such a great time catching up with everyone and just spending time with family! It was definitely a TON of food!

Next time, Bobby and I want to stay an additional few days on our own so we can drive to New York and spend some time there for our vacation. Even though I enjoyed myself, I was sick the whole time! Thursday I woke up with a horrible sore throat, which got worse overnight. Friday, I was stuffy and felt gross. The sore throat went away but my cold was getting worse. Aunt Toni had laryngitis while we were there, and now I'm thinking I got it. Yesterday I felt all around awful. Today I physically felt much better but I can barely speak, so that's no good. I had to leave work early in order to rest my voice so I can work the rest of the week.

Overall a great trip! Always sad to leave them!

Memorial Day at the Cabin

Well it's Memorial Day weekend! Which used to not have much meaning for us. But now that things are better financially and we didn't have any plans, we decided to go to my family's cabin....with Nemo! It was just us and my parents, Jeff was at Mudfest as usual.

We left Friday afternoon and got up to McGregor in enough time to eat dinner, let Nemo explore, and crash early! Saturday, my day started early since Nemo was walking around waiting for one of us to get up and let him out. I think he's starting to realize that I am the "morning" person to let him out, so he usually just hangs out around my side of the bed until he either hears my alarm, or I just wake up. My mom is a morning person too, so I got to hang out with her. Some pictures of Nemo exploring:

Saturday was a little chilly, so once we got outside, Nemo immediately found the warm sand and chilled out there for a while. Bobby was able to help out by chopping wood. There wasn't much lawn left to mow, so I didn't do much to help out. Nemo got along really well with my parents. We got an extra pair of socks from my dad to use to play with. Nemo did have an issue with my parents walking back into the cabin and not remembering them. He pretty much established claim right away.




We took a trip to town to get some Dairy Queen, then grilled after we had ice cream, LOL. Played a fun game of Uno Attack, and went to bed early again. Was woken up early again this morning, had a yummy homemade breakfast and then took off around noon! Overall, great weekend up north, but I'm glad we can spend part of our holiday weekend at home. Now we know Nemo can handle the cabin and we're no longer concerned about bringing him up there. Although he did get a little bit rowdy once we tied him up out front and he had some free reign to run around. And when I say rowdy, I mean he ran around so fast that the rope got caught around my ankles, giving me some nice rope burn.

I think Nemo had a good time! We're looking forward to bringing him up there again!

I really need to update more....

Sorry all! I'm getting worse and worse at updating this!

Last week was Mother's Day weekend. Since Pat has successfully completed chemo and radiation and is just finishing up herceptin treatments, we decided to walk in the Race for the Cure at Mall of America. We had a team of about 20 people who were walking or running on our team "The Queens' Court". Pat and her girlfriends call themselves the "Queens". Since we had some husbands participating, we thought "The Queens' Court" would be more appropriate. We did the 5K walk and it was a BEAUTIFUL day! We had such a great time and the walk went so fast! We really appreciated all of our friends who walked and took time on Mother's Day to support Pat and all other survivors who walked! Afterwards, we had brunch at Pat's house, which was yummy, as always!

We came home to a "remodeled" room courtesy of Nemo. He managed to push out the entire front panel of his metal kennel, got out, chewed up our blinds, ripped apart one of Bobby's belts, peed and random other things. Oh and he locked himself in the room. After calming down, we went to my parents' house to have dinner with them. We brought Nemo to meet the family and he did really well. We found a barrier to put up between the main level and the basement, so Nemo could roam around a little bit.

Nemo has since gotten out of his metal kennel again. We put padlocks all around and he still bent the metal back enough to crawl out. Needless to say, that kennel went back and he's back to his original hard-cover kennel. Our obedience teacher recommended Benadryl for his separation anxiety. Last night, Karen brought her dog, Buster over for a playdate. We gave him Benadryl before they came and he was perfectly tame. Same thing happened when Pat came over today to meet him. So we're hoping that when we go out tonight, the Benadryl will calm him down while we're gone, not just when we're here. If the Benadryl is not successful, we'll have to bug you all for more suggestions!

Overall, things are going really well. Bobby started his summer class on Thursday and decided he prefers morning class, thank goodness! That means this fall he'll have, at most, one night class (assuming he can't get a morning class on Fridays), and we'll actually see each other more than we did before! We're going up north next weekend with my parents, and summer will have officially begun!!

Nemo: One month later

Well, I've finally posted a picture of Nemo! (check him out to the right...) He's been a member of our family for a month now. He's doing great! After obedience class, he's started taking better walks with us. Much more focused on the walk and less focused on sniffing everything, everywhere. We had some problems with "accidents"....and almost always only when I was home alone with him...never when Bobby's home alone with him. That has gotten better over time, thank goodness. Took him to the vet last weekend and he's in great health! He does have some problems with separation anxiety. Nothing major where he's hurting himself from banging up against the kennel when we're gone. But definite whining and crying for a long time after we've left. So the vet, who is holistic, gave us herbal drops and pills to mix into food. The drops are given to him daily and the pills are for when we're both going to be gone for a long time. Just to relax him a little. He's a high energy dog so I think that contributes to it a little bit. We definitely love him and can't wait to see him continue to get used to us and feel more at home here.

Today we took him to Petco to see some of his Homeward Bound friends. Because he was up for adoption for so long, the volunteers got really attached to him. They were so excited to see him today, and he was happy to see them too! We'll try to make it a monthly thing to bring him back. They were a big part of his life for a year and so it's important to us that he still gets to see them. Although, when we walked in and he heard all the barking of the other dogs, I think he briefly wondered if we were leaving him there. Of course we weren't, but still.... :)

On another note, yesterday was my one year anniversary at Sorenson. I can't believe a year has gone by already! This year was so different from the 2007-2008 year.... and definitely much better. I love my job and can't wait to have more yearly milestones!

New Edition to the Family!

It's official.....we are now a family of 3! No, I'm not pregnant....we adopted a dog! We got Nemo on Monday April 6th. We adopted him from and organization called Homeward Bound. He is part Corgi, part Terrier and possibly part Bassett Hound. He's just a short, stout guy with TONS of energy! He is 2-years-old, so not a puppy, which has actually made the transition a lot smoother. We had a rough time the first 48 hours just because we were getting used to him and him to us.

We took him to obedience school this morning and he was very distracted, but he did well. Bobby and I learned more than he did, I think! We went to Katie's K9. She's pretty famous in the animal world. There were 7 dogs there, and only 3 were his size or bigger. The other were small dogs. There was one beagle and he just had a rough time, kept whining, it was very distracting for him. But now we know what to do with him at home and that's very helpful. He doesn't like his kennel, but I think that is just something he has to get used to, since it's yet another new thing we're throwing at him. We actually brought his dog bed into our room while we took a nap after the obedience class and he did really well! We wanted him to get plenty of rest since he worked so hard and he tends to be restless in his kennel. I don't know if we'll let him sleep there all the time, since he didn't jump into our bed, but we'll just have to see what happens!

We love our little guy already and he hasn't even been here for a week! The adventure begins!

Baby fever?? What???

Yes, it's true, I've been hit with a bad case of "baby fever".  No, we're not trying....  One of my good friends told me recently that she's pregnant with her second baby and I guess it just got the ball rolling.  It makes perfect sense.  I'm 26 years old, we've been married over a year... but I know the "fever" won't be resolved by having a baby.  Bobby has at least 2 years left of school before we can even think about trying to get pregnant.  We knew all along that the plan was to wait 4-5 years after getting married before having kids.  And I've always been ok with that, and I've never had a strong pull to have a baby before.  In fact, for a while I didn't think I'd ever want to have a baby, and I was slightly concerned to not have that maternal instinct.  Well, now I have it!

So to curb my baby feelings....we are going to start seriously looking into getting a dog!  We've been talking about it since before the wedding but I've always been reluctant to get one.  I know they are a ton of responsibility and we'd have to give up being as spontaneous as we used to be.  But I think I am ready to take that on.  We're probably going to wait until mid-June.  I want to wait until Bobby finishes his semester so he'll be home in the evenings while the dog adjusts to us and our house.  And I don't think it would be fair to have the dog for a month and then leave it for 5 days, especially during that adjustment period.  So we're going to keep our eyes open and start looking at different rescue and adoption places and see what works for us.  Here goes a new journey!

Time to repent!

It is officially the season of Lent! Last night, as I was making dinner before Ash Wednesday service...I couldn't help thinking "Oh, it would be so easy to just stay home tonight..." Then I remembered something. 3 years ago, Karen and I went to the Ash Wednesday service....with Krista. We went to Applebee's for dinner then headed to the church. We had so much fun laughing at dinner and enjoyed the service. Then 2 years ago, I think it was just me and Karen. And last year, I can't even remember if we made it to church or not. For some reason, the fact that I had once shared this Ash Wednesday service with Krista, made me want to go. I wasn't extremely close to her, but I felt I was honoring her in some way by going to church. I knew she was with Karen and I last night, and it was nice to feel that.

I've never been good at sticking to something I give up during Lent. This year, I decided to make a lifestyle change. I'm giving up being lazy. "Oh, I can just do that tomorrow," "Oh, I'll just double up on my next workout," etc. No more! I have goals, why don't I try achieving them? If I want to lose a few pounds, why don't I get my butt in gear and get healthy? A co-worker of mine mentioned doing a 5K this summer. We haven't registered yet, but it got me thinking.... this would really help jump start my motivation to exercise. Some of the treadmills at the Community Center have settings for 5K, so I can train on that. I can start training outside when the snow finally stops. The only glitch is that my co-worker, Jen, lives in St. Cloud. But I can do it!

So here I go...full steam ahead!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, so Valentine's Day isn't until tomorrow....but I felt like blogging!

What is new...?  Well, Bobby has officially reached mid-terms!  The time has FLOWN by!  He came down with the flu on Tuesday morning.  He attempted to go to work and then called me 30 minutes after he left home, telling me that his boss was sending him home.  Well, of course she is!   He's back in tip-top shape, but he never gets sick so it's usually bad when he does.  

February keeps us very busy.  Both of our moms have their birthdays in February.  Plus Valentine's day.  Then 2  very good friends have birthdays as well this month.  It makes the month just fly by in a flash!  We celebrated my mom's birthday last weekend.  We had the family over here for dinner.  It's really hard for us to go out because my brother works in the evenings Monday-Friday and Bobby gets off work just as Jeff is going to work.  So we usually end up seeing each other on Sunday evening for dinner, whenever we do see each other.  We're celebrating Valentine's Day on Sunday.  We tried to make a reservation at Pittsburgh Blue in Maple Grove, but the earliest availability was 9:30! And that was a month before Valentine's Day!  So we opted to just wait until Sunday.  I'm going to see the movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" with my good friend Karen tomorrow.  We've been impatiently waiting the arrival of this movie since we heard it was coming out....way back in October!  The books are SO good, we cannot wait for the movie!

Next weekend, we'll be celebrating Bobby's mom's birthday.  We're having lunch with Pat and Kara on Saturday.  Saturday night will be exciting for me, because I'm going to the first official "Girls' Night Out".  My friend Millie's sister-in-law does this with her college friends.  We were invited in October when they carved pumpkins and thought....hey, this is a good idea!  So Millie got together a few high school and college friends to start doing this every month.  She is hosting a Wine Night at her place next Saturday.  Then someone else will take March, and so on.  I think it's a great thing to just be with the girls once a month.  A good portion of the girls are married, engaged or in a serious relationship, so it's nice to get away from the boys!  

Really not a whole lot of excitement in our lives right now.... just keeping busy with work and school.  I'm still playing Bunco once a month and attending Bible Study once a month.  I felt it had been a while since our last post.....but not a whole lot going on.  Hopefully next post will be more thrilling!!

3 weeks down....12 weeks to go....

Yes, I'm measuring this time period based on Bobby's class. He has successfully made it through week 3 of grad school! Things are getting a little better around the house. We're both learning when to stop going. We're listening to our bodies and taking care of ourselves. I'm taking on more freelance work, so I've been a lot busier. Unfortunately, at my work, we have had to schedule ourselves 2 months out. So if I don't like my schedule for February, there's not much I can do except take some freelance work to change it up a bit!

Another exciting thing happened this week. After much discussion, I have decided to attend the CODA Conference in Colorado Springs, CO this year! It's in July and I'm SO excited to go! With traveling, I'll be out of work 5 1/2 days. I'm hoping my buddy Lauren will be in town so we can meet up at least once and hang out while I'm around! I thought about extending my stay and visiting with Lauren, but it really is a lot of time off that I can't take. Because it's a Wednesday night-Monday thing, I really only have to make up 2 days of work because I don't usually work Friday-Sunday. But the longer I stay, the more days I have to make up, which gets to be overwhelming. Plus we're going to New Jersey in May, so that's another 2-3 days I have to make up. Although I love that I get to make my scheudle and be flexible with it, I don't work full time, so I don't get PTO. It's a bummer, but it's just an accommodation I have to make.

So this weekend, we will be purchasing our plane tickets! Yes, it's 5 1/2 months ahead of time, but we really want to save on the cost, since we will be traveling and have to pay for flight, hotel and conference. I'm going with a few people from work so it'll be a really cool experience. And of course it'll be really hard to be away from Bobby for that long. The longest we've been apart since we've been married is 4 1/2 days when I went to Utah for Sorenson training. But it'll be SO worth it!

That's really all that is new in our lives! Feel free to leave comments about what's going on in yours!

Oh how I love a new schedule......

Well, it's official, Bobby is now a grad school student! He started on January 6 and is in class two nights a week. He's taking Developmental Psych and Theories of Personalities. Both classes he took in undergrad (well, both of us took it, actually), so hopefully they will be more of a review and maybe go more in-depth than what he did in undergrad. He seems to be enjoying it so far, but it's been really tough on the two of us. He is in class Tuesday and Thursday night then I'm involved with either choir or confirmation on Wednesday nights. So during the work week, we see each other on Monday night, basically. Which is actually a good thing because 2 of "our shows" (House and Heroes) is on Monday night. Weekends have been pretty laid back since he started school just because he gets so worn out during the week. Yeah, in undergrad he was doing 15-18 credits a semester but he wasn't working at the same time. So now he has 6 credits PLUS working full time. It's a big adjustment that he'll have to make and that we'll have to make, but it just takes time.

There really isn't much else new going on in our lives. I have Bunco coming up next week, which I LOVE! I have my massage scheduled for the 31st! For my birthday last year, I asked my mom and mother-in-law to just give me money so I could have a day at the spa. So I did that and fell in love with the place I went, Kalla Lily. Now I go there for all of my hair needs and I'll be going back for another massage. I said I wanted the same thing for Christmas. So my mother-in-law and brother gave me gift cards to Kalla Lily so I could treat myself again. I enjoyed my spa day, but I really just want a massage. I'm hoping to make it a fairly regular thing to get a high-quality massage. We have someone that comes into work and they do 10-minute massages, but it's not the same. The 31st will make it 3 months in between massages, so if I can keep that up, that would be amazing! I'd LOVE to go monthly, but that would be a little spendy.

If you work in education or are in school, enjoy the 3-day weekend with Martin Luther King, Jr day on Monday!

New Year, New Start

Happy New Year everyone!! We hope you all had a fun and safe New Year's Eve!

We went to Josh and Anna's house (Bobby's best friend and his wife). We've been going over there the last 4 years, since they've had their townhouse. The usual suspects were there, and we had lots of good food and drinks to ring in the new year! We had a great time!

Now that it's the new year.... we're starting some new challenges. Bobby starts back to school tomorrow. He will be going to St. Mary's University in Minneapolis for his Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy. He's taking 2 classes this semester, while still working full time at South Metro Human Services. We don't know how it's going to go with school and work, so he's starting small with just 2 classes. If it goes well, he'll probably keep doing 2 classes each semester and just take an extra year to finish the program. OR he always has the option to take summer classes. He will go straight through until April 16, the day before his big 25th birthday! No spring break, just class all the way until April.

I have taken on some new responsibilities at Sorenson as well. I was welcomed on board to the mentoring team. That basically means that when new interpreters start at VRS and they're in the 2 month training program, I mentor them. I give them support while they learn the ropes and eventually take calls on their own. There's a team of about 15 of us so it'll be a fun new experience for me at work. I also interpreted the Christmas Eve service at my church, and have been thinking about proposing that I be a regular fixture in that position. My parents have been struggling a bit with their church and don't know that they'll have a place to worship every single week. It's just a thought I've been having. I haven't actually said anyting to the church about it. But when I was doing confirmation there and my parents would come to worship once in a while, and while I was involved in high school ministry, they had an interpreter there. Over time, there were no more Deaf congregation members, so they let the interpreter go. I do enjoy religious interpreting and wouldn't mind doing it again at my own church on an occasional basis. I also LOVE singing in the choir, so it would be hard NOT to do that every Sunday. Again, just something I've been thinking about, who knows if I'll act on it. And I'm still teaching confirmation to 6th grade girls. They get more and more fun every week and it's something I really do enjoy doing.

As far as the two of us.... we just finally bought a new mattress!! We've been using Bobby's old full-sized mattress and now we have a queen! YAY!! This year we will be taking a trip with Pat and Kara to the East Coast to visit family in May. Then this summer we hope to get up to my family's cabin a lot more than before. We usually just go on July 4th weekend, but hopefully we'll get up there once or twice more this year. I also am hoping to see my college roommates someway, somehow this year. We had originally planned a trip to Vegas for this spring, but since Bobby doesn't get a spring break, we're not sure about that. I've been wanting to get back out to Washington, so we'll see about that!

Here's wishing you all a fantastic 2009!!