This time last year: November

This time last year I am sure we were enjoying 50-60 degree days in Athens. This past weekend we had our first significant snow fall here in MN. We got about 2 inches on Saturday and it blanketed the city nicely. I enjoyed watching the snow come down and even ventured outside to take a few pictures....

Last year we were fortunate to have my parents fly down from MN and have Thanksgiving with us in Athens. This year we get to see ALL our families at Thanksgiving! We feel so blessed and thankful to be here this year for the holidays. Our Thanksgiving day will be with my mother in law's side of the family. I think there will be about 20 people at this Thanksgiving day feast! I am contributing sweet potato casserole (thanks to Lynn for her fabulous recipe!) to bring a little southern cookin to the festivities. We will also be having a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner with my parents over the weekend. I am excited to spend significant time with everyone and.... start decorating for Christmas! We plan to get our tree this weekend so stay tuned for more updates!

Until then..... Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Words from my blog....

by: http://www.wordle.net/create

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza!

Two weekends ago I got together at my MIL's house with some of Eric's cousins and his Aunt to start baking Christmas cookies. Believe it or not but we made almost 1400 cookies. Isn't that crazy! We had a blast making about a dozen different kinds. It was great to spend time with family and learn how to make some of my favorite cookies! For now, the ones I took home are in the freezer waiting for the appropriate time to serve Christmas cookies. I also plan to make some of my own favorites and get together with my mom to make some of hers. What are your favorite Christmas cookies?

June 2012

Well not much has been going on this week. So...we have been planning our family vacation for next summer to.... Kauai! We will be going there in June with my parents for 10 days. We are SUPER excited to be going. Eric and I have had the itch to travel since our last trip to Costa Rica Spring 2010.

For our trip we have our plane tickets booked and a place to stay! We will be renting a vacation home in the little town of Haena on the island of Kauai.


View Larger Map

Here is the link to the place if you want to check it out: http://www.vrbo.com/104754. While in Kauai we plan to swim, snorkel, hike, kayak, and explore all the wonders of the island. I cant wait!

Have you ever been to Kauai? I would love your recommendations!!

Pine Tree Apple Orchard

On Saturday Eric and I met up with my parents at Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake. It was a nice but chilly afternoon at the orchard. We walked around a little, took some family photos, ate some yummy apple desserts and I bought a bag of apples, gallon of cider, and a jar or honey. It was fun to spend time with my parents at the orchard before heading to their place for dinner. We had a great time!

Canadian Thanksgiving

On Monday we decided to have a thanksgiving worthy feast with some friends.....it also happened to be Canada's Thanksgiving Day! We had turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, cranberry sauce, pumpkin & apple pie! It was all so yummy and super filling! I didn't even want to eat on Tuesday because I still felt full! We had a great time just talking and eating. I think this will have to be a tradition!

Last days at the Cabin

We spent this past weekend at the family cabin on Rainy Lake relaxing and enjoying the company of family. It was our last weekend before the cabin is closed up for the winter. We spent most of our time with Aunts,Uncles, Cousins and Eric's sister Rachel. We also spent some time reading and playing cards with some of Eric's high school friends. We loved being at the cabin and will be sad to not be there again for several long winter months.

Rachel with Cousin Minna

Me & Eric

Eric enjoying his bath in the cold Rainy Lake

The Helleloid Girls: Karin, Tara, Kate, Kris, Me, Minna & Rach

Cousin Blaine & Eric

The excitement of the weekend was finding a flying squirrel in the stove/fireplace. Apparently it was looking for its winter home and thought our cabin looked good. After being a little spooked from the noise and discovering two beady looking eyes in the stove we started trying to capture the little guy. He was scared and obviously didn't want to be captured by us. After several failed attempts and a whole night to relax, we got him trapped in some Tupperware. I am sure he was happy to be out of the fireplace and back into the wild....lets hope he doesn't try to use the cabin as his winter home again!