Fall Favorites

Fall is one of my favorite seasons! I love all the beautiful colors! I love being able to open all the windows all day to let in the clean crisp air without worrying about the house getting too hot or too cold. I love the smells that accompany the season change. I love seeing the farmers out in the fields (mostly just the ones with red tractors ;) heehee!) I love breaking out the new season's cozy sweaters and sweatshirts. I love eating soup or sipping on hot chocolate with marshmallows when I'm cold, and being warmed from the inside out. I love lighting candles around the house to give it that 'home sweet home' feeling. I love that Josie gets a ton of fur and looks like a mini golden bear. I love that almost anywhere you choose to eat, you now have the option to get pumpkin-whatever-you-feel-like: ice cream, muffin, pie, bread, cake, chai! mmm...I love getting my brand new pretty books for the school year and putting my into brain high gear for the semester (even though it can be stressful at times). I love anticipating the holidays when all the family comes together... I remember when I was little and we lived out on 8 to 10 acres in Truman, it was such a chore every fall to rake all those leaves (of course, we only had to do a couple acres), but it was so exciting at the same time, because we kids knew when we were done that we would have loads of leaves (piled high and wide behind the chicken house in addition to a pile under the crab apple tree) at our disposal to do whatever we wanted with. Of course, initially we did what every kid does: jump in them, bury each other in them, hide in them for a long time and then suddenly jump out and try to scare everyone...but we girls would then tote them around (much to mom and dad's dismay as we recovered the lawn with all the recently raked leaves) to make leaf "nests" and play stories....visiting each other's nests... Haha! Yeah, we were wierd girls - poor Jason....

I love fall!

Happy Birthday, Jason!

HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY, JASON!On November 4th, Jason turned 28! Since none of us were going to be able to be there to help him & Julia & Kaden celebrate, Julia planned a party for him at our house a few weekends ago. Here he is with his chocolate cake and one candle. Heehee! He only got one this year - I guess that's what happens when you can't fit them all on the cake anymore ;) J/K, Jason :) I think this is the most recent pic I have of just Jason & I - we need to take another picture together cause this was over 1 1/2 yrs ago! This was taken when I still attended Northland college and everyone came up to surprise me for my 20th birthday!Jason being silly at Jenny & Jordan's wedding rehearsal.

This is a side of Jason that I love - he never fails to make me laugh! I always enjoy the times that we're all sitting around talking and then Jason and Jordan start feeding off each other being so funny...it's usually at the expense of one of us girls, but we still end up laughing till we cry anyway...or...crying till we laugh - haha! :)

Jason, words can't express how much I am so thankful for you! I feel so blessed to have a big brother - and not just any big brother - I have THE best brother in the whole wide world! I can't imagine if you weren't in my life...I love how you always make me feel special, you make me laugh, you let me come stay at your house whenever and for however long :), you guys finally gave me a nephew (heehee!), you make time for me: if I need to talk to you about something on my heart, you listen, help me think through things, and offer advice that I can trust. You push me to be a better person, and encourage me to keep on through the difficult times when I feel like quitting. I am thankful for your godly examply. I am thankful I have a brother who prays for me and loves me even when I'm not so loveable. You have always been the biggest and the best in my eyes and that is for all these reasons and MORE! I am so proud to be your little sister! I love you so much, Jas!

Gang's All Here!

A few weekends ago, the whole family came home! Mom and I look forward to the times when our big empty house can be full again! It's always wonderful to have everyone together!

This picture was actually taken Sunday morning, but I'm putting it first cause it's the only picture we have from the weekend with our whole family in it :)Jason, Jenny & Jordan.

Sunday afternoon we had a little celebration for the birthday kids with cake and presents.Julia wrapped Jenny's gift in such a cute gift bag, so we had to get a picture of her with it's pinkness. Of course, Jason and Jordan were making fun of us girls for being picture heads, so they had to get in on it = Jason's ugly face and Jordan's hand....silly boys...Saturday we had a party for all the birthday kids with some of our friends! Jenny is 25 this year and Jordan is 26! Getting old...

Jenny had her chocolate cake and Jordan had his apple crisp. They each had a candle to blow out for their wish, but Jason blew Jenny's out before she had a chance. Mom relit it for her, but then Jordan blew it out....poor Jenny....she's always been the object of their relentless teasing and picking....Here's the birthday boy and Julia. Jason got his own chocolate cake as well. (and a glass of milk, of course) ;) Jason turned 28 this year! Getting old (I have to say that cause I'm the youngest ;))...but he's still lookin' good if you ask me....The boy table at the party: Jordan, Adam, Jason, Justin & Taylor.The girl table at the part: me, Jenny, Tara, Jules & Julia (mom was there, too, but she had already gone upstairs at this point)My beautiful sisters - Miss you, girls!The 2 little puppies: Kaden & Macy (Kaden wasn't always so sure what to think about his hairy cousin...)

And a couple cute photos of Kaden - he is just the cutest little boy ever!

Happy 10 Month Birthday, Kaden!

I know this picture is a bit over-used, but I just love it - he looks SO simply adorable here! I can't believe this little guy is already 10 months old! He is such a blessing to our family. I'm proud to be his aunt! I love you, Kaden!

Native American Day/Fall Break

I had such a wonderful time with Julie during my break from school a couple of weekends ago! There's nothing like time with sisters... Friday after the pumpkin patch excursion, Jules had to stay at Kiddie Kollege till her work day was over. I stayed for awhile to help get all the kiddos down for nap time, but left soon after to do some napping of my own. After being up since 3am, I was ready for a good 2 hour nap which I got and then some! haha! When Jules got home I had to totally remake myself after sleeping so hard - haha! ewe...and then we went out for coffee w/Beth and some other friends of Julie's from her college days at Maranatha. Left to Right: Kim, Esther, Beth, Lindsay and Jules. These girls had me cracking up quite a bit over the course of the night. I never attended Maranatha, but I attended a Christian college and lived in a girl's dorm, and therefore could relate to most of their stories.... We were at the coffee shop till closing and then stood outside talking and shivering convulsively for another hour or so. :)

BREAKING NEWS (for real!) I JUST got a phone call that Beth Deiss (the tall gorgeous girl in the middle) got ENGAGED yesterday! Congratulations, Beth, I'm SO excited for you guys! and what a sweet story! :)

Saturday morning Jules and I got up bright and early for a day of shopping in Milwaukee. Okay, it wasn't that early...we got up in time to get ready at a relaxing pace and start our shopping day with lunch. I had never been to the Cheescake Factory, so we went right at 11, opening time, so we wouldn't have to stand in line. Julie said it gets really busy, and sure enough as we were sitting there eating it started filling up quite a bit! I love the big beautiful double-door entrance! And INSIDE is even more elaborate! I don't know that I've ever eaten anywhere that looked SO fancy! It was fun!Here we are outside of the Cheesecake Factory ready to walk off all our lunch and cheesecake as we shopped the malls. I say mall-s because we shopped through the entire Milwaukee mall with no luck since it was EXTREMELY GHETTO! haha! So we went to another mall nearby that was more up our alley ;) We each found something there! :)We did get our nails done at the Ghetto mall, though, and they actually turned out the best either of us have ever had over anywhere else! It's our sister tradition to get our nails done whenever we go shopping together. :)We shopped till we dropped and then headed to Watertown for supper with Doug at Noodles and Co. and then got to hang out with him for the rest of the evening! Notice I'm in the middle, that's cause I'm their chaperon - J/K! I'm just their babysitter...heehee! ;) Miss you, Doug!Sunday we went to church at Calvary where I got to see Doug's parents again (they're so sweet!) and meet his youngest brother, Ben and his girlfriend, Jill. So I have finally met his whole family :) The Pastor preached from I John 4 about "Love."

Jules and I went to Applebees afterward for lunch. We got an appetizer along with a full size meal. We both enjoyed the appetizer so much that we hardly got to make a dent in anything else. It was disappointing to not get to eat my favorite "plate" there, but we both thoroughly enjoyed the artichoke/spinach dip w/chips (mmmmm!!) appetizer. We thought our big spread of food looked pretty pathetic, so we took a picture.We went to a park with a crazy name - one of those Wisonconsin-Indian names :) - to walk off our food. We had a nice stroll through the path in the woods to the lake, and then along the lake where we spent time lying on a deck over the lake. It was a beatiful day!I took a picture - Julie wasn't ready...There we go! There's me in my ruffle shirt. I got a shirt at Forever 21 (how fitting!) cause it looked so cute on the hanger (the dressing room line was over 10 people long and the workers there weren't too motivated to keep things moving) and it was WAY cheap, so I just got it! Turns out when I put it on Sunday afternoon, the ruffles were a bit overwhelming. O well...I wore it anyway, and then made myself wear it Wednesday, too. It's got to be worn for what it's worth, so I figure if I wear it one more time that ought to do it ;) Haha! I call it my Jabot.Here's Julie soaking in the view. It really was beautiful out that day! 87 degrees and sunshiny!

Our walk back to the car undid all our relaxation. It was a long, steep, and steady incline...but I'm sure it was good for us. Haha! We then drove back to Watertown to visit Mrs. O'Neil! I didn't think to take any pictures of her :( but we had a sweet time visiting with her. It brought back fond memories of the days her and Mr. O'Neil used to live in Blue Earth when we were little kids. I miss those days! After the evening service we went out for Custard at Culvers and then back to Donna's where we got ready for bed and got all cozy and watched a movie (a chick flick, of course)! Monday morning I got to watch Julie teach (she is an excellent teacher!) and I got to see Bryce and Bryan again - such cutie little boys! Jules and I had lunch at Subway and then had to say goodbye :( It's always difficult to say goodbye, but it helped to know I would get to see her the very next weekend at MY house! Yay! I made it back to MN without ever feeling drowsy (amazing!), but I think the trick was all my stops at different outlets birthday shopping for the 2 boys in our family :)

Happy 26th Birthday, Jordan! Heehee!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip!

Last Friday I got up at 3:30 in the morning so I could travel to Jefferson, WI in time for Julie's preschool class field trip to the pumpkin patch! Thankfully I made it and was able to go along. Each adult was assigned afew kids to keep an eye on because there were so many kids! I got to take care of Gregory (all the way to the left) and two adorable little twin boys: Bryce and Bryan. Poor Bryce doesn't look too thrilled in this picture - at the end of the afternoon he ended up with a fever and strep throat - poor little guy! Here is a picture of both of them in Kiddie Kollege when Bryce was feeling good. Aren't they just a couple of the cutest little boys ever!? They've got cute little 'all boy' personalities to match!

Anyway, when we first got there we went into a neat little building for a story about Gophers and a Golden Retriever. Then we got to walk through a tunnel decorated to look like one of their underground holes! It was pretty neat! We also made a gopher craft. After the craft we took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. There were a couple "patch's" - but this is the one our group got to choose from. It's kind of picturesque, isn't it? Very fall-y ;)The kids were each told they could choose any pumpkin they wanted to as long as they could lift it AND carry it. They loved it and searched till they found the perfect one they wanted. I don't know how many pumpkins I cleaned off for Bryan so he could hold it without getting his clothes dirty and then he would change his mind. I think he just liked watching me wipe the mud off. haha! Bryce, on the other hand, picked the first pumpkin he came to - he didn't feel well, so I think he was just going through the motions...poor guy!

Here's Miss Julie and her class! Such a fun group of kids she's got! (for the most part, right, Jules? heehee!) Not all of them are looking at the camera because the sun was too bright. Oh well. I had such a fun time hanging out with your class, Jules! and loved watching you be "Miss Julie" - I could tell all those kids just love you!

Laura Visit!

Last weekend was aboslutely wonderful! Andrew and Laura finally came back to MN to visit for the first time since they got married in June. It seemed much longer ago that they had been here - but then once I saw Laura again, it suddenly seemed like it hadn't been that long ago since I'd seen her. When you're that close to someone it's very easy to just pick up where you left off. Saturday morning I headed to the Swenson's house, picked up Laura and then we headed off for some girl time in Mankato...the best town in our area for shopping and such...Our first stop was Target (because it had the closest parking places - Laura is so wonderful to shop with, because she likes driving around for close parking places just as much as me! and the only person I know who does! Heehee!) We found some funny coats we wanted to try on, but were having a hard time getting a picture in them. Self portraits are too close to get the whole look, but the mirror thing obviously wasn't working out for us either. We would have asked that employee to take a picture for us, but she was already doing us a favor by letting us take pictures in the first place - you're not supposed to take pictures in most stores, especially with their merchandise. I haven't much of a clue as to why, but I've been told plenty of times in about every store not to do it...but I always "forget" ;)We found these cool reading glasses in Contents. (It's a really cute crafty store). We decided that when we get old and need reading glasses, we will get fun ones like these. Then you can have a wild moment when you write a check or read a mall directory, or whatever....I don't know why I tried on a pair with a tag on it...We saw these super comfy slipper boots in Herbergers and HAD to try them on! We were laughing when we first saw them because they looked so hideous, but once we tried them on we both wanted to get them! SOOO COMFY! but also....expensive.Laurala and her boot slippersMe and my boot slippers

(We each tried on a matching scarf as well to complete the look)Towards the end of our shopping trip we got stuck in the Halloween store - these aren't even all the pictures we took AND we didn't even take pictures of all we tried on! It's quite addicting and SO lifelike! We were laughing and getting creeped out at the same time! (and - confession - trying not to think about all the people who had done the same thing...I never did get sick, though, so I just see it as a time for building up my immunity - haha!)

In the above picture, Laura is the old lady on the left and I'm the bearded man on the right.Creepy old ladyHAHAHA!VERY creepy old man!One of my favorites! Laura is Curly and I'm the Family Guy. :)AND I got to see the President! ;) We got home in the late afternoon and looked through Laura's wedding pictures and chatted until other people started to come. The Swensons had a family reunion with the Kluender side of the family. It was a great time! They had a cookout out back......and had a very large selection of food layed out on a flat bed trailer :) Very country :) Heehee!Andrew, Laura and Duke
Laura and I (the only normal picture we took - we forgot to take a picture together on Sunday :( boo)

Laura and Duke.

Laura - I had SUCH a WONDERFUL time with you! Thank you for everything! I can't wait to see you again - I hope it can be soon! I miss you and love you so much!