Winter Wonderland

The snow has finally fallen, and will not be leaving until the spring. So far, it has not been that cold until today. Today was the worst day yet! When I left work, and went to my car in the freezing cold, I was ready to get the ice scrapper out. Well, I definitely needed the ice scrapper, but it was to get into my car. My car door was literally frozen shut. All of the rain ended up freezing on my car, and I couldn't open the door. When I arrived to work, it was raining and about 35 degrees. That was the high for the day at six in the morning. The temperature just kept dropping from there and will continue to drop for the next couple of days. We are expected to get about 10 inches of snow this evening, and tomorrow's high will be NEGATIVE four, but feel like NEGATIVE thirty. Did you know that is below zero?! At least Casey and I were able to get in our Christmas photos before it is "bitterly cold" according to weather.com. Minnesota is welcoming us with open arms. :)

Turkey Day

I know it is a little late, but we thought we would still update everyone on our Thanksgiving. Casey and I had a lovely Thanksgiving in our new home with our pups by our side. It was a lot of fun to actually cook everything, and very satisfying when it tasted good! We started a tradition where we have to right down what we are thankful for, and included the dogs in on this one; of course they were thankful for food, which will be a common trend in the coming years. While this Thanksgiving was wonderful, we dearly missed our family. As I am sure many of you have heard, we ended up surprising everyone by flying down for the weekend, with of course some help from the parental units. (So thank you for that guys!) So I went to work at 4:30 in the morning on Black Friday, which could be a whole new post in of itself, the madness from the other side this year is actually pretty interesting. I did not get off work until 2, and Casey and I had to catch a plane by six. Needless to say, it was one busy day. We arrived into good ol' Tampa Bay at midnight, with my dad waiting for us. We did a quick surprise visit with my mom, and ended up sneaking into Casey's house with the help of Jamie. Now I still have no idea how it worked five times, but everyone in the house was surprised. We woke Mama Smith up by jumping on her bed. Everyone else came down the stairs one by one and were equally surprised to see us. It was wonderful to see everyone, and we missed them all greatly. We are excited to go down for Christmas and be able to spend a little more time with everyone.

We bought a house!!!

Well, Casey and I will officially be homeowners in a little less than a week. We are very excited. We will have a yard for the dogs, and a place that we can make our own. It is in move in condition, which is wonderful, and in a great neighborhood. It has an unfinished basement, with 4 bedrooms, 2 and a half baths, and a three car garage, so we are definately ready for company!! The only thing I am a little disappointed with is that it doesn't have a dining room. But, I think we will survive. Just wanted to update everyone on the fun part of our life. We will be able to decorate for Christmas and move in to have Thanksgiving dinner in our own home. I hope life is treating everyone else well, and are looking forward to seeing everyone soon. Much love. We will post pictures when everything is finalized.

'Tis the season...for HUNTING?!

Today, I saw something occur on the interstate, and just had to write about the first chance I received. I'm driving home from St. Cloud and I'm minding my own business, jamming to some tunes, when a car decides I am going too slow. I notice them in my rear view mirror, so I switch lanes to allow them to pass. Of course, everyone looks over to see who is passing them, and if you say you don't, you're a liar. When I looked over, I didn't see a car, or people, or even a boat, which is still plausible right now; no, I saw a deer!! I wanted to start crying it. It was just a young male deer, antlers and all, staring back at me. They didn't even give him a chance to grow up. The cruelty!! So cherish the deer you do see now. Because up here, everyone is killing them! Only in Minnesota... (and the rest of the mid-western States).

The First Snow

So this morning, I was able to sleep in for a little bit, which was nice. So, I wake Kodi up, since he was still sleeping next to me after Casey went to work, and opened the window. I was amazed when I looked out my window! This is the picture I saw. It isn't that pretty because it is dirty, but the snow was completely unexpected. We thought it would snow on Saturday, but I guess it snowed last night. I let the dogs run and play in the snow, and at first they were confused, but then they loved it. It still hasn't stopped snowing since it began sometime last night. Hopefully it won't stick just yet, but I hope it gets a little prettier. We have to take our Christmas pictures!! Winter has officially started! :-)

Halloween

So Casey, Jamie, and I put our costumes on, thinking we were going to get a ton of trick-or-treaters. I'm sure you are able to distinguish who we were. (I did get complimented on my costume from an adult and told "I love you" by a little kid.) We waited up all night to get the groups of kids we were expecting, to give them the four bags of candy we had stashed away, and we barely got any! I was so disappointed. It just seems as though kids do not go trick-or-treating as much any more. When I was little, I remember people had to stand outside of their doors because there were so many kids, they couldn't even shut the door. With every person in our neighborhood having three kids, we were expecting to run out of candy, but not this year. Maybe next year....

Only in Minnesota

So, I have kind of been slacking by not writing and updating the blog. I promise I will try harder to keep up. Things have been going well for us up here so far. It has started to get cold, and could possibly snow on Monday, which is absolutely crazy. The new puppy is a handful, but we enjoy having her around. That is a little bit of an update about our life, now for the real purpose of writing this blog:
So a couple of days ago I am working at the wonderful Rogers Super Target (pronounced Super Tar-jhay). Everything is going well. I have plenty of cashiers, no angry guests, but then again, it is only 10 in the morning. There are still plenty of hours left in the day for something to go wrong. Like a visit from corporate, telling us that we aren't "speed-weaving" enough, or maybe that our signs need to have a price, even though the laundry detergent is 15 bucks!! Honestly, who wants to spend 15 bucks on laundry detergent. Anyhoo, I was making sure I was up to date with the break schedules, when all of a sudden, the lights start to flicker. It was like out of a movie. Then, everything went black. Now keep in mind, it was only for a couple of seconds, but let me tell you, those seconds were completely silent. Once the emergency lights came back on, and all of the 32 lanes of registers decided to reboot in the middle of about 10 transactions, pandemonium hit. All of the cashiers immediately acted like their IQ level dropped to zero and just stared at me. I, of course, was trying to get guests to purchase the merchandise in a "Fast, Fun, and Friendly" atmosphere, but that is hard to do when 15 people are asking what to do now, and about 50 guests were wondering the same thing. Everything ended up working out fine. The computers came back up. We were not allowed to open any of the coolers, at risk of loosing the product, which some guests didn't quite understand. We did loose all of the milk, but that was minor considering the rest of the dairy, meat, and frozen items were able to be salvaged. Now the question was: what could have caused this massive shut down to half of the city? Why a goose. A simple goose trying to fly south for the winter got a little side tracked and flew straight into power lines. Now that has to only happen in Minnesota. :-)

When are you due?

So, Casey and I decided to be social in our new neighborhood and attend the block party hosted on The National Night Out (For all you home bodies: that would be today). Us, being the young couple we are, decided to be fashionably late. At first, we were not entirely sure of where the party was, so we walked around for a little bit, carrying a cake box, looking like fish completely out of water. Then, we heard the noise, but this was not noise we were accustomed to. No, this was not the sound of beer pong championships being won or tailgates in front of the Swamp, this was the sound of about 40 children screaming and playing. Our eyes widened as we approached the end of the cul de sac and looked around because we noticed every single woman on that street had about two children wrapped around her legs, and one that looked like it was coming out, pretty much any day. I don't think I have ever seen that many pregnant women in one place at one time. I guarantee la maz classes don't even get that full of pregnant ladies! Then, Casey and I did some math. They all had to be between 7 and 8 months pregnant, that would mean...January and February? Oh, the heart of Winter. So I guess what they all say is true, there really is nothing else to do. Good thing I just renued that precription of birth control, because there are definately no babies happening in Minnesota.
Until Next Time, Much Love
Rebecca

Finally Here

After the extremely long drive to Minnesota, Kodi and I finally made it. It was an emotional goodbye to Florida and to both the Smith and Edwards parental units! I was very excited to get up here to Casey, but it was a lot harder to leave my old home than I had anticipated. My dad was helpful, and towed my car up here, since there wasn't enough room in my little Jetta for all of us and the 100 pound horse Casey and I have. Surprisingly, Kodi was very good during the drive and I didn't have to sedate him, but I did come prepared. He slept the whole time and only licked my dad's face a couple of times on the way. However, I don't think I EVER want to do that drive again...it was long, did I say that already? It seems to be even longer when your truck driving dad would rather listen to his CB than the radio, and I was not "qualified" to drive the jeep with my car on the trailer, so I did not drive a single minute of the 26 hour trek. I did finish a fabulous book about halfway through the second day, but that was my only excitement in the LONG journey to the midwest.
After our arrival, and the unpacking, my dad decides it is time for him to leave after about 10 hours of being at the house, which I was not expecting, so I immediately start crying as I watch my dad drive away. Then, much to my surprise, he calls and his car is having some issues, so he comes back. We spend the rest of the afternoon together getting everything situated with the car titles, and going out to dinner and a movie. The next morning, I am preparing myself to say goodbye again, but as soon as I open the bedroom door, I notice that my dad has already fled the premises! Now he was really toying with my emotions. I call my mom crying and saying that my daddy left me again, which makes my mom cry, but she tells me that it was just too hard for my ex-Marine dad to say goodbye again, or rather "see you later," he didn't want to break down in front of his little girl. So there I was, it was Casey and I's three year anniversary, I am balling my eyes out, already homesick, with Kodi licking my face and giving me the cutest puppy dog eyes I have ever seen, since he is also homesick and missing his mommy Adi.
Casey and I try to take our new driver's licence test, without any luck, since we don't have any proper identification. So we move onto our next item on the agenda, find a Bank of America, but wait...we can't deposit anything because there are no banking centers. Customer service tells us that we have to mail our deposits back to...wait for it...Tampa! So needless to say, we don't, and open up a new account at Wells Fargo. So, after all of our failed attempts at being responsible, we decide, it is time to go out on the lake and take advantage of this beautiful 80 degree weather we are having, that will not be around in about oh, 2 months. Casey takes out a 24 foot sundeck or sundancer, i don't know (good thing that's his job), and lets me drive around Lake Minnetonka. I was awesome! I didn't hit anything, I went through the red and green bouy's, and stayed away from the black and orange ones. We drove the boat up to Maynard's, and had a great anniversary lunch, jumped back into the boat and drove around a little more. The water temperature was perfect. It was refreshing, but not like bath water, something I could get used to. The day seemed to be getting better. Then arrives our anniversary present to each other: a sweet camera, that we are still learning how to use, so be ready for some pictures. Maybe I'll like Minnesota after all. ;-)
Until next time, Much Love
Rebecca

The first show that I own, well, it was so fantastic that the boss man decided to extend it through another week. We are getting more people walking through in 15 minutes than the store sees all day. We have had to run and hide several times due to some severe weather, but all in all, it has been a success so far.
Tomorrow I am helping TJ with the first day of Captain Jack's, down at Prior Lake, but since I am heading up this show at Costco, I am regretible going to miss the festivities on Saturday down at the lake.
With both locations working we are going to create a lot of excitement and maybe sell some boats. Or at least that is the goal.
We are started to be in charge of a lot more fascits of the business. I made 7 peoples schedules for the entire week on monday, and they basically had to go where I told. I consider myself a just leader of the people. Hopefully this is training for some future bigger and better things. Only time will tell.
From the baren ice fields of Minnesooooottaa,
Pura Vida,
me

Preparing My First Show, And the 4th

Hola,
The last week has been pretty crazy. It started by working down at the Lake for the weekend, also known as "playland." On the 4th we decided to cut it off at 2 and go out on the lake for some B-Day partying of our own. We tied up with Jared Allen and his 44 foot Sundancer at a place known as Big Island, this was an intense site. Upwards of 500 boats on one side of the island all tied up together with a total of 12 sober people. I imagine. We spent all day grilling and having some refreshments on the boats with a band you might know called Emerson Drive. We then proceeded to watch some fire works and head on back to marina and call it a night.
The rest of the weekend was fun, but a little slow at the store, I guess everyone was enjoyingthe beautiful weather on the lake.
We got Monday off, that's right, another day off. That brings me to a grand total of 4 so far this summer. Now we are setting up for the first show that I am running and in caharge of. Of course, TJ is working hand in hand with me, but it is my baby. We are setting up 12 boats, including a 28 foot sundancer, in a COSTCO parking lot. It just so happens that this show is in the city that is having their annual city festival this wee, let's hope it gets people in the mood to buy some boats.
The big boss men came by and had some lunch with us today. For some reason people get real worried before they show up, I don't understand what all the hoopla is about. I had about a 45 minute conversation with the man who runs the show about mutual friends, we didn't even making to the job. Apparently we are doing good work, that is what we got out of it. We are setting the standard for our position, TJ and I are ground-breaking.
Just another standard week. If you want to come visit, there is an open queen sized bed and good food, just call before you show up.
Pura Vida,
Casey

Post Hudson Show

Hello All,
I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who is reading and commenting, I like to read the comments. Also, Thanks to those who wrote on the card from the beach, I got it and it was nice to read everybody's comments. Now back to me, the weather remains gorgeous, high of 80 today, sunny, still haven't turned on the air, but getting close.
My first show we were in charge of turned out well, we had some good propects emerge and we sold a jetski. It was the hit of the show. We almost got kicked out of the parking lot because the guy from the local marina was whining to the mayor. Apparently he has been trying to get a show at the same location for years, we are just cooler I guess.
We have begun planning several more shows, some of which should be incredible, but I will have more updates on that later. Today is my day off, so I am just getting the house together some more, making progress before Rebecca comes up so I don't look like to much of a bum. I am smoking a brisket, as I write this I am in hour 4, yum.
My life is not as exciting as the first month, but if not getting hit by semi trucks remains possible, I will take it.
Pura Vida,
Me

Hello All,
Fargo was a place that lived up to all I thought it would be. The town smelled bad most of the time, it is ugly, the wind is unrelenting, and the people talk even stranger than they do in Minnesota. The best thing to do is go to the hotel bar, O'Kelly's, where TJ and I were combined younger than any other one person in the joint.
The weather here has improved from horrible to heavenly, it was 81 degrees and sunny today. I can't complain about this because it was my day off, and I went out to Lake Minnetonka, and did some wakeboarding behind a $110,000 Sea Ray 290, and didn't even have to pay for gas. This boat is soon to be owned by a member of the Minnesota Wild, and there were still beer bottles in the boat from his demo, where six members of the team took advantage of the time. The water in the lake is finally warming up to a steaming 71 degrees.
I begin work again tomorrow after my long 1 day weekend, we are going to start setting up for a show that TJ and I are in charge of.
I wish I was at the beach.
Pura Vida,
Casey

One Month Later, "I suppooose?"

A lot has happened in my first month in the harsh Midwest. It seems that when my family was here with me the weather was exactly what the department of Minnesota tourism ordered. The temperature never got above 65 degrees and we saw a speckle of white clouds in a week and a half. Don't let this deceive you, the Midwest is a freakish place. A couple days after Jamie and Rebecca left I was settling in and working 12 hour days. You will find this is pretty standard for the boating season in the marine industry. I had just completed my first half day do to setting up for a show in White Bear, MN, when I decided I needed some supplies from Sam's Club. Let us note it was a beautiful day when I went into the store. As I left the store with my jumbo pack of t.p. and 84 fitness beverages, I noticed a sound to which I was not familiar. This was the worst, most horrible sound you can imagine. So I decided to get in my car and drive home. When I was driving down HGWY 241 through St. Michael, traveling at 55-60 MPH the weather turned from blue and beautiful, to an above ground rendition of Haites. I could no longer see two dashed lines ahead of me and before I knew it my car was now traveling 55-60 MPH a full lane to the left of where I had started. Well of course I immediately start running scenarios through my brain and decide that this was one of the many tornadoes that touched down this day. This was also the day when the town of Hugo got decimated by a tornado.
When I got home and put my car in the garage, I noticed small hail hitting my house, then golf ball hail hitting my house, then softball hail hitting my house. Then all of the sudden, in late May, my street was filled with ice. And then that horrible noise, which I now know to be the tornado sirens began again. It was as if Minnesota was saying welcome, we laugh at hurricanes.
The White Bear boat show we set up and ran went well. I was involved in four radio commercials out on the lake. We worked 10-12 hour days and got some more serious weather in the process.
After we cleaned up the show in White Bear, we were told we were going to go to Missouri for 12 days for a boat sale that was happening nation wide. At this point I was not told that the Kansas City area was the windiest, wettest and most tornado filled place on the planet right now. We will get to that show.
I had just finished returning my last boat to the lake after the White bear Show, 1 day before we left for Missouri when a funny thing happened. I was less than a quarter mile from getting back to the store and dropping off the company truck. I was getting my first full day off. I was stopped waiting for a car to turn left. All of the sudden, I heard screeeching brakes, and WHAM!, a semi truck rear-ended me going 45+ Miles an hour. I looked in my mirror, and saw a jack-knifed truck sliding straight for me. I then hit the gas of my smashed F-350 and proceeded down the shoulder until I came to a stop in front of the MarineMax store. A witness pulled up next to me and I sent them into the store to let someone know what just happened. Luckily I was able to walk away and despite the incident, the semi had pulled up right behind me on the shoulder. The enormous, heavy-duty hitches the the company trucks have probably saved my life, and caused some serious damage tot eh semi. The bed of my truck was smashed, the cab dented from the back back, and the driver side rear window broken; which I later found my head caused.
The police showed up withing a minute it felt, and to let you know the state of the semi-driver, I will read the police description;

"Campbell was unshaven and dirty. He said he had been doing pit work all day. He said he had gotten up at 0430 this morning. Campbell said he went to bed around 10:00 last night. He said he got up with the alarm because if he turned it off he would sleep 3 or 4 more hours. Campbell said he had fished all day yesterday which he considered relaxing. He said he had stopped for lunch around 12. He said he was tired today because he has no AC in his truck and it was hot, humid and dusty. Campbell said on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 well rested and 10 very tired he was an 8. "
"The police report states he was Dirty/disheveled, unshaven, eyes watery and tearing, had noticeable body odor, yawned during interview, easily confused, there was a urine bottle present, and so on."
In total there was about 9,000 dollars worth of damage to the MarineMax truck.
Then came Missouri. Other than the raging storms, tornadoes, and people dying, it was not a normal trip at all. I would have to write a novel to get across the horror of this sale and the people who attended. Instead, I will give you prime examples:

The wind, which blew approximately 30 MPH every day, all day, was lifting the 500 hundred pound cement blocks holding the tent down 6 inches of the ground with gusts. The average weight of Bass Pro Shops customers, men and women topped the scales at 325, at least. The average credit turn down rate for an 18,000 dollar boat was 78%. The most common line I heard was " this boat costs more than my house." The average number of teeth for a passer-by was 13. Number of clear meth addicts, who thought the boat made them sexy, and had an eighty year old, disheveled black man driving them, 3. There was a man with a backwards trucker hat, front and back red mullet, red goatie, kid's large wife beater, ripped jean shorts, seven teeth, and work boots, to whom we tried to get a picture but it did not come out. And many, many other things to which my blog does not have enough space or attention span.
After all of this I learned a lot about my business, myself, and troubles that a lot of people go through. Coming home through De Moines, Iowa, the flooding was so bad that a baseball complex no longer had visible dugouts, outfield fences, and the bathrooms were covered with water to the roofs. If you think you have it bad, visit the people who are going through hell in the Midwest right now and think again. If you get a chance to help them out, please do.
I am leaving for Fargo, ND this Thursday and I will write again when I get back.
Pura Vida,
Casey