What we've been up to lately....

With a purchase of a new home a little over a year, we are continuing to make it our own. We have wanted a pot rack over the center island since we moved in, but I couldn't quite find one I liked, until this past weekend. After much deliberation, ceiling demolition, the complete uselessness of my kitchen for a weekend, we finally have a new pot rack. Casey did a great job hanging it, and I am just amazed that only 1 bolt is holding the whole thing up! There is a little cosmetic work left to complete, and of course some decorations to spruce it up a bit, but here is our finished product. Rather convenient if you ask me.

In addition to the pot rack, we wanted a fan in the living room. Although it isn't hooked up to actually spin or light up the room, it is hung and wired to do so. Casey was very proud of himself and I guess I do have somewhat of a handyman. I can't wait for this summer when it is hooked up and we don't have to use the air this summer!!! Way to be energy efficient!I also started my own little projects. I made a mosaic mirror, and I needed a craft desk to store all of my little projects. My sewing projects, scrapbooking, and paint supplies needed a makeover. Casey found this abandoned desk at work and thought that I could do something with it, boy he was right!! I think it turned out great. I am going to put the chalkboard paper on the doors of the desk and Casey still has to cut a piece of plywood for the side, but it is now a useful piece of furniture.

Other than cosmetics around the house, we have just been enjoying our puppies, being married, and making our new life in Minnesota. Here is one of Kodi's new favorite pass times...
He likes to drink the water out of the faucet. It is funny to see his 90 pound mass of fur jump into the bathtub.Until next time...

Poor Bubba....

For the past two days, Kodi has been itching like crazy, so I decided to take him to the vet. Unfortunately, it cost us 5oo Benjamin's, but we did figure out what was wrong. He somehow got into something in the middle of winter and now has an infection. So, just before his third birthday, when he should be celebrating the fact that he will officially be 21, he will be drugged up on antibiotics and steroids. I'm not sure if you can tell, but he has welts all over his neck, and lovely pustules are opening, secreting a foul smell. We thought his breath smelled, but really it was the infection! To make matters worse, when we were coming home from the vet, Kodi jumped in the car, and got his cone stuck on the seat. I wasn't paying attention, so I accidentally shut his tail in the door! What a horrible mother I am! He was only mad at me for a moment of shrill yelping. I felt horrible, but luckily he was still slightly sedated, so he didn't feel it for long.

Aspen is scared of the huge cone that prevents him from scratching, so she just sits and barks at him, kind of annoying. She isn't quite sure why Kodi doesn't want to play, but tries really hard to convince him. We hope that everyone is staying healthy in this new year, and look forward to seeing everyone in just a mere month! Very exciting!!! Until next time....

Slim in 6

With the new year, it's resolution time. I have always tried to make the resolution of losing weight, and it never really works out. This year, I am going to try to modify my resolution to fool my body into losing the weight. My mom bought me these exercise videos a couple months ago and I haven't used them as religiously as I should. With Ryan and Missy's wedding coming up, it will be perfect timing. These videos promise you if you do them like your supposed to, you can lose up to 25 pounds in 6 weeks! Now, I'm not sure if I need to quite lose that much, but I would like to be toned and slimmer than I am. Therefore, in short, my New Year's Resolution is to use the video's 5 times per week, as well as keep up with my running. My goal is to run in a half marathon in June, let's see if I will be able to do it! The deadline is Ryan and Missy's wedding....Six weeks and counting!!!!

Home Again, Home Again....

I know it has been a while since I last wrote something, but boy does time fly. Every time I thought about writing about either the dogs doing something crazy, or how Casey and I's life is always changing, something else takes place and I can never seem to keep up.
I don't really know where to begin, since I haven't updated anyone for oh, about 3 months! Wow, when you write it down, it seems a lot worse! Winter is officially here, with all the snow on the ground, it is hard to ignore it. I do love the snow, but am very glad that we missed the blizzard that came through over Christmas. Our garden, horseshoe pits, and solar lights around the house are completely covered. My roses are definately getting a real taste of winter (fingers crossed that they survive) and the dogs are loving every second of it. It is rather amusing to watch them walk on the top, which is slightly iced over, and then sink to where they have to bound through to get to where they need to go. One nice thing about all the snow is the snowmen you can make. And let me tell you, they are huge!! The kids in our neighborhood made some of the largest snowmen I have ever seen. They dress them up and should be up for the rest of the season, which kind of makes you smile. I will post a picture of the one Casey and I put together in the next week.
As for being home, it is great to be back to the place we now call home, but we miss everyone dearly. We are disappointed we missed Cori's birth by a mere day, but loved seeing the pictures that everyone took. Dani and Dave, she is beautiful and we can't wait to hold and spoil her! It is comforting that we will be back down there in 7 weeks to celebrate Ryan and Missy's wedding, at a time I am sure it will be ideal to get out of this frozen tundra!
We are now off to celebrate the ending of a decade, but the start of a new and exciting one! Of course, we are celebrating more laid back than usual, since I have to work at 8 am tomorrow, but we will be celebrating with great company. We hope that everyone has a great New Year's Eve! Have a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous NEW YEAR!!! Happy 2010!!!!
Until next year...

Banning State Park...The Beauty of Fall

Let me begin this blog with a heads up...there will be a lot of pictures! Last year, Casey and I missed the leaves on the trees by one week. This year, we were not going to let that happen! We decided that we would go to Banning State Park about 2 hours North of Saint Michael. Even though we woke up at 5, so we would make sunrise, I sure am glad that we did, because it was the only sun of the day. The day itself wasn't as nice as we would have hoped, but it was one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on. All of the leaves were yellows, oranges, and
reds, and the ground still had a bit of snow from the day before. It was a little colder than I would have wanted, we were dressed for it, and had a wonderful time. Here are two of my favorite pictures.

We of course brought the pups, and they were wonderful. Aspen stayed by our side the whole time and Kodi just kept trotting slightly ahead leading the way. I tried to get a good picture of Kodi, but unfortunately, he is not very photogenic when he is excited. His ADD gets in the way, and there were a lot of distractions with the off trail climbing. There was only one close call for Kodi. During our off trail climbing, we encountered a road block and Kodi just jumped up on the rock. Well, once he was on top of the rock, he began sliding down. Luckily, with Casey yelling at him to "come," and me turning my head because I can't watch (some mom I am!) he managed to not fall off the cliff. Aspen wasn't as adventurous as Kodi, very unsure of her footing, being, for lack of a better term, a girl. She was still great, and I think this is one of the best pictures of her.



Since we bought our camera, I have wanted to learn how to use it. I thought that the 2 hour car ride was a great time to start doing so. I figured, if we bought this nice camera, let's actually use some of the functions. We knew that there was a river and a waterfall, so I read up on slow exposure. While there were many pictures of a target dog I had in my purse, the practice paid off! I was rather proud of myself for learning how to do it. While the pictures aren't perfect (we had to deal with a broken tripod, and I held my hand as still as I could) they will do.

We hope that everyone is enjoying they weather, wherever they may be. We are taking advantage of living with seasons. It may be cold sometimes, but there are still enjoyable things about living so far North! We hope to go back again this Winter to snow shoe.
Until Next Time...Enjoy Fall!

Learning How to Garden...The Northern Way

This spring, when we were re-landscaping our front area, I just had to have roses. I love everything about roses and wanted a couple of rose bushes of my own, that I could cut flowers an place on our table, and that I could simply enjoy for the couple of months that they would bloom. They grew quite a bit this past season, but I need to keep them alive (and warm) for the winter. This weekend it is supposed to snow, yes SNOW, so I had to get a move on trying to keep them alive. After many questions and research as to how to keep them alive I went to work yesterday. Here is what one of my beautiful rose bushes had grown into.

Then, came out the gardening shears. I had to clip all of the buds, which are now in our house decorating our dining room table. Then I had to trim the plant, so all of the fairly new stems were gone, and it looked a little healthy. After that was finished, I began to pull all of the leaves off of the stems! After being pricked with the thorns several times, I finally finished! The end product was rather bare and a little depressing knowing that winter is approaching, but I felt very accomplished as well. If I can keep these roses alive, I will be able to say I can garden!! Too bad I won't be able to tell until next spring...Until Next Time...

Marathon Number 2

Sunday, Casey ran in his second Twin Cities Marathon, which I have a feeling may become a yearly ritual. We woke up at five to drive down to the cities in 40 degree weather so Casey could run from Minneapolis to St. Paul. It was a perfect day for the race! It was a little overcast, but the sun peeked out a couple of times, shinning light on the beautiful course. I would love to train to run it one year... One thing I missed was the company this year for the race. Last year I had Pops, Mama Smith, and Jamie to bear the cold rainy weather with, but this year it was just Aspen and I standing cheering the runners on (dressed properly for the cold, which made a HUGE difference). I was very proud of myself for finding the two meeting spots along the course, but failed to find the GU that he had packed to throw to him! Aspen was an angel, which I was very pleased about considering our last race with both dogs, and she received many compliments as to how great she was. She just sat by my feet, looking for some chereois as a treat. Casey ended up beating his time last year by five minutes with a time of 3:22, so he was very pleased. and was even able to give two thumbs up as he was crossing the finish line. I was most pleased at the fact he finished and he wasn't a complete waste for the rest of the day. He actually stayed awake until ten! He did lay on the couch the whole time watching TV, while I decorated our house for Halloween, but he was stilll awake for me to talk to and admire my superior decorating skills.

The other exciting thing that happend after the race was I was able to meet one of my favorite television fitness trainers! That's right, Jillian Michael's was at the race answering fitness questions and taking pictures. Casey isn't fond of her method of training, but I think she's awesome! We even have her ifit boot camp work out for our treadmill. I was so thrilled to just meet her, partly because of the famous part, since I watch her on TV most Tuesday's but mainly because I think she is so down to earth and doesn't sugar coat stuff.
Well, the weather has finally turned cool, and will not becoming warm again for another 7 months. I will be packing away most of our warn weather clothes, and bringing out the sweaters. The leaves are changing, with the beautiful reds and oranges. We hope to go hiking this weekend, so hopefully I will have some pictures of Northern Minnesota's beautiful foliage. I think that this updates everyone on our adventures for this past week.Until Next Time...Go Gators! (It wasn't a coincidence they are Gator colors.)