Dinner with Grandma Margie & Neil

Sunday night we went out to dinner with Matt's Grandma Margie and his cousin Neil, who was in town from Texas for a weekend conference in Minneapolis. Neil and his wife Debra and their young daughter Grace are originally from Texas, but moved to Minnesota for about a year and a half for a new adventure. Last December of 2007 they moved back to Texas to be closer to family. We miss them so much! In May they had their second baby, a little girl named Haley. Matt is close to all of his cousins, and it was great to see Neil this weekend. We also enjoyed spending time with Grandma, who lives in Golden Valley. She is such a positive, spirit-filled woman, and she is always so loving and supportive towards us when we see her.

I got an email at work this afternoon from our Aunt Kathy saying that Grandma fell this morning and broke her hip and is now in the hospital. She will have surgery tomorrow. Matt went to see her in the hospital today after school, and she was resting in her room. Please pray for Grandma Margie as she has the surgery to repair her broken hip and I'm sure has a long road to recovery ahead.

Here are a few pictures from our time together last night. Isn't Grandma cute? :)

Andy & Kelly's Wedding

On Friday night we went to Andy and Kelly's wedding. Andy Linn is one of Matt's good friends from college at Bethel and they were roommates for many years. After they graduated, Matt and Andy lived in an apartment in Richfield for a year, and then lived together in Matt's townhouse in Bloomington until we got married in 2002. Friday night Andy married Kelly Raatz, an awesome girl he met at church. It was an outdoor ceremony at the beautiful Long Lake Regional Park in New Brighton, and they couldn't have had a nicer day for it. On Friday afternoon it was sunny and 85 degrees in the Twin Cities - not too common for the end of September in MN, but a great forecast for a fall wedding. By the evening ceremony it had cooled down a bit and was warm and breezy, a perfect setting. We had a great time catching up with college friends that we haven't seen for awhile, including Arnie, another good friend of Matt's from Bethel that now lives with his family in Colorado Springs, and Lamont, another friend that now lives in Los Angeles. Andy and Kelly now live in Champlin, so hopefully we'll get to see them every once in awhile. Congratulations, Andy and Kelly - we had so much fun at your beautiful wedding and we wish you many blessings in your life together!
Andy eagerly awaiting his bride.

Here comes the bride... Kelly and Junior Best Man, Ethan Raatz. Ethan is Kelly's 3-year old son, and such a cutie. He did great during the ceremony.

The happy couple!

Kelly and Andy chose to do a Unity Sand, a similar idea to the Unity Candle. Here is Pastor Nathan Gustafson, representing the role of faith in their marriage, Kelly, Ethan, and Andy. It was cute, when they had finished pouring all the sand into the glass jar, Ethan said loudly, "Wow, that's a lot of sand!" :)

The kiss... so sweet.

Mr. and Mrs. Linn. I can't really tell how Andy is feeling by the look on his face, can you? :)

Good friends at the reception, from L to R: Julie and Matt, Katina and Marcus Sarazin, Andy, Kelly, and Ethan, Camryn, Anthony, and Kerri Vogel, and Lamont Hunt.

Baby Shower #2

Last Friday my good friend and co-worker Liz hosted a shower for me at her place in St. Paul with about 15 other gals from MA. It was so fun to get together outside of school and hang out with these fabulous women. Thanks to everyone that helped make this a fun and special evening! Here are a few pictures from the shower.




The food was awesome - Liz went all out! It was funny, earlier in the week Liz & Robyn were in my office talking about the shower plans and the "c-a-k-e" - I said, "um, hello, I'm sitting right here and I can spell!" :) I had to laugh at that.

Gifts, gifts, and more gifts...

The best party planner around, Liz!

Great friends, co-workers, and teachers - Randi, Katherine, Liz, and Robyn.

Isn't it cool?

Ok, this is NOT my belly, and I do not know who this belly belongs to. But I got a forward of cute pictures from a friend today, and I thought this one was so cool - cool enough to post. I've never experienced anything like this with my own big belly, just a hard butt sticking out every once in awhile. :) Maybe this little foot thing will happen to me before our little girl comes, who knows?

38 weeks and other fun pics!

As of today I'm 38 weeks! Here are a few pictures that Kristi took of me today on our deck (I kind of have some strange smiles in those) and other pics of some baby things around the house. The baby room is pretty much ready to go, minus some random things laying around the room left over from my baby shower, like cards, empty packaging, etc. My good friend Liz that I teach with at MA is throwing a ladies co-workers shower for me this Friday, so I'm sure I will have a few more things to add to the room after that. We also recently got a beautiful glider and ottoman as a gift from Matt's parents, Craig and Karen. (Thank you!) So of course Nemo and I have had some rocking and relaxing sessions in the glider, just breaking it in for the baby. :) And the parents of the MA kids that we took to Japan in June gave us a cute black and pink Baby Bjorn carrier, so you know who had to try that out too! That was such a generous gift. We feel so lucky to have family and friends who are excited for us and are helping us to prepare for this baby. Stay tuned for baby updates and/or a birth announcement and pictures... baby girl could really come any day now!

Labor Day Weekend '08

We wanted to do something fun over Labor Day weekend, who doesn't? We thought about going to the Johnson family cabin in WI, but decided to stay in town just to be safe. My doctor (and the week by week pregnancy book I read) said to stay close to home after 34 weeks, just in case something happens and you'd want to be near your doctor, hospital, etc. So instead we decided to go to a hotel for a few nights to get away together and relax, somewhere away from our house. We ended up going to the Residence Inn in Plymouth, a nice brand new hotel not too far from us. We swam in their eco salt water pool, Matt worked out in the fitness room, we laid outside in the sunny, gorgeous weather, went out for dinner, watched tv in hd on the flat screens in the room (one of Matt's favorite things about the weekend, I think), read, played Scrabble, took naps... nothing too exciting or crazy, but very relaxing. I'm at the point where I'm getting tired and uncomfortable after little to no activity, so it was perfect for me. Here are some pics from our weekend "away"...


Hmmm... who is that cute boy passed out in the sun? :)

Reading my "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" book.

A fun game of Scrabble!

Matt watching TV in bed with his forever friend, the coffee mug.

35 weeks!

I can't believe that I'm now 35 weeks along - crazy! Overall I'm feeling good, but really large and I honestly can't imagine getting bigger than I am right now, even though I know that is exactly what is going to happen. Here are two pictures that Matt took of me yesterday when I got home from work. I looked at them after Matt took them and one word came out of my mouth... "WHOA!" :)



Later that night we went out to dinner with Dan and Abby at a yummy Mexican restuarant by our house, El Loro. We had so much fun catching up with them!

Back to School!

It's that time of year again... those three little words that mean a lot to teachers, students, and parents alike - BACK TO SCHOOL. This time of year is bittersweet for Matt and I. On one hand, it's sad to see our fun and relaxing summer come to an end and know that we have 9 months of hard work ahead of us before our next nice summer break. On the other hand, it's good to get back in the swing of things, start classes, see our friends and co-workers, see our old students, and meet our new students. This fall is also exciting for us for another obvious reason... just about 5 weeks left or so until our much awaited and anticipated baby is here! So last week Matt and I had faculty meetings, and this week the kids come. Please pray for both of us during our transition back, as we begin classes and continue to prepare for the baby and that we can be effective teachers that care about our students and help them learn and grow. Thanks for your prayers - we appreciate them all!

I am also preparing for the sub that will take over for me for two months while I'm at home with the baby. The sub that the school has lined up to fill in for me is great, but I am still practically making myself crazy making sure all of my plans for her are as organized, complete, thorough, and "perfect" as I can make them... I get that perfectionism trait from my mom, I think. Thanks a lot, mom! :) The baby is due October 2nd, so I will work until she is born, and then I plan to take off through our Thanksgiving break from school. Then I will go back and Matt will stay home with the baby through our Christmas break. Then we have a two week break at home, and we'll both go back to school in January. I am fortunate that I only have to be at school (most weeks) on M/T/Th to teach, and then I do administrative things for the school from home on W/F, so it is a nice schedule. My parents just recently told us that they are willing to watch the baby on the days I'm at school for the rest of this school year, starting in January when we go back after break, which is so generous and wonderful for us and for our little one. My parents will get to know her well, and she will form a bond early on with her Person grandparents - how special. We feel so blessed. Blessings to all of you on this beautiful, sunny MN afternoon!

Minnesota State Fair

Today Matt, Kristi and I went to the MN State Fair, otherwise known as the Great MN Get-Together. It is one of the nation's largest and best-attended state fairs, as well as boasting the most "foods on a stick" of any fair, such as cheese on a stick, MN hotdish (known to most as casserole) on a stick, spaghetti and meatballs on a stick, deep fried candy bar on a stick, and much more. Every year there are a few new treats on a stick added to the lineup, and this year one of them is chocolate covered bacon on a stick... sounds strange, right?

I was wondering how I would feel at this point (34.5 weeks) and if I'd want to go or not, but I was feeling good, so we went for it. We left home earlier in the morning so we could get back home for our last evening before school starts tomorrow. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, and I held up surprisingly well. Here are some pictures from our day. Enjoy!



Kristi took this picture of Matt and I and wanted me to put my big belly in where your face should go. Funny picture! Notice the famous big yellow slide in the background.


One of Matt's favorite state fair treats - Pickle on a Stick!

I took this picture of Kristi for her to send to her friends in Alaska... home of the roving moose in the street. :)





I love to go to the Miracle of Birth Center, an agricultural education exhibit that is the birthplace of approximately 200 animals every summer, including chicks, ducklings, bunnies, calves, lambs and piglets during the fair’s 12 day run. The animals are so cute, and fun to watch in their first few days and to pet. :)




And 7 hours after we arrived, we were definitely ready to go home... we'll sleep well tonight! It's fun to think that next year we will have a little baby to experience the fun with us. :)

Matt's 32nd Birthday!

Matt turned 32 on Friday, August 15th, and we did some fun things that day, like go to see The Dark Knight at the MN Zoo Imax Theatre. But a week later we had a birthday "fun day" around town - a full day! First we went to the Science Museum of MN in downtown St. Paul to see an Omni theater film about movie special effects and to see the Star Wars exhibit. It was awesome! Next we ate lunch at Fabulous Fern's Bar & Grill, a few blocks from the St. Paul Cathedral. After that we made a stop at Home Depot (one of Matt's favorite stores) to buy a gadget for Matt's summer garage organization project, then to Babies R Us to buy a baby swing. You may notice my rather large belly - how could you not... :) I'm now 34.5 weeks and counting, and getting more and more excited every day. Lastly we stopped by Brad and Jessica's house to see our niece and nephews, Sarah, Tommy, and Jacob. My Dad was watching them because Brad and Jess are out of town at a Luis Palau festival in Portland. So we played with the little guys for awhile before their dinner time. Finally we got back home and Kristi made dinner for us. It was a fun and full day. Here are some pictures... Happy Birthday, Matt! :)





















Fun fact: Did you know that Yoda's appearance was partly patterned after Albert Einstein? Also, the same guy that did Grover's voice from Sesame Street and another character (can't remember which one) from the Muppets did Yoda's voice too.