:: allison gets hitched ::

Sometimes, crappy college jobs provide the best situation for meeting life long friends...

And sometimes weddings for such people can invoke a Grandma's Sports Garden-esque dance party to a certain Lil Jon song...

:: another hockey season complete ::

:: katie's european-style shower ::

I traveled to Michigan with my mom, Autumn and Kelly to celebrate the anticipated marriage of my cousin Jaren and his soon-to-be wife, Katie. Of course, Teresa went above and beyond with a catered European spread of food that represented each country they will visit on their honeymoon (Spain, France and Germany) - so yum! And handmade desserts as far as the eye could see!!

The beautiful (and creative!) ladies of the fashion show...

And, to finish, a Strandlie wedding shower tradition.....

:: to the gulf ::

A day before we left, we took a two-hour drive down past Galveston to an area called Pointe West for some beach time. Again, the weather did not like us much, but we did our best to get some rays and pool (hot tub) time. It was awesome to get to the water.

View from our rental balcony.

At the beach club!

Would love to go back when it's actually warm :)

Congregating in the hot tub!

Lake Superior temperature pool water

Sunset at the marina

Touching the sun at sunrise!

What followed was a 2 hour drive back to Houston, a 3 hour plane ride wherein Alden locked himself in the airplane bathroom, amongst other things, a 2.5 hour drive from Minneapolis back to Duluth. After arriving home at 11:30 p.m., and a hellish car ride home (children-induced), we got stuck in our alley thanks to all the snow we got while we were gone. After an hour of shoveling, and an answer from AAA that our alley needed to be plowed before they would pull his truck out, I went to bed, Seth snowblowed for an hour and went to bed at 4 a.m. (he's awesome). Needless to say, my first day of student teaching the next day was exhausting.

Thank you, Texas!

:: rodeo for the kids ::

Our rodeo tickets gave us access to the livestock show and carnival for the kids. We saw plenty of animals and got to have fun on the rides!

Gettin' Texan

They don't walk alike at all.....

Take note of the nicely shaped cowboy hat...

Alden sure knows how to shape a cowboy hat - completely demolished.

:: the rodeo ::

The main reason for heading to Texas was for Seth to entertain clients and meet with his work partners in their suite at the Houston Rodeo. Both nights we were there, the evening started with the rodeo and move right into the concert of the night: Bruno Mars the first night (!!!!!!!) and Tim McGraw the second night.

It was a great experience, but parts of roping cattle and tackling them to the ground had me cringing.....

rodeo clown

Muttin' Bustin': throwing a 5-year old on a sheep to hold on for dear life as the sheep runs until the child falls off. Texans think this is sooooo cute. I think that once a sheep steps on your kid's chest, it's not really that cute. 

And then, what really matters....Bruno!!!

So energetic!

It was definitely the best concert I've ever been to. He is an incredible performer. You know that when 15-year olds, young professionals, middle-age land surveyors, and your in-laws are all dancing, you have something special :)

The second night was Tim McGraw. I'm not a big country fan to begin with, so it was a bit lackluster for me. He did sing Something Like That, so I survived :) There was, by far, less energy in that arena.

He tried really hard. I applaud his effort.