:: jesse moon ::

We got together to celebrate what would have been Jesse's 35th birthday. We had our family favorite, haystacks, and for the second year in a row, we enjoyed some delicious lemon cake. His favorite.

Then, on the way home, we drove over the hill onto the freeway and saw the most incredible moon, shining over Duluth. 

We dubbed it the Jesse moon.

Brother, I still miss you every single day.

:: dirty, naughty food ::

I attended my first board meeting last night as the new concessions manager for Woodland Hockey. I took on the project with the intention of providing healthier concessions options for our kids, athletes, and families. And after my idea was squashed and kicked under the rug, Owen and I talked about it:

Me: Guess what, O.....I talked to the board about bringing healthier food to concessions and they told me I had to keep the candy and pop.

Owen: Well, at least you tried, mom.

Me: (smiling) Oh well....

Owen: Hey mom....you could just make the price higher on candy so nobody would want to buy it. Liiiikkee, $20 for Starburst. And mom, if they just want to buy dirty, naughty food, they will have to pay lots of money for it.

Who is this child? Thinking well beyond his years.........

Thanks for your support, O.   :-)

:: 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.