Love and Marriage

Today on this wonderful Thanksgiving Day

we are celebrating four years of marriage.

The Lord has blessed us!

Being Thankful

As the week of Thanksgiving draws near is it too much to ask yourself what it really is you are thankful for?

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Good Times in AZ

Warm Arizona!

We made it here to sunny, warm Arizona with Grandpa George and Grandma Sandie. Bel did a wonderful job yesterday on the Airplane (slept most of the trip), played in the car rental terminal and was a good girl at lunch. We checked into the resort around 3:00pm AZ time and boy oh boy was our LO tired, but full of energy all at the same time. This morning we woke at 6:00am AZ time and we were ready to start the day. LO, DM and myself took a walk to get coffee at the resort office and stopped to watch a bunny eat its breakfast in the cacti. We took a nap while Grandma and Grandpa took a walk and headed to the pool where they were waiting for us. Much of the late morning and early afternoon were spent splashing and "drinking/licking" the pool water. Its been a great day so far! We are off to an art show and wine tasting tonight and are looking forward to spending some time with DM's cousins!

Halloween!!!

As many of you know Bel LOVE's doggies! Since Grandpa D and Grandma J have 3 Dalmatians we found it appropriate that for her 2nd Halloween she would dress up as one. Though many thought the costume to be a cow, we thought she looked like a cute little puppy. This year we ventured out into the neighborhood with Sandra, Brandon & Griffin (her BF) and got some candy! She did a great job walking and taking the candy and putting it in her bag. It was a very fun night!

Tis the season for apples & pumpkins

When Bel was just shy of 3 months old we ventured out to the apple orchard to pick some MN grown apples and to pick out our family pumpkins and it was a blast. This year we did the same but went to a different place (which will remain nameless) and it was not as good. We couldn't pick our own as they had advertised and even though the were listed on the MN grown site as having pumpkins they didn't have those either. But after many complaints, we moved on with our day and enjoyed the time with Auntie Stacey and Uncle Doug.

So we "picked" our apples from the crates, took pictures, looked at the animals and got some yummy fall treats. We then headed to a different location for our pumpkins and headed out to lunch. All in all the day was beautiful with temps. in the mid 50's a little wind and lots of sunshine. It was a wonderful MN fall day!

Fall Update

As you may recall I said I would try to stay up to date on the blog... well I have not done a very good job, or at least that's what many of my sources have been telling me lately! So a quick run down of life in our world is as follows... DM went to Texas for work and the Bel and I were here at home trying to get along with out him. DM came home and magically we have a cuddly baby again (gee, all it took was daddy being 1700 miles away and him coming home for it to come back).

We thankfully have all been healthy and happy outside of the burn I gave my self from burning hot olive oil. We bought a piano that Bel and her daddy love, and Grandpa George and Grandma Sandie gave us their washer and dryer which has been fantastic (no more worries about a fire starting in our basement, yes our old ones were that bad!) Outside of work and daycare we are enjoying our family time at home with our LO and furry baby too. I have started my Master's Degree and am now facing a new balancing act mixed in with everything else. We went north to see Grandma Leann and Joe at their new home and had a wonderful weekend there and Bel enjoyed playing with all the toys that were her daddy's and auntie and uncles when they were little. We are currently looking forward to Halloween and a trip to AZ at the beginning of November with Grandpa & Grandma. We hope you enjoy the whole lot of pictures we are posting this time... sorry no captions!

Back to School...back to school

In my head I can picture Adam Sandler as Billy Madison singing "back to school." Well here I am on day two of my Masters Classes and loving it! It took a long time or so it seems to get here. After finishing undergrad in 2004 I always knew that I would go back it was just a matter of where and when. Well it can't get any better then one to two weekends a month 10 minutes from our house. Hands on work and a Catholic philosophy behind it, this 20 month program will allow me to better myself as a classroom teacher and give me additional resources to use on a daily basis. Well with lots of support from DM here I am, in it, listening, working and enjoying every last part of it. I will post pictures later that DM and Bel took as I was leaving for my day yesterday.

Goodnight Daddy...Goodnight Texas

Since you are 1,267 miles away and Bel was already in bed when you called I felt the need to go in a take a couple of pictures of her sleeping... when I went in she was not yet asleep but awake and smiled when I asked her to for a picture for you. When I was done taking the 2nd picture she said "Dada" and put her hand to her ear to talk to you.

Goodnight Daddy. "Goodnight stars, Goodnight air. Goodnight noises everywhere."

Quick Cute Pics.

This is why every parent should keep a digital camera with them at all times! You never know when or where you will capture some of your favorite moments!