Last part of summer... Busy too :)

Well, as usual we are BUSY :) I think that's probably how I like it!
This summer has FLOWN by but it's been such a great summer of friends family and fun!

So visits with my parents went well! They loved Eagan, we went on lots of walks and just got to show them around our first home! They also got to attend one of my fitness classes at the YMCA! That was neat :)

 Shortly after they left we headed to Omaha, for the last wedding of the summer! It was so beautiful! Leah and Brian were friends from TFA and so we got to have a mini "TFA reunion"-we played yard games, watched the 2nd 2009 KC Corps wedding, and DANCE DANCE DANCED!

  

We got one day at home and then we headed back to the cabin! But this time with ALL of Mark's siblings (4 in total) and all of their children (7.5!). Needless to say by the end everyone looked like this:

 But we still had a great time! It was still pretty cool in Wisconsin (theme of this summer in the Midwest! I'll take it!) But we still found the courage to go swimming in Superior, hiking through Siskiwit falls, climbing on the slackline, ride 4-wheelers and just enjoy each other's company!

 After getting back from the cabin Mark and I were pooped, but got to enjoy a couple of days together before my brother and fiance came! I got to paint our closet BLUE :) And picked a zuchini from our garden! (Before the hail storm, see below!) We also got to take a trip to the zoo and see lots of cute animals!

Zucchini

Otters

Now we are just getting to enjoy our last week of summer with my brother and Susan here! It's nice having them here because they love to be active like us, so we've been playing tennis, hiking, playing volleyball and exploring State Parks!

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In addition, they got to witness the craziest storm I've ever seen! We went downtown for dinner one night, and drove back in a crazy hail storm! The rain was so bad Highway 77 was flooded , about 2 feet, and we drove through it! Scary business! It was neat to see, but it destroyed all my tomatoes and caused a lot of damage on the house, roof, siding, garage door, deck etc! Thank goodness for insurance!

Hail COVERING the grass!

Needless to say, this summer has been a summer to remember! We both feel so thankful for all the family we've got to seen, all the places that we've gotten to visit, and the place we can now call home :) Now to end a busy summer, and I'm sure begin a busy school year! 1st grade PSI (FYI same school, same subject, 1st time in my 4 years of teaching!) HERE I COME!

First Part of Summer...BUSY!

Like usual we are BUSY BUSY BUSY! Thank goodness we have the summer to be busy in :)

This summer is probably not quite as crazy as last (remember....wedding, honeymoon (in 2 different places), moving to MN, finding a home, New jobs, etc.) But we are defenitely traveling a good deal, almost as much as last year!

The summer started out pretty low key. We bought our house, so we started to work on some updates on that. First I took on painting our kitchen cabinets... the inside! They were just so dark, unfinished, stinky and gross that I wanted some BRIGHTNESSS in the room, and thus painted them yellow. I think it's an improvement. I still have yet to paint the lower cabinets, but the upper took me all day so I'm trying to work up the courage to finish!

Before

After

I got a little paint on me

Shortly aftter this, I finally tackled the wallpaper in our office, and realized what a PAIN wallpaper is! I started painting it TEAL :) and it's really looking good!

Lastly I've been painting little wall hangings for various rooms in our house and trying to figure how how we are going to decorate all of these rooms! Things like the saying below are what I've been doing, and I promise more pictures are to come soon of the house! I just hate to send pictures of a project that is not yet complete... but I think the furnishing/decorating of the house will be a long ongoing project!

While we are in MN we are also doing a little bit of work. I've been teaching quite a few more classes at the YMCA, and both Mark and I have worked a little bit at our schools. I did a week of community ED with some of my old students, and it was fun to get to work with them again (and keep practicing my Spanish!)

At our house we've continued to enjoy our yard, and spend time with family. We've loved watching Maxwell Staum grow up. He can finally say both Mark and Sandy so that's exciting! We also got to go with Anne, Mike and some friends to the Bob Dylan, Wilco, My Morning Jacket concert and that was fun (aside from the fact that Bob Dylan is so old you can't understand a word that comes out of his mouth).

At Bob Dylan

Though I must say, babysitting Max is not all fun and games. Cici is not very happy to lose the attention, and thus either pouts, or gets in your way. Thanks to her I broke my toe whilst holding Max on our deck...

In addition to enjoying our home the last few/the next few weeks are tons of travel. We started by spending a few days in Afton to celebrate Charley and Shelby Bruce's wedding! The same weekend as our ONE YEAR anniversary! So crazy! Mark was in the wedding, and it was a beautiful venue at the Stillwater Courthouse, on a nice cool summer day :) (Much different from the 105 degrees at our wedding).

From Stillwater we head to Wisconsin to spend the 4th of July on Lake Superior at Mark's cabin! It was a nice peaceful quiet time, just us and his parents. It was surprisingly cool, but it made for great hiking weather above the sea caves! We were also able to take the boat out a few times (although we had to wear hoodies it was soo cold!) The last day we were there we tried to go swimming, but if you got in past your shin bones your body started to sting/burn. While there we also got to see some family friends the Claytons, and I got to meet one of Mark's old HS friends, Andy.

Sea Caves below us

From the cabin, we head home for a few days and then drove down to Iowa to visit my parents on a llama farm. :) They are visiting some friends in IA for the summer, and staying on a farm with 250 llamas! It's in a small town, and it's super cute and was a nice visit with them (Although we did have 4 dogs in a small house... a bit crazy!) We went from IA to Kansas City to visit old friends! We got to eat barbeque, walk around Westport, see our old homes, see Loose Park, I visited Kauffman School's new campus (which is GINORMOUS!) and we had dinner at McCoys. Oh, and I must mention of course getting Yogurtini my favorite frozen yogurt place :)

BBQ-Oklahoma Joes

Cici/Buddy

We are now back home and will be here for a few days and my mom and dad are coming tomorrow! It will be the first time they see our home which will be neat! They will get to see our new city Eagan, and if they are lucky get to have some of my freshly grown vegetables like my lettuce :)

Once they leave we have a few days of rest, and then we're headed back out again, a weekend in Omaha to celebrate another friend's wedding (have you noticed that we've had a lot of weddings the past year?!) And then back out to the cabin, but this time with ALL of Mark's family, 11 adults, 2 teenagers, 3 kids, 2 toddlers and 3 dogs. It should be a wild time. Stay tuned