NOW we are adults?

Like always I feel like I have waited too long before writing this post, but the last month has been INTENSE busy and fast-paced. In it I have started a new part time job, finished my first year teaching first grade, traveled throughout 3 states, been in 2 wedding and bought and moved into a new house!

Let's quickly start from the first of those thoughts, started a new part time job-a fitness instructor. When people ask "WHY!?" I just have to remember back to being a middle/high-schooler in my parents basement, doing workout videos, and pretending to be one of the instructors! As silly as it sounds, I've always wanted to do it, and now I am! I'm currently just teaching Boot Camp, (which is intense and based on drills and pain :) ), Core Conditioning (ab workout), Water X (more intense !) than you'd and something called Tabata (going all out 20 sec, 10 sec rest). Plan is to train for my things, however every type of class you are certified to teach costs between 100-400 to train for! So eventually I'll teach other things I like more like Yoga, maybe zumba? etc.

Next, FINISHED MY FIRST YEAR IN FIRST GRADE! Below you'll see my babies on field day. I have to say, I was ready for the year to end, but it was a GREAT first year, in a new school, teaching in a new language and at a new grade! My staff is great, couldn't ask for a better principal (Except maybe my old one Hannah L!) and the kids are sweet. I'm excited to get to see some of them this summer in a couple of 3/hr a day classes I'll be doing (but only for 2 weeks!).

Alright, where was I? Oh yes, Weddings! I had the immense pleasure of being in my 3rd and 4th weddings this year! (also count as attending the 6th and 7th!) Cammie got married in lovely Boulder Colorado, and Nicole got married in Winston-Salem NC! Colorado first, beautiful weather, no humidity! We hiked in the Rockies, got frozen yogurt, pranced around a farm, ate pies and danced all night :) It was a lovely time!

Now onto Nicole's wedding! It was 2 days before school ended, so I took Thursday and Friday off so that I could be back at school for our last day Monday! In addition, because we were in W-S I got to spend time with my family! Paul and Susan were there which was great! We made sushi together and got yogurt (seeing a theme in what I like to do with friends and family?) We played board games and went for a long walk. The only thing missing was my husband, but who really needs him anyways :) Nicole's wedding was also perfect. It was neat for me because I knew both Nicole and Matt decently well (Nicole being a childhood friend, Matt going to WFU with me-Yes... I am responsible for their relationship in case you were wondering; Two words-Disney Party). The wedding took place at my childhood elementary school...slightly weird....but it was neat to see all my childhood friends grown up and in one place together. Nicole does such a good job keeping up with everyone, and she helps keep us all together :) The only difference in our actions from being children to now, is now half of us are engaged and married, some have kids and we live on our own! But we're still silly and had a great time being a part of Nicole and Matt's special day! Not to mention the weather cooperated and although it rained almost every other day I was there, her wedding day was sunny and low 80s!

Slightly awkward but the only picture I have of 

our beautiful dresses!

Alright, last but definitely not least... we bought a house! Yes, we did. And we love it! When we found it we had to make a move right away, and the process was long, and not fun... but now we are homehowners! We are now in Eagan, MN. It's a suburb of the Twin Cities, and we're actually closer now to St. Paul than to Minneapolis. In fact, sometimes our address comes out as St. Paul, but we're still technically Eagan! We live in a cute little neighborhood across from a little park with a BIG pond (I'd call it a lake) and a walking trail that takes about 10 minutes around. At the end of our street is an entrance to Patrick Eagan Park walking/hiking trails that go around a "real" lake. The entire city is just bursting of parks and trails and that's one of the biggest things that attracted Mark and I. One of our favorite things about living in Minneapolis was all the access to Wirth Park and Cedar Lake, but we still have that here! To celebrate our last weekend in Minneapolis we enjoyed the weather and head out to my first Twins Game! And went out to eat downtown. We will miss that 5 minute drive to downtown (and my 10 minute commute) but we really do love our new place!

Last hike at Cedar wore her out!

So now for pictures. I have to first say, we are far from done! We moved from a 1 bedroom less than 1000 square foot house to over doubling it... and we don't have enough to furnish it :) We know it'll be a house that we grow into, so we're ok with that, but do not judge the empty rooms and poor decorating. I'm waiting to really decorate when we have fully furnished rooms and know where things are going :) So I think that's it for the writing portion of this post.. Oh wait, I forgot to mention Mark and I's next door neighbors... Mark and Sandy. Not even kidding. Ok, now to pictures.

The house is 4 levels... split level. Cici loves the stairs

Lots of trips to home depot!

She likes her new room

Walk in closet

Master Bath

Our Bedroom

Max's bedroom :) (My nephew)

Upstairs bath

View from Living room

Livingroom

Other view living room

Front Door

Front Cloest

Mud/laundry room

Garage

Kitchen :)

Love my granite countertops

Dining room

Porch with pond view

Porch again...notice Cici followed me everywhere

Mini garden

Backyard, shed and firepit

Our first planted bush, Azalea for my mom :)

Front of House

Side of house

Downstairs family room

Family room again

Downstairs bath

Office

Still following me

Craft closet :)

Guest bedroom! Getting a real bed tomorrow... everyone is welcome!

Basement/aka man cave... still empty

Being Happy Where You Are

This morning I finished the book, The Happiness Project, the one I posted about a few posts back. One in which a woman takes on a resolution every month for a year to help increase her happiness in her life. One of the main take aways from the book is that you are happy when you think you are happy... create happiness where you are!

I really enjoyed the book and feel like it fit in well where I was this past week. Springtime has been here for a while....

Beautiful flower from student

But outside it still looks like this...

Yes, it has snowed every day here since Tuesday evening... I was depressed about it Tuesday. The daunting thought of a week of snow made me feel like this...

But after I spent a day being depressed I decided I needed to accept what was and enjoy it! We've been having a wonderful time even if it is still cold. It made me think of places that are always snowy
 and cold (I've been told this is unusual here!) And I decided to focus on the positive of the weather! Taking CICI through a walk today and watching her dive into a half icy lake to chase after birds, and then have to walk the rest of our hour walk freezing in the snow, and still enjoying herself helped me focus on the positive. I enjoyed the last snowy walk I will probably ever have at Wirth Park in Minneapolis, since we are moving in a month!

We also didn't let the snow get to us on Friday when we had a girls night to celebrate my birthday! I still enjoyed my free birthday cup from Baskin Robbins

Mark and I still found a couple of hours before the snow to use my slack line gift....

He got it one time :)

This is what he usually looked like

Unbalance is balance...right Paul?

We also enjoyed a trip to watch the Timberwolves play, and Mark even enjoyed a snowy Twins Game.

I agree with Gretchen (author of the book) when she said you have to stay positive to be happy, and you can be positive in the face of any kind of circumstance. So that's what I'm trying to continue doing. Heck.... we're supposed to get snow again this week? Bring it ON!
(No but really.... we'd be ok with some sun too.) :)

"SpringTime" Has Begun

Spring has officially begun, but it has yet to start looking and feeling like Spring... here or anywhere I've been!

Started with a lovely weekend in North Carolina with my sutiemates to celebrate CAMMIE getting married! We stayed at a gorgeous lake, in a cute little house. We snuggled, giggled, ate food and danced together. And of course celebrated the special girl!

After this, time started flying by and it was almost Spring Break; and Mark and I did a crazy thing. We'd been looking at houses casually, and considered purchasing one we saw but it had a lot of work to be done on it so we were not sure. To help us make our decision we decided to look at another property to compare and before we even walked into the home, the 3 minutes walking distance to 2 beautiful parks with woods and lakes had me sold. We walked into the home and knew IMMEDIATELY we wanted it! Which is crazy, because Mark and I didn't always agree, and usually had to think things through more, but this one just felt right! We made an offer on the perfect home (with both a man cave, a beautiful kitchen and a craft room :) ) and our offer was accepted the next day! Unfortuantely we were scheduled to go out of town that weekend to Texas to start our Spring Break, but luckily Mark's dad Steve was there to help us through inspection and all other paperwork/decisions that have to be made immediately after purchasing a home! Needless to say inspection has gone through, things have been taken care of and we will close on our FIRST HOME on May 22nd! I made peanut butter brownies to celebrate! (This picture is for my sister-in-law Anne.... she doesn't like pictures of food ;) )

Recipe at end of article!

Me admiring our lake view from our deck

So we headed off to Texas, with a huge purchase in our minds, and entered the world of tons of babies and children. Mark's sister Sarah put it well "Why would you guys come to a house full of children and people to relax on your Spring Break?" But it was wonderful! We got to spend about a week there, and although the weather wasn't much different from MN (windy and 40's! They had a cold front) We still had a great time! Kaitlin had her 2nd birthday party, we played all day long, went out for an adult's dinner, and watched the Stockyards (cows walking across a road) in Fort Worth. We wanted to take a picture with a steer in the background... but it costs $5, Texas!

 So I got home from Texas and then to celebrate the end of my Spring Break, my mom came into town :) Which was VERY exciting! Her first time in Minnesota and over my birthday! And luckily it wasn't too cold. We got to show her our new house, we drove around the lakes, made yummy food, and celebrated Easter at Mark's parent's house. She also got to come with me to school a couple of days and see all my kiddos. And she was here on my birthday and got to celebrate with me! (Plus she brought me a cookbook organizer and permanent markers...she knows me so well!) It was a lovely trip but way too short, and I can't wait for them to come up again this summer to see our new house with all of OUR stuff in it :)

Me and Nancy and Mom

Almost identical.. kind of creepy

My easter tree and cupcakes

Mom watching me at school on my Birthday!

Although it was sad to see my mom go on my birthday, it was still a great day. Friends and family made me feel special all day long, starting with a phone call from my dad the moment I woke up, to three teachers coming in and giving my birthday hugs and a little gift, to my students wishing me a good day, text messages from old friends, videos from old students, facebook messages from family, a lunch note from Mark (very unlike him :) ) to homemade dinner AND getting to watch Food Network all night long! People know how to make me feel special and I really appreciate it! Oh, I forgot to mention my thoughtful brother and sweet girlfriend Susan's gift of a SLACK LINE which is something we spent a lot of time playing with over Christmas. Overall, it was a great 26th birthday, and we are continuing the celebrations this weekend, last night with a steak dinner in Uptown and frozen yogurt :) and tonight going to see the Timberwolves play, my first ever professional basketball game.

Mark's as surprised that he's making dinner as I was.

Beautiful flowering cactus from one of my students

So I'd say overall Spring is off to a good start. It may have snowed yesterday, it may still not have hit more than 55 degrees, the trees are all still brown and yes the lakes are still partially frozen; but the days are longer, my birthday has passed, there are two months left of school and I've got lots of flowers :)



(Brownie Recipe:

Skinny Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies)

Makes 12 brownies.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 6 oz. low fat vanilla greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup skim milk (or almond milk)
• 1 large egg (or 2 egg whites)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar (I thought this was too much)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

*I added less milk and yogurt and added black beans, (YOU CAN'T TASTE THEM!)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 8×8 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Place all of the ingredients except for the peanut butter into a blender or food processor. (Yes, a blender!) For easier blending, place the liquid ingredients into the blender first. Blend until mix is smooth and oats are ground up. You will have to stop the blender and scrape down the sides a few times.
3. Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Batter will be thin. Microwave peanut butter for about 30 seconds. Drop melted peanut butter by spoonfuls onto the batter, swirling gently with a knife to create a marbled effect. (Try not to overmix!)
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Brownies will be extra fudgy, so be sure to wait until COMPLETELY cooled - I stuck mine in the refrigerator for 2 hours, which allowed them to be cut very easily. Cut into 12 squares and enjoy!