thought for today.....

"For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess." Deuteronomy 30:16

These words were the bible verse of the day on Facebook this morning and they fit perfectly with the book that I just finished. Last night I stayed up wayyyy tooooo late reading an amazing book- Karen Kingsbury's One Tuesday Morning.

I have spent the last two years suffering from occasional insomnia and the only thing that I have found to help is reading before I fall asleep. Duh! So I have made my way through a huge collection of great books....The Secret Life of Bees, The Left Behind Series, Marley and Me, Vanishing Acts by Jodi Piccoult, The Deep End of the Ocean, Pride and Prejudice, every Nicholas Sparks book published, almost all of Susan Meissner's novels and now I have fallen in love with Karen Kingsbury's writing.

One Tuesday Morning is based on the events that took place on September 11, 2001. Two different families facing their own trials are now trying to make sense of God's plans. It is unbelievable! I can't wait to read the sequel, Beyond Tuesday Morning. I highly recommend it.

marathon fun

This past weekend our family drove to Appleton, Wisconsin, near Green Bay on the eastern edge of Wisconsin. Jason was registered to run the Fox Cities Marathon and lucky for us our good friends Jason and Sara Laumer live there along with their four children. Along with the Laumer's neighbors, we had quite the cheering section for Jason as he ran on Sunday morning. The conditions were ideal- cool and partly cloudy. Jason started out really well..a little too well. He was running 7:04 splits. His plan was to run 7:10-7:15 splits and finish in 3:15:00 or less. If you know Jason really well, you know that he gets a little excited about races and sometimes his adrenaline gets the best of him. By his own admission, Jason knows this, but still he just can't help himself (his own words). The race route ran right by Laumer's house so we didn't even have to drive to view the race. We just walked about a block to see him at the 2 mile point and then sat right outside of Laumer's house to wait for him at 18 mile point. We had signs and a boombox playing Jock Jam music from the 90's even a megaphone that the kids would take turns screaming into. "Go, runners, go!" It was a lot of fun watching and cheering....and Jason finished really well, 3:23. Not as fast as he had hoped, but still a time to be proud of.

fox cities marathon

Tomorrow morning we head out to Appleton, WI for another marathon weekend. Jason is running the Fox Cities marathon this Sunday. By now I have lost track of how many marathons he has actually run...he's sort of a marathon nut.

Make sure to check back for marathon pictures and please keep Jason in your thoughts and prayers on Sunday morning.

new school year

Happy first day of school....a week and a half late! For those of you who have been following our blog this last year- you may know that last school year was one of the most trying years I have ever had in nine years of teaching. My patience was put to the test nearly every day and I struggled to see how I was being an effective teacher. My class was hard! Every day as I drove to work and got closer and closer to my school, the more I just wanted to go straight home. It wasn't fun.

So.....the last day of school this past June was a joyous one. A new start. Time to refresh and prepare for my new crew of first grade friends.

So starting on Tuesday September 8th I officially started my tenth year of teaching. This fall I am hosting a student teacher from Minnesota State-Mankato. Her name is Kelsey and she is doing great! Just think...ten years ago this fall, I was the one student teaching. And I was also applying for a fifth grade teaching position in Albert Lea, MN. (Which by the way, was on the complete opposite end of the state that I was currently living on, but hey, I was ready for an adventure and a change of scenery. Goodbye beautiful picturesque northern Minnesota, hello southern Minnesota flat farm land.) And as you all know- I got that job and the rest, as they say is history. Quick recap.....

January 2000- start teaching
February 2000- set up on blind date with Jason Bakke (the small town basketball coach)
August 2000- drive across the western United States with this guy I had just met and fallen in love with
October 2000- get engaged!
October 2001 - get married!
April 2006- Kate and Annika are born
September 2009- Start my tenth year of teaching! Hooray! 20 more to go!

Whew! Time flies!

So back to school.......

I can sum the first day of school up by saying that within the first two hours of school being in session, I looked at my student teacher and said, "They're ANGELS!"

And after the completion of nearly two weeks of school, they are still angels. Thank you God! Don't get me wrong, there are a few that will keep me busy. There will always be "friends" who need to be reminded of our three rules...WORK, RESPECT and BELONG. But every day flies by and I can hardly believe that our time is up when the bell rings at 3:55 p.m. Really? They have to leave already? They just got here! We have so much more fun to have.

Ahhhhhhh! (Insert a huge smile and loud sigh here)

Here's to a great school year!

picking raspberries

Kate loves picking raspberries with her daddy. Every night after supper the two of them head out to the garden to pick the "golden red berries" as Kate calls them. Our little patch has nearly tripled in size in the last year and for those of you who love raspberries- you know that this is prime raspberry picking time. And if you ever needed a lesson on picking raspberries, Kate is your girl. She would tell you to only pick the golden red ones....be careful...don't pinch them. And then, after all of that, she would tell you that when she gets old, she'll be able to eat raspberries. Why...who knows? I guess that leaves more for momma and daddy.

the minnesota state fair

For the last eight years, Jason and I have made a tradition out of the Minnesota State Fair. Having lived in Minnesota for nearly all of my life, I had never been to the state fair until Jason and I got married. Now we look forward to it every August. The state fair runs for about a week and a half, so we usually try and spend a whole day there. This summer was the girls second time attending the fair and they were ready for it.

The sights, sounds, animals and of course the fair food! This year we went up early on a Saturday. My dad always works at the Minnesota Forest Industry booth in the Education building, so we have tried to plan around his time working. My mom, the girls and I started the day off right- mini-donuts and a hot coffee. YUM! There's nothing better than licking off all of the SUGAR and getting it all over the place. Good thing we got two bags- Annika nearly ate one bag by herself...I'm not kidding! Once our tummies were full for the time being we headed to the animal barns. Jason was going to meet us at the fair- he had to run a 20 miler that morning, so he wasn't even home by the time we left to head to the fair.

The girls love the animals- especially the cows and horses. It wasn't very busy, since it was 8:30 in the morning, so the girls got to get nice and close with a baby calf. Kate could have stayed there all morning petting that calf. She is such a little mama! Kate and Annika also thought the pigs were pretty funny as they "sang" us songs all throughout the pig barn. Those pigs were SO loud!
Once we hooked up with Jason we started to feel a little hungry again- can't pass up any fair food! So we enjoyed one of our favorites- Australian Battered Potatoes, with ranch dressing and nacho cheese of course! After that healthy morning snack, we wandered around looking at the sights and waiting for Grandpa to join us- we couldn't eat everything without him!

The rest of the fair included.....John Deere tractors, a ride at the Kiddie Midway, pork chops on a stick, caramel apples, french fries, deep fat fried pickles, corn on the cob, corn dogs, and lots and lots and lots of people. We always have a great time and we're already talking about what we'll eat and do next year.

finally...Michigan pictures!

Okay before you remind me that yes we were in Michigan in AUGUST and now it is SEPTEMBER...let me remind you that I went back to work... full-time two weeks ago. Life has gone from lazy days to crazy days.

I always love this time of year...but I'll save that for another post.

Here are the long awaited pictures of our amazing trip throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and back again.....

We started out from Lakeville and made two camping stops on the way to Detroit. We stayed over in Union, Illinois and then left early the next morning for Sawyer, Michigan- home of Warren Dunes State Park. It was a "short" 3 1/2 hour drive, compared to our 7 hour drive the day before. As we pulled onto the Red Arrow Highway that takes you from I-94 a quick 1.2 miles to the state park, traffic came to a dead stop! I mean two lanes of northbound traffic completely stopped. Did I mention that is was near 100 degrees and sunny? It seemed that every single person from the entire Chicago area was headed to the beach. As five minutes turned to 10, then 15 onto 40 minutes, we finally moved 1.2 miles and turned into the state park. At this point our temperature gauge spiked and our thermostat read 115 degrees outside. I am not kidding! Thank heavens for those Lake Michigan breezes and cool water. The girls loved the water and the sand and it felt soooo good to be out of the truck.

Once we were done at the beach we headed into the campground to set up our tent and get settled in. We love our new tent, plain and simple. It's easy to set up (after a few practice sessions) and it's huge! There's plenty of room for all of our beds and gear. And we even got to test out the size when a thunderstorm snuck up on us and we moved every last piece of camping equipment into the tent during the downpour. Yikes! Luckily, we stayed dry and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees after the storm passed. Overall the girls first big camping adventure went really well. They slept well, ate well and enjoyed living at a campsite.

But, boy oh boy did the air conditioning and warm showers at Uncle Dave and Aunt Sandy's in Rockwood, Michigan (south of Detroit) feel SO good. After roughing it for a few days, it was awfully nice to stay in a bed with clean sheets and hot water on demand. Most of all the girls were so excited to see Great Grandma Mary Jane and Great Grandpa Charlie. The last time we all saw my grandparents was three years ago, when the girls were only three months old. The girls have changed just a little bit.

We had a great time visiting with family. My parents drove to Rockwood as well, all the way from Two Harbors, MN. All of my dad's siblings live in Michigan, as well as many aunts, uncles and cousins. Kate and Annika got to meet their Great Uncle Mike, Great Aunt Janine, Great Aunt Sandy and Great Uncle Dave while we were in Rockwood. It was so much fun!

After our stay in Rockwood, we headed to the northern part of the lower peninsula- if that makes sense. We headed north with Grandma and Grandpa in their little red Subaru and the Bakke family in our huge silver suburban to Great Aunt Mary Jo's home in Lewiston, Michigan.

We love spending time at Mary Jo and Barb's home on Spectacle Seven Lake. It is quiet, relaxing and peaceful. We kayaked, and took Kate and Annika canoeing for the first time. We spied on a beaver and looked for frogs and turtles among the lily pads.

Jason and I even floated among the pines one early morning inside of a hot-air balloon. It was AMAZING!

After more than a week on our road trip, we started to head home. We crossed over the Mackinaw Bridge and into Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I can't say enough how much I love the U.P. it might be because I was born there or maybe just because we traveled there every summer when I was a kid or it might just be the pure beauty of sand beaches, giant waterways and wooded land everywhere you look.

When we finally "landed" back home in Lakeville I was a little bit sad. It seems that whenever I have ever had to head home after seeing Grandma Mary Jane and Grandpa Charlie, I get tears in my eyes and my throat gets all choked up. My grandparents have taught me so much over the years and their wisdom goes with me, in my heart and mind. Their love is unconditional and I'm not quite sure if there will ever be a way that I can truly express my gratitude to them for all that they have accomplished and share with their family. Kate and Annika are truly blessed to be loved by Great Grandma Mary Jane and Great Grandpa Charlie, even though there is a great distance between us. Next time, it won't be so long between visits....that's a promise.