Sunday, October 18, 2009

It's Apple Pickin' Time!

On Saturday I joined a few other women from the Seminary (some wives and some students) on a trip to the Apton Apple Orchard in Hastings, MN (about 40 minutes east of us on the Wisconsin border).  We had a nice time getting to visit with each other, picking apples and having apple treats!  When I got back I told Bryan and the kids about it and they really wanted to check it out.  On Sunday, after church, we headed to the same orchard.  The weather was sunny and just the right temperature for most of the time.  When you first arrive, you can sample each type of apple they have available and also many apple and pumpkin products such as apple salsa and pumpkin butter.  The kids played on the huge playground and got their faces painted.  We got to taste freshly squeezed cider and eat some apple treats.  (ok, well....Taylor had a hot dog and Noah had a pumpkin donut but Bry and I had an apple fritter).  Next we hopped on the hayride to get to the orchards.  We hopped off first at a huge pumpkin patch where the kids loved exploring.  They also apparently loved running and tripping on the vines.....they each did it several times. : ) After each kid picked out their special pumpkin, we hopped back on the hayride.  The orchard had several types of apples to pick but we chose the "Sweet 16" which was the kind I'd had the day before (as reccomended by my friend Rebecca).  We had fun picking a couple of bags and are planning to make a homemade apple pie.  (oh yeah.....anyone have an apple-corer-peeler-slicer??  haha).  After we picked and walked around for awhile, we hopped back on the hayride and headed back to pay.   We all really enjoyed our first time apple pickin' experience and will be looking forward to going back next fall!  OK.....so now I'm going to go eat an apple......all of this apple talk has made me hungry!!


Kelly, Rebecca, Kara
(aka the ladies of the 1st floor)



 Me and my Sweet 16 (yummy!)



 Kara...picking and posing



 OK....so we did not bring bags with us so we had to
stash them in random places while picking
until we got back to the pay place.....



 I still call it Soda.....for now.



 Our group
(Cicelia, me, Nikki, Rebecca, Kara, Wyatt, Maddie)



 The bumpy roller slide was a big hit!



Taylor got a flower on her face.



 Tay


 
Noah peeking at me.



Noah's turn.



Noah decide to go for a red nose and whiskers.



Feeding the goats.



Feeding the goats.



 Taunting the goats.



Mmmmmm....pumpkin donut!



Mouth full of hot dog bun.



Daddy and Noah



This was supposed to be Daddy and Taylor but as you
can see Noah snuck in!



Mommy and Noah....Taylor declined when asked to
be in the photo.....I don't think I've ever heard Noah do that!



 Apples!!



Hayride to the apples and pumpkins...good
shot Bryan!



Pumpkins!!



Bryan in the pumpkin patch.  : )



Noah gives a thumbs up for his pumpkin!



Tay picked a little green pumpkin.



Let's pick some apples!



....and some more.



So many apples!!



Not sure what she is doing but I love this shot!



OK....let's get a few more to make our pie.



I asked Noah to give me his craziest apple pickin' pose....
and he delivered as usual!




Thursday, October 15, 2009

What's been going on...

It's been awhile since I last wrote.  Life is good but it continues to be a roller coaster as well.  As we navigate Bryan's first quarter of school, we are constantly faced with how to prioritize, with a lack of family time and stress.  His classes are going well but they are really intense.  He is taking Spiritual Formation, Hermeneutics and Hebrew.  The first two are reading intensive but (thankfully) do not involve any really long research papers.  Hebrew, however, is the cause of much stress.  This is the 3rd week of class and he has 700 phrases to know plus a lot of other stuff.  It is taught via audio and picture lessons........and it is insane!!  It seems as though he could spend all day everyday just studying Hebrew and still not know everything.....but obviously he cannot do that anyway.  We are just trying to find the balance of how much studying he should do, when and where he should study, when we should have "mandatory" family time, etc.

I continue to look for a job without much success.  I have applied for several different positions in a variety of fields that I feel that I am qualified......and so far have not heard anything back besides rejections.  I did work 2 (10 hr) days for the temp agency this week so that was nice to have a little bit of cash inflow.  The really hard part about temping is that you have very little heads up and it's very inconsistent.  This then throws in a little more craziness for us to deal with as we then have to switch plans around so that Taylor goes to a sitter while Bryan is at class, Noah stays longer at school (he is not a child that deals well with change in case you have not gathered that by now) and Bryan tries to study with the children around (yeah right!).  Noah's behavior has steadily been getting worse again and I really believe that it's in part due to everything being so inconsistent right now.  I do feel that I learned a lot after going through the September School craziness so I am using some tools and suggestions to help keep emotions under control.....and I do think that Bryan and I have been doing an amazing job of keeping open and healthy communication through all of this stress.  I am looking forward to some sort of normalcy falling upon our family at some point in this process.

On a lighter note, I did get away for 2 great breaks last week.  On Tuesday, I went to get a haircut at a great salon named juut salonspa (www.juut.com).  My friend Nikki recommended it and I am so glad she did.  It was in uptown Minneapolis so it was a bit of an adventure getting there but with the Garmin, I can get anywhere!.  When I arrived, everyone was very friendly and I was given a rather thick book written by the owner as a gift.  I was then offered hot tea and asked if they could take my jacket.  I started to look at the book.  Turns out the owner had a life-changing epiphany some years  back when he actually saved a suicidal woman's life one day just by fixing her hair and just having a nice convesation with her.   He didn't know of her plans when he was fixing her hair but later she told him that she'd planned to kill herself that night and that his kindness had changed her mind.  It was at that point he started being a "daymaker."  As a result, each person in his salon is a daymaker also.  He screens the stylists carefully and they all work hard to be sure that your day is made while you are under their care!  My stylist, Maria, was really wonderful.   The cut starts with a scalp, neck and shoulder massage, then you get to lie down on a massage-like table while they wash and massage your scalp.  (ahhhhhhh)  Maria did a great job and we had great conversation too.  It turned out she is a strong Christian and had a pretty amazing story that she told me after she learned I was a seminary wife.  While the Master Stylists at juut charge $90 for a haircut, the stylists in training only charge $25!  The cool thing is that the Master Stylists are right there and check on each step of the cut.  Maria had actually been a stylist at other salons for awhile but she was going through her juut training.  Anyway, it was a well needed break and I am definitely looking forward to my next haircut!

On Saturday, my new friend and neighbor down the hall, Rebecca, and I went on our first "girl outing."  I even called her before-hand to say "I'm dressing up and Bryan's taking our picture for our blogs so you might want to dress up too!!"  We felt kind of like we were on a date but hey, who knows when we'll get another chance to get away?  We wandered around the Mall of America for awhile and then headed to the local (awesome) thrift store "Unique" where the prices were more in our range.  What is the price range of an unemployed person, you ask?  Well......low! 

As you have probably heard, we've had two snows here in the twin cities in the last week.  One a light dusting and the other was about 2 1/2 inches but melted almost completely by the end of the day.  Although is was shockingly early to see snow, I have to say that it was very beautiful to see snow on the autumn leaves.  I heard on the news that this was the earliest snow in 20 years!!  I'm not sure what that means for our winter?!?

I better wrap it up here.  To conclude, things are pretty good but also stressful.  We all wish we could see Bryan more and I am sure he wishes he could see us too.  We would appreciate prayers for my job search and for our family as we manage this crazy schedule and try to maintain some sort of routine.  No one said this was going to be easy (as a matter of fact, they all said the opposite) so it's not that we are surprised.  It's just one thing to know it WILL be hard and another to being LIVING through it.  We're gonna make it though and we still thank God everyday (well almost.....hehe) for putting us on this path...



Taylor-Mommy date at a McDs playland in Minneapolis





This McDs is old school on the outside





Autumn leaves





more Autumn leaves





Me and the kids watched the MU v NE game upstairs
at a Husker's apt (Bry had class) so I made these brownie cupcakes...
they didn't help obviously!

 
First snow!  Taylor loves to eat it nonstop!





Not enough to sled in so they just rolled!




Noah was so excited that he made a snow angel even
though it was just a dusting.  : )





Rebecca and I on our "date"




Snow # 2




A snowy bench down by the lake behind our apts.

Monday, October 5, 2009


So happy to see Grandpa!



and Grandma!



Arrrrrgh!



Princess!




In the Seminary Chapel...decided to sing a few songs.


Doesn't she look like she knows what she is doing?



At the seminary...





 
Almost everyone was looking...




 







 
Making cookies...



yummy!



mmmmmm!



Darth Noah and Grandpa Gator