what a fantastic blog

The Solution

2010-12-31T22:05:00.000-06:00

I've moved! Please follow me to my new site!

2010-12-30T17:29:00.000-06:00

So...I've reached my limit as far as how many pictures I can have on this blog. I deleted a couple from the first few blogs so that I could write my last post, but I don't want to keep deleting photos/blog posts. So I'm considering my options at the moment and therefore won't be updating you with photos (of cooking and christmas!) until I've picked the best option. I'll probably still post videos or just write random stuff, but hopefully I won't be too boring. And hopefully I find a good solution soon.

Malachi Passed His Boards!

2010-12-29T10:42:00.000-06:00

I had no doubt that he would (in case you didn't know, he's a smarty). Congrats Malachi! Love you!

2010-12-24T07:50:00.001-06:00

Malachi comes home today!!!

2010-12-23T08:12:00.000-06:00

Malachi has been in North Dakota working for Eric's dad since the 5th and I miss him!

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I don't know if Eric and Marla ever see this blog, but if you do, thank you so much for providing such selfless room and board for Malachi these past few weeks! And thank you so much for the work for Malachi! You guys have really helped us out alot and we really really appreciate it!

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Safe travels Malachi! I can't wait to see you!!

let me brighten your day a little

2010-12-21T20:05:00.001-06:00

A Winter Treat

2010-12-20T20:01:00.000-06:00

So I don't think it's a secret that we've had alot of snow here recently.

(a neighbor's car...thank goodness for our garage!)

But there is one thing to definitely make the snow a little more...delicious :)

Snow Ice Cream!!

Mmm! Yummy and perfect for a good brain freeze!

(would not recommend to people living in a city)

So this is a month overdo...

2010-12-18T07:36:00.000-06:00

Malachi graduated!

Malachi with Dr. Dixon (my mom's boss) and his wife, Beth.

Fantastic job, Malachi!!

This girl could preach the sermon every week and I'd be happy :)

2010-12-10T22:23:00.001-06:00

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church

Meet Toby...

2010-12-08T20:32:00.000-06:00

He's quite possibly the most adorable thing alive.

He is my parents' new little puppy.

He is a Havanese.

He loves everyone and everything.

He does not shed.

And he is very very loved!

Aletha's Bridal Shower

2010-12-04T08:01:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago (around when it first snowed i think), my mom and I headed over to Bri's (and Kevin's) house to celebrate Aletha and her soon coming marriage!

Aren't they just the cutest girls?

We thought it was hilarious that pretty much everything Aletha got was from Crate & Barrel, so we had to surround her and take a picture.

I didn't get the Crate & Barrel memo, see that one box there? The rice cooker? Ya...that's from me. Whoops!

Aletha and her mom:

Congrats Aletha and Mike!

2010-11-30T20:22:00.000-06:00

A while ago the Onjukkas came to visit my parents. We spent a day with them and went out to Willow River State Park.

The falls in all their glory:

Aren't they cute?

Oh how I miss the days when I could wear just that jacket and not freeze my tuckus off!

Christmas Decorations

2010-11-29T18:18:00.000-06:00

This year is the first year I've decorated 2 homes! See, my mom and I made an agreement that I could get married as long as I still come home every year and decorate my parent's house for Christmas :)

So let's start with my mom and dad's house:

First we have the most important part, the tree!!

We went for a "Grinch" theme this year, and we are still in the process of finding a few more Grinchy things. But we like the color scheme for it all :)

Next, the stockings...

All they need is Mr. Grinch himself to lurk around somewhere.

Next is the table, my mom did this part. I really like it.

The table, it needs some more work, we are keeping our eyes and ears open for what more to do with it.

Cute little snowmen by their hawaiian candle fire :)

Yours truly,

And then lets hop across the border (the MN-WI border that is) and look at my humble abode!

I'm a bit limited on what I own for decorations, but I have a christmas blanket for the couch...

And my mom gave us 2 stockings that she bought about the time that I was born. I love these stockings! I hung them on the bar, because we don't have a mantel or railing on the stairs or anything to really hang them on! Otherwise, the counter has christmas lights, that wreath stuff and a cranberry chain across it. And I bought those cute little reindeer stocking holders at target.

...I just need 2 more for the mutts' stockings (yes, the dogs have their own stockings, we are those people)

Next up is our dining room table. The pinecone candles were wedding gift from a patient, the berries are borrowed from my mom, the runner is new, and I made the feathery trees out of...you guessed it, feathers! And cones from the craft store. Just don't look too closely, I havent found anything for the top.

Next up is our christmas tree. Borrowed from my mom's work. With the most random assortment of ornaments. I don't even know.

Also, my bowl of christmas lights (yet another use for my amazing wooden bowl, that bowl is a treasure I tell you)

And our two presents so far! (and not even for us, one is for Jeremy, the other for my family)

Our other christmas tree, also borrowed from my mom's work, and a stocking dish for old halloween candy.

then a little gold runner with the nutcracker and his story on one side, with our christmas card on the other (Thanks Vliets!....who I'm sure don't even know this blog exists). When I get more cards (hopefully I do, I guess I have no reason to believe I will get many), I plan to hang them on the wall somewhere.

And last but not least (well, we hung lights in our windows, but no pictures, sorry), our fireplace with our two little dears.

Cutie patooties!

Show me how you have decorated! Post the pictures on your blogs and let me know! Or just e-mail (lyndseydaniel@hotmail.com) me your pictures and I will post them on here so everyone can admire!

The Duck Boot!

2010-11-28T08:36:00.000-06:00

This made me think of you, Taumi. You can find them here (if you want to spend a ridiculous amount of money)

Go pick up your copy of CB2 today!

2010-11-26T21:33:00.000-06:00

And when you do, flip it open to page 31 to see Preeti!

I was so excited when she told me about it, and I congratulated her on her supermodel status. She calmed me down and humbly called herself "more of a prop", but I'm sticking to my original statement.

For those of you who don't know who Preeti is, she was my roommate and friend all through PT school. We went through alot together.

Struggling through grad school, dumpster diving for apartment furniture, getting our ears pierced, and becoming the wheelchair wheelie champions... miss you Preeti!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T21:03:00.000-06:00

I hope to provide you with an update pretty soon of some of the things I've been up to lately. But for now, I just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoyed yummy food and fantastic company. We sure did! Vanessa and Ryan spent the night last night, which was alot of fun to just hang out and play a few games. And then today we went to my parents' house for food (yum!), family (aww, I love them) and football (I'd rather not talk about it).

And now that it's after Thanksgiving, I will be decorating for Christmas, sending out the christmas cards, watching the christmas cartoons and movies, listening to the christmas music, finish my christmas shopping, and probably just be in a holly jolly mood :)

2010-11-01T21:57:00.000-05:00

Hello all. I want to apologize for my lack of responding to e-mails, lack of blogs, lack of signs of life recently. I've been busy to say the least.

I just got home tonight from 13 hours straight at the hospital today. Not all work, don't worry. I worked for 9 hours, had a class for 4. I just want to stair at a wall and let my brain do nothing for a while. Is that such a bad thing? But for some reason, writing a blog and drinking hot chocolate with my hubby close, my puppies nearby and the fireplace going...well, that seems to have a good effect on my brain too.

Friday was a super long day too, but not this long. I had a 5 1/2 hour class on friday, but I was able to leave work for that one at 11:30. However, I didn't have time to do any of my paperwork, so back to the hospital for a couple hours after the class to finish up! Good thing I'm hourly. I don't understand why so many people think it's offensive to not be salaried. Salary means I stay late every night to do paperwork for free. Hourly means overtime pay. Hourly pay wins, no contest.

On the same note, I found out officially today, that work in 2011 is gonna bite the big one. Big time. I can't really get into it on here, right now. But just trust me. But I'm going to try to not let it get to me. All the more reason to not stay at that hospital for ever, right?!

This weekend was very nice. Even though saturdays seem to be the worse days for me with allergies, it calmed down by 1 o'clock. Yes, Taumi and Stephen, our house is still an allergen factory. And we don't know why. We have a new filter, but my dad is gonna look into a hypoallergenic furnace filter for us. We have cleaned a ton. The dogs have been washed several times. I was hoping after the frost it would be better, but no such luck. We will figure this out eventually.

We ended up missing Halloween at our house, so who knows if there were any kiddos or not. We spent the day with my parents and the Onjukkas. And we watched the Cowboys game that we had recorded from earlier that day, and we watched in mourning for the team that so easily could have been this year.

When I took the dogs out Saturday morning, I saw that both of our neighbors were moving out! This was exciting, because we only share walls with two neighbors. #1 being "The Terrorist" as Malachi likes to call him. We've never seen the man, the only thing we ever hear through the walls are loud explosions (like a game), and he never turns any lights on. Ever. #2 being the family with tons of kids and a psycho dog. But that family is pretty harmless and not very disruptive. Anyways, now they are both gone and we were very excited about NO neighbors sharing walls!!!! But then tonight, when I got home, and constantly for the 45 min I've been home, there has been a dog, in one of the moved-out-of apartments, that is barking non stop. We may have a new neighbor.

Well, I hope I haven't bored you. But thank-you for the therapy of letting me talk. Tomorrow will be another late night because we have to register to vote and vote! (yes, we are procrastinators about registering.) Hope you all vote as well!

Have a happy week friends :)

2010-10-31T08:57:00.001-05:00

Looking forward to actually getting trick-or-treaters this year

(I hope)

this saddens me

2010-10-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

Click here to see the press conference video.

I Love Autumn!

2010-10-11T11:35:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday, Malachi met me for lunch and we took a mini-walk around one of the parks in Hudson.

(Malachi took this first picture, isn't absolutely gorgeous?!)

The park overlooks the St. Croix River, and it was so pretty to see the colors with the water.

I apologize that most of my posts lately have just been lots of pictures of trees and leaves and sky, but it's just been so so pretty. So you are just gonna have to suck it up and deal!

I hope you all have had at least one chance to enjoy this season at its best so far!

Date Night

2010-10-10T11:24:00.002-05:00

Last week for date night, we went to the newly opened Las Margheritas. We were super excited about this opening in Woodbury, because we have loved the one in Cottage Grove, and now we live right by one!

The decor was super colorful. Every chair was unique.

We decided to not have a normal date night this time, so instead we had an Intimidate Night. And we made intimidating faces at one another.

More cool decor...

4 thumbs up for Las Margheritas. Such a large menu, even with a vegetarian section (though, it's a small section). The down side? You have to pay for any refills on your chips or salsa. The upside? They give you a little container of salsa to refill your bowl about 3 times, so you shouldn't really even need any more chips or salsa.

Sabbath One Week Ago

2010-10-09T09:40:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we were up in Deer River, MN with V, R, T & S!

After church (at the smallest and cutest church I've ever been to), we went on a hike, and the colors were just perfect.

The Guys

The Gals

After we got back to the house (and had a good nap), we drank hot apple cider and ate some yummy hot dogs around the camp fire!

And how can you end such a great day? By throwing a suprise birthday party for the amazing Taumi!

5 ice creams and one fruit. Perfection!

It was a great weekend. Just being with good friends. I can't wait to see you all again soon!

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Hope you all have a happy sabbath. We are about to head off to church and then spend most of the day outside. It's 80 degrees!!! And sunny!!!!

2010-10-08T07:25:00.000-05:00

So this blog is really about my 'recent' (2 or 3 weeks ago already) haircut. But I didn't want a picture of me at the top of the blog. So instead, here are 2 pictures of a recent sunrise at the Mart household.

Hair Before...

I couldn't stand how long it was.

Hair now!

Hello again bangs! Now I have to learn how to deal with them all over again!

Happy Sabbath

2010-09-25T19:44:00.004-05:00

2010-09-13T21:03:00.000-05:00

I'm a conservative but...funny is funny.

(don't feel obligated to listen past 3 minutes unless you want to, but the first three minutes, feel obligated to listen to, haha)

St. Paul Classic Bike Tour

2010-09-12T13:11:00.000-05:00

This morning we woke up before the sun and traveled into St. Paul for the Classic!

Don't you just love that sea of helmets?

We went with Malachi's parents.

Malachi and his dad

His mom

Haters can hate, but fanny packs rule.

There were several bike creations around. Like this fish:

Or this guys tiger bike

This guy made some sort of cross trainer which is a little too much exercise in my opinion.

And then there was this little double seater, with room for their dog!

Ready? Let's Go!!

It was really cold at first. The first 5 or so miles were in the shade and I was fearing for the safety of my fingers and my ears. But somehow we all made it through without injury.

Summit Hill just about killed me, but I got a button for conquering it! But I was one of the walkers, I made it a small portion of the way up, but it's a looong and steeeep hill. Malachi made it up in record speed I think, he and his dad actually rode all the way to the top. Julie and I were the smart ones, haha. Just walking up that hill was exhausting!

It was 15 miles total (the other options were 9 miles or 30 miles). And it was alot of fun, and a perfect day for it. But I'm so sleepy now. I need my sunday sleep in time! So I may try to take a nap now. Hope you all have lovely weeks ahead!

2010-09-11T21:32:00.001-05:00

91101

2010-09-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

Pre 9/11

7/7/10

Waking up in College Place, WA. I hadn't yet started my first year of college. I was just a week into living in my new apartment, first time out on my own, had a new roommate who I didn't really know, hadn't yet started my new job. I wasn't even awake yet that day. And then the phone rang.

I remember watching the news more then, than all the rest of my life in total. I remember watching our president give us words of encouragement and of action. I remember everyone being on the same page and being proud. I remember crafting out letters and stars and white christmas lights that we hung in our front window, "God Bless America". And I remember all of the flags in every store were sold out, because I remember every house/store/car decorated with red and white and blue.

But I feel so blessed that I don't have to remember the death of one of my own loved ones on this day. So so blessed. And so I think, today, of all those who did lose a loved one 9 years ago today.

Lawyer and the House Loan

2010-09-09T21:22:00.020-05:00

(an e-mail from my dad)

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Part of rebuilding New Orleans (after Katrina) often caused residents to be challenged with the task of tracing titles to their homes...back potentially hundreds of years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have been passed along throughgenerations of family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership.

Here's a letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client.

A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client.. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove a satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. It took the lawyer three months to track down the full title to the property which dated back to 1803.

After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply.

(Actual reply from FHA):

"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."

The lawyer responded as follows:

(Actual response):

"Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France , in 1803 the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain .

The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus 's expedition...Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana . God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory.

Now, may we have our loan?"

The loan was approved.

2010-09-08T21:30:00.003-05:00

2010-09-04T08:19:00.000-05:00

I'm joining in on Lauren's fill in the blank friday again, I tend to get around to it on saturday mornings however...

1. If I didn't have to work anymore I would

Travel the globe and write a vegan travel book.

Have a clean house.

2. My favorite thing about a vacation is

Seeing and learning things that never occurred to me before.

Low stress, and equal parts high fun and high relaxation.

3. When packing for a trip I

Lay all of my clothes out on the floor in outfits (shoes, underwear and jewelry even), and have them there for about a week, unable to decide which ones I actually want to take. Of course, this always makes for an incredibly exciting playground for my dogs and then I usually end up doing an extra load of laundry. Oh, and I seem to take too much, I'm indecisive.

4. If I could go on a road trip with anyone (dead OR alive) I would choose

All of my closest friends! A road trip with a celebrity would probably make me want to kill myself, so that seems like a poor choice.

Because...

I already know that I like you guys!

And we would go...

Well, I recently heard about this guy who walked around the world. My response to that was that he couldn't have walked the entire way unless he was on a treadmill on the boat or plane that was carrying him overseas. Or unless he 'walked around the world' just walking around one of the poles. Regardless, if he can walk around the world, then we can have a road trip to anywhere, so lets hit up a bit of europe, shall we?

5. My top 3 absolute travel essentials are

My camera

Pen and Paper

and books or magazines or ipod...something to entertain me a little

6. Vacations are

Amazing. Can you imagine if there was no such thing? I imagine that as a dark, industrial, jail sort of world. Ick. Bring me the sunny beaches with palm trees, I need my vacations!

7. On vacation you must always

Try new things

Splurge a little somewhere

Venture off the beaten path

Not be afraid to be a tourist

Relax

And eat :)

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And now for a few pictures from a personal favorite vacay.

2010-09-01T17:23:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Malachi's school so he could show me their new additions (like a sweet library and nice landscaped views) to the building that used to be a middle school. Anyways, while walking around, I noticed this:

And so of course I made Malachi hop on and model for me.

I have no idea.

My Weekend

2010-08-29T21:51:00.000-05:00

Hello my peeps. How was your weekend? Mine was quite nice if I do say so myself.

Went to church and Malachi played for praise songs
Got a new awesome TV after a ridiculous amount of messing up on Best Buy's end. Oh and it's flipping gigantic. Thank-you all who gave us money for a wedding gift!
Went out for a fun time and delicious food with Steve, Vanessa, and Goran to a super delicious Thai place that has a huge selection and even huger portions.
Had myself some Vietnamese Ice coffee. Props out to V and R for introducing me to such a delight.
Lounged quite a lot.
Cleaned and cleaned and am still cleaning (in the organizing and last bit of settling into this 'new' home kind of a way)
Went to my parents house for some food, football and Rook. (sorry Mom, but for sure we will dominate those guys next time!)

Hope you guys all had an amazing time as well!

Our Little Watch Dog

2010-08-25T18:18:00.002-05:00

Just a little something to spread a smile.

2010-08-24T15:53:00.002-05:00

Stillwater Date

2010-08-23T15:40:00.001-05:00

We've decided, for date nights, to dedicate a night to a town. We've lived around this area for most of our lives and have never walked around Stillwater before. I know, I know. That is almost a sin. So we decided to fix that!

Stillwater is such a cool little town, and we didn't even venture off of the main road. It has quirky little new shops, candy and ice cream shops, old antique shops, bookstores and a co-op that we didn't know about (that was especially exciting)!

The buildings are all old and beautiful and many of them are covered in vines.

If I'm ever feeling in the mood to spend too much money on beautiful fabric, I'll head on over to Darn Knit.

This was just in a window of an antique shop!

This was all in some stationary/ribbon/ice cream/pastry shop.

At the Christmas store. I want to head back there in a few months!

We used our Co-op gift card (a bridal shower gift from my boss) for some smoothies and a couple groceries.

These smoothies were a blackberry speck disaster in our teeth afterwards.

Ya, I don't know.

Do you see something strange in this picture?

Here, I'll zoom in. Is this something for luck? Or what?

Our purchases from the co-op, some random gift store and a spice store.

Yes, that says Minnesalsa!

Then we ate at The Kitchen.

It was a pretty place to sit in the back of the restaraunt. Despite the huge spider on our table.

And the food wasn't bad. Not an ideal restaraunt for vegetarians however.

The next time we go, I want to hit up this tiny little jewelry shop that looks like a castle and Malachi wants to check out the caves. Alot of the stores were closing at the end of our walk, so we missed out on a few. Anyways, it was an exceptionally fun night and I hope the next towns we explore treat us just as well!

The girls are insane

2010-08-22T15:31:00.009-05:00

Blueberry Muffins

2010-08-21T15:36:00.002-05:00

That Malachi can eat!

If you want the recipe for this, I will try. It was alot of substituting and improvising, I don't know if I can even duplicate what I did! Haha.

I bet this made his night

2010-08-20T15:15:00.001-05:00

Yes, we still have date night :)

2010-08-19T15:09:00.001-05:00

And one of our recent ones brought us to Pier 500 (Malachi suprised me with reservations). It's the fancier of Hudson's options, and you can sit out front on their deck and look out over the St. Croix. Which is exactly what we opted for.

The food was beautiful and delicious.

We finished off the night with Toy Story 3. True to the Toy Story name, it was cute and sweet.

How aware are YOU?

2010-08-18T15:06:00.001-05:00

Vegetable Soup

2010-08-17T14:59:00.001-05:00

I am going to try to cook most of the recipe's from the book "French Women Don't Get Fat", a book Taumi gave me a while back. I have no time limit for myself, because I don't really care if I ever get through them all. But I did start! I didn't include a recipe for this one, so if you are interested, just ask :)

The recipe called for 3 leeks. Good thing I like leeks! I actually added extra of everything in the recipe except leeks and at the end, I'm glad I did. That would have bee really leeky.

Almost done!

And voila!

It almost looks like a squash soup, but no squash was included, I promise.

Project Runway!

2010-08-16T19:01:00.001-05:00

So I just caught up on this season's Project Runway and I have a few things to say.

First of all, I think this girl got voted off too soon (that being the first person voted off).

I mean, her dress was fine. Sure it was a little too narrowly cut so she had "side cleavage" as the judges said. But there were several worse and I think it was a good idea for the plain button down shirt she had to go off of.

But, she's gone, so I'll get over it. Otherwise, I think Gretchen is completely awesome. Sure she's a bit annoying with how much advice she freely gives and her bossy demeanor, but who cares. What designer is NOT annoying? We like them for their clothes, not their personalities. (and really, she ain't that bad)

I usually don't like the same things as the judges, but they love her too. (she's been in the top three every week and won 2 of the 3 competitions so far).

Her first dress:

Her 2nd outfit:

And her third (made entirely out of party supplies, the jacket is paper bags):

And then there is Casanova. I can't stand him. He needs to go.

This is his first outfit. She looks naked.

And Michael Kohrs said it best about this next one: a "transvestite flamenco dancer at a funeral".

This next one I actually like, but I credit it to the fact that Gretchen helped him alot with it.

Next are just a few more that random other designers did a good job on in my opinion.

(made entirely of napkins...)

(made entirlely of ribbon...)

And this next one I saw coming down the runway and thought it was kinda nice...

But then she turned to the side.

That's all! Are you guys watching? Who's your fave?

2010-08-16T14:56:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry, I had to share this.

I can't say I'm suprised

2010-08-16T08:34:00.001-05:00

Movie Review: Eat, Pray, Love (Cick here)

Happy Birthday Dad (a while ago)

2010-08-15T15:31:00.001-05:00

My dad's birthday was August 3rd (which shows you how far behind I have been on blogging). And I decided to make him some cupcakes!

Putting the batter in the oven...

Time to make some green frosting.

And now to make it even more green...

And if you can't see where I'm going with this...Here is a brown sugar 'sand trap'

Time to make some flags.

and the finished product:

I think he liked them!

Then we headed out to Coldstone for our date for his birthday!

Malachi met us there too.

And a little later, my mom showed up.

We stayed and chatted for quite a while, it was a great evening.

Hope you enjoyed your birthday, Daddio!

2010-08-15T14:56:00.000-05:00

Yup, I seem to of just helped myself to a little vacation from blogging. But, since I'm a bit under the weather today, and have barely left the couch, I decided to catch you up a little on the happenings around here.

Malachi talked me into going rollerblading the other day. I get a little hesitant on sidewalks and roads because of those random rocks and sticks lying around.

We actually live right by a bike trail, which was nicely marked for potholes and such.

Malachi is actually skating backwards here, the photo didn't really capture that.

My favorite part was that he held my hand most of the time.

Awwwwwwwwwww.

St. Paul's Cathedral

2010-07-29T08:18:00.002-05:00

UFO Days -- We Returned

2010-07-28T07:19:00.002-05:00

So it's been a couple of years since my dad and I ventured out to the UFO capital of the world (at least that's what the people of Elmwood, WI say). And this time we brought along Malachi for the adventure.

And appropriately, this is what we saw:

We had to get in line for the burgers. I got a regular cheeseburger, learning from my past. But my dad was a fan of the UFO Burger, and he helped himself to the tradition.

Then we stopped by and bought our souvenirs.

And Malachi fell for the same exact trick that my dad did a couple of years ago. In the same exact spot. Priceless I say!

Donning our UFO Days 2010 buttons!

Good thing we bought them, because my shirt actually broke so I pinned the strap back on with the button.

Eating our burgers. The UFO burger skimped on the kraut this year. As only Stephanie Tanner could say, How Rude!

And then the parade began!

The parade this year was awesome. An entirely different experience than the tin foil wagons we saw a couple of years ago!

And they gave away so many treats. And I'm talking in addition to the huge amounts of candy they were tossing all over the place.

There was cheese curds, pudding, milk (regular and chocolate), freezies, and string cheese!

All for free!

I'm not sure what this float is about.

The guys on the lawnmowers were throwing frisbees out.

But enough talk, lets see some aliens!

Hudson's Pepperfest float was cute. They dressed up like the men in black characters and had badges and the queen's (pictured) badge said QIB (Queen in Black).

The politicians kept branding this poor child.

The guy from our wedding was totally there...

And I'm sorry, but clowns can be scary at times and people like this aren't helping the situation.

My dad and I in our UFO days T-shirts and buttons.

All in all, we are fans of UFO Days.

A to Z Pizza!!

2010-07-27T07:54:00.028-05:00

We were able to make it to the wonderful pizza place again! And this time Malachi was able to discover it's wonder!

We got there at 6:30 (I would recommend going a little earlier, but I couldn't get out of work any sooner). And it being an absolutely perfect evening weather-wise, it was a busy place. So we ordered our pizza and were told we had a 2 1/2 hour wait. But no a problem! The grounds are so beautiful and inspiring so it's nice to take a walk or two and even to just sit and take in your surroundings.

The greenhouses of herbs and veggies galore!

Ryan and Vanessa brought Fluxx, so we enjoyed a few hands of cards.

Then it was nearly 9:00, meaning suppertime!

Would you please stop drooling on your keyboard? That was my pizza, I'm sorry, ~~I won't~~ I can't share.

Good food, good times, good friends.

Just a little get together at Olive Garden :)

2010-07-26T15:45:00.001-05:00

Book Reviews

2010-07-25T10:51:00.001-05:00

I've actually been reading again. Ah, life is good :)

I finished The Shack. An interesting book; the fact that it seemed to freak alot of people out and was said to be a life-altering read made me both curious and hesitant to read it. But when my mom gave it to me, it was on my shelf, so I read it!

I think it truly is life altering for the reader that has never looked into what they believe spiritually. Someone who has never taken the time to question their sense of reality or has never truly studied the bible. But if you have gone a little further what is told to you as a child, I think it won't completely knock your socks off.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad book or a boring book at all. I thought it had alot of insightful messages and could be a great book club book because of the great conversations it would start. All I'm saying is...well, all I'm saying is that you shouldn't be scared of this book by all of the hype. Instead it's a fairly quick and interesting read.

A few quotes from the book:

Will you at least consider this: When all you can see is pain, perhaps you lose sight of me?
Do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you?
The future...isn't even real, nor will it ever be real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contigencies to avoid what you fear.
There are a lot of smart people who are able to say a lot of right things from their brain because they have been told what the right answers are, but they don't know me at all. So really, how can their answers be right even if they are right?

So what is my verdict? Yes, I would recommend this book :)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

A real cute book. Drawings on every page and the font is like handwriting (except it is neater than my own). What I liked about this book is that the author somehow remembered some of the craziness of a child's way of thinking and described it so well through a little boy living it. And at times I thought, how can this kid not realize how mean he is to his friend? But then I thought back to being a kid and how mean we all were to eachother. Most of us didn't realize how we impacted other kids' lives it seemed. So I guess, even though I felt bad for the other kid, I'm glad that the book stuck to being more realistic, at least in my experience.

No quotes from this book, since it's like a kid talking, and there isn't anything really profound. It's more about the way of thinking and the situations he gets himself into.

Should you read the book? Well, if you like children's books every once in a while like I sure do, then I would say it's one you probably shouldn't miss. If you don't like children's books...then stay far far away from this book, haha.

As for what I'm reading now, just look to the right of this page and there should be a list somewhere.

Kevin ♥ Bri

2010-07-24T08:35:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since I posted last. This last week seemed busy and I hadn't been feeling my best either. But I am back to catch you up on all of the recent festivities!

Last Saturday Kevin and Bri were married at the Carlson Towers in or by Minnetonka.

It was originally going to be an outdoor wedding, but weather had plans otherwise, so the wedding was inside the rotunda and so fancy and pretty.

Malachi and Jeremy were both out to sabotage my picture taking. Telling me that I was stalking people. Hogwash I say!

The two best men, Andy and Mike.

The Ceremony

-------------------

They entered the ceremony by coming down the stairs to our right. Here is Andy and his grandma Ruby (Who I am lucky enough to see 2-3 times a week, she is one of the kindest people I've ever met. Truly.)

Kevin, escorting his parents, Rick and Judy.

The ladies,

The adorable flower girl,

And the men,

And of course I have to snap random photos of my man :)

The photographer would let nothing stop him from a good photo.

And the Bride!

I couldn't choose just one picture to put up of them, because they were all too cute.

The kiss! (well, one of them, I missed the official first kiss)

Married!

The Receiving Line

-------------------------

After the ceremony, there was a break in the rain and we went outside to have some hors d'oeuvres, drinks and to congratulate the newlyweds.

Mom and dad :)

Husband

Bri makes such a beautiful bride!

The Reception

-------------------

Next we went back inside for our meal and later, the dance.

Table buddies:

Nik and Jeremy got a little strange ;)

Remember how I mentioned the weather wasn't that great? Well, at one point we were all called into one of the halls due to some severe weather. But we didn't have to wait long at all before we could get back to our meals.

Here are Dawn and Aletha (the latter being Mike's fiancee)

The Group parents, minus the Onjukkas.

And me and my honey nut cheerio.

CSA

2010-07-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

Malachi and I signed up for a Community Supported Agriculture program last year and it just started a couple of weeks ago. We get our produce through Threshing Table Farms. The website now has recipes up, but last week it didn't. And we got beets. And I have never even eaten a beet before, much less prepared and cooked one! So I went to trusty ole Allrecipes.com and used their ingredient search for beets. We also got red potatoes, which I definitely have prepared before, because I love them. But I wanted to try something at least a little new with them, so I went to allrecipes for them as well.

The chopped up beets.

The potatoes.

And I don't have a picture of the finished taters. Mostly because I was starving at this point, but also because they just looked like potato spears, nothing special. However, they did have a little kick of lemon in them because I used this recipe.

But back to the beets. I made Beet Soup and although it just looks like pureed beets, it did have a little extra somethin' somethin'. And was actually tasty. A flavor I've never experienced before, but still delicious!

And I think Malachi was very happy with the meal his wife cooked for him. (Cause let me tell you, it doesn't happen too often!)

Anyways, we already have our second installment of the CSA food, and we have more beets this week! So I have more planning and learning to do!

But if any of you have the opportunity to join a CSA, I highly recommend it!

Made some taters.

2010-07-16T23:12:00.002-05:00

And they didn't taste too shabby, if I do say so myself.

6/10/10

2010-07-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

This is the entire side of the the Daniel family, even though you can't really see Jack (he is right behind Malachi's leg).

It's a doggy blog :)

2010-07-14T21:37:00.002-05:00

We love our little muttley crew. Despite Dylan currently going through rehab (he had a recent major obsession with a game he invented that drove us mad, so we took that toy away), and despite Daisy falling down the stairs for absolutely no reason, and despite Dylan not being able to move because he got his really long claws stuck in his really tangly hair (I realize he needs a grooming), and despit Daisy taking advantage of that moment and having her way with him. Yes, despite all of their craziness and disgustingness, we love the little pups.

On Sunday...

2010-07-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

We went to the...

Why? Well, to see Star Wars in concert of course!

All of those little green dots? Light Sabers.

Here's a light saber close-up

It was actually pretty cool, despite the light sabers.

C-3PO was there (not in costume), and it really was him!

Lots of people were dressed up...

This is a picture of me with a little darth vader behind me.

2010-07-11T09:47:00.001-05:00

The other night we stumbled upon the most gorgeous sunset.

Raspberries!

2010-07-10T18:45:00.000-05:00

A coworker of mine offered up her garden while she was away on vacation, so Malachi and I braved the thick humidity and picked ourselves some raspberries!

Malachi was much more motivated than I was. Look at him in the middle of the thorns! Go Malachi!

I love summer :)

2010-07-10T10:05:00.001-05:00

I thought I would give you a break from my personal photos, and share an e-mail forward with you (from my dad). This was really two churches across the street from eachother. I forget where.

Fill in the Blank

2010-07-09T18:15:00.000-05:00

Lauren, over at the little things we do, does a fill in the blank friday. And this week I thought I would join in.

1. My favorite thing about this week has been...on date night it was gloomy and rainy and muggy, so Malachi and I snuck away into dry air conditioning and saw Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameran Diaz. And we loved it! It was soo funny! It so easily could have been cheezy, and some of you may think it is, but personally, we thought it was hilarious!

2. The weather this week has been huuuumid! But I'm not complaining. I will take any form of heat over that darn cold stuff.

3. The last (interesting) item I received in the mail was my pay check. It is interesting because of the amazing amount it has shrunk ever since I added Malachi to my insurance. It's truly mind blowing.

4. The last movie I saw was whoops! I guess I ruined this one! But I plan to watch The Good Guy soon.

5. If I could be doing anything I felt like today I would sip on a fruity drink while swinging in a hammock in the sunshine by a very blue ocean, take lots of pictures of lots of things, start and finish my wedding photo book, do a craft or two, buy a pretty dress for an upcoming wedding and quite possibly win the lottery so that I could work part time :)

6. As a teenager I was awesome. about as awesome as I am now, only not quite as much.

But probably you could say I was almost exactly the same as I am now, only less tired. Man, I sound old :(

7. I wish I could trade lives for the day with Samantha Brown. I want to get paid to travel and stay in $900/night hotel rooms.

I hope you all have fantastic weekends!

Why does spending money have to be so fun??

2010-07-08T18:11:00.002-05:00

These are a few new purchases that we have made recently to start personalizing our new home!

These touch lamps for our bedroom are completely awesome. We both are in love with them.

This corner shelf was a dream come true. It goes perfectly in our guest bath downstairs.

We bought this dog bed at the same place as the corner shelf. Our apartment color has a strong green theme, so we were very excited about the purchase. And the dogs love it too (that's Dylan with "Moose").

One of the next things on our wish list is a fireplace mantel! I was thinking how bare our fireplace looks and then I thought, why not get a mantel? It would be similar to hanging a picture, so it wouldn't wreck the walls or anything. The only problem is how incredibly over-priced they are. So we will see. We also want a file cabinet, and I have a feeling that might trump the mantel due to affordability!

2010-07-07T19:32:00.003-05:00

So the next mission of the green box involved watching the sunrise.

We decided to make some tea while we watch nature's event.

(we were sleepy)

And it was a very cloudy morning unfortunately.

The pictures turned out alot brighter than it actually was outside. Otherwise, it looks like we just sat outside in the middle of the day! Not the case, I promise.

And it wasn't raining (yet), but the sprinklers were on.

We were sooo tired.

We actually enjoyed ourselves, despite all of our sad/sleepy photos.

And sure we could do it again when there is a more beautiful sunrise, but it was still a nice thing to do. And it will be even nicer in the winter when the sun comes up at like, 8.

The 4th

2010-07-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

On the Fourth of July, Malachi and I went with his parents to Lake Minnetonka to watch some firework magic unfold.

As did alot of other people...

Before the fireworks, the Minnesota Orchestra played, and this is their young Irish conductor.

Malachi's parents, watching the orchestra.

I thought this guy was asleep, but then I realized he was texting.

The conductor really got into it. At one point he mentioned that it isn't too often a conductor has such a great view. And it's so true. He had an America loving audience sprawled out on the grass behind him, an orchestra in front of him, and beyond them was Lake Minnetonka filled with boats. And the sun setting! And premature fireworks displays going off occaisionally. Very cool.

It was a really cool fireworks display. We enjoyed it :) and we hope you guys enjoyed yours too!

Independence Day!

2010-07-04T13:00:00.018-05:00

My parents and Malachi and I went to the Hudson Parade this weekend.

This dog was really cute, and they had spray painted it random colors for some reason.

It was not part of the parade, it was sitting across the street from us.

Mom :)

Dad :)

Yours truly

And Darth Vader? He was just wandering around through the crowds. Not sure why.

The kids were all colorful and adorable.

And the horses were going a little out of control.

And then there's the plumber float.

We were sitting at the end of the parade, I think this dog portrays that.

This child meant business.

The good band.

I offered my mom money to do this in a parade. She didn't take me up on the offer.

Yes, that is a hand puppet.

Who knew?

This was like, King Snow or something like that.

Hope everyone is enjoying the 4th!!

"The Box"

2010-07-03T21:25:00.000-05:00

Oh the famous box. The box that I sent a month ahead of time to Kauai, and that finally made it's way back to Wisconsin over a month after the wedding.

So do any of you even care what was IN this box? Well for those of you who do, read on.

First off we have a basket (intended for cards), and inside this basket is alot of ribbon to decorate the favors with. (the favors that arrived at my parents house on wednesday, we flew out at 7:30 AM on wednesday, JUST missed it).

Also in that box were tons of pink and orange lighters (for the send off sparklers). If anyone needs a lighter, just call me. I have sooooo many.

Next we have the cliche cameras, but I'm a picture lover.

The sand!!! Personally, I liked the Jello better :)

Stickers for the tops of the favor boxes.

A bent up pen for the guest book.

The ribbon sashes for the chairs in the ceremony to add a little color.

The cake topper.

The sparklers (happy 4th of July!)

And last but not least, the programs. Alot of work went into these babies. I bought fans and fabric and I typed out the programs, then I ironed the programs onto fabric. Then I sewed the fabric to the fans. Anyone want a bunch of old programs??

Well, I honestly think that the wedding was better without these things than it would have been if they arrived. A blessing I guess :) Well...I do wish we would have had the programs. Mostly due to the long hours I put into them. But it was a blessing that we had a copy with us that we could use to make all the ones that were at the wedding! Have I mentioned how much I love my parents? They did so much for us!!

So there we have it, the story of The Box has finally come to a close.

2010-07-03T19:29:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry, this is political. But it really frustrated me to read it. I know it's not even news really anymore, but I think people forget about things like this.

-------------------------

'Senator' Obama:

"As I've said about the flag pin, I don't want to be perceived as taking sides". "There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression." "The anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all that sort of thing."

Obama continued: "The National Anthem should be 'swapped' for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song 'I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing'. If that were our anthem, then, I might salute it. In my opinion, we should consider reinventing our National Anthem as well as 'redesign' our Flag to better offer our enemies hope and love. It's my intention, if elected, to disarm America to the level of acceptance to our Middle East Brethren. If we, as a Nation of waring people, conduct ourselves like the nations of Islam, where peace prevails - - - perhaps a state or period of mutual accord could exist between our governments."

“When I become President, I will seek a pact of agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity, and a freedom from disquieting oppressive thoughts. We as a Nation, have placed upon the nations of Islam, an unfair injustice which is WHY my wife disrespects the Flag and she and I have attended several flag burning ceremonies in the past".

"Of course now, I have found myself about to become the President of the United States and I have put my hatred aside. I will use my power to bring CHANGE to this Nation, and offer the people a new path.. My wife and I look forward to becoming our Country's First black Family. Indeed, CHANGE is about to overwhelm the United States of America "

-----------------------------

What gets me the most is in that first paragraph when he says he doesn't like to choose sides. I can MAYBE respect that if you are just the average joe. But I would like to believe that our PRESIDENT would take his country's side??

Lake Elmo State Park

2010-07-02T22:32:00.015-05:00

On Tuesday after work we decided to take advantage of this recent awesome weather, and go for a nice long walk, 4 lovely miles at Lake Elmo.

The pups like to walk up against eachother, its adorable.

But it's adorable this way too.

Me and Dylan, taking a break to let a horse and rider pass by.

Sick of dog photos yet? Okay, here's a landscape shot. It is very beautiful there.

Malachi was playing Dylan like a guitar

We were there around dusk, so the wild life was very active. At one point a deer ran acros the path in front of us and not far behind, a coyote raced after her.

Here was one of the deer.

And when she decided she didn't trust us...

I love you, summer sunshine!

Sanna y Raul

2010-07-01T22:31:00.000-05:00

(I apologize, I think every photo in this blog is blurry...)

Last sunday we went to wedding #3 (not counting ours) this summer. Sanna and Raul's Wedding :)

And we spied on Michael (it wasn't hard, with him standing in front)

They are a such a cute couple and I wish for them a lifetime of happiness!

We were able to see Kate and Shane as well. Doesn't Kate look so pretty? And I like the color of her flowers + clothes + wallpaper together.

And here is me and my honey!

a day in nature

2010-06-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

It is only fair that I warn you now. This post has alot of pictures. So beware...

Continuing with talking about my birthday, I had mentioned we went to the arboretum.

Driving up we saw this amazing creation. It was over 1000 man hours, and I want to own it.

There was a trail of mosaics. Popular with the kiddos, so it was hard to get pictures without kids in them, haha. They were all adorable though, despite their abundance.

A few of the mosaics were very 3D

If I could only do this to my VW...

It's weeping trees!!

I can't always explain my actions.

Would it not be completely awesome to have a table like this in your yard?

I'm trying to embrace my "16 going on 17!" (plus 10 years...)

My favorite flower in the whole place:

And someday, Malachi and I are going to have one of these bushes. Pretty!

If you cannot handle our awesomeness, you may want to avert your eyes.

Birdies!

The Labyrinth. We are more at peace with ourselves now, or something.

Where's Waldo?

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-06-29T22:45:00.001-05:00

My dad and I shared June 20th this year. As every so often, my birthday finds it's way to Father's Day! And really, what better way to celebrate, than a little coldstone?

Sitting in the loft 6/28/10

2010-06-28T22:39:00.000-05:00

I love my view.

ok, now I'm 27

2010-06-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

So friday (June 18), I come home from work and Malachi is sassily making spaghetti.

I'm home for at least 30 minutes when I see a box over by the door. Malachi says "Oh ya, a box came for you today."

I happily hop skip and jump over to the door, then stop abruptly. "When did this come?! It says to put it in the fridge immediately!" Not a problem though. There was dry ice in that box, and the contents were still mightily cold. It was awesome. And what was in the box? ICE CREAM!!! And such delicious flavors. Mmmmm!

Thank-you Vanessa! Very awesome gift, well done!

Vanessa asked me to tell her which was my favorite flavor. Well, I couldn't decide until I realized that I finished the entire Belgium Chocolate embarrassingly fast. So that must have been it. In second I'm gonna have to put Wildberry Lavender. It's a little less sweet, but...well, perfect. I love it. And its lavender ice cream!! In third, the Strawberry Buttermilk, and in 4th is the salty caramel, though still delicious. Oh man, thats good stuff!

Another breakfast one from the box! "Malachi must prepare breakfast for Lyndsey - Her favorite breakfast :) " From Malachi's mom. This worked out well for an awesome start to my birthday day!

So Malachi got to work making my favorite breakfast. He even used real milk for me!

Panakoekens!!

Look at my little family, so excited to present me my breakfast of champions!

Malachi made himself one with rice dream and topped with Agave Syrup, and he really liked it! Yay!

After breakfast, we lazily got ready and then headed out to the other side of the cities for the U of M Arboretum.

But there are lots of pictures from that, so I will make a separate post for that :)

Afterwards, we headed to St. Paul and ate at Pazza Luna. One of our faves. We got there too early to eat a meal, but we could have happy hour appetizers. And boy did we. We ate SO MUCH!

My fried zuchinni (mmm!)

Malachi's no-cheese pizza

My artichoke dip creation (eh, it was alright)

Malachi's...uh...I can't remember. Some sort of fried vegetable.

And the BEST creme brulee in the world! (It has a little chocolate in the middle!

(Malachi tried to steal it from me)

Mmm!! This is my favorite desert! I love it.

Me. Feeling complete.

But wait, what's this!? I get a present too?! A gift card to Banana Republic and it's sister stores!

And we finished the day at SATC2.

Not really a good movie. I really liked the first one. This one seemed a little too old of humor for me and some cheap attempts at laughs. And the fashion was not very inspiring. Oh well, it was still fun to go!

Thank-you Malachi!