Cold!

Dan and I picked up our new furniture on Friday that he got me for Christmas and we brought it out to the lake. It was soooo cold outside, we both vowed never to move anything out to the lake in the winter again! But, after we moved the other furniture to the basement and the new ones inside it was worth it. On Saturday we tried out our snowshoes for the first time and hiked along the dam through the fresh snow. Beautiful! Too bad I forgot my camera to capture the scenery.

Picture of the new loveseat, chair and some of my Christmas decorations.
Finally, we have furniture in the basement!

I'm now off of work until January 5th, so I'm enjoying time at home getting some projects done that never seem to get accomplished during the work week. Then we are off to my aunt and uncle's in Apple Valley on Christmas Eve to celebrate with the extended family on my side. We are at my parents on Christmas and then we might spend some time at the lake next weekend. Dan's parents haven't moved yet, but hopefully that will happen sometime this week too.

Dan has a big decision to make at work that has to happen by January 5th. Best Buy is offering voluntary separation to their corporate employees, which means Dan could leave mid-February and get paid until next Thanksgiving. If he finds another job during that time he'd still get the pay from Best Buy and from his new job, so we think he might take the deal. We will be praying he finds a job quickly!

If I don't get back on here before Thursday, Merry Christmas everyone!

Momentum - Feed My Starving Children

Last night we went to Feed My Starving Children in Chaska to package meals to send to countries in need so that people have a one cup serving of food each day. This organization is completely volunteer led, and it was a great opportunity to be apart of it. Our group, along with another hockey team that was there at the same time, packaged enough food to feed 22 children for one year!

our group from Cross of Glory

thanks Nate for organizing everything!

Driving on ice

I thought you all would enjoy watching this video from my boss about how they drive in Portland on ice and snow - make sure your sound is on, the music is great!

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-164378

5th Annual Momentum Christmas Party

On Friday we had our Momentum Christmas Party at church and had a great time. A lot of new people came which was great to see, and Pastor Jon and Connie stopped by for a little while as well. We had a yummy potluck, played some games and then the traditional white elephant gift exchange. Thanks Sandi, Linnea and Erin for all your help!

Scott must have been surprised
Megan and Kara with baby AlyceShawn, Todd and Ellie

The pile of gifts before the game

Krista and Laura

Tom and Dan

Christina got a computer monitor!

Betsy got a picture of Jesus!

The Jesus picture was donated (or left) to the youth roomTom received some old socks, but a Caribou card too

Our small group and Todd hanging out as people left

It was a great time - thanks to everyone for coming!

Warmer times...

I found some old pictures from this summer on my camera that I hadn't posted yet. So, on this blustery cold day I thought I'd bring back some warmer memories! Thanks to everyone who was able to come out and celebrate my birthday at this lake this summer!

Jon and kids

Hi Dan

Dan holding Avalon

What did she pee on you?

Brent and friends on the patio

Hi Amber

sisters

old picture

My grandpa used to have a plane when we were kids and my sister and I would ride with him every once in awhile from the Willmar airport and fly back over Kerkhoven to see the tiny houses. One memory I had was my mom standing outside one time hanging clothes out to dry on the clothesline and waved at us.

I'm the one peaking out the door and my sister is the blonde one in the window. Don't you love the long bangs!

3 birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas

We celebrated Dan's birthday, Paul III's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Roger's birthday this week. I am partied out! We had a great time in Mankato and then house hunting this weekend in the cities. Black Friday was an adventure getting up early to get some deals, but we are glad we did it! I'll get up early one day a year to save money. Here are some pictures from the week

Watching Veggie Tales
Paul III wearing some glasses

Paul III as Eeyore

entertaining Jacob while the car is being packed

Jacob really loves his picture being taken (actually he just wants to play with the camera)

Jacob getting some hairs trimmedSpringer family picture

Dan's parents

Nice puppy

Fun times with the puppy

I love the puppy

Us

It is always so much fun to get together as a family. Good food and great company!

Family pictures and Dan's birthday

On Saturday we went to my sisters house to take family pictures and then celebrate Dan's birthday. No, it wasn't at Dan's request that we spend the day taking pictures, but he, Brent and my dad were very nice to endure it with us. Then we did have a great meal at Ambers and Dan opened some great presents. He was so happy to get a drill set for the lake and a running jacket. He said he was in the mood to build something.

Here is a picture of us waiting for the formal pictures at the mall, Dan was done taking pictures, so we had to take this one at an angle near the fireplace that we wanted to be in front of!

Amber and Brents dog Bella. She was very good, and enjoying her bone.

Us on the way to get the pictures taken, someone really needs to get a 6-seat vehicle!

We had a great time and the pictures turned out great! Thanks mom and dad for the photo shoot!

For Jon Foss:

It must be hereditary...

Happy Birthday Dan!

Yesterday was Dan's birthday. I made him breakfast and coffee in bed (which is a big deal since neither of us usually eat breakfast in the morning), he went to work and had free cups of coffee from Caribou and the other coffee place at Best Buy, and then we had dinner at McCormicks downtown. I thought it would be fun to go bowling, see a movie, or even go sit in the hot tub at the gym, but Dan's idea of a fun birthday was to go home and watch Chuck and go to sleep early :) He's probably resting up for going to Mankato tonight to be with the rest of his family and our two nephews. The boys are busy right now at ages 3 and 1 1/2.

In other Totman news, Dan's parents sold their house last week! They have been listing it for sale by owner and the same guy who was interested back in August ended up buying it on Friday. We are all very thankful that they were able to sell in this market and now the fun begins to find them a house near the cities. On Sunday we went through 8-9 places in the Minnetrista, Mound, Minnetonka, Plymouth and Shokopee areas. They are hoping to find something by January 30th.

This past weekend we had Tom and Becky's baby shower at the cabin. We had a few games that we made the guys play alone; like how to properly diaper a baby doll (the favorite quote from that game was from Jon: No fair, my baby has clothes and arms!) and a drinking from a baby bottle race (its harder than it looks!). Becky is due in January, so not too much longer until we meet a new Houle!

Thats all for now. It will be fun to spend one last holiday in Mankato before Dan's parents move with the entire family, and then see my family on Saturday at my sisters house to celebrate Dan's birthday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nothing much to update

Since our last post Dan and I have been up to the cabin a few times continuing to work on the landscaping and raking the leaves. It is officially past peak fall leaf season there, but the weather hasn't been too cold on the days we have stayed.

I've been traveling a lot for work - Seattle the week of the 13th, LA last week, Dallas this week, and Philadelphia next week. Then I may not have to travel until next year, but you never know... a few more trips may pop up. This has been a great year though, and I'm very thankful of the work success I've enjoyed especially with the acquisition news of another bank. It will be a very busy next 6 months which will continue on throughout 2010 at a minimum.

Besides work, I've really been enjoying the women's Bible study I'm apart of on Monday nights at church. Although I've missed a few with traveling, it has been a great study about the life of John and discipleship. Its different to have all ages in a small group, but I like meeting new people and especially getting to know other women in our church.

I've also attended quite a few baby shower's - 4 in one month! It is fun to share in their excitement, and even more fun to see them once they are born (Alyce is beautiful, Joel and Erin!).

I can't believe it is November this weekend and Thanksgiving will be right around the corner! Wow, time flies!

The driveway

This weekend we had Annandale Rock drop off two loads of crushed granite to pack into the driveway. But, apparently over Labor Day when we had them drop off the rocks and fill they got stuck with their big trucks so this time they weren't too fond of dropping off the load at the bottom and told me they were going to leave it at the top instead. When we got there Friday night there were two HUGE piles completely blocking the entire driveway and even spilling into the trees that separate our lot and our neighbors! It took Dan about 30 minutes to shovel a space to drive the bobcat through. Saturday a.m. around 9 Dan used the bobcat to spread it all around while I dug in some landscaping separators between the house and the sidewalk area and shoveled some of the granite up against the retaining wall where Dan couldn't get with the bobcat. It started raining about 11:30 so we got pretty wet even with my rain poncho shoveling away :) We got done a little before 1 when the rain really started to come down. Although it wasn't fun to work in the rain it was actually a good time to get it done because the rain helps pack in the rock. The hostas that we planted looked a little tired from being transplanted but I think they will grow good roots for next year. And we were really surprised to see some of the grass seed already starting to grow! Hopefully by next summer we'll have a fairly good yard.

We still have a couple edgers to dig in where some of our plants are and get a little more river rock for around the fixed patio, but other than that the big outdoor projects are done. This winter we'll cut down some of the trees close to the lake when the lake is frozen so there are always fun projects to keep us busy.

Thanks to everyone that helped us worked on the retaining wall and landscaping a few weeks ago! Now that its done we are really admiring how good it looks, thanks again!

View of the driveway and retaining wall from the road

View of the driveway and walkway - it will keep getting packed in over time as people walk and drive on it. The rain really helps!

Labor Day weekend

We took Labor Day seriously! Friday we had Annandale Rock deliver a load of riprap and fill to the lake to build a retaining wall around our septic in the front yard. The riprap was supposed to be rocks between 6 and 14 inches in diameter but when it arrived there were quite a few really large rocks that were more like 3 feet in diameter! My parents came Friday night so we could get an early start on Saturday and that is when my dad and Dan decided to look into renting a bobcat to help with the project. Luckily Big Al's Rental in Annandale had one available so Saturday a.m. they started tearing away at the hill.

Tom and Becky came that afternoon and then Jeremy and Allison arrived with their kids and some friends. With the bobcat it actually went pretty fast and we got the retaining wall and another little wall around our firepit done before dark. Jon came that evening and stayed over to help us finish up leveling the yard and filling in ruts in the backyard. Dan was able to have the bobcat returned Sunday so we only needed it for one day, when originally we thought we'd need it all weekend.

Dan's parents came up Sunday afternoon with grass seed and some hostas and other plants to get those started this fall before winter. Monday was the work day digging out places for the hostas while Dan tackled fixing the patio.

It was a busy and tiring weekend, but we are really happy with the results. Now we're considering getting some crushed granite for the driveway in a couple weeks, but we've made great progress on the landscaping!

Before picture
Dan digging out the wall
Dan and Tom spreading fill on top of the retaining wall

Allison and Hunter

Tom and Dan leveling the firepit area

Finished firepit wall

Finished retaining wall and view of Roger and Monica planting hostas

Hostas around finished septic area

Jon leveling out the driveway

Cleared out area for hostas