Scary, funny, delicious, simple, adorable, and joyful

Last night after bible study, Brent took Bella to the river so she could burn off a little energy.  When Bella runs in and out of the water fetching, she jumps and bounds super high.  If you look through the pics in my post about Bella, you can see it.  Anyway, last night Bella's leg got caught in her collar when she was in the water, and she didn't come up.  Brent flipped out and swam out to her and scooped her up and unstuck her leg.  Bella is fine and is her normal self today; she has already shredded 2 empty toilet paper rolls.   Brent's cell phone is not okay though... his second water wrecked cell phone in 2 months.  He googled that putting a wet phone in a bag of rice, so he tried it.

You know you've married someone from "up north" when they use wild rice  : )


Switching gears- I am far from a food blogger but I have an awesome super easy recipe for the 4th of July... or any time really!
Grilled Corn on the Cob with Lemon Butter and Herbs
Clean 4-6 ears of corn, and cut them in half.  I boil the halves for about 5 minutes, just so they are tender and then don't have to grill as long.  Put 4-5 tbs. of softened butter in a bowl and add to it the zest and half the juice of one lemon.

Spread half the mixture over the warm corn.  Then throw the cobs on the grill for 5- 10 minutes, just to get those lovely grill marks and smoky taste.  Take them off, spread the second half of the lemon butter on, and then sprinkle on chopped herbs- I used parsley but you could use cilantro, dill, you name it!

Make it for the 4th of July!  Easy and delish!

And one more thing to add some joy to your day!  Last night my baby was not the best sleeper, so this morning we napped a little and cuddled in my bed for awhile.  I realized some pretty light was coming in, so I grabbed my camera.  Love this babe.

I got about 20 really good shots that I was overjoyed about... but even sweeter is the time I get to spend snuggling with my baby.  Pure joy.  : )

Taylor Swift was my Maid of Honor

Some people think my sister looks like Taylor Swift.

Here's Taylor:

And here's my sister Jenny:

People ask her all the time if they can take their picture with her or just take a pictures of her.  I think it's great.  She thinks if it's at work it's not very professional  : )   So the next time you see her say, "has anyone ever told you you look like Taylor Swift?"

Jenny is a really fun sister, I feel lucky to be related to someone who looks so much like a celeb and who could help me get back to work if I ever had an injury, or find an ergonomically correct purse.  I spent the afternoon/evening with her on Saturday and it was SO much fun.  She came up to visit Kira (whom she calls KiKi, even though I think it sounde like a stripper name) and I.  We got some delicious School House Scoop ice cream.  At Schoolhouse Scoop they take the 'school' thing very seriously and give you an extra credit scoop.  That's actually what they call it!  Extra credit.  I love it!

And spent the day playing with our cameras.  She bought my nikon D3100 from me and I had just gotten my D90 and we had the BEST TIME bonding and taking pictures.  Jenny will probably be a famous food blogger in a year or two.  Her cooking is amazing.

I was a little surprised Jenny wanted to get into photography.  We come from a long line of women who have a little trouble with cameras, and like to take pictures with a camera in one hand and their other hand covering the eye not looking through the camera.
 
Even though it was real cloudy and Kira was super tired, here are a few pics from my day with Jenny!

Love ya Jen.

How Great Thou Art

Tomorrow I'm going to write about my Saturday with Taylor Swift and photography.  But today I'm going to share two videos of the best song ever.  You know how some songs just hit your soul the right way?  This song does it for me.  Any way I hear it, whoever sings it, it whatever rhythm or key, I love it.

The first video is from the summer I went to Tanzania, Africa.  They're singing in Swahili, but if you know the tune, you know the song.  I could listen to these voices everyday.  And if you're reading this blog and went to Africa on the same trip, I hope this brought a little joy to your day.

The second video is Carrie Underwood singing the same song.   Equally powerful, yet so different!

 
 
 
The last verse always makes me get that little lump in my throat, where I could shed a few tears, but hold them back.
 
When Christ shall come,
With shouts of acclamation,
And take me home,
What joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow
In humble adoration
And there proclaim,
"My God, how great Thou art!"
Roho yangu....

One Wild Nght

So last night we had some friends over for a little bonfire.  We thought the night would be relaxing.  Have smores and just hang out.  It turned out to be one random night. 

This is Sadie.  She's really fun.  She comes off very nice and sweet, but she has a sassy side, and I like that. 

This is her husband Stu.

Stu is in law school right now, and Brent likes talking to someone who understands what he's talking about.  And Stu had horses growing up, so he's okay in my book.

Ryan and Jen came over too, and brought their little dog, Rizzo.

Jen is really fun and cute too. But, she is a little different than I am in that she's VERY organized.  Funny story- these two came to help us move into our house last year, and to put it mildly, we weren't quite ready.  She was great and started throwing stuff into boxes and grouping things together, but if it was her moving, she would have had everything packed, and probably color coded.  : )  Anyway, Jen is pregnant with their first baby, and she refuses to tell me the name they've picked out.  I still have three months to get it out of her.  I would say something nice about Ryan, but won't since he will not add me as a friend on facebook.

And this is our neighbor Kathy.  She lives next door, but I dont think I've ever had a conversation with her.  Until last night.  Even though she didn't know us well, she grabbed her Milwaukee's Best Light and joined the party.

I wasn't sure how to write this post because so many wierd things happened last night.  So, i'm just going to list things.  And there is a good chance that these things will only be funny to the 6 of us here last night... but I'm still laughing....

• Our dog Bella took a running start out to the deck.... and ran into the screen door.
• A random beagle from the park behind our house ran up the stairs to our deck.... and peed on my foot.  I was wearing flip flops.   It was gross.
• Brent asked Kathy if she had any old newspapers we could use to help our bonfire along because the wood was a little wet.  She said, "heck yes" and brought out about 20 used/non-winning scratch off tickets, a milwaukees best box, and a dictionary.  Yes, a dictionary.  She said it was old, she couldn't find the words to her crossword puzzle in them, and that she had bought a newer version at a garage sale for 2.00 the weekend before.
• As we were sitting around the fire, we noticed men with flashlights in the park behind our house.  After a little while we relized they were cops.  And then saw a cop car driving on the path without lights.  There was no one at the park, and they didn't seem to find anything... but it was pretty creepy!
• We heard the loudest party ever.  It sounded like the cops were busting it or something and that's why we had seen the cops.  (I realize my neighborhood sounds a little unsafe, it's really not!)  This party was SO loud and sounded like it was just across the park.  So us girls went to go find it and see what the commotion was about.  NO PARTY.  We didn't see people anywhere and couldn't hear a thing.  But when we got back to the house, we could hear it again, even louder.  Bizzare.
• Kathy asked Brent if he wanted to ride her son's "wheeler"  Brent wasn't sure what that was, but said sure!  In the shed in the backyard (we live in town!!) there was a brand new 4 wheeler.  So all the boys drove it.

All in all it was a really fun night, with many more funny quotes. Good friends and summer nights  : )

Life is always better when you have fun people to share it with!

One last picture of Kathy's fire contributions and a few more Kathy quotes:

(Kathy brings over some cardboard to burn)

Brent: What's that from?

Kathy:  My new weed whip.

Brent:  the one you ordered off the tv?

Kathy:  yeah, and let me tell you.  It don't do no two football fields.   I called about it but they wouldn't talk.  I got halfway around the house and had a curb I didn't even know about.  Does NOT do no two football fields.

"Take him deep sea fishing!"

And when heading in, she looked at Sadie, went in for a hug, and said, "It was nice to meet you.  You'll be pregnant within three months."

Joy in Trials

James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

I always try to remember this verse when I have not so great days.  Today wasn't horrible, but it wasn't smooth sailing.  I had a knee dr. appointment, and it's always frustrating to hear that my only options are surgical, and that my knees resemble that of an 85 year old woman.  I've had 3 surgeries before, and will probably have more than one more.... it just gets old.  I always try to keep it in perspective that many people have it way worse that I do, but it's just frustrating for me.

I also had the first shift of our garage sale tonight. Brent and I try not to spend money we don't have, and I need a little more for a big purchase coming up.  For some reason I thought people would come in herds and throw their money at me for my old soccer cleats.  It didn't happen.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  I guess it was just one of those days, along with the 60 degree gloomy June weather- yikes!!

Are you ready for some joy after those depressing paragraphs??  Get ready. 

I love this picture.  Absolutely love it.

It just makes me happy.  Brent's happy, Kira's curious.  Love it. 

And now for the best thing I have ever seen!  Brent's Aunt Mary made this flower hat for Kira and I'm totally obsessed with it.  Oh, I LOVE this hat. 

See the flower?  The little green stem on top?  I can't handle the cuteness.

Pretty cute kid too  : )

And a view from the top... one last look at this amazing hat.

Thanks for the hat Mary.  It brought joy to our cold June day!!

the opposite of joy

My mom and I (and sometimes sister)  love to can.  Strawberry jam is always the first thing canned because of the season.  For as long as I can remember we have driven out to Kathan's Berries, picked/ate for awhile, and then got a can of orange pop and went home.  The past several years we have made jam.  If you haven't canned, you don't know the joy of hearing the processed cans "pop" indicating they are sealed.  It's wonderful.  We thought Brent was going to have to work out of town and I'd stay with my parents this week, but he didn't have to, so I drove down for one night  to get some picking and canning done!

So, my mom and I and Kira went to Kathan's yesterday to pick berries to make into jam.  One of the best tastes in the world is a sun warmed, ripe strawberry.  Even with a ltitle dirt- delish!  So we picked for awhile...

And the baby supervised....

And it was wonderful.

And then I had a freak strawberry picking knee injury.  The same thing happened back in Dec. when I was 8 months pregnant.  Basically, I tore cartilage and it got stuck and popped in the wrong place and it was just gross.  Crutches for 2 weeks, injections, physical therapy... super fun time.  Yesterday, I heard the same pop, and was unable to get up.  I finally did, and limped to the car.  This isn't my first knee injury and I'm sure it won't be my last, but it's still terribly frustrating.   I can't straighten it or walk on it, so it's back to the icing, wrapping, crutches, and back to the dr. tomorrow.

No canning happened.  No sugary jam to sample, no lid popping sounds (well, besides the one in my knee), no beautiful filled and processed cans to look at and take pride in. 

Even though we will definatley do much more canning this summer, it's hard to find joy in knee problems.  Knees are the opposite of joy.

A Weekend Full of Little Joys

It was kind of a busy weekend for us!  Here are a few things that might bring you joy!

On Friday night we just kind of hung out.  Sat. was filled with naps, working out, and cleaning!  Brent's brother Scott and his soon to be wife Angela and their 6 month old baby came to stay with us for the night!  It was the first time the cousins had had a chance to play with eachother.  Can you handle this cuteness??

 It was a fun night!  Sunday morning they went back to Hibbing, and Brent and Kira and I went to church.  At chruch the Pastor gave a sermon on how powerful love is.  He played a Brett Dennen music video that is centered around love.  I LOVE Brett Dennen!!!  A few summers ago my parents, Jenny, and I went to see him at an ourdoor concert during a weekend fest of all things organic and natural.  We felt a tiny bit out of place there, but loved it!!!      
Check it out. He's amazing.  If you have more time, listen to a few of his other songs.  You'll feel joyful : )

After church we changed clothes, packed the diaper bag, and headed down to Rochester for a wedding.  Brent's cousin, Russell was getting married.  We were kind of hurrying to get down to Rochester, and I totally forgot to grab my camera bag.  I could have kicked myself!  The wedding ceremony was held at the Plummer House Botanical Garden and the reception was at the Rochester Art Center.  Good thing I had my phone and my old camera that Brent keeps in the car for work!  

At the wedding they did what was called the Dutch Winebox Tradition.  I had never heard of it, but love the idea!  They each wrote a letter to eachother about all of the reasons they loved eachother and wanted to be with the other.  They didn't read the letters the other had written, but instead sealed them, and locked them in a box with a bottle of wine and 2 glasses.  The tradition is, the if they were to have problems in their marriage, they should open the box, drink the wine, and read the letter the other had written for them.  I thought that was so cute!  Here's a (really bad) pic of the box!

It was also a wonderfully decorated wedding and reception.  Huge groupings of hydrangeas and roses, and on each place setting there was a little heart shaped bird seed hanging.  I'm a fan of birds, so it was super cute! 

All in all it was a fun weekend.  Lots of moments filled with joy.  For father's day, Brent got a sweet pair of shoes.  He's one trendy dad.

If the rain holds off, tomorrow and wed. will be spent picking strawberries and making jam!  Canning is like a joy overload.  Almost better than Christmas morning  : )

Father's Day Top Tens

The Top Ten Things I Learned from my Dad:
10.  Save money and always have health insurance
9.  It's okay to love what you love  (going to IHOP every morning of vacation, the intense love for the twins, fondness for diet pepsi)
8.  That you should dance with your children.... to Tijuana Brass
7.  To love your family unconditionally
6.  The importance of being excellent... in work, in life, in everything.  But,
5.  If you can't be good, be careful
4.  Not to keep things you don't need.  They just clutter up the attic above the garage, and he doesn't like that.
3.  that it's ok to listen to the same song over, and over, and over again.  Are we human? Or are we dancers....
2.  To kiss your wife every night when you get home from work, and again when you go to bed  (in my case, my husband, but you know what I mean)
1.  That a relationship with Christ is something to pursue every day and important above everything else.   

Dad, you have been a great example of a Godly man and wonderful husband to mom and father to Aaron, Jenny, and I.  Thanks for everything you've done for me, Brent, and Kira Noel.  We love you!

Top 10 things Kira loves about her daddy:

10.  That he makes up songs about all of her pets and sings to her

9.  That he lets mama stay home all day!

8.  That he feeds her, changes her, and plays with her

7.  The walks that they take with Bella

6.  When he tickles her feet and rubs her big belly

5.  That he loves her mama so well

4.  That he has provided a beautiful house and yard for us to play and live in by working so hard

3.  His short buzzed hair...she loves putting her mouth on it and tries to "eat" it

2.  That he prays for her, reads to her, and bought her her first kids bible!

1.  That everyday when he gets home from work, he scoops her up and tells her he loves her so much!

Brent, thanks for being such a good husband and daddy!  We love you so much!

CSI: Twin Cities

So, I might watch a little too much tv.  I've always liked crime shows.  When I was pregnant and on partial bed rest I even rented dvds of Criminal Minds and the various CSI shows from the library.  When you watch that stuff a lot, it kind of sticks with you.

An example.  I was prescribed a pill to help with my knee problems- like a big dose of ibuprophen in one pill.  Anyway, I kept the bottle in my purse.  Well, it's inevitable with a purse- the pills all spilled out.  Not only did they all spill out, I have so much stuff in my purse that they started to get smashed into a fine powder by all of my keys, random baby toys, the occasional bottle of diet mountian dew.  (When you have to carry a car seat all over you've got to put that diet mt. dew somewhere!)  Anyway, I was at target and when it was my turn to pay, I noticed a fine powder on my wallet and check card... yup, the pulvarized anti-inflammatories!  So that got me thinking, if I committed a crime (yeah, not likely) the CSI people and cops could totally catch me due to my pill powder residue leaving, all because I didn't have the time/was too lazy to clean out my purse!!!  I started thinking of all the places I might have left this trace..... and then I moved on. 

So today.  I was sweeping and cleaning the floor really well because we have family coming over in the next few days.  My house isn't so clean that I notice ever speck of dirt, but I noticed red drops very much resembling blood on the floor and on the dining room table and charis.  I was quite alarmed at first.  I checked the baby, she was fine.  So I assumed the dog had chewed and swallowed something horrible that had tore up her insides and then she coughed hard, but after shoving my hand down her throat and looking her over, I determined she was okay too.  So, the CSI agent in me came out.  I started to look at splatter pattens in the "blood."  (I had foolishly already cleaned the floor so all I had to work with was the chairs and table)  It looked like it had come from above, and with moderate force, which didn't really make sense.  I looked around the kitchen a little more.  There was even more "blood" on the middle drawer by the fridge- clear across the kitchen!  I was so confused.  What would Horatio, or Grissom, or Mack do?

I stuck my finger in the blood and smelled it.  It didn't smell like much, but it was sticky.  Like juice.

And then I remembered.  Last night I was on the couch with Kira... we might have been partially asleep cuddling.  Brent has been working really late at home these last nights for an upcoming trial and had wanted something to drink.  He asked why the cranberry juice concentrate said 'Keep Frozen' or something to that effect, and if it was ok since it had been in the fridge and not frozen.  I mumbed that it was probably fine.   And then he opened it an it exploded.  Brent did his best to clean it up, but apparently a few stray spatters remained.

I hope you all didn't think someone was shot in my kitchen.  As kind of exciting as it was trying to figure out my mystery, anything more than juice would REALLY freak me out.

And Donna Bucher, if you're reading this, at my next photography lesson i'd like to work on crime scene photos.  These did not do the blood drops justice.  : )

Our Joyful "Failure"

Many have heard one story or another about our dog Bella.   We got Bella when I was 6 months pregnant.  MANY people told us that it probably wasn't smart to get a puppy right before having a baby, and moving into a new house.  But, I was working half days at the time so I would have the time to take care of her, and we new this was going to be a special puppy.  We had waited over a year for her mom and dad to get together, if you know what I mean, and Bella was born on Sept. 17th.  We knew we wanted a black female and we were so excited when she was born!  Brent's dad was going to get a female also, but he ended up getting one of the yellow females.  He named his Mayo (after the clinic, not the condiment).  The main reason we got Bella was so that Brent could have an amazing hunting dog.  Bauer, Bella's dad is a great dog owned by good friends of ours, and we had a great hunting dog trainer lined up to take Bella for 2 months and whip her into shape!  Here are a few pictures of our "first born"  : )

As you can see, Brent took Bella hunting the first day we got her.  We had HIGH hopes for this dog.   Well, being pregnant and home with Bella in the afternoons, we did lots of cuddling.  We loved Bella, but noticed she wasn't too good at playing fetch.  And once in awhile she didn't come when you called.  But man, this dog was a good cuddler.  Even when I was 8 months pregnant and on crutches for a knee injury and not able to do a lot with her, she was great.  There were days when she was a little nuts, but what puppy isn't from time to time.  So, one day at the end of January, Kira came and we had 2 "kids"!  Here's one of our first family photos.



It came time for Bella and her sister Mayo to go to training!!  Brent and I were a little sad, but also relieved because finally Bella would be taught how to retrieve, sit, stay, come, and all of those things you want a dog to do.  Here's Brent moments before leaving Bella!

About a week later we heard the dogs were doing okay, but that Bella was a little "soft."  The trainer sounded a little annoyed with her.  He also said she was okay at manners stuff, but just didn't love to retrieve.

2 weeks later the trainer said, "Come get your dog.  You're wasting your money".   So our retriever who won't retrieve came home.  Meanwhile, her sister Mayo was excelling at dog training.  I think Brent was a little sad at first, but he's determined that someday she will be a duck hunting dog.

We have a duck who laid 6 eggs and is sitting on them about 6 feet from our front door in a hosta plant.  Once in awhile the mama duck comes up and taps on the long window next to our door.  Bella walks by the duck and eggs everyday and doesn't do a thing.  You wouldn't know she was supposed to have an internal drive to "get" them.  If you throw a ball to her, she will run to it, sniff it, and then run in another direction.  She literally eats socks.  She sits on top of the pillows that make up the backrest of our couch, totally wrecking the shape of the couch, not to mention the hair that is everywhere.  The other day I had gotten Brent a muffin from Emily's bakery and had set it on the counter.  Bella grabbed the muffin in her mouth and just looked at Brent.  She didn't chew or try to eat it, she just held it in her mouth.  If anyone broke into the house she'd wag her tail and lick them.   In some respects our dog is a total failure.

But, this dog is better than we could have dreamed.  She cuddles on the couch with you, she sits on Brent's feet when he works at the table, and she lets our almost 5 month old baby pull really hard on her ears and doesn't even care.  She cleans the floor when I cook, and follows me around when I water the garden.  She loves people.  Who cares if she is a Labrador RETRIEVER who has no desire to retrieve?  Not us. 

But Brent's still working on it  : )



Pre- Panic Mode

Shopping with my mom and sister is always joyful, but it's the phrases that come out of us all shopping together that are unexpected- and wonderful.

My mom is pretty fashionable, it's not like she needs help from Stacy and Clinton, if you know what I mean, but big events can sometimes freak her out.  She has a hard time committing.  Take my wedding, for example.  Mother of the bride dresses have either way too much glitz, or are not dressy enough... or sometimes something's just "off".  My mom, sister, and I went to quite a few bridal and dress shops, and (mom, I'm going to tell one of your secrets) may have even purchased more than one dress before deciding on the one to wear.  These shopping times might have been a bit stressful for my mom, but were SO funny to my sister and I.  Jenny is pretty witty, and we started giving each dress that really stood out a name.  Possibly just funny to us, but take a look at this look.

We called this "the band uniform".  If you look at the upper bodice part... it makes sense.  We also had the "Vegas Showgirl" and "Fish Scales"  and she ended up wearing the "Wicked Witch"  She looked great though:

Well today my mom, sister, and I all met at the Mall of America to do some shopping.  Brent and I have 78 weddings to go to this summer (ok, not really) and my mom and dad are flying out to California soon for my brother Aaron and his fiance Ilana's engagement party.  She needed something to wear.  You know when you're out casually shopping, not looking for anything specific you find tons of cute things, but when you NEED something for an event there's nothing to be found?  Today started out like that.... we went to several stores, but my mom just couldn't find anything.  Here's an outfit that didn't work:



So while walking our 23rd mile around the mall, I asked, "are you getting a little nervous you won't find anything?"   She replied very matter of factly, "I am in pre-panic mode."  Maybe it was us being tired, but this was one of the funniest things Jen and I had heard.  So if you're ever looking for that outfit you need for an event, don't get too worked up, you're just in pre-panic mode.

She ended up getting multiple outfits, and even a purse and shoes to match.  We had a wonderful time together, and that's what matters anyway.  I can't wait to see what dress nicknames are born when we shop for Aaron and Ilana's wedding.  Major JOY is headed our way.  : )

Mom, I hope you're not embarrassed by this post.  You are beautiful inside and out, no matter what you're wearing. 

 Jenny and I did just have one question, why was Sal written on your dressing room door??  We're you going for a sassier name for your trendy look??  : )

Because MizBoo Told Me To

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a long time, but I thought Who would read it?  Would I have time to keep it up?  Am I really the "blogging" type??

So here are two stories that collide:  be patient, it comes together.

On Wednesday I had a life changing experience.  That may sound like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not.  I met with Donna Boucher on Wed. near Madison, WI.  She's an amazing photographer and as my mother's day present Kira (Brent) arranged a one on one teaching session with her so I could learn how to better use my camera.  I am mildly obsessed with the Pioneer Woman www.thepioneerwoman.com and she writes excellent tutorials for the PW website on how to take the best pictures possible.  Check out some of her tutorials here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/category/posts-by-contributor/miz-booshay/   It was such a great day and I learned so much!  While we were talking, she asked "do you have a blog?'  I said no, and she said, "you should"

And that was enough for me.  I'll do pretty much whatever she tells me to.  : )

Second story.  I was in my truck awhile back, and heard on the radio that the average person experiences only 15 minutes of PURE JOY in a lifetime.  Or maybe it was per year.  Either way I thought that was terrible.  I feel like I experience joy way more often than that.

So I'm going to blog about joy in unexpected places.  Finding joy in surprising places, like canning tomatoes, when our dog failed out of hunting school, when I heard the phrases "full blown" and "traced it back", a peony bush I didn't know I had, when Brent changes a diaper and has trouble, when my mom and I pick the same amount of strawberries *to the cent*, when my sister critiques my fashion choices, cooking a new dish, or finding 6 duck eggs and a duck in my hostas. 

And because MizBooshay told me to.