HAPPY NEW YEARS!

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year! We are looking forward to 2009 and we hope all of you are as well. We hit the slopes for a few hours this late afternoon/evening. It sure is cold out today. Hey mom, the Smart Wool socks you bought us are great... they keep our toes nice and warm! I tried to take a picture of Jason jumping on one of the jumps, but I was too far away. If you click on the picture below, it will enlarge and you can kind of see him. I will try for a better picture tomorrow, maybe even a video! We are looking forward to my sister Emily, our brother-in-law Ryan, and neice Hattie to come stay with us for a few days and to celebrate the New Year together. We hope all of you have a safe and fun evening.

Jason landing his jump, but the camera girl was a little slow and far away!

Our First Time Snowshoeing!

We had talked about going snowshoeing today with the Wilson's, but Jeb was too sore after a long day of skiing. The Wilson's headed home this morning and we watched the Vikings game. I was sick of sitting in the house when the sun was shining outside, so I talked Jason into trying out snowshoeing ourselves. We rented some snowshoes at the Chalet and started on our journey to the Sleeping Giant trail. It was packed down snow initially to get to the trail and that was no problem. We decided that we would see how these things worked so we went off-path, sure enough I lost a shoe and didn't even realize it until Jason says, "Nicole, you might need the other shoe." So the Sleeping Giant trail goes up the ski hills in the woods through the deep snow. It was definetely a workout. It was about 16 degrees out and we were "hot". We were out for about 1 1/2 hours and had to head back because it was getting dark. It was definetely a neat experince. I feel that living Up North for a year has been a unique experience and one that we are trying to take full advantage of. There are so many things to do during each of the seasons in Minnesota. Maybe we will give Cross Country Skiing a try next. We are excited because the ski hill will now be open after work until 8pm. We plan on getting as much practice in before our trip out West next week.
Making the trail up the hill for us.
Half-way up the hill there was a X-Country trail and Jason was a bit exhausted. He had to stop for a quick breather and water break!
The Upper Sleeping Giant trail.
We decided to go off-path for a while. It sure is a lot of work in the deep snow.

Ski Weekend with the Wilsons

Jeb and Kaylan Wilson visited us this weekend for our own Christmas celebration.
We all went to the Pebble Spa on Friday. Nicole and Kaylan each had their toenails done along with a foot scrub, and Jeb had his hands done (yes guys, Jeb had his hands dipped in wax and his fingernails done). He wanted fingernail polish but I had to step in and put an end to it. :) Then all of us had massages. After a relaxing afternoon at the spa we came home and cooked a nice dinner. The Pictionary game was a split with the boys taking game 1, but getting blown out in game 2. We then played Tiger Woods Golf on Wii and the boys dominated.
Saturday was a ski day. After a slow start to the day (Friday night quickly became 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning) Jeb and I hit the slopes at about 10:00 a.m. Jeb, an accomplished ski racer in high school (10th in the state if anyone cares) did not look rusty at all. He is so big on skis that you would think he would be clumsy, but not even a little bit. He actually has a lot of skill on the ski hills and left me very impressed! The snow conditions that I had been bragging about turned sticky because of how warm it was both Friday and Saturday. We skiied for a few hours before the ladies joined us. Kaylan hadn't skiied in 10 years and she did just fine.
The ski hills were very busy and there was live music at the Chalet so it was an event filled day, and we had a great time.
We skiied until about 6:00 p.m. and then decided to head to Biwabik for pizza at Vi's. Jeb has not been to Vi's since it was redone in April (he remembered it as a dumpy bar), but it has been redone very nicely. Well, we decided to split $20.00 in pulltabs while we waited for our pizza. Kaylan picked the 20 tickets and then handed out 5 to each of us. Kaylan won $2.00, I was down to my 4th ticket and I opened it up to find a "nice winner". It was $150.00. We all were excited and examining the ticket while Jeb is quietly sitting with his tickets. We just assumed that since he didn't say anything that we had won with my ticket and with Kaylan's ticket. Kaylan was to collect the winnings and Jeb slyly says, what about my $106.00 winner. We couldn't believe it. Our $20.00 had turned into $258.00. Now, here is where it got interesting! Kaylan went to collect the winnings and the guy behind the bar asked for her ID. She gives it to him and he says that they can't pay out anymore than $50.00 to someone without a MN driver's license. Luckily Jeb met a high school friend who was sitting at the table next to us (totally random meeting too). He had a MN driver's license and went and collected the winnings for us. We were very excited about our good fortune. Out of curiosity when we got home that night we looked up the MN statute on pulltabs and no where in there did it say anything about a $50.00 max payout to someone from outside MN. We believe they were trying to take advantage of Mrs. Wilson, but we prevailed! Check out some of the pictures from the weekend!

Our beautiful wives, Jeb and I are the luckiest guys in the world!

We enjoyed some nice wines and mostly each others company!

Our golf coach and friend Brent Snyder would be proud that we are working on our games in the offseason!

Just one of the many races I won against Jeb!

The Red Baron

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 was one to remember. It involved a lot of traveling in a short period of time but we got to see both sides of our families.
We headed to Springfield on Christmas Eve Day and spent the evening with Nicole's family. There was a nice visit from Santa Claus for Zander and Nicole's cousin Libby (9).
On Thursday our normal Christmas Day is spent at Nicole's grandparents for lunch and then an 80-mile drive to my grandparents for dinner. This year around 11:00 a.m. that day we got a call that my grandpa Jack had a stroke and was being taken to the emergency room in Mankato. So instead of Christmas dinner at their home we spent our time at the emergency room. While it was not an ideal situation for Christmas, we still feel blessed because Grandpa survived and all the family did get together. My Grandpa Jack is a real survivor. He has survived 2 heart attacks and now a stroke and he is 83 years old. He made some funny wisecracks (always his style) at the hospital, but one in particular was "if I knew I was going to live so long I would have taken better care of myself." We are praying that Grandpa recovers! On Thursday after the hospital visit we started the long trip back to Giants Ridge.
It was great to see everyone at Christmas.

Zander with Santa Claus...We thought Zander would be scared initially, but he laughed and obviously was not scared of Santa at all. Santa brought him a very nice dump truck!

Zander really loved his new underwear he got from Nana and Pop (grandparents in New Zealand)

The Tauer sisters. Ally (20), Emily (27) with daughter Hattie (2 mo), Nicole (29) with Ashley's son Zander (2.5 years), and Ashley (24)

Zander helping Papa open a gift. Zander is a very good help especially when it comes to opening presents.

Another Ski Weekend

Head first into the trees! (It was a little tight and I was going too fast)
We found a trail through the woods and stopped for some pictures.


We enjoyed another beautiful weekend at Giants Ridge. While weather across the state of MN was windy and snowy, we had beautiful weather up here. My parents were stuck in Springfield so our family Christmas scheduled for today had to be postponed. We went skiing Saturday and it was perfect conditions and weather. 20 degrees and a fresh 4 inches. Saturday night we went to Virginia to get some longer ski poles for Nicole and to finish some Christmas shopping at Target (Starbucks' fix too). We relaxed after that and today we are going to watch some football, ski a little and then I have to head for Hudson for a meeting at the office tomorrow. Nicole works through Tuesday, I have to work until Wednesday and then we are heading to Springfield to be with our families for the holidays. We have Jeb and Kaylan Wilson coming up the 26th for another ski weekend and we are looking forward to that as well.

We received an exciting call on Friday night from my brother Ryan. He asked his girlfriend Kari to marry him and she said yes! She was very surprised and to hear my brother tell the story made our weekend. We love Kari and her son Ethan very much and are very excited to have them in our family.

Happy Holidays to our friends and families! Safe travels to everyone.

A Lil Country Christmas Jig

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Few Updates

Sunday we were snowed in as 12 inches of fresh snow fell. It didn't blow around like you typically get with a MN winter so it was actually a very nice day. It was just too cold to do anything and apparently the wind was blowing elsewhere in the state as travel was not advised. I decided to stay home from my meeting in Mpls and I'm glad I did because they canceled on Monday morning due to the inclement weather. The only thing inclement about the weather is that it is FREEZING! The snow we love and can handle, but this temperature is not even close to normal. This is a cold like I have never felt before and there is nothing good about it. They say at -31 real temp, which it was this morning that you will get frostbite in 10 minutes. I am proud to say the 1997 Land Rover started with no problem this morning (ha ha Jeb who thinks it is a piece of crap). Luckily gas is cheaper because letting it warm up for 20 minutes can't be good on mileage. I gave Nicole a ride to work the last 2 mornings because her car was in the shop getting a block heater. It is done now so we'll plug it in tonight and see how it works. I never thought I would miss a garage so much.
We have been skiing each day and I even snuck out yesterday after work (3:30 isn't too early to leave the office is it?) The powder was great but I learned quickly that I am not in "powder shape" as my thighs were burning after 2 runs.
The cold is supposed to last all week with the best day being Thursday at 13 above and more snow coming Friday (another 4 inches forecast).
We are safe and sound up here though, just making cookies for Christmas and warm soups/chili's each night!
Can't wait to see you all at Christmas! Be safe in your travels!

1st Ski Weekend At Giants Ridge

After being in Hudson since November 12th for work, it was nice to get back to Giants Ridge. We had a relaxing weekend filled with cooking, movies, gopher hockey, Wild hockey and the ski opener. The ski hill opened around Thanksgiving, but I haven't been here and Nicole had her skis in the shop.

So, we went yesterday morning and picked Nicole's skis up from the shop. She got new skis and they had to put her bindings on for her. While there she dropped $28.00 on the ground and made some kids day. I keep telling her that we are in a recession!

At Giants Ridge there are 35 runs in total, but not all are open yet, in fact none of the black or double black runs are open. Since we are not professional skiers blues and greens are fine and it was a very nice day yesterday. We were supposed to get dumped on with snow, but I wouldn't call 2 inches total a dumping. It is snowing right now so maybe they'll get more today. I am heading back to Hudson for a meeting in the morning at my office so I hope the weather doesn't get too bad today. The coffee shop at the ski hill is also very nice, we spent some break time in there yesterday just catching up and drinking lattes. We skied for about 3 hours, and we'll get another 2-3 hours in today before some key football games start. We need the Atlanta Falcons to lose today or the Carolina Panthers to win, then we'll be happy!

Yesterday we cooked a 10 lb turkey with a balsamic/maple syrup rub and it turned out great. It was moist and the flavor was great, can't wait to have some friends up here to try it again.

For those skiers reading this, this was my 1st ski experience at Giants Ridge. The runs are definitely longer than Afton, but it is still Minnesota. I haven't been to Lutsen MT but this would certainly be better skiing than Afton. The trees are beautiful and from most runs on the Ridge you can see the lake below, which makes it very pretty. Two points I want to make about our ski day yesterday. 1. Snowboarders are annoying! Sitting down immediately when they exit the chair lifts to strap their boots in or camping out in the middle of the run waiting for their friend to make a jump. Get out of the way already! 2. A few of the chair lifts are 2-person chair lifts and I had a "little accident" yesterday. We moved ahead in the chair lift line and we were next to board. Nicole migrated toward the middle of the lane and accidently pushed me (hipchecked is more like it) and the chair came around and hit me in the middle of the ARSE! I fell down and my skis came off (that chair was moving). They had to hit the emergency shut off on the lift and everyone on the lift ahead turns around to look. Very nice! Then the guy working helps me up and says are you all right. I say yeah, let's try that again! He then has to climb a ladder to the top of the machine to reset it because the emergency shutoff had taken place. I have been skiing since 6th grade when the church used to go and this has never happened before! Slightly embarrassing!
We'll take some more pictures today and get them posted tonight.

The Past Two Weeks of Our Lives

You don't realize how much you use and depend on your computer until it has a virus and doesn't work. I guess that is like many things in our life. Speaking of being grateful and thankful for many things in our lives these days.... We enjoyed the time we spent with our parents in Springfield for Thanksgiving.

Nephew Zander with niece Hattie!

I was able to visit one of my high school friends, Andrea (VanOverbeke) Samuelson, at the salon she owns in Mankato, MN. I had not seen Andrea since my wedding day, so it was great to see her and to catch up a little bit. I am so proud of her, her salon is so beautiful. Can't wait to see you again Andrea and hopefully your family is well.

We celebrated Christmas (yes Christmas) with Jason's dad, Bruce and step-mother, Paula. Santa showed up to suprise the kids. Santa was getting a little hot in his "santa suit" so he didn't stick around for long. I hope he is doing okay. It is always nice to see his brothers, their wives and kids.Ethan Netzke (6), Ethan (5) and Claire (3) McGregor, Madison Ward (6 mo), & Carlyn Ward (9)

This past weekend, we headed to Detroit Lakes to celebrate Miss Hattie's baptism. We are both very honored to be her Godparents. I drove from Virginia and Jason came from Hudson. I believe we only got an inch or so of snow Friday, but it seemed like a foot. The roads were snow covered so it took us a bit longer to get to DL. Our weekend was cut short on Sunday due to the snow again. We both wanted to get home in the daylight. However, despite the weather, we had a great weekend.

We've Been Busy

We haven't had a chance to update the blog lately, Nicole's computer is in the shop (spyware update) and I don't know how to upload pictures and I have been on the road for our quarterly seminar tour (lots of fun in Mankato, Marshall, Willmar and Rochester).
We are so looking forward to this weekend when we will be godparents to Hattie Georgina at her baptism in Detroit Lakes.
Nicole has had an exciting week at work as she started her new rotation, Chemical Dependency. She is spending the next 3 months at a CD Treatment Facility in Virginia, MN. They have both voluntary treatment and mandatory treatment at this facility. It is a 28-day treatment program using the 12-step method and included in that is group counseling lead by Nicole and individual therapy with her. So far she is once again fascinated with it as she learns the different areas of her profession.
So, Saturday, off to Detroit Lakes for another great weekend.
We have so many pictures to share from our Thanksgiving Holiday which included the Ward Family Christmas as my dad leaves for Florida right around Christmas so we always have our family Christmas the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We'll get some pictures updated this weekend.
I hope you all are doing well and had a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are very thankful to be with our families this blessed Thanksgiving Day!
Nicole and I have a lot to be thankful for this year as we have every year.
We are in Springfield today after attending a funeral yesterday in Mapleton, MN for my grandma, who passed away at 86 years of age. She was my stepmother Paula's mother, but she has been my grandma since I was 2 and my brother Ryan was 4. She always treated us the same as her "real" grandchildren so we didn't know any better that she wasn't our grandma, so to us she was. It was a nice service and she was buried in Fort Snelling
So today we are going to eat like 5 different times with Nicole's family and my family. We live about 4 blocks apart from each other in Springfield so it's pretty easy to bounce back and forth.
My grandpa and grandma Will are here today from Mapleton. It is very exciting that they are here with us today as we don't get to see them very often. Grandpa and I have already discussed the in's and out's of the corn market as he is a retired farmer and loves to talk about it.
With Nicole's family it is a very special Thanksgiving because we have a new niece this year, Hattie Georgina. She arrived last night from Detroit Lakes and we passed her around like a hot potato. She is so cute and Zander is our nephew and he is also the best. Last night we played football in the living room, and it was hilarious. Zander would pick up the football and say "tackle me papa" and run right at Grandpa George.
We want to say Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbors in Troy Burne, Jeb and Kaylan and Brian and Dina. We miss you guys and I hope you guys have a great day. We'll see you this weekend.
Have a great day everyone!

Weekend In Duluth

Since we worked on Friday (our anniversary) we decided to wait until Saturday to celebrate. This morning before we started our journey, we thought we would check out the ski hills. The snow machines have been working around the clock this past week. We started our celebration by getting a massage and facial at The Pebble Spa Co. in Virginia. It is an older home that has been turned into a spa, I just love going there. We stayed at Beacon Pointe Condos (a recommedation from our neighbors in Hudson)in Duluth. It is a very nice place overlooking Lake Superior. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, probably around 30 degrees. We walked along the lake and had a great lunch at a local cafe we found on Superior Street called Va Bene. It was probably the best lunch we have ever had, no kidding. We had a great view overlooking the Lake and we just kept ordering food so we didn't have to leave. We hit some shops and sipped some wine and espresso, just taking it easy. We watched the Gopher/Iowa football game for the first half and then went to a late dinner in Two Harbors at another recommended place called The New Scenic Cafe. It was another great restaurant with a fresh seasonal menu. We both enjoyed the variety of food we tried. Jason ordered enough food to try so he now has lunch for Monday. We are both so grateful for each other and the five adventerous years we have spent together.

We hope each of you has a Happy Thanksgiving! Jason and Nicole

I Cannot Believe It's Been 5 Years!

We are celebrating our 5 Year Anniversary today! Time sure flies by. I know that I am one of the luckiest girls to have a husband like Jason, maybe that is what makes the years go by so fast. Thanks Jason for being the Best Husband I could ever hope for.

Many of you may remember, but for our friends that we have made since our wedding....We actually got married on a Friday night at 5pm. The wedding ceremony was at the Basilica of St. Mary in Mpls. It was the most perfect day. I of course, my emotional self, cried all the way down the aisle. There Jason was at the front of the church telling me to smile! The music in the Basilica was amazing and just added to how great the day was. We were joined by so many of our friends and family. The reception and dance was at the Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul. The only mishap of the whole day was that we ran out of meat for the last few people who went through the buffet line. Again, our apologizes to those of you who didn't get meat that night and are reading this. The day ending at the St. Paul Hotel.

We are spending the weekend up on The Range. We are going out to eat tonight, not sure where yet, there are not many choices! Tomorrow morning we are going to have a couple's massage, facials, and sauna. I am so excited and looking forward to that. Then we are heading to Duluth to spend Saturday and Sunday there. We will give you an update on a new restaurant we are going to try there.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. It sure is freezing here---Stay warm!

Weekend In Hudson

This past weekend we enjoyed another weekend in Hudson. Friday night we went out with our usual crowd of the Gagne's and Wilson's. We were in the celebratory mood as Dina landed a new job with Novartis. We went to dinner at the St. Paul Grille and it was a fabulous evening. Time seems to fly by when the 6 of us are together as Nicole and I hit the pillow at 3:30 a.m. Ouch Saturday morning comes early.

On Saturday we had plans to watch Gopher Football and Hockey, the games were on at the same time.
I had the lightbulb in my TV go out, it is a DLP TV. I called Best Buy 2 weeks ago as it is under warranty and told them by bulb was out. They said they would be able to come the 15th to replace it. I said that was great but I needed it fixed by 2:30 (Gophers Vs. Wisconsin), BIG GAME! The guy from Geeksquad shows up at noon and takes one look at the TV and says "it's your bulb, you need a new one". I said, yep, that's what I said 2 weeks ago when I called. He then says "I didn't bring one, we'll have to ship it to you". I just about threw him out the window onto the driving range, but I kept my cool. So, no Gopher Football or Hockey at our house on Saturday. We called Jeb and said, we're coming over for uninterrupted sports, and he graciously obliged, thanks Jeb!
Dinner Saturday night at the Wilson's, great wine, great friends, great time.
Sunday we did our usual, Starbucks and Brueggers', we knocked out some Christmas gifts and had dinner with Tom, Ashley, and Zander at Old Chicago in Eden Prairie. We were celebrating Ashley's 24th b-day which is Monday November 24th!
Nicole went back up north on Monday morning, I am in Mpls this week as my boss is out of the country on R&R!
This coming weekend is our 5th Wedding Anniversary! A lucky 5 years for me!

Relaxing Weekend On The Range

This weekend Nicole and I stayed "up north". The last 3 weekends we have been on the road to Detroit Lakes and back to Hudson and Springfield, so it was nice to just relax this weekend.

On Friday night we grilled some T-bones and had a bottle of wine and watched Gopher Hockey. They tied 2-2 vs. New Hampshire (Gophers are 4th in the country New Hampshire was 5th so it was a good test for the Gophers).

Saturday morning we woke up to snow (hence the picture), then we went up to the Lodge (we use their fitness center and pool/hot tub). This visit was interesting for 2 reasons. 1, the owners of the townhome we are renting were there, and 2, the owner of the Lodge was also there. I was minding my own business sitting in the hot-tub while Nicole was running on the treadmill. Anyways, this guy comes into the hot-tub and starts talking to me about where I'm from, blah blah blah. Anyways, I find out it is Jim Koch, the owner of The Lodge at Giants' Ridge. We have stayed in one of his units this summer as he was one of our possible choices for renting, but he was too high on his rent. It was a little awkward at first, but then we got to chatting about the ski season up here and how we liked it living up here. I just told him what we thought about living here and he wants me to do some radio advertisement for Giants Ridge. I told him I would do it, so we'll see what develops.

Anyway, the owners of the townhome we are renting were also up for the weekend, staying at the Lodge. They must really like it up here as early November is a very slow time at Giants Ridge. No golf, and no skiing yet. They both told us that the ski hills open around Thanksgiving.

After that we watched the Gopher Football lay an egg to Michigan for their 2nd loss in a row. I have turned "bearish" Gopher Football and expect them to lose the remaining two games of the season to disappoint me yet again.

After the disappointing loss we had some time to kill before Gopher hockey so we drove up to Fortune Bay, a Casino about 30 minutes north of Virginia. They have a great golf course there called the Wilderness and we wanted to see that and their website boasted beautiful views of the golf course and Lake Vermillion from their restaurant. Well, when we got there, the restaurant at the clubhouse was closed (we should have known that) and you couldn't even come close to seeing Lake Vermillion but their website did it's job in getting us there. We ate dinner at the Casino and inhaled lots of 2nd hand smoke and saw a bunch of old-timers wasting their social security. Anyway, they are good for the economy so keep spending old-timers!
Gopher Hockey erupted for a 4-goal 3rd period to beat the Wildcats of New Hampshire on Saturday night.

Sunday morning I opened my truck door and the latch was frozen and it wouldn't fall back into place so I couldn't close the rear driver's side door. I was out working on it (really working on it for me means swearing at it and hitting it with a hammer) and one of the maintenance guys at the Villas was shoveling our walk and he asked if I needed some help. I said yes and he proceeded to fix it inside of 1 minute. A crisp $10 bill and Gene Potter (or Leo as his friends call him) (don't ask me) was a happy camper, and so was I as who knows how much it would have cost me at the dealership to fix it, and how was I going to get there with the door hanging open! We went to the Lodge again for another workout and ran into the townhome owners again (literally, there were 6 people up here all weekend) so the odds of running into them is pretty good.

We watched the Vikes win a close one and rested most of the day.
It was a boring but relaxing weekend on the Range. We hope you all had a great weekend!

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was one to remember. We arrived in Hudson late Friday night and went to a great Halloween party at Craig and Jane Davis'. I have one picture to share that should sum up the evening. Brian my friend, I think this look has potential, and his wife Dina was interested in borrowing this "wig" for the weekend. Jeb was dressed as Dracula, (no pictures for the childrens' sake), but he really scared a lot of the men at the party because he looked like a transexual Dracula. He "unofficially" won best costume and we had a great time.

Nicole and I sold our season tickets this year, but we saved one game, and that was Homecoming. We love to hit Starbucks in the morning and then head to the parade. It was a beautiful sunny morning, a perfect day. The parade was fine as usual, we were joined by Ashley and Tom, our favorite nephew Zander, Ally, my brother Andrew and his girlfriend Bri. From the parade we went to the football game which was the Gophers vs. Northwestern. The Gophers were 7-1 heading into this game ranked 20th in the country. Northwestern was unranked, previously ranked 24th and sat at 6-2. It was a slow start for the Gophers who went down early 10-0, but a defensive touchdown sparked the crowd and the Gophers back to 10-7. Then 10-10, then 17-10 Gophers and I thought it was over. Then Northwestern tied it 17-17, and unfortunately for all 54,000 in attendance that day the Gophers threw a late 4th quarter interception returned for a touchdown and sent us home a little broken hearted. We had talked about jinxing the team the week leading up to the game and it looks as if that is what we did. 7-2 is nothing to be ashamed of though, they just put more pressure on themselves the remaining 3 games of the season. We drove by the new stadium and it was exciting to think we will be watching games there next season! Saturday night we went to Jeb and Kaylan's for dinner, and we nursed a few Bloody Mary's, still recovering from the "Friday Night Halloween Massacre". We watched Gopher Hockey there which gave us some redemption with a 3 point weekend over Mankato State or Minnesota State or whatever that school is called.


Sunday was another beautiful day. We ate breakfast at Perkins in River Falls with the Wilson's and stopped at Walgreens (stock symbol WAG) (please buy) to get our flu shots. Jeb took it easy on us and we felt nothing.

Then we participated in a great event at Troy Burne. It was the End of the Year event for all members at TB and it was a great turnout. We played with Jeb and Kaylan, but got to see all of our friends in Troy Burne whom we miss very much. The boys played a "money game" which was skins between Jeb, Jason, Brian, Tom, Matt, and Rick. The ladies just play for pride and they have a lot of that. Somehow I managed to come out with the most skins after shooting an 84. I was 13 over for the day and 9of those strokes came on the par 5's, simply because I drove the ball horribly. I played the other 14 holes in 4 over par. My beautiful wife after not playing for 2 months played her career round at Troy Burne, shooting an 87. This topped all the Boys in the group (except for hubby)! She was very happy and I was very proud of her. That driver of hers showed up to play on Sunday, her putting was awful or she could have shot 82. Next year!!We miss Troy Burne and weekends like this last one remind us why!


It was great to see all our friends and look forward to getting back home the weekend of the 15th.

A Weekend of Gopher WINS, Family, and SNOW!

We spent another great weekend in Detroit Lakes. Hattie, our beautiful niece is now nearly 2 weeks old and she is changing every time we see her. Check out her huge smile. On Saturday when we arrived we watched the Gopher Football team improve its record to 7-1. Then we spent the afternoon hitting some of the "hotspots" in DL, which include but are not limited to Norby's (clothing), Brewed Awakening (caffiene fix), and good ol JC Penney. Saturday night we went to a local favorite called Bleacher's for a great burger and a few pints. They also had shuffleboard there (not old person shuffleboard), the kind of shuffleboard my neighbor Brian has in his basement. It's a great game that despite having played many games of, I still found myself on the losing end to the Orlin/Nicole team. My partner Allison was very good for her 1st time playing, and we'll get them next time. Then Gopher Hockey took care of the rest of our evening as they waxed the Badgers 5-2 for a 3 point weekend. Really, does it get any better than a Gopher football/hockey win weekend.
Sunday we were treated to a great breakfast by the Chef of the Ritchie house, Dr. Ryan Ritchie. Then it was off to the dentist's chair for this guy. We spent 2 hours putting on braces and watching football. Ryan's assistant Megan came in on her day off to help and it was completely pain free. I am very appreciative of that, and also very appreciative of Ryan for taking the time to put my braces on. He is really a great dentist and I got to witness that this weekend. The worst part about braces is that I look hideous (tin grin, metal mouth, railroad tracks, I've heard em all), but my favorite reason for getting braces is this: "I wanted to look 15 years younger".
We also nearly got snowed in this weekend as DL picked up 3-5 inches on Sunday, but we made it home safely. Until next time.... Go Panthers! Enjoy the pictures and let the ridicule begin.

A Weekend in Detroit Lakes

We spent this past weekend visiting family in Detroit Lakes. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Biwabik. We were so excited to see our new niece, Hattie. She is so precious, just a little peanut. She is such a good baby. Her mom and dad are doing great and are so excited with her arrival. She was having a little trouble eating on Saturday (you can see in the picture with Jason and Ryan), but is doing well now. We also got to see our nephew, Zander who we haven't seen since Labor Day weekend when he joined us golfing. Zander is 27 months old. He is a very active and an entertaining little guy. I said to him, "Trick or Treat" and his reply was "smell my feet." I couldn't help it but laugh. We had a great time playing in the leaves together. He is also very into NEMO. Zander enjoyed meeting Hattie as well. He kept saying, "I love you baby Hattie" and "my cousin Hattie, she's my cousin." I think he was a bit worried when his mommie was holding Hattie for any amount of time, he didn't want her getting all the attention. Enjoy the pictures of Hattie and Zander!