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.