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!