Day 18

My little pack of Cubbies... I can only get them to stand still if I tell them they can make a funny face when I take a picture.

Day 17

This is what you take a picture of when you're tired and about ready to climb into bed and you remember, "Oh crap! I forgot to take my picture today!" so you quick grab the first thing you can think of and photograph it. Good night.

Days 14, 15 and 16

Our original anniversary plans fell through... I was supposed to make a reservation at a fancy restaurant on Saturday night... not realizing I needed to do it 2 weeks in advance! Oops! So feeling very bummed about that, Hubz suggested I see how much it was to fly one way to meet him in Milwaukee. That started the ball rolling on a totally "on the fly" weekend... we have never done something like that without planning way out in advance. While empty-nesting will I'm sure be a downer in a lot of ways, it's cool having a trustworthy 17 year old who you can leave alone for a night and not worry. Leaving at a moment's notice will be one perk of no little ones at home anymore. So I left work at 1:45 and drove straight to the airport. Got to Milwaukee, Peter picked me up and we drove 200 miles to Le Claire, Iowa... on the way, in the dark, took an off ramp and followed the arrows to the "Boyhood Home of Ronald Reagan" in Dixon, IL... Reagan was the first president I ever voted for.

The next morning we woke up at our hotel on the banks of the Big Muddy in LeClaire, Iowa... I noticed lots of Bald Eagles this weekend... they must be making their way back up north. The hotel was great, a jacuzzi tub in the room... wonderful.

We left LeClaire and drove 2 hours south to Nauvoo, IL and attended the temple there for the first time -- we had gone to the Open House in 2002, but had never gone there in the winter... the river was frozen over (in Nauvoo, where it's shallow - not at other parts) and with the snow all around it was easy to imagine what it might have looked like during the westward exodus of the saints.

After leaving Nauvoo, we had a 400 mile drive ahead of us home! Kind of crazy to drive 700 miles in 30 hours when our original plan was just to go out to dinner! I loved the last-minute-ness of this little getaway -- we need to do this more often, it was fun!

Today it was back to normal, and here is where you can find us most Sundays - back at West St Paul ward, at our next-to-the-soybean-field chapel.

Day 13

Tonight Matt was in a band concert at South St Paul High School -- one of the songs they did was Canon in D by Pachebel... very beautifully. Then somebody yelled from the balcony that they needed to bring the music into the 21st century -- quickly the kids all donned sunglasses (Matt and AJ added the fake mustaches) and played Canon in D in a very jazzy, upbeat tempo. It was fun... I think they look like some weird 70's cops here.

I'll be doubling up on my photos over the weekend... taking a couple of days off from the computer for a road trip on our anniversary weekend with Hubz.

Day 12

This is kind of a cheater picture, because I didn't take it... HOWEVER, I did attend the meet and greet at MN-GOP 39A of the candidates for 2010 mid-terms... so I was there when it was taken, and lo and behold, it already showed up on Twitter!

I am excited for 2010... conservatives are excited and ready to roll up their sleeves. I have hope that people of integrity will step up to the plate and "git 'er done". I would say all the candidates that I heard speak tonight were certainly passionate and well-meaning; a small percentage definitely stood out from the pack and have electability. I'm going to support Tom Emmer for Governor and Teresa Collett for Congress... still deciding on the other candidates. I am also going to march down to Dakota County tomorrow and try to sign up as an election judge. Conservatives are needed to keep their eyes and ears open for the Acorn shenanigans that went down to elect Al Franken... I'm going to stop whining about it and do something, hopefully to make a difference that it doesn't ever happen again.

Day 11

Beads. Just because they're colorful and I like to collect them.

Day 10

My babies are almost all grown up and one of them with a baby of her own now. When they were all around 4-5 months old, I had "tummy shots" taken of each of them. These pictures hang on the wall along the staircase of my home. I remember when I took Shannon to Sears to get her first professional baby photos taken, and of course they take all these extra shots with a soft filter on a white background that are so perfect... but unfortunately with Dad working his first fresh-out-of-college job, and me not working at all, it was out of the realm of possibility that we could possibly afford the fancy, non-package shots. I remember that day like it was yesterday, taking my little $14.99 packet of pictures home with Shannie in her little car seat... and crying on the drive home because I couldn't afford to buy the "extras" and knowing they would just toss away those pictures of my beautiful, sweet, perfect baby. Agony!

What a blessing digital cameras are now... we can take hundreds and hundreds of photos until we get that perfect shot!

Day 9

Another silly cat picture. Peter stuck Zipper in his robe sleeves... he must like it because he's not moving out of it.

Day 8

February is an excruciatingly long month for me. I don't do winter very well... I know some people really dig it, but I'm not one of them. You can take the girl out of SoCal, but it's hard to take SoCal out of the girl. There is still lots of snow, but most of the berms on the street are gross and dirty brown now. I was driving around dreary South St Paul trying to find some kind of winter beauty. This path in the ravine is about the best I can muster right now.

Day 7

Proof that my husband spends more time at hotels than at home!

Day 6

Just sitting home watching the Olympics tonight. Hannah Teter is in the lead in the women's half-pipe. Go USA! Woot woot!

Day 5

 
I'm a doodler. Put me on a lengthy phone conversation, give me a pen and a pad of paper, and a-doodling I will go. I don't know why -- I think it relaxes me, actually. It's a kind of mindless activity that doesn't have to be done perfectly or a certain way. You can just go where the pen leads you. Yep, I'm a doodler.

Day 4

This is my 4.5 year old cat, Zipper. He came with that name, it's not one I would have picked, but it's grown on us. My daughter rescued a very tiny Zipper during a rainstorm from under a bush at her university in Idaho... she wasn't supposed to have a kitten in her apartment, so the following Christmas, Zipper made the trip from Idaho to Minnesota and he's been here ever since. I think he leads a pretty cushy life here and we are glad to help him do it.

Day 3

This is my street right about sunset, looking west. This watertower is what I look at everyday when I leave for work and everyday when I come home.

Day 2

I can't seem to muster a more interesting picture of Valentine's Day so this will have to do... Matt and I have enjoyed rolling our eyes at the "Martha" comments on the inside of the Dove chocolate wrappers. It makes me wonder if there really is a person out there that opens this and thinks to themselves... "Oh! A heart shaped cookie cutter! I need to find that heart shaped cookie cutter so I can decorate my pie crusts! What a fabulous idea! Thank goodness for Martha Stewart, bless her!"

Since I'm no fan of Martha, it is a little gratifying to poke fun at her attempts to gentrify us common folk.

Happy Valentine's Day.