Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Hallelujah, Christmas 2010

One of my all-time favorites. My earliest memories of this song are of me tagging along with my mom to her rehearsals where she played organ for a choir. You can't listen to this without getting the chills!

Welcoming A Snowy Winter

Ben and I have switched roles this winter.

He can be found donning extra layers and turning up the heat,

while I'm fanning my face and taking off my socks.

So this Thanksgiving, as the ice and snow fly and temperatures drop, I'm especially grateful for

my 24/7, guaranteed, wiggly, little built-in furnace...

not to mention my all-around extra insulation at 33 weeks. :)
(please excuse the the blurriness...the night vision on our camera didn't work out awesomely)

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Twilight Halloween

Okay, so we're not huge Twilight fans, but it worked for a cheap, last-minute costume for Ben's MHA party.

If you look close enough, you can even see sparkles on his face.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

P.S. In case you missed the last post, our blog will be "private" soon, so let us know your e-mail!
P.P.S. Ben is way better looking than Edward, in my humble opinion.

Going Private

We will soon be making our blog "private." Just post your e-mail and we'll be sure to invite you!

October

A lovely fall walk...

with a more-than-lovely husband (I spy Ben above!),

beautiful fall colors,

and a 27-week baby (this was a couple weeks ago).

"Punch Pizza."
Yummy, authentic, Italian pizza baked in an 800-degree brick oven for 90 seconds!
De-li-cio-so!

A cute little European food shop with delectable Russian and Scandinavian food.

Downtown Minneapolis.

Hours and hours of studying for Ben, who is also playing intramural football & volleyball, volunteering at a local clinic...AND offering his pregnant wife free foot massages!

Love this guy.

And I also love this wiggly little guy. :)
28 weeks, things are going great, and I couldn't be happier!

Blessed

Endless hours of job-searching,

60+ job applications,

headaches & insomnia,

Countless "Although your background is impressive, we have chosen another candidate for this position" e-mails,

5 interviews...

and I landed a job.

It's a part-time L&D/post-partum/nursery position at a hospital and I start next week.

I'm excited and anxious to start, but mostly feeling very blessed!

Finnish Bistro

What makes a 50% Finnish, 25-week pregnant lady happy on a rainy Saturday morning?

Two words: Finnish Bistro.

It's located very close to our house in a cute little town named St. Anthony.

(The 25-week belly--before eating; it increases in size post-meal.)

Very quaint inside...
(two minutes after I took this, the place was packed)

...with lots of breads and pastries!

I got the Finnish Pulla French Toast (LOADED with berries) and Ben got the Lefse Scramble (with a potato tortilla). Both were delicious and authentic. This place is owned by a Finnish lady and I want to meet her.

And just for the record (my family will appreciate this), we passed this on the way there. How fitting.
www.finnishbistro.com

Indonesia

18 1/2 years ago I was helping my mom change this guy's diapers...
(Erik, my little brother)

...and now he's off to serve a two-year mission for the LDS church in INDONESIA!

We're so proud and excited for him!

We're Officially Minnesoowtans

We hauled our Penske truck (towing our civic) through Wyoming's million shades of brown, then through South Dakota, which wasn't too much better, and finally reached Minnesota...where we drove through lots of corn fields, lakes, and trees!

Several guys came to help us unload the truck. And we were left with this. (It's much better now...I"ll post pictures later.)

After a day or two of unpacking in the 90+ degree humidity with no AC, we decided to take a walk downtown along the Mississippi!

The lighting isn't great here, but it really is a pretty city.

I don't look tired and hot, do I?

We made some new friends, the Janssen's, who live by us and asked them to accompany us to the Minnesota State Fair,
"Where Minnesota comes together."

...but I think the motto should really be, "Where everything is 'fried' and 'on a stick'!"
(Fresh fried fruit? Oxymoron, anyone?)

My favorite place was the "Miracle Birthing Center" where they have animals who are just a few days old; they even have recordings of the births playing (I was actually a little grossed out...I'm glad I'm having a human birth. :)

I'm also glad I'm not having this many.

So cute.

All you can drink milk (white or chocolate) for $1.00! Yum!

It's hard to tell in the picture, but this guy is Minnesota's biggest boar...I'd hope so at almost 1500 lbs!

Ben really liked the "Oink Booth." He's wearing his hat for proof.

Can you see the humidity on our faces? :)

(We didn't eat all of this fried food...just took pictures. :)

This is one we did eat, though...and it's definitely not worth the heartburn.
We're already excited to bring little Junior Wade to the State fair next year!
(I forgot to get a picture of the Janssen's with us...I'll post one later.)

Before Ben's semester started, we made a "quick" trip to the Mall of America. Except there's no such thing as a quick trip to this place. There's too much to look at (not to mention it takes a while to get where you want to go). These are some of the rides in the background.

Ben was really excited about the Dora the Explorer ride, but we decided against it.

On Labor Day, we played tennis and went kayaking with our friends, the Smalley's, who also live by us! It sprinkled a little (which the mosquitoes apparently loved), but it was really fun to get out in nature for a little bit.

One night last week, we decided last minute to go to a Twin's game with some friends...how can you say no to $3.00 tickets?! It was perfect weather.

The new stadium is so neat; you can see the city skyline right outside of it.

We went with the Portwood's and Gladwell's.

Ben made me hold up my popcorn in this picture; he claims it was my favorite part...(you can't blame a pregnant lady.)

And our last outing was a retreat on a lake for all of the MHA students and their families (about 3 hours North of Minneapolis).

The weather was cooler and windier than we'd hoped for, but it was pretty and we had fun getting to know everyone.

Only two or three people ended up getting in the water. One of them being my husband. :) He had to initiate a water basketball game!

Meanwhile, while Ben is working hard in school, I am trying to get to know the city (by getting lost on the the freeway system on an almost daily basis...seriously), finishing organizing our apartment, spending hours looking for jobs (I've had two interviews...but no word yet)...

and...
storing up some fat for the winter.

It's getting chilly, so that's the plan.

(23 weeks)
I started feeling this little boy at 18 weeks, and he seems to be getting stronger (and crazier) every day! I love it and I'm so grateful everything's going well so far. He keeps me company when Ben's away at school. :)
We feel blessed to live here and to have met so many great people. We're excited to experience the next two years here!

P.S. This MN accent is cracking me up.