last day off

I slept until 10:30 this morning. I mean, I woke up when Mike left, and I woke up when they started doing something really loud on the house that they are building next door. But I can now sleep through the "beep beep beep" of the construction trucks backing up. I'm not totally positive that being able to sleep through that noise is a good thing. I'm sure it will pass by this summer...I used to wake up to and think "who is taking a bus!" Not anymore. I'm not worried about any kids trying to take a bus, but ya know, it doesn't hurt to be aware as to where the buses are at all times.
It is snowing here today! It looks like we got an inch or two overnight. And it just keep coming down. I'm about to make a birthday cake for my grampa (double banana something) mainly because I got a bundt pan for Christmas! Kind of a dorky thing to be excited about, but I do love to cook. Mike is taking over the cooking for January, so that should be fun! I'll miss being in the kitchen - I'll probably sneak in to make cookies or muffins or something, but it will be fun to see what kind of stuff he'll make. We are trying to eat healthier/work out a little so that we both look good for his sister's wedding in Nov. I don't necessarily want to lose weight, just buff up a bit and maybe rearrange. It seems to all have gone to my things and tummy right now. Hopefully yoga will do the trick, otherwise we are thinking about joining a health club. Since we both got raises, we should be able to afford that. Especially since most of the basement is done.
Anyway, today I get to make the cake, clean up, shovel the driveway a bunch of times, shower and look pretty, and then meet up with everyone for dinner. Yes, we are going out for dinner, then back here for cake and March of the Penguins. If I have time today, I picked up My Fair Lady and How to Steal a Million from the library, wouldn't mind watching one of those today. It is after all my last official day of vacation. This spring and summer are going to be crazy, but fun crazy.
So I suppose I should get up an do something. But the internet is oh so good for procrastinating. I actually played tetris yesterday for the first time in years. It was pretty relaxing! We need to get one of the PS2 games that has all the old school stuff on it. I would love to have Bubble Bobble!
Take care and God bless...have a great end to 2005!

babysitting

today I got to babysit. These are the cutest little boys ever. I brought over a big box and we made a spaceship out of it. I am so not ready to have kids, but I had a great time today!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day we were at Mike's parents place, with the whole extended Wilken clan. It was a good time! It is still hard to believe that Christmas is over already. Hope everyone had a good one!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was at my parent's condo. It was so good to just hang out with everyone. I really don't miss the chaos of Christmas Eve with the whole cederstand gang. It's nice to be with family. My hair looks crazy long in this picture! And my sister doesn't look pregnant yet. She is due July 1 though!

Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:1-20

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels 8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

lefse

My friends Angie and Holly came over this afternoon and we spent 4.5hours making lefse! It was fabulously fun, they are such great gals. This first pic is for you babe!

Lasagne...

Tonight we had dinner at Isaac and Marit's. She made a yummy lasagne...I'm so pumped that Mike will eat stuff like that now.
Anyway, check out Isaac's website here.

and, maybe not as important, but we finally finished our Christmas cards. We got them from Shutterfly and I think they look really good. We would use them again for sure (maybe a little earlier next year though). Here is our pic:

Party!

So here is our house. Full with high school kids. We had 46 people here tonight...I love that we can do that now! Totally made all the frustrations of the basement worthwhile. The kids had a good time, the adults had a good time, even the little kids had a good time. We gave Sam and Nathan a talking Toy Story lamp from Menards. They absolutely loved it! They also enjoyed playing with and in the box. How fun! After the kiddos left, the adults were able to enjoy some Leinies (I highly recommend the Apple Spice, especially if you like cider) and some Peppermint Patties.

All in all it was a good day!

craziness!

So the past couple of weeks have been absolutely crazy trying to get everything done in the basement. But, we finished it (at least most of it) Saturday night. Here are some photos.
The first one if from before we even framed the walls...I can't believe how weird it looks! Then Mike painting...

And then we painted and primed....and then we painted the dark brown on the half walls.Mike did the trim - he did an awesome job! And then we got carpet, which was kind of a disaster, but oh well!

and gerbs came over to help out...they finally got the projector mount figured out!and we now have a huge screen. it is very cool. Tomorrow night we test it out with the Living Room christmas party.

i'm sick

i'm sick and it sucks. i hate being sick. i'm super crabby, tired, and i just don't want to do anything.

unfortunately, there is a ton to do around our house because of the whole carpet coming on thursday and big party here on monday.

bed would be so nice right now, but i don't want mike to have to do it all. there simply is not time for him to get it all done.

i keep forgetting that i have all day thursday here...i suppose i could work on the dining room thursday morning and then start on the basement thursday afternoon.

oh yeah, and we still have to order Christmas cards. so don't be surprised if you don't get a card till the day before.

back to cleaning out the chairs, wood, and crap from the basement.

i'll promise i'll post some pics soon of how the basement if coming along. it is gonna look great, i'm just ready to be done!

two weeks

two weeks from tonight is the big Christmas party at our house. that means two weeks from tonight that basement (except for the bathroom) will be done!

I love my job

no really, I do love my job. Tonight we played the infamous rubber chicken game. Except with last names.

DMB

The Dave Matthews Concert was awesome! we had sweet seats, about 5 rows up on the left side of the stage. I have never been that close before! Here are some pics from it, my camera doesn't work so hot at concerts though.

snow!

I love living in Minnesota. You can't really tell from this picture, but it is snowing right now.

Vegas Baby! (Friday)

Our trip to Vegas was great! It started off with us being switched to a nonstop flight to Vegas...that was really nice. We got to the hotel, checked in, and got ready for a fun night out. This was the first of what was to be many self portraits this weekend. The ballroom was set up with different stations that had different types of food. It was yummy. There were bars everywhere and a special martini bar. Nothing like a lemon drop to start off the night! Here are Steve and Stephanie with the amazing martini's! Mikey with the shrimp. I made friends with one of the waiters and he brought us out two plates of these gorgeous shrimp. Yum.
Ted and Mike. Two of my most favorites.
yet another hold the camera out shot.
outside the mirage, on our way back to treasure island. It was late (or early, depending upon how you look at it).

Vegas Baby! (Saturday)

Saturday morning we got up around 8 am, went downstairs to breakfast, then headed over the the Mirage for the morning session. It was way better than anything I had hoped for. They entertained us with BMZ bikers, trampolines, dancers, drummers, etc. There was a great video of interviews and stuff about CH. And of course, Tony Robbins was really really good. He has some good stuff to say about getting yourself psyched and ready. Then the employees left for a photo and us spouses headed to the ballroom for lunch. That was awkward. I made some friends and then the employees joined us. Here is Mike with his friend Joe from LA North. Then we had some time to explore...so we checked out the venetian (oh my is that huge!).
and it had a canal and you could take a boat ride!
the Wynn was pretty cool on the inside...starting to decorate for Christmas!

Waiting for the Sirens of TI show to start. Not really worth the wait, but nice to be a hotel guest and be right up front. We stayed at Treasure Island...very nice people, nice room...I would stay there again.



I like this picture of us. I was so tired at this pointin time, but Mike looks great!
Oh my...that desert was really good. It was chocolate mousse in a chocolate coffee cup. But the best part was the white chocolate CHRobinson logo. It was phenomenal! After we ate, we saw some amazing jugglers and then David Spade...he was hysterical. Attempting to get a good Christmas card photo...right outsided the Mirage...before and during the Volcano!

The winning spin of $1000. We were not on it, but it was really fun to watch!