Louie

This morning Louie got mad at me.

Louie is my 1992 Chevy Lumina.

I was on my way to work and just down the street and around the corner I stopped at the stop sign. Instead of rushing ahead of traffic, I decided to wait until it passed. Once all clear I hit the gas to turn the corner and Louie shut down. I turned the key to restart Louie, but nothing happened. He was being stubborn. Its a good thing that I did not yet pull on to 98th street, which is a pretty major road near our house.

I called Jon and he came over with the jeep, so I could take that to work instead. Good thing we have 3 vehicles! We decided to push Louie back about 50 feet from the corner...so not be in the way. We were not going to take care of him at that time, the temperature this morning was -13 degrees! Yes, COLD! It was supposed to warm up to maybe 10 degrees by the end of the day.

After work we took the Jeep back over to the corner where Louie had been sitting all day. We pushed Louie back to where we could turn back on to our street, Jon got in the Jeep and then pushed me and Louie back home. It took a little 4 wheel drive to get us up the driveway but we made it. So good ol' Louie is back in the garage hooked up to the battery charger. Good thing we will not need to use this vehicle until Monday....he will get a nice long rest.

Force Fitness DVD

Okay, so some of you may not know this yet but I have started training to be in a Fitness DVD. I used to take some classes from Anni Mairs who is the creator of the Force Fitness program. She started developing her program in the 80's, when it was not cool to do cardio (just step) and now her DVD's are in high demand. (Her past DVD's are in the picture above)

Last spring she asked me if I wanted to be a part of her next DVD and I said yes. Originally she thought they would be taping this DVD in Fall of 2007, however with some slight push backs and now changing of producing companies we were scheduled to tape on January 24th, which is this Thursday.

So, I have been training with Anni since the beginning of 2008 and have been personally training for the past couple of months in preparation. I want to be as lean as possible for the shoot date as I was told the camera adds 10lbs. So one of the key things during my training is no caffine and no alcohol!! The funny thing is that since I no longer drink much and I don't drink much soda, cutting these 2 things out of my diet was no big deal.

Also, the new update is we found out that we are no longer taping on January 24th because she recently changed production companies and they need more time to get things set up. SO, right now we are unsure when the actual taping will be. All the girls in the video & I are hoping it will be by Feb 7th. We all are leaving on different vacations shortly thereafter. PLUS, I can not wait to have some Cold Stone Icecream again!!

I will keep everyone update on when I will actual tape and when we can expect the DVD to be ready for distribution!!

Doggy Sitting

This weekend we have been watching Bill & Christie's dog Zoe. Her and Bailey are about the same size and love to play together. Actually, I don't think there is a dog we know that Bailey does not like to play with. We are watching Zoe while the Hayes' are in St. Cloud for a hockey tournament.





Zoe was funny last night as she kept walking to the door hoping her family was going to come pick her up. Even when Jon and I came home from church this morning she was looking for more people to walk through the door. Only one more night Zoe and you will be back with your family.

Bowling Fun

On Friday night we went out to dinner and then bowling with our friends Kate & Patrick. It has been awhile since we have gotten together, due to the holidays. Kate had big news, she got a new job working with Nickelodeon and starts on Tuesday.

Bowling was a lot of fun! We played three games, the first two normal and then the third was the crazy game. Each frame we had a different thing all of us had to do.....bowl with the non-dominant hand, with your eyes closed, between the legs, between the legs backwards and from your knees. We were sure laughing through the whole game. (They had just the black lights on in the alley, so the pics did not turn out so good)

After bowling Kate and I thought we would try this arcade game similar to Dance, Dance, Revolution. We definitely were not very good at it.....it was hard!

Broom Ball

This year I started playing broom ball with some people I work with at Collins. We play on Tuesday nights out at Lord Flectchers (a bar & grill on Lake Minnetonka), but due to the holidays this year being on Tuesdays we have not played on our regular night since December 18th. Therefore, we have been making up our games over the weekends. Friday night was our 4th game of the season and since it was on the weekend not everyone was able to make it, so Jon also played with us.

We ended up loosing the game 4-1 but it was interesting playing because the snow was falling in big flakes. Broom ball is fun but frustrating for me as I have found a sport that is not easy for me to pick up right away. I think it will take more practice to help me feel confident in playing.

Dream Night

This past Wednesday night was dream night downtown Minneapolis. For dream night we have dinner with a bunch of inspiring individuals, reflect on 2007, and set goals & dreams for 2008.

Going Home

On Sunday January 6th Melissa & Emma flew back to Seattle....so Sunday morning we were all soaking up as much remaining time as possible with them. Nana Betty was even showing Emma how to play the piano.

Noah & Tracy's Wedding

On Saturday January 5th Jon's cousin Noah got married in Waseca. The ceremony was held at St. Paul's in Meridan, MN with a reception following at the Legion in Waseca. Dinner was something that I have never had before, but must be a family favorite as I seemed to be the only one who had never heard of a hot beef commerical. This consisted of a piece of white bread, some pulled beef and mashed potatoes on top, with gravy covering the whole thing. It was actually pretty good. It was definitely a fun wedding as they had an excellent DJ that got everyone involved.

Cute Pic

Here are some cute pictures of Bailey trying to get close to Emma when she was laying on Jon's lap.

Happy New Year!

New Years Eve we decided to hang low and have some of the family over to our house for the night. Mark's flight back to Seattle left at 7:00am on the 1st so having them to our house also meant a short drive to the airport early in the morning. We had a game night, playing both rummikub & dominoes....and rung in the new year as the ball dropped with a bubbly bottle of champagne. We ended up playing games until about 3:00am. Instead of going to bed for an hour....Joel decided to make it an all nighter, since him & Betty planned to take Mark to the airport about 4:30am. Here are some fun pictures from the night....

Bailey's Present

Bailey got some belated Christmas gifts from Jon and I; a new bed and also a stuffed turkey that squeaks. She loves the bed since she likes to lay on soft things and I am sure she likes the turkey as she already chewed one of the wings off.

Mom & Dad Visit

My parents came to MN on Wednesday Dec. 26th to celebrate Christmas with Jon and I. My parents are always super generous and seem to spoil both Jon and I at this time of year. It was nice to get a couple of days to hangout with my parents at our house since it has been awhile since they have come over to visit.

Since both Jon and I had to work on Thursday and Friday my parents did some sight seeing and stopped at some local quilt shops during the day. One evening we stayed in had a nice dinner and played some games and then the following night we went out to dinner and then headed to a movie.

On Saturday morning we all went to the Alexander Ramsey house, which was all decorated for Christmas. It was so cool to see such an old historical home and to imagine what it was like to live back in that time period.

Merry Christmas!

Here is a quick family picture prior to opening gifts on Christmas morning. Bailey's favorite part of Christmas morning is to chasing the wrapping paper balls and tearing it to shreds and believe me there were a lot of them.

Once we were all done opening gifts, Jasmine and Candy also got a chance to come into the house and open their Christmas presents as well. Nanna Betty got each of the dogs a new bone.

Christmas Day we went over to Grandma & Grandpa Weber's house for an early dinner.

Jon and I came back home on Christmas day night because we both had to work on Wednesday. We also brought Janelle back with us since her flight back to Seattle left that night. When we got home, we had a good 6 inches of fresh snow to clear out of our driveway. I didn't mind shoveling at all, as it was so great to have a white Christmas!

It was so nice to have the extended weekend to hang out with family. Needless to say time flew by fast.