Summer is Here!

We have enjoyed our house these last few weeks. We moved at the end of last summer so we never got to enjoy the yard or flowers, etc. These are a few pictures of what we have enjoyed....especially the strawberries! We have a "bumper" crop - I have made several pies and this week hope to make some jam. You can never have too many strawberries.

Levi is 29

We celebrated the 1st of many 29th birthdays for Levi this weekend! We had a few people come over to help celebrate. Hard to believe that we are entering the next "decade". We still feel young...and hopefully will continue to feel that way! Happy Birthday to the love of my life!

The Bathroom is complete

We are happy to report that our bathroom project is complete. It took longer than we expected (as all house projects do). But the end result is wonderful! See the pics ...before and after.

Wonderful Weekend

We had a great time in WI visiting with "old" friends - "old" is only relative to all the young college kids these days! :) What fun it was to sing those songs and do the same things wrong that we did back then! :) I am attaching the clip to the video that we made for Dr. B to remember the fun Madrigal years. If you want a copy of the CD - just e-mail me your address and I will mail you a copy. We spoke to many people of doing another Madrigal reunion in the next few years - hopefully getting even better a better turnout. Anyone want to volunteer to coordinate??!??!?!

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Dr. Budahl

I know some of my readers have been greatly impacted by the life and ministry of Dr. B. On April 21st - there will be a special day in honor of his last concert with the madrigal choir. In honor of this - we are trying to compile a DVD of pictures that show the impact that he has had on our lives. PLEASE - e-mail me your pictures - they could be of places the choir has sung, people we have met, funny things that happened.....something that you think would be enjoyed by all!! I need all pictures by next weekend - April 7th so we have time to get the DVD made. You can also e-mail MBBC via their website - they will get the pictures to me. I spent tonight scanning in our photos - and the memories were amazing. He is a wonderful man and deserves to be recognized. Please encourage other madrigal folks to participate in this......we need all the photos we can get! Here is one for the memory book......

We're Back

Sorry for the long "drought" in our blog. Our life got extremely busy this past month - I thought I would tell the story through pictures:

First - we got a BIG snowstorm here in MN near the end of February - nearly 2 feet of snow covered us. My husband got his first snow day of the year....but alas....I still had to get to work. Here are some pictures of the snow:

Then - we got ready to take L's high school choir and band down to KC for the big MAACS tournament - all 56 teenagers! We left on a Wednesday and came back on a Sunday - and we even came back with all 56 kids! :) Here is a picture of the big yellow bus we took....thank goodness it had a DVD player so we could watch movies all the way there! The kids did really well at the competition - and seemed to enjoy the trip. Only one kid was stupid enough to dive into the 4ft pool at the hotel - cracked his head on the bottom....but luckily no stitches required - just hope he doesn't go bald when he gets older! :)

Then L & I went down to FL to see my parents (who have a house down there)......we spent a day and half with them before they headed back to Canada - and then we enjoyed 3 days of sunshine by ourselves! the best vacation ever - rest and relaxation. We played tennis, swam, rode bikes, watched tv.....nothing could be better!

Probably the most exciting news is that I have a new niece......straight from CHINA! My brother and his wife have been in the process for several years - and they finally brought her home last week. We live 18 hours away from her....but hopefully we will get to see her in person this summer! She is 10 months old. And seems to be adjusting just fine.

These next few months are just as busy for us as L finishes up the year at school. The summer will be here before we know it!

So - that is what we have been up to. I have been checking your blogs....and it seems like everyone is quite busy these days! Blogging is quite a commitment - and takes alot of time and dedication - guess I am not there yet!

Updates....

Well, the plumber came on Tuesday to install the shower in the bathroom - right now it is not looking to pretty in their....but we can definetly see we are making progress. The inspector comes tomorrow and then we can sheetrock the ceiling and tile the floor and paint. Then the plumbers will come back to install the sink and toilet. We are very excited to see the finished product!

We had our concert last night and it went very well! We played in a beautiful community church and the sound was amazing! The only bad part was trying to hear yourself play!

House Projects (Never Ending)

We bought our house this summer from a couple who were in their 90's. So - needless to say - the decorating in the house was still from the 1970's. But we saw past the green and gold wallpaper to what we thought we could make it - and we loved the layout. Being 4 minutes from church/school was also a plus. Next week starts the remodeling project in the basement bathroom. I thought I would give you a taste of what we have accomplished in the last 6 months with a lot of hard work and help from family and friends. We have been very blessed.

Before and After Entry Way Picture (don't you love the wallpaper)

Living Room Before (sorry it is so dark) - their was carpet over all the hardwood floors - we pulled it up the day we moved in - and we haven't had to do anything to the floors!

Kitchen before and after - we have since replaced the floor in here - but I don't have a good picture of it. I am very thankful for a good size kitchen - I spend a lot of time in there!

Current Bathroom Project - hopefully we will have a good after picture in a couple of weeks

What are we up to.....

For the past 2 years Levi & I have participated in the Plymouth Concert Band (a community band - but we actually have to pay to be in it!). We have our big concert next week " A night at the Opera" is our theme. Opera music is not my favorite - but playing it is much better than singing it! Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) and Candide by Bernstein and many others will be performed. I will be glad for our next concert to get here - we will be doing " a Night on Broadway" - much more enjoyable music. Our last concert was a "Night at the Movies" - Superman, and Pirates of the Caribean really made the crowd enjoy the concert. We have definetly learned a lot since the band is pretty high caliber - we ourselves don't claim to be the best and love to play in the 2nd and 3rd sections! It has also been good to interact with other musicians from around the community. There musical "lives" have been much different than ours - playing in bars and karoke, etc. Hopefully we can be a good testimony to them. So - that is what we are doing every Monday night in case you were wondering!

Pictures....

I can't figure out how to post a picture to the sidebar - my computer is not cooperating - but thought it would help some people to see what we look like now.....this was this summer at Levi's graduation (masters in music education). It was 98 degrees and I was unfortunetly dealing with a cold and ear infection - but it was a great day nonetheless! He spent 6 weeks in Chicago for the last 3 summers to complete it - so we are very thankful that it is finished!

Thanks for stopping by!

Well, Here We Go

The time has come to start sharing our life via the World Wide Web. For those looking for lots of exciting adventures - you have probably come to the wrong place. But hopefully every once and while we will have something to post and maybe a few pictures here and there.