Mt. Olympus Theme & Water Park

Yesterday John and I headed to the Wisconsin Dells with Kendall and Andi. It was a great way to get the house stuff off our minds and spend the day with friends. We left the dogs outside all day & decide to make them a "treat." We froze treats & toys in a bowl to keep them occupied. I had to take a picture of our creation. :) They LOVED it!
On the way there I got a call from my dad. It's been forever since we talked on the phone & it was so great to hear his voice. When I was little and he traveled I would make my mom call our answering machine every night so I could hear his voice say "this is the davis residence.." I was disappointed to hear he has to stay in Japan longer. He'll be back Sept. 11. I'm so proud of my dad...he's such a hard worker!

We had PERFECT weather and truly had a BLAST! We left around 7:30am and didn't get back until 1:00am this morning. We took full advantage of our day there. We started the day with go-carts & the roller coasters. All the coasters at this park are wooden, which means they are abusive! Kendall pretty much lost a toe nail on the Cyclopes & I'm suffering from a stiff neck thanks to Hades (how appropriate!). John keeps laughing at me for turning my entire body when I'm trying to look left.

This is probably where my neck snapped!



We weren't happy to see bolts under the coaster as we waited in line!

Go-Carts!!

After the coasters we grabbed lunch and headed to the water park! We went down the world's fastest lazy river, several awesome water slides, another not so fast lazy river and several wave pools. One of the wave pools was called "Poseidon's rage" and the waves were HUGE! Kendall made the mistake of keeping his debit card and license in a Velcro pocket in his swim shorts & it looked like Poseidon claimed them. It was a miracle that a complete stranger walked up to him with his license in hand and said, "are you kendall?" Thank God a lifeguard found his debit card.

Navigating where to head next!


Thought I was lying about the waves huh!?

We left the park and took a "army duck" tour. The DUKW was used to transport soldiers and goods through water and land. They were used in landings in the Mediterranean, Pacific, on the beaches of Normandy and during Operation Plunder. Our tour was an hour long and took us through downtown, woods and to the river. It was really fun!

John & Kendall learning about the "ducks"


It just drove into the water!!

I'm posing in an old army ambulance!

We ate dinner at "Paul Bunyan's" and had all you can eat chicken, ribs, veges & cake. It was awesome! The boys were in heaven!The dells are only about 2.5 hrs. away. It's great to get out of town...even if it's just for one day! I'm so glad we were able to squeeze in another fun filled trip before summer comes to an end.

The first heartbreak...

We found a house we loved. Perfect back yard, not a split level, master bath with walk in closets. I was pretty pumped. It had been on the market long enough to drop $19,000 (and into our price range) with no offers. The week we look at it...two offers on it! So, if we put in an offer, it would be more around their asking price in order to beat out the other people & we're not ok with that. We were seriously considering putting an offer in, but not TODAY! Our realtor called saying our window was closing & put pressure on us to get an offer in. I told him we're not going to make this happen because we want it to happen. We've prayed that the Lord will open and SHUT doors & he shut this one really quick!

We may consider putting in an offer on a different house that needs a lot of work, but we're still praying about it. Lord, you're welcome to shut that one too if it's what you want!! However, we may just lay low and wait until next spring before house hunting again.

It's hard to mentally move out of a house when you've already mentally moved in all of your stuff and decorated! :) I'm very disappointed, but comforted in knowing the Lord made it very clear this wasn't the house for us. I didn't wake up and expect to buy a house today so it coming at me so fast, "now or never" made it an easy "never."


I'll be happy when my posts are no longer about stress and HOUSES!

The search continues...

We're still "house shopping" as I refer to it. We've seen more than we can count. The problem is they all look the same! I feel like every house in Rochester is a split level with OAK trim. If it's not every house...it's every house in our price range. :)

Yesterday we went with the relator to see 7 more houses. We've found ones we "like" and are keeping a top three, but I just don't feel comfortable making such a big purchase on something I "like." I want to be overly excited about it!

We did find a house built in the 70's that we absolutely loved. We loved it b/c it was a foreclosure & it was not a split level! However, I think it's been lived in by Austin Powers and I am not kidding. Every single room would require updating....light fixtures, wallpaper, brown tile, etc. In fact, the main living area was nothing but mauve tile! So, we would have to get this house pretty cheap in order to fix it up appropriately. We were really pumped about the possibilities, but found out the bank is already taking a loss at the price it's at now b/c they owe over $200 for it themselves! I don't think it's going to work out. We may throw a low ball offer at them anyway just to see! :) I'm really really bummed about it, but I know the Lord is in this decision and I'm sure he's saving us from something.

We're looking again today after work. Pray it goes well. Location is huge on our list b/c we want an easy resale a few years down the road.

The search continues...

fear vs. peace

AHHH! Today has been an emotional roller coaster for me. Last week was my year anniversary at my job & to honest this year went by really fast. It was great to have my "review" and talk about the future of my career in the company....blah blah blah. John and I are happy here. We're finally starting to feel more comfortable in Rochester, making friends, enjoying church, going on trips. The problem is that I am terribly homesick. Not particularly homesick for a place...more for people. It comes in waves and lately the waves haven't come as often or as hard, but one hit me today....hard. I sat at my computer and cried....bawled I should say. The poor receptionist came in near the end of it & I felt awful for her. She slowly put the mail on my desk and backed away...prob. for the best. :)

More than anything I what the Lord wants for us. He knows best and wants the best. He would have to make it very clear, but if he wanted us to move to Africa then we would do it! :) I have no doubt in my mind that he wanted us here in MN....maybe not for one specific reason, but I could name a few little ones already. The problem is getting that direction from him....knowing what your next move is. It's so hard sometimes to feel out your fear...is it God's direction telling you that it's time to move on or is it just the opposite....him asking you to prevail, trust, move forward with where he has you. The only thing to decipher the two is prayer....and lots of it. I'm trying so hard to take my fears, feelings, doubts, emotions and turn them into sincere prayer. Prayer for direction and prayer for his will to be done.

The problem is being homesick is hard to remove from the equation. It's hard to not be bias when your heart aches for loved ones. I'm trying so hard to stop saying "well, if this or that happens then it's better to be here or there." I have to STOP & give over control. I have a tendency to over think things...map or plan them out. No matter what happens the Lord is with me...I know that, but sometimes I don’t' feel that way. Sometimes...scratch that...most of the time I'm convinced that if I think hard enough I'LL know what to do. If I give it enough thought, the right choice will be clear. At this moment in my life...that is not the case.

It's a million little things. Should we buy a house and stay here for at least 3 more years? If not, we're still forced to find another place to rent. Should we be looking for places to rent instead of houses to buy? Add that to he pressure of John passing his test next Tuesday (9/8) & a few other worries to the homesick mess and you've got me bawling at my computer praying no one walks in to see the mess.

So, with all that said. Please keep us in your prayers when you think about it. Pray that we can see through all the emotions to find God's will & that it will be clear to us. Also, to all of you that make my life so special....I miss you. I miss you so much and I wish I was closer or that I was a millionaire and could fly to see you every time I had a day like this. I'm sorry for being so far away & missing so many day to day parts of your lives. Who knows, maybe I'll be "home" sooner than later, but maybe not. I don't know at this point! That's where your prayer comes in! All I do know is that I'm thankful for you being in my life...no matter how far apart we are. I MISS YOU!

Colorado Day 7

I just realized the other day that I did not post about our last day in Colorado! Colorado is know for it's beautiful sunny weather & most of the time we were there it truly was beautiful. However....it was not sunny & beautiful the last day. It was cold and rained all day. To make matters worse, I wasn't feeling well. I was sad it was our last day, but also ok with it because I could tell it was on the verge of getting sick (which I did when we got back).

John still wanted to go to Mt. Evans & I was willing to go despite not feeling well b/c it's supposed to be one of the best places to see wildlife in CO. We didn't see much wildlife, but it was still fun. The rest of the day/night was spent packing & watching the Olympics in the hotel room. That was great! :)

Not sure where we are, but we found a pretty creek!

Don't ya love it when your GPS says "unnamed road." So helpful! :)

The fog blocked our views, but was still pretty.

These hummingbirds were at the entrance of the park. I took their pic. while John paid to enter the park. I love them!

This was our view the whole time on the mountain!

John did NOT care! :)

The rain turned to snow the higher we got on the mt.

At the top!

Um.....not so much

John decided to fill our water bottle with "pure rockey mt. water." I didn't think it was a good idea, but he drank most of it.

We found a mom-n-pop place for lunch. It was great to have warm soup & a BLT. John had a hamburger....yummmm! Told ya I was sick :)

I bought our souvenir for our trip here. I got a Christmas ornament & a vase.

This concludes Colorado! We had a great time & can't wait to go back!!! YAY!

Colorado, day 6

After work we traveled north to Ft. Collins (Winsor) to see our friends Carol and Dan Langer! We met them through our small group at Autumn Ridge near the end of Dan's fellowship. They recently moved back to Colorado, which is closer to family. This may have been or favorite day! We had so much fun at dinner with them and their three kids. We ended up talking until about 2am and poor Dan was literally falling asleep after a long day at the hospital. Thanks for hanging in there with us, Dan!

Somehow we managed to just take pics. of the kids and none of the four of us. We'll change that next time!

Sam & Emerson in the car on the way to P.F. Changs!

Tyler and his amazing Lego ship he whipped up right before we left!

Emerson mixing the sauce at the table, what a sneaky look! :)

I did sneak one of Carol whipping up some cappuccinos to go with our great wall of chocolate dessert we took back to the house.

Thanks for a great night, Langers!!!

Colorado, day 5

August 11, 2008 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!

After work on Thursday we planned to do some more sight seeing, but once we got back to the hotel to change clothes the Olympic TV monster grabbed us. Our obsession with the Olympics is another story.

We decided to go to The Melting Pot to celebrate our 2nd year anniversary. There was another restaurant in downtown Denver called La Fondue, which normally would have been our choice since it wasn't a chain, but after reading reviews on the Internet and finding out the melting pot was in an old historic library, our choice was clear. We made the right one! Apparently this one in Littleton, CO is their "flagship" restaurant & the number in sales. It was so cozy inside & really did have the perfect ambiance.

We decided to get "big night out," which had us pick our cheese, salad, meat & dessert. We choose the swiss cheese for starters that came with vegetables, apples and different kinds of bread (rye was my favorite). I had some kind of tropical salad and John had a Caesar, which was awesome. Then it was on to the meat...meaning John was in heaven! We had chicken, fillet mignon, sirloin, lobster, shrimp & pork! We choose the "ying & yang" dessert with milk chocolate and white chocolate. It was so good. I could eat that every day of my life & be just fine. :) Fat....but fine!

Our reservations were for 5:30 & we didn't leave until around 8:30! It made a perfect date for long conversations reminiscing about the two years we've been married & how excited we are for the future. We came to the conclusion that we're truly blessed to have one another, our amazing friends & wonderful family. What more could you ask for! We are opposite in may ways, which can often turn into great humor for those around us, :) but it's also what makes us so great together. I love that John brings the adventurous side out of me & I help keep him structured and organized. It doesn't seem like we've been married for two years....more like 2 months!

Moving to MN has been added so much to our marriage & we're really glad we did it. However, John's dying to move to Colorado now....I think we all saw that coming. :)

Thanks, John for being an amazing husband & my best friend in the world!

Colorado, day4

Wednesday was great. We had more planned, but once we got back to the hotel from working we crashed! It was an awesome nap!!! We decided to take a break from hiking and head to the outlets just a little south in littleton.

After shopping it was time for dinner! John once told a "story" to Arhmin and I about a restaurant that had caves & divers! Arhmin and I laughed until we cried b/c neither of us believed him. We were convinced this was a make believe restaurant & it has been a running joke ever since. However, today was the day he would prove to me the restaurant existed. It's called Casa Bonita & it's a very real place complete with waterfalls, divers, actors, all you can eat Mexican & the most amazing sopapia's you've ever tasted in your life! No longer can Arhmin give John a hard time! It was fun while it lasted! :)

They were awesome!mariachi band!
It's true, you raise you flag for the waiter to bring you more food! Genius!


I would come here just to eat these!

The best rat-tail you've ever seen!

Outside the restaurant Pretty sunset in the car ride on the way there.

This is the nicest pawn shop we've ever seen! haha