Last Days in Rochester...

Here are a few pics. from some of our last days in Rochester. Sadly we didn't get pictures for everything, but we got a lot.

our small group threw us a going away party! It was perfect! thanks so much everyone!!!

Andi was so excited about her game! :) It was a blast!

Everyone was so excited to watch us open up our gift. They made us an amazing cook book filled with 100 recipes of our favorite dishes that we've made at get togethers!It's filled with pictures, side notes & great recipes! We LOVE IT!

Yummy summer food, drinks & BBQ

Can't get enough of this!

this was 1/2 of the sauce options

John & Kendall pulled the pork apart.

relaxing outside

Later in the week we went with James (Ashley picked up an extra shift), Beka & Justin to the putt-putt coarse in Rochester. It was a lot of fun! The best part was the girls won! ;) Beka & I actually tied overall in the #2 spot...James beat us. This is monumental because it's the only time Beka & I have ever beat our husbands. Thank God there was a camera to record this golden event! :)

Beka awaiting the score...I love this picture. We knew we had done well

That's right...we were pumped!!!

This is a mirror I've had since college that fit perfectly over Just in & Beka's new mantle so we gave it to them right before their open house. I love their new cozy home, it has sooo much character.

The Sunday night before we left we went to one of the free concerts in the park in downtown. We are so mad we didn't take advantage of this sooner. It was awesome! Kansas was coming the next weekend, but were already gone.

Here are some pictures of my very last day in my office. It was a good and sad day all together. I'm going to miss seeing these faces on a daily basis.

Megan pointing to Rochester, Erica pointing to Dalton

This sums up our relationship with our boss, Brian. He completely ignores us and we continue to voice our opinions about whatever is going on at work. haha

Megan gave me so GREAT Rochester gifts for my new office!

I put this frame in Erica's office a few days before leaving & she never noticed it so I finally had to point it out. haha

messin' around, what we do best!

Our favorite book...Fisher's contact dermatitis...blah

some of the customer service gals!

me with Rick. We say he looks like George Clooney.

Bill in shipping

my going away sales lunch at Chester's, which is my favorite restaurant. Madura was on a trip so I didn't get to see him before I left.

Nadia was eager to get to some of my office things...Erica told her she is the husband that dates way too soon after his wife passes away. haha

this was the only picture taken of the crew that helped us move out. We had pizza & the boys loaded the truck (hard work) while us gals cleaned and packed up the remaining "essentials." I wish I would have taken more pictures. Thanks to all for your help & to Erica who isn't in this picture, but cleaned like her life depended on it! Also thanks to my mom who flew down to help us & ride back with me from MN to TN! We COULD NOT have done it without the help we received!

Bummed Out

We are officially back in TN! Things didn't work out the exact way we thought so we're living with some friends that have a 3 bedroom apartment. They were sweet enough to let us take over 2 of the bedrooms so I can have an office. Things with work seem to be going great. I'm able to get as much if not more accomplished during the day. I miss the interaction of others throughout the day, but that was expected.

This weekend we plan to go to SC for Caleb's birthday. My mom will be riding down with us since my dad is gone to Japan again. It's nice to be able to participate in these little things that we normally would miss with family being in MN, but it still doesn't feel like we're actually living here yet. I'm sure that will change with we find a house....well one that isn't under contract. We found the perfect house. It had everything we wanted and more. We both LOVED it. We found out last night that it's under contract and they plan to close next week. The listing agent just didn't put "pending" so we had no clue until our realtor called to get serious. I know it's not the end of the world & that there is another house out there for us, but I'm so so so bummed. I'm trying to remind myself that there are people less fortunate that have real problems, but I'm still sulking.

Keep us in your prayers that we'll find something even more perfect (if it exists) :(

Elevator Disaster

This is an actual event that took place not too long ago on an elevator.

me: smile to the lady & man that just got on the elevator

lady: "well aren't you just a shrimp!!!"

me: laughing it off a bit, "yeah...I'm short" still smiling

lady: "no, I mean seriously, what are you...like 3 ft. tall or something!?"

me: "um...no..." still trying to not make this as awkward as it's getting "you would think I would wear heels, but I hate them so most of the time I just wear flats, but I suppose I should try and get all the height I can huh?"

man: "lordy...you know who you remind me of? shoot...what's that girl's name....um...they gymnasts..."

me: "um...Shawn Johnson?" Thinking surely this guy can't possibly know another gymnast besides the one that was recently plastered all over the TV screen

man: "yeah!! that's the one!! You look just like her...wow like a twin!"

lady: "I just can't get over how short you really are...wow."

me: "yep, I've been short my whole life, I'm pretty used to it now." While thinking the only part of Shawn Johnson that looks like me is our height! What an idiot! I'm also thinking about tackling this amazon woman to the ground & twisting her ear until she realizes how rude she really is, but instead I just hope the doors to this elevator open up quickly so I don't have to do that. ;)

Can you believe people!?

me

my twin

Blue Like Jazz

I've not done a good job at reporting what books I've been reading & my thoughts about them, but I wanted to quickly say that I finally got around to reading Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" and I loved it!

I know it's a little out there for some & might rub a few the wrong way, but I really enjoyed it. Sure there may have been parts that I didn't completely agree with, but overall I did. I think there is a theme in my life right now that has me focusing on what God's love & grace really is and what it means to me and OTHERS & how that should affect my actions. Pretty simple huh? Believe it or not, Jesus is a pretty simple guy...I'm learning that.

Check it out, it's a good read.