The 1st Year

Can you believe it has been a year since our wedding?

We obviously started the day with church. After the first service, I went home and cleaned up the house a little extra. When Andrew got home we exchanged cards. Andrew really surprised me when he whipped out this little box! (Totally unexpected surprise.)
Mom (Balsley) sent us these pretty hand sewn pillow cases she made. Some friends of ours (from the church here who had made it to the wedding) gave us this:It is a hand quilted wall hanging. It is really beautiful. I decided to put it on our coffee table for now because it matched the coloring and I wanted to display it.

After this, Andrew and I went out to eat at a local restaurant called Blue Sky. Most of their menu ended up being unavailable (because it was a slow day due to graduations) but we had a great time anyway. We shared dessert afterward. (We never get dessert normally but he let me pick something for our anniversary :) Then we went for a walk. It has only been in the 50's here for the high for several days so we actually had to bundle up. It was a great day.

One random side note: Have any of you seen the new pennies? I just got one today. This year is the 200th year since Lincoln's birth and the 100th year since the release of the Lincoln cent and so they have released a new series. This was the first I had seen of them.

Homemade Things

This week happens to be graduation for the High School here and we know several people graduating. We have been invited to their open houses this weekend and I was a little stumped as to what to bring as a little gift. This is what I successfully made: (recognize the fabric Sara? I used some for a little onsie for Violet.)

I even successfully added a zipper (my first attempt at such a feet).Then I found this little metal bead that says "Laugh often", and the other side says "Love much". It became the zipper pull. I really like how it turned out. My other project this week was to finish my very first paper-pieced quilt block. (Thanks to Jan teaching me the basics while she was here the other weekend.) I think it will be a center for a table runner. (who knows, maybe the table runner will be one of your's Christmas gifts this year :)

Flowers Around Our Home

Inspired by all the family posts on beautiful flowers in your yards, I decided to share a few of the flowers here. These Columbine grow wild around here and are right outside our door.

These Lily of the Valleys were planted by the door by a precious owner. These are another Minnesota wild flower. They line the property.The next photos are flowers I have grown: My spring cactus finally bloomed this year.These are Salvia I planted in some huge barrel planters that were already on the property. They look a little sun scorched but they are coming back nicely. My favorite right now are my Marigolds. They handled the transplant a few weeks ago very well and also survived being leveled by bunnies and now look at them. (They are also planted in barrels)
Lastly, I planted Geraniums (.98 cents) around a little palm I had left from last year. I like Geraniums because they are hard to kill.

XXL

Paul Bunyan and his not-so-big blue ox "Babe" in Brainerd, MN, one of a half-dozen towns claiming to be the hometown of his mythic character. Also in Brainerd is this towering castle disguised as a ... water tower. (This one is for you Ezra-the-castle-lover.Uhm.... this thing is also in Brainerd.

Giant Walleye found on Mille Lacs Lake. The lake is 207 square miles area. Andrew says, "My lake could eat your state."Enormous Crow found in Belgrade, MN. Erected in honor of the Crow River, which flows through our area.
"Big Ole" found in Alexandria, MN. Originally constructed for a world's fair, this big fella has been scaring southerners since 1964. Alissa says, "Nice skirt." Andrew says, "Hey, did you know that virtually all English words beginning with 'sk' (such as sky, skull, skin, and skirt) are actually Old Norse in origin. So you're more correct than you know!"
We were so happy Jan and Alan came up to visit us that we felt we just had to show them one of our big Minnesota treasures.

Camping at Clearwater

We went to Clearwater Presbyterian Camp over the weekend to help get the camp up and running for the summer season. Here is what we were greeted with: rain. This is the cabin where we stayed while we were at the camp. (On a sunnier day obviously)It was WAY colder than we had anticipated. We did not even have coats with us. We helped put the diving platforms and docks back in the lake. ...So that people like me can fish :) (I caught this little guy without really meaning to. He went right back!)While helping put in docks I couldn't help but take a picture of these things called "Hydro-bikes".When we weren't helping we were pressing ourselves up against warm surfaces! The windchill was incredible! (another warm surface! :)Here is an interesting flower I found. I had not seen one with just 3 petals like this before. And this is what water lilies look like before they surface.

Here is a log attacked by a woodpecker.
We saw several cool birds, while at camp. These Loons made some really crazy calls at dusk. It sounded like a little girl screaming frantically.
Andrew caught this bald eagle hunting.
Sunday was the best day, weather-wise. And it was only a half-day. It was great to get out and see some different surroundings.

University of Dubuque Choir Tour 2009

We were so excited to find out that the UD choir was coming to a church about 12 miles from our house. They are officially in the middle of Spring Choir Tour (which is actually after graduation now so I consider it a summer choir tour). Here is the list of places they have gone/are going for this year's tour:
I had the privilege of going on the "Hawaii Choir Tour" 4 years ago. We also got to go to California and Arizona on that trip.

My friends Erin (on the left) and Paula were on the trip this year and so I got to reconnect with them. That was a blast. We took them out to dinner last night. This is Vinje Lutheran Church. The name is apparently a municipality in Norway. It was also the site of the first church in Norway apparently. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinje

It had quite the architecture. As you can see the choir loft and pipe organ were in a loft with a spiral staircase leading up to it. Chuck obviously loved the organ. The choir chose not to sing up there.

Chuck mentioned us in the concert and had time to chat for a bit. It was great to see him again since I was in choir all 4 years and Andrew and I first met in choir 6 years ago!

Bird Photo Shoot

Yesterday, I decided too go take some photos. I was inspired by Hillary's posts on the goslings and wanted some of my own shots of some Spring life. Here is what I found. Ok. No goslings so far.... But an egg is a good start.

Aw! There they are.

This picture shows that there are 7 goslings. Then I found a pair of mallards.

I believe this is a Blue-Winged Teal.This is the Hooded Merganser. I was so excited to finally get a photo of one. This was as close as I could get though...I believe this is a Great White Heron.I believe this is called the Common Grackle. I thought the photo turned out pretty cool. The iridescent blue/teal head is neat.I am not sure what bird this is just yet. If you have any clues let me know. I could not get it in focus just right but I still thought the photo turned out kind of cool.
That is all for now.