September 2009

Happy Birthday Jason!

I love this picture!

I have been traveling this month for seasonal kick-off presentations at one of our operations centers and our national call center. I spent a couple days in Chattanooga, TN, and a few days in Muncie, IN. Glad to be home for a while. Jason spent last weekend working with the Vikings in Detroit, maybe you saw him on TV with the coach!?

It has been a month to celebrate! Jason celebrated his birthday this month...again Bella was so excited. We bought Jason a DQ ice cream cake which of course she loved since her favorite part of any cake is the accompanying ice cream. When I explained to her this cake was made of ice cream she said "silly cake, it's all ice cream" - she makes me laugh everyday. Just for the record Jason is 36!

Next on the list of celebrating...Jason has completed his masters degree...he is DONE! No more weekly online chat, not more nightly homework, no more papers to write, no more responses to post online, no more assignments to read! And last but certainly not least no more tuition to pay. I'm so proud of how hard he worked and of his great accomplishment. He won't tell you this but he's graduationing Summa cum-laude...which means he received all A's...not a single freaking B in the whole mix. Love you honey!!

So you might be thinking we have enough to celebrate...but NO! Jason and I also just celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary. Seriously, where has the time gone!? I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and I am looking forward to all the adventures the next 10-years will bring!

In other news Jason is interviewing for a new job in the state patrol. He'll interview in a couple of weeks. It'd be a promotion if he gets the job...but we'd have to move...so I'll keep you posted.

August 2009

Making 35 look good

August was a blur...after coming back to work from vacation I was super busy...all those new products and programs for fall??? Yes, well I spent the greater part of August re-communicating details via webinars, sending out follow-up communications, ironing out details, leading the design and creation of new marketing materials for fall...that we just didn't have the time to do prior to August. Let's just say I'm glad I survived the month.

In other news, I celebrated my 35th birthday. WTF? How can I be this old already? It seems impossible. Bella LOVES celebrating birthdays though, so having her around made me forget all about my age as I truly enjoy everything so much through her eyes. Plus, I got some great gifts!

Jason spent a couple of weeks during the month up at Camp Ripley either being trained or training other people in preparation for his annual fall in-service firearms training program for all troopers throughout the state.

July 2009

Riding the train at Como Zoo!

Relaxation on Lake Kabatogama

No family vacation album is complete without a picture on a huge walleye

July was a busy month! We celebrated the fourth of July at the cabin and enjoyed some R&R with the family. We weren't able to keep Bella awake to see the fireworks...maybe next year. We had a great time taking Bella to the Como Zoo. During our visit we had a close encounter with a gorilla, it walked right up on the other side of glass from Bella and pounded the glass with his fist right in front of her...she jumped about 2-feet...I on the other hand only jumped about 1.5 feet.


Jason started a new job this month. He is still working for the state patrol but since when is one full-time job enough??? Jason is now adjunct faculty at Rasmussen College and is leading the development and implementation of their firearms I and II courses that are part of their new criminal justice skills program. So he has been busy putting together lesson plans, developing assignments, establishing grading standards etc. He'll be teaching one night a week down in Jordan. For now it is a 26-week commitment and then he can re-evaluate whether he wants to continue.

My work had its annual summer sales meeting in mid-July and I was busy for a full week introducing lots of new programs and products for fall, attending award banquets and meeting many, many new faces....now if I could only remember all their names. Immediately after the summer meeting we took our 2nd annual trip to Lake Kabetogama, which is up by Voyager's Ntl Park. It was an unusually cool week but we managed to relax, do some boating, fishing and relaxing by the pool. Bella had so much fun playing with all the kids that it actually felt like a vacation for us too!