A Year in Review

So, it's been exactly a year since our last blog post. Jeromy and I, quite admittedly, fell off the blogging wagon. But we want to get back on! We debated for a while whether we should start a new blog, or delete all the old posts here. But after some thought we decided that we like our blog and wanted to keep it. We also liked our old posts, so we wanted to leave them.

Which leaves us with...A Year in Review....to catch you up on what's been going on as we've been off the blogging wagon. Ready? Here we go...

FEBRUARY

Our big house accomplishment in February was completing our bedroom. Thus far we had been sleeping in one of the downstairs bedrooms. It was kind of cramped, and not very cozy, so we had our sights set on moving upstairs. To do so, we had to pull up old carpet, put new carpet down (it was "church basement" tile), buy a new bed frame, and paint. It was hard work, but totally worth it.

Above is the finished product (since then, we have added a desk in the far corner)

February also brought our first major party at the 'new' house.... our 1st annual Super Bowl Party (we can say that now because we do, in fact, have the 2nd annual party on the calendar). We put aside our (mostly Jeromy's) bitterness over the Packers' loss in the NFC Championship game and invited over a bunch of friends to share in the excitement of the game (although it would have been more exciting had the Packers been playing). The party went really smoothly. We had around 20-25 people filling the upstairs and the basement. The upstairs crowd enjoyed our new HD, big screen TV...while the downstairs crew enjoyed our newly installed theatre seats, as well as fooze ball and air hockey games. Here are some photos from the festivities...

In February I started training for Team in Training (see previous post). It truly was a life-changing experience in which I met wonderful people, trained hard, and had a lot of fun in the process (more on that in 'July')

MARCH

March 4th was Jeromy's 25th birthday...which we celebrated with not 1...but 2 parties!! The first was on his actual birthday at Dick's Bar in Hudson. Growing up in Somerset, Dick's was a place that Jeromy frequented regularly with his friends. Tuesdays are "dollar burger" nights at Dick's. Jeromy's birthday happened to fall on a Tuesday...so it was a perfect opportunity to head over to Dick's! (See picture at left of Jeromy and his birthday burgers.) His second party was the following weekend. When asked what he wanted to do, Jeromy said he wanted to go to an arcade-type place, so a big crew went to Grand Slam, a local place with arcade games, batting cages, mini-golf, and laser tag! Sweet! We were in the company of mostly teenagers, but we had a blast! Here are some pictures...

Also in March I was able to meet my all-time favorite author, Jodi Picoult. She had a book reading/signing at a local Barnes and Noble. I went, along with friends Jackie and Pam (see photo). We loved hearing her read from her new book and getting our books signed! She's not only a great writer, but a really nice person as well.

APRIL

We are certain that we had good times in April, but nothing seems to be note-worthy for our blog.

MAY

May brought two family weddings (both on Jeromy's side). At the beginning of the month was cousin Sarah's wedding...and at the end was cousin Lisa's. It was really great to be able to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often.

At the beginning of May, I FINALLY was able to cut my hair short and donate 10 inches of it to Locks of Love. It's been a life-long dream of mine and it was such a special thing to be able to donate in honor of my dear sister Beth. The 'before' shot is at left...the 'after' shot is at right.

On Mother's Day of last year I had the honor of becoming a first time godmother to my wonderful cousin Claudia (cousin T.J. and wife Sarah's second little girl). T.J., Sarah, and the girls are members at Prince of Peace, our former congregation, so Claudia was baptized there. It was really cool to be in the same church that I was baptized in, holding little Claudia. What an honor!

On May 17th, Kirstyn, Lindsay, and I (along with some other Luther pals) participated in the Root River triathlon in Houston, MN. The race started off with a 6.5 mile canoe, then an 8 mile bike, and a 5K run. It was a good way to test out some of my triathlon skills...and have fun with friends in the process!

At the end of the month was a birthday WOWZA weekend. Jackie and my birthdays fall just 4 days apart, so we often celebrate together. We had a birthday bash, which continued throughout the weekend with the WOWZAs. Highlights (aside from the party) included a trip downtown (dressed up, of course) to see Sex and the City the Movie and a trip to the Minneapolis Farmers' Market.

JUNE
Same as April...

JULY

July was a very up and down month for the Carlsons. Following the death of our dear friend Rachel's mom on June 30th, Jeromy lost his job on July 1st. That week was filled with mourning with our friend and worrying about our own financial and career future. Thankfully following that tough week, we spent a much needed weekend away at the Grosvold family cottage celebrating 4th of July. I really enjoyed getting to know Jeromy's family better, and we loved going on boat rides, relaxing, and spending time with the family. Luther enjoyed his first off-leash swimming experience (he LOVED it), and learned (quite quickly) how to jump off the end of the dock. See Jeromy's YouTube site for great videos (and many more goofy ones of Luther).

July 12th was the culmination of my months of training and fundraising. When all was said and done, I was able to fund raise a bit over $6,000 for Team in Training. That was 3 times my fundraising minimum and was enough to earn me the 2nd best fundraiser spot (on a team of over 100). It was a long 5 months of training... as a team, we trained 3 days a week, in addition to the training that we did on our own throughout the week. As our training went on, practices got more and more grueling. Some of the tougher practices were: long swim workouts in Lake Nokomis (before the water warmed up!), “brick” workouts (which combine biking and running) of 20+ miles, and a bike ride through the steep hills in Afton, MN (which I accidentally did with my front brake on!). I originally planned on doing the sprint race(the shorter of the two distances), but about halfway through the season I decided to tackle the Olympic distance. On race day, I successfully finished the Life Time Fitness triathlon – 1.5K (.93 mile) swim, 40K (24.8 mile) bike, and 10K (6.2 mile) run in a time of 3:46. I had the BEST cheering squad...which helped me TONS!! I am planning on training with the team again this summer for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco in fall. I can't wait! I miss the training, the team, and racing!

The weekend following the tri, Jeromy and I had a weekend getaway to Grand Marais. Leaving our honeymoon, Jeromy had (quite brilliantly) convinced me that we should book another trip (we got a discount if we booked when we checked out). It was really a blessing to have the trip paid for, so that we could have a getaway just the two of us in a emotionally and physically trying month. We stayed in the same suite as we did for our honeymoon...and this time brought Luther along for the ride!

AUGUST

August started with a Broste family reunion in Hanska, MN and ended with another WOWZA weekend...this time in Decorah to have Bethany's bachelorette party and bridal shower. In between...time spent with friends and enjoying summer in the city!!

SEPTEMBER

September brought 2 more weddings for us...this time of Luther friends. Aaron and Annie's wedding was on September 6th (Jeromy proudly served as usher) and Jeff and Elise got married 2 weeks later on the 20th. We had a great time at both weddings, celebrating the love of these great couples, and enjoying time with great friends.

At the end of the month we got to meet John Green, award-winning young adult novelist and half of the vlogbrothers (formally Brotherhood 2.0). He is really a brilliant guy...interesting to listen to, nice, and a supporter of all things awesome. This appearance was the first one on a tour for his new book Paper Towns. The books were available at the appearance (even though they hadn't been released yet) and I was the first in line...which leads me to believe that I was the first person to buy the book. Awesome! It was great...and so was meeting John.

OCTOBER

October 6th was our first wedding anniversary (can you believe it??!). To celebrate, we spent a long weekend up in Bayfield, WI for Applefest. It was great mix of time with family (the Carlson side), alone time (we toured a bunch of orchards and wineries), time by the lake (with Luther of course), and relaxation. We are so blessed to be married. And the weekend was a great celebration of our love. Pictured below: Us enjoying a beautiful walk through town, me enjoying one of our many orchard stops, Jeromy eating whitefish from his favorite fest stand.

We were home for our actual anniversary...we started a 4-week Massage for Couples class through Minneapolis Community Ed. It was a great way to spend time together and pamper each other a bit. :-)

October 11th was Bethany and Matt's wedding in Decorah (I was a hostess along with the other WOWZA ladies). It was great time...and very fun to be back in Decorah (the recpetion was at Luther). Beautiful wedding. Great friends. Happy times.

A few days before Halloween we hosted a pumpkin carving party for friends and neighbors at our house. Good times. Not that I'm biased, but my favorite was my Obama-lantern (Obama's "logo" carved carefully into the pumpkin).

Oh...and Luther turned 3 on Halloween.

NOVEMBER

On November 4th, Jeromy and I voted (of course) and then watched along with the rest of the world as Barack Obama won the 44th presidency. We have been HUGE Obama supporters from the very beginning, and couldn't have been happier to see him win. I cried like a little girl throughout most of the night.

On the 15th we had two highlights...lefse making with the Brostes and a beer-tasting party at friends' Bethany and Brent's house. Both were so fun. The lefse making was Jeromy's first time (he did a great job). I love the picture of him at right preparing the lefse board. The beer-tasting was great as well...meeting lots of new people and sampling many different beers (some better than others).

The end of the month brought two more birthday celebrations (Kirstyn's and Rachel's) which meant more fun with friends (YAY!!).

Jeromy and I volunteered for the "Day of Giving" at church the day before Thanksgiving, working with 4th-6th graders at Feed My Starving Children and helping with other service projects around the church.

Thanksgiving Day was a highlight for both of us. Preparations started the night before (brining our first turkey and other food prep). The day itself started for me with my traditional running of the Turkey Day 5K (formally Arena 5K) downtown. Kirstyn and I loved running the race together. It was chilly...but fun! Jeromy and I hosted our first Thanksgiving, which we lovingly referred to as "Stretchy Pants Thanksgiving." We had Mom and Dad Weaver, and Kirstyn and Dave over, with the strict dress code of sweatpants and sweatshirts. It was a very relaxing, fun holiday. We watched the parade, Miracle on 34th Street, and the girls colored the Star Tribune turkey. We had a delicious dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc.) thanks to Jeromy (who did almost all of the prep...did I pick a good one or what??!!). We don't know yet if it'll be an annual tradition, but we really loved our Stretchy Pants Thanksgiving.

Throughout the late summer/early fall we also had a few more house projects going. We finished the kitchen, the bathroom, and the office with our sights set on the guest room and half-story stair case next!

DECEMBER

December was a month filled with Christmas fun (which we LOVE). Highlights included: cutting down our Christmas tree with Mom and Dad Weaver, seeing niece McKenzy's daycare Christmas program with the Hommens, a cookie bake/exchange at Ethan and Rachell's, seeing the Christmas Carol at the new Guthrie (thanks, Mom and Dad!), going to see A Christmas Story at the Riverview with Aaron and Annie, Christmas Eve dinner at church, time in Decorah with the whole Hommen clan, and a New Years' celebration with wonderful friends at Jackie and Tom's house.

Oh, Kirstyn and Dave also got engaged in December. YAY! I was asked to be Matron of Honor (which I proudly accepted), which meant December was busy with wedding prep as well! :-)

JANUARY

Which brings us (FINALLY!) to January. Despite the dark and cold, January has been a month of fun times with family and friends. On the 12th, Jeromy and I battled a blizzard to get to the Mall of America. Jeromy won tickets through a radio contest to go to an advanced screening of Kevin James' new movie, Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The movie was okay...but we loved seeing Kevin James in person (who was there promoting the movie). On the 22nd, I went to the Red Balloon Bookshop with Bethany and Rachel to see children's book author Mo Willems (who writes the Pigeon books, among others). He was really delightful...we had great fun listening to him read his new book and hearing the laughter of kids.

The BIGGEST highlight of January is that Jeromy got a job!! After months of applying for well over 100 jobs, Jeromy was hired through ProStaff to work at a company called Analytics. They deal with class-action lawsuits...and Jeromy will be working as an Associate Claims Analyst. The job offer came, quite frankly, just in the nick of time. Obviously, this is a huge weight off of our shoulders. We look forward to Jeromy starting his job a week from yesterday (February 2nd).

Whew! So that's our year in review. It's been a wonderful year...filled with ups and downs...but mostly ups. Throughout it all, we have really appreciated our love, our family and friends, and the blessings that we are given each and every day.

Hopefully this marks the beginning of staying on the blogging bandwagon for us. Please read and comment, as that will keep us going. Thanks for stopping by...