Well, it looks like I completely skipped over February...and most of March too! it most definitely is time for an update!
Valentine's Day was a little different this year. We actually didn't do anything on Valentine's Day, but we celebrated a couple different times before the big day. The overnight trip to Sioux Falls at the end of January was part of it, and we also attended a Valentine's banquet at our church. We had a lot of fun doing both, and were actually part of a rendition of "The Newlywed Game" at the banquet, at which we tied for first place! z
The next couple weeks flew by, as we prepared for our big ski trip to the Black Hills, the last weekend in February. We had a blast, although I have to admit that I was incredibly sore! This was my 2nd attempt at skiing, and--although I'm getting a little better--I still spent the majority of the two days falling down and trying to get back up. It was definitely a test of my patience, and I think I let the frustrations get the best of me a few times. We went out with some of our friends from Worthington, Brewster, and Sioux Falls. We stayed in Deadwood at the Comfort Inn, which was pretty nice, actually! You can check out pictures from the trip by clicking on the set of pictures to the left.
That next week, we were greeted by a monstrous snow storm, which kept us inside pretty much the whole week! It was so bad that they closed the interstates and some highways for almost 2 days! That Saturday, Mark left to go on yet another huge adventure to Wyoming on a Snowmobile trip in the Big Horn Mountains. He went with a couple guys from our church in Windom to Snowshoe Lodge, although they couldn't even leave until the roads finally re-opened around 3pm. I'll have to have Mark write more about this trip later and post some pictures, so check back soon!
I left Sunday morning that week and headed to Detroit for a class on J2EE/Enterprise JavaBeans, which was held in the suburb of Southfield. It sure was an experience for me, being by myself in a strange city with a rental car. I found my way around pretty easily, and enjoyed the week, although I was very glad to be home! There were only 4 of us who took the class, and I was the only girl. I guess it was a pretty high-tech class, so I felt pretty special that I was representing the intelligent women in the world!
I've been busy for the past 2 months trying to change my eating habits, and I'm feeling a lot better! I signed up at www.sparkpeople.com for a free account to track my calories and exercise and a ton of other things too. In the past 10 weeks, I've already lost 15 pounds, and I'm on track to lose another 15 by July 1st! Hopefully I can keep up the good habits, but boy, it's rough! It's pretty tough having to say "no" to blizzards, brownies, and double cheeseburgers, but it's due time to stop the trend.
Other than that, we've mostly been just playing it low-key lately. We've been caught up in the NCAA tournaments, hoping to win all the spoils :) GO FLORIDA!
