January 2011 Recap

A New Year! (January 1)

We rang in the New Year with our friends, Jamie and Heather, in Worthington. The next day, we enjoyed a late breakfast, bummed around, then headed for some Chinese downtown at Panda House. (I got this awesome fortune cookie at Panda House!!)


Afterwards, we visited with Grandma Vi, Dean and Barb before heading over to Kent and Pam's house for supper and games as a late Christmas celebration.
Click here for a full recap with lots of pictures!

Visit to Humboldt (January 21-23)

We decided that since we had a free weekend with no plans, we would head on down to Humboldt for the weekend to visit my family. Jason was going to be in town, afterall, and we hadn't seen everyone since Christmas!

Mark and I stopped in Algona on the way down Friday night for some Mexican food, then continued on to the farm to visit with everyone for the night.

Saturday we relaxed and played some UpWords (enjoying some yummy blueberry muffins, complements of Amanda), while Caleb wandered around trying on everyones' "ish" (a.k.a. shoes) - so cute :)

That afternoon, Mom, Jason, Mark and I went to see True Grit (eh - I'll just say I was glad it was only $3), then we all gathered back at the farm for taco night.

It was so fun to see the babies (although I'm not sure we can call Reign a "baby" anymore - he's gotten SO big!!)

After church Sunday, we enjoyed lunch at the old Family Table restaurant, then visited at Josh and Tiff's (recently remodeled!) house for a bit (and cuddled with Reign) before heading home.

Another great weekend down in Humboldt :)

Supper with Amanda (January 24)

After a weekend in Humboldt, I met up with my old college roommate in Worthington at Pizza Ranch for supper. It was great catching up with her!!

Work

January has been a busy month for Mark and I - although not at home so much as at work. He has still been swamped with getting a pilot and now production run going with a new unit. I have been swamped with a pretty intense program that I recently released. While we're both really good at putting work aside when we get home, it still makes for really long days. We are both very much looking forward to things settling down - hopefully soon! But we're also very aware that being busy is good, because it means we have jobs!!

Goodbyes

Mark sold his waverunner at the end of last year, and he currently has his two snowmobiles on Craigslist, with plenty of interest after only a few days.

Hellos

To replace this waverunner at 110hp


Mark bought this waverunner with up to 220hp


It's looking like it's going to be another fun summer on the lake!

Good Food with Good Friends

While we've been busy with work in the month of January, we've been blessed to have some relaxing Saturdays. For those of you who know me, a relaxing Saturday generally means food experiments :) We've had a good time visiting with our friends Curt and Nancy a couple nights this month. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy having friends over so that I can try out new recipes on them, but fortunately for them, both the Stromboli and Lemon Chicken Tortellini turned out great! Be checking my food blog for the recaps of these yummy recipes. I took all the pictures, I've just been slacking in the blog department.


Thanks for being good sports, guys!

Next Big Trip

We've been looking forward to this trip for a number of years now, but haven't been able to set aside ample time for it until this year! We're still deciding between going early or late season (either mid-May or mid-August), but we're going to...

ALASKA!!

We're tentatively looking at spending 3-4 days each in Denali, Seward and Homer, with overnights in Anchorage at the beginning and end of our trip. We're always looking for tips and suggestions, so if you've been and have pictures and/or suggestions, please let us know! We'd love to have you over for dinner some night to talk about it :)

You can keep up to date on the plans for this trip, recaps afterwards, and travel recaps from other trips at my travel blog, here.

Digital Scrapbooking from 2009/2010

I spent a lot of time in January trying to catch up on my digital scrapping (which I was WAY behind on!) Usually, digital scrapbooking is a fun, relaxing way for me to unwind, but when I get so far behind, it's just stressful. I'm excited about a new year's memories, and looking forward to breezing through 2010, as I'm already a quarter of my way through it!

I finally finished all of 2009
[book 1]
[book 2]
[book 3]

I had to split a few 2009 events into separate books (in order to keep it to just 3 - yikes), so I have separate books for both:
Rachel and Ben Waits' Wedding in October 2009, and
Josh and Tiffany's Wedding in December 2009.

I was also able to finish the [Oahu] and [Kaua'i] portions of our Hawaii trip in February 2010!

The Fortune Cookie Made Me Do It!

Christmas with Mark's Dad, Pam and the kids

It's true - this wasn't technically in 2010, but close enough. And since it was technically a sort of Christmas celebration, I'm counting it in 2010 :)

We went over to their home in Worthington for supper and games around 5pm, after a lazy morning at the Graber's, Panda House for lunch, and a nice little visit with Grandma Vi, Uncle Dean and Aunt Barb in the afternoon.

Jess and Pam had slaved over some delicious lasagna, and we had lasagna and garlic toast for supper after a visiting for a little bit. YUM! And good job, ladies!!


After supper, we played not 1, not 2, but THREE different games: UNO Attack, Rage and Dominoes!

After 1 game of UNO Attack...





...we switched to teaching everyone to play Rage, and then Dominoes (which I failed to remember to document photographically - I apologize). After the games were finished, we visited for a little while again before getting on the road around 11pm to head home to Windom - on crystal clear roads, nonetheless!

December Recap (2010)

December was a jam-packed month for us, but we absolutely wouldn't have it any other way! We were able to see so many friends and family, take a little time for ourselves, and take a spur-of-the-moment trip to San Diego. Work stresses got the best of us, and our trip was a great way to unwind! Poor Mark had 3 large pilot projects from September-December, and I had a major computer program release all during that time of year when we're supposed to be settling in for the holidays. We made it through, but there were many an evening when we ate frozen pizza and passed out on the couch from sheer mental exhaustion. However, through it all, we continue to give thanks to the Lord for good jobs, even if they keep us busy!

Of course, December in Minnesota means snow, and lots of it! We've had 3 blizzards and plenty of other nasty driving conditions, which reminds me daily to PRAISE THE LORD that I am not commuting to Sioux Falls anymore. (Yes, 2 years later, and I still haven't stopped praising God for this!)

Well, that was the overview...now for the pictures! Enjoy!

Holidazzle Parade with Carrie (Dec 2)

I met my friend Carrie in Minneapolis on the first Thursday in December as she was in town for some training for work. I took a half day and made it there just a few minutes before she finished up her training. We had supper at Brit's Pub in downtown Minneapolis, then watched the Holidazzle Parade. We did a tiny bit of shopping at Target, then I needed to get on the road home! It was a short but sweet time, but so worth it :)

Jim Brickman Concert (Dec 15)

Mark gave me tickets to the holiday Jim Brickman concert for my birthday back at the end of October, and we were (or at least I was) excited to go! The concert was on December 15 (a Wednesday night). We went to HuHot (our favorite Sioux Falls Mongolian BBQ) beforehand, then enjoyed 2 hours of wonderful Christmas piano music, as well as appearances by some other highly-talented performers (Mark Masri, Tracy Silverman, and Anne Cochran)

9-Day Holiday Craziness!

We packed up 3 separate bags, a cooler full of food and ingredients, and lots of warm "just in case we go in a ditch" clothes, boots and blankets for a week and a half on the road. We left Friday the 16th and didn't see our bed and pillows again until Christmas Day.

Ropte Family Christmas (Dec 17-19)

We spent 2 full days down in Humboldt for Christmas with all the Ropte family - including 12 adults and 8 kids (5 and under!) It was a great time to catch up and spend time with family. Because of the myriads of pictures, I've split it into 2 separate blog posts, so check them out:

• Day 1 - Games, Feast, Christmas Land, Methodist Tree Walk
• Day 2 - Games, Opening Gifts, our early departure

San Diego Trip (Dec 20-24)

Mark and I took off on a short, 5-day trip to San Diego the week before Christmas and met up with his brother, Daniel, and sister, Sarah and their significant others. You can check out all the details and recaps HERE on my travel blog.

Minneapolis Johnson Christmas (Dec 25)

We stayed overnight in Minneapolis after our flight got back into Minneapolis shortly before midnight. We enjoyed celebrating with a grand total of 16 Johnsons at Mark and Meghan's home in Plymouth. For more on the day's food, fun and festivities, click HERE!

Worthington Johnson Christmas (Dec 26)

We joined 17 of the Johnson clan on Mark's Dad's side of the family at Pizza Ranch for lunch the day after Christmas. Afterward, we headed over to Dean and Barb's house for Christmas goodies and visiting.
For a play-by-play and pictures, CLICK HERE.

Christmas and Birthday Celebration with Mark's Mom (Dec 30)

We enjoyed a nice evening in with Diane, including supper, watching a movie, and opening gifts. She turned 60 this year! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DIANE!
For a more lengthy overview, CLICK HERE.

NYE in Worthington (Dec 31-Jan 1)

We spent NYE weekend in Worthington. I spent most of NYE shopping and at the movies while Mark and Jamie had a sports extravaganza superbowl/worldseries/whatever at Jamie's house...of the video game nature :) We had supper at Pizza Ranch with friends, then split ways again - the boys going bowling while the girls went to a comedian at the Travelodge.

For the details and pics, CLICK HERE!

Christmas with Mark's Dad, Pam and the kids (Jan 1)

It's true - this wasn't technically in 2010, but close enough. And since it was technically a sort of Christmas celebration, I'm counting it in 2010 :) We had lasagna and garlic toast at Kent and Pam's house, followed by games and conversation late into the evening.

For more deets and pictures, CLICK HERE



Overall, 2010 has been a very crazy, busy year, but isn't that what Mark and I thrive on? lol We're looking forward to what 2011 brings! So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Humdawg :)

New Years' Eve 2010

With some questionable weather rolling in, we headed down to Worthington a day early. It was actually pretty nice, since it had been months since I had been to Worthington for a whole interrupted day! We met Mark's Dad for lunch at BK.

Jamie met us there after a while too, and after visiting for a bit, Mark took off with Jamie to leave me to do as I pleased, which was SO NICE! I got so much done - grocery shopping (stocking up on meat again), household shopping (finally got a humidifier - it's so dry!)

and clothes shopping (found some cute camis!)

and took in "Gulliver's Travels" at the Northland Mall Cinema (fun movie, but not one I'd write home about)

before meeting up back at the Graber's before supper.

Jamie, Heather, Mark and I met Heather's friend, Jenn at the Pizza Ranch, pretty much gorged ourselves on the buffet, then split ways for most of the evening.

The guys went bowling (bowled FIVE games in one night)

while the girls went to see a couple mediocre Twin Cities comedians at the Travelodge. It was COLD there, so we stayed pretty bundled up, but Heather had to try on the awesome party hat!

We all met up later on in the evening at the Travelodge to hang out. I ran into some friends of mine - Katie and Sarah - and visited for a while, which was nice! Sarah was an old college classmate of mine at NWC, and I've seen her a total of maybe twice since college.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We crashed at Jamie and Heather's for the night, since the roads weren't going to be cleared very well until the next day, and we had plans with Mark's Dad, Pam and the kids the next day.

Farewell 2010! Bring it, 2011!!