Goodbye to the Grand Prix

It's official: We've sold the Grand Prix!

In its place is this beauty, which we're planning on picking up sometime this next week hopefully. I'm thrilled about the extra space we'll have for trips and such, and glad to be rid of the flashy red :)

House Hunting

Anyone who knows Mark and I also knows that we've been through the ringer with the house search in the Windom area ever since we got married.

It's not that we haven't had any luck - in fact, we've found 2 homes that we were very very close to being under contract with - one in 2008 and another in 2010. But here we sit - on Riverbluff Drive, 6 years later.

And it's not that Riverbluff Drive is a bad place to be: We really do enjoy our current home! It's that this home is a fantastic home for Mark and I. It's just not the best layout for a family.

I know that it seems petty - even ridiculous - and is quite obviously a first-world problem, but it is what it is. And we've been looking for something that fits our needs a little better lately.

I guess I'll throw out there our "must-haves":

- 3+ bedrooms, 3 of which MUST be on the main floor
- A master en-suite
- 2.5 baths
- 2+ stall garage
- large back yard (fenced in, or that we could fence in)
- formal dining room
- large kitchen
- nice deck (or ability to build one)
- nice neighborhood

We have, at some point in the house search, found 95% of these things in any of the homes we've looked for, but one is always missing, which is why we're still where we are.

It's not that we're ungrateful where we're at by ANY means. It's that we're so content where we are that it's going to take a pretty special home to dislodge us. We're not about to double our mortgage on a home that's just part of our requirements.

That being said, we have not just 1, but TWO homes we're going to be looking at this week. And strangely enough, both of them have all the items on our "must-have" list (or the ability to modify them so that they do). We're excited, but as we have been the past 6 years of looking: Cautiously optimistic.

We'll have to keep you posted!

September 2012 Recap

Labor Day Weekend (September 1-3)

We had a lazy Labor Day Weekend (compared to usual - we're usually on vacation this time of year) around the area, with a trip to Mankato, a lazy day at home, and a nice day down in Worthington with family and friends.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Kaleigh and Reign's 2nd Birthdays (September 9)

We took a fun weekend trip down to Humboldt to visit the Ropte and Vinsand family to celebrate Kalegh and Reign's 2nd birthdays. We had a great time, and can't believe those two are getting so old!

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Turkey Day 10K (September 15)

Mark and I completed the Turkey Day 10K (4th time for Mark, 3rd time for me) down in Worthington! Afterwards, we joined team Johnson for lunch at Pizza Ranch and visited with friends and family into the evening.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Anniversary Duluth Trip (September 21-24 )

Mark, Cashel and I took a fun trip up to Duluth to celebrate Mark and I's 6th anniversary. We enjoyed staying right in Canal Park and a nice, scenic train tour of the fall colors up scenic hwy 61.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Anniversary Teasers

I have a feeling it will be quite a while before I actually get caught up enough on my blogging to post a real post on this in 2012, so in case that becomes a reality, here are a few pics from this past weekend trip to Duluth to celebrate our 6th anniversary!

Enjoy!

The BEAUTIFUL flowers my hubby had delivered to our hotel room on our anniversary. (Well, the day before technically)

Beautiful fall walk along the Lake Walk in Duluth

Mark and I celebrating 6 years of wedded bliss :)

Our little family :)

King Turkey Day (September 15)

After 3 months of training, Mark and I finally completed the big race! Here is a short pictorial recap, along with a link to a full recap on my exercise blog :)

Birthdays in Humboldt (September 8-9)

The first weekend in September, we made the 2-hour long trek down to Humboldt to see the Ropte family, and more importantly, to celebrate a couple of my favorite 2-year-olds in the world: Kaleigh and Reign.

While Kaleigh and Reign are not siblings (granted, we jokingly call them the "twins"), they were born only 9 days apart, so it has been a hoot to see them grow together.

This year was a lot of fun, as usual, as it was a joint birthday party for the two kiddos for my Ropte family. It's funny how a "small" family gathering (i.e. just my Mom, siblings and their families) is in reality a pretty big group of people, but without our 6 Indiana Roptes, this was our definition of a "small" gathering with just the 13 of us (Vinsands, Josh and Tiff and boys, Mom, Jason and us).

We arrived Saturday late in the morning, although the party wasn't until Sunday afternoon, so that left us with lots of time to just hang out, which we enjoyed :)

Kaleigh and Caleb went NUTS over Cashel (as usual), but it's pretty obvious that Kaleigh is his biggest fan haha :) Here are some of my favorite people :)

Cashel and Kaleigh

"Muckle" Jason

Marky Mark

My BEAUTIFUL Mama

Caleb

Of course, as with any Ropte gathering, there are plenty of snuggles to go around :)

Quite possibly one of my absolute favorite pictures of all time.

Party People

Josh and his family came out on Saturday afternoon for visiting and later for supper, which was fun :)
Birthday boy, Reign testing out his tunnel

Opening Gifts

Cousins

It was such a perfect day out that we decided to try to get some pictures of the kiddos with the pumpkins on the front porch.

(L to R) Ben, Caleb, Catherine, Kaleigh, Cashel, Reign
Believe it or not, this is only half of the Ropte cousins (with 2 more on the way in 2013!)

Happy Happy Birthday, Kaleigh Mae and Reign Thomas! Aunt Amy loves you VERY much :)

Labor Day Weekend Recap (September 1-3)

We started out our Labor Day Weekend taking turns with our long run for the week (5 miles), then got ourselves cleaned up and packed up and headed to Mankato for the day to do a little shopping and eating and pick up our new front doors from Menard's.

We grabbed some Buffalo Wild Wings, did a little shopping elsewhere, and then made our way home. The rest of the evening was uneventful - we got home, unloaded our stuff and got to bed.

The next day, we were up for church in the morning, then spent the day relaxing and enjoying some much-needed rest :) It was nice to have a day like this, as our August had been a busy one. Not much to report, other than lots of snuggles, TV-watching, and being bums. We may have had a walk in there, but I don't recall.

Monday on Labor Day (our day off for the holiday weekend), we enjoyed a nice day down in Worthington visiting with family and friends. We enjoyed some time playing with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Jessica, which is always a good time :)

Usually over Labor Day weekend, we are on one of our big vacations, but this year it sure was nice to just stay put and relax a bit more.