Marathon Man

Brent ran his first marathon on Saturday, which was also the first ever Mankato Marathon. We are so proud of him! What an accomplishment, although he thought this would his only marathon, he is already talking about next year.

Here he is around mile 10.

Our friend Jack keeping Brent company on the final stretch.

It feels so good to be done!

Pizza Picnic and swimming

Mindy, Jon, Natalie and Harvey were staying at a hotel Thursday night so we joined them for a pizza picnic and some swimming. Besides Audrey having to hit up the bathroom every 5 minutes, it was a fun time.



I love how the girls were jumping on the bed and Harvey just hung out and smiled.

Natalie giving us her swimsuit model pose.

Batesville, Indiana

I was in Batesville, Indiana for three days this week on a work trip. It was incredible, I had the best time. I went with other funeral directors, some from Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. I met some great people on my trip and we got to share work related stories and give each other ideas and advice. The purpose of our trip was to tour the headquarters of the Batesville Casket Company and learn the latest in caskets and cremation options and have a tour of the manufacturing plant where they make caskets from start to finish.

When we arrived in Indianapolis at the airport we were all picked up on a bus and taken to Jawacdah Farm, which is a farm owned by the company. It's like a little resort with incredible rooms and great food. We were so well taken care of while we were there, we had supper every night as a group and then relaxed at the bar near our rooms and played some pool. I learned a lot on this trip and was so glad I got to go. It's amazing each step that goes into making one casket.


The chocolate caskets that were left for us in our rooms.


This was the view from my balcony in my room. It was the best!

Crabby Pants

We had a nice weekend until today, Audrey wore her crabby pants most of the day. She did not want me to help her with anything, which made it easy for me except kind of frustrating at the same time. We went on a hike at Minneopa this morning and then Brent and I enjoyed an afternoon date to see The Social Network and then we finished it up watching the Vikings win and have some supper. Audrey wore her crabby pants right over to my parents house while hanging out with my mom. I think my mom was ready to set her on the curb, ha. I think part of it is being afraid to poop her pants so she just doesn't poop. Anybody have any ideas about how we get past this and start pooping on the potty? She is a champ when peeing on the potty so we are almost there. Someone told me to buy a super sweet toy and she can have it when she does it, not sure what to do, but we need to start pooping on the potty at this house, our lives will get much easier.

Well, I am off to Batesville, Indiana tomorrow for a couple days to visit the Batesville Casket Company, should be a sweet little work getaway. I will update when I return. Maybe Audrey will poop on the potty while I am gone:)

Fall Sneak Peak

Last night we had a photo shoot with Heidi and I am in love with the sneak peak pictures she sent me this morning, it was a great location to have our pictures taken on the hill at Rasmussen Woods.

Brass Lamps

I completely forgot to take a before picture of these lamps I recently painted. I got two matching brass lamps from my grandparents house and I decided to try out painting them and selecting some new lamp shades. I think they turned out great. I want to paint our brass chandelier in our dining room, so this was kind of a test run. I promise I will take before and after pics of the chandelier, I am still trying to decide on a color for it.

Perfect fall weekend

We enjoyed the gorgeous weekend this weekend. I have worked the last two weekends so I was so ready to have one off and this weekend was perfect. Friday night we joined Heidi, Jason and Lucy at the new and improved Jake's Pizza for some great pizza and beers. It was a great night out.

Saturday Curt, Christine and Sebastian came down and we had supper and hung out. We took Audrey to an apple farm before supper.

Today Audrey and I went and visited my parents at the campground in Mapleton and had breakfast with them while Brent worked. My coworker Jack got married today also and we enjoyed his wedding reception and then Brent and I went and checked out some homes on the Tour of Homes. They are pretty massive homes, we went to the Dream Home on the tour and it was over 7,000 square feet of finished house, it was kind of insane. Who lives in those homes, wow. It was a great weekend and I am looking forward to next weekend off too!




The lake at the campground, very pretty.

Playing ring around the rosy with Grandpa.

What do you think?

Audrey picked out her own outfit on Saturday, not bad eh? She really wanted me to take a picture of her shoes, notice the "no sock" look.