Halloween

Argg...

Summer is gone...

As Elie was putting on her coat, hat and mittens this morning I realized summer was gone. I started thinking of the great but busy summer the three of us had. Here are some fun captures of the summer.

One of the first days of warm weather,
she HAD to wear her Mexico dress!

Playing at the park last spring

Fixing Mommy's car

Opps! You men dropped something

Do you like my hat?

Where did Elie go?

Planting a tree with Nana!

Eating a Popsicle with Papa
at the 4th of July parade

Elizabeth, Daddy and Uncle Jason watching the parade

Mmm... grapes before the fireworks

My first sparkler!!

Elie and Erik watching the fireworks!

Finally a new post

Okay... I know I know this needs to be updated.

So... we are not still stuck in a snowstorm anymore, thank goodness. But we are stuck in the crazy schedules of school and everything else that is going on. Lately we have been doing a lot of traveling to different events such as: my Grandparent's 60th Anniversary Party (CONGRATS to them!), three weddings in the past two weeks, and lots of our wedding planning.

Things are coming along with the wedding. It seems like one thing gets done and three more things get put on the list of things to do. But the colors and flowers are picked out. All the dresses are ordered, mine should be in in the next month. We have registered at Target, Pampered Chef and Gander Mountain. Invites are being sent out right before Thanksgiving. And, this weekend we are having our Engagement Pictures taken by our photographer Ben. Soo, all in all things are happening. We are soo excited and can't wait to share the day with everyone. Keep praying for good weather!

Elizabeth is growing faster than ever. She talks all the time and is always wanting to learn more words. She loves acting like she is older than her actual age. Her favorite past time is playing with all her babies; feeding or changing their clothes, taking them for walks, reading them books. She is adorable and wonderful. We have some stray kitties in our parking lot and every time we come home or leave in the morning she looks for them and says "Mow". If she sees any she gets all excited and has to say hi and wave. What a peach.

School is crazy an very busy. We are both taking full loads and trying to finish up. This is both of our last semesters!!! YAY! I have portfolio presentation in 10 1/2 weeks, how scary!! This semester is going to fly and we are not going to know what to do with ourselves. It seems almost every night after Elie's bedtime routine one of us is heading out to do homework.

Well, I better get going, class is awaiting my pressence. Hope all is well with everyone, I will soon get pictures of the little one up!

Snowed In

So, here we are in April sitting in Walker at the AmericInn and we are snowed in. Imagine that. This weekend we went down to the cities to help Kelli and Jason move into their new house. Congrats again guys!! Elie got to visit both grandparents, what a lucky girl.

Saturday it was 62 degrees outside in Minneapolis while we were moving stuff. We were wearing t-shirts and shorts/capris. 24 hours later, we are in Baxter and it is raining/sleeting. The farther north we got the worse it got. By the time we reached Walker, 2 hours later, (its only an hour drive) there is almost 2 feet of snow and lots of ice on the roads. Disgusting! We called some friends in Bemidji and they said it was pretty bad out and had been snowing since Saturday night. Soo, here we are in Walker waiting till morning to hit the road again. When we got here, the other motel was booked and this one already had 18 other walk-ins checked in before us. I can't believe how much the weather changed in just a 24 hours.

School is starting to come to the end of the semester. We are both very busy and have a lot of stuff to get done. Erik and I are both walking the line at graduation this spring, so that is very exciting! We do have summer and one more semester, but its nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am looking for a summer internship and Erik is taking classes while working.

I can't believe Elizabeth is almost 1! She just cut her 8th tooth this afternoon/evening. She is working hard on walking and trying real hard. Elie has a good friend at daycare and they sit and talk and play all day long together. She is getting so big so fast, it is soo fun!

Wedding planning is going well. We have our DJ and Photographer signed now. Our DJ is StageOne out of Brainerd. Here is the website: http://www.stageone.bz/ Our photographer is Ben Berndt. Here is his website: http://www.benberndtphotography.com/ They both seem really nice and we have heard great things about both of them. We are buying my dress in the middle of May!!

Hope all are well and no one got stuck in the icky snow!!

10 Months and Counting...

Well everyone, ten months from today is the Big Day! Things are getting done and it feels good to be relatively on schedule. We've found a dj service and a photographer that we like so now we just have to get contracts set up. We still need to find a cake company that makes tasty cakes. yum yum! Melissa and found her dress and the bridesmaid's dresses. We'll figure out my tux after awhile. Mel wants me to wear an ivory vest and tie under my black tux, and I'm still trying to sell her on the tails and top hat!!! Giggidy Giggidy Oh! We've picked out our flowers, they are ivory lilies, stephanotis', delphiniums and caspia.

Spring Break is over now so Mel's on the hunt for internships for the summer. Anyone who knows anyone in the graphic design industry should give us a shout out! She spent most of the break working on her resume and portfolio. She's hoping for something either in the Brainerd/Baxter area or Duluth. I'm registering for summer classes (sarcastic "Yea") and will be working at Fastenal. I'm also going to volunteer with Bemidji's local public television station, Lakeland, and its located on campus. Elie will be staying in both Baxter and Duluth over the summer. Lucky! Towards the end of Spring Break, we all went to go visit the Great Grandparents and Great Great Grandma in Osakis. It was really nice to go down there and be able to see them. We don't get down there very often because of our busy busy schedules.

Speaking of Elie, she's getting so big! She's 9 1/2 months old, trying to walk and never stops talking. She has a lot of weird facial expressions and loves to copy you. It is so cute! Elizabeth loves to play and read her books. She is really into playing with dolls and playing with doll houses. At daycare she plays so hard all day and doesn't like to take her naps, so by the evening she is ready for bed. Elie is a very good eater and drinks out of a cup!!

Easter is coming up, on Saturday we are going to go down to Baxter and spend the holiday. The weekend after that we are going to try and figure out stuff so we can go help Kelli and Jason move into their new house. Congrats guys! A couple weeks after that we are going to go down to the cities and go ring shopping!! Then the first weekend in May is Smash, and get together for Erik's Fraternity. Then it is finals and commencement. Right after that Elie will turn 1. I can't believe time flies this fast.

We hope all are well and everyone is enjoying life! We love you, God Bless!

My first post.

Hey everybody. This is Erik and its my first post. Lets start out with what's been going on. Things have been busy. Since school has started I've been working every weekday and going to classes every weekday as well. Two evenings of night classes also fill my time. Needless to say, those two things along with family time with Melissa and Elizabeth don't leave me a lot of time to get homework done. This past week I dropped my Wednesday shifts and I've already noticed how much I've been able to get done. The past week we had to take Elizabeth in to the clinic due to a fever. After half a morning of sitting around we found out she just had a bad cold and bad it is. The only good thing about taking her to the clinic is seeing how big she's actually getting. On Monday she weighed 18 pounds! Huge baby. Not really, but my little girl's getting big.

Work is something that actually brought a lot of enjoyment. Since late October I've been working for Fastenal company. Its a industrial fastener and supply company. The company started in Winona and has locations all over North America. About a month ago I was given two sales routes. One day a week I drive to Red Lake and another day I drive around the Bemidji area. So far its been slow. I've made a handful of sales but that seems to be how it goes. People want to see that I'll be there when they need to order something. The best thing about the job is that there's opportunity to relocate and move up. Its a great fall back if finding a job within my major doesn't happen.

Other things that have been going on is the wedding planning. Holy cow! If I can buy a home theatre in a box, why can't I buy a wedding in a box? It would make things so much easier. I had no idea that you could have so many decisions about so much stuff. What color do you want? Do you want a band or a DJ? Chicken of fish? AHHHH! If it weren't for my lovely bride to be, I could not do this. Acutally I suppose I wouldn't be doing this at all. There are some cool things we've got planned so that's exciting.

This weekend was pretty fun. We're actually in Baxter this weekend. Today we saw off Melissa's parents as they left for a trip to Cancun. We also celebrated our Valentine's Day early. Melissa got a sitter and we went out to dinner at Ivan's on the Bay. Dinner was awesome! I had crab legs and Melissa had steak. Then we went to see National Treasure (Book of Secrets.) That was fun. Anyways, its late and I'm tired, so good night.

Happy 8 months Elie! (a day late)

Elie turned 8 months old yesterday. She now has 6 teeth and figured out how to clap!! She is getting more and more sturdy on her feet and becoming more daring to let go of furniture. Not too long and our little girl will be walking!

Our First Post

As many people know we are two very busy people. To help out our loved ones keep up on us, we have decided to set up this blog to update our lives, which are changing everyday.

As you all know, last November we got engaged on a cold, windy, cloudy and snowy (but romantic) day at Split Rock Lighthouse. We were on a romantic anniversary weekend to Cove Point Lodge in Beaver Bay, MN.

Since that wonderful day we have been planning the first day of the rest of our lives. We finally got a date this past week - January 17, 2009. Mark your calendars!! We are getting married at St. Francis Church in Brainerd and the reception is at Timbermist. Things are falling into place and starting to role. We are trying to get most things done early since we are both full time college students and parents! Next winter we are graduating, Melissa has Portfolio Review, moving to Duluth, and getting married all in the same month. So, the more we get done now the better. :)

Elizabeth is already coming up on 8 months old! She is pulling herself up on things and getting more anxious everyday to walk. She now explores the whole apartment and nothing is safe anymore. She loves her Daddy more than anything, and has him wrapped around her little finger. Elie had her first hair cut a couple weeks ago, she now looks about 1. She is always happy, wild, energetic and well behaved. This semester is not only going to be hard on the two of us, but on her as well. 4 out of the 5 week days one or both of us have class. We are lucky enough to have two great friends, Keith and Sara, who take Elie on Tuesdays while we both have class. We are even more lucky to have our wonderful and supportive parents who are always there to help us out and give us encouragement when we need it. Thanks guys!!