Tack vare Gud! (Thanks to God)

As kids, we always went to Willmar for Thanksgiving. I think because my dad is a pastor, and Christmas is a work weekend for him, Thanksgiving was THE holiday that brought Bengtsons together each year. We would all go to Willmar and spend the weekend at my Grandparents' house. My cousins and I would play on the lime green shag carpet (Lincoln Logs and puzzles), watch Nick at Nite, play with all of my grandpa's exercise equipment he had gathered in the basement, and eat the best mashed potatoes, buns, and rye bread you could imagine (yes, turkey as well- but my Grandma's staples were apparently in the carbs department). Then, that night the cousins would decorate Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas tree and go to a movie. We would look through the JCPenny catalog at the toys, and start thinking about Christmas. I am gathering pictures together to make a book for my Grandma's 95th birthday this year, so these memories are fresh in my mind.

This Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ever (although we missed Anne, Billy, Jean, Todd, Steve and Kirstin!). Most of our time was spent laughing, reminiscing, and ......EATING (oh yeah, and seeing Harry Potter:)! I asked Grandma for her Swedish Meatballs recipe, and she just looked at me and shrugged, and said, it's all up here (pointing to her head). I guess that's the sign of a true cook- you don't use a recipe anymore... Below are some pictures of the weekend.

Thanks for having us Grandma! It is hard to believe it has been almost 15 years since we did Thanksgiving in the big house (and with Grandpa). We all are so grateful for every memory...and bite!

Until next time,
Kirsten

Monster Dash 2010

We did it! My friends, Amelia and Joel, came into town from DC the last weekend of October. Amelia had also been running over the summer and had completed her first half marathon in September (way to go!). So thought it would be fun to do a 10 mile race when she was in town. It was a beautiful sunny fall day, and we both felt great the whole way. We kind of got separated for a mile or two, but amazingly we found each other among the thousands of runners. This is the farthest I've ever run, and I know it was made so much easier thanks to Amelia's company. We were able to chat the whole way and NOT think about the fact that we were running for over an hour and half straight. Our friends Rachelle and Andrew even came out to cheer us on at about mile 8- it really helped keep us going! People were wearing some funny costumes since it was the day before Halloween, so we were entertained along the way.

Amelia and Joel are getting married this May, so we also took them out for bachelor/bachelorette evenings. The girls went to Chino Latino's for a smorgasbord of world cuisine and wrapped up with some classic bachelorette games at Rachelle's. Will and I are so excited to head out to the East coast for the wedding!

Until next time,

Kirsten

Birthdays and Birth Days

First of all, it has been far too long since the last blog. I keep forgetting to bring my camera or take pictures when I do have it with me. We also haven't gone on any big trips or anything in November, but we did go to Nick's cabin and had a fun-filled weekend with our friends in October. I will have to get some pictures from friends who were much better about taking pictures those weekends than I was. I guess we were just having too much fun!

This weekend, Will and I celebrated his birthday a couple of months late. He has wanted to go see the Minnesota Rollergirls for a long time, so I got him tickets for his birthday:) It was a fun event and I think we were starting to understand the rules by the end of the bout. Happy Belated Birthday Will- the final year of your 20's!

I also had the privilege of meeting my friend's daughter, Kailyn for the first time last weekend! She was only 3 days old in the pictures above, and such an adorable tiny little peanut. Nichole looks amazing and was a great hostess with a house full of visitors. You would never have known she was still recovering from childbirth! What a superwoman! It was so fun to watch her and Colin with Kailyn, too. They were just so excited and taking everything in stride. Kailyn was awake the whole time Megan and I were visiting too, so we each got to spend some time with her. Megan reminded me that we have a picture of the three of us together when Nichole had gotten her first little kitten (probably 7 or 8 years ago)- and now we have almost the same picture with the first baby. It is so exciting! It will be so fun to see Kailyn grow and see Nichole and Colin grow into the amazing parents I know they will be.

With the holiday season coming up, I will have a lot of things to post about! Sadly, after updating my computer to Windows 7, though, there are no longer the same photo editing tools available. I can edit in a different program, but it is not nearly as good. I guess I will actually have to learn how to take good pictures with my camera now, instead of just editing them afterwards. So the pics in the upcoming blogs may not look so great, but hopefully I'll find a good solution!

Until next time,

Kirsten