Races, Weddings, and Weekends

We have a lot of these 3 things planned for the summer. In fact, we have one of each planned for nearly every month! It should keep us busy and make for a great season!

Our first race (to call what I do "racing" is pushing it...it should really be called an official jog with a large group where nice people happen to tell you the amount of time that has gone by since you left) was actually in April and really did not feel anything like summer, but it was the first of the season, so I will document it. We ran the Recycle Run 5K again this year around Lake Harriet, but we missed our running partners from last year, Nick and Shannon! They are about halfway through their time in Africa where Shannon is doing her dissertation research. Next year we'll have to do it again together. It was held at the end of April, but when we left the house it was in the 30s! Luckily it was sunny so it wasn't SO bad when you weren't in the shade- my 3 layers helped too. It was hard to believe that just a few short months earlier this lake was the last stretch of my 10 mile run. I definitely will need a few months to get back to that distance! I was glad Will and I did this one together because Will is training for better times over shorter distances, so I don't think he'll be running any others with me this year. My new Ipod shuffle will have to keep me company:) It was a fun time together and the money goes to the Minneapolis Parks, which we use all the time. We're happy to help keep them beautiful.

Amelia ran that 10 mile race with me last year, and hers was the first wedding of the summer. Amelia is a friend from my cohort and she and Joel moved out to Washington DC last year for very fun and interesting jobs (I'm sure I will not do them justice if I tried to explain them here, but they are both doing research). We miss having them around here, so we all have been looking forward to the wedding!

The wedding was held in Easton, MD. It was a beautiful seaside town with cute shops, a bustling farmers market complete with live music, and stunning historic homes and buildings. The ceremony was held in a Quaker meeting house that was built in 1684! William Penn had been to the site, and it is the oldest continually used church building in the U.S. We live in a pretty historic area of St. Paul, but it was striking how much earlier this area was settled. We spent our time before the wedding exploring the town, enjoying the 80 degree weather and the bay views, and eating delicious local crab, mussels, and fish. I LOVE seafood. I could eat it for every meal. Too bad it costs an arm and a leg here in the plains. Good thing our friends keep getting married on the coasts- fresh seafood time for me:)

The wedding ceremony was a traditional Quaker meeting. In a Quaker meeting, there is no officiant so Joel and Amelia said vows to one another and all of the guests signed the marriage certificate. Worship began in silence, and those who felt moved to do so spoke to the couple, giving them their blessing and sharing memories (everyone also blessed the rings coming in). There were few dry eyes in the building. I MAY have needed to dab my eyes a few times too. Amelia's dad wrote up a nice description of a Quaker wedding on her blog here: http://joelandameliamakeahome.wordpress.com

This reception was fun too complete with a live band, a funny photo booth, and even dog treats for the guests' dogs. I missed my dance partner, but we will be together for Michelle's wedding next month! It was a great trip to Maryland and the wedding could not have been more beautiful. Joel and Amelia were beaming through the entire weekend, and it was such fun to see them again. We are so happy for you two!

The first long weekend trip of the summer starts Saturday when we head to Grand Marais. In the meantime, above are some pics from Maryland.

Until next time,
Kirsten

Is that you Spring? It's me Kirsten.

I am sitting in our living room as the sky is an eerie yellow color- severe thunderstorm season. Spring has finally arived. We did not have much of an early spring, but today's high was 87, so I'm hopeful that it is here to stay. I have continued my streak of forgetting to bring the camera to things, so I will have to paint a literary picture of what is new:)

WORK/SCHOOL
I got my Masters! I decided to go through the process so that I could teach at local community colleges and give a boost to my resume. It is nice to have something to show for my past 5 years of schooling, too:) This summer I will be teaching at a technical college, finishing my interviews for my dissertation, and prepping a course I will be teaching in the fall at the U. Will is enjoying his job at a mental health clinic in Eagan and is going on all sorts of fun outings including the circus (this week's outing)!

DOG
Mosby ate another pair of shoes today. Third pair in three weeks. He was in the doghouse for a while, but he's too cute to stay mad at for long. The kicker was that I was in the house when he did it! I was blowdrying my hair so I didn't hear him, that stinker.

SUMMER TRIPS
We have a lot of fun things ahead this summer. I am headed to Maryland for a friend's wedding next weekend and then the following weekend Will and I are headed to Grand Marais for a camping trip. Then in June we are headed to Seattle for Michelle's wedding and my nephew Finn's first birthday- it will be so fun to see everyone! Will is headed back to Seattle in July for Andy's wedding, while I teach my class. We will be doing something for our 5th wedding anniversary sometime in July, but we haven't decided where in MN we want to go yet- probably Grand Marais. Then in August we will go up to Winnipeg for my grandma's 90th birthday! It seems like yesterday that we were at her 80th- the summer before I left for college. It will be fun to have all of the new members of the family at this gathering (including Will!).

RUNNING
Will is training to run a 1 mile race as fast as possible in July. I am training for a 10k in June and hopefully a half marathon by fall. Mosby has fun coming with us, but doesn't like to go much longer than 3 miles and prefers it if we are together as a family:)

This last weekend we were at my parents' house for Mothers Day along with my brother and sister-in-law. It was soooo relaxing. The weather was very pleasant so we spent a lot of time in the backyard with the dogs, on the deck, and on the patio. We had fires in the evening and grilled for dinner. It was a perfect start to the summer.

Pictures will be coming soon of our summer adventures!

Until next time,
Kirsten

What's New with the Boys

I alluded to some exciting things in the family, and no, they do not involve babies. BUT Will got a new job!!! He just started working at a mental health clinic in Eagan last week and is doing great. He spends time with people with various diagnoses and runs group counseling sessions. And I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but he also received his LPC license! It just came in the mail yesterday. He has worked so hard this past year, and I am so proud of him for both of these accomplishments;) Way to go Will-0! In other news, Mosby is continuing to charm everyone around him and just generally be adorable. This is how he waits for me when we are going to go on a walk. How can you resist that face?? Well, I can't. We are finally running outside again and he is loving it (me too, but probably not quite as much as him). Caption: You said the word "walk" like 5 minutes ago....lets get going already And now you want to take a picture? Not amused.

Now???

I love my guys!

Until next time,

Kirsten

Spring Awakenings

The blog is coming out of hibernation. Well, to be more accurate, its author is. It has been one of those winters when "it's always winter but never Christmas" in the words of C.S. Lewis. I have been re-reading his Narnia books and I am loving the imagery he uses. The weather wasn't so bad, but it was a time of uncertainty and challenges that can wear a person down. I have never needed spring quite as much as I needed it this year; a return of warmth, light, fresh air- along with all of the metaphysical things these often symbolize. This past week has been sunny, the 2 feet of snow is slowly but surely melting, and I have even seen some green grass! It is so refreshing. Even Mosby is excited.

Will and I did make the most of the last week of winter though (which I am deeming last week- pre 40's and 50's). It was the start of my spring break, so we headed to the boys state hockey tournament on Friday. This is an annual tradition and it never disappoints. We were in the third row at Excel for the A semi-finals, cheering for the underdogs of course. It is such a fun atmosphere with fans traveling from all over the state. We saw some pretty exciting goals in person and watched the rest of the tournament diligently on TV (although I did fall asleep before the AA championship ended in tripple overtime). This weekend we will probably watch a little of the girls basketball tournament on TV, and may even venture over to the Target Center for the Boys Basketball tourney next weekend. We'll see....

We also took part in a curling tournament in Wisconsin with our friends, Matt and Sarah. It is called a Funspiel because newbies like us are allowed to play:) Will has had a bit of practice curling with his cousin Eric, but this was only my second time curling and our teammate DeNae's third time. Luckily, Sarah was on our team. She saved us multiple times with some amazing shots (throws? curls?). Will also did very well- I think he's hooked on the sport. We lost our first two games, but we did win our last one! And I only wiped out on the ice twice, so I will call that a personal victory:) If we can find league that is nearby, we may do that next year as a fun winter activity. We will be following in my Canadian gradparents' footsteps. The guestroom we always slept in at their house was filled with curling trophies. I guess it's my destiny (and duty as a partial Canadian).

We wrapped up our spring break in Caledonia with my parents and Stephen and Kirstin. We had a fun long weekend watching movies, playing Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy on the Wii, reading, napping, and feasting. Going to Caledonia is like going to Disneyland for Mosby- it is the happiest place on earth because he can run off-leash in their big backyard.

I think there are some exciting things in the works for our family, so stay tuned....

Kirsten

Homes for the Holidays: Guthrie's

We kind of come full-circle in our Homes for the Holidays tour here, since the Guthries live very near St. Paul. On Christmas Day, the Bengtson clan gets together at Doug and Rosie's, and this year we even were blessed with a visit from Aunt Esther and Judy, and Doug's mom, Millie. Grandma couldn't make it this year, but Jean, Todd, Doug, and Rosie were able to go visit her the next day, so she was pretty thrilled with that. Anne and Billy came in from Brooklyn, NY and it is always great to see them and hear about their travels and life on the East coast. Esther and Judy came over from Covenant Village for dessert and Esther was her sprite 96-year-old self, telling jokes, singing in Swedish, and telling all of us we are good girls and boys. It is a day that always goes by too fast! I was clearly spending time catching up with everyone, and not taking pictures, so I apologize for the lack of pictures- but this gives you a little idea of the happenings of the day.

I probably will never need to eat again after all of these feasts

Is that Conan?
Todd and Will

We loved seeing everyone this Christmas and it will be one we will always remember. We are so lucky to have our families.

Until next time,

Kirsten

Homes for the Holidays: Caledonia

Too bad there isn't a direct flight from Seattle to Caledonia, because that's where we headed to for our next Christmas celebration #2. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law, and of course the two dogs and the cat:) We were able to attend one of my dad's 3 Christmas Eve services of the day (way to go Dad!) at which my mom played the violin, sang, and played bells (way to go Mom!), eat by candlelight, and open presents together by the tree. It was also Kirstin and Steve's first Christmas as a married couple, so it was fun that we could all be together. Here are some pics of our great time together:

We love those dogs. Tubby the cat was smart to stay in her room, though. Just to be safe, she climbed into the box-spring!

The tower of cookies that seems to get larger every year
Appetizers before dinner
Mom always finds the perfect trees.
Merry Christmas!

Homes for the Holidays: Seattle

Will and I headed to Seattle to be with Will's family for an early Christmas this year. We had great weather, and were even able to go out to Deception Pass for a day trip. Here are a few highlights from our wonderful time:

Will, Mary, and Dennis taking in the beautiful view
Beachcombers
Niece Lily reading the Christmas story after a yummy feast and before presents. We ate until we could eat no more, especially peanut butter balls and cookies!
Lily and nephew Finn meeting Santa at the Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach. The light displays were really impressive. Lily loved riding the Polar Express, and I liked the Scandinavian production of "Uff Da" Lily also got to see Santa in downtown Seattle, but Finn slept through it, so he was really interested in him this time!
Family picture at Church before heading home for another delicious meal!

We were also able to see a few of our West Coast friends, two of whom recently got engaged (not to each other)! Looks like we have some more Seattle trips coming up!

Homes for the Holidays: St. Paul

This year, we are going to our many homes for the holidays. Friday, we go to our Seattle home, then on the 23rd, we go to our Caledonia home, and on Christmas Day we go to our Aunt and Uncle home here in the Cities. Of course, we started out our holiday season at our very own home, so here is a glimpse into our Christmas this year. I also threw in some more pictures of the snow. The whole neighborhood was out to dig out cars (there were a lot more before this pic)
There was a group of probably 15 people that dug this car out
Can you spot the car under there?!?!
This was where our car was- Will and his little shovel won.










Merry Christmas!

White Christmas

Word on the street is that the blizzard we are having today will rival that of the Halloween Blizzard of '91. That Halloween Blizzard is legendary in Minnesota Folklore, so it is pretty crazy this one may reach such a status. The wind is what is so unusual- the snow is blowing and drifting everywhere, even here in the city! The city buses have been called back (over 70 have gotten stuck) and the U even shut down campus- I have never heard of either of these things happening. The airport is shut down, too, so the NY Giants (who are supposed to play the Vikings tomorrow) can't get in. We sure are having a good old fashioned Minnesota winter this year!

By mid-afternoon, we had over a foot, and it is supposed to keep snowing until late evening (estimates of 16-20 inches). Our apartment door was snowed shut, and it will take some serious shoveling to get our car out tomorrow. The drifts on the side go as high as the hood! Luckily, our car is parked on the non-plow side of the road, so we won't need to dig our car out until 8 tomorrow morning (when we will have to move it to the other side). We were supposed to go Christmas shopping today, but we have been watching movies, listening to Christmas music, and drinking hot chocolate instead. I can't complain!

Below are some pics: note the one of Will and Mosby with the girl in the background cross-country skiing down the road! Skis or snow shoes are needed if you want to get anywhere fast- one of the pics shows the snow hitting my knee. It is a good thing I got some serious snow boots over Thanksgiving break- they work great!

Happy Snow Day!

Kirsten