Hi All,
It's been a busy finals, holiday, and break season so we apologize for our blogging hiatus. We finished up 2008 with a bang on our 10-day trip to Seattle to visit friends and family. It was great to see everyone and we are so glad we had the opportunity to go.
This past year has been a busy one for us again with lots of new experiences and growth. Here are a few highlights of 2008 for the Bengtson-O'Brien clan:
* I did my first conference presentation at the Midwest Sociological Association's Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO. We road-tripped with our friends Nick and Shannon and a great time seeing a new city.
* We spent the summer working at Clearwater Lodge on the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota. It was an amazing time of camping, meeting new people, canoeing, and hanging out in our new favorite town, Grand Marais.
* We moved to St. Paul and have an apartment in a fun historic neighborhood, perfect for walking our new dog, Mosby!
* Will began his counseling internship at North Central University. He is counseling students and is working with a great staff.
* We again had season tickets to Gophers football. We figured we had nowhere to go but up after a 1-11 season last year, so we were shocked they started off the season 7-1. Unfortunately, they ended up losing the last 5 games of the season, but we still had more to cheer about this year and are hoping for even more next year.
* Stephen (my brother) and his girlfriend, Kirstin, got engaged! We are so excited to have a new sister in the family!
* Our friends, Jill and Tory, got married this fall in southern California and we were lucky enough to be able to go out to celebrate with them. It was a wonderful reunion with friends and it was great to escape the Minnesota weather, even if only for a weekend.
I know you must be thinking, "Wow, 2008 sounds like it was really eventful, how are they going to top it?!" Well, we are working on that. Here are some things that are in the works for 2009:
* I am returning to southern California for my friend Ashley's wedding in February. I will be happy to trade the -30 degree temps for anything above 50!
*Will is graduating from Bethel with a Master's in Counseling Psychology in May. It will be the end of a long and busy road and he is really looking forward to being done with school (and I'm a bit jealous myself!).
* Will's brother, Taylor, is graduating from the University of Washington this year, so Will is planning a road trip out there for the early summer.
*I have a conference in San Francisco this summer and another in Atlanta in the fall, so we are looking forward to doing some more traveling.
* And I almost forgot, the Gophers' new outdoor stadium opens!!! We are STOKED!
Well, that's the scoop. We will do our best to keep up with this as school begins...
Till next time,
Kirsten
