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

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