That'll Be the Day

Well, Easter has come and gone, and I'm just getting around to writing about it! On Maundy Thursday, I went to church with my mom where there was beautiful music by Paul Simon integrated into the service. I had never been to church on Maundy Thursday and I had to Google search the significance of the day. On Friday, Travis' mom grilled burgers. Travis' grandma (Grandma Gin) and his twin brothers (Taylor and Tyler) were in town for the weekend. It had been a year since I had last seen Grandma Gin, and she was cracking me up all weekend long.

To celebrate Easter, I went to church with my parents and later my family came over. My aunt, uncle, cousin/cousin's wife, and cousin/cousin's new girlfriend were all around the table. My brother spent Easter with his girlfriend's family. After dinner, we played tsougrisma. Tsougrisma is an egg tapping game where you tap your hard boiled egg against another person's to see whose egg cracks. If your egg cracks, you lose. We played in a tournament and my cousin's wife, Claire, won.

I lost in the first round

Claire was a killer egg tapper

Kicking butt in the final round against Aunt Minnell

We also played a card game called The Great Dalmuti. It is very similar to Presidents and A-holes.

I pretty much dominated the entire time

In other news, Travis and I made homemade chicken noodle soup earlier this week. For those of you fortunate enough to not live in Minnesota (or the US, for that matter), the weather has been horrendous lately. Every once in a while, there is a glimpse of spring, but lately it has been pretty gosh darn gross! I am hoping we will be regularly enjoying Spring by May 1st!

Mmm, mmmm, good!

Boys

During our free time last week, Travis and I babysat two of the sweetest little boys on earth. Harper and Kellen are Travis' cousin's children and we got to spend two days with them.

Harper, Travis and Kellen

Travis and Kellen

Harper and Travis

Harper's favorite song is the national anthem (The Star-Spangled Banner). He is five years old. This happened in the car:
Harper: "Will somebody please sing the national anthem?"
Me: "Well, I will sing it with you..."
Harper: "But I don't know the words. Can you just sing it? Please?"
Me: "Um... Okay... O! Say can you see..."
(song ends)
Harper: "Thank you so much, I've been waiting to hear that song all day long!!!"

Kellen

Travis and Harper

Hockey stars

Kellen

When I was taking Kellen (age 3) to the bathroom, he had an interesting question for me:

Kellen: "Do you wear girl underwear?"

Me: "Um... yes. Do you wear girl underwear?"

Kellen: "No, but Gracie wears girl underwear!"

I have no idea who Gracie is, but I sure hope his parents know who she is!

Love You To

Well, I guess I've fallen behind on this little blog of mine. I can't really use the excuse that I've been too busy, considering I haven't found a job yet!

We made another stop on our Friday Fish Fry tour. My dad got a tip at work to check out the Ham Lake American Legion, so off we went!

Fish, Potatoes, and Coleslaw

Enjoying dinner in the banquet hall.

HOLY CRAP THE FISH WAS DELICIOUS!!! The batter was light and crispy. The fish was flaky and not at all oily. Yum! There is one Friday left before Easter, so I suggest you check it out or put it on your list for Lent 2012. (Oh my gosh. I just made Lent sound like an event!)

On  Saturday, my mom and I volunteered with our church at Feed My Starving Children in Coon Rapids. At FMSC, we filled and packaged MannaPacks to be sent all over the world. In the couple of hours we were there, with around 100 volunteers we packaged 24,840 meals! At the end of our session, we sampled the MannaPack and it was pretty tasty. To learn more about Feed My Starving Children, check out their Fact Sheet.

Packaging Station

Praying over the food we packaged.

Well, this post is mostly about food. I'm sure you're not surprised that I could write about food for days and days!

What Goes On

On Saturday night, I got together with two girlfriends (Lisa & Aly) for dinner and drinks. We had dinner at Il Gatto and went next door to Uptown Cafeteria for a drink. It was a low-key evening, but it was exactly what we were in the mood for.

Pizza & wine at Il Gatto

Drinks at Uptown Cafeteria

In other news, I've been keeping busy. I haven't had any luck so far in my job search, but I am trying to stay positive.

Yes It Is

Want to know the best part of Lent? Friday Fish Fry! My first Friday at home, my mom did a fish fry. A couple weeks ago, we went to Running Aces for mediocre fish and dismal sides. This past Friday, we had the best all you can eat fish fry at the St. Clair Broiler. I forgot to take pictures, but the fish is delicious and the sides aren't overwhelming.


After dinner, my mom wanted to check out the Macy's Flower Show in Minneapolis. We dodged Twins traffic and headed to the 8th floor auditorium. The theme this year was "Towers of Flowers".

The 'rents at the Flower Show

Eiffel Tower of Flowers

One of my favorites at the show was the Weeping Cherry

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Another favorite, but unfortunately, I have no idea what it is called!

The Macy's Flower Show is held in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, and Minneapolis. The flower show has been an annual event for more than 60 years. It was refreshing to be around so many flowers and fragrances. I cannot wait for spring and I am pretty excited to see the day lilies popping up at my parents' house!

Any Time at All

On Wednesday, we got together to welcome Travis home. We met up at the finest establishment in Hugo, otherwise known as the Blue Heron Grill. I have to tell you that our service was awful! Other than that, it was fun to get together during the week.

Me, Trav, Brad, and Lisa

Lisa, Matt, and Brooke

Donny, me and Travis

You may notice that Travis is sporting one heck of a beard. He claims he didn't want to buy razors in Norway, but now that he is home and has razors, he still hasn't shaved!

With a Little Help from My Friends

Travis is home! He arrived yesterday evening safe and sound after flying to Munich and Philadelphia. I am so happy to have him back (as are our friends and families).

I went to downtown Stillwater on Saturday with my friend Sam. It was a beautiful day to stroll around town and explore.

Next to the Dock Cafe, which is right along the St. Croix River.

As of 6 a.m. on Monday, April 4, 2011, the St. Croix River water level was at 685.67 feet and rising in Stillwater, MN.

Saturday evening, I had the joy of celebrating two very special birthdays! Two of my BFFs (I feel like I'm in 6th grade when I write that) had birthdays last week, so we got together to celebrate.

Birthday Girls

The Girls (minus a few who live out of town)

We headed to Uptown later in the evening.

Overall, it was a good weekend and I was so happy to spend time with my friends. I have a new appreciation for them after being away from home for so long!

Leaving Norway

Hello Layne's readers. I am leaving Norway tomorrow bright and early. It has been 7 months to the day that I have been away and I am looking forward to getting home. Not real excited about the 19 hours of travel though. Oh well it is better than having to take a ship.

I have had a lot of time the past week with hockey over. It has been pretty relaxing to have almost zero responsibility. So what have I been doing with all this time? Not a whole lot. Pretty much just hanging out with some buddies from the team and getting everything in order to leave. I did go Snowboarding on Saturday, which was awesome. I have not been able to go for the past couple of years and was happy that I did not forget how to do it. Only one bad fall and I do not think it was my fault. A little girl and her father were stopped on blind spot on part of a run.  It was either hit them both or fall.

The past 7 months have had its highs and some lows. I am very grateful that I was rewarded with this opportunity and even happier that Layne was here with me.

See you soon.

Travis