my warm fuzzy christmas

Going into this Christmas was a rush of emotions. As many of you know, my grandpa died last Friday after a very brief illness; it was so fast and shocking we are all still reeling. I do intend to write a little more about my grandpa soon, when I have some more time.

Matt, Hannah, and I returned home to Victoria on Monday night, and since we were hosting Christmas, everything became a flurry of shopping, wrapping, cleaning, and preparing. Nearly everyone in our extended family devoted Tuesday to shopping - after spending long days and nights at the hospital, sometimes leaving only to go to work for a few hours or take a shower and freshen up, no one was ready for The Big Day.

Stockings by the fireplace, ready for Christmas.

My parents, brother, and Adam's dog Molly arrived yesterday afternoon. We went to the Arboretum for a quick stroll in the buildings and on the grounds, and came back to prepare our traditional fondue dinner. My uncle Dale joined us too. Dinner was tasty, but even more important was the whole family relaxing in our living room afterwards. I can't help it - like my grandpa, I feel so warm and wonderful with family around. The tree lights were on and candles were lit; six adults and two dogs lounged comfortably, and it made me so immensely happy to see everyone so relaxed they started to fall asleep!

My parents with the pups, relaxing after dinner

(Matt used a flash to capture the photo, but it really
was much cozier than the picture shows).

I can't even explain the joy I felt upon waking up this morning, knowing that my closest family was all under one roof. Though I was less ecstatic on the outside than when I was a kid, having family here was just as great a Christmas joy as any of my childhood Christmases. I came downtairs and made coffee, knowing that I'd soon be joined by wonderful company, as everyone woke up and came downstairs. Hannah was just as happy as I. She heard Molly upstairs, and got so excited this morning! The two dogs ran and played outside, and enjoyed our trip to the dog park. Hannah was also thrilled with all the attention from Bonnie, Doug, and Adam.

Everyone got wonderful gifts, thing with a lot of meaning and love behind them. We had a delicious breakfast with lots of homemade breads. And a delicious dinner. And all of a sudden, it was time for my family to leave. The house seemed empty without all the people, especially the guest rooms when I wandered upstairs hoping to still catch a feeling of my family from walking through the rooms they slept in. Matt and I did dishes together, and I felt so lonely I wanted to cry. I think Hannah was sad too; she didn't want to come say hi to us, and sought comfort from her corner behind Matt's desk, even though neither of us was anywhere nearby.

Thankfully my darling husband is still here. This afternoon we watched Princess Bride (found in his stocking) and played a game together.

I uploaded many more Christmas pictures on my flickr page.

Tomorrow we head back north. Because of my grandpa's illness, it had been decided that we would all do Christmas at my grandma's house on Sunday. We'll be back Sunday night, and then on Monday it's back to work for the first time in about twelve days - it'll be a rude awakening!

Me and my bro

I just scanned in this pic that my parents took the day I shot my first grouse. Here's me and my bro with our pups, Molly and Hannah. Adam was a great teacher in the woods and a lot of fun!

Tree Stories

On Saturday, Matt, Hannah, and I went to Z's Trees in Waconia to pick up our first real Christmas tree! It was a super fun day, and they were very nice to let Hannah join us. The above picture is of Hannah and Matt in the wagon on the way back from the field. After the wagon ride, we got to enjoy the warmth of a wood-heated building, complete with Santa and Mrs. Claus. They even gave Hannah dog treats!

Our weekend was so busy with events that we did not get to decorate the tree right away. Tonight, I had a super long drive home in the snow, and came home to a wonderful surprise ... my husband had put all the lights on the tree! He said that he knew I had a long drive and he wanted me to have a nice surprise waiting for me ... what a great guy. So tonight we put all the ornaments on, and now I get to enjoy the fabulous tree!


On another note, we went to see Wicked yesterday. What an amazing show - even better than the book, and better than I thought it would be!

November Update

So much has happened in the past few weeks! I know it is already December, but a lot happened in November, so I'll cover that first. Here is a snapshot of the last few weeks in November ...

We went hunting with our friends Barb and Ben. We didn't come home with any birds, but it was good to get out ... for me, it was an experience just to try to hike through those fields!

We bought this orange vest for Hannah before going hunting

Barb, Ben, and Bella

Us with Hannah

Our friends Mike and Wendi, along with Jordan and Payton and dogs Max and Chloe, spent a wonderful evening at our house. Wendi did a maternity photo session with Matt (she’s due in January!) and the Longs did a family photo session, then we all had dinner and watched the movie Ironman. Which was really good, by the way. Never a movie I would’ve picked up on my own, but I thought it was really well done.

We drove up to our friends’ farm in Royalton. The Popps – Doug, Jane, Emily, and Nicholas – have a dairy farm on the Mississippi River. They are some of the most genuine, down-to-earth, fabulous people I know, and greeted us with a heartwarming lunch and a wonderful time to catch up on our lives. After lunch we went for a hike through the woods. Matt captured some great photos! Hannah traveled with us, and after two weeks of watching cows through the car windows in Colorado, finally got to go nose-to-nose with one! It was a precious moment.

Nicholas on our hike - isn't he precious? He's also very good at the
game "Memory" - and gets mad when you look at the "puter"
(computer) instead of playing with him.

Emily - she is the expert tree climber, and was our guide

on our walk through the woods!

The turbine that Jenn helped "build"

Hannah finally goes nose to nose with a cow! (Cows
were her obsession in Colorado)

My friend Aly journeyed to Victoria for a personal breadmaking class … once we had several loaves of fresh-baked bread, our friend (and my co-worker) Kelcie arrived, and we opened up some wine and chatted – great fun!

I went to bed early on a Saturday night with the intention of reading a little before falling asleep. Before I knew it, I was sucked into my book, and read the entire thing cover to cover in bed! It’s been years since I’ve been able to do that, and I loved it…even though it meant wasting much of my Sunday since I was so tired.

I painted our family room! I'll need to put some pictures up here when I get a chance to take some.

Our Thanksgiving weekend up north included dinner at my grandparents’ house, cookie baking with my cousins, a couple shopping ventures for great deals, and a second turkey dinner at my mom's house.

We had brussels sprouts fresh from the garden (mmmm!). The one on the right
is a normal size; we found the "mother of all brussels sprouts," shown on the left

I swear, this was the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had!

Hannah loves laying on my dad's lap, not only because she gets a
lot of pets, but also because she can jump up and look out the
window whenever she sees something interesting!

Me with cousins Sarah and Rachel, baking at Brooke's new house

MY "Style Diary"

So, my friend Nina has this new page on Style Diary. It's pretty addicting. She takes pictures of outfits and posts them all to see - and trust me, I used to work with her and got to see her outfits every day; I miss Nina's style around the office!

Given my addiction of checking out Nina's latest outfits, I laughed at myself when I asked Matt to take a picture of me in my latest outfit:

Yep, that's me in the first blaze orange I've ever bought for myself! This is a far cry from Nina's style - more "down home" than "downtown." But given my recent interest in hunting, I figure blaze orange represents my roots. And of course - HANNAH, my newest hunting buddy, is laying on the floor in the background, checking out the new jacket!

Tomorrow we're hunting with my friends Barb and Ben. Wish us luck!

Cindy's new bike

My friend Cindy just got a new bike, and her fiance Todd wrote in to a Danish blog about Cindy going to vote on her bike. Great pic!

A Record-Breaking Weekend

Wow, November has sure gotten off to a warm, balmy start! I can't believe that the temperatures today were in the 70s - record-breaking for sure! Even now, at 7:30 at night (and long after sunset) it is 69 degrees. We made good use of the warm weather this weekend - Matt and I (and Hannah, of course) worked in the yard on Saturday (after I got back from the baby shower for our friend Wendi), putting away all our furniture and tools and garden art and reorganizing the garage for winter. We were so productive we figured we all deserved a good romp at the dog park. On Sunday, Matt and I went out to breakfast at the Pancake House (Tom and Steph, we FINALLY got to use that gift card from four years ago!) - here is a picture of Matt sitting outside the restaurant, enjoying the nice weather and reading the paper! I also took Hannah for a super long walk yesterday - in short sleeves. This is all quite crazy. If it wasn't for the whole business of disappearing species and possible ecological collapse, global warming might not be so bad!

Halloween is a big deal in our neighborhood. Actually, it has become a big deal for our neighborhood because of one neighbor who is REALLY into it. Here are just a few scenes of the pre-Halloween scene two houses down:

The sign in the back reads, "Tomb of the Vengeful Mummies"

So many kids flock to our neighborhood because of this house - one neighbor called it "the Vaughn effect." And because of the nice weather, we had our front door open all night, and could hear the continual screams of scared kids! Apparently Vaughn and friends have all sorts of tactics to frighten the trick-or-treaters. Kids still talk about it by the time they get to our house. In fact, the neighbor girl and her friend dared each other to peak inside Vaughn's front porch a couple days before Halloween - they came running home afterwards afraid of getting caught, and whispering about the "zombie" they had seen inside. Our grand total for Halloween night: 216 kids! A new record for us ... although this is the first year we didn't run out of candy, allowing us to see the night through to the bitter end.

As I was looking back through photos for this entry, I came across this photo taken a couple weeks ago. This was after Hannah's and my day of hunting. Hannah was chilled and exhausted by the time we got back to my parents' house. My dad kicked out his recliner (one of her favorite places to lay), Hannah jumped up and got buried in the afghan and petted for the longest time. She warmed up and happily snored away!

this week's soup

I made a vegetable beef soup on Monday. Seems like a pretty normal, maybe even ho-hum dinner ... except that I look at my bowl of soup and see so much more than just veggies and beef! First, the beef came from a grass-fed, pasture-raised cow from Cedar Summit Farm, less than 45 minutes from our house. Since I am reading Omnivore's Dilemma, I am doubly grateful that this cow didn't eat corn or live in a feedlot!

The beans I pulled out of the freezer were grown in my garden, as were the carrots, which I pulled out of the ground fresh. The corn was purchased at the farmer's market from a local farmer; when I bought it in August, I blanched the corn and cut corn off the cob for freezing.

For added flavor, I added homemade tomato sauce, made from all the tomatoes in my garden in September. My tomato sauce tends to be juicier than a commercial sauce, with chunks of tomatoes and tons of fresh basil (also grown in our garden) ... it almost tastes like a soup itself, so I knew it would be a great addition to my fall and winter soups!

Oddly enough, the only thing in the soup with unknown origins was the onion! Other than that, it is a very local, very delicious, all organic and healthy meal! It makes me so much more excited to eat dinner :).

Scrapbooking Weekend

Last weekend was the annual fall scrapbooking retreat that my mom and I have attended for years. A bunch of women gather at Superior Shores in Two Harbors, where a huge conference room is dedicated to scrapbooking ... 24 hours a day.

This year Matt tagged along so he could spend the weekend photographing along the North Shore (sorry, Matt, it's not a "coast"!). His friend Jamie wanted to spend the weekend with Matt (both of the guys went last year as well), so his girlfriend Becky joined the scrapbooking ladies.

Matt and I had the most fabulous room! The hotel ran out of two-bed rooms (so many scrapbookers were women who requested two beds) so we were given one of their Lodge Suites. Full kitchen, two gas fireplaces, huge jacuzzi tub - beautiful! We felt really spoiled.

And of course, Hannah came along! This is a super dog-friendly hotel. We shared doggie duty, so Hannah spent many hours in the scrapbooking room with me, laying under the table. She was such a good girl! She barked at people who tried to pet her, of course (so hopefully fellow scrappers didn't get too annoyed), but the rest of the time she was quite content to lay under the table. I wish I had gotten a picture of my four-legged scrapbooking buddy to post here! Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the weekend.

NKOTB

I had heard rumors about the NKOTB reunion and concert tour, and when I saw a news article a couple weeks ago about the Twin Cities concert, I laughed and thought, "oh my god, I've got to send this to Brooke!!" Brooke and Sarah are my cousins that I was a nanny for in the summers while we were growing up...and the kids were corrupted by my New Kids fanatacism from an early age! I knew that Sarah was studying hard for a big exam and was too far away for a Tuesday night concert - but about a week after I sent her the article, Brooke texted me and said that she wanted to go!

Last Tuesday was the big day. We had arranged for Brooke, her husband Ryan, and Ryan's sister Jessie to meet me at The Liffey - which, by the way, was a great place to hang out before the concert! When they arrived, Ryan walked in wearing my NKOTB jacket that I bought years ago and that had been unearthed from my parents' basement! It was hilarious to see him wearing it (I have to say, Ryan was a great guy for going to the concert with us - and NKOTB credited the few guys in the concert as being some of the smartest guys in the state!).

We were in a secluded corner of The Liffey, and an hour or so later we girls decided to hit the restrooms. We came around the corner and all had to laugh at the site ... an entire bar, jam-packed almost solely with women in their late 20s/early 30s. How often do you get to see a place filled with one demographic group? And so many of them were wearing vintage New Kids t-shirts, many of the women with make-up and hair circa late 80s/early 90s. And my jacket got many compliments :).

Of course, the bathroom line at The Liffey was looonnnnggg - so many women! One woman was smart and wrangled up a spare toilet paper roll, and passed it along the line so we could be prepared when we got in the stall and keep the line moving (thankfully the Xcel Center had foreseen the restroom issues and had resigned some of the men's rooms as "Women").

Concert time came, and we found our seats - decent seats with straight-on views of the stage. Opening acts took about an hour, and then ... the New Kids came out on stage to thousands upon thousands of screaming women!! The roar was absolutely deafening - I've never been to a concert this loud (and yes, I was at a New Kids concert back in 1990 as well as many concerts since). From there, it was two solid hours of great entertainment - new songs, great hits from the past, and you never knew what was going to happen next! From the gang appearing on a rotating stage in the middle of the floor for a couple songs, to costume changes and solos, to Jordan appearing shirtless and Donnie grabbing his crotch (well that part I could have done without ...) ... Brooke and I agreed that it was a great show and we had a ton more fun than we thought we would! I've never been so entertained by a concert ... too many of them just don't keep you interested for the length of the concert. I'd gladly pay the fifty bucks to go again.

My friend Nina was at the concert, too ... so she and I spent part of the evening texting each other. She was interested in seeing my jacket and suggested I wear it at our lunch date the next day - so wear it I did! My friend Chad took this photo of me in Byerly's with my fabulous jacket.

Pics from the Arboretum

Yay, the pics are in! You can see the gorgeous pics from the Arboretum on Matt's flickr page.

The most gorgeous fall weekend

The colors are simply amazing this weekend. I found myself today standing in the most perfect golden stand of maples ever created, staring up at the layers of branches and thanking god for maple trees!

The whole weekend has been golden, actually. Friday night Matt’s colleague Bryn and her husband Andy came out our way for a portrait session. While the three of them were at the Arboretum doing photos, I was home organizing and cooking up a storm – and loving every minute of it. My menu included balsamic chicken, butternut squash risotto, and apple crisp with ice cream for dessert. Mmmmm! I had only met Bryn briefly (at Erika’s wedding, where she worked as Matt’s assistant), and had never met Andy … and Matt and I really enjoyed our evening with them! They’re both very wonderful people. Good food, good wine, great company – it was the perfect Friday evening.

On Saturday my coworker and friend Chad came over, and I took him touring around Chaska and Victoria. As planners, we often discuss various developments and towns we are familiar with, so we looked at historic downtown Chaska; Jonathan, the new town development of the 70s; Chevalle, the new conservation development; and a few other places along the way. It was also great to have Hannah come with us, so she got to enjoy the beautiful day as well. After Chad left, Hannah and I tackled a lot of clean-up work in the garden, before coming inside to relax and enjoy a movie.

This morning Matt and I enjoyed my favorite type of Sunday morning at home: a homemade breakfast, great coffee, the Sunday paper. We finished our summer task of staining the deck, and then journeyed over to the Arboretum for fall colors. While it was frustrating to have to get through the crowds on every path and street around, it was also easy to see why they were all there. The Arboretum was in full regalia – stunning colors everywhere you looked, and that gorgeous fall smell, and mounds of leaves on the paths to enjoy walking through.

Matt took some beautiful pics but they aren't available yet - I'll try to upload some soon!

Cutest dog collars!

While reading the latest installment of one of my favorite blogs, Pampered Pooch Playground, I learned about a local company, Bark+Biscuit. Their collars and leashes are so cute! I so wish I could get one for Hannah, but I think Matt would not understand such an impractical purchase!

feelings about the hunt

I shot my first grouse on Saturday!

After adopting our Brittany, Hannah, I knew I wanted to see if she enjoyed hunting. Even though I grew up in a hunting family and enjoyed following my dad and brother through the woods, I hadn’t ever hunted. But this year I bought a license (trying to buy a license from Gander Mountain was an adventure in and of itself!), and on Saturday brought Hannah to my family’s hunting shack to hunt with my brother, Adam, and his dog, Molly.

On our first walk of the day, Molly scented a grouse in the fields just to the west of our shack. Adam saw Molly flush the grouse into the tree, motioned for me to follow him, and then pointed to it and said “it’s in the tree – go ahead and take it!” One shot later (thank god for that summer of skeet shooting a couple years ago so I was at least comfortable with the shotgun) and it was on the ground.

What an adrenaline rush! It was so crazy to have that experience. I was pretty proud of myself, and of Hannah, who, despite earlier indications that she’d be terrified of the gun shot, didn’t whine, cry, or try to get closer to me. She ran right up to the bird on the ground and was very excited to smell it!

The rest of the day was much quieter. Lots of difficult walking through the woods (note to self: think twice before following Adam into the woods again! :P). Seriously, it was great to be in the woods and learn from my bro. We heard/saw two more grouse that day, but had no chance of shooting them.

I always wondered how I would feel if I actually shot something. My dad (rightly so) deemed it imperative for kids in a house with guns to take firearm safety … I passed with flying colors, but never wanted to kill anything. And that morphed into my vegetarian/animal rights phase in college. I still believe strongly in animal rights, but as I’ve become focused on sustainability and the local foods movement, I’ve come to regard hunting as one of the most sustainable food choices possible. Wild game is local; it lives off the land and does not need the incredible inputs that animal farming does; populations are managed; it forces people to know where their food comes from and to get close to nature; and it is very healthy.

Was I sad to end the life of a fellow creature? Immensely so. This was a beautiful bird, running through our woods, simply living its life. I love birdwatching and keep a bird book at my desk; actually, I simply love the fact that we share this earth with so many beautiful, engaging creatures. It is not like me to want to kill things … yet we cannot live on this earth without killing things. Whether we eat beef from the store, pollute the water, or simply take up space that used to be habitat for multiple species (instead of just humans), our mere existence means we kill things. It sucks. But it’s the way life is. I don’t want to shield myself from that fact by always eating packaged foods that are no longer recognizable as the creatures they come from. I was very sad for this bird, and sent up a prayer of gratitude for its life. And I recognized the importance of experiencing where our food comes from. And believe me, when I eat it, I will be one hundred times more grateful for that piece of meat than for something I bought from the store. So, I will continue hunting, at least for now, and will work on making myself less squeamish about the cleaning! I will respect myself more if I can stand the gory details of what it means to be an animal on this planet.

Tailgate Away!

As part of a committee I'm on at work, I was one of the people in charge of our Tailgating Event today. Kick-off was scheduled at 12:00 noon, and the sun came out just before everyone poured out of our building! It was a gorgeous day with golden leaves blowing across the parking lot.

We grilled a barbecue lunch, and sold tickets as a fundraiser for Second Harvest Heartland. Everything followed our tailgating theme - the tickets looked like Ticketmaster tickets, everyone was encouraged to wear their team colors, we had a special tailgating area for people to park, and the highlight of the day was a Little Smokies Eating Contest - so much fun!

The excitement today made up for my frustration last night ... when Matt called me while I was out shopping to tell me our crazy psycho puppy had broken into my office, strewn files and chewed up crayons around the room, and then took books off the shelves and chewed on them - she's never done this before! We are completely puzzled about why she chose to be this destructive yesterday, and why of all things she selected Matt's Star Wars books off the shelves to destroy.

Tonight she and I are up north visiting with my mom before heading to the hunting shack tomorrow. The colors up here are gorgeous!

Does ice cream cure headaches?

My husband came home with a pint of chocolate ice cream today, and put some in a dish for his wife-on-the-couch-home-with-a-headache. I thought nothing could make me feel worse so I dove in ... whaddya know, within about four bites I was feeling better!

I actually went into work for a few hours this morning before succumbing to the headache and accompanied nausea (blyech). I did have to laugh when I came home, though, and saw the surprises Hannah had left me! Matt had done the morning ritual of Hannah-clearing the house (trying to put away everything our dog can get in to). He put a loaf of fresh baked bread (sob!) behind the stand mixer at the back of our counter. Well, Hannah has gotten bread from back there before, and sure enough, she did it again and gobbled up the result of hours of baking yesterday. He also missed the grocery bag on the floor, and Hannah dug into an entire bag of tortilla chips. Oh, our devil child ...

In other news, I had a pretty productive weekend. After coming home from officiating a bike race on Saturday, I felt motivated enough to start painting the laundry room. I've wanted to paint this room ever since I moved in, even more so after Hannah's redecorating last year. I had some leftover paint my mom had given me, so I started in with the long process of spackling, sanding, washing walls, and painting! I got two walls done ... two to go! It's now a nice, soft yellow color - and looks great, if I do say so myself!


Matt was busy with photography, as always. He photographed a wedding on Saturday and the Twin Cities Marathon yesterday. He put some pics from the marathon on his blog.

Happy October everyone!

October is my favorite month of year. It’s still sunny and nice enough to spend time outside, and the air takes on a crispness and freshness, combined with the lovely earthy scent of decaying leaves, that is refreshing after summer’s heat and humidity. October is sunny and alive, and yet, with its early sunsets and cool evenings, also invites you to relax by the fire with a book (in my mind, this is a crackling fire that feeds the soul, not the fake flip-on-a-switch gas fireplace we have!). I am so happy that the month is here, and hope it is a joyful month for all of you.

In my last entry I wrote about the hundreds of geese flying over our house. Today I took a walk over lunch and watched all the geese congregating around the ponds and lake along Carlson Parkway. I wanted to say to them, “you guys are so lucky. Sure, you have to migrate long distances and survive predators … but look, you get to sit out here, on the grass and in the water and in the sun, all day long! No bills to pay, no offices to sit in … heck, you don’t even have to worry about doing laundry!” Yes, I was jealous of creatures who get to follow nature’s patterns and their own instincts.

Of course, October is hunting season. My brother and his dog, Molly, have already been out hunting several times. He sent me this picture of all the burs Molly collected after one day of hunting:

The End of September

Geese have been flying over our house in the hundreds this weekend! The same birds that annoy me in local parks over the summer have the ability to call to my wild spirit in migration. I think of nesting grounds far north, of the marvel of flight and miracle of migration, of how much these birds must put forth simply to survive. I always feel sad to see them go, and their flight makes me wish I lived someplace I could watch the cycles of nature every day.

My vegetable garden, while still giving me carrots and the occasional cucumber, has reached the end of its yearly life. I was able to freeze plenty of green beans and tomato sauce for the winter, and my mom canned tomatoes for me (she helped harvest the tomatoes before we left for Colorado, and very kindly took the tomatoes home with her to can them so they wouldn’t go to waste!). I am only doing a fraction of the vegetable-growing I’d like, though. I still dream of growing enough carrots and onions to store them through the winter, of growing garlic I can braid and hang for the year, of working harder to extend the growing season in both the spring and fall, so we can eat more of our own vegetables. I am inspired by all the years of watching my mom. She has been a workhouse this fall, canning and preserving an endless amount of food. It seems every time I call her she is making something new – for instance, have you ever heard of beet jelly? According to my parents, it’s very good, so I will have to try some next time I go north … these are the adventures of the Reeds!

I was up north last weekend, though it was for a conference, not to visit family or have fun outside. I felt so safe being in Duluth. Comforted. I even slept soundly in my hotel room. I was disappointed by the rainy, foggy weather that made me not even want to walk along the lake. I vascillated between two thoughts, sometimes thinking, “oh is this what Duluth is really like, fog and rain? – then maybe I shouldn’t want to come back here!” and sometimes thinking, “this is so unfair that I don’t get to even enjoy Duluth while I’m here – I never get enough time in Duluth!” The fall colors were gorgeous. My coworker Angie and I were in love with every colorful stand of trees we saw on our way back to the Cities on Wednesday. I bet this weekend is simply gorgeous on the north shore – and I’m not there to enjoy it!

Instead, Matt and I both worked at weddings yesterday. His was a much more intense 9-hour day; I only shot a 4-hour wedding. It was nice to have a camera and photograph such a happy day for the couple! At the wedding I met Sarah Trotter, a local wedding coordinator. I liked her instantly, and over the course of the day I watched her take care of every detail, making the day flow seamlessly and taking a lot of stress off the couple. I left wishing we could have hired her for our wedding – it would have made things easier on folks like Tracey and my mom, that’s for sure! I never thought I’d hire a wedding coordinator; it seemed like a waste of money. However, for anyone who’s getting married, I would strongly suggest meeting with Sarah – she’s awesome!

Speaking of weddings, last weekend was our first anniversary! Matt presented me with these flowers in gorgeous fall colors – aren’t they pretty? We picnicked at Gale Woods Farm (where we got married) and celebrated a year of “being official” – it doesn’t really seem like our “first anniversary” when we’ve been together five years and lived together for over three of those. Still, it was a very special day, and we got to spend it together, enjoying each other’s company.

Since I shared the picture of the above flowers … here is a bouquet my mom put together for me. Since she works for the florist that did our wedding photos, I had asked her to put together a bouquet similar to my wedding bouquet, so I could oooh and aahhh over the pretty colors again. Even after a year, I am sad that day is over – everything about it was so beautiful and perfect and happy!

I'm now thinking of October ... on our calendars so far:

• Matt will photograph the Twin Cities Marathon
• Jenn will work at a cyclocross race
• Jenn and Hannah plan to visit family up north and do some hunting
• We will all be in Two Harbors one weekend; Jenn for a scrapbooking retreat and Matt to do some photographing

A sun-loving as I am, I am ready for crisp fall temperatures. I mean, if the sun is going to set so early, we might as well have the cold nights and fresh air to go with it! I have my locally grown apples all ready for apple crisp, and am ready for fall evenings by the fire with Hannah :).

Al Franken and Taxes

My friend Tracey shares this story about her son's impression of Al Franken. Made for a good laugh - thanks Nate!

New Photographer

I was in Duluth this week for the MNAPA conference (unfortunately it was rainy, gray, and cold - so much for spending time sitting/walking along the lake!). I stopped at Waters of Superior and fell in love with the work of a photographer I'd never heard of before, Randy Larson. If you like beautiful nature photos, I suggest checking it out!

Jenn's Top Ten for Gunnison County

As our Colorado trip was winding down, I started a list of my favorite things to do and places to see, so I could recommend them to friends and family. Some of these I mentioned earlier, but felt the need to place them in my own top ten list ... I thought I would share these here:

Jenn’s Top Ten for Gunnison County

10. The north end of Taylor Park – Intimate mountain beauty, with little mountain streams and waterfalls. We spent a wonderful afternoon enjoying the scenery!





9. Mirror Lake – We heard from our Colorado friends that this is a glacial lake, and it is so deep no one is quite sure how deep it is. On calm days it mirrors the mountains around it.





8. Monarch Tram – You can see for over 100 miles after taking this tram to this peak on the Continental Divide. You are surrounded by mountain ranges, plus it's fun to take the ride ... and they allow dogs!




7. The Castles – These are some amazing rock formations south of Ohio Pass in the West Elk Wilderness. Super cool!






6. Cumberland Pass – You can drive to the top of this pass, and walk from there around the alpine meadows - you feel like you're on top of the world. You can also see some old mines on both sides of the pass.









5. Tincup Cemetery – The cemetery is probably the most unique one I’ve ever seen, with a “Protestant Knoll,” “Catholic Knoll,” “Jewish Knoll,” and “Boot Hill” – the latter being the place where people who “died with their boots on” or didn’t profess to any religion were buried. Some graves are marked with a pile of rocks, others with blank slabs of wood, some have fallen logs around them and others are fancier with iron fences. Not to mention, some amazing scenery.

4. Winetasting in Paonia – Paonia is in the heart of Colorado wine country. Although it's not technically in Gunnison County, it's just to the west, and is on the West Elk scenic loop (see #3 below). We had some fabulous wines, and were thrilled at the sight of vineyards with gorgeous mountain backdrops. The area is also famous for its peaches, which were in season for our trip!






3. Kebler Pass Road – Kebler Pass Road stretches from the town of Crested Butte west to Highway 133 and the town of Paonia. Along the way, you'll find aspens (one stand of which is among the largest living organisms on earth), gorgeous views of the Ruby Range and East and West Beckwith Mountains, and nice detours to mountain lakes - Lake Irwin and Lost Lake. You can also make a loop drive by connecting with Highways 92 and 50 to the south, and coming back through the town of Gunnison.

2. Gothic Road – It was a tough call between Gothic Road and Kebler Pass Road, but I finally decided that this is the prettiest drive in the county. The road is surrounded by lush mountain passes and colorful rocky mountains around every turn. Take the one-lane road all the way to Schofield Pass and you’ll be rewarded by the sight of Emerald Lake.


1. Horseback Riding at Fantasy Ranch – this Ranch is located at Mount Crested Butte and came recommended to us by a local. Chuck, the owner, is a great guy and took us on an amazing trip. We went off-site and rode up Beckwith Pass, which was quite the ride for an absolute beginner like me, but I trusted Chuck! We also heard that their rides on Snodgrass Mountain, at their stables, are great.

Honorable Mentions for the list include The Bean in Gunnison, Oh-be-Dogful Dog Ranch, and all the great shopping and restaurants in Crested Butte. Plus, did you know the area has a whole host of pet-friendly lodging? In addition to the ones on the list, it seems like most cabins and resorts allow dogs!

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Other Top Lists

It seems that I couldn't stop at just my overall top ten! Here are some more "lists" from the trip:

Top Five Lakes
5. Taylor Reservoir
4. Lost Lake
3. Mirror Lake
2. Lake Irwin
1. Emerald Lake

Top Ten Mountains
We actually saw more mountains than I could count ... and many of them we never learned the names of. Here are the top ten of the ones we could name and remember:

10. Mount Crested Butte
9. Monarch Peak
8. Collegiate Peaks
7. Gothic Mountain
6. West Beckwith
5. Red Mountain, Almont Triangle (I think this is the correct name; it's either Red Mountain or the generic one named "Peak" on our map)
4. Ruby Range
3. Avery Peak (including mountains around it – the Elks)
2. Red Lady
1. East Beckwith

Top Five Mountain Passes
5. Kebler
4. Monarch
3. Schofield (largely for the beautiful scenery on the way to the pass)
2. Cottonwood
1. Cumberland

Hannah's Colorado Fun

At least once a day, we took Hannah off-leash in Taylor Park, where she could run (like a little bullet) down dirt roads and through grasses and shrubs. On one of the last walks I took her on, Matt snapped this series of photos of Hannah running. I thought that the series was perfect in conveying some of Hannah's sheer joy! You can click on the photos to enlarge them; notice the expressions on her face, her body movements, and how in one photo she is even turning away, distracted by some scent or movement in the grass.

Adventures in Rain and Snow

Our last three days in Colorado were greeted with rain and fog, more rain and fog (with glimpses of sun) and then ... snow! On the third morning of rain, we woke up to snow covered mountain peaks. The size of this picture doesn't do the photo justice, but this is what Taylor Park looked like:


Our scheduled horseback ride was postponed due to rain and fog. Even though the ranch's policy states that the ride will happen "rain or shine," Chuck was nice enough to offer to reschedule our ride. We ended up spending most of Wednesday in the cabin. I was pretty depressed about this, feeling cabin-fevery, and spent several hours feeling sad and kind-of grumpy (my poor husband!). All of a sudden, the sun burst into the cabin window. There was something about the angle and timing of the sun, and I looked at Matt and said, "rainbow?" He went to the door and came running back for his camera. Sure enough, there was a FULL DOUBLE RAINBOW just to the east, arching over the ranch. I've never had a rainbow touch down so close it felt like I could walk over and touch it! Absolutely breathtaking.


We did get some clearing in the skies on Thursday, and went out riding! This was my first horseback ride, and as Matt said later, "even I hadn't done any riding like that!" We went into the West Elks Wilderness, up Beckwith Pass. The trails were rocky, sometimes steep, and wet, so all the hills were muddy. Not only did I get the very basics (i.e., learning how to get into a saddle) but I learned how to ride a horse down steep muddy hills while he's slipping and sliding down them! Matt even had his horse end up on his knees a couple of times. Yet my horse, Amos, did fabulously, and carried me safely on the 3 1/2 hour ride. What an anxiety-ridden adrenaline rush.

Amos

Matt took this photo of our group of riders; I'm directly
in front of him in the brown sweater. This was one of the flat
sections of trail, so he was able to take a picture; neither
of us took pictures on the trickier parts of the trail!

Jenn on Amos and Matt on Dallas, with two of the dogs traveling with us.

Despite protesting bodies, we wanted to use the break in the rain to do some more sightseeing. So, we picked Hannah up at daycare and traveled up Gothic Road, which stunned me with its color and beauty ... and that's saying a lot after having been in Colorado for a week and a half, where I thought I had grown accustomed to mountains around every turn.


We had some rain, sleet, and hail fall on us, but none of the precipitation lasted long, so Matt felt comfortable continuing down Gothic Road even after it turned into a one-lane track along the side of the mountain. Near the end, close to Schofield Pass, we were rewarded with Emerald Lake, a true gem of green in this colorful Eden:

Emerald Lake - again, the picture doesn't do it justice

And on the way back, we had this short rainbow appear along the roadside

Gothic Road even showed us some fall color. This is the gold colors we had been hoping to see this entire trip; little did we know that "everything" in Colorado - including fall colors - is a couple weeks behind its normal schedule.



Of course, I love the colorful grasses too and couldn't resist snapping this photo:


Our last day in Colorado, the morning we had snow, we got up and left the cabin quickly to see what remaining sights we could see. We drove once more along Kebler Pass Road, to see if any aspens had turned yellow and to see if there were snow-covered peaks there, too.

Aspens along Kebler Pass Road

We diverted off to Kebler Pass Road to stop at Lake Irwin and Lost Lake. Lost Lake has history for Matt; campsite #2 is where his family camped many times when he was little.

Matt taking photos from campsite #2, over Lost Lake and surrounding mountains.

Across the road from campsite #2

Fall foliage at the campground included these little
plants, which looked like tiny purple maple trees!

We took a different route home, and were rewarded with views of The Castles, something we had seen on the horseback ride but couldn't get photos of. Pretty cool rock formations!

The Castles

We kept calling Hannah "the watcher," as whenever we were going slowly or on dirt roads, she was alert, watching for cows (which often grazed along the sides of the roads) or little critters or birds. Every time we stopped the car to get out, her whole body would shake with anticipation of all the fun and smells in front of her! By our last day in Colorado, Hannah was begging to go outside non-stop, and could run faster and further than when we first arrived - all the fresh air and exercise has been good for her!

The watcher on duty