AUSTIN and MATT

austin and matt came down Tuesday evening to

spend the night and than head to a water park the next day. i promised austin (the one on the right) about a year ago that i would take him and matt to a water park for their birthdays....and finally we got to go. Tuesday night we went over to NWC for a spell....the boys played basketball till, I quote; "my shirt is flaming hot lava" (matt). they also played 2 on 1 against one of the ball players from the mens team. i guess, according to the boys, they won 8-7 and the guy they played wasn't a good shooter. fun times. that night we went to Chucky Cheese and had some pizza and played some games! they laughed lots. and got to take home a little airplane and a bug ring from all the tickets they won.

as i tucked the boys in i told them to not be scared if they woke up in the middle of the night and to remember they were at my house and not theirs. they told me to leave the bathroom light just in case. so...at about 5:00 a.m. austin was tugging at me saying "joann, it's time to go to the water park...get up'. are you serious?...@ 5 in the morning. nutty how excited he was to get up and go play in the water. well while austin and i were having a conversation about how the water park needed to wait til light time Matt must have heard us and fell out of bed. he made a big noise. so when i went into the room i expected him to burst out crying and when i turned the light on he was still sleeping. are you serious....he slept through it. anyway - thank goodness they both went back to sleep til 6:59 when i had both of them tugging at the covers asking for breakfast and the water park.

finally- Grand Rios and the water park here we come. the first thing they did was stand under the big bucket of water than dumps out a whole lot of gallons of water on top of you. the boys didn't stop...they went from small water slides to the pool with the basketball hoop and surf boards, to the tube slide to the lazy river (or lazy lake is what austin called it). non-stop. i forced them to take a potty break, and they didnt like it. I also forced them to eat lunch- and they didn't like it. all they wanted to do was play. at one point matt took a pretty nasty spill at the end of the slide and it took me about an hour to encourage him to start up again. and every once in awhile i convinced them that the hot tub was the place to be....oh that was bliss! much needed bliss. chasing them around was a riot; and hard work too. but well worth it. there is something extra special about seeing your nephews smile from ear to ear, knowing that i (there old crazy aunt) had something to do with it. the cool part of the day was that when we arrive a lady met us at the door and offered us two free passes...i guess she got them with the hotel room her family rented but they were not staying to use the park and didn't want them to go to waste- so i scored huge....and saved my pocket book some major cash. love that! the boys were great. they did everything i asked them to do- and they didnt complain if they didnt get their way and they even shared....thats right, they shared! i am so proud of my nephews. and i love being around them. it makes me want to be a mom more, and that feeling is hard since i am no where near that happening....but i guess being a aunt is a pretty good deal. i got to send them home, and tonight (Thursday) i got to take a nap cuz they wore me out. big time. good times in the water. peace.

my butt sense

today was one of those days that you look forward to all winter long. a day when the sun is out bright and warm and there are no clouds insight. a day when you keep your windows open all day and night long and let the light breeze enter your home. a day when your eyes hurt without sun glasses on and you cant wait to take your sweatshirt off. a day when your physical education classes finally get to go outside and play instead of being stuck inside a gym. a day you cant wait to get home and get your bike ready for your first ride of the year. that was my day! the second i got home i did just that. i pulled the bike down off it's perch, greased up the chain, pumped up the tires, tested my brakes, reset my odometer, dusted off the cob webs from my helmet and got on for a ride. i am not sure i enjoy anything more than biking. there is something about it that drives me to work really hard, yet it's relaxing and fun. (unlike running). while on my ride i realized that my senses were on high alert. one of those senses is....my 'butt sense'. let me explain. ya see...your butt needs to get in shape to bike and after months of rest my 'butt sense' was on high alert. after mile 8 my butt was screaming 'get off'.....too bad so sad butt....7 miles to go! on a more normal note my sense of smell noticed things that made me smile. at some point i smelled mud. not sure if some of you city-its know what i am talking about but mud has a smell....one that as a child i loved. i am not sure if i was riding by a muddy drive way, caught a smell of it from the river, or if it was just the ground trying to breath after a long freeze. either way, it was a good smell. also- char coal....i love that smell. someone was cooking hamburgers on the grill and i wanted to find them and make myself welcome. and Freshly cute wood with a hint of chain sow gas - i know this smell well since my dad was a logger for most of my living years. fresh cut wood is a great smell! my taste sense...since i was all gung hoo to get going i forgot to fill up my water bottle. (ya see that green bottle on my bike - yeah, it's empty.) so my taste sense at about mile 6 really wanted some water. oh well, i pushed through. lastly, my sight sense. i took a road that i have never biked before and holy Lord where there houses the blow my mind. big massive houses- on the river. beautiful massive house; houses that you dream about what the inside looks like. to close- today was a great day. my senses have been awakened after a long winter and are ready to do Spring and Summer.

wild hair

today i had a wild hair and went and got my hair done...wildly- (get it..wild hair) hehehehe. i got sick and tired of looking at all my grey hairs in the mirror so went to see Jen and Mark at Mark of Excellance. Jen usually does my hair but today she was to busy to get me in so i went with Mark. WE decided that i needed something new and fun and went with a copper - redish color this time around. i like it....it's different and very copperish, but i like it. and of course i got some hairs cut as well. this picture doesn't do my new color justis - but maybe you can get a idea. Good times at Mark of Excellence!!!!

NCAA ball, eagle brook and a concert.

This weekend was great. full of fun, and friends. Friday night i caught a Osseo vs Armstrong boys high school game, which was very entertaining. i have never seen so many fans at a high school game in my life. it was nutty, i had to wait in line to buy a ticket for 20 minutes. than came home and watched a movie by myself ( so relaxing)...'the Holiday' - i highly recommend it. good flick.

Saturday i spent the late part of the morning and into the afternoon on my couch watching NCAA basketball. LOVE IT! the Ohio / Xaiver game was outstanding....although i had to leave my house as over time started. I was meeting up with my Friend Jen to go to church to learn about how to budget my money. it was good. although i did miss over time - but thank God, Ohio pulled off a Win. i have them going to the final two, losing to Oregon! huh, wonder how it will turn out. Saturday evening i hung with cool peeps that all attend Eagle Brook Church. it was a good time. Went over to Kristens house and asked each other "would you rather" questions. for instance- would you rather have brown teeth all the time or have a hair line that was a 1/2 inch above your eyebrows. funny!!!!!

Sunday i went to church at Open Door. Love my church. Than i took a 2 hour nap...whoa, needed it. Than i meet up with Jen (again) and Nate. we went to a concert held at the Target Center....Steller Kart, Kutless and Newsboys. All very fun bands. Steller Kart was good- but they only played a short five songs. Kutless, who opened with my favorite song Strong Tower, was fun and loud and only played for a half an hour. And than we have Newsboys. i haven't seen Newsboys in concert ever - ok, maybe at sunshine i have! Anyhow. they open with one of their early 90's song- Shine. so many flashbacks. Goodness, they were great. one song the drummer and his drum kit rotated kitty-whompis (i know that isn't a real word) like...he and his kit had to strapped in somehow. it was one of the coolest concert movies i've seen. the lead singer mentioned a verse(s) that i love and want to share with the rest of you as i close this blog out. (no pic's- sorry....)

Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you no know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall: but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

League...

(side picture)left to right - krissie, jess, tracy (top picture) left to right - maggie, julie, joann

so i play on this league team made up for Northwestern alumni. We play on Thursday nights in st. louis park at a Jewish community center; and i think i have played on this league for the past 3 to 4 years. it's been loads of fun...a chance to get some solid exercise in and to hang with some pretty cool peeps. although the refs suck and usually screw us over, we actually won tonight. (which doesn't happened to often) so we had to celebrate our win, along with celebrating jess's belated birthday. as always the conversation is full of laughter and memories that are usually wrapped up in basketball somehow. tonight's main topic's were what coach linda wears to games, why most of the players still call linda coach, who won what games and who were their teammates, the winning shot, my retirement from coaching, julie and her date(s), tracy's old body and her newly acquired injury for the game tonight...just to name a few. it's a great time and i so enjoy these ladies. we missed (coach) linda and hannah (who is in Guatemala) at tonight's game, but i think we have one more game before we start tournaments. i am taking a leave of absence from playing league cuz i am hoping to join a bible study at Church that only meets on Thursday nights. i wish it was a different night- cuz i like playing and seeing these girls every week. they make me smile! thanks for kicking it ladies. and happy belated birthday jess.

What am I doing?

so this is my caribou card...the best 'card' ever made. i love caribou coffee! and pre Lent (which was like 2 Wednesday ago) i used it 2-5 times a week. CAN YOU SAY ADDICTION! today on my way to school i thought 'goodness, a mint condition would taste so heavenly'. but since i decided to give it up for Lent...i passed my caribou turn and went straight to school to teach. i miss caribou- but...at the same time realize that the warm, delious drinks i drink are very very calorie filled and lets be honest - a bit unhealthy. and since i have started a diet (sort of), i need to watch my calorie intake. and...the money you can spend at caribou is in sane. three times a week, ordering a large drink is close to $15.00 a week...so hopefully not only will giving up caribou help my diet, but also my pocket book. but don't get me wrong...i am not giving up coffee!!!! i love black straight up coffee; and lets just say my coffee pot is brewing some every morning. love it. After Easter is over i am going to try and stay away from the Caribou coffee. the unfortunate thing is i also gave up Dr. Pepper on News Years Day and hope to sustain that for a whole year. Huh, wonder how that is gonna work.
So this past weekend i was in Mora celebrating my younger brothers 30th birthday. and also my nephews 8th birthday. the have the same birthday. it was a fun filled event. Austin (nephew) had a kids party...skate boards, games, kids everywhere, music playing...ya know, what every youngster enjoys. than- my sister in law had planned a surprise party for Buzz (brother) later that night. it was a good time. i was the DJ. anyways...i kinda of forgot to take pictures of that event. my bad. whoops.

Sleep Over!

I dont think i've had a major sleep over in a long time...i cant really remember the last time i had girls over for a sleep over. Well last night some of the ladies from the ball team came over to hang out, and it was a riot. They arrived at around 6:00ish and they dug right into the lasagna, garlic bread, grapes and taco dip we had to eat. We sat around for a long while chatting and laughing at Taylor (Linda's little girl) until it was time for her to leave. Than, out side we went to play in the snow....gosh, i haven't played in the snow for a long while either. I have massive snow piles in my yard and man were they fun to jump off of, dig into, fight on, and play Queen of the Hill. It was a great time. Altough some of us were not well prepared....we got cold quick. Some of girls were out playing in the snow in their tennis shoes, my socks for gloves and even some of them decided to put my underwear on their heads. oh the site of that....i will leave that to your imiganation. After our time outside we snuggled in on the floor with our blankets, pillows and each other. the girls wanted to watch a movie and the the one of choice was 'Pretty Women', since four of them had never seen it before. (can you believe that Kara Lynn....they've never seen Pretty Women before....crazy.) I couldn't believe it! So...after about an hour of the movie I got tried...I cant do late nights like those younsters can so at about 12:30 off to bed I went. I am not sure i actually fell alseep until 2 cuz the girls were laughing at each other all night long. at one time i think there was four of them in the bathrooom...doing what i am not sure. and at another point in the evening they busted out in song- a made up song at that. anyways- it was a fun time. this morning ( saturday) they were awoken much earlier than they wanted, so we had breakfast....and off they went. all in all- a great sleep over. I hope the girls continue to come over and hang out!!!!! And i hope that i can find more time to do such fun things.

LIfe Change

For some of you this might come as a surprise, and for some of you....well, you already know! So here it goes. Wednesday I told the women's basketball players that I will no longer be coaching at Northwestern College. I have so enjoyed my 7 years there and have learned so much from coaching with Linda....and even more important than that; i have made a life long friend that i truly trust, respect and have fun with. Linda has been apart of my life since 1993 when i ventured onto the basketball floor as a player and found out that this 'short lady' was going to be my post coach- and from that point on...Linda became a huge influence in my life. I also have so many memories wrapped up in the girls that have come and gone. In the past seven years I have coached 54 different girls, coached 213 games, and been to 700 practices (thats an average), went on two missions trips, coached with four other assistant coaches, have been given to many nick-names to name, and have been challenged in so many ways that i cant even guess at a number. Some of those 54 girls stuck it out for all four years of ball and others came and went in a year. I have some great memories - memories that will stay close to my heart. Memories like heading to Iowa for nationals, watching a player grow to love Jesus more and more, watching girls get engaged and married, bus trips, Schuck Bucks, injuries, making last minute game winning shots, Chicago trip (shopping at Nike town and the harmonica scene) seeing a player come in as a freshman and barely survive and than turn out to be one of our best players as a senior, laughter, Linda being pregnant...Linda having a baby, winning and losing, lay-up drill, Christmas practice, taco dip, Millers bed and breakfast, devotions, seriously....this list can go on and on and on. But...like i told my mom when she tried to convince me to stay on board at NWC, 'it's my time to focus on me, and i cant do that when coaching, it requires my focus.' Although i am sad to say good-bye to this chapter in my life and really cant believe that next October 15th I will not be headed to ball practice; i am excited to have some new experiences in my life. I am hoping to start grad school in May - not that grad school is fun....but an adventure for sure. i am really hoping to get involved in a single bible study at my church (or a friends church), actually have time to have a social life, and i am looking into going over seas to New Zealand to teach for a spell....all things that are new to me. I am excited. But- telling my girls was hard and i was sad and i cant imagine NOT seeing them do their season next year. I will miss it, i have no doubt. I hope and pray that the impact they have had on my life is half the impact i had on their lives. And i hope that somehow i stay connected to Northwestern Women's Basketball and the girls that will be doing life there. Go Eagles.
So there ya have it....my life changing decision.