Pursuitti's Cabin

Friday night after an early evening watching some motor cross at the Mora Fair, I headed to Sandstone to meet up with my small group (bible study) at Anna's cabin. When I arrived they had just got the fire going and were getting ready to start in on some SM-ores....yummy! we found fun ways to entertain ourselves...for instance, picking up small coals from the fire and shaking them around in our hands and passing them on to the next person to shake - that was Nate's idea, to no ones surprise. Jason and Nate also experienced a large fish jump up at them while on the dock...it sort of scared them, which we found extra funny! And of course eye spying the big dipper and other random stars!

Saturday started early for some of us who like to get up and at em early. We downed 3 pots of coffee awaiting Anna and Jen to get up!

Once our cereal, fruit and monkey bread was eaten for breakfast we hit the boat for some H2O games! Anna's family has a stellar boat. Waking boarding was first! This was Nate's second time and did a fantastic job; he only face planted 3 or 4 times....but he got the hang of it. Anna on the other hand was a pro for sure, finding air under her jumping the wake! i was in awe. Jason and Jen both did a great job for their first time as well....getting up with out much trouble and staying on top of the water too. it was fun to watch them all be successful. I was not into it at all and decided to stay in the boat.

Our lunch was awesome....we brought enough food for an army, and for multiple days! And we were only staying for one day. The afternoon was fun of hilariousness.....so much laughter! We decided to just float out in the middle of the lake and play on the tubs. Nate made up a game for us to play, which consisted of jumping off the boat onto the tub, and try to surf on it. at first we just laughed at Nate trying it. Than we decided we needed to have wars with each other- so added a second tub. goodness- so much fun! Nate sort of made up the rules as we went so he could say he always won! we were out on the water playing that game for hours! it was awesome. We did decide to do some tubing there after and again Nate thought it'd be extra fun to have wars against each other while tubing.....i lost a lot! We closed our day at the cabin with a massive dinner. It was a riot! there is no other way to describe it. Nate had us in tears...laughter tears...most of the day!

oh yes...we broke the hammock. we tried to get all of us on it for a picture and bam...down we went. it was so funny!!!!!!!!!!!!

once we returned to the cities Jen went to work adjusting everyone and their sore bodies! Than we decided to hit a movie; at 10:15 at night. holy buckets....we were tired. we went to Live Free, Die Hard! it was good....loads of action. but i guess not enough action to keep Doctor Nate awake! again....fun times.

could not handle it any more!

i couldn't handle it any more. today while in the grocery store....just after a really long, sweaty and hot workout, i sow a Dr. Pepper and NEEDED one. so....i broke one of my 2007 resolutions. yes, one of my resolutions was to give up soda (specifically DP) for a year. It has been 187 days since i have tasted the oh so refreshing and yummy taste of Dr. Pepper, and for that matter any soda! I almost broke down yesterday when i was with my friends Linda and Taylor, but that was a no go...today was a go! It lasted me about an hour; i tried to savory every taste before i got back on the fast. my next DP will not be til January 1st of 2008! But let me tell you....i so enjoyed it!!!!! it was perfect.
beings this happened i decided to go back and take a look at my blog on my resolutions and see how i was doing on the rest of them. sort of disheartening. (the blog is the last entry in January if ya wanna go back and read it)
-one of them was to workout 5 times a week. I have upheld that one almost to the tee and have even taken it a step farther and hired a trainer to work me out 2 times a week as well. since i decided to go that route i have not done the weight watchers piece at all; which was suppose to help me lose 25 pds by summer time. well....honestly, i have not lost 25 pds, but have lost almost a size to 2 sizes in clothing- and have been doing a lot of fine tuning muscles. so...i feel good about that one.
-research grad school and sign up. DONE! in grad school. yeah, that one is accomplished
-read my bible every day and keep up on my daily chronological bible readings. well....that one sucks big time. i went back to look in my chronological bible and have not read in it since the end my May. and as for just reading my bible every day- nope, maybe 50% of them time i do. so i am placing my discipline challenge yet again before me to see if i can do it every day! but i have joined a bible study- so that helps!
-the last one was to go on dates. and i have some...not enough... and i think i might be holding out for a certain someone. but....'whatever' is my attitude with that whole issue.

*so there ya have it. my Dr. Pepper tasted awesome today. and as the rain keeps coming down and the thunder thundering....i think to myself. Life is good!

family fun

this past sunday the Venhuizen's had a little get together at Joe and Julie's house in Pine City and had a great time visiting, playing, laughing,...and even some figthing. It was a beautiful afternoon out as we sat and enjoyed the sun and each other. nothing to new to share besides the pics we took. theses are the ladies taking in the sun....from left to right. carey - my sister in law, me, sara - my cousin jamie's wife who is due mid august, my aunt bonnie who makes me laugh non-stop, my other aunt paulette (my moms sister) who treats me like her own daughter, and than julie who married my cousin joe - she was the host.

lets be honest....is this not one of the cuties kids ever. tyler, the youngest of my nephews!

these next pictures were taken cuz i got a little silly. ya see, my mom was taking pictures of all the couples/families for a family tree one of relatives wants to put together for our family reunion so mom started snapping pics of everyone. well to no one's surprise....i dont have a 'couple' or kids to share my pic spot with so decided i'd do something weird and silly. so here is me trying to look like the models do when their hair looks like it's in the wind. we used a fan.....and i almost peed my pants while doing this. carey wanted to join in the fun and chris (my oldest brother) got in the back ground. it was funny and seemed to entertain people for a long time. although this will not be the picture used in the family tree. anyhow-

the last thought i want to share is a pic of me and the brothers. we all showed up with green on and didnt even plan it. imagine that! so we had to capture it. and chris and buzz can never take anything seriously...thus their faces and posture. nice boys!

LIFE TIME TRIATHLON

TODAY WAS THE LIFE TIME TRI.
HOLY BUCKETS.....WAS THIS A BIG TRI. 3100 TOTAL ATHLETES TOOK PART. I WISH I HAD REMEMBERED MY CAMERA CUZ I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE TRANSITION SITE (for those of you that don't follow triathlons, this would be the place where the athletes transition from the swim to the bike to the run)....CUZ MAN WERE THERE A LOT OF BIKES.
ANYWAYS.
WE TOOK PART IN THE OLYMPIC FEMALE RELAY. I DID THE 1 MILE SWIM IN 40 MINUTES....AND ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS IT WAS A LONG WAY TO SWIM. I FELT GOOD FOR 25 MINUTES OUT OF THE 40 IT TOOK ME AND ONLY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DROWNED ONCE WHEN A DUDE WITH A BRIGHT ORANGE CAP ON DECIDED THAT HE WAS TO LAZY TO SWIM AROUND ME SO SWAM OVER ME INSTEAD. AFTER I WAS UNDER WATER FOR A SPELL AND THE DUDE DIDN'T MOVE OFF ME....I DECIDED ELBOWS TO THE STOMACH WOULD BE AN APPROPRIATE WAY TO GET HIM OFF. HE DIDN'T EVEN STOP- AND I SORT OF FELT ABUSED. SARA DID THE 25 MILE BIKE PORTION AND AMIDST THE WIND PULLED IN A SOLID RIDE AT 1 HOUR 25 MINUTES. SHE SEEMED HAPPY WITH HER PERFORMANCE. AT THIS POINT IN THE RACE WE WERE 12th OUT OF 20 RELAY TEAMS IN OUR AGE WAVE. KRISSIE DID THE 6.2 MILES AND TOTALLY KICKED BUTT AND BROUGHT US FROM 12th TO 6th. SHE RAN IT IN 47 MINUTES, WHICH IS A 7:40 MINUTE MILE. WOW....SHE'S FAST!
OVER ALL A SOLID PERFORMANCE BYE TEAM NWC (that was our team name). WE ALL SEEMED TO BE HAPPY, AND HAD A GOOD TIME.
I WILL ADMIT RELAYS ARE FUN, BUT DOING THE WHOLE THING BYE YOURSELF IS ALOT MORE SATISFYING. I HOPE TO ENCLOSE SOME PICS WHEN JASON AND JOEY (friends of ours that came to support us) SEND ME THE PICS THEY TOOK WITH THEIR PHONES. TIL THAN- GET OUTSIDE AND GO FOR A SWIM, A BIKE RIDE OR A JOG. GOOD TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kara was in town

kara lynn, who currently lives in Florida, was in town so we decided that getting some college friends together was in need. tammy sue (in black) and heather (in white t-shirt) were my college roommates and kara (i knew her from high school) became fast friend with them as well. thus we did a lot of hanging out together and thought we should re create it 10+years later. lots of things have changed since than like.....(see following pics)

they all have kids. tammy has two: a boy (drew) and a girl (kate). kara lynn has 3 boys: jakin, asher and eli. and heather has 3: megan, ben and cameryn. it's insane when you get them all together. of course, not much has changed with me....i'm still a kid at heart; as you can see me jumping on the tramp with all the boys. i also played lots in the pool with the boys; i was used as a throwing machine, a surf board, a ladder, and of course was the shark they had to swim from.

it is always a joy to see good long life friends. we hung out for most of the afternoon and did a lot of chatting. for some reason....most of that conversation is about kids- but i guess i can learn from them. right!

this week

this is Sara Ann Mortensen surprise 30th birthday party. it was an ordeal to get this squared away for her party, but was worth it. she was so surprised and we had a great day celebrating her, and America's freedom. after her party, which was in mid 90 's, we hit the beach for some cooling off time...than hit the park for some fire works. after that we headed to Perkins for some food cuz we were all extra hungry and waited for an hour before he got our order taken and than waited what seemed like another hour for our food....again, we were extra hungry. but it was a good day over all and so fun celebrating Sara's 30 with her. (she is the in the front middle row with the brown shirt on).
today (Saturday) we had birthday bash #2 for Sara Ann Mortensen. it was a beach bash....and everyone was invited; even people we didn't know cuz there sure were a lot of people at the beach. i guess we picked the hottest day thus far this summer to have this bash so we spent lots of time in the water. here is some of the gang trying to find some shade.
one of Sara's (and mine too) pals, Chummer showed up to extend his birthday wish to Sara. he is so fun, but didn't get to spend a lot of time with us in the sun due to him needing to jet and meet a friend to plan their trip to Peru. they are having a good laugh at something- cant remember whateveryone, this is Justin...as you can see he is a 'heart breaker'. actually he was forced to put this shirt on and smile pretty for the camera. fun times for Justin. and for those of you viewing....'no, i cant give his number out.'everyone, meet Fawn. She is my trainer....but no longer am i going to call her that cuz we have taken the next step and are friends. so everyone...meet my friend Fawn. She is so fun, lots to say...has some crazy thoughts- but mostly just pure fun. except when we are in the gym working out- than she is not so fun and could even be called a bad name, if i was that sort of girl. today was full of fun, and a whole lot of sun. as i drove home the temp gage on Culver's read 108 degree's. i am guessing that was a bit hot cuz the news told me it was 98 degree's. either- man oh man- hot!!!! i got a little sun kissed today, mostly just on my shoulders and my chest so am thankful i didn't' get it on my legs....like most people did. here we are trying to catch just a couple of minutes of shade before we packed up our loads of stuff and went home. again, a good day full of friends, fun, food and fellowship. good times!
when i got home the temp in my house was 98 degrees as well so i broke down for the 2nd time this summer and turned on the air. currently it has cooled off to 79 degrees where i will leave it til the morning. i don't like to turn the air on- summer brings to many peaceful noises and i love the heat....ok, most days i do. today was a bit much! anyhow....that's my stories for the week. nothing major.