last week!!!

last week i helped Linda coach a basketball camp that was hosted at my church: Open Door. We had 24 kids ranging from 5 years of age to 13. Linda handed off the little dudes to me all week long. I nicknamed them "knee bitters'- and we had a great time...most of the time. I had 8 little guys in my group. One of them was 5 years old and i gotta say he was the best out of the group. well behaved and super fun; and even though he was by far the smallest he was the best shooter of the group. nice! the others were 7 years old. i felt like i was parenting most of the time instead of teaching basketball, but it was still good. i dealt alot with pushing, cheating, tackling when we tired to play, bath room breaks, bumps and bruises, crying, listening to many many stories that had nothing to do with basketball, and of course....wondering when snack was. sort of a form of birth control...i love kids and really want one, but wow....8 knee bitters was overwhelming! today was my last assignment for my masters class for the summer. i am a little over half done. i am so glad that i have 2 months off to do nothing that pertains to studying...i am sick of it. here is a pile of books that i have used over the past year. most of which i hope to sell soon. i am guessing i will never use them again. i think the whole pile of books is worth about $500 bucks. its nuts how much books are. i hope to sell them and get about half of that back. we will see. any ideas what site works best for re-selling books???? ok than. well i just got in from laying out at the pool and need to jump in the shower. sweet. happy summer time- FINALLY!!!!!

Kate's Wedding and High School friends

Last weekend, which was a long time ago, i had four of my best friends from high school over to my house to celebrate Kate's single life one last time. It was a great time. We looked at old photo albums of our elementary, junior high and high school lives, we talked about boys we had crushes on...and those we still do have crushes on, we talked about something that i cant mention on this rated G blog site, we watched Vollie fall asleep at like 10:00 and laughed at her a little, and of course talked about Kates big wedding day. It was a fantastic evening. As i think back on that night i am just so thankful that i have continued to celebrate life's journey with these 3 ladies. they are solid. of course, we are all in different stages of life- but all still have things to offer one another. I would not be the same person with out having the influences they have had on me. they stayed the night and i really thought about trying to freeze their bra's like we did back in high school, but didn't want them to forget them- so...i didn't. but i did chuckle at myself at the thought of it. Yesterday (Saturday June 21st) was Kate's wedding. It was a perfect day. The wedding was very nice, but very Catholic. I am NOT use to Catholic weddings at all. i was lost most of the time. but it was so Kate and she looked fantastic. We moved quickly out to the Kramschuster Home for the reception. It was so beautiful. A big white tent with well decorated tables. We all drank out of fine wine glasses and had awesome food. Man, it was a great time.
Of course, we just wouldn't be us unless we did something silly and made idiots out of ourselves; note picture above. not sure what it is we are doing. but it was funny- thats for sure. we spent the night dancing, drinking and laughing. there was some pretty fun entertainment there. I swear- Kid Rock was there....

As the night came to a close the bugs came out like crazy. Here Vollie and I are trying to keep them from bitting us- she wrapped up in a table cloth and i in Kate's vail again. funny huh!

Nicki's Wedding Day - June 20, 2008

Nicki's Wedding day was perfect, well- minus the rain we got for about 45 minutes. But...it was a great day. I so enjoy seeing a good friend like Nicki so happy. She was by far the most calm bride I've ever witnesses, and trust me when i say I've seen a lot. Her hair looked just right for her, but took about 1/2 hour longer than she wanted. no worries....i, being her personal attend, picked her up and when she finished we left for her parents hotel to pick up her dress and things and than were going to hope to have time for lunch before we headed to her hotel to get ready...but due to some traffic and transportation miss-calculations....we got lunch to go. As Nicki eat on the run we came up with a game plan to help her 'getting ready process' to go smooth. Nicki was a calm as ever...like we were going to a movie or something. Once we got checked in she hit the make-up which took like 15 minutes....faster ever. than her dress: the fun part! yes. she was so excited to put it on. it looked great on her and again only took a quick couple minute to get it on. i spent more time under her dress trying to find what was scratching her legs. that was interesting! but all in all- she was super calm. and she looked awesome. Dustin picked her up at their wedding night hotel site- and they got to spend a couple minutes alone admiring one another. fun!
The wedding was held at como park outside by the pond. it was beautiful as you can see. a little hot. pictures went great. no worries. but with about 45 minutes to go before the guests were to arrive the rain came. we stood out in it...and again, Nicki was so calm. she just knew it was gonna pass. so- the first round of it we used the ministers robe to cover Nicki- after it let up for a quick second we jetted for the van. there we hung out for about 20 minutes. Here is were Nicki started to panic just a little. there was talk of calling it and heading over to the reception hall right away and having it there, but as we talked the blue sky re-appeared and bamm...beautiful again. so the wedding happen with no problems at all. the sun was out and all was well.
the reception was super fun and it was great to celebrate Nicki and Dustin with good friends. Mandi and Sunil came all the way from New York. and Jen Hennish was there with her husband and baby. good times had by all. it was a long day, but a good day. full of lots of smiles and so much love between Nicki and Dustin. Days like this i am reminded why i have such a deep desire to get married and share that sort of deep love with someone. As i drove home that night praying that I'd stay awake...i prayed for patience as i continue to wonder at what God has for me. And i thanked God for keeping me pure in my journey...and that he would continue to do so. I love Nicki, and I am glad that Dustin will be apart of my life forever. and, i get the pleasure of getting up and doing this all over again tomorrow for Kate's wedding. YES!!! a double whammie.

the number 5

15 years ago I graduated from high school and was thinking about what life will be like in college

5 years ago my teaching job changed from part time to full time and i was coaching basketball at northwestern college

5 months ago i was in Floriida celebrating my 33rd birthday, by myself. it was glorious!

5 weeks ago i was so ready for school to be done and for summer to start

5 days ago i was coaching at a post camp at northwestern and getting ready to do a presentation for my grad class- super fun! i aced it.

5 hours ago i was sleeping on Jen's couch

5 minutes ago i was answering the phone at Scandia Chiropractic and making appointments for patients. yes, i am the secretary for the week. NICE.

in 5 mintues i will be answering the phone at Scandia Chiropractic, making appointments and putting vitamins away

in 5 hours i will be eating lunch and sitting on the beach- we get a 3 hour lunch break....sweet.

in 5 weeks i will be getting ready to take part in my first Triathlon of the summer. not ready at all....and the water is going to be so cold!

in 5 months i will be back to work...teaching, and wondering how in the world can i motivate kids! (and wishing i was still the Scandia Chiropratic secretary...)

in 5 years i be returning from a year or 2 of teaching in New Zealand- and maybe, just maybe I will be married.

in 15 years i will be teaching somewhere, living somewhere with my husband, loving life and enjoying the blessings that come with being 48 years old!

Linda - this is for you.

Linda- see these big 3 bags...yes, these bags are from your garage, i had to use them to pick up all the branches and twigs and leaves that were strued all over your yard. man, you picked a fantastic week to have someone else mow your lawn. no house damage, just a whole lot of branches and leaves that were to thick to mow over, so yes...this girl has to rake your lawn first. that took me about 1 1/2 hour and caused 3 blister on my hands. (i tried to take a picture of my blisters but they didn't turn out). of course came the actually mowing. it's been awhile since I've actually had to push a mower that far and for that long. worked myself up a big sweat. it was fun...ok, not really fun but ya know what i mean. i got sun burnt on my shoulders. the mowing part went pretty fast- only a short hour of pushing. oh yes...had a little accident. hit a big branch and the edge of your sewer drain at the same time and put a little dent on the inside of the bottom of your mower. i had to smack it back out with the hammer- oh wait, i couldn't find a single hammer in your garage- where in the heck do you keep them????? so i used a piece of wood, a screw driver, and my foot to push it back out so the blade wouldn't rub on it. anyways- no damage, just a big scare for this girl that thought she wrecked your lawn mower!!!!! all in all- a good afternoon spent on the lawn. hope no more storms come around while i am in charge of your lawn. seriously- you owe me big time.


Justin graduated on Saturday from Seminary at Bethel and he invited us peeps to attend. i missed the first hour or so of the actual ceremony, but made the end - the most important part- cake, fruit and coffee!!! Very proud of Justin. He is seriously one of the smartest
Bible dudes i know. he digs so deep into each and every single verse and has this sort of passion to keep digging and wanting more. he totally inspires me! love that kid! We went over to his house where his mom cooked for us all. We just hung out and chatted and laughed at each other. it was a good time. it's been a long time since I've got to just chill with ben, justin, jay and jen...so it was a nice way to spend a Saturday evening. plus, celebrating justin's accomplishment was super cool.