Uncle T's Visit and Ice Fishing

Once we got back from our trip to TN for Christmas, we got our 1st visitor.....Uncle T (Travis, Lance's brother) came up to visit and experience a 'Northern Winter'. The only bad thing about his visit was that he didn't get to experience too much of a Northern winter. This winter has been a very strange one for Minnesota. Last January they had about 45+ inches of snow and this winter the biggest snowfall we have had so far is about 6 inches.

After seeing all the sites in Owatonna (mainly Cabela's)  we headed up further North in search of some outdoor winter snow fun! We ended up in the Norther part of Central MN around Nisswa and Brainerd. We stayed at a really nice lodge (http://www.grandviewlodge.com/index.php) that offered outdoor fun along with your stay. Lance had everything arranged, even a babysitter, for all of us to go snowmobiling. The only problem, at the time, was that there wasn't any snow! So instead of snowmobiling, the boys went ice fishing!

some pics inside the lodge

i know this pic is dark, but this is the back of the lodge and it reminded me of Dirty Dancing

Back to the ice fishing...

I'm not even going to act like I know a lot about ice fishing so bear with me :)

Anywhere there is a frozen lake you can look out and see a bunch of ice fishing houses or 'shanties'

this is the boys shanty

Travis riding out to the shanty with the fishing guide

(at this point in the trip, Lance was back in our room sick with the stomach bug.

So Travis got to learn all about ice fishing and fish for a little bit by himself)

the shanty....the boys rented it for 24 hours (i think, it may have been longer)

bunk beds on one end. There is a bathroom behind that door, or I mean a bucket

the other side, and yes it was heated

there are 6 holes in the floor, not very child friendly, so me and Ansley just visited for a little

Rattle reels

one of the fish Travis caught

fishing is hard work!

Travis and Lance

After having fun fishing we explored downtown Nisswa, MN

We found a Marble Slab Creamery and enjoyed some ice cream

We also went snowtubing at Ski Gull (http://www.skigull.com/index.html)

Ansley didn't have as much fun as the rest of us

Travis

It was so nice to have Travis come up and hang out with us. The best part is that Ansley got to see Uncle T catch a fish. Randomly she will talk about the fish Uncle T caught and she tells it like a true fisherman cause the fish gets bigger every time she talks about it,

so now Uncle T caught a BIG fish! :)

We also got to welcome 2012 in while we were there

Happy New Year!

EXCITING NEWS!!!

It's official....Lance got the North Knoxville territory!!!

His territory will include; Anderson, Campbell, Scott, Morgan, and north Knoxville. Our prayers have been answered and we are beyond excited!!! Lance will be done with the training program the middle of April. That is when we will officially move back, but me and Ansley may move back sooner it just depends on when I find a job! :)

We thank you all for your prayers, thoughts, and support during this time and ask that you continue to pray for us as we make this transition back home.

Me and Ansley made a snowman (or snow girl) to celebrate!!!

Gymnastics!

Ansley has now been doing gymnastics for about 3 months and it is something that she looks forward to every week! Her favorite part is at the end of class, when she gets her stamp! Even though she is one of the youngest in her class, she does a really good job- I know, every parent says that! :)

 Here are some pics and videos from previous classes....

Getting ready to go

Daddy got to come!

Here is a little video of what Ansley does at gymnastics

One of the things that she has been working on at gymnastics is bear crawling. Well, the other night, on her own, she started to bear crawl! I haven't been this excited since she started walking! :)

(Not sure why I can't get the video to load,

but if you click on the link below you should be able to see it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=191GwHHdamk&list=UU6DF8LnM4siIHNgY9r3f6Nw&index=1&feature=plcp

Thank you Uncle Judge and Aunt Maia for the fun tiara and wand!!!

Christmas 2011

We were able to go home for Christmas, which was really nice!!! It was a short trip, but I wouldn't have it any other way! Ansley ended up getting the stomach bug while we were there. That kinda put a little damper on some of the Christmas festivities. Not to mention passing it on, but at least Christmas was over when everybody else got it!! Sorry! :) I  made another one of these 'smilebox' things. It is so much easier when there are a lot of pics. So enjoy the slide show below....

Customize your own picture slideshow

some random pics

Here are some random pics from one of the first snows we got....

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Holidazzle Parade

I know I'm WAY behind on my blog posts, but I'm trying to catch up...starting with our trip to the Holidazzle Parade that runs through Downtown Minneapolis! http://www.holidazzle.com/

We went with AJ and Jen and started the day off with a trip to Macy's. On the very top floor of Macy's they have a holiday show called 'Santaland-A Day in the Life of an Elf'. It is an animated show and it reminded both me and Lance of Dollywood or something that would be at Dollywood! :)

Even elves have to sleep....Ansley couldn't get over the fact that they were snoring! :)

When we left Macy's we walked around Downtown for a little bit before meeting up with Tina to eat before the parade started.

playing around downtown

Ansley loved all the Christmas decorations

So after we ate, we made our way to find a spot to watch the big parade!

Front Row!

the floats were very elaborate....it was very different than the Clinton or Lake City parades! :)

Ansley had so much fun!

After the parade and on our way home we stopped by a drive-thru Christmas light show in St. Paul. It was pretty neat, but it didn't come even close to as good as Shadrack's at the Smokies Park, but we had fun!

at first I thought this was a red tractor, but once we got closer I figured out it wasn't

We had one tired little girl on the way home!