Rib Fest and Vikings Training Camp

Saturday we had a successful trip to Mankato. We started off at the 14^th Annual Rib Fest with the John’s, Andrew and Jennifer. It was really hot and it wasn’t a huge festival, but we had a good time. There were about 6 different rib joints that were represented and yes, there was one from MEMPHIS! :) Ansley LOVED the ribs!

We also got an Hawaiian Shaved Ice to cool off with and Ansley helped herself to some….



After the rib fest we went to the Vikings Training Camp which is being held at Minnesota State University.

It was super crowded because they were having an intrasquad scrimmage. We were able to watch their pre-practice and get super close to the players. Andrew hollered at Donavon McNabb for a pic and McNabb acted like he was going to throw him a football, but faked the pass instead and did a little dance….it was pretty funny!

These are pics of the pre-practice....





Pics of the scrimmage....told you it was CROWDED!

We did get to meet a couple of the Viking Cheerleaders….



Before we left for our Mankato trip I was playing around with Ansley's hair and was actually able to make a little ponytail...it was so cute!!!

Only 12 days till our visit home! Continue to pray for us, our adventure, and travel home!

We love and miss you guys!



Ansley's Play Date

We finished off our fun filled weekend with Ansley’s first MN play date! The last time we went to the water park we meet a nice couple with a daughter just a little bit older than Ansley. We just made some small talk about our girls and then we left and didn’t think much about it. It turns out the nice couple we meet she works for Federated as well which is how we got the invite for a play date! On Sunday afternoon we meet Lisa, James, and their daughter Anna who is 18months along with another couple Elizabeth, Brock and Greta who is 16months at the water park to play. After playing in the water for a couple of hours we went to James and Lisa’s for a BBQ. The girls got a long great!!! We sat outside and watched them play, which was fun because at times the girls would all be playing together and then other times they would all be playing separately. Ansley really hasn’t been around other kids her age, so it was fun to see her interacting with them!

Greta, Ansley, Anna

Ansley LOVED this play structure...she loved the 'side'

Monday I went into St. Paul to Bethal Care Center, which is a sister facility to the nursing home I will be working at, to follow the Respiratory Therapist there to see a little of what I'll be doing. Tuesday I had an on site orientation for Owatonna Hospital. Then on Thursday I had my orientation for the nursing home. I know, I feel like all I have done is orientations! :)  Lance had 3 test this week with a final on Friday. He did great on all his test and he PASSED his final!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

Just a couple pics of miss ansley....

Only 14 days till our visit home! Continue to pray for us and our adventure!

We love and miss you guys!



Ansley's First Dance

Last week was busy for me I had to work Monday the 25^th –Wednesday 27^th from 7-3:30 at the hospital. While I was at work, one of the other Federated wives, Meagan, came over and watched Ansley. I survived work so on Thursday me and Ansley went to some garage sales. Yep-I found her a baby stroller AND a UT cheerleader bear! Best $1 I've spent in a long time! :)

After our great garage sale finds we went downtown where they were having the Owatonna Crazy Days, which is a 5 day festival. They had some food vendors set up along with a sidewalk sale. Pretty much all the stores downtown put out their junk, but me and Ansley meet up with our friend Allison and her lil guy Parker and browsed around. (I know I don't talk about what Lance does during the week because I have a hard enough time remembering what all I've done, much less what Lance has been into! Sorry, I'll try and do better!!)

Friday after Lance got done with work we went back downtown to the Hog Roast and Street Dance. There was a really good band playing and the BBQ was good. We had fun at the dance, but Ansley had a blast!! She even meet her a little friend who took her to dance! LOL! It was so cute! The little boy wasn’t much older than Ansley, but he led her to the dance floor! Ansley wasn’t much of a date; she didn’t even get the little boy’s name! :)





Here is a great video of Ansley dancing by herself. Lance says she dances just like her momma…I’ll let you decide!

 (PS-I promise she is okay from her wipe out at the end of the video!)

Saturday we went back downtown. They had the Festival of the Arts going on along with the Farmers Market. There were a lot of photography and jewelry vendors.

After eating a healthy lunch of Pronto Pups (corn dogs) and cheese curds (the north’s version of cheese sticks) we decided to drive to Mankato which is around 45min to an hour away from Owatonna. So not a bad trip and Ansley napped the whole drive. We didn’t really have any plans we were just going by the seat of our pants, which wasn’t a good idea. Once we got into Mankato we stopped at a store to ask what we should do and they weren’t very helpful. I guess local people don’t think there is a lot to see in Mankato other than the Vikings training camp so we didn’t stay very long, but we did see a crop duster plane during the trip, which was neat. We are planning on going back to Mankato this weekend; they actually have some things going on. I’ll let you know how this trip turns out! Once we got back, Lance went and played golf, while me and Ansley went to the pool!!



Sunday, Ansley had her first play date, but I’ll talk about that in my next post!

Only 17 days till our visit home! Continue to pray for us and our adventure!

We love and miss you guys!

Mall of America

Saturday we made the trip to Mall of America (MOA)!

We ended up spending 8+hours and we really only made it around the 1^st floor! That place is HUGE!

http://www.mallofamerica.com/home/ 

Ansley did great for being in the mall that long….she was a trooper! We were going to take her to Build a Bear, but the line was super looonnnggg, maybe next time! They have a 2 story American Girl Doll store that we didn’t even go in because I knew that if Ansley saw all those ‘bay-bees’ we would have to get her one and I’m not ready for that yet! One of the coolest part of the mall is Nickelodeon Universe, which is like an amusement park inside the mall. Since it is Nickelodeon I figured there would be Dora stuff and there was! We were actually standing in line to meet Dora, but she went on break. That was probably a good thing, because Ansley was kind of starting to freak out, like she did with Santa.

We did find a non-real Dora to take pictures with, but if you look close you can tell Ansley still wasn't sure about it!

The American Girl store                                            These characters are made totally of Legos!       

 

Nickelodeon Universe

Other than our trip to MOA we didn't get into much this past weekend or week. I actually had to work 3 days this week! Sheewww! :) We have managed to find an ice cream place that we LOVE! Blast Soft serve has a huge menu of ice cream options, my fav is the cookie dough flurry and Lance likes the Carmel sundae. Not only do they have great ice cream, but upstairs to Blast is a small pizza joint called Rose Street Pizza. Although is as good as Big Ed's, this place is definitely our version of Big Ed's here in MN! During one of our evening walks, Ansley has found a new place to ride in the stroller....

Only 23 more days till our visit home!!! Continue to pray for us and our adventure!

We love and miss you guys!

HOT HOT HOT!!!

Last week we had a pretty busy week. I actually had to work! :) Well, I had orientation for Allina (which is the health system that is over Owatonna Hospital) 3 days in Minneapolis (Monday-Wednesday) Then on Friday, I was at the hospital getting an idea of what I'll be doing by following the other therapist around. Lance had a midterm exam. He did great, made a 89 on it…way to go bud!!

Saturday, while Lance played golf, we went shopping. We went to the outlets. Nowhere near as big as Tanger in Pigeon Forge, but has all the essentials: Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree, Children’s Place, Carter’s, and some others. I had some coupons and there were some great sales going on. I found Ansley some warmer weather clothes…18months seems soooo big!

Sunday we went to church. I think we have found one we really like. It doesn’t come close to Dutch Valley :), but it will work as an alternative. After church we went over to Jennifer and Andrew’s to watch the World Cup soccer game. Not sure if we will ever get invited back, we all feel asleep during the game!

 After the game, we decided to try out River Springs Water Park, the local water park. It isn’t huge, but it has a great kids area with a zero entry pool. There is also a small kiddie slide, that Ansley LOVED! They also have a couple of water fountains that shoot out of the ground that she liked.

(this is part of the water park)

This past week it has been super HOT! The heat index has been around 105-117! This weekend it is supposed to be a lil cooler and not as humid with highs in the mid 80’s.

 (This was taken from Lance's phone one day last week)

I had another day of orientation Tuesday. This time it was in St. Paul. Then on Wednesday I had an interview with St. Lucas Care Center. http://local-nursing-homes.com/nursinghome.cfm?detail=general&home=st-lucas-care-center&provNum=245067 This is a nursing home in Fairbault (about 25mins North of us). I got the job on the spot! All they need is a respiratory therapist to work 8hours a week, with the chance to pick up more hours if wanted. They are actually paying me more than the hospital and I can work my 8 hours when I want. If I wanna work it all in one day I can or if I want to work it in 2 days I can and I can also work in the evenings when Lance gets out of school/work. As far as Lance this week, things seem to be a little calmer and slower now that his midterm is over. Instead of having numerous tests throughout the week, he will only have one for the most part.

Enough about us, I know you really want to know how Ansley is doing!

She is into anything and everything! She has always been very vocal, but lately she will repeat absolutely anything! She loves to sing‘itsy bitsy spider’ and we are working on ‘Jesus loves me’. She loves to eat blueberries and watermelon and she isn’t liking ‘nanas’ as much right now. She still loves her bay-bee, we don’t go too many places without it. One of her new words is stuck. If she can’t get something she says ‘stuck’. She loves hide-n-go-seek. As long as you can’t see her eyes, then she is hiding!

Only about 4more weeks til our visit home! Continue to pray for us and our adventure!

We love and miss you guys!

Dates for our first trip HOME!!!

Yep-we are heading home for a visit soon and we couldn't be happier!!! Although we are enjoying our time up here...we are ready to head home and visit our family and friends! We will be leaving Minneapolis/St. Paul airport bright and early Saturday morning AUGUST 20TH and arrive in KNOXVILLE around 12:30. Lance will fly back to MN Sunday the 28th, but me and Ansley aren't heading back til Friday SEPTEMBER 2nd...so we will be home an extra week!!! Lance wasn't sold on the idea for me and Ansley to stay an extra week, because that would mean that we would have to fly by ourselves. But he finally gave in....thank you buddy :)...cause he knows how much it means to me and Ansley to stay the extra week. We CANNOT wait to see everybody!!!

As a teaser....here are some random pics of Ansley...enjoy!

She loves eating 'nanas'

She loves playing at the park and on the playground

She treats our lil table as her own playground

She is one cool chick! :)

Please continue to pray for us and our new adventure...We love and miss you guys!

Garage Sales and the City

This past Saturday morning we thought we would try our luck at garage sales. Some of the other wives kept talking about what good deals they have found, etc. We didn’t get off to an early start, but that doesn’t matter in Owatonna. Most garage sales start on Thursday, which is kinda different, and they don’t start till 9 or 10, not bright and early like they do back home. They have a website dedicated to all the garage sales (http://www.owatonnagaragesales.com/). It list where and what items they have. From this website you can make a list of all the sales you want to go to, makes it pretty easy. I was looking for a snow suit for Ansley and some cheap toys/clothes. Well, we hit the jack pot! We found her one Columbia brand snow suit and another snow suit that isn’t as thick, but has fleece lined pants. They were both just $5 each!!! Now I’m hooked on garage sales.....next on my list is to find her some snow boots! 

After our morning of garage sales, we made a trip into the big city (Minneapolis). Lance and another couple, Jennifer and Andrew, wanted to check out a golf expo/liquidation sale that was going on at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The Minnesota State Fairgrounds is very impressive….over 320 acres! The state fair is schedule Aug 25th-Sept 5th and yes if we can, we plan on going! It was nice and toasty that day, so after sweating through the golf sale we went to eat at Lance’s favorite restaurant (so far) Seven Sushi. After an early dinner, we walked around the city and then we meet up with my friend Tina. There was a big block party going on in the city at The Basilica of Saint Mary. Which is a huge beautiful Old Catholic church (http://basilicablockparty.org/ ) and it happens to be super close to Tina’s apartment. So we got to hang out with Tina and enjoy some good music. Tina has an amazing apartment with BEAUTIFUL views of the city….on her left; the beautiful church and on her right; downtown with a great view of the Twins stadium…pretty cool!!!

 these are some pics of The Basilica

We stopped by the Twins Stadium

 

                                                           Our view from dinner

                                                           

                                                     One of the views from Tina's apartment

Please continue to pray for us on this new adventure and we miss and love you guys!!!