From Minnesota to Missouri

Where to start...let's say Minn-e-so-ta. This last weekend Ryan and I traveled to Mexico, Missouri. Yes there is a Mexico in the United States. It is in the north-central part of Missouri (aka middle of nowhere).

The trip started on Friday afternoon at 3:30pm after I was finished with work. The drive from Northfield to Des Moines was nonetheless flat. It got better once Ryan and I got to southeast Iowa/northern Missouri. There are many Amish in this region and we did see some wagons with horses on the shoulder of the roads. Both of us were stunned to see so many of them out after dark. We encountered many signs that said "Please share the roads." underneath it was a picture of a wagon and horse. We arrived at Mexico about 11pm. We were both proud of ourselves for only stopping twice (especially me because my bladder is very small!).
Now we come to the purpose of our trip. My cousin, Jake from Arlington, Texas attends a high school military academy in Mexico, MMA. Every year at the end of the school year they have a send off for all the boys. During the send off they have a final formation and graduation for all the seniors. Jake of course wasn't a senior, but he was involved from the beginning to the end.

These are pictures of the final formation.

After the final formation was complete commencement started. It was a very formal ceremony.

All the students ushering in...
When graduation was done the boys lined up out front and were released/dismissed. I don't think I have ever seen so many hats thrown in the air. Jake's seemed to be thrown the highest. I wouldn't say that it is any inclination of his experience there because what I saw that weekend was different. The relationships that the boys have made and the experiences they went through showed me the bonds they have will last forever. To see my little cousin have that experience was emotional for me. I am so happy and honored to tell people that my cousin attends MMA. It was great to see my cousins, aunt, and my Grandpa Tom, who drove down from Des Moines to haul Jake's things home. Below are some more pictures from the weekend...

The Boys

Grandpa Tom and some of his favorite grandchildren

Cousin Erin, who just graduated high school!

Cousins and I...love them!

The Myers Family

Waiting patiently to watch Jake and embarrass him

After saying goodbye to Katie, Grandpa Tom and the cousins we ventured over to Columbia, MO, home of the Zou. We walked around the stadium and campus. We ate at a brewery downtown and decided to stay in the city for the night. We were so both physically exhausted from the long night of driving before. The place we stayed at had this huge statue of a moose out front. I don't know if the statue was necessary but nonetheless it gave us entertainment.

The next morning we awoke and started on our way towards home. While we were completely bored driving through Missouri, we came across Yogi the bear. We were crying from laughing so hard. Here was Yogi in front of this business with two garbage cans full of what looked like gasoline tanks. Only in Missouri would you find a moose and Yogi all within 20 miles of each other!

Since we had all the time in the world to get home we also stopped at Pella, Iowa to have lunch. It was a quaint town with a college and a downtown with a danish touch. I loved it! It reminded both of us of Northfield with all the boutiques downtown. We even had our lunch in a park in front of Pella Windows manufacturer. According to Ryan this was his favorite part of the trip. He also figured out that Central College is located in Pella, which then lead to him talking about St. John's football. I guess they always gave them a run for their money. An old windmill in downtown Pella. Another stop, Des Moines. We HAD TO check out the capital. Here is a look from the capital steps of downtown Des Moines in the background. The coolest thing I thought about our capital visit was that people were taking wedding pictures while we were there. It was at the point of the wedding where the groom was seeing the bride for the first time. It brought me back to August 21, 2010 when I married my best friend!

The capital of Iowa

I had to take a picture of this because I hope Ryan someday will be able to park a foot away from the state capital. Here ends our trip for the most part. The drive between Des Moines and Northfield was very bland. Not much to see besides fields, corn, beans, and a couple homes here and there. We were so happy to make it and see our wonderful cousins!

A place we call home continued...

Now that we have some more time, we will continue our virtual picture tour through our new home. Here are pictures of the upstairs.
You choose to walk up the stairs and you straight ahead. You see our kitchen table. It was Emily's parents old kitchen table. The drapes complementary of all the friends and family giftcards from our wedding.

You look to the left and see our kitchen. There is a huge pantry in the corner. (Love, love, love it)! We have a double sink. You wouldn't think that is a huge deal, but coming from a small garden-level apartment it is! The best part of the kitchen, dining room, living room, and upstairs in general is that it is all open. When we were looking at places to purchase we walked inside this one and saw the high ceilings. Immediately we both feel in love!

This is half of our living room area. The big couch is from our dear friends, the Greenes. The blue rocker is our favorite seat in the house because we have the awesome huge window where we can see our neighbors every move.

Here is the other half of the living room. We have an awesome mission-style entertainment center and an old-school Singer Sewing Machine. It adds an antique touch. Now we will move into the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom.

Bathroom #2: Similar to the downstairs bathroom, our upstairs one is also blue. This one is shared between the both of us. Let's just say some mornings can be pretty hectic with both of us trying to get ready.

Here is the guest bedroom upstairs. Emily's favorite room. She loves the colors and style of furniture in the bedroom. It is known as the retro and/or old-school room.

This is the other side of the retro bedroom. It has a dresser Emily's mother found and a mission style shelf.

Master Bedroom: The colors in the room are bronze, green, and cream. This is a small view and image how big it is! We love the space, especially coming from an apartment. The furniture in this room is Emily's Grandma's.

On the other side of the wall is our dresser and Emily's armour. She is obsessed with it and of course it is fully packed with a necklace for every outfit.

Here are the pain in the butt sheers (as Emily would say). They look awesome hung up, but if you ask Ryan about them he will just roll his eyes and tell you it took forever to get them right.

The best part about the room is the closet. It is huge! Although Ryan can only fit his clothes in the closet, we do share shelving. Emily has to put her clothes in the retro room across the hallway. This is fine for her because she does use the full closet hanging space.

We hope you enjoyed the tour of our new place and will come visit us soon to see the real thing! Any time you are in the area, give us a call! We love to have guests!

A place we call home

I know there are some people out there that have not had the opportunity to see our place, so here is your chance! I will explain every picture and room. Moving into a new home can create some controversy for you and your spouse. For Ryan and I that is exactly what happened sometimes. See below...
When you walk in the front door and you turn around this is what you see. You walk in and the door to the garage is right there. It is a split level home, meaning you walk in and you go up or down the stairs. The rugs are complementary of my mother. We love them!

You choose to go down the stairs here is the first thing you see. All the stuff is hand-me-downs or wedding gifts. We want to thank so many of our caring friends and family for our furnishings in our home. The couches are Todd and Kate's old ones, but brand new for us. The end tables my mothers, the TV Ryan's, and the ark (as Ryan calls it) my mom's at one time. We are torn on what to do with all the wall space, but we figure we will find something to fill it with time. Someday we hope to get a bigger TV.

You are in the basement and turn to your left. This is what you see. One of Emily's favorite parts of the house! Fireplace and built in shelving and cabinets. We decorated the fireplace shelves with some of our loved ones and finished off the room with a sofa table against the far wall. There is a patio door, but not a patio yet. We plan to put a patio on in the next couple summers.

Bathroom #1: All of the painting in the house was done before we moved in. We love it! We didn't have the really, really white walls that people are afraid to touch because they may stain them. It was/is really nice. The people who owned the house before us were so kind to leave some of the bathroom things behind.

This is the purple room. A little bare, but workable. We installed the shades yesterday and let me tell you. That was a chore! It's not as easy as you think. The dresser in this room is also Ryan's old dresser. As we were moving in Emily advised everybody that was helping them move to put his dresser downstairs. The next morning without him knowing the truth. Ryan asked, "where are my clothes?" Emily replied, "well the dresser doesn't match our furniture, so I put your clothes downstairs." That was a five minute argument for us. How are we going to compromise? We emptied half of Emily's dresser and she let him hang all of his hanging clothes in their closet. (You will see the upstairs where our bedroom is later on). No matter how many arguments we had, we were able to come to some sort of compromise.

Office: Here is the room that Emily dislikes the most! It is all our miss-matchy furniture. Emily loves the paintings in the room, but the light wood file cabinet, white plastic drawers, and black desk don't really go-together. We bought the light wood coffee table at our church's garage sale. It was a great deal at the time and thought it would go great by our couches downstairs, but it looked funny. We compromised, once again, and put in the office to cover up all the ugly cords that were against the wall for our Internet. It works well now. Mickey and Minny complete the room.

This is the other side of the office. This is a look at Ryan's favorite part of the house, his Gator football helmet. He loves that thing! Emily tried to pack it away in her box full of knick knacks, but that didn't seem to work. Once again, compromise.
This is the preview of our basement. We have yet to come to the upstairs. Since we like to keep everybody on the edge of their seat, the upstairs will have to come later.

Life is good

The last couple days have been amazing! Warm weather, time spend with two lovely ladies, and spending time every night with my studly husband. What more could a girl want?
I figure I look like a college student, so the last couple days, while Ryan was working very hard, I went to Carlton and laid out with the students. What is better than to catch some sun on my days off! I was worried some would see my left hand, but no one seemed to notice (of course I would worry about little things). I totally blended in! Being on campus brought back some great college memories. Finals, Dew Drop Bop, Plums, St. Mary's dorm room, and not having a care in the world (besides what grade you are going to get on the next Economics exam). Things were so minor, but back then everything was a big deal. I would love to go back to college, but minus the homework portion.
Another thing that has been awesome is spending time with my husband. We have been doing odds and ends around the house. We even whipped out the grill a couple times. (Ryan loves it!) The next big thing we (mostly me more than Ryan) are waiting to install is our shades. They should be here by Monday.

This color will go in the mater bedroom.

This color will go in two of our bedrooms and our office.

Welcome to becoming a homeowner

Lately these places have been our best friends. Today we went to a couple garage sales and the last week we have been to Menards everyday! If Menards was a bar we would be classified as "regulars." I never thought in a million years that I would like to shop at Menards!!! Until I became a homeowner!

Life's Goodness

It seems as though life changes so fast. From the last time I blogged, I have received a new job, we've moved, and best of all spent Easter with the most amazing family EVER!

JOB: I will now be working at the Northfield Hospital. I am excited to be in town, but sad to leave my awesome co-workers at Everest. Working at Everest taught me that each day/minute can change. I enrolled the best students ever! Sometimes it was a lot of work, but at the end of the day I felt like I had changed a life. It is like racing cars...sometimes you have to stop and switch tires and gears=that is what I did now. I won't forget all the awesomeness at Everest!

MOVE: It went very well thanks to our parents, my brother, and our awesome friend Phil. They all took time out of their Friday to come down and carry the heavy stuff. Lately we have been doing projects around the house. Yesterday Ryan was on his hands and knees cleaning the bathroom drain out. I never thought he would be excited to be Mr. Fix-It. I think we have another Al Borland!

FAMILY: This is the best thing yet! Ryan and I spent Easter up north at my Grandma and Grandpa's. They live on Serpent Lake in Deerwood, MN. It is a smaller lake, but perfect for the water escapades that we do on the lake. I love pictures, so I had to take pictures of the people I love the most!

FAMILY PORTRAIT