Check This Out!

UPDATE: I guess this got pulled off YouTube. I'll see if I can find it again. It is this MASSIVE ant colony. It's pretty amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IanFsfqwpkk

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Calling All Cooks! And Readers!

We still have 4 pounds of ground beef left. I need recipe ideas. If you have a favorite that you want to share send me an email or leave a comment. We’re always looking for new meal ideas.

On another note…we had a great weekend! It was the first time in weeks we didn’t have something scheduled. Friday night we went to see Gran Torino. It was really good! Saturday we worked out, ran errands, made GF granola (yum!), went to church and then hung out at home. I [finally!] got our black and white family pictures into frames. I haven’t yet moved them back to the basement but at least we’re making progress. I need to order some of my family and a few of my Europe pictures for some other frames. We’re slowly getting around to finishing our decorating and getting things up on the walls. I am still planning on posting a little photo tour of our house. Soon, I promise!

It’ll be a fairly quiet week here which will give us time to gear up for a busy weekend – 2 birthday dinners, book club, going away party, and the Super Bowl. Sounds like a food-filled weekend to me!

And yes, I said book club. Some girlfriends have decided to start a book club since we often read the same books and it’s a good excuse to get together. We’re meeting on Saturday to choose our first book. Any suggestions? I can’t wait as it seems we don’t see each other often enough and I’m always looking for reading suggestions. I’ll keep you posted if we read anything great.

It’s still COLD here. Although, I’ve decided I prefer the frigid temps to snow and slippery roads.

That’s us in a nutshell. I’ll try to add some pictures tonight.

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Ground Beef and Bowling

We had a great weekend!

Friday we had dinner at Ryan's friend Aaron's house. He cooked lemon pepper chicken, potatoes and broccoli for us! YUM! Then we all played the Wii - bowling and Tiger Woods.

Saturday we ran a ton of errands - BedBath&Beyond, REI, Ikea, Costco, Super Target. I love to be productive! That night we met up with some softball friends for dinner and bowling.


Worn out shoes! They must only have one pair of 15's! :)

Sunday I spent all afternoon cooking - chili, taco soup, meatloaf and gluten-free cinnamon crisps. Now we're all stocked up for a while and our freezer is full!

Anyone have any good recipes to use the remaining 4 lbs. of ground beef!?






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Thank Goodness for Down Coats!

It seems so crazy to me that the sun would be shining when it's -12!

It's cold here. Like nostril freezing, car whining, frostbiting, windblowing cold! The overnight low was -20 (and that's just the air temp!). It's supposed to be +29 by Monday. I can't believe that we'll gain 50 degrees and still be below freezing! Only in MN!

Here's hoping you're all toasty!

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Rainbows and Dollhouses

A few remnants of our Christmas vacation...

On the last day of our trip, my sister Kelly and I broke out our old dollhouse. We got in a little deeper than planned when we had to rebuild the whole thing. We thought we'd simply slide it out of the box and play but it had come apart in storage. Growing up we thought it was the coolest thing ever. And after getting it out again, I still feel the same way! So many fun things - little dishes, a full bathroom set, spats for the men's shoes, books for the bookshelves, a piano that really plays, bunk beds, etc, etc. Ryan was kind enough to sit with me so I could give him a tour! :)

And on Saturday afternoon after dropping Kelly at the airport we shopped for a while. (that's when Ryan picked up his BIG new watch and I got a great new coat - see the post from shooting guns at the farm - it's long, black, down with fur on the hood. I love it!) When we came out of the mall there was the biggest, brightest rainbow I had ever seen. It was the full arc across the sky and at one point it was even a double.

And here's a couple others I found when I loaded the pictures from our other camera.

Doesn't he look great modeling my scarf!?

And a cute shot of Baby-Q chomping on an entire piece of bread!

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Bruise and Shells

Well, here it is...the bruise from the shotgun! Pretty...

And the shotgun shells. BIG!

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Shotguns, Silverware and Sitting Around...

We just spent a great long weekend in Iowa. We left at noon on Thursday and stopped in Ames to see Ryan's sister, Stephanie, her husband, Jared, and our niece, Brenna. Stephanie made a delicious roast for dinner, we got to see their new house and spend some time watching Brenna and all her new tricks!


Brenna is walking all over, doing many signs in sign language and had funs showing us all the things in her room.


Ba - by!


Steph and Jared opening their birthday present from us.

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The rest of the weekend was spent at Ryan's parents' in Burlington. We relaxed, had a big breakfast, Ryan and his dad replaced the front brake pads on Ryan's car, went to the mall, napped, read, ate out, and just spent time sitting around talking. Ryan's mom collects lots of great dishes, candlesticks, and much more. We went through all her cupboards and picked some stuff that we wanted. It was like Christmas - we came home with silverware for 12, a crystal candy dish, serving trays, a dome for our cake plate, candlesticks, covered serving bowls and more!

I even helped Ryan's mom start a blog - you can see it here: http://www.svbohlen.blogspot.com/.

Today we went to church and then headed out to Ryan's grandma's farm. She cooked a great lunch of meatloaf, potatoes, green beans, jello and apple pie. She even made me a special gluten-free apple treat! After lunch we went outside to shoot guns! I've shot a .22 rifle and a 9mm handgun at the farm before but today we broke out the shotguns! I started off on the 410 shotgun and then moved up the the 12gg. I think Ryan and his dad were a bit surprised that I wanted to try it. After we finished my arm was sore but it was really fun! I'm developing a nice bruise as evidence of my adventure.


Our great new silverware...


Replacing brake pads


Shotguns at the farm

Ready...aim...FIRE!

Armed and dangerous! :)

Dana, Grandma B, Ryan

Thanks for a great weekend, Steve and Val!

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It's been a productive day!

Laundry.

Cleaning - kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, extra bedroom.

Errands.

Baking - gluten-free banana bread, gluten-full brownies. :)

Cooking - lasagna. One for dinner, one to freeze.

Blogging.

Off to read my new book. Friends are coming over tomorrow to watch the Vikings game with Ryan and possibly play poker. I am meeting my friend Ashley to see Seven Pounds.

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You Won't Believe It 'Til You See It...

Yup, that's right...we're wearing Crocs.

Ryan has been wanting a pair to wear to and from softball - easier than flip flops since he can keep his socks on. And I found that cute pair and decided to join the Croc club.

RED was not Ryan's first choice. But they were $2.50 instead of $30 for a black pair. If you look closely you can see the strap has some race driver's name and number. (He did turn the straps inside out to be a little less conspicuous.) Funny. He said if he loves them he may invest in a slightly less 'loud' color! :)

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Travel Plans!

Just had to share about the trips we're planning. We're really excited!

In April we're heading to San Francisco. My close friend from college and her husband live out there and we've never been. We'll be gone for my birthday - what a fun way to celebrate! We can't wait to explore the city and see Lea and Brian! Let us know if there are any must-see things to add to our itinerary.

In June we're heading to Chicago. We're going to spend a few days downtown. Ryan hasn't been since he was little and I haven't been for a few years. The highlight will be watching the Twins play the Cubs at Wrigley.

It already helps to survive the cold knowing we have some fun adventure on the horizon!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy 2009!

We went to Harmony and Adam's for a fun night of hanging out and playing games. There were 7 of us and we actually made it to midnight. (I think I was in bed by 10:30 last year!)


Wishing you a healthy and happy 2009!

Apples to Apples

The gang (minus the studly photographer)

PS. Ryan got a cool new watch. It's BIG!

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We Put Up Our Christmas Tree! (only a month late!)

Yep, you heard me right... we put up our Christmas tree on Tuesday night. No, we aren't mentally a month behind. We just took advantage of Target's massive post-Christmas sales!

My master-deal-finder-of-a-husband convinced me to go without a tree this year since we'd be in Arkansas anyway just so we could get one on mega sale. And we did.

It's beautiful. 7.5 feet tall. Pre-lit. White lights. Named Spike. Ok, just kidding on the name part...sort of...we'll have to wait til next year to see what name fits. :)

It stood in our living room until yesterday afternoon when it got all boxed back up to go into storage for the next 11 months. I really wanted to decorate it but I resisted.

Here it is:


A little hot chocolate cheers...


The branches need to be all fluffed out but you get the idea.

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