Copper

Introducing our new little kitty, Copper! We got her from a friend at Chris' law school, and due to allergies, she needed a new home. Her name was "kitty cat", named by her little toddler. We renamed her Copper, for a couple of reasons. Holden was a name that I always wanted to name a kitty...but seeing as though that's kind of a boy kitty name, we didn't think it would work. Copper is one of the Mountains at Holden Village, so that fit. Also, half of Jenny's relatives come from Roros, Norway, a copper mining town. Copper was a great fit...check out her copper tones and those eyes!

Also...check out the funky green/blue pumpkin we got at a farm in Wisconsin!

Here Copper is peeking around the corner to see how close she can get to Muggles. She really has just wanted to play...and Muggles is kind of thinking...what the heck is another cat doing in my house?!


As it has now been about a month, they are starting to get a little more used to eachother. There still are occasional growls, snarls, hisses and bats of the paw...but we have seen them play a little bit together.
Copper snuck up on Chris' lap as Muggles was taking a nap. Chris looks a little nervous as they had never been this close to eachother before.


I don't think they realized they were playing with the same ball of yarn at the same time. It's a favorite thing for both of them.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

A Festive Fall!

We attended the Poisoned Apple Halloween party last night, with Chris law school gang. It was truly a fun time! We went as Guitar Hero rock stars.

Jenny & Whitney rocking out---she was a "Muse".

Jenny & Shantell...she was a witch.

A few weekends ago, we hit up the corn maze down in Shakopee. We met up with Jenny's brother, Josh, and his wife, Amy and a couple of their friends.



J & A



Here we are, deciphering our map, and finding the way. We came up with a rule, that only one person could have a map and lead us to the next letter in the maze. And, once we started walking, we couldn't stop walking.






We played follow the leader through the maze! What little kids we were! Actually, I think we were freaking out the little kids!



Note the skipping at the head of the line!



It was a fantabulous fall day!

Chris feeding a goat!

Josh launching a mini-pumpkin.

Cuties

Jenny went over to the Quales' house the other night and finally got to meet Audrey! Jenny has had about 6 colds since school started, so it was a delayed meeting. What a little cutie she is!




And here is big sister Lily. I think we were trying to get her to eat some caramel & apples here! She was a little weirded out by the caramel...maybe next time!

Twin Cities Marathon 2008

So, this is way late in posting...a couple of weekends ago, we headed down to our relative's front yard on Minehaha Ave. and watched the beginning of the Twin Cities Marathon. We were ready to watch our friends, Nicole and Greg do their thing! We saw a few other people that we knew, including Sven Sundgaard!

Here were the first runners...craziness! They were at 11 miles at about 8:45. The race started at 8...that is some fast running! Look at those muscles. They must have no body fat! It amazes me how long and quick some people can run!

It was pouring rain and very chilly. Kudos to all of those marathon runners out there...especially in those conditions. There was even someone running barefoot! That was impressive, and a little crazy!

And here comes Nicole...in the turquoise tank top. Greg went by too quickly for us to get a shot...sorry about missing that!

I think it was easier for Nicole to spot us that us to spot her.

Yay! Some cheering along the way! "Go runners!" was heard everywhere...and it was great when people had their names written on their shirts so we could cheer for random strangers!

Nicole's hands were so cold, she needed a little help opening her energy food!


Go NICOLE!!!

Chris' friend Kalina, someone from his marine corps unit, was running as well. Here he is in his "boots and utes," carrying the US and Marine Corps flags.

Tri-Quest 2008

A couple of weekends ago, we headed down to LaCrosse and participated in Tri-quest. Cousin Kari's husband, Dennis, was in charge of the event, also associated with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. The money raised helped out a local LaCrosse museum. It was a fun, busy, and tiring day. Here are some pictures from the events.

Chris and Jenny before the busy day. We played as a 2 person co-ed team, both participating in all events. Our times and scores were added together. Some did all of the events solo, while others played on a 3 person team, each person taking one event.


Chris and Corinne tuning up Corinne's bike before the race.

Corinne and Jenny...

...ready to run.

Chris during the 5K.

Jen on the run.


Chris on the 33 K bike ride.

Corinne,Terry, Jenny and Chris. We walked and played 18 holes of golf four our last event of the day. The first 6 holes were scramble golf between partners, the 2nd 6 were best ball, and the last 6 holes were alternate shot.

Jenny enjoying being silly with baby Jack.

Chris and Jenny took 1st place in their co-ed 30 year old division. Chris won the longest drive of the tournament for the men. Jenny won the closest chip to the pin for the ladies.



Corinne and Terry won 1st place in their division of 40 year olds. :) The average age was determined for each age bracket. Corinne looks pretty good for a 40-year old, don't you think?


Here's all of the family that was present for the big day. Uncle Paul golfed for Dennis' team. Aunt Margit took care of little Jack all day. Corinne, Jenny and Chris all participated in events. Kari was an avid photographer, and great supporter of Dennis. Dennis ran the show, and Jack stole it. Thanks Dennis and Kari for letting us stay with you! It was a fun weekend!

Minnesota State Fair 2008!

Ah, and end to summer...this week has been busy with a wedding, golf, the MN State Fair, and of course, the start to the 2008-2009 school year! Wedding pics are still to come of our friends Sara and Brendan. Here we are at the State Fair. We went on Labor Day. It ended up being a day of great friends, fun, food, and funny enough...politics. You never know what interesting things you'll run into at the fair!

We started out in the morning, and enjoyed a breakfast of MN Fairgoer champions...the Dairy Barn malt, and mini doughnuts! Yum yum! Two State Fair musts!

This year, the fair had a special exhibit of collectible JFK items. Here is Chris posing for a political speech.


You could definitely tell we are in the midst of election season, and the opening day of the National Republican Convention. We ran into Obama! HA! After checking out JFK and the Fine Arts building, we met up with our friends Angie & Dave, and their little girl, Lily.

We grabbed a bite to eat of our favorite turkey sandwiches...ironically enough, across from the poultry barn. It has to be one of the best sandwiches at the fair! Deep fat friend and seasoned! YUM!! Then we walked around the animal barns.

It was fun to see Lily try new foods! Her first experience with cotton candy was fun...not really knowing if it was actual food. Ok--so the Sweet Martha's Cookies were probably not a new thing, but it was also fun to see her eat those too...

I think she liked them just as much as Jenny liked the turkey sandwich!

As we were enjoying our cookies, who should appear but Mitt Romney...of course, here in Minnesota for the National Republican Convention.

Chris and I shook his hand...(Chris' shoulder in picture).

Then, we saw Marjorie Johnson at the Fair. She has won tons of blue ribbons and more! However, she is no longer an amateur, as she has a great Blue Ribbon Cook book. Jenny is excited to bake! I asked her who her favorite famous person she has met is and she said Matthew McConaughey. How cute is that? Also, she pointed out to me all of her favorite and best recipes...I can't wait to try them!

Our battery in our camera died! So, we thank Nicole and Greg for these last photos! Here Nicole and Jenny are sporting Australian Outback hats! Not bad, eh?

Here are Chris and Greg reporting live from the fair! See below for their live report!

And, we got to meet one more little guy...Liam, Greg & Nicole's nephew. What a cutie! We met up with Nicole's Brother and Sister-in-law. We had quite the day...and then back to work! The fair always is fun, but it's always a little bittersweet, because it is the end of summer. The weather changed dramatically from Monday to Tuesday! It is definitely fall!