Baby!

I didn't think I would reach this date without there being a little baby in my arms. I guess God has a few more finishing touches for Lil' T before he/she enters the world. Steven and I are finding ourselves very impatient, but we've been waiting a long time for this little baby.

As you may know, we struggled with some infertility before God blessed us with this little life. I say 'we' even though really it was my body/hormones that was the cause of the infertility. I'm very open about our experience, much to Steven wanting me to keep a little more quiet, because I feel there is so much stigma attached to infertility. Steven has been such a huge support to me, but I still felt alone because of my inability to become a mother. I wanted other women out there to know what I went through and that they are not alone. I also wanted people to be aware about what you say to other people about having kids. You really don't know everyone's story. So I thought I would share ours.

Steven and I started trying for a baby in September of 2009. I won't go into too many details for you guys out there, but if anyone has any questions on what I share, PLEASE, contact me and I will answer any questions and go into more detail. Natural Family Planning and Fertility Awareness Method are two ways to chart the female cycle and be aware of the best times for conception. After only one month of charting I realized that I had a cycle issue that would prevent us from becoming pregnant. I thought if I gave it a few months it would resolve itself and we would get pregnant right away.

After nine months, I still had this issue and after some research I knew it was caused by a lack in the hormone Progesterone. On a short note, progesterone pretty much tells a female's body not to start her period so that a fertilized egg can implant. I didn't have enough progesterone which meant that any fertilized eggs didn't have enough time to implant so my body wouldn't stop itself from getting my period, hence, no baby. I knew this was the problem and came to the fertility center with my charts and expressed my concerns. It was very frustrating to know what was wrong, but to still have to go through the motions of trying different medicine combos to help regulate my cycle.

Even after visiting the fertility center and starting with medications to help regulate my cycle, I still always wondered if what we were doing was "right." Fertility issues can really put a stressor on a couple, but Steven and I ended up becoming closer than ever. We really put a lot of faith into God and knew that if we were meant to get pregnant we would. Every month I struggled with understanding God's will. I always asked myself if we were going against God's will by going to the fertility center. I constantly wondered, "If God wanted me to be pregnant, He would fix my hormone issues." I tried to compare it to being sick. My body wasn't working correctly and I needed some medicine to help regulate how my body was supposed to work. We weren't doing artificial insemination or IVF, we were just getting medicine so that my hormones could do their job. For nine more months, it was still a lot of experimenting with medications and hormones before we finally got the right combination and became pregnant. *I can go into further detail if anyone has questions about which medicines I was one.* One concern was that even though I became pregnant, my progesterone could still be low and I would need to supplement it throughout the whole pregnancy. God is great though and my own body took over and I haven't needed any hormones or medicines during our pregnancy!

It was really hard to hear about other people's pregnancies and children's births throughout our trying. I wanted to be happy for people because I knew how happy we were going to be when it finally happened. We were lucky that our parents and friends weren't asking us a lot about when we were going to have kids. We didn't feel any pressure from outsiders which made me grateful. I ask all of you to be aware of the questions that you ask people. Whether it be, "When are you getting married?" or "When are you going to have kids?" and more recently, "Did you have that baby yet?" You really don't know peoples' stories.

I still find myself about to be jealous when I hear about someone being pregnant, but then I remember that I'm pregnant. That sounds weird, but when you tried for a year and half it takes time to stop jealous feelings. I have loved every second of my pregnancy because I appreciate all that it took to get to this point. Steven and I are so ready for this baby to be born and we feel extremely blessed. We promise to share pictures as soon as Lil' T decides to come out. Please pray for us and our soon-to-be bigger family.

God bless!

Routines

Now that we are done with our siding (last time I mention it I promise) it is nice to get back into some what of a routine. Honestly the first week after we had finished, it took Cassandra and I a while to remember what a "normal" Saturday was like for us. Don't worry it didn't take us long to get back to the way things were. It is nice to spend our Saturday's just cleaning the house, getting groceries, etc. We also added a hike to our normal Sunday routine. Since the Newman Center is nearing the end of it's remodeling project, and it had to add a mass since mass is currently being held in the basement, we go to the earliest mass and then we have a bunch of free time that we didn't normally have, and we are able to take Rudy to some of the local trails and get a good couple of hours of hiking in Hixon Forest (get ready Miller) before the Packer game.

Speaking of the Packers, how great is it to see them doing well after a rough start. I think that Dom Capers should be in the running for some sort of award seeing as how he has had nothing to work with in terms of players on defense all season yet they continually have people just fill in like it is nothing. So I tip my hat to you Dom. Well done!

Also, with routines, I am working on writing here more. I don't want to promise a weekly update(because that hasn't always happened the way that I would like), but it will be a more frequent updating.

I am almost ready for snow, but I want to get through the Turkey Trot before the first snow fall. My past two runs have been great, and I really feel ready for this 5k. Then it is time to let the snow fall and to dust off the ol' snowshoes!!!!!

Stay Classy!

Finished Siding

Well folks sorry for the over 4 months (seriously has it really been that long?) delay in writing a blog entry. I wanted to finish our siding project and so I left the blog world for a while to focus on the job. We started back in the end of June with Cassandra's uncle, parents, and my dad, helping with tearing off the old siding, adding new insulation, housewrap, and then the siding So without further ado here are some photos from the completed house:

This is the house from the front on the driveway side.

This is on the same side of the house, but the back half of the house.

This is in the front yard, but the other side of the house.

This of the back side of the house.

This is the garage.

I want to thank everyone who helped with this project at some point, without you, we would still be working on this project a year from now.

Now you might be asking yourself, "Self, did it really take 4 months to work on residing their house?" Not quite, while we did work every night and weekend during July and August, it got to a point where we just needed to take time for ourselves as well. Here are a few things that we we have been up to during the whole time:

Cassandra got a long-term sub job in Black River Falls, WI, teaching 6th grade science, a reading class and a language arts class. So that has been a great expirence for her. She also completed her second half-marathon. She jumped out of a plane going skydiving with my mom, my sister and her sister.

I am still enjoying my job at the Y. I started running and have one 5k under my belt and will be doing another one in a few weeks. I gotta beat my time of 37:48. I already feel more prepared for this one.

We had some visitors, Nick and Claire, who we realized that we hadn't seen or really talked to them in 5 years, but it was great because it was like no time had past and we had a great time catching up. We also took Rudy camping for the first time, and he did great sleeping in the tent dispite me hearing some coyotes off in the distance. We have also been taking Rudy hiking quite a bit on the local trail of Hixon Forest.

My good friend AJ and his wife Sarah welcomed little Gabbie to the world, and I was lucky enough to meet her during their visit to the midwest.

The 2010 NFL season is half over, sad I know.

When I starting writing this blog I was trying to think of all the things that we had been up to and I know that I missed lots, but now that I am writing it I am coming down with a case of writer's block. Oh well, I am back now.

Stay classy!

I almost forgot about spring!!!

Let me start off with wishing all the fathers and soon to be fathers, a Happy Father's Day! Thanks for all that you do!

I realized that with summer offically starting tomorrow I never posted my favorite things about spring:

1. Seeing everything become green again
2. The sun coming out more
3. Being able to spend time outside and not have to bundle up just to go for a walk.
4. Opening week of baseball.
5. The NFL draft.
6. The beginning of cutting the grass season, and the smell of freshly cut grass.
7. In general people seem to be much more friendly.
8. Seeing new animals try to enter our yard only to have Rudy quickly chase them out.

Lots of things has happened since I last posted. Cassandra and I (along with the rest of my family) went down to Texas to visit family down there, and I must say the weather was awesome, and not too overwhelmingly hot.

Cassandra and her mom did some nice landscaping in our yard and I must say that it looks nice to have the bare patches of the yard filled with some flowers...even though they are pink.

I am continuing with my training for my trip to the Grand Canyon, and have dropped down 17 pounds now. Cassandra and I enjoy looking and trying new trails in the area, so if you have any suggestions please throw them our way and we might just have to check them out. Also on that note, my backpack just arrived (nice looking pack too, right?)!!! and I haven't had a chance to fill it with stuff to test it out around the yard, I think that will happen tonight though, pictures to follow. Now I will have to work on getting the rest of the equipment that I'll need.

Other then that not a whole lot else is new. We'll be residing the house in the beginning of July and then I'll post photos of our house with everything put away, crazy to think that we've been here almost a year already.

Stay Classy!

Making a difference

Often times when I tell people what I do for a living, I first tell them my official title, School-Age Director, which often gets the strange looks that scream, "What does a School-Age Director do?", but I have always been able to identify these looks and know how to respond with a half-joking, "I make a difference in the lives of kids." While that isn't the only thing I do, but in reality this is a true statement.

I realized this as I was helping out with the season opener of the Miracle Field at our Onalaska location. The Miracle Field is a special rubberized baseball diamond that is designed to allow children with disabilities to play baseball. This was truly a great experience for not only me, but all the people that are involved in this cause. It was amazing to see the joy on these kid's face when they hit the ball, just run around the bases, or just spend time with other children who have disabilities and play a sport together. While I didn't get to see this, I heard that there weren't too many dry eyes in the crowd either. Here is some video from two local newscasts with some of the highlights. If you look closely you can see me in the background...you may not recognize me, but I am the mascot. This was amazing because I have always wanted to be a mascot, and because I was able to be on the field for this experience and was able to see first hand the joy that all participants had.

Yep, just me making a difference.

Stay classy!

New Challenges, new goals, new heights

In previous blogs, I talked about doing the indoor ironman at work, which was a great motivator for me to work out on a regular basis. Since finishing that in February, Cassandra has been asking me what my next goal would be, and until this past Sunday I kept giving her the clearly indecisive answer of "I don't know."
Now it wasn't that I didn't want to have a goal, but lots of things that I thought would be a good motivator would just fizzle out and I would lose interest in a matter of days. This was tough for me because when I was younger I trained for some bike rides, (two time finisher of the Tour de Cure: A Ride for Diabetes right here), but I wasn't really feeling like doing bike rides again (keep it up AJ, I look forward to hearing about how your riding is going), I really don't like running so setting a goal of completing a long distance run didn't interest me, I think that triathletes are a little crazy (I just want to congratulate Miller on closing in on completing your first tri...and I am sure that you can read about it here, but you'll have to wait until next week) and just working out in the wellness center was getting a little stale.
So this last weekend, Rudy and I went for a hike because it was an amazing day and we had no reason not to. While on this hike I had my "Aha" moment that helped me decide what I my next goal will be, I want to backpack down the Grand Canyon camp out for a few nights and hike back out.

Now some of you might be wondering why I chose this as my next goal, and I have lots of reasons why:

1. I have never been to Arizona and therefore never seen the Grand Canyon.
2. In college, Cassandra and I took a backpacking class, and I have always wanted to do more of it, but I made excuses (I know, I know I am always the one telling others to "Make plays and not excuses.") for not getting in to it more.
3. Since graduating college, I have realized that I have become more stagnant then I should, and because of that I have slowing been gaining weight.
4. I want to lose this weight that I have gained over the last couple of years (ok, it has really been since high school, closing in on 7 years now).
5. I just want to be more healthy (I was already working on this and have currently lost 6 pounds).
6. I live in an area where training for this hike is good because cause of all the bluffs around me.
7. Since I've start to work full time, I found that I am "losing" my camping ideals...meaning I remember not too long ago when I was content just looking up at the stars, staring at a camp fire, or just going hiking, I found that I keep staying inside watching TV or facebooking or anything else. Basically making excuses to keep myself inside. And I've missed the outdoors.

I am sure that there are other reasons that I've missed but as you can see there are lots of good reasons why this will be a great motivation for me to be active again.

Since this is not a goal I can achieve over night, I am planning on taking my trek either in the fall of 2011 or spring of 2012. Why so long you might be asking? First I need to get in shape, second I am going to need some equipment, third I am going to need to save up some money in order to make it down to Arizona. Since this is a very large goal, I will be setting some smaller more easily attainable goals that will help me get to Arizona, I'll keep you posted on those once I figure out what they are.

I know that I won't be able to do this journey along, my good friend, Andy Miller who has an awesome goal of seeing all of the National Parks in the US has also never been to the Grand Canyon has already agreed to do this with me. I will also need prayers and encouragement from all the readers of "From the River" please check in with me once in a while to see where I am on things. Also, for those of you who live in Arizona, or have already hiked the Grand Canyon, or know a lot about buying backpacking equipment, or know of a good way to train for this hike, I am all ears and I welcome your advice. If some of you are interested in joining Andy and I please let me know.

I can't wait to smell a rose like this first hand.

Stay Classy!

House Repairs

I tell you, I really enjoy owning a home. Part of it is that we aren't spending all of our Sundays driving around to open houses, trying to figure out what we would like in a house or trying to figure out what we can afford. It is really great to have these days back. Actually I often find myself not knowing what to do on Sundays because first it was football season so the majority of the day was taking up watching football, and this time last year we would be out of the house all day looking at different houses. It is great to have this extra free time, and we've enjoyed taking the time to go for bike rides, long walks or just hang out at home.

Now that we have been here since the end of July, things have finally settled in a little bit, and we survived our first winter, without too many worries. We have undertaken a few projects like reroofing the entire house, hanging gutters, replacing soffit and fascias, fixing a leaky shower valve and caulking the shower. Now I have never really done a whole lot of this kind of stuff, but I am finding that I really enjoy working on things. I don't know if it is the smell of sawdust, or the sound of the drill, or the satisfaction of getting something accomplished. But I really enjoy this part of owning a house.

Now you may be wondering what will the next project be, well hopefully later this summer we will be able to tackle residing. Again (like all the other projects) I have no idea about where to start, but fortunately we have family that knowledgeable and willing to help us out. I can't wait, until then I'll just enjoy what we have and work on the little things like hanging up photos. Don't worry AJ, pictures will be coming soon.

I AM IRONMAN!!!

Well folks I did it. It took me five fewer days then I had predicted, but I was successfully able to complete all 140.6 miles of the indoor ironman. As Brian Collins (fast forward to the 2:28 mark for the trademark line) would say, "Boom goes the dynamite!" It was great to have a goal to accomplish again. I was very surprised with how quickly my biking legs came back...I believe that I will be back on the two wheels this summer quite a bit, and maybe even do a race next summer. We'll see how that goes.

Now in a previous post I talked about what I liked about fall and how I would continue you that on for all the seasons, well now that it is almost spring, I better talk about winter.

Things I like about winter:

• the snow
• seeing the snow fall (as long as you are able to be at home and watch it come down)
• driving during a snowfall (it seems like you are driving at warp speed)
• skiing
• sledding
• snowshoeing (we had some good times this year)
• shoveling (I actually don't mind the shoveling as long as it isn't a wet heavy snow)
• watching Rudy bound through the snow
• every four years watching the Winter Olympics (nice job USA!)

That's all that I can think of for right now. Stay Classy!

How did another month fly by?!?!

Man I am just awful at being consistent with posting here. I keep hoping that I will get better, but I'll be honest I won't believe it until I see it. Anywho, here is just a short list of things of note since Christmas:

1. Held our second annual Winter Cookout/celebrated New Year's with friends that have started to spread out over this great country. Starting to get ready for next years too!
2. Cassandra and I celebrated out 2nd wedding anniversary...We have made so much further than many Hollywood couples.
3. We've been snowshoeing a few times (I'll be honest, I kinda wish we were living on the East Coast right now and would be able to enjoy all this fresh snow).
4. Cassandra and I have now been in our house just over 6 months, being a homeowner is way better than having to pay rent! (Thanks Obama for the first time home buyers tax credit...without you this part of the entry wouldn't have been possible).
5. Cassandra celebrated her 25th birthday!
6. I have started the journey to become an Ironman, while it is going to take me a month to complete it (currently I have just over 2/9 of the way completed. At the YMCA where I work, every February they put on the Indoor Ironman, where you complete 140.6 miles (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 run) and give you until the end of the month to complete it. Stay tuned for more updates. This came at the right time where I needed something new to do, and I am looking forward to finishing it to see what my next challenge will be.

Tonight I am looking forward to watching one of the best Super Bowl matchups that I can remember in a long time. As great as it would be for the city of New Orleans to win this game, I believe that the Colts will win. I just hope the game is as exciting as they are making it out to be.

Stay Classy!

Merry Christmas!

From all of us here at "From the River", we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Enjoy the time that you have with your family, and don't forget the real meaning of Christmas.

What is your favorite Christmas movie or movie that really only plays around this time of the year?

Mine would be Elf.

Stay Classy!

Here comes the snow (do do do do)

Most of the time I don't trust meteorologists.
I mean besides playing baseball (really hitting the ball 1/3 of the time is considered good) what other job can you have the luxury of being wrong some of the time (or most of the time). Doctors, auto mechanics, teachers, pilots, chefs, police officers, school-age directors, assistant to directors, the list goes on and on. All these jobs require you to be right/correct at all times. Unlike meteorologists really the only thing that they can do to mess up is have it be sunny on a day that it is supposed to rain (or the other way around) and all they do is mess up people's plans for the day. How nice must that be? Notice how the two scenarios below are different:

Weather person: "Pack your picnic baskets and make your tee times, it is going to be 75 and sunny all day"
The next day as it rains and pours all day....
Same weather person: "Sorry about the wrong info folks, maybe tomorrow will be better!"

or

Auto mechanic: "Yep, it looks like you just need to top off your brake light fluid, check the specs on your rotator grirder, and we should have you back on the road tomorrow.

Guess who will still have a job tomorrow. Yep nothing says job security like a meteorologist.

To be honest, you are best just going to the window and looking outside.

Now having said that, I liked what I heard last night and all through out the day regarding the weather. They said we have a 100% chance of having snow tomorrow with between 8-12 inches of snow with most of it falling between 10pm and 6am. Even without many years of training I think it know that that means...SNOW DAY!!!

As I write this there are already 37 districts closed.

Now even though I am not in school anymore, snow days are still very exciting and I am excited for those kids to stay home and have an extra day to be kids. Plus work for me will be a little more relaxed because my programs won't be running. High Five to that!

When I was growing up snow days were very rare, so my mom would make homemade doughnuts. Rumor has it that she had to go shopping recently to make sure that she had the supplies. Hopefully a few will make their way up to La Crosse (hand clap and point).

Now I recently saw on a friend blog that he ends each time with a question, and I wanted to do this as well. I won't do it every time, but every once in a while will be good. So, If you grew up in an area where you could have snow days, what was your favorite thing to do while at home?

Enjoy the snow, I know I will just as soon as I dust off my snowshoes!

Stay Classy!

Fan of the Fall

Hey it has been less than a month since the last time that I posted, I must be getting better with this!

There is the age old (does anyone even know where the phrase age old came from? I don't but it seemed good to put here) question of what is your favorite season. Many people have just as many reasons about why they like certain ones. Personally I enjoy the winter because sometimes summer just gets too hot. Plus you can only take off so many layers of clothes before you start getting the strange looks. In the winter you can always put on another layer of clothes to keep warm. Then there is also the whole bunch of sports that you can only partake in during the winter.

Now don't get me wrong there are things that I enjoy about all the seasons, so I will do a series of blog entries with each corresponding season. Nothing too hard right, I mean I can definitely post at least once each season (but hopefully more).

Things that I enjoy about fall:
Football season-I could site and watch football just able all day especially if the Packers are playing (although as of late, the Packers haven't been very enjoyable to watch. I was never a fan of Ted Thompson, and I really hope that he gets fired after the end of the season). Football being my favorite sport, I just really enjoy seeing the game played at it's highest level. Although there are times that I do not enjoy seeing these players who get paid millions complain and get mad because things don't go there way...grow up Ocho Cinco (dumbest name in the NFL, seriously). Also to play fantasy football...even though I am terrible at it, it is a great way to stay connected with friends from all over.

Seeing the leaves change colors and fall to the ground-Thanks Cassandra for raking them all up so far this fall :)

New season of TV shows (so far the best episode has been the wedding on The Office)

The cooler weather-I'm a big fan of being comfortable wearing shorts, a sweatshirt, and sandals, I am not really sure why, but I am.

Thanksgiving- there is something about just getting together with family (Miller, Pat, and Tuna you guys are family), nothing beats it.

Things that make the house smell good- apple pies/crisps/etc., pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds, turkeys, cookies, fires in fire pits/fireplaces/wood burning stoves, anything really that makes the house smell good and feel cozy.

Baseball- I especially enjoy baseball in the fall because that is when everyone is making their playoff (PLAYOFFS!!!) pushes (plus 162 games is hard to follow). I also really enjoy watching the World Series (but hate watching the Yankees) because that is when the two best teams are playing.

The end of wedding season- Don't get me wrong I am a huge fan of weddings (and I am guessing in **SPOILER ALERT** spring you will see that I like the beginning of wedding season **SPOILER ALERT OVER** , they are a ton of fun, but after a summer full of weddings it is nice to have your weekends back.

Lastly we are one day closer to....


SNOWSHOEING!!!!!!! If you can't tell from the picture, this is a photo of Rudy and I snowshoeing last winter. I realized tonight that we don't have a picture of Cassandra, Rudy and I snowshoeing, that will be this year's mission. I look forward to the first time I can strap them on and hit the trails.

Enjoy the rest of your fall! Stay Classy!

Life recap

I know, I know, I know...this whole keeping up and typing this blog on a regular basis isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. That's alright, sorry to all those who had been checking on a regular basis, hopefully with the weather getting cooler and it starting to get dark at 4 pm will also help.

I just wanted to recap things that have happen with us since my last post. Things are finally settled in our house, the roof, the roof (is not on fire) is done. The house was done enough to host a surprise birthday party for my good buddy Pat (or SPA for short) who had just moved to this great city. It was great to see so many people make the trip, especially those that I hadn't seen since Cassandra and I got married (closing in on two years now, crazy how the time flies). We were able to finally break in our fire pit and just have great conversations into the wee hours of the morning.

Cassandra completed a 1/2 marathon and finished in a time of 2:20ish. That was awesome, I was able to see her at the halfway point and she was feeling pretty good then. I wish I could have been there for the finish line.

We wrapped up our wedding tour of Wisconsin '09 (congrats to Ashley and Jeff, Leif and Kristen, Tony and Holly, Adam and Lisa, Bernie and Phil, & Megan and Jason). We had a blast at all of your weddings, and a great time at your receptions. I would also like to add that I was able to play the air piano at all six weddings to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". Probably my #1 favorite song to hear at weddings.

I had to get a new car this past weekend, my old one decided to stop working this past week, in the middle of the rainest week we have had in a few years. The plus side was I was able to bike to work, which is something I had wanted to do for the longest time, but always found reasons to not. Plus it was time for Cassandra and I to have a good, reliable car and not over 14 years old.

Lastly, now that it is fall, and the weather is getting colder, (we've already had our first snowfall, nothing measurable, but it was falling at least) that means we are ONE DAY CLOSER TO SNOWSHOE SEASON!!!! Last winter Cassandra and I had recieved some money at Christmas and were unsure of what we were going to use it on, but we thought that we should treat ourselves to something. After doing some research we decided on purchasing some snowshoes because we both know how to walk and there isn't a whole lot of skills that need to be learned prior to starting (unlike another option cross country skiing), plus we live in an area that is full of trails and hiking opportunities, so that provided us a way to enjoy these trails all year round. As an added bonus, Rudy, our dog, is able to with us and get some excerise as well.

Well, that was somewhat of a recap (and also a preview), I am sure I forgot a bunch of things, but this was what came to mind when I sat down to write this. Thanks for stopping by and Stay Classy!

No excuses!

After giving a friend a hard time for not updating his blog for awhile (all I am saying is if you say you will have a new post on a certain date, you should have a new post by that date), I remembered that I haven't updated this one in over a month. Not good, not a good way to treat your fans. I will do a better job of updating From the River from now on.

Now you might be asking yourself what has been going on up in La Crosse that you can't update your blog on a regular basis, and I've always liked to say, you have to make plays and not excuses. Meaning that you just have to do things and not make reasons about why something hasn't happened. So while, I have been busy unpacking, roofing, and working, I really haven't been so busy that I could take time to write. I just didn't blog.

To make up for this here are some pictures from our house. I won't put all of them here, just because this will make you come and visit.

This is the view from the house to the backyard.

This is from the end of the back yard looking at the house.

The kitchen before everything was put away.

From the kitchen to the living room (we have more things in it now).

I'll save more pictures for another day. I just realized that all of these are from when we moved in and I haven't taken any since we put everything away. They will come don't worry.

Stay Classy!

New House!!!

Things have been fairly quiet for the last few weeks at From the River, and that was some what intentional. We were in the process of buying a house!!! We had an accepted offer at the beginning of the month, and then through an inspection we found some damage that we thought could have cost us the house. But with some negotiating, we were able to lower the cost of the house so that we would be able to afford to do the repairs as well. Things almost fell through a few times this month which is why things weren't posted here, but we literally just returned from the closing, picked up some keys and are waiting for our parents to arrive so that we will be able to clean and start moving things. Now you might be saying to yourself, "self they better have some pictures to show us", and we will. But this is us outside holding the sold sign, just to hold you over...

In a little bit we are going to be taking Rudy over to show him around (poor little guy he doesn't know why all these boxes are here), and we will be taking pictures of it empty, and then also when we have it filled. So next time you are in the 6th best city in the nation, feel free to stop by we'd be glad to see you.

Stay Classy!

HOMES Sweet Home

What better way to spend the 4th of July then to travel to...Canada! Well, we were close. The road trip idea began as a joke that stemmed from a mass email from my friend Allison. She had big plans for the summer and wanted to hang out during the 4th. Another friend jokingly suggested going to Canada which developed into a road trip to Niagara Falls. 12 married/engaged/single friends, 2 mini-vans, 2 coolers, 12 pillows, 4 blankets, 3 GPS systems, and no leg room equaled Fun Fun Fun! 7 of us left on Thursday night, drove to Chicago to pick up the other 6 and then we were off to New York. We drove through the night and arrived at our campsite on Friday at noon. First things first, a dip in Lake Ontario to wake us up and prepare us for getting wet. (Did you catch the HOMES reference? Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, get it?) We went to the Cave of the Winds, the Maid of the Mist, some went to Canada, we watched fireworks over the falls, roasted marshmallows and had a great time. Even the 15 hour drive back was enjoyable. Now my list of states I've visited passes my countries I've visited. You read right, previously I had been to more countries than states, but that's for a later post. We hope all of you had an enjoyable 4th of July.



Stay tuned for more "From the River"

Cheers!

We are the champions!!!

So last night Cassandra and I as well as some friends decided to go to the Loggers' game. For those if you who don't know about the Loggers, they are an amateur baseball team that plays with all college aged players to help the adjust to wooden bats, just in case they make the big leagues. Anyway this was the first time that Cassandra and I had ever been to the "Lumberyard" (creative name if you ask me, although maybe not as creative as the Madison Mallards' "Duck Pond" but still very creative.), this was really a great time, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy watching baseball. We had gotten tickets for the party deck, so it was much more of a relaxed atmosphere, and the whole night was full of some game watching, some heckling of the Mallards' bullpen, and lots of just overall fun joking around and conversations.

Now you might be wondering how we were champions, well for starters the Loggers won (final score 5-3), but also we had two people from our group "drawn" (it may have been setup a little)from a pool of all those in attendance to partake in the 8th inning dizzy bat race (which we also won), another friend came in second in the Wii hula-hoop contest (second is still winning especially when you win a Best Buy gift card), another friend (actually one of the same that was in the dizzy bat race) won a drawing from a local radio station and received a station t-shirt and a cd (I had never heard of the band though), lastly another person in our group won tickets to the Northwoods All-Star game.

Overall it was a great time, and I can't wait to go back to a Loggers' game sometime soon.

Also, since we never really figured out how to set things up correctly if you are ever wondering you is writing each post, just look at our sign off lines. Mine is Stay Class! and Cassandra's is Cheers.

Stay Classy!

Wife's Turn

I made a deal with Steven that I would write a post as soon as he updated his Facebook Account. Hence the reason it took so long for me to add to our newly created blog. Even as I sit here typing I really don't know what to write about. I'm proud of Steven for wanting to start something new and creating a blog. We have been so caught up in our own personal lives lately, that it is nice to share our lives with friends (and the whole world).

Lately we have been living our lives based on inspirations. Steven was inspired to start a blog after reading blogs created by our friends (See links below). I started training for a half-marathon because my old roommate recently competed in her first marathon. And we're currently looking for a house because of the market, Steven's job, and friends who have just recently bought their first homes.

Steven and I are really happy. We've been married for almost 1 1/2 years (on July 5th). Married life is amazing (at least I think so) and we really feel like we're on the right path in life. Steven has a job with the YMCA (which he can tell you more about in his own words). He has been really busy, but he says he really enjoys his job. I'm currently a substitute teacher enjoying my summer vacation. The La Crosse area is a tough place to find teaching jobs, but I'm willing to sub for as long as it takes. I'm getting my name out there and I get lots of requests to sub. Like I mentioned before, we have entered the housing race. I call it a race because the houses in our area are selling fast. We know that God has a house that is perfect for us and whatever is meant to be will happen. We're just really antsy. Rudy, our dog, is doing well. He currently is my running partner while I'm training and he just turned 3 years old last Monday. We are excited for what the future brings.

Stay tuned for more updates, random thoughts, and other stories "From the River."

Cheers!

First Post

After telling people for many years about how great the city that we live in is (ok, so technically we don't live in La Crosse, but we might be soon (that'll be another post for another day)), someone else finally took notice. That's right folks you read correctly, La Crosse is the 6th Best City to live in the country. Cassandra and I thought how would everyone else celebrate this fact. The question is rhetorical, and I'll answer it...we decided to start our own blog!!


Actually, we have been talking about starting our own blog for about a month now, and decided there was no better timing the the great news of how great a small city in western Wisconsin is. We were actually inspired by a few of our friends who write weekly blogs ranging in a wide variety of topics.


Our biggest obstacle was finding the right titles for us to use. We have friends who live all over the country and we started to use their titles as an inspiration. Some friends who live in the Pacific Northwest (Congrats AJ and Sarah on your house by the way) had already capitalized on describing both the location that they live and a portion of their last name to title their blog, West Coast Steins, so that was out for us. Another friend has a great nickname (and will also be joining us as a resident of the 6th best city in the nation this fall) and thoroughly enjoys his sports, and came up with the name Spa's Sports. While we have good nicknames, we enjoy way too many things to narrow it down to just one topic, so this idea was out. Some more friends just enjoy life and came up with with a cleaver way to show their unlimited optimism and Life is Good was born (as well as little Andrew, we still can't wait to meet him). Some friends spend all their time growing mustaches and when it comes time to naming their blog, they are just creatively exhausted and have a simple, but well known blog titled A Blog. It is still is up there as my most favorite title. Lastly, the blog that really got us started reading blogs, and has led us to find these other great masterpieces, put tons of time (I think, I don't really know)into its title, but you can read the back story behind the title of A Cage of Words on your own.


So with that tour of the blogs that we read, (and we are always looking for other ones to read, so if you have one please send it to us) and the creativity that went behind the names, we have decided on From the River, for lots of reasons. The biggest reason is that we live in a great city (have I mentioned yet that it is #6 in the nation yet) and it is nestled between the mighty Mississippi River and some bluffs (really who would read a blog titled from the bluff) and the river has been part of some big moments in our lives. Those stories are for another day though.


Stay Classy!