Shortly after Becky & Nathan returned from China I took Becky to the Twins game in my season ticket seats and Josh & Nathan got general admission student tickets. Becky was hoping to see Pat Neshek pitch since they went to school together but wasn’t able to because Silva pitched a complete game shut out (I don’t think she appreciated the feat!). What she did get is a free pass to Canterbury Park…our section was part of one of the jumbo-tron games which was a horse race and Nitro won for section 221!

Anyway, that was a couple months ago and we finally found a date that we could go. It was a gorgeous MN Saturday, Chris and I met Becky, Nathan, our cousin Angela, and a foreign exchange student who is staying with one of Nathan’s relatives, Jens. Chris was the only one who had ever been to Canterbury Park and he was a good teacher. Choose a horse to Win, Place, or Show…Win the horse gets 1st, Place the horse gets 1st or 2nd, Show the horse gets 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. That’s the first way I bet. I didn’t win so I decided to try a more difficult bet…the Exacta box. You can bet Exacta which means you are picking the first & second place winners in order. If you choose Exacta BOX then you win if they win in any order. Chris tried that one time so I decided to give it a try as well. Unfortunately, no such luck. However, I did place my bet without any problems so I was happy about that. FINALLY I went back to the easiest…Show…and picked 2 horses. One of my horses got 2nd and one got 3rd and I won $9! It wasn’t enough to make up what I had bet, but it was close. Anyway, it was a fun day.

Well, Chris landed in MN on last Friday around 6pm and by Saturday at 6pm the party had begun! We enjoyed relaxing together on Friday night and running a few errands Saturday before some of Chris’s friends came over for a BBQ (yep - in the rain!). It was fun to see everyone again and believe it or not we ended up at the Gay 90’s! So, crazy night but definitely fun. Sunday we went up to my parents house to hang out for a while to celebrate my Grandma’s birthday before getting ready for his first day back at work.

It turns out that being away from the office for 5 weeks means TONS of meetings when you return. I think that has helped make the week go by quickly for Chris, but he’s still working on getting right back on the Central time. It’s been a busy enough week outside of work too. Tuesday night Chris & I went to the Twins game to see yet another loss. We did get to see Bert Blyleven up close (not quite personal) when he came to our section to do some broadcasting. I’m not exactly sure why he was there but we did notice a bunch of State Fair princesses so maybe he knew one of the ladies. We actually only stayed through the 7th inning before heading off to Kieran’s to keep the “after game” tradition alive. Chris tried a Smithwick’s (which is from Ireland) and decided that it’s not good on U.S. soil. I’m not sure what he’ll think of Guinness…I guess we’ll see. My record at Twins games is still 11-9 which is about what I should expect with the Twins play lately. The next game I have tickets to is the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Tonight I had “Nikki Time” because Chris was planning on going to hang out with some friends for Game Night (they get together to play weird board games) but it turned out that they had too good of a turnout because the game they wanted to play had a 6 person limit. I guess that’s good because when I talked to him just after 9PM it sounded like he was about to go to bed. I had an enjoyable night at home - very productive. I got some laundry done, got a couple new recipes made, and even fit in a workout! Now I’m off to bed…I bought a Harry Potter paperback set of books 1-6 (I have hardcover of book 7) and decided to re-read the whole series.

I can’t believe I made it…but it’s true. Chris lands less than 24 hours from now!

The past week has been fun which is probably good because it has kept me busy. After returning from KC on Sunday I crashed. I’m not sure if I had heat exhaustion or what but I was so tired I took a nap. Then, I couldn’t sleep. Monday night I picked up our CSA veggies and headed up to Brooklyn Park to visit my parents. Tuesday I drove to St Cloud to play BINGO with my friend Brenda…we didn’t win, but it’s always fun to catch up. And Wednesday I got invited out with some friends on lake Minnetonka!

Now, it’s time to go to sleep & when I wake up it will be the day Chris comes home!!

>Friday morning around 8am my dad, brother, and Robyn (Josh’s gf) picked me up at my house & we were off to KC. Since we got an early start we decided to stop outside of Des Moines at Bennigans for some lunch. We made it to our hotel and checked in around 4…had a short rest…and then were off to Kauffman Stadium to watch a Royals game. Josh, Robyn, Nathan (Becky’s husband), and I got a great deal at the game. We got 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 pops, a bag of peanuts and a program for $40!! Our seats were in left field which was in the sun for the first couple innings but overall we really enjoyed them.

We stuck around for the whole game. The Jays pitcher was throwing a no-hitter until the 6th inning, and it was a close game so we stayed until the end…also because there was a full blown fireworks show. Apparently they put on the fireworks show every Friday and we all thought it was really, really good.

Saturday it was so hot out but we were all ready to go to my cousins wedding at 3pm. My mom said the temperature was 98 when we left the hotel. Ick. Luckily the church was air conditioned…although the ceremony was 12 minutes long so it wouldn’t have been so bad I guess! Twelve minutes…it was insane. After that we went to the reception which was at the bride’s grandparents farm. The atmosphere was pretty cool, but I definitely felt like I was way…way…way down south. About an hour after we arrived a few of the guests got out their banjo & fiddle and started playing music!!

Monday night Steve & I met up at the light-rail stop at 46th Street (after I picked up my veggies!) and went to the dome for the game. I had traded in some tickets for the game so we weren’t in my standard seats, but from section 220 (mine is 221) we could see into the Twins dugout which Steve pointed out. That is neat!

Unfortunately, not a lot of neat stuff happened during the game. The final score was Twins 1, Indians 4…but the game went by quickly, Silva was pitching fine until the 7th, and the 4 runs didn’t seem so bad because they came slowly. Another unfortunate thing is that I didn’t have my camera! How did that happen?!?! I’ve had my camera at every game this year! Oh well. I think I’ll survive.

I’m now 11-8 and not going to another Twins game until 8/21 so hopefully by then the Twins will be deep in the division race (fingers are crossed, but hopes are not too high!)

P.S. I’ve completed my Twins 2007 scrapbook Spring Training through May 27!

Bright and early Saturday morning I picked up Kristen and we headed off to get our hair & make-up done. Liz said that we could get a make-up appointment if we wanted and I’m glad I did. It was nice to not have to worry about it, and I think it looks great in the photos. All of the ladies of the wedding party as well as both mother’s got their hair done before heading back to the Crowne Plaza where Liz & Casey had a suite reserved for us to get dressed and have some lunch before heading to the church.

Once we arrived at the church the ladies set up shop in the bridal room and then we all moved to the sanctuary for pictures. They had 2 photographers who had been around at the hotel while we got ready & were all over the place at the church. I think they got some fantastic shots - I can’t wait to see the photos. We flew threw pictures very quickly, I think it was the most organized that I’ve ever seen pre-ceremony pictures completed. The ceremony was nice. The church was very full of family and friends which was awesome to see. One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was one set of prayers that Liz & Casey gave. They had made them personal and it was very sweet.

After the ceremony Liz & Casey returned and excused the rows one at a time and once everyone had been greeted the wedding party took off in a bus. We went to Theodore Wirth Park to take some outside pictures. It was perfect timing because the rain had stopped and didn’t start again until we had just finished up our outdoor pictures! Back at the reception (at Earle Brown Center) there were appetizers and open bar and guests started arriving around the same time we did. The cocktail hour was a really nice chance for me to catch up with some of the friends that were in attendance. Just before dinner we had a grand march into the reception hall, followed by speeches by Liz’s dad (Ken), the best man (Jake), the maid of honor (Kristen), matron of honor (Kim), and the couple. Dinner was good - a spinach salad followed by (the vegetarian choice) a stuffed portabella mushroom with rice. The dance was fun too…I think the DJ did a pretty good job of keeping people on the dance floor although we were a little slow to join the group.

It really was a wonderful day which began Christmas Day 2005 when Casey proposed!

The time had finally come! On Friday morning Liz, Casey, Jake, Kristen, Mandy, Pat & I all went to Ocean Spa & Nail in St Louis Park to get manicures & pedicures (the guys only got mani’s). It’s sort of a tradition to take Friday off before a wedding and get all girl’d up. We had some fruit & muffins at the salon and once everyone was done Liz took her mom & Mandy to the Uptown Art Fair while the rest of us went home. (Pictured - Me, Kristen, Liz)

We had to be at the church at 6pm for rehearsal. The wedding coordinator met us and we ran through the ceremony. She was a bit overwhelming, but we all survived. At the rehearsal, Liz’s nephew Owen walked down the isle but Lily (they’re 3 yr old twins) would have nothing of it. No one was sure what was going to happen on Saturday…but I guess that’s what happens when you include children in your wedding party!

Dinner was at Mad Jack’s in Brooklyn Park. We had the back room reserved and it was perfect. We had a variety of appetizers before our main meal arrived. We had received an invitation with a list of 5 or more choices and I selected the Lumberjack Salmon…it was GOOD! I definitely recommend it. It comes with a choice of potato and veggies but instead I ordered double veggies. (Trying to stay away from the bloat if at all possible!) I thought it was so nice that they would allow us to custom order our meals like that when there were so many of us.