Where Did the Summer GO??

Yes, we're alive! We have been the worst bloggers this month.. Sorry to those of you who emailed us waiting on our next post.. Life has been absolutely ridiculously busy since June, where we basically wake up around 6:30am and leave for work/school and do not get home until around 9pm most every night. At that point it's hop into bed because we're exhausted. Weekends have been super busy, too, with a mix of work and FUN! I have those promised pics of Dave at Grandma's Marathon! And we'll fill you in on some of the fun stuff we've done on our time off these past few weeks. First, let me catch up on JULY BIRTHDAYS!

Phew, where did the past 4 weeks go?? July is seriously almost already gone?? Dave and I were just talking about how we have barely gotten to relax this summer, and here it is, already half way gone..We'll have to make some changes for August and get out to the pool! (It's pretty sad..our apartment complex has a pool area, and we have only been there ONCE this summer where we were only able to stay for half an hour before having to go babysit and study. Pretty darn sad.)

July has The Week of Niece and Nephew Birthdays! Julia on the 7th, Dominic AND Calvin on July 8th, and Sean on the 10th. Happy BELATED birthday to each of you!! Wish we could have been there to share in all your parties and fun!
We like to point out that Calvie is our Godchild (my adopted godchild thru marriage.. :). He's extra special to us. We hope you had a GREAT birthday, Calvin!! Other July birthdays include our aunt Ruth on the 22nd (let us know if you got our message, Ruth!!) and Mrs. Ashley Bekks ToDAY! Happy birthday to you BOTH!! Ash's first birthday with her little one. :) 

Back a month ago, on June 19-20, was Grandma's Marathon in Duluth. Dave and our friend Nick ran it. Here are a few pictures we took that day that I couldn't get uploaded last month when I tried. Had to do a software update it turned out, and voila! Here they are:

Swift Nick is in the yellow shirt

Dave is right in the middle of this picture, wearing the black hat and black shorts

This is Dave from the back after he rounded that corner. Black shorts, no shirt, by the ones with white shirts. Maybe you can see his sweet tat?

This is the lift bridge. Sam and I were walking around a little while we waited for our boys to meet us after they finished. It was a beautiful day for pictures, but soooo hot and humid out.

Dave and Nick after with their medals. Dave's knee is still wrapped here, well, half wrapped. He lost one of his bandages while running. It just popped off he said!

Kinda gross, I know..but he insisted I take a picture! Dave's one and only blister, huge as it is. Sorry the camera's focus was off, but I think you get the idea of how big and disgusting it was..

We hope everyone had a Happy [belated] 4th of July! That weekend, we checked out. Friday Dave picked me up immediately after work and we drove out to Nick's parent's camp, about 2 hours from our home in the Cities. Loretta was with us as well. We had just the best time being away from our cell phones, TV, & PEOPLE. Nick's parents Sam and Michael fed us extraordinary meals and we got to know some more of Nick's family while we hung around the lake, did some boating and swimming, and sat around the fire relaxing. It was a much needed relief from our every day lives. We even got to see fireworks the night of the 4th. All the surrounding camps had purchased the illegal fireworks and they sort of took turns shooting them off. All we had to do was sit back and look left then right then left then right. :) Glorious.

July 9 to the 12th, Chris and is business partner (and friend) Rick stayed with us while they were in town for a training seminar. It worked out really well as the seminar was only a few miles from our apartment. We didn't get to hang out much with them until Saturday night. They treated us to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Good Earth (an all-natural and organic restaurant). Then we treated them to dessert at another favorite, the Cheesecake Factory. It was so funny. This restaurant has about 50+ different flavors of cheesecake, and Chris was trying to decide what he wanted. I looked down at their glass case of cheesecakes and happened to see the one out in front was called Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake. So, he got it. After they packed it up for us and we were on our way home is when we noticed how much bigger his slice was than our puny little cheesecakes. Seriously, his cake was outrageously large and outrageously chocolaty. The container was double the size of our cheesecakes'. Chris couldn't even finish it. We ended our night with wine, beer, popcorn and games. Chris and Rick headed out Sunday after their last hours of the seminar. Thanks for the visit, guys!

This past Friday was Christina's wedding. Christina is my co-worker at Revolution. She has been fabulous on training me in and I actually took on most of her work this past week while she was out preparing for her wedding and then this coming week while she'll be gone on their honeymoon. Dave and I attended her and Paul's wedding. It was on Friday 7/17 and they had a candle lit ceremony at their Methodist Church in Edina. The reception was at the Lafayette Club in Minnetoka. We took a few pictures, but with the dim lighting at both the reception and the wedding, my camera struggled to get clear shots. Here are a couple of the best ones. Congrats to Paul and Christina! We love you both!!:

Here is the entire wedding party just before the vows were passed. Dr. Suzy is at the front of the girl's line. She and Christina are sisters and co-own Revolution. Suzy was the Maid of Honor.

Christina and Paul left in style in a rented white Rolls-Royce.

The beautiful couple ready to get moving to the dance floor to celebrate!

Some of you may recognize this young lady. Casey Carlson was one of the finalists of this past season of American Idol. She was also a member of Christina's sorority in college, so she came to sing at the wedding reception. She did a great job! It was neat because she came and sat at Dave's and my table thru the dinner and toasts, so we got to talk to her for a while.

So these were the highlights of the more relaxing and fun things we've been doing these past few weeks. Today I have the morning off from work until 2pm. No babysitting today either as the family I usually work for this morning is on vacation, so I got to sleep in a little bit and am now catching up on all the Internet stuff I have been meaning to get to for a month! After this I'll be attending to Craigs List postings and returning 85 emails. Have a great day everyone! Make the most of Ashley's birthday!! :)

- Elise

Grandma's Marathon in Duluth

This weekend was Grandma's Marathon in Duluth! Working up to this weekend, Dave had a pretty rough time training-wise.. A few weeks ago, he set out for his longest run yet, trying to run for a few hours to see how his body could stand it. He's never run a full marathon (26.2 miles) before, so this was going to be his test. He made it all of 3 miles and, from the desperate call I got from him on a Sunday evening while babysitting for a family in Burnsville, he collapsed mid-stride and somehow walked his way home. During his training in the past few months, he developed IT band syndrome, meaning his IT band became inflamed and tough. The syndrome came on full force that evening during his run. It is extremely painful and hard to fix in a short period of time. The pain symptoms come on the most during running or going up/down stairs.

For the past 3 weeks, we've been worried about whether or not Dave should even run the marathon. But, if you know Dave, you know he doesn't give up. So we have been doing what we can to get him back into running shape. Nick was nice enough to act as his trainer and roll out his leg whenever they could fit it in. While Dave couldn't stick to his running schedule, he did keep active by swimming and doing a little biking, which didn't cause his leg pain. Then last week, Dr. Suzy gave him a half our stretching session with her personal trainer which REALLY helped his leg. On Wednesday we got him set up with an hour massage with the therapist at Revolution (the office I work at, owned by Dr. Suzy). Thursday he went for a 3 mile jog in the evening to feel things out. He returned home and said it definitely still hurt, but he could at least run again.

Friday, Dave picked me up from work and we set off North for Duluth! We met up with Nick right away when we got into the city. He took us to Grandma's Restaurant for a light dinner (what the marathon is named after). It was a pretty unique place, really good food. We did take pictures (also of the run), but I cannot get my camera to upload right now...so those will have to come later.

The marathon started at 7:30am Saturday. It was a GORGEOUS & HOT day! We stayed with Nick and his awesome parents Mike and Sam at a hotel right off of Lake Superior and less than a mile from the finish line. It was more than ideal!

Mike, Sam and I walked along the side lines all day waiting to see our boys cross. Nick came through first in very good time -- congrats Nick! But we got a little worried as almost 1.5 hours passed after Nick came through and still no Dave. And in that time we saw about 4 people brought through on stretchers, a few people collapse in front of us, and someone was brought down the hill on a cart with an IV and space blanket. It was a little unsettling for me, wondering if the next injured or heat-stroke victim would be my husband. But then, Dave emerged through the crowd of runners, and he was still looking good, keeping up a light jog. We could see the pain on his face, and he has lost one of his braces that he had put on his leg earlier in the morning, but we were so glad to see he was still moving and not hobbling along.

He made it across at 4:44:50, pretty good for how he was feeling and considering Dave thought he'd be walking almost the entire race. We're so proud of him!

After the race, the boys got showered and the Ellensons gave us a little walking tour of Duluth. We ate dinner at Little Annie's, a Mexican restaurant, and stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, where Dave and I picked up a small assortment of truffles (one of our weaknesses..). Dave and I hit the road shortly after, around 5pm, since he wanted to get some studying in before his two midterms on Monday.

All in all, it was a great weekend! Today, Dave is extremely sore, and so am I. Him because of his leg, and me because of sunburn. We haven't found a great all-natural sunscreen yet, so we don't wear any. I'd rather get red than put chemicals onto and into my body. This morning, we woke up and both just sat in bed not wanting to move. It was pretty funny. Pictures to come! Have a great Monday, all!! And happy Father's Day to all you Dads!!!

- Elise

My skinny....finally!

Hey everyone! I've FINALLY had a chance to sit down and write my "skinny" that Elise has been prepping everyone for. I'm so blessed and happy to have her as my wife as she does so much for me! I don't know what I would do without her.

Anyways, everyone is probably wondering what goes on in a day in the life of Dave. Well, it would be hard to write down one specific day, but I can give you a generality of what goes on. My friends and I work out every morning at 6 or 6:30am. Two of my friends, Jake and Nick, and myself have just begun training for the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN!! The race takes place on June 20 (I believe)...Nick has done it once already and Jake and I just decided to do it. It has been a goal of mine and even though I am busier than ever I am going to accomplish it. Being in marathon shape will give me a good base for participating in the Chisago Half-Ironman, which is another goal for me this summer. So, not only is there school work to get done, but a lot of training!

After working out, which involves burst training, swimming, or running, I go to my classes. Most of my classes this semester are not too boring. As a T5 (which is half way through school) the classes are becoming more clinical, which I am thankful for. There are a lot of labs and busy work to accomplish. After classes finish which is usually around 5pm I have meetings to attend for all of the organizations I am in or I have to plan and prepare for our club meetings. I am President of the Maximized Living Student Club here at Northwestern. We have one of the biggest clubs on campus and our mission is to prepare and develop students into future leaders of health care through Chiropractic care. Jake (one of my good friends) just became Co-President with me and I am really happy for the extra help.

Not that I want to talk to much about what we do as a club, but we just came off of a HUGE week for our club. We had Dr. Charles Majors, a world-renowned Chiropractor from Chicago, come and speak over the lunch hour to the school. Because it took place over the noon hour we had to organize an efficient process that got the students fed and in their seats so they could hear Dr. Majors talk. 2 weeks of planning and hard work by all, we were able to get 200 students and about 10 doctors to the talk. A week before the talk we had people play Wii bowling to win raffle tickets for our prizes at the school! Doing that helped us get people excited and come to the talk. A lot of hard work, but it payed off in the end!

I pretty much spend my entire time becoming a powerful and passionate chiropractor. America ranks 37 out of 42 in the world for health so we have a lot of work before us. Even though we have the greatest medical system, technology, and pharmaceuticals, we are the sickest industrialized country in the world. People need to be taught true, maximized health so they can live a higher quality life. Through Chiropractic care and teaching people how to eat the right foods, exercise, minimize the use of toxins, and reduce stress on their body we can achieve this! I am going to start a new blog that will help teach you how to reach a higher level of health and tell you more about Chiropractic care and why it is essential to living a longer, higher quality life.

I will keep blogging and keep everyone in the loop as to what I and Elise are up to! I will get better getting back to all of my friends and family, so if you have emailed me and are still waiting a reply, I will get to you! I am learning how to handle everything in life and school, so of course there are learning curves.

I hope everyone has a wonderful President Day weekend!


- Dave