You know it's springtime when...

Cannot believe it is half way thru May already!  We're finally getting some nice, sunny warm weather here in the Cities after about a week straight of 40's/50's and rain..non-stop rain.  Looking off our deck now, everything is really greening up!  You know it's spring when you have a robin's nest full of babies in the tree just off your deck...they're chirping happily now! :)  Spring is fiiiinally here!  I'm taking some ME time today while Dave is off taking his Part 4 National Boards.  Yup, that's right folks, Dave's taking his LAST PART today!!  So exciting!  He's been studying like crazy the past few weeks and if all goes as planned, this will be the last exam he has to take for the rest of his life!  Wahoo!  Four years of hard work is coming to a close and we cannot wait.  [We also got Dave's Part 3 scores back a couple weeks ago and he passed all of those tests with flying colors.]

While Dave's been off studying at Perkins, Caribou and the beach, I've had some extra time on my  hands.  So I've finally [finally] starting working on my scrapbooking again, primarily starting our wedding scrapbook that I've been putting off for going on 2 years.  Dave insisted on taking this somewhat unflattering photo...showing off one of my page creations among the crafting mess.

Also just a couple days ago I decided to go ahead and start an herb garden this year.  I was going back and forth on the idea just because we'll be moving around so much come July/August..but I have been in need of more hobbies lately so I decided to go for it and have my seeds sprouting outside right now!

You know it's spring when your friends are popping out babies -- it seems there's a huge surge of births in the spring.  Anyone else agree??  There is another baby arrival to announce:  Eleanna Joy Hokenson, second daughter to Alanna and Tony!  So this is Teija's sister!! :)  We can't wait to meet this little angel later on this summer!!  Alanna made this headband in the picture, so talented!

Eleanna Joy
Arrived Sunday, April 25, 2010
8 lbs - 20 inches

At work, we dedicated the month of April to our health and lifestyle makeover series called Rev It Up.  Dave presented on the last night on a highly efficient form of exercise called Burst Training.  I took some video, but have to find the Flip to get it on our computer..will post those later.  Everyone LOVED Dave (as always) and we had a huge burst training club session the following weekend which spilled over from Rev It Up.  We get so excited to help people get healthy!  Here are a couple pictures of Revolution's "office cutie," as we've labeled her.  Her name is Sophia and she is a sweetheart!  If you can see her chocolate mustache, it's from the Raw Chocolate Pudding I made to share for the Recipe Night at Rev It Up.  She loved it!  [This is Sophia's excited face.]

You also know it's springtime when the wedding and graduation invitations begin to arrive.  Phew, this spring/summer is going to be a packed one for weddings!!  We recently attended Nick and Megan's wedding in St. Cloud.  Upcoming ones include Katie & Tom, Suzy & Rob, Cassie & John and Mike & Lori.  More might be coming, you never know!  As of now, none of their dates overlap, so we should be able to make it to all!  :)!!  Here are a couple pictures from Nick & Megan's Day!  [I didn't get any of the ceremony, we were sitting in an awkward spot for shots with our simple camera.]

 

 The Maximized Living boys:  Nick is in the middle, Dave in the pink next to Nick.

 

 The Maximized Living Crew

I think that's all our major news for now.  Will keep you posted on how Dave's last round of exams goes when we get the grades.  The good news is Spring Is Here!!  Get outside and take advantage of this gorgeous weather -- each day is a gift from God!

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

Picture Links

Hi All!

Just finished posting all of our wedding pictures online. So here are the links. I've also included a link for this year's Christmas photos. If you want any prints of any of the pictures, please let me know and we'll mail them to you. Or we can get them emailed to you, too.

All of the professional photos were done by our cousins Laura and Scott Haraldson. They are professional photographers who specialize in weddings. They are stationed in the Twin Cities, but travel all around Minnesota to shoot weddings year round. If you like what you see and want to be put in touch with them, please let us know.

Wedding Reception: http://picasaweb.google.com/ejvertin/WeddingReceptionSnapShots?authkey=ngYfpWV7KkI&feat=directlink

Wedding Snap Shots: http://picasaweb.google.com/ejvertin/WeddingSnapShots?authkey=fpD9cJXestY&feat=directlink

Professional Wedding Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ejvertin/Wedding?authkey=2NtN0qcGndU&feat=directlink

Christmas 2008: http://picasaweb.google.com/ejvertin/Christmas2008?authkey=3dBHrt_lJLk&feat=directlink


Enjoy!


- Elise

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well we made it home from the U.P. alive! It was actually a gorgeous 7 hour drive home. The roads were clear the entire way and we got to watch the sun set against the trees that had a light dusting of snow. So pretty!*

Here is a short video clip of us departing to the U.P. Dave decided to capture the atmosphere of our trip: our packed car, the music, and my humming (gag!). Little did I know that this was being recorded, and I just found it now as I'm editing our Christmas pictures..

We had a great five days visiting friends and family for Christmas. We stayed with Mom and Dad S for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, then drove up to Aunt Maija's for Christmas night. Stayed with Mom V for mostly the rest of the trip, spending Friday and Saturday visiting many friends and family.

Christmas morning at the Schwartz house! Elise drew Mom's name this year and Dave drew Dad's. We did the classic box-inside-a-box (times 10) trick for Dad's gift. Good times! :)

Mary had Dave's name and Emily had Elise's this year. (Love the cookies, Em!)

Christmas evening with the Stadius-Vertins! We have 'Sister Power' in the first picture -- Holly made each aunt and Mom a beautiful bracelet. We were trying to be artistic with this picture... And the second is one of the dinner tables at Maija's house. Matt and Joel were cracking us all up, and after viewing the picture, Matt was scared he was going bald (turns out it was just a mild case of hat hair, haha).

This year, Elise had Joel's name and Dave had Eric's. (Sorry, we forgot to get pictures of your gift opening Eric!) We got Joel a new golf bag filled with golfing goodies. The top picture is me delivering his gift. For those who have asked me in the past, THIS is why I use a Junior bag and clubs when I golf... :) And below, Joel was thrilled to find a club umbrella in the bag!

And Holly joined us this year -- She made me a gorgeous necklace and earrings set! So talented!

So that was a brief summary of our Christmas holiday. We hope yours was fun as well! Feel free to share your stories as a comment to this post! Now there's more to our trip that we'd like to share...

On Friday, we went to visit our friends Alanna and Ashley (regretfully their husbands, Tony and Craig were both working...but we got to meet Dallas, Ashley and Craig's new baby boy!). Ashley cooked us her delicious Parmesan garlic chicken pizza for lunch. It was so nice to catch up with the ladies and spend some time with Teija and Dallas. The babies are getting so big! We didn't want to leave them behind either -- they're so cute!

Teija loved Ashley's dish cloth -- in her words, "mmmmm"!

Later that night, Dave and I went to the wedding rehearsal for Betty and Bob's wedding. They asked me to sing at their wedding, which was at Faith Lutheran Church (my old church from when we lived in Laurium). I have known Betty and Bob for about 14 or 15 years -- they are like second parents to me! Betty was my choir director at church (for a group called STARs -- Students Together Always Rejoicing) which I joined when I was about six years old. Since then she and Bob have been there for me for many other things, through graduations, plays and musicals, our wedding, and more to come! Dave and I were just excited to be involved in their special day, that we were waiting over 10 years to actually happen! We also helped to decorate the reception hall and were treated to a pizza dinner that night. Then on Saturday, we visited with Lorraine and Larry in Atlantic Mine before heading to the wedding in Laurium.

The ceremony was just beautiful. Betty really took advantage of all the holiday colors and decorations, having a full Christmas theme. She even made all of the bridesmaids dresses, and they were smokin' hot! Now, some of you know what happens when I get up to sing in honor of people very near and dear to my heart...well it happened yet again, even though I tried not to let it. Problem is they put me singing right after the vows, which at my cousin's wedding, I broke down in tears at the same spot. This time I was fine at the rehearsal, so Dave and I were hoping things would go just as well at the wedding. My mom knew otherwise! I sang a song called "This is the Day," an original wedding song written by a christian solo artist. Dave took video of my performance, which I didn't really plan on posting on here, but he talked me into it. Just please try to look past all of the flat notes, cracking and tears. I promise I really can sing if I can keep my emotions in check.. :)

Besides that happening, we had a ton of fun at the wedding and the reception. We got to see a countless number of friends and even some of the Vertin side of the family at the reception.

Eric actually started the ceremony by playing Trumpet Voluntary! He did a great job!!

Well, I think this about sums up our Christmas trip in Michigan. We went to church with Maija on Sunday, then caught lunch at the Schwartz house before leaving for Minnesota. Got home at about 10pm Central time on Sunday night, so not to bad.

We're getting excited for tonight now -- we have big New Year's Eve plans! We're going to a club called The Lounge right in downtown Minneapolis. So look forward to our next post which will probably have some city pictures. This will be one of the first big clubs we've been to since moving here. We can't wait to dress up and go out on the town!

Happy New Year to all of you from us both! We love you!


- Elise