Have not heard about Gus in awhile...

I bet you have been wondering what Gus has been up to, right?

Well up until tonight he has been pretty well behaved.

Did you catch the up until tonight part????

Yes, tonight our naughty boy came back to us in full Gus form.

Bill and I headed to the school to pump some iron to keep my rock hard bod in shape. (Insert laugh here)
Gus decided that while we were gone he would do the following:
1. Rearrange the snowmen on top of the entertainment center.
2. Move the small table my dad and I re-stained, in the process of moving it he knocked down a few frames and more snowmen over.
3. The BIG ONE: he took a bubbling crock-pot full of 3 pounds of beef roast off of the counter, spilled ALL over the kitchen and into the living room. The pot ended up in the living room upside down.

I laughed, Bill swore, Sandy licked and Gus went outside for some quality thinking time.

5th Place At State=Not to Shabby

I am so proud to be the coach of the 5th place Squirrels! 

This group of girls knew how to push my buttons, work harder than I have ever seen and play with a great deal of heart and perseverance. I absolutely loved this group of girls. Last Spring I was a little concerned about how I was going to get the very different personalities to mesh and play as a team. To be honest some of them could hardly look at one another last year let alone play together. This team was definitely the butterfly team, that flew at the right time. I am so proud of them and all of their hard work!

I love my seniors a great deal. They are an amazing group of girls who lead together and were fun to coach.

Squirrels

I snagged these pictures from the Forum and Jenna's facebook page. I will add more pictures later but wanted to get a few up!

All the hard work

All the hard work, sacrifices and dedication has "played" off! We are off to state next Wednesday:) Most people, unless they are or have been a head coach have no clue what it takes to coach a team to success. The early mornings, late nights, missing out on fun things and spending your entire day on Saturdays at a tournament. MAN is it worth it!!!!!!!!!!!! The "pay off" is amazing. To watch the kids grow, improve and win is the best feeling in the world!
I have been laying in bed for the past two hours, thinking, praying and trying to fall asleep! At about 4:30 I finally gave up and decided to get a jump on the paperwork that is inevitable. I finished a few of the things that need to be done by 9 today, I will just need to get them approved and sent.
I am so proud and excited for this group of girls to experience State VB! They are a wonderful group and I have truly enjoyed coaching them this year.
The best part of this season has been coaching with my friends who I respect more than words can state. Bridget Stowers and Chris Hahn are awesome people and amazing coaches. Between Stower's defensive knowledge and Hahn's motivational drive this team was destined for state.
Now: the work begins again. We start again today at 3:30 with practice and have three practices to prepare for Stanley. Bridget and I watched them last year at the state tournament so we have some basic knowledge of the team but are hoping to gain more today.
GO SQUIRRELS!!

Happy Halloween

We had a whopping 3 Trick-or-Treaters this year!

Gus was not exactly ready for one treater to come and scared the weebie-jeebies out of her. Luckily she is in Mr. Maasjo's class and I was able to talk to her about it and say Gus was very sorry for frightening her!

Here is a pic of our other two treaters.

Brandt's Moving Day

My friend Jess bought a new home!

Today we had a ton of fun moving her:)

Here are a few snap shots of the days HARD WORK...

Sad Dog

Gus has been pretty down and out lately. We find that fall is not a good time for him.  He misses me and is wondering when VB will be done so I can come home early again. I am hoping it will be a few weeks! Here he is all snuggled into his "nest".

Post-Season

The Squirrels are in the Post-Season. We begin tomorrow with Maple Valley.
The Plan: Take it one match at a time and work our way through November.
We need all of the support we can get, our Region is TOUGH! We have a three top teams and several scary teams that can step up and play extremely well on any given night.
We have a goal in mind and plan to work hard to reach it.
Go Squirrels!

What I have been up to lately

I have not blogged in a long time!
Here is what I have been up to since the first day of school:
Coaching Volleyball
Teaching 5th Graders
Turned 30
More Teaching
More Coaching

Ok, I have not really done anything exciting in the past 10 weeks!
DLB went OK, the girls played awesome in pool play and pooped out during tournament play.
Birthday was spent at the Enderlin-Lisbon tournament, then out for supper with Bill and the movie The Other Guys that evening with buddies. I got a massage from Lauren Nelson on Friday night (amazing) and went to my parents farm on Sunday.

I will try to find something more interesting to blog about on my FOUR day weekend!

1st Day of School

I just got done reading everyone's 1st Day of School Blogs and thought I would blog about it as well.
Coaching and Teaching is a ton of fun and a ton of work. It takes a special kind of person to coach a fall sport and I am just that special...mmm...special. Maybe a little crazy, a little "special" and a little masochistic. I love my girls and am enjoying pre-season. My classroom is full of energized 5th graders who are eager to learn. (at least I hope they are eager to learn;)
We are on day 3 here is where I am at:
It has been 7 weeks since surgery. I am encountering new challenges each day and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. My scale is broken so I am not sure if I am loosing or gaining weight so hopefully the menu I choose each day is working out.
My tummy is adjusting OK to the new schedule.
Now with that said, I feel AMAZING!!!! This is the first year in three years that I did not spend part of my first three days throwing up and trying to figure out what I can and can not eat! It is the first time I have gone to practices after school with energy and able to finish practice without having to take a puke break.
I am excited about feeling better and I am excited about the positive changes within me and in Squirrel land. I can not wait for this year to get underway and really take off!
Here is my first day of school picture:

 OK, I was a little lazy and did not get up before six. Bill had to leave so he took a quick pic before so I had a first day of school picture:)
I am now off to a church meeting. We are building a new church and I am on the building committee. It is so exciting and awesome!
Have I mentioned I love my life?!?!?!?!

Gus is Hitting the Bottle

As I was sitting on the couch watching TV and surfing the World Wide Web I did not notice Gus's activity next to me. When Bill arrived home after an eventful call into work he noticed!

Here is what Gus does on an average Saturday evening...

It is kind of sick and twisted.

Birthday and Anniversary Party

We had a happy birthday party for Grandpa Dale and and anniversary party for both Grandma and Grandpa!

 

First we shucked the corn.

 

Then we made the cards.

 

We delivered the cards.

Blew out the candles.

 

Played some ball.

Had a tasty treat!

  

Took a little break.

 

...and had an awesome time hanging out with family:)

Fantastic Night

Last evening Bill and I made the trek down to Grand Rapids, ND to watch the LaMoure County Summer Theater group perform Beauty and the Beast. It was an absolutely fantastic night!
Driving back "home" always gives a feeling of peace and happiness. I know we did not grow up very far from Casselton but really, the scenery around here is not, well it just is not the same as the Sheyenne Valley or even the James Valley. Going back down through the valley and seeing trees, wildlife and the rivers makes me feel good inside!
I love the Grand Rapids golf course but have not golfed there in years. Bill has never been down there so it was fun to take him there and show him the old bridge, the hills and the quaintness of the area. We did not get a chance to go out and golf, just stopped by to check it out.
We then headed over to the "barn"/theater for the show. Driving through the brick gated area and down the winding path is beautiful and peaceful.

The show turned out to be wonderful, just like I remember they always were. There is something to be said about community theater especially in small town North Dakota. I not only watched the show, but the people. The people in the LaMoure/Grand Rapids area are real people. Many different types of people all mixed together speaking in the true North Dakotan fashion (mixed with a bit of German accent). Lots of "Good old Catholic" folks including a few nuns, priests and large families gathered together.
What a great feeling to be around wonderful people for an evening of entertainment!
With stadium like seating, a full concession stand and an awesome stage I forgot where I was and fell back in love with the theater and the magical place nestled down in the James River Valley.

Buddy time at the Lake

My buddies Jess, Bridget and Jess's brother Luke visited Lake Sallie this weekend. We had fun swimming, hanging out and having Zorbaz yumminess.
Here are a few pics of our swimming fun!

Bridget and Jess had a great deal of fun trying out different dismounts from the pontoon...

Nephew Fun

Yesterday, Bill and I spent some quality time with our nephews so their parents could celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary.

   

We spent several hours playing on the play equipment out at the Res.

Then, when Bill arrived we headed to the dock for a bit of fishing fun.

 

We had a picnic in the park, cleaned up the school, saw our buddy Jess and sang all the way home. 

What fun it is spending time with these special guys!

Bill's birthday weekend

Bill managed to get a little snorkel time this weekend. He really enjoyed it and I believe it maybe added to our adventure list of things we need to do. He is talking about the Great Barrier Reef and a trip to Australia. For now we enjoyed Lake Sallie and its underwater world.

He also managed to come inside for a bit of traditional ice cream cake.