if you pluck it

Our readers have spoken and here we are. A month and a half, holy crap, I will try to remember it all.

The biggest news recently was Dawn's promotion at Northern. She remains in the same department, but is now a project manager in the call center at NTE. It is so great that she is finally getting recognized for the hard work and effort she has put in. In other job news, after a very strong interview process of Cargill, Grandpa Hugh is still job seeking. We really hope he gets one soon. We continue to be amazed with his strength and positiveness during this long stretch. Rose got a full-time teaching job for the fall. We are very excited for her. And my cousin, Kyle "XY" Metzger made the decision to become a priest. He left his teaching job, is living with his folks in Fargo and will depart to Maryland in September for seminary school.

Ella has gotten so much bigger in recent weeks. And her hair is soooo long. She is talking a bit more, and we are working everyday to broaden her horizon's. She absolutely loves reading books on the chair next to you. She had a stretch of time where she hated the bath. Overtime, she has learned to like it again. As before, she is still a total shoe girl. Taking off and putting on every shoe in site. And she prefers to be outside. The weather has been alright recently. Very warm, but a lot of rain on the weekends, which makes it hard to play outside. She had her 18 month appointment and she is off the charts for height. Along with reading, dancing is her favorite pastime.

Shortly after the last post, the River Hills Garage sales took place. Although we probably went to 20 or 30 sales (only a fraction of how many there actually are), we really didn't find any great deals. We did learn that our neighbors (Scott & Kara) across the street are big salers. Every year they have a garage sale. They almost treat it like a vacation. So we spent a few nights in a row over at their bonfire trading stories and meeting a bunch of neighbors. One of the couples is Dan and Robin Pintozzi. I will chat about them later.

After playing Rock Band at Mike and Erin Inveen's, we couldn't resist. We broke down and bought Guitar Hero for the Wii. Actually, it's Band Hero, since it comes with two guitars, a microphone and a (gasp!) drumset! Since then, we have spent most Friday and Saturday nights jammin. We have had a number of friends over to be our roadies. Not Billboard hits yet. Give it time. Wasn't there a great actor that once said, if you pluck it, they will come.

Gage had an eventful visit to the vet in the later part of June. He had to get his shots that were overdue. After an hour of getting back, his face swelled up like a basketball and he could barely keep his eyes open. We had to rush him back to the vet for more shots to take care of his allergic reaction. A pretty traumatic event. Because he will be staying in a doggy daycare during our trip to North Dakota, he has to get a few more shots this weekend. Let's hope for the best.

We connected with some old North Dakota friends who now live in Shakopee. Mark and Rachel have a 1 yr old son named Noah. We were fortunate enough to watch him two times before the fourth. He is a cutie and Ella loved having a play partner. Although, because she is the queen at daycare, she may have to work on sharing a bit more :)

The Fourth of July was a fun filled weekend at the cabin. Pat & Glenn Metzger joined our fam at the cabin. Hugh Jr. unveiled his custom made, floating beer pong table which was a hit at the sand bar...it was a hit. More importantly, Ella LOVED the sand bar. She loved swimming and playing in the water. For the first time in as long as I can remember, the Springer or Bye family did not travel to Wisconsin to buy fireworks. The neighbors made up for it and Gage was scared all weekend. After getting to the cabin on Friday night, we took off on the fifth to head home.

This last weekend we visited the Como zoo. It wasn't too busy because we went so early. The best part was visiting the Conservatory afterwords. Ella loved the flowers and the coy fish pond. We did get a chance to see the seal show for the first time. It was pretty entertaining.

We are looking forward to two big weekends in the next month. In a week and a half, we are heading to North Dakota for a Satermo Reunion. We hope to see tons of family and maybe even escape on Grandpa John's house boat. Then in August, the VerDouws are vacationing here. We will go to Target field for the first time to see a Twins game and then head up to the cabin for a weekend away. Can't wait!!

As I mentioned earlier, we have become good friends with the Pintozzi's. They happen to live a few blocks away from us. Dan's father, Bob, was the dean of boys at Trinity School back in the day. He was a hardass back then, but have grown to admire him. Bob & Claire (his wife) live with their daughter, her husband and children. Both the Pintozzi parents and the Maslows are in the People of Praise. Their oldest son, Alex, was in a horrible car accident in the early morning hours of the 4th of July. Unfortunately, at the age of 16, he did not survive. Alex was a very energetic and fun kid. I had him as a camper at Servant Camp when he was younger. We stay very close to his story through CaringBridge. He was a donor and saved many lives because of his thoughtfulness. It was a very moving time for everyone involved.

song: Coldplay - Fix You

memory: With a few wool rugs in the house and all the hard wood floors, a part time job that Dawn has taken on is keeping the floors clean. Growing up, my mom worked as a house cleaner. Back then, although they may be mediocre homes now, she cleaned mansions. When I was off from school or was "sick" I would go with her to these houses. While she worked like a dog, I would watch Sportscenter in their theatre rooms. So now when we clean any hard wood service and use Murphy's Oil, it brings me right back. Those were the days! Sure wish I could be sick all the time and crash in other people's theatre rooms now a days!

Plan to write soon. Hope to upload some videos to YouTube for the next post so you can see Ella shake it!