Feel the Rhythm...

Feel the Rhyme...Get up everybody its Bobsled time! When I was growing up my dad would make a sled run that started at the top of a hill by our house and went all the way down past the driveway and into the fire swamp. This year Travis and my dad recreated that tradition and made the sled run again. It is my new favorite past time! We trek up the hill and chant the saying from 'Cool Runnings' to make it more authentic. Here are some pictures from the adventure!

Adele's First Christmas

We celebrated Adele's very first Christmas in Northern Minnesota with my family. It was so fun to see her get so excited about opening presents. I was impressed with how well she did with it all. She played with the wrapping paper and the present inside!!!

Pajamas from Great Grandma and Grandpa Torfin

Our Little Christmas Family

Her tongue was out everytime she opened presents.

She really had to concentrate on this new experience!

Here is her tongue again!

Adele in her pretty Christmas dress from Mama Suzie and Papa Bruce.

We feel really blessed this Christmas Season because of the wonderful friends and family that we have. It was so enjoyable to celebrate a Christmas with our little baby and to see how excited she gets about the festivities. It is only going to get better as she gets older!

Holiday Baking

For some reason this holiday season has snuck up on both of us this year. The beginning of December started off very festive with lefse making, but we lost the excitement somewhere around young women's activities, ward Christmas parties, my birthday, and a trip to West Virginia. Last Saturday we decided to rekindle the spirit of the season with some good old holiday baking. Seth, Halle, and the boys came over to join in the festivities. Seth was on baby duty, while Halle made sure we didn't mess up the baking! Soren was a great taste tester and gave us his stamp of approval on the goodies.

There's a First Time for Everything

Over the last 9 months I have been in the application process for medical school. In November I received an invitation to interview at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM). That interview took place last Friday. The traveling to get there was difficult and a cancelled flight, flying into a different airport, and taking the route through the snow-covered mountains to Lewisburg put me in town at 3am on the day of my interview. At 8am I was there for the interview and had a great time with the faculty, staff and students there. I was very impressed with their medical facilities and the type of education they provide. Due to the holidays I probably won't hear back until the first of the year, so I am patiently waiting. Although the town only has 4,000 people, they have a Super Walmart, a Carnegie Hall, and some really neat Civil War history.

You Better Not Pout...

Does she look naughty or nice?!? If you would have asked me 2 months ago I would have to have said NAUGHTY, but since she is now sleeping like an angel through the night (knock on wood) she definitely belongs on the NICE list! We know she isn't smiling in the picture, but at least she isn't screaming which was the next photo. She must be too young to know how much fun Santa really is! Next year we will have to watch out so she doesn't catch mommy kissing Santa Clause.

A Baby's First Doll

I think a baby girls first doll is one of those special things in life. A couple of weeks ago I went to an indoor garage sale (the best kind of sale in cold northern Minnesota) that had LOTS of baby things. My mom was sifting through a bin of toys that at one time used to be some other child's treasures and kept handing Adele different ones. She was indifferent to them all and just kept tossing them aside. Next thing, Adele climbs up to the bin and picks out this dirty, ugly, a little bit scary looking doll. She sits back down and starts talking to it uncontrollably and hugging it to pieces! Now she carries it around with her everywhere! This doll truly is priceless, as the garage sale lady gave it to us for free!

The other day I was thinking about Adele and how particular she is about certain things. She doesn't like to be naked, she only likes orange foods, she can't sit next to you she has to be one you, etc. But she always knows what she wants! Then I realized that with all of her particularness and determination, she picked ME to be her mother. She picks me to clothe her, to feed her orange foods, to let her sit on me. She picked me to teach her, and rock her, and comfort her. She picked me to take her to her first day of school, to wait up for her on her first date, to send her off to college. Now I know I am imperfect like her little garage sale doll, I may not always know what to do or how to take care of her, but it is comforting that she picked me! (and Travis too!)

Lefse Time

It is that time of year again, the time of year that we get to enjoy the Norwegian tradition of LEFSE. For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to experience lefse, it is a potato based flat bread. As with most things, the flavor is enhanced with butter and sugar!

And So It Begins...

After months of agonizing over a design set up for our blog, we finally realized that art is not one of our strong points. Thanks to thecutestblogontheblock.com we were able to put a little something together. Not sure our page will be changing anytime soon due to the time and energy it takes to do so!

Sitting surrounded in snow covered tress, we have found a lot to be thankful for this Holiday Season. We spent Thanksgiving together at a condo in Garrison, MN. It was Adele's first Thanksgiving, but the baby food jar of turkey and sweet potatoes didn't quite cut it for her. She ended up taking a nap during the meal portion of the holiday since the turkey took longer than expected. We were happy to spend 3 days there since it took 4 hours to drive 120 miles due to a winter storm.



Three things we learned this Thanksgiving:
1. Sometimes more sugar on sweet potatoes just means 'more sugar'
2. Using the gravy packet found inside the frozen turkey isn't always the best idea
3. Planning a weekend getaway during the winter in northern Minnesota always makes for difficult travel

HAPPY HOLIDAYS...let the Christmas music marathon begin!