Everyone Sleeps Better In Our Bed

Cecilie and I enjoyed a long overdue night out together. We ate in our Italian restaurant and then headed off to see "This Is It", the movie about Michael Jackson.

We arrived home to find Torben and Solveig snuggled up together in our bed. Aren't they cute! We should get out together more often.

Magnificent Monsters

Hurray

Found My Bride

This turned out to be much better than my date with "Carrie Coffins" last week.

What A Crew

Casey - Big Brother Extraordinaire

Demolition Crew

All of the kids helped me out with the demolition work in Pyper's room. They loved pounding down nails, tearing out drywall, and pulling up the carpet. What a great crew - I'm lucky to have such great workers.

another shot

Our new look

I think the stress of Mike's employment is starting to show because I came home today to find him looking like this. I decided to support him in his new look, so here we are. Ok, actually we went to a Halloween murder mystery party at the Keenan's (where else) and my character was Carrie Coffins, aspiring actress. Mike was "Frank Stine", veteran actor. We had a great time!

Wyoming and South Dakota

Temple Square

More horse pictures

Palmyra

Letchworth State Park

Catching stuff.



Enzo stuck in the muck.

New York trip with the Couillens'

Mike, Cecilie, Nicole and Renaud



Friends from birth.



The water was 56 degrees, so this was a brave jump.



Future GQ models?

Nathaniel was kind enough to help Rohan with his lashing requirement for Scouts.


The finished product.


Jumping for joy.

A rousing game of volleyball


Solveig on the beach


Jonathan and Casey kayaking

More pictures

Surfer Girls


Gorgeous sunset

Vacation at the Romney cottage

S'mores night


The Sugden gang


Pyper enjoying the lake

Norwegian girls

Biker Kids

Torben is happy to give Solveig a ride.

Patriotic Pyper

Memorial Day

Rohan Marching in the Memorial Day Parade

The Reporter

Here is the reporter that wrote about us in the paper. After asking us the questions he walked away, at which point Cecilie pointed out that just because a guy walks around with a pad and paper doesn't mean he's actually a reporter. We had told him our names, where we live, where our kids go to school, etc... and suddenly we got feeling a little suspicious, so I snapped this picture just in case. Luckily he was legit and our worries were unfounded.

Our Little Patriots

Memorial Day Parade Coverage

Solveig and I were mentioned in the local paper today.

Magnolia In Full Bloom

Our Magnolia is very beautiful this year. Here in Chicago, you never know if a winter blast will come through just as it is about to bloom and kill all of the petals off before they even have a chance. The weather has cooperated really well. We had a scare Thursday morning since many of the roofs around the neighborhood had frost on them. As you can see the blooms still managed to come out.

Spring is in the Air

Some of the flowers in the yard are starting to come up. The roses are starting to send out shoots and showing signs of life after a long cold winter.

Compost Bins & Burn Barrel

Our compost bin now has company! Our original 4x8 bin (the one on the left) is piled high, flowing out, and just isn't cutting it so I decided to build a couple of more bins. I added another 4x8 and an 8x8 behind it for leaves and grass clippings. The original bin has some great compost that is ready to be spread. We are looking forward to doing lots of composting.



A little while ago at church, a sign up sheet went around to get a free food grade barrel for storing water in case of an emergency. Cecilie signed up for one; however, once she brought it home she could not resist turning it into a burn barrel. The barrel brought back childhood memories of growing up on the farm and she wanted to give her kids some of the same memories. So now we have a food grade burn barrel. It is great for getting rid of some of the excess leaves and branches from our yard. If you have seen the size and number of trees in our yard, you will appreciate the usefulness of a burn barrel. We have to pay to have our leaves taken away and it adds up fast at $2.75 a bag. The township will haul away branches as long as they are not from evergreens so those go into the barrel as well.