the wilhelmi's

Who needs Santa when I have GRANDMAS?!?!

2012-01-05T18:41:00.003-06:00

I think these pictures tell it all. Blake faired pretty well this christmas thanks to his grandmas (and grandpas and aunts and uncles too!) This is what we came home with after Blake's first christmas in Springfield/Clements. Note: This picture does not include what Santa or Mom and Dad gave him!

Santa's Here! (But it's really Hoover!!) :)

2011-12-19T22:32:00.006-06:00

Santa made a stop at the Tauer Christmas this past weekend. Zander was so excited when Santa got there he made the announcement that Santa was there - but it was really Hoover. Luckily the other little kids were so excited they didn't hear him say it (although most of them wouldn't know who Hoover is anyway). However all of us got a good laugh! At any rate, this was Blake's first time meeting Santa and he wasn't quite sure what to think! Santa brought him a box of rice cereal that we'll have to try in a few months!

Almost all of the Tauer great grandchildren with Santa:
Zander, Bentley, Makya, Katrina, Katelyn, Colin, Calen, Hattie, Drew, Jaden and Blake

Uncle Sam even got a gift from Santa, and got to show the little ones how to sit on Santa's lap.

Blake also got to meet the boys of summer! His second cousins that were all born before him this year...Bentley, Calen, and Drew. I love this picture of them checking out the new guy!

future troublemakers

2011-12-14T22:40:00.003-06:00

One can only imagine what these kind of trouble these two will get into someday! :) Chace was born exactly 1 month and 1 day after Blake. This week Blake turned 2 months and Chace turned 1 month. They are already growing wayyyy too fast!

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

2011-12-12T21:01:00.003-06:00

Blake's First St. Nicholas Day :)
(I think mom was more excited than he was!)

Blake's first wrestling tournament

2011-12-12T10:57:00.003-06:00

Blake's first wrestling experience was his uncle sam's first varsity tournament. We are having lots of fun following sam's wrestling career this year!

home for the holidays!

2011-12-12T10:41:00.007-06:00

I'm so happy I've been able to be home with Blake through the holidays. While we were hanging stockings and decorating the tree, I thought it would be a good time for a quick "baby's first christmas photo shoot" :)

This is starting to get old, mom....

More pictures? Are you serious?

Happy Birthday Brandon!

2011-11-16T23:09:00.004-06:00

Today is Brandon's Birthday so Blake and I decided to send him a birthday text message picture. It took us a few tries to get a good picture and I thought they were funny so I thought I'd share:

Trick or Treat!

2011-11-01T22:28:00.002-05:00

Blake's first halloween was lots of fun! His costume was a little big but it still looked adorable! He got to meet a few of our neighbors who were PATIENTLY waiting to get to meet/hold him. Here are a few pictures:

I spent all day waiting to trick or treat. Mom dressed me in halloween outfits all week to prepare.

By the time trick or treating started I was a little tired from my busy day. Being a baby is tough work!

At my first trick or treat stop, Thing 1 and Thing 2 were very excited to see me! :)

Introducing Blake Alan Wilhelmi

2011-10-21T09:11:00.007-05:00

Meet Blake Alan Wilhelmi. He entered this world Thursday October 13, 2011 at 2:43 p.m. He is absolutely perfect and we are enjoying every second with him! Here are a few of his first pictures:

Baby Shower Weekend!

2011-10-02T21:02:00.005-05:00

This weekend my cousins Jen and Krissy threw us a baby shower for our little guy. It was so fun to see everyone and have a chance to catch up with so many people I haven't seen for a long time. Today we spent the day putting everything we got for him together and away. It's amazing how someone who isn't even here has already taken over our house!

One of the best parts of the shower was getting books from everyone. We now have a bookshelf full of fun books to read!

It also looks like he will be ready for hunting season too!

Officially Full Term!

2011-09-20T10:50:00.002-05:00

As of today I am officially considered full term, today marks the 36 week point and I am exactly one month from my original due date. I had another doctors appointment today and everything looks good and if baby decides to make his arrival from this point on they won't stop him. Most people I work with tell me they don't think I'll make it to my due date. I have thought from the beginning that I'll probably end up going past my due date. If anyone else wants to put their guesses in we'll take them. :)

Summer Reads

2011-08-28T21:13:00.002-05:00

This summer I tried to get as much reading in as I could before the baby comes and I have a lot less time to read. I didn't come across a book that I didn't like and thought I'd share in case anyone else is looking for some good books.
-The Help by Kathryn Sockett (just saw the movie today - both are awesome!)
-The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks
-Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
-Two Kisses for MAddy by Matthew Logelin (be prepared for tears. and lots of them. i had read his blog before reading the book and knew what was coming but it was still heart wretching.)
-House Rules by Jodi Picolut

The other books I read this summer would be ones I'd recommend if you are expecting and haven't already read them...
-Baby Bargains (thank you Kari for borrowing it to me, I use it almost weekly!)
-Belly Laughs, Baby Laughs by Jenny McCarthy - HILARIOUS and so true!
-Your Pregnancy and Childbirth Month to Month
-The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy

baseball injuries

2011-08-18T21:40:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow we get to visit the oral surgeon thanks to a baseball injury. Brandon broke a tooth a few weeks ago playing baseball in Mankato during their last regular season game (one that we came home early from the lake to attend). As Brandon was catching a pitch hit the plate and came up and hit him under his chin jamming his bottom teeth into the top teeth and caused one of them to crack in half. So tomorrow I get to take him in for surgery to get his new tooth implanted in. All I know is I'm glad to have a day to sleep in (we don't have to be there until 9) and hopefully get a few things done around the house when it's over so we can have a weekend to relax!

baby countdown

2011-08-09T09:37:00.002-05:00

The countdown is officially in the final stretch. I'm now 30 weeks along, I can't believe there's only 10 left. I get asked often if I'm ready for it to be here already, and I'm not quite to that point yet. Obviously I can't wait to meet our little guy...and we have most of the must-haves purchased and ready to go, but I'm enjoying all of the kicks and anticipation too!

Everything is going well as far as the baby goes. I got to take my glucose screening test last week.That lovely orange juice isn't quite as bad as I was expecting, but it definately wasn't good. Luckily, it came back normal so I don't have to do the 3 hour test. (I was a little nervous after eating ice cream in dorset, grandma tauer's cookies, and mom's scotcheroos the lake the week before). What I did find out from that blood draw was that my hemoglobin had dropped, so now I'm taking iron supplements. Funny how when I was apparently white as a ghost and barely eating meat at the beginning of the pregnancy my iron stores were fine, and now that I'm eating more than enough it drops. Apparently the baby has decided to take my iron so I get to take extra.

Great Conversations from the Cabin

2011-07-30T22:31:00.002-05:00

We just got back from Lake Belle Taine and here were a few of the conversations that got a few laughs during our week there:

#1 - My conversation with Sam via cell phone while he was on his way up
Katie: How far are you guys?
Sam: We just went through Menaga-ha.
Katie: You mean Menagha?
(I think it's safe to say this town will now be known as Menagaha to us)

#2 - One night while everyone was watching the twins game (except grandpa, who was in the kitchen working on his weather radio)
Phone Rings... (loud, basic ring tone)
Katie - Dad isn't that your phone?
Dad - No that must be the cabin phone.
Mom - No, the cabin phone is disconnected. (as she makes her way to the kitchen to check it out)
Grandpa - Somebody's phone's ringing...
Mom (to grandpa) - Dad that's your cell phone.
Grandpa - Oh! well where is it?!
Mom - It's in your pocket.

#3 - During our visit with Emily, baby Bentley, and big sister Hattie...
Emily - Hattie, ask Amy if she'll blow your new bubbles with you now.
Hattie (to Katie) - Amy, will you blow bubbles with me.
Katie (pointing to mom) - I bet that Amy will.
Hattie (to Katie) - That's not Amy, that's Grandma
Hattie (to Mom) - Grandma, will you go blow bubbles with me?

Oh Boy!

2011-07-13T17:23:00.002-05:00

We're down under the 100 days to go mark, so I figured I'd post an update. We had our first ultrasound in June when I was 20 weeks. It was great to see an ultrasound where there was so much to look at! About half way through the ultrasound the tech told us that we had a "photogenic baby" and that this was the easiest baby she's had to take pictures of in a long time. As soon as she said that our stubborn little kiddo decided to lay face down and no longer cooperate (wonder who he takes after???). We were able to find out that stubborn little baby is a Boy. That half of his body he had no problem showing off, his face on the other hand, not so much.

So, July 6th we went back in for another ultrasound (darn!) to try to see our baby boy's facial features. This time he was willing to face forward, however do you think he'd move his hands away from his face?! nope. So we got to see all kinds of other views while we waited for him to move his hands. I also asked the tech to make sure he was still a boy (you can never be too sure!) and he is, however, he didn't want any pictures taken of that this time either, he kept his legs crossed for most of it. Eventually he let us see everything we needed to and when his hands weren't covering his mouth it was usually open (he might take after his uncle Sam?!) and they confirmed he is still a boy. :)

4th of July

2011-07-11T08:58:00.004-05:00

The 4th of July started with a bang here in Marshall, or a lot of bangs for that matter. Friday night we had some severe weather go through town. I was still at work for the day and it was BUSY with everyone buying everything they needed to get out of town and get to the lake. We put everyone into our coolers (dairy cooler, produce cooler, meat cooler, and kitchen cooler - were all full). Within a matter of minutes all you could see was black in our parking lot as the wind (70+ mph) rain, and hail came through. By the time it was over we were left with a mess. Our greenhouse was officially closed, our cart corrals we're blown over - some on top of cars, and trees and branches down. Here's a picture of what was left of the greenhouse:

Luckily at our house, we had very little damage that we know of so far - our roof is getting checked out this week. Half of the houses around town look like someone took a shotgun to their siding. This is a picture of our neighbor's across the street, Brandon watched their tree snap in half and just miss landing on their house:

So what I thought would be a quiet weekend at work with everyone out of town turned into anything but quiet. Most people came in for food to replace what they lost with no power or came in for meals since they weren't able to cook at home.

the past few weeks

2011-06-20T19:33:00.008-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted any updates so here's what we've been up to...
Earlier in June I got the chance to see Hy-Vee's newest spokesperson and chef, Curtis Stone. It was awesome, he is even better in person than he is on TV. Very funny and very personable. Part of the day, he had a cook off between our VP of marketing and Hy-Vee's other famous spokesperson, Shawn Johnson. It was very comical as it was quite apparent that neither of them does much cooking. Here are a few pictures I got, the camera I had with doesn't do well in dark places so these were the only ones that really turned out...

I also took a few vacation days in the beginning of June. Sam came and stayed with us for a few of those days. He very much got spoiled, and my mom tells me she'll return the favor when the baby is here. Sam spent most of the days here fishing, playing baseball, playing Brandon's playstation games, and swimming at the pool. We did put him to work for a little while (see below). He helped Brandon put our new tv table together. He also helped me make cupcakes for the She's So Sweet baby shower, I hosted for one of my women of today friends.

Brandon's up to his usual summer activities: baseball, baseball and more baseball. This year he is helping with the Marshall Area Youth Baseball Assn, coaching Marshall's Legion team, and playing again for the Marshall A's. If it's not raining, you'll most likely find him at a ball park at any given time. When he's not at the field, he's home working with Gus. I could update you on how he's doing (or what he's been trying to destroy) but that would make this one LONG blog post. We'll leave it at that for now. :)

kicks and giggles :)

2011-05-13T20:18:00.002-05:00

Like I said in my last post, I started to feel kicks this week. Tonight he/she was going crazy when we ate at the pub. I'm not sure if this kiddo kicks because it likes the foods I eat or doesn't like what I'm eating. But I do know, if they he/she doesn't like tonight's supper, it better get used to it, because there will be more buffalo chicken paninos in the next 5 months. That is one food I'm not giving up during this pregnancy. =)

As for an update on our dr. appointment - everything is fine for now. I haven't gained any weight yet (I thought for sure I was going to be at my highest weight ever, but not so much). I've only gained a few pounds back that I lost during my first trimester. We also found out that my hemoglobin is fine, I'm not anemic, just ghostly white. so everyone can tell me I look....sick, tired, lousy, you name it I've probably heard it. Other than that heartbeat was perfect, I'm showing about where I should be and the kicks are always a good thing, so everything looks good for now. We did have the blood work drawn to see if the baby's at risk for birth defects, we won't have any answers on that for a week or so. Next time we go in, it will be for our 20 week ultrasound, if this child cooperates (if being the key word), we should know if we're having a boy or girl!

have a good weekend!

Oh Baby!

2011-05-11T22:12:00.000-05:00

17 weeks down, 162 days to go! Since I haven't do so yet, I figured I'd give everyone a baby update. As of today I'm 17 weeks, and although some of my co-workers don't think I look pregnant yet, they just haven't seen me take off my fleece jacket long enough for them to see my stomach. I'm definately starting to show. It's hard to believe we're almost half way done already. While I wouldn't say I'm feeling amazing - but, I don't feel quite as sick as I did earlier (thank god for Zofran!) What is amazing is feeling the baby kick. The first time I felt the kicking was yesterday. Now I've noticed that he or she does it immediately after I eat. Definately a fun feeling. I have been asked if I think its a boy or a girl, and to be honest, I really don't know. I was thinking girl at first, but now the it's kicking me I find myself saying that "he's kicking" me. Maybe it's because the only other kicking I've probably experienced would be from a brother of mine... :) I guess we'll have to wait and see. I think it's time for bed now, I can barely keep my eyes open, and we have a big day tomorrow...dr. appt #2.

On a side note - went to the movie Something Borrowed tonight (thanks Kari & Heather for a fun girls night!). I thought it was a cute movie. If you haven't read the book, you need to. It's one of my all time favorite books, and of course the book is better than the movie. I promise once you read something borrowed, you'll want to read something blue, which is coming out on movie next. Read them! you won't be disappointed.

3,900 Saturdays

2011-05-01T16:02:00.002-05:00

This has been an extremely busy week! At work I coordinated our "Springtime Party" week. This year we did a theme of Tough Enough to Wear Pink - Rodeo Days. This is actually a campaign we do with the hospital every year, but we've had a few employees with Breast Cancer this Year and decided to kick it off early and try to do some additional fundraising this year. The events we had this week included a silent auction, a kid's pink tractor raffle, pork chop feed, a 5K, and a kid's tractor pull. We decorated the store with Saddles, Boots, Ropes, and lots of PINK. I'm glad its over. In between all of that I had the MN dietetic assn conference in the cities. I drove up for the day on Friday. It was a great conference, lots of good speakers. One of them mentioned the following article and I have to share. Enjoy.

3900 Saturdays And 1,000 Marbles
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles.” I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say–

“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It’s too bad you missed your daughter’s “dance recital” he continued.”Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.“

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.“

“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I’m getting to the important part.It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail”, he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays.“

“I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.“

“Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight .“

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.“

“It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!“

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.
Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “
C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.

“Oh, nothing special, it’s just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.“

April Showers bring May...Babies and Weddings!

2011-04-10T20:55:00.002-05:00

This weekend was filled with lots of showers, including a baby shower, bachelorette party, and bridal shower. The first one was a baby shower back home for my cousin Jen, who will be having a baby boy in a few weeks. It was nice to see all of my aunts and a few cousins. From there I drove up to the cities to celebrate with one of my best friends Jen as she gets closer to her big day. We started off with supper and gifts and then a couple hours of bowling. After we were done bowling we enjoyed the dj and dancing and by far the best karokee I've ever witnessed by her cousins. I'm sure her wedding singer could take out any of the contestants on american idol after hearing her belt out Proud Mary like no other. I can't wait to her Ave Maria and all of the other songs she picked to sing at Jen's wedding - AMAZING!

My favorite part of the weekend was just spending quality time with Jen and Sammy Jo (her adorable daughter!) Sunday morning I woke up with Sammy so Jen could sleep in a little bit after her big night and before her 2nd shower of the weekend. Sammy is such a happy baby, it was a blast to hang out with her. That afternoon we had Jen's bridal shower, her family threw such a nice shower. She got so many nice gifts, it made me want to come home and cook/bake using all of my fun gifts I don't get to use as often as I'd like. :)

While I was busy with my girls weekend, Brandon hit up a Twins Game on Saturday. We both have big weeks coming up. I have to travel to Des Moines tomorrow for a company wide Bakery Meeting and Brandon's class has standardized testing this week.

perfect day off

2011-03-20T20:29:00.002-05:00

This weekend I worked Saturday and had today off. While I worked Saturday, Brandon went to Montevideo to watch his students (5th graders he has this year from Lakeview and 4th graders he taught in Monte last year). It was also a good reason for him to visit one of the teachers/baseball coaches in Monte, that he became pretty good friends with student teaching last year. Last night we took advantage of the fact that it's still light out when I get home from work now and grilled for supper. It was great to finally use our grill for the first time this year even if we only made brats.

Today, went by super fast but it was a fun day. It started with Church, then a little cleaning (it's amazing how much you can get accomplished when you find out you will have company in an hour!) :) and then went shopping with Mom, Grandma Tauer, and my aunt Marie. I had fun helping them pick out clothes and spend their money. I was very happy the weather decided to cooperate with my day off, we washed our vehicles, walked the dog, and hung out outside for most of the evening.

Too bad I don't have a few more days off each week to get a little bit more accomplished! =)

State Wrestling 2011

2011-03-06T18:42:00.002-06:00

I just got home from a three days of wrestling. This year the MSHSL decided to change up the set up of the tournament. All day Thursday was the team tournament, where in the past the teams wrestled all three days in during and between the individual rounds. We got up to the excel center in time for the championship round of the team tournament. There were a lot of good matches, but the craziest part was that the class a championship ended up in a tie, resulting in co-champions - Jackson County Central and Frazee. The next two days were all individual wrestling, River Valley had 2 wrestlers make it Colby Salonek and Jacob Anderson. Colby lost a very close first match and unfortunately the kid he lost to, lost his next match so Colby did not get a wrestleback match. Jacob ended up getting 6th place. Here's an interesting fact: The last day, the announcer tells how many people are in attendance for the session and for the entire tournament. So this year, the attendance was over 50,000 people. My favorite thing about that is that after he announces this he follows with the statement "the Minnesota State High School League Thanks You!" I'm sure they do! Considering I paid $14...times 5, for each of the sessions (because they kick everyone out once a day and make you pay again). Why wouldn't the mshsl be happy about that attendance?????

You're probably thinking I'm ready for baseball season to start, and I am! However wrestling isn't quite over yet. Next weekend is the district NYWA tournament in Springfield. NYWA is the youth program for preschool-8th grade. Sam will wrestle this weekend, if he places he'll go on to NYWA regions, in windom and the top three wrestlers there go on to NYWA state in Rochester. I won't be able to make it to districts. :( Good Luck Sam!!!

weekend wrap up

2011-02-27T14:54:00.002-06:00

We had a fun filled weekend the last few days with our families. It was the first weekend Matt has been home since he started school in Bemidji in January. Since he was home we celebrated Sam's birthday in Mankato at the WOW Zone on Friday night. We met the Bode's and had super, played arcade games, and the boys played a few games of laser tag. Saturday was the individual section wrestling tournament in St. James, so I spent the day there with my family, while Brandon visited his family(s). He hung out with the Richerts in the morning and spent the afternoon with his parents in Clements. River Valley has 2 wrestlers going on to the state tournament this week, Jacob Anderson and Colby Salonek. I'm excited to go up to the Excel Center for a few days (and for a few days away from work). =) Sam's looking forward to collecting his winnings from our super bowl bet - I owe him a Maui Wowi Smoothie when we get to the state tournament...his diet consists of a couple of these a day at State, in fact we usually bring his cups from previous years to get the refill price.

Today we are enjoying the warmer weather and day at home, not very often we both are home at the same time.

Dog for Sale

2011-02-18T22:32:00.005-06:00

So! I thought we were doing a good job of no longer letting Gus, our 3 month old puppy, into our house. He had been transitioned into the garage full time - First, mostly during the day when we were at work and then sleeping in his kennel in the laundry room. Then, we got our heater hooked up in the garage and he's been staying out there all the time. This had been going very well the only issue we have had is the fact that he's torn some of the drywall off by his dog house. Other than that nothing else major torn apart or destroyed in the garage. That was until we both got home from work Friday night to find that Gus now learned how to open doors. The door between our laundry room and garage has a handle that you just have to push down to open. Well Gus figured that out at some point today because apparently he had full range of our house for the majority of the day. Here's an idea of what we walked in to... this week's Springfield advance press, everywhere; clothes from our bedroom sporadically placed throughout the house;tealight candles that I had upstairs in our spare bedroom around the basement, shoes from the laundry room all over (and the heel of my favorite boots chewed up), we also found the upstairs remote and wii controllers in the basement. It was a balmy 83 degrees in our basement as he managed to turn on our fireplace while he was misplacing our remotes. And finally he found it neccesary to pee in the 2 bedrooms he's never been in before. Normally I just the doors to most of the rooms (I'm not sure why) But I obviously had not done that this morning as he managed to get into basically all rooms. Maybe this is his way of getting back at us for never letting him inside with us any more!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

2011-01-08T07:17:00.002-06:00

Our favorite things from 2010:
- JAMAICA!!!!! (wish I was there again RIGHT now!)
- 1st anniversary
- Trip to Duluth
- MN Young RD of the Year Award
- Coaching JV Baseball
- A Summer of A's Baseball
- Lake Belle Taine
- 4th of July in Grand Rapids
- Katie's New Job
- Brandon's first teaching Job in Cottonwood
- Our first House
- A new puppy (Gus)

I can't wait to see what fun things 2011 has in store!
Happy New Year!

our family is growing.

2010-12-27T21:33:00.008-06:00

Our little family has officially started to grow this week...and by that I mean we got a PUPPY! Sunday afternoon we picked up Gus. He's 6 weeks old and he's adjusting to his new home quite well, maybe even a little too well, in fact he's pretty spoiled.

holiday happenings!

2010-12-01T20:14:00.002-06:00

This year we hosted thanksgiving for our families. I had wednesday and thursday off from work that week so I attempted to cook thanksgiving dinner for the wilhelmi's and the baier's. Everything turned out great. Here's what our tgiving menu included:
saurkraut dip, garlic cheese pull apart bread, garlic bubble bread - mom's famous holiday dish, relish trays - also what mom contributed, cherry coke jello salad, oriental/ramen noodle saland - thanks to betty, grape salad - also thanks to betty, baked corn, calico beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, ham, and cream cheese/pumpkin pie. Needless to say, we had plenty of leftovers! It was nice to be able to entertain now that we have enough room to do so. In the afternoon Mom, Betty, Tiffany and I did a little christmas shopping.

Friday, I worked for a few hours and then we went home to Springfeld for the day. Mom and I visited grandma and grandpa tauer and my aunt and uncle who were home from the cities that afternoon. Grandma Sharon had thanksgiving supper that night for the Baier's and the Bode's.

Now that Thanksgiving is done, I'm officially in Christmas mode. I LOVE the christmas movies (fa-la-la-la-lifetime and now the 25 days of christmas on ABC family channel are the best!). I had the day off yesterday and Brandon had a snow day, so I set up 2 of my christmas trees, and watched my two favorite x-mas movies (ELF and love actually). Now just have to set up the nativity scene and other little decorations around the house and we'll be set to go!

2010 Wedding Wrap-up

2010-10-25T22:16:00.014-05:00

We had two weddings this fall and they both were so much fun! A month ago I was in Steph Roiger's wedding. It was a blast to see a bunch of classmates that I haven't seen in a long time! I went home early to help her decorate and I must say she did an amazing job putting everything together, I would be willing to bet the Orchid Inn has never looked that good!

This weekend we had the last of our 2010 weddings! We attended the Deutz wedding here in Marshall/Ghent. It definately did not disappoint. It was great to see Jen, Joe, and Sammy Jo who made the trip down from the cities. The wedding was beautiful.

What I've learned from these past few wedding weekends is that I need a new camera so I can take my own pictures! Anyway, here are a few I've gotten from other people. :)

Mr. & Mrs. Huiras!

Katie & Katie (aka. trouble) :)

2002 classmates

Jayme, Katie, Jen

Jayme, Katie, Jen, and Sammy

Sammy showing off her new headband she got for halloween (from me - thanks ashley for making such adorable headbands!)

tiger football

2010-10-14T21:34:00.005-05:00

This afternoon I went to Sam's football game in Lamberton. It was the first jr high game of his that I have been able to go to. He was the starting quarterback for the 8th grade game because their starting QB and back up QB were both hurt. He played really well. He's so small when he's standing next to the big guys on the line, it is funny to watch him tell the guys the plays. I tried to get a picture of this but unfortunately between the sun, and all the guys being taller than him it didn't work. They got the win rather easily, it took until the last drive of the 4th qtr for them to have a possession that lasted more than 2 plays. The final score is 40-6. Sam is #16.

New Home

2010-10-13T20:47:00.003-05:00

It was a busy weekend for us. We closed on our house on Friday and started moving on Saturday. We had lots of helpers so it went pretty quick! We're loving the new house. Here's what we're liking about it so far:
1. Dishwasher!!!!!
2. The deck.
3. Fireplace
4. New washer and dryer - installed today, haven't used it yet, but love it already!
5. DVR, we recorded our first show tonight so we could eat out with a few lakeview teachers. First show recorded = Better with you...If you haven't watched it yet, you should!
6. Dishwasher. :)
7. Double Garage.
8. pull down screen in the front door.
9. lights that dim in every room - at first I thought this was a little wierd, but when you have a headache, it is a life saver!
10. Super nice neighbors.
11. Wet bar in the basement - perfect place to store all of my wine glasses without taking up cupboard space in the kitchen.
12. Did I mention the dishwasher?!
13. Secluded backyard that we don't have to share.
14. 2 showers
15. window above the kitchen sink

Home Sweet Home

2010-09-21T20:24:00.003-05:00

I've been patiently (sort of) waiting to post about our house hunting adventures! We have been looking at houses for awhile now. Actually this summer we thought we had one only for it to fall through, but I think it all worked out for the best and we have a new one! I wanted to wait until we for sure knew everything was looking a little more certain before I posted. The pre-approval and inspection process went through a few weeks ago and we were just waiting on an appraisal (apparently they are very busy with everyone refinancing, so this took awhile to get done). We heard yesterday that the appraisal went well to so now we just have to wait for the loan paperwork to go through and we should be in our new home sometime in October!!!! Pictures to come soon. :)

We're gonna win TWINS.

2010-09-07T20:04:00.006-05:00

We attended our first twins game at Target Field yesterday. It really is an amazing field, the weather wasn't the best, but we stayed dry (note our sweet ponchos). :) The twins came away with the win, Thome hit a 480 ft homerun that hit the flag pole a few sections over from us (and after it hit the flag pole it hit some lady in the face - not so cool the paramedics were up there with her for at least an inning.) But if the game wasn't entertaining enough, the lady behind us added a little more. I think my favorite part of the game (besides getting to see Nick Punto - Yes, I love Punto) was when the lady behind us decided to rip her yellow poncho off like hulk hogan. I really wanted to ask "Whatchya gonna do brother?" but didn't, she probably didn't grow up watching WWF like I did.

Summer Recap

2010-08-29T21:54:00.002-05:00

Since School has been going on for one week and baseball is over now, I figure now is a good time to recap our summer. It was a VERY busy summer between baseball, work, and more baseball.

BASEBALL: Brandon worked doing the Marshall Area Youth Baseball program this summer, he also coached the Marshall Orange VFW team. This year he also played for the Marshall A's and they ended up making it to the state tournament but lost in the first round to Sauk Rapids.

JOBS! Both of us started new jobs this summer, in June I was offered a full time management job at Hy-Vee. I still do the dietitian thing there, but my other title is Manager of Perishables. Perishables covers all of the fresh departments (kitchen, deli, chinese, produce, bakery, meat, and floral). So far I'm loving it, but still trying to adapt to the longer hours. I never would have guessed grocery store management would be in my future, but I've been told it's in my blood. :)
Brandon also got a new job this summer. He is now a 5th grade teacher at Lakeview Elementary in Cottonwood, MN. They started on Monday and he's very excited about the new year. To answer the most common question he's been getting (any coaching?! - Not yet.)

This past weekend, we wrapped up our summer by helping my parents with a little home remodeling. They are planning to put in new windows and siding on their house, however the stucco needed to come off first. Let me explain how this process goes, first, you pound a few lines in the plaster with a hammer (= A TON of pounding). Next you need to cut through the wiring that the plaster is stuck to (=my least favorite thing in the world). Then, you take a pitchfork and pry squares of stucco off the wall. Last, watch out so the squares don't hit you on their way down (this only happened to me once, I have a lovely scrape on my leg) and then carry over to the skidloader so dad can dump them into a dump truck and get rid of them. Somehow we (Mom, Dad, Me, Brandon - Sam helped oversee the project, his forte was taking various breaks throughout the day) managed to get the whole house done by noon on Sunday. Needless to say, I've had enough home remodeling for quite some time and we're exhausted!

Busy Weekend

2010-06-22T21:52:00.003-05:00

This weekend we went to Springfield for Father's Day. We went to the town team game on Friday night, it was great to see the people we used to spend our summers with. Saturday Brandon went down to Austin to play baseball. He had a great game, pitched 11 innings to get the win and went 3 for 4 at bat, but managed to get on base 6 times. I went to Brandon's cousin's wedding and got a chance to catch up with Steph, one of my best friends from high school. It was nice to get the update on wedding plans and to see her home decorating projects. Sunday was a busy but still relaxing day back home. After going to Church, we celebrated Father's Day with Grandpa & Grandma Tauer. While we were there I also got to catch up with the Rothmeier's, Amsden's and Wells' and of course that included my favorite little godchild, Ayla. She's growing up so fast, but is cute as ever! After that I spent a few hour doing some homework and then attended Sam's and Matt's baseball games before heading back to Marshall. Sunday Brandon had another game in Austin, he played 2nd base. The A's won, but must not have been too eventful, because I didn't get much for detais. :)

Other than that it has already been a busy week of work and baseball. Brandon just got back from his 2nd VFW game this week, he's getting his first taste of politics with coaching this summer. I never thought he'd ever get accused of getting paid off to play an 8th grader, but apparently I was wrong. The things people come up with....

We are now Padres and Indian fans!

2010-06-11T12:36:00.003-05:00

The A's with the 2 players they lost to the big leagues

The pro's (and Brandon)

Earlier this week 2 of our friends were signed to Major League contracts. Adam Shrader was picked in the 39th round of the Major League Baseball Draft to the San Diego Padres. Later that same day Andrew Kinney signed a free agency deal with the Cleveland Indians. Brandon played baseball with both of them at SMSU. We are going to miss them but hope they keep working their way up the system!

On a side note, Brandon picked up his first win on Wednesday night. He threw a 3 hit, shutout against Canby. A's Baseball

Take me out to the ball game....

2010-05-30T18:37:00.002-05:00

This week the Marshall JV baseball team had their last game with a win over TMB. The guys had a great season with a record of 15-4. Baseball just just beginning for us however, Brandon is playing for the Marshall A's (www.marshallasbaseball.com) and they have had 3 games so far, 32 games to go. On top of that Brandon will also be busy coaching the VFW orange team again as well as doing the MAYBA youth program this year. Between the A's and VFW ball there are 3 nights in June where there isn't a game on our calendar. Some where in there I'm hoping to fit in a trip to see a Twins game. For now we're also following the Marshall Tigers Varsity team, who won both of their play-off games this weekend and play again this Wednesday. Go Tigers!

Month in Review

2010-05-02T12:42:00.015-05:00

April ended up being an extremely busy month for us! Here's a few of the highlights that I have been meaning to blog about over the past few weeks.

1. The second weekend of April, I traveled to Rochester to watch Sam wrestle in the NYWA state tournament. He ended the season with 2 wins and 2 loses at state. It's definately going to be different watching him wrestle with the high school boys next year. I can't believe he's going to be in junior high already in a few months. yikes! On a side note, on the ride to Rochester with Matt, I had a scary realization that we may be turning into our parents as he's whistling through his teeth and blaring oldies (or as he would call them classics) and I'm commenting on how I love the older houses along Hwy 14 in Waseca. I'm pretty sure the same conversation probably took place about 10 years ago when we were driving to NYWA for Matt. Back then, I was hating the music and thought the houses were dumb. How times have changed!

2. Brandon is busy coaching the Marshall B-Squad Baseball team. So far they have had a very good season. They are 7-1 on the season. We've been lucky that the weather has been nice and while I have enjoyed going to a few of the games, I haven't missed having to wash white baseball pants on a regular basis!

3. We got a mini-vacation, while I had my Minnesota Dietetic Association convention in Duluth. I was nominated for the RYDY (recognized young dietitian of the year) Award and I received it at the convention so Mom, Dad, Sam and Brandon made the trip up to be there for the awards luncheon. I also had the honor of accepting the Golden Apple award with another Hy-Vee RD from Rochester on behalf of Hy-Vee, for their contributions to the dietetic field and commitment to nutrition to the community. Mom, Dad, Sam, and I stayed up there for the weekend to do some sight seeing. Brandon had to come back early for a baseball tournament. We packed a lot into a day and a half while we were up there. We went to the Great Lakes Aquarium, Glensheen Mansion, the Baier Estate (our relatives live a few houses down from the Mansion), Gooseberry Falls, and of course the Lift Bridge since we were staying in Canal Park.

4. This past weekend I was in charge of the Hy-Vee May Day 5k. We had a decent turnout considering it was SO windy. But I'm very excited to have it behind me. Tom tells me we should do one of these every year, we'll see about that. For now, I'm just happy it's over. :)

Just a little Rock Climbing :)

Me and Sam at Gooseberry Falls

Sam at the GL Aquarium

Me, Kaitlin Anderson (Hy-Vee Dietitian in Rochester), Lisa Dierks (Clinical Nutrition Director from the Mayo Hospital) with the Golden Apple Award

Me and Lisa Dierks (Past President of MDA)

Welcome Home!

2010-04-02T21:20:00.004-05:00

Today a number of us from the hospital walked down the block to join in the welcome home parade for the Marshall Soldiers. It was so moving to see everyone come out to show their support. The best part about today's homecoming was that 100% of the soldiers that were sent over with this group all made it back unharmed.

why can't weekends be longer?!?!

2010-03-28T20:04:00.004-05:00

This weekend flew by, as usual. It was nice to stay in Marshall for the weekend (minus most of Saturday - when we went to Windom for Sam's regional NYWA wrestling tournament.) It was an exciting day. Sam won his first match in OT. He lost his second match and came back through wrestlebacks to make it to the third place match. The third place match was against the same kid from Nicollet that he wrestled in the first match. This time he won, without going into OT (thank-god!) Since he took 3rd, he made it to the NWYA state tournament. So it looks like we'll have some more traveling to do in a few weeks! Sam was super excited, his comment after we all sat back down in the bleachers was "well I guess you'll have to send me balloons at school again." He knows he's spoiled. :) After eating out with Mom, Dad, and Sam we headed back to Marshall and spent the night at home watching movies. We rented the movie Brothers, which was very good, but sad. Sunday we spent part of the afternoon out at the Trumm's. Brandon and Cody played catch and drove around on the 4-wheeler, while Jayme and I had the chance to catch up and fill each other in on the weekend. We also did some grilling tonight, and I got to try out my new grill basket. I made a mixture of beans, carrots, potatoes, and pea pods and they turned out really good. I can't wait to use the grill basket all summer!

Everybody Cut Footloose!

2010-03-24T18:55:00.002-05:00

This last Sunday me, my mom, my aunt Ann and cousin Becky went to Chanhassen Dinner Theater to see the show Footloose. I've always liked that song, since I was little and they sang it on the kids songs sports video. None of us had seen the movie before so we didn't know what to expect. I was surprised that I knew 4 of the songs in the play. I have had "let's hear it for the boy" in my head since that night. It was also fun to see mom and Ann's reactions to the clothes they used to wear. This was my fifth show at Chanhassen and I can honestly say I have never seen a bad show. I don't think that I have a favorite either, they are all so good! So far I have seen: Good News, The Music Man, Can-Can, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and now Footloose. It was a fun day and the pre-show shopping was fun too!

State Wrestling!!!!

2010-03-09T22:00:00.004-06:00

We spent the past weekend at one of my favorite places to be: State Wrestling. Besides the fact that I LOVE to watch wrestling I think there is something about knowing spring is just around the corner when you go to the state wrestling tournament adds some excitement as well. This year was especially exciting even though we didn't have a relative wrestling in the tournament. River Valley had it's first state champion in school history. We are soo excited for Tony. He wrestled awesome! This was Brandon's first state wrestling experience and since we had a state champion this year when he was there, I told him he should probably plan to be attending in the future. :) Even if he was a little bored all but the 12 minutes when Tony wrestled. Although state wrestling is over, Sam still has a couple elementary wrestling tournaments to go. This is his last year in elementary wrestling, it's crazy to think he'll be in junior high already next year!!! If anyone is in Springfield this weekend you can see him wrestle there for the NYWA district tournament.

winter olympics

2010-02-17T21:28:00.007-06:00

As we watch the winter olympic games, I realized this is probably as close to the olympic games I will ever get! Ha! One of our favorite memories in Negril was finding the Jamacian bobsled. Bobsledding isn't too tough, especially if you have a margarita with for the ride. :)

6 months and counting....

2010-01-24T22:18:00.003-06:00

This week we celebrated our 6 month anniversary. It was on Monday; I had been in Mankato most of the day for meeting and was working late to get the hospital covered. When I finally got home I found my kitchen floor cleaned, the dishes washed, and my vase that I had sitting on the table (because I haven't found the time to pack it away) full of flowers. At this point the fact that it is the 18th has not crossed my mind. Brandon asks if I want to go out for supper and I agree, 1) because I do not feel like cooking, and 2) I really like the fact there are no dirty dishes in the sink. As we're eating at Applebees, I ask Brandon what the deal is because the last time I got flowers and went out to eat we got engaged. His response was that he thought it might be nice to do for our anniversary. What a nice surprise! These 6 months have gone by so fast, it's hard to believe our first year of married life is half way over!

One Love - Jamaica 2010

2010-01-10T16:49:00.014-06:00

We are back from our delayed honeymoon, and apparently we couldn't have picked a better time to leave MN. Negril was amazing, and we are missing Jamaica already! While we were down there we went ziplining, snorkeling, took a sunset cruise to Rick's Cafe (where Brandon did some cliff jumping) and wasted away at Margaritaville. The weather was beautiful, but a little windy so we were unable to get on the ocean until later in the week. On our flight back we heard the other side of the island was rained on most of the week and only saw 3 hours of sunshine, after hearing that we were very happy we chose to go to Negril rather than Ocho Rios. The entertainment staff at the Riu Negril were awesome and made sure no one was ever board. Our team won the beach olympics on Monday morning and there were shows every night that included dancing, fire shows, and live bands. Hopefully we'll make it back there someday....soon.

Exciting News

2009-12-04T21:11:00.003-06:00

Ayla Terese Rothmeier was born on Brandon's Birthday November 16th at 2:36 p.m. She is so adorable! We are very excited to be her godparents and are looking forward to her baptism in a few weeks!!!

I had to add a few pictures, because she's so cute! It's going to be fun watching her grow up...

What's new.

2009-12-04T20:45:00.003-06:00

I haven't been very good about updating this lately. But here's what we're up to now...
November was a busy month! I was a presenter at the annual All the Flavors of Home Cooking School, which is put on by the Marshall Independent. It is always a lot of fun to get up there and cook for everyone, but I always get a little nervous the day of when I think about presenting in front of 400+ people! This year I made homemade cranberry flax granola bars, Cider-spiced cranberry sauce, and pumpkin parfaits.

Brandon celebrated another birthday. To celebrate Brandon took his Praxis II tests. Sam also came and spent the weekend with us. It was fun to have him here and he kept us very busy.

Now that it snowed it's really starting to feel a little bit more like christmas time. I've had our tree up for a week or so now. This weekend I'm hoping to get the rest of the decorations out!!

Relay for Life 2009

2009-08-29T12:22:00.002-05:00

This year I participated in my first Relay for Life "Feat at the Fairgrounds" with the Women of Today girls. Our team's theme was

Flashing Back to '85--

Always Keeping Hope Alive

in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Relay for Life. It was a great night and the perfect way to remember my grandpa, who died 11 years ago this week, along with many other who have fought or are fighting cancer.

mr & mrs!!!!

2009-07-25T00:24:00.000-05:00

We officially became mr & mrs wilhelmi on July 18, 2009. The day was perfect and we absolutely enjoyed every minute of our wedding. We would like to thank everyone that shared the day with us and helped us along the way! We have a few pictures so far and will share more of our favorites as they come....