One Perfect Autumn Afternoon...

Today was BEAUTIFUL outside, absolutely gorgeous! The type of fall day that you wait all year for.... And fortunately for us, the johnson family was able to spend this perfect day together! We headed to New London this morning to celebrate with my newest nephew, Zane, on his baptism. Then we headed back to Jeb and Amy's to celebrate Gus's 6th birthday!

The kids had SO much fun together and the highlight of the afternoon for them was probably jumping in a huge pile of leaves! Ryder LOVES to be with his cousins, and he should, because there are alot of them! :)

Good News! :)

Yesterday (Monday) brought some GREAT news! I had interviewed a couple weeks ago for a position in the Litchfield School District and yesterday I received the phone call that I had been hoping for! I was offered the position and I accepted :) The position is for the Meeker County Truancy Prevention Specialist and I will be working with chronically truant youth and their families addressing the barriers they have in getting to school. It is very very similar to the work that I am currently doing (working with high-risk teens) so I'm very excited about that, but even more excited that I will no longer have to drive to Willmar/Renville everyday anymore! In addition to being closer to home, it's also very part-time which is perfect for us since I've been wanting more time at home with Ryder.... I am hoping to begin the position the first week in October and I can't wait!

Nothing too exciting happened this past weekend...Max and I were able to go out on a little date night to dinner at the Blue Heron (they have AMAZING prime rib--yummy!!) Saturday night but our night was cut short as Ryder wasn't feeling well so we had to pick him up from his Dad's house and bring him home...Nothing replaces a 'mommy' when you aren't feeling well! ;)

Okay, enough procrastinating, I need to get a work out in and clean my house....

This is how I know FALL has finally arrived....

I woke up this morning and could not find my husband anywhere....An hour and half later he comes in decked out from head to toe in the 'oh so sexy' look known as camoflouge..

This afternoon after church I remind him we have some birthdays coming up that we'll need gifts for and suggest we make a Target run....His reply "The Vikings are on, I'm booked from 12-3pm, Sorry"

Later in the afternoon.....
Danielle: "Babe, what should we do for supper??"
Max: "I'll be hunting, doesn't matter"

Yep, there ya have it! Fall is officially here when hunting and football are the ONLY things on Max's mind! Although I will admit, I went out with him tonight in the deer stand and we saw SEVEN deer!! None of them got in shooting range, but still kind of exciting... My hunting season is very short in comparison to others. I will go out from opening weekend (which was this weekend for all you avid bow hunters) til about a week or two into October, then it starts getting too cold for me and I happily volunteer to stay home, bake, and get the hot-cocoa ready! ;)

Year 22 Recapped:

Tomorrow is my birthday! Unfortunately, the day will be spent by getting Ryder sent off to preschool in the morning, then heading to work for a 12 hour day, MISSING our first week of indoor volleyball league (bummer!) and finally coming home only to get Ryder to bed and hit the sack myself! We will be celebrating some other night this week, needless to say...

Should we recap the fabulous year of being 22??

....two weeks before I turned 22, I married an amazing man on a beautiful sunny day, life as a newlywed began!
....in october, my best friend got engaged and wedding festivities began all over again :)
....november =good food and GREAT DEALS Christmas shopping, whats not to love!?
....in december we celebrated our first real Christmas as a FAMILY. Our house was hung with Christmas lights, we picked out the perfect Christmas tree from Turck's Trees and Ryder opened his presents on Christmas morning with his whole family, which is super important to me and at times when I can't remember why I try so hard at the relationships that I have to work so hard at for him, it's time like those that make me remember why I do put that effort in..
....january we celebrated new years eve with friends at SOB's --good times!
....february brought a mini-family vaca to Breezy Point: snowmobiling, swimming, family time...
....march was....apparently a boring month??
....april, ryder turns THREE and a trip to the zoo was made!
....may was filled with LANDSCAPING and outside work..
....june was another vacation to ATLANTIC BEACH, NC! To sum it up in one word: heaven.
....july was filled with monday night volleball league in darwin - so much fun and also Starr, our beautiful quarter horse came to live with us!
....august, wedding season once again! congrats kristin and eric--best friend also moved away this month, but a new favorite vacation spot was created --woohoo for key west!
....september so far.... another wedding (congrats elicia and ryan!) and our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY (not a fun day, sick as hell), and last weekend was a wonderful trip to Nelson Farm with Ryder and Grandma Janet...This coming weekend is my sister' s bridal shower and possibly a trip to the circus with Ryder! Life is good :)

Overall, a great year -- but 23 is looking wonderful as well! Life is finally calming down which I couldn't be happier about... I look so forward to empty weekends and weekends filled with family stuff. I love being home, I love spending nights in, it's baking season and fall is my favorite time of year!

Ryder is officially a preschooler!

Yesterday was Ryder Scott's very first day of preschool....and he loved it! I am not sure who was more excited about this, mommy or Ryder ;) It was such an exciting day for him, he woke up extra early and came and woke ME up saying he was all ready for school! We then proceeded to make some breakfast, get dressed, pack our school bag, and hit the road... Ryder was asking me all sorts of questions on the way into town and I was also reminding him of all sorts of last minute reminders (ie: Ryder, tell Miss Julie if you have to go potty.... Ryder, you need to listen to what your told....Ryder, you need to help pick up the toys, etc etc) Once we got to school we went in the classroom, he greeted his teacher, put away his backpack in his cubby, and checked out the other kids suspiciously. I was a little nervous about how this first day would go because a while back he went through a pretty bad shy stage and I was worried that he would get all shy and cry when it was time for me to leave. Well, I didn't have to worry about that. He couldn't have cared less whether or not I left! He saw the kids, the markers, the toys, and basically said, "See ya later mom!" Haha... I think it helps that his cousin, Calvin, is also in his class so he knew someone right away. Either way, I am SO proud of my little man! After school I picked him up and he just chatted away about the songs they sang, games they played, and I even got the low-down on what everyone brought for snacktime! Haha...

Tomorrow he goes back to preschool which means I need to stop blogging and head to bed soon --this weather is leaving me exhausted lately! I went to bed at EIGHT THIRTY last night and it was faaaabbbbuuullllooouusss!!! Wait, what am I talking about?? I can't go to bed yet....The VIKINGS ARE ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can someone explain to me how Brett Favre gets HOTTER and HOTTER each damn year??? Yum.... :)

"In Sickness and In Health...."

Yesterday was our FIRST anniversary, and ohhhhh will we always remember it.

Without all the gory details, I spent Saturday night (post-Elicia's wedding) up ALL NIGHT throwing up, crying, and not sleeping a wink! (No, it had nothing to do with alcohol -- I was sober) Apparently, I came down with a flu bug or something, and it was NOT FUN. We left right away on Sunday morning, skipped the twins game (sad!!), canceled our dinner reservations, and drove straight home. I slept the three hours home from Chippewa Falls, then took another nap from 12-3pm, was up for about an hour and half, and then slept again from 4:30-8:30pm...Talk about a romantic anniversary! :( Finally, at this point I was starting to feel better so my WONDERFUL HUSBAND made me some chicken noodle soup and we snuggled on the couch and watched a chic flick for the night... I also got the PLEASANT surprise of opening my annniversary card and finding a SPA DAY gift card inside!! ---SOOOOO excited for this!! --love you babe ;) Around midnight we went back to bed and slept a solid 9 more hours! I was exhausted and so upset all day, but I'm happy to say that today Max and I are both feeling 100X better! (I was also on top of the world when I stepped on the scale this morning! --haha!)

Now, we are happy to have our little tyke back home and he's running around like crazy as per usual. Side note: HE STARTS HIS FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY!! I'm not sure who's more excited...Mommy or Ryder!?!