minnesota weekend

Can I just say - I am so freaking excited for the weather we are having this week!  I'll take the fog and drizzle any day as long as it comes with these balmy temps!



62 degrees tomorrow?!  I think I need to take the day off - too bad it is booked solid with meetings.  :(

So I mentioned a few times that Nic and I headed up north this past weekend for three four big celebrations.  The few hours we were in Minnesota were planned down to the minute in order to get everything in. Which is not any different from all of the other weekend trips to MN.

We rolled in Friday night and spent some time (and the night) with Nic's family.  Saturday morning I fell out of bed entirely too early and headed out for a 15 mile run.  The weather was great and I felt great.  I ran through three cities (Coon Rapids, Anoka and Champlin) mostly on snow covered sidewalks (packed hard).  Bad idea.  At mile 12 I slowed due to a major pain in my knee and eventually had to call Nic to pick me up.  Super bummed - but I didn't want to injure myself so early on in my Fargo training.  I managed to get in 13.82 miles before my knight in a dirty Mercury Sable arrived.  I have to admit, even though I ran 13.82 miles, I felt like a failure - stupid, right?

Anyway - the knee is totally fine now.  The pain was from running on the uneven surfaces for so long. Give me country highways overs city sidewalks any day!

Celebration #1: Nic and I then took our nephew out to celebrate his 4th birthday (we were in Europe for his actual birthday). We saw an early showing on Gnomeo and Juliet which was a pretty adorable movie (at least the parts that I was awake for...) and then hit up the Flame, Pizza Flame for lunch.  Love me some Pizza Flame!  This was my dad's favorite pizza place growing up and we would often grab lunch there after church on Sundays.



Unlce Nic and Jackson with his HUGE present





Aunty Kier and Jackson...take 1.



Take 2...



Finally! :)

Celebration #2:  Saturday night we celebrated my college roommate's recent wedding.  We spent the night hanging out with three other roommates from college: Becky (and Curt), Nancy (and Nick), Sarah (and Tony).  Twas a fun night!  We left the reception super early and headed back to grab a few drinks at Sarah and Tony's house. Around 11PM we decided to call it a night and headed back to my parent's house.  Becky, Curt, Nancy and Nick came too and crashed in extra rooms - as we all had the same plans for Sunday morning - brunch!

Celebration #3:  Sunday's brunch was actually a surprise engagement brunch for Nancy and Nick.  They knew we were hosting brunch, but thought it was just with our college roommates - and not with our close group of friends from high school as well.  Celebration #4:  I also thought this was a great time to celebration Leah and Tony's newest addition to their family - due to arrive in July.  I am super excited for them and really can't believe they will be a family of four so soon!



I must say this brunch was pretty fantastic and super easy.  Everyone brought something and little work was involved on my part that morning!  The hardest thing I had to do was to make sure there was always fresh coffee brewing.  The menu included:

• Bagels
• Cream cheese
• Hummus
• Fruit
• Biscotti
• Baked eggs and cheese wrapped in bacon (last minute addition)
• Cinnamon rolls
• Mimosas

It was so much fun hanging out with everyone, although I have to laugh and think that we are getting so old...I mean, who gets together for brunch?? :)

Check out how much our "group" has grown:

High School:

(Apparently we like surprises now and then!  This photo was taken our freshmen year of college (right??) after Leah had knee surgery.  Nancy and I coordinated a surprise visit to Leah's with the rest of the group)

Now:


And this is what happens when you want a "fun" photo when not everyone is paying attention.





Nancy, Leah and me - I love these ladies!  Nancy and Nick are getting hitched on August 6th. (umm...that totally rhymes, right?!)  Leah and Tony got married on August 5th.  Nic and I got married on August 4th.  See a trend?? :)



The lovely soon to be mother of two boys.  Can't wait!