Playing catch-up

Heidi writes:

Hello all! It has been and will continue to be quite busy here for a while. I have been having meetings about the upcoming conference I will be presenting at, about RA selection, about RA and GRD training, about programming, about building renovations, about Residential Learning Communities, and so many other things. I feel like that is all I do - attend meetings (and send out emails). Oh well, that is the life of a person in housing :-)

In other news, Jeff and I had a pretty lazy weekend. We didn't really do anything at all on Friday and Saturday! That may have been a first for us! On Sunday, we drove up to Elk Grove and played some sand volleyball! Yep, volleyball in the sand, outside, in January! It was so much fun. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the camera, so I have nothing to show. However I did get a nice sand-burn on my leg! We needed the practice for our upcoming volleyball season! I can't wait to start doing sport stuff again. Let's just pray that no balls or elbows or anything else hits Jeff in the nose!!

This coming weekend we are headed to San Francisco to hang out with Jeff's brother, Chris and his wife, Tonya, who are coming to visit. I am so excited to eat some yummy clam chowder and also to eat in China Town!! We are also going to a few wineries in Livermore on Sunday, so that will be neat to see - I haven't been to any there!

OK, well, I need to get some homework done. My reports are already piling up! Have a good week and weekend!!

Skiing in Heaven(ly)

Heidi writes:

We had a great weekend skiing in Tahoe. We were at Heavenly and the views were absolutely amazing. I was a little scared at first because you have to ride three ski lifts to the top of the mountain!! It was nuts! There were a ton of runs and the weather was great. Here are a few Heavenly Mountain facts:

~10,067-foot elevation (the highest at Lake Tahoe)
~4,800 acre spanning two states (the most on the West Coast - and yes, we did ski to Nevada and then back to California!)
~Top to bottom decent: 5.5 miles (the longest on the West Coast)
~3,500 foot vertical (unmatched on the West Coast)
~92 runs and 30 lifts

There were nine of us who went up Friday afternoon. We hung out at the house and had a great time. We skiied from 9am-4pm on Saturday. Unfortunately, our friend Toni hurt her knee and was brought down to the medical center via sled. Hopefully it is nothing more than a sprain!! Saturday evening was spent relaxing in the hot tub, playing games, and eating pizza.

My muscles are still a little sore, but it was worth it. I did complain a lot through the day - but I think I was a trooper for going down the "steep" parts which completely freaked me out. I realized that I like skiing and it is fun, but I just don't know if it is for me. I am so happy that I went and skiied in Tahoe though - it was awesome!!

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

It was hard not to look at the views while skiing, but if I didn't concentrate on what I was doing, I would have completely wiped out. Fortunately, we stopped a few times along the way and took some pics. I don't think I fell until after lunch, so that was impressive :-)

The picture above is the view we had from the house we rented. It was so beautiful!!

Drew, Kristi, and Josh rocking out to Guitar Hero! A complete hit!

It's was a long week...

Heidi writes:

Sorry about not posting for the week. We had training for the RAs and I was pretty much busy from 8am-10pm. It was a lot of fun, but it was a little exhausting! The theme for training was Project RA (taken tidbits from the show Project Runway). We had a tee-shirt fasion show and the infamous Talent/No Talent show. I hope the RAs got stuff out of training. I actually got to present 3 sessions and they all seemed to go well!

On Saturday, Jeff and I hung out for the most part. We met some GM friends at a place called the Lodi Brewing Company for dinner to celebrate my birthday. After dinner, we went to a local bar (Mojo's) and then to Drew and Toni's house. We played a few games and then called it night around 2:30!! It was a great time and I am so happy that everyone was there to bring in by big 2-6 day!!
Haning out at Mojo's (l-r): Kara, Patrick, Court, Brian, Melissa, Catherine, Kristi, and Heidi! (Not pictured: Brent, Kari, and Jeff)

One of the present's that Jeff got me - Guitar Hero 2 - We are having a lot of fun playing it :-)

It has been finalized - we are going skiing in Tahoe this coming weekend!! We have rented a house and there are about 9 of us going. I am a little nervous to ski down the mountains of Tahoe compared with the "hills" of Wild Mountain, but I shall do my best!!

Chris and Tonya will both be out here at the beginning of February, so that will be a lot of fun!! I am excited to go to San Francisco!

Classes start this week - wish me luck!

P.S. Think good thoughts for my mom - she will have her second round of chemo this week!! Hopefully all continues to go well!

Christmas and New Year's

Well, this weekend has been pretty uneventful. Jeff has a pretty nasty cold, so we have been chilling out in the apartment, except for the occassional walks, for the most part. I though that I would take some time to write and post pictures a out the rest of our trip.

We had a good Christmas with the Goettl's. We got to catch up with all of Jeff's brothers, his parents, and some extended family.

Top Row (L-R): Tonya (sister-in-law), Mia (niece-Chris and Tonya's daughter), Chris (brother), Miki (mom), Matt (brother), Kerri (sister-in-law), Andy (brother); Middle Row (L-R): Mike (brother), Andy (dad), Wally (great-uncle), Vi (great-aunt), Jared (cousin), Shelbi (cousin-Jared and Becky's daughter), Becky (cousin); Front Row (L-R): Jeff, Heidi, Rileigh (cousin), Isaac (cousin), Loghan (cousin - Jared and Becky's son)

We had fun playing some poker, opening presents, playing the dice game, and eating!!

On Tuesday, Jeff and I were able to go ice skating on the lake at Jeff's parent's house. We had so much fun. I was wearing Jeff's dad's skates, so they were a little bit big (like 3 sizes) for me!! I did pretty well though and only fell a couple of times :-)

The rest of the week, we hung out at the house, went to lunch with some of Jeff's family, and baby-sat for Mia! We had a good time! On New Year's Eve, it started to snow while we drove to church. An hour later, we had at least 2 inches already!! Jeff and I thought it would be the perfect time to go out and play!!

Above: Jeff doing a great job at snow-boarding down the hill at the house.

Below: The snowflakes were huge!! We even made a gigantic snowman, but the wind blew it over later that night!!

Although we were very excited to see the snow, we were a little bummed that it ruined some travel plans for our New Year's Eve Party. However, neighbor Dave and his family were able to make it (along with some of his world-famous ribs!) and the Sullivan's also drove up from Iowa - even though they were "bumped" by a semi!! (Adam and Alyssa - I hope your car is OK!!) We had a great time catching up, playing cards and other games, and bringing in the new year. Below is one of my favorite pictures of Travis!!

We also got to spend a lot of time with our kitties!! At their last vet check-up (the beginning of Dec.), Bait weighed in at 17 lbs. and Tackle at 15 lbs.!! They are so big!! Bait loves people and getting attention and Tackle is a little bit leary.

The above and below pictures are of Tackle. He is such an adorable cat and has very soft fur!!

The above and below pictures are of Bait. He is a little weird and sleeps in the craziest positions!

We got up on Tuesday morning and headed up to the Cities with Jeff's dad. We dropped him off and went to the Mall of America for a couple of hours. While there, we were able to see the world's largest ginger bread house and the Polar Express train. We then headed up to Coon Rapids and had lunch with Sally (I hope your back is better Matt!) It was great to see my old friends from Anoka-Ramsey. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Jeff's brother Andy's house. Then it was off to pick up Jeff's dad and we were dropped off at the airport.

We had a great time back "home" and are now getting back into our California life. My busy times start next week with meetings and training and classes start the week after. (Oh, on a side not and because I forgot to mention before, I got all A's last semseter!! Yeah for me!!)

We will hopefully have our first guest of 2007 here next weekend (my birthday weekend)!! Jeff's brother Chris may be coming out of work and will be staying a couple of days with us. Some good times should be had. We are also hopefully going to go to Tahoe skiing on the weekend of the 19th!! I'll keep you posted.

OK, I need to make some dinner - yes, I actually cook when the dining hall isn't open :-)

A Vaction after a Vacation...

Heidi writes:

Happy New Year!! Jeff and I had a great vacation back in MN and WI. It was wonderful seeing everyone and hanging out. We got back to Stockton this morning at 3am!! We are both a little tired today, but that's OK. I started to unpack, but I think I will wait until Jeff gets back from work to finish. Here are a few pictures of Chritmas with my family:


Shawn, Melissa, Jessica, Heidi, and Mom

Back Row (L to R): DJ, Justis, Lauren, Bayley; Front Row (L to R): Cameron, Collyn, Tayler, Ali, and Carsen - DJ, Justis, and Lauren are Shawn's kids, Bayley, Ali, Collyn, and Cameron are Jessica's kids, and Tayler and Carsen are Melissa's kids

Cameron and Collyn absolutely adore Jeff!!

The next picture will need some explanation. Jeff always wants to bet on the Packers/Vikings game and I am against it most of the time. Well, this year, we bet that the person's team that lost had to wear the other team's jersey to Jeff's family Chirstmas (who are mostly big Vikings fans). Well, of course, the Pack won the first game so Jeff wanted to make a double or nothing bet for the game on the 23rd. The double was that he had to pose and smile for pictures whenever anyone asked and he could only say positive things about the Packers. Silly me forgot my Favre jersey in CA so Jeff thought he was off the hook. However, Jeff's brother Andy and his wife, Kerri, gave me an early b-day present - a new Packer shirt!! I also got a Packer shirt for Christmas from Chris and Tonya, so below is a rare opportunity to see Jeff in Packer's apparel with a smile on his face!! Oh what a joyous day it was!!!

OK, well that is what I am going to post for now. I will post pictures of New Year's and other stuff later - including us playing in the snow and ice skating!!! I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and many well wishes for everyone in 2007!!