We were just kids when we fell in love.....

Rick and I celebrated our 42 Anniversary on Wednesday.

We kept it sort of Low-key as we have been doing alot of traveling over the last few months.

We did spend a day in the Twin Cities doing some fun things and exploring!

We first met when I was just 15 and Rick 17 (just friends)

I was a waitress and he a dishwasher at the Ramada Inn in Rochester.

For me it was LOVE at first sight.

He had to wait until I was 16 to ask me out, 

but he waited until I was 16 years 5 months old (Jeeesh what took him so long)

A few year later....

He was 19, me 17

*When I see this photo I cant help but start humming the song "Perfect", by Ed Sheeren

I found a love... for me, 

darling, just dive right in, follow my lead....

We were just kids when we fell in love

 Not knowing what it was......La La La La

 

*We were each others first boyfriend/girlfriend. 

I was told by some folks, "You really should date other guys", Why????

I am so thankful for this man which brings another song to my head by Newsong.

"When God made you he must have been thinking about me"

Its always been a mystery to me, 

how two hearts can come together, and love can last forever.

Now that I have found you I believe,

that a miracle has come when God sends the perfect one"......

 Rick is a man of faith, humility and unselfish love. 

He still opens the door for me,

He never goes thru a door before me. 

He shows his love by actions, he knows me well and knows what I need before I do :)

He puts up with me even when I'm unreasonable 

and he lets me be right even when I'm wrong.

Dont get me wrong, we are not perfect! We are still growing and learning about each other. 

We have our ups & downs, our disagrements, and frustrations, 

But we are willing to forgive and show grace to each other, it's worth the work to keep that promise we made to each other 42 years ago. With that being said it's pretty easy to love my guy, he is just the best.

He makes me laugh till I cry, and thru the years there has never been a doubt in my mind

 that he loves me just the way I am, and believe me... I'm A LOT!  ha ha

 He is my forever and always... we had that engraved into wedding rings.

 

And finally another song that comes to mind as we are now a little older and retired.

"Grow old with you"

"I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad, 

carry you around when you arthritis is bad

Oh, all i wanna do is grow old with you"...

Happy Anniversary my love, There's nothing better than growing old with you. 

Ok... now that you've read through all the "sap" here's a little bit on how we spent our anniversary.

We visited the Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul.

A fun guided tour worth going to!

We stopped at a bakery on Grand avenue, and shared a GF carrot cake muffin.

I love bakeries, Rick goes along for the food  :)

One of our favorite things is watching our Minnesota Timberwolves play Basketball.

So Rick and I got tickets for the game at Target Center in Minneapolis.

We walked around amoungst the big buildings and

Saw this cool mural

We ate dinner at "Cowboy Jacks" close to the stadium.

We watched our team win and make it back into 1st place in the conference.

Our team making their way out onto the floor. Click on the arrow to watch the video

Easter 2024

How was your Easter weekend?

Ours was fun, with lots of activities.

Our Twin Cities family came down Friday night and spent two nights with us.

Saturday morning Jenny colored eggs with the kids

Reminds me of when their daddy was this little 

coloring eggs at this same counter with his siblings.

I had an egg hunt for all 4 of the grandkids Saturday evening.

 Our littlest is jumping up to retrieve the one on top of the wooden swing, while Uncle gavin looks on

They each got to find 6 eggs. Uncle Gavin did the hiding.

Getting her stash

Still a little snow left on the north side of the house. 

Love these little egg hunters

3 out of the 4 helped finish the "Peep Cake" for Easter dessert

Sunday morning we attended my daughters church for Easter service, 

then headed out to my Brothers house

There was a little petting zoo at outside for the kids to enjoy, 

all of our grands love animals so this was a hit

My Brother and (sil) hosted this year, if you remember from older posts, this is the house I grew up in. 

My mom now lives in an apartment. A lot has changed but it feels right to be there.

Mom hanging out with #2 grand son (My boy Brice).

 

Daughter-in-love Jenny going thru the line

This is where the food is at

My Brother Rick and son Brice

Yay, the "Peep cake"

24 of us attended Easter lunch this year, we were missing 2 families.

There my girl in the middle.

Outdoor play, Gavin is always a hit with the littles

Football

My Loves <3

The oldest brother (on the left) is always on his toes in photos, trying to be taller that his little bother. 

Gavin has about an inch on Brice.

The March Birthdays, Gavin, my brothers wife Cindy and Nephew Jamey

The weather was perfect for outside fun

Uncle Chris vying for the ball.

The food was great the company better, but the best thing of all....

 Happy Easter to all.

Retirement Trip part 2

It hard to beat our week with Rick's aunt and uncle....

Our next adventure was to travel more south to Galveston where we 

spent 4 nights at an Airbnb on the beach. The temperatures were in the low 60's

 but for us Minnesotans, thats' warm enough!

Documentation that we were indeed there

We both got into the ocean, and agreed that the temperature of the water felt a lot like Long Lake.

COLD

Our set up

We didn't visit this pier but it would be fun with kids for sure.

We could see it from our place, just a hop-skip-and jump from us.

This is our Airbnb, it was a nice place and close to the beach

View right outside our door

Every morning, we sat out for coffee and toast.

One of the best things was the 2 recliners after a busy day.

Galveston was great! 

We did some shopping on Strand street, visited a military museum, ate at some great restraints,

 took some walks on the beach and just chilled.

 

Our last adventure was a stop in Waco Tx to visit "Magnolia Market" at the Silo's,

 Established in 2023 by Chip & Joanna Gaines from the TV show "Fixer Upper".

I didnt know if Rick would be interested in this place but he actually liked it.

YUM, the bakery was a highlight

They had a shop with all things "Chip" perfect for the guys!

All the flowers outside were real, the photos don't do them justice.

I LOVED this chair and wanted it but... it was $1200, a bit above me budget

The faux flowers and candles were everywhere

My purchases from Magnolia Market 

We really enjoyed our time at Magnolia Market

It was worth the stop!

After 2 weeks, we were home again to our beloved Minnesota.

We are thankful for these experiences, the ability to travel, good health and 

thea perfect travel buddy!

On the way home we booked our next trip

North Shore here we come.

Retirement trip Part 1

Our first Retirement trip

We had never been to Texas, and we have family who live there so mid February

 Rick and I had a little midwinter getaway and drove to Texas.

We took 3 days to get there stopping the 1st night in Kansas City and the 2nd night in Oaklahoma City.

Rick's Aunt and Uncle are gracious hosts and alway show us a good time.

We visited them a few years ago when they still lived in Arizona

They recently moved to Texas to be near their two daughters, so now they all live in the same town.

Here we are with Rick's cousin Christy and family

(Low light quality photos')

and now his cousin Cindy and family.

They all exemplify "Southern Hospitality"

We were able to spend the better part of a week with these sweet families.

We did step away for an overnight in Fredericksburg Tx

It was a cute little town with lots of shops

We enjoyed some taste testing in this shop, everything from dips, jams and salsa 

Then we checked out the National Museum of the Pacific War.

Back to Brownwood Texas where the family lives...

We got to visit this awesome book store that used to be 1 of 12 Theaters in Brownwood.

A women met us at the door and gave us a little history on the building, 

At the top of the photo you can see where the stadium seats were taken down and on the wall are shadows of the theater seats, The theater was open 24 hours and the soldiers would come in to rest when the hotels were full. The round dots are said to be where the soldiers rested their heads, 

apparently they wore lots of "brylcreem"in their hair. 

we walked under this arch of old Library books, there is a story about these books too, 

but I can remember it.

I liked this old wheelchair adorned with spooky books

Uncle Wayne, Aunt Jo Anne and I, Rick was golfing with his 2nd cousin Austin.

We had just the best time with Ricks family, after a week we headed to the ocean...

Stay tuned for Part 2