Kicking off Summer...and a little before

Marathon to Marathon!!!! Matt finished his first marathon on June 11, 2011. After he finished he said it was the hardest thing he ever did and that he is NEVER doing another marathon. We will see, hopefully I can talk him into another one down the road :)

The marathon started in Storm Lake Iowa and ended in Marathon Iowa. We stayed at Kings Pointe Resort in Storm Lake with our friends the Burts. The boys had to be at the start line at 5:30. So I got up early and took them. Some of our other friends were also running so their wives came to our hotel and hung out for a while in the morning. We found the boys at mile 22 and then at the finish line. After the race we hung out at the beach with the Burts and the Andersons.

Matt crossing the finish line!















Eating an otter pop and drinking Gatorade after the race.



















Almost there!






























Mile 22....

For Christmas last year I got Matt tickets for Wicked. We went on June 9th. It was amazing. The cast was great and we loved it. After the show we went outside and it was raining SO hard. There was literally a river running down the street. Matt being the gentleman he is offered to go get the car. We were only a couple of blocks away be he was soaked from head to toe. It also didn't help that he left the car window down during the play so our car was a "little" wet inside as well. Oh well fun memories...















Pie eating contest. That about sums it up. Well we did plan to eat a whole pie each but luckily all the pies ended up being frozen so we split the one thawed pie in 8th (and I still felt sick). I will miss Village Green. I couldn't ask for a better place to live.










































































Lake Manawa for the day. It is a lake just a few minutes from our house. We went for the afternoon while the boys were helping at a dental clinic in Grand Island.












































Standing in the Missouri River. The River has been so high this year and is flooding everything. It is so sad to see so much under water. This is where they sandbagged at my work. Matt is standing on the sidewalk that is now underwater. Crazy...















Camping over Memorial Day
We decided to do a quick one night camping trip for memorial day. We went with our friends Ryan and Kim and their three little boys. The one night turned into three. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. On Sunday night a few other families joined us for dinner and smore's. It got really hot on Sunday night so we were glad to come home Monday.


























































Aaron's Baptism

We drove our to Denver at the end of April for my nephews baptism. You think I would have gotten a picture with him but no such luck. This was the only one I took.















Happy Easter!!!

We needed dyed Easter Eggs to make SOS on Easter morning so we dyed some eggs with the Hjorths and the Grafs. Given the oldest child present was 4 months old it didn't last long. When we were done we sent the guys on a Wendy's run and we ate spicy chicken sandwiches and watched Transformers the rest of the night.
















































Trip to Denver

When I changed jobs I took a few weeks off of work. During one of the weeks I went to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Denver. I was so fun to see them and their four kids. I miss seeing them since we moved to Omaha and they moved to Denver. We had a great week and they kept me very entertained.

It was Aaron's birthday while I was there so we went to eat lunch with him at school.















Playing at the playground by their house. It was too bad the weather was so cold and we couldn't use the pool.
















Our trip to the Denver Museum of Science.















Man I love these girls.






























It was so good to see my little niece Nora. This was the first time I'd seen here since she was two weeks old.















We ran the Ni-Bthaska-Ke 12K Trail Run (I have no idea how they came up with the name) in April. Well I should say we both started the run....I was so sick that day but decided I would run anyway. I only made it about 4 miles and then...well I will spare you the details...but I had to throw in the towel. It was too bad because the course was beautiful. It was at Platte River State Park about 30 miles outside of Omaha. Matt finished no problem and had a great time.













































Matt at the finish line!

A few months ago.....

Well it has been a few months so I figure it is about time to give an update. Things are going well. Matt is now a Senior (YES!!!!), I started a new job, and it is now summer here is Omaha. Here are a few things that happened in January, February, and March.....

We decided to see Young Frankenstein on Friday. It was...well... interesting. If you ever go don't take kids! I don't think we will ever see it again. Once was enough :)



































Dinner with Friends.








































SPRING BREAK. We decided to go home for Matt's spring break (which is always in February). We had a great time hanging out with family and going skiing. Living in Omaha make you really appreciate a good day on the slopes.









































































Got to see Melanie, my best friend ever!
















Matt threw a big party for my birthday. He did such a good job with everything and made an amazing dinner (except the cake, which I made because I wanted to attempt at ice cream cake. It wasn't the prettiest cake ever but turned out okay for a first attempt).






























Kristy and Brian came to visit. We had a great time and love when they come. We went to Dixie Quick for breakfast. It was one of the restaurants featured on Food Network Dives, Diners, and Drive-Ins. It is now our favorite breakfast place in Omaha.































Madalyn's Baby Shower. It was the WORST storm ever that day, but we still had a great time!

Delaney's Baptism. In January we went back to Utah for Matt's niece's baptism.

It was also Sam's birthday the day of the baptism, so we took him to Toy's R Us to get some LEGOS.

Holiday update....Finally!

Well, I am behind as usual but better late than never, right? We had such a great Holiday season, I just haven’t had time to update our blog!

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was a little different this year. We stayed in Omaha, but Matt’s parents came out for the week so we had some family around. We had dinner with our friends here in Omaha. Matt volunteered to smoke a Turkey on his new smoker (well relatively new). He got up at 3:00 AM to get started. He was up every couple of hours putting more charcoal in the smoker….it was only 7 degrees that day, so it took some work to keep up the temperature. But...all of his hard work paid off…the turkey was AMAZING. We will never go back to the oven again. We had a wonderful dinner with wonderful friends. We had so much good food and even better company. We are so grateful for the wonderful people we have around us in Omaha.

Did I mention the turkey was AMAZING!!!

After dinner we went with Matt's parents and some of our neighbors to the lighting ceremony and Christmas concert in downtown Omaha. It was a great way to kick off the season.

Christmas

For Christmas we also stayed in Omaha. It was the first time I have not been with my family on Christmas, but we still had a good time. Luckily a lot of our friends and neighbors also stayed around so we had lots of fun and activities during the break. For Christmas Eve we had the traditional Jacobsen Christmas Eve dinner and Program. Matt did a great job running the show. Our friends the Hjorths came over as well as a couple that were investigating the church. As sad as it was to be away from family it was a great night that will always be a cherished memory.

Matt and I had opening a few presents Christmas morning and then had breakfast with the Hjorths. I attempted to make Danish Pastry (a tradition in Matt’s family). I have a lot of work to do to perfect it but at least I have now attempted. To end the day, we had Christmas dinner with some friends.

Matt got me a Bosch mixer (I was so excited) and I got him ticket to see Wicked and Les Miserables tickets.

For New Years Eve we had our friends, the Millers, over for dinner and games. Given it was negative 5 that day, we didn’t do much outside.

It was a nice to have time off work and Matt enjoyed his two weeks off of school. Like always the time went too fast and we were back to work and school before we knew it.

Other Random things….in November Matt and I ran the “Living History Farm” 9 mile cross country race in Des Monies Iowa. The course runs through rivers and cornfields and all sorts of crazy stuff. It was lots of fun but cold at the end. Matt beat me by a long shot, but I can’t remember our exact times. It was definitely a change from other races I have done but would do it again.

New Hampshire
I also had to go on a work trip to New Hampshire. It made me fall in love with New England. I missed the fall foliage by a few weeks, but it was still beautiful. We stayed in a bed and breakfast (it was the only hotel in town) in a little town called Hancock. On one of my morning runs I had to stop at the church and cemetery, which were both build in the late 1700’s. It was interesting to see the history. I can wait to take Matt back there when we have time to explore. Our last day we left work early to go to the coast for dinner. We literally got to the beach about 5 minutes after sunset so we didn’t get to see much (expect the enormous houses along the way) but the shrimp was amazing and worth the drive!

This hotel was so cute, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Baby Shower

I threw a baby shower for one of my neighbors in December. I decided to do something a little crafty (this is a big step for me) and made a diaper cake. I turned out okay (not as good as the ones on the internet) but for my first time I think it was okay. Their cute little baby was born right before Christmas.



















































Well, that about covers through December....and it only took until February to get done.!!