Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Valentine's/Presidnet's Day weekend in Chicago!

This past weekend I went to Chicago for a long President's Day weekend. It was an exciting adventure trying to get there, as usual! :) I was trying to fly out of Omaha instead of Sioux Falls this time, since it saved me over $300. Anyhow Omaha was going to have "The Blizzard of the Century" it seemed. (Go Figure, right!) The one weekend that I need to fly out Omaha has its "rare" snow! Well I was dropped off at the airport at 8:50am, but my flight was not until 12:20 pm. My ride wanted to drop me off, and be out of Omaha by time the storm was supposed to hit (9:00am.) Well, I went to the check-in desk and asked them if I should even check my bag this early, or if I should wait a little while, since my flight was FOUR HOURS away! I kidded a little and said, unless there is an earlier flight you want to put me on! He did some checking and said there is a flight leaving at 9:20 am. (TWENTY MINUTES FROM NOW!) He said he would put me on stand-by and by time I got to the gate, I would know if I was able to get on. So I flew upstairs, flew through security, and got to my gate. By this time there were about 5 people in front of me for stand-by, so my hope was fading. The snow by this time was also coming down like crazy. I could hardly even see the plane that was sitting right outside the airport window! He announced my name, and I found out I did make it on the flight after all! Feww!! Twenty minutes from arriving to the airport, I was on the airplane! It was a very nerve-wracking take-off! We de-iced the plane two times, then slid our way to the runway. But before we took off, the pilot came out of the cock-pit and ran down the isle of the plane to the windows over the wings, and said that he wanted to check the wings one last time, he said the looked good... and we took off! It was 100% white out the window- I couldn't see a thing... then about 8 minutes later, it was all fluffy clouds around us...then about 1 minute later it was a beautiful sunny day above the clouds for the rest of the flight!!! Fewwww.. what a trip!!!
This was our Valentine's dinner!
On Saturday we went to the Field Museum downtown Chicago!
It was amazing, we spend a ton of time there, and learned a lot of cool things. We had tours, and talked to people there, and really learned a lot! It was very fun!

These are the first animals to ever be stuffed. They were hunted, and stuffed by the inventor of "taxidermy" Carl Akeley.

This is the Pawnee Indian Village! - Can you figure out the story behind us? It's about the Sioux Indians, and how they took over the Pawnee because the had guns! haha- the man working in the village did NOT like the Sioux!- I told him I was from Sioux Falls. ahaha


This is SUE- dug up in South Dakota!


Todd and the huge museum behind him!


Not ready!

Ok, ready!-- This was right before our good-bye :(
We will be SOOO happy when these stupid good-byes are OVER WITH!!!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Mr. Van Baren- destined to be a teacher!!!

Todd came to Sioux Falls this weekend for a great visit! He came on Friday night, Jan.31. On Saturday the weather was about 45 degrees and beautiful, we walked around downtown, went to the mall, went to Hu Hot of course, and enjoyed each other's company! On Monday, he came to school to visit his fan-club!! The kids went NUTS! They were sooo happy that he came to visit "them!" I seriously did put him to work! All you teachers out there know that if there is an extra set of hands in a classroom- we will use them;)!!!
Todd is on the road right now back home! We are praying for good roads, and safe travel!
We found him....
Todd busy correcting math workbooks

Answering math questions!


Todd came on Hot Chocolate Day! The kids were able to have hot chocolate all day today, as a reward for making their January reading goal! yum! :)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Grocery Shower!

My sister-in-law Bethany and Angie threw a triple grocery shower for myself, Pam, and Beth. It was a very fun night, they did a great job. We played the Price-is-Right with groceries, and had amazing food! I received some great gifts, recipes, and groceries that I am very excited to put into our cupboards. I am excited to try some of the new recipes- but a bit nervous! I may be calling some of you for advice! :)
This was a hilarious gift. It was a huge bag of groceries, and we had to see who between the three of us, could put them in alphabetical order first! We all immediately rushed to get started, then we were told- if we would have read the card first, all of the answers were listed! hahah that will teach us!

YUM!! I can't wait to make this Oreo recipe!
More goodies to put in the cupboards!
Adorable chip and salsa bowl from dear friend Evy!

This was a fun game that we played. (As you can see we all read the Standard Bearer as we waited!! haha jk)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The true way to Todd's heart........................FUNFETTI CAKE!!


The truth is- that Todd will do anything for Funfetti cake! His mom always spoils him with his own funfetti cake on his birthday! I was very thankful that he doesn't expect an elaborate cake each year, because I think that EVEN I can carry on this tradition!!! :)

His only wedding request was that we either have a Pecan Pie wedding cake.. or a Funfetti wedding cake!!!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Happy Birthday, Todd!!!!

Happy Birthday to Todd!!!!!
We all wanted to wish Todd the most happy of birthdays! Todd will be 26 on Saturday, January 24! On the back of each of their letters that they are holding, they wrote Todd a little birthday letter. (To accompany our letter-writing unit! Now all of the sudden they became very motivated to learn how to correctly write a letter!!)
The 4th graders love Todd, even though he has only come to visit them a few times. They ask about him all of the time. Last year was hilarious- my class developed a "Todd fan club." Seriously- it was all they could talk about, they elected a Todd Fan Club president, secretary, vice president, etc. At recess they would hold meetings trying to decide how they could get Todd to visit more etc. It made me laugh!!!

Miss Te Slaa and her 4th graders
NO class picture can ever be done without a "SILLY one!!!!"

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Quick-trip to Chicago!

This past week on Wednesday night, I decided that I really wanted to go to Chicago on Friday. So I did!! I had Monday off of school, so I decided it would be perfect. I had never driven before, so that made me very nervous- but I left on Friday at about 2:30pm, and arrived safely by midnight. We had a great weekend together. I went to his work Christmas party with him, and we enjoyed each other's company again! We spend time with family- and visiting my brand new cousin John Edward! I left Monday at about 11:30am to come home. It was the most miserable trip!!!! My GPS took me on a two lane road for about 200 miles (yes, a bit of a short cut) but the weather was NOT good, and it was a dark, hardly- traveled road. The wind was so great, that it blew the snow from the fields/ditches right up across the road. It looked like solid clouds- I couldn't see the road, lines, signs, it was practically white-out conditions even though it wasn't snowing. It was a long, tense trip home- but I made it!!!! Never so glad to be home!! :)



Todd and I with baby John, and proud sisters Julie and Bekah!!! (I guess they just said something funny!)
Todd and John!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

God's Handiwork!

I am sorry that this has nothing to do with our wedding- but I had to share these beautiful pictures with everyone! Each morning I get to school and look out my window, and within 10 minutes I see the sky completely fill with "fire" and the snow all around reflects the beautiful glow. The sunrises are absolutely breath-taking- I cannot imagine starting my day any other way! And I wanted to share them with you all to enjoy God's handiwork as much as I do every morning! (disclaimer- these pictures don't do them justice!)










Thursday, January 8, 2009

Honeymoon here we come!!!!!

We booked our honeymoon this week! Wahoo, we are so excited! We are going to Puerto Vallarta Mexico, and staying in a RIU resort. We will be flying out of Omaha at 6 am on May 30. WHOA! We will have to leave Sioux Falls by 2 am after our wedding! :)
The resort looks amazing, it has several pools, 5 restaurants that Todd said wont know what hit them after we've been through, beaches, what more could you ask for!!







Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Bridal Shower

Todd's mom graciously threw my first bridal shower. She and my future sister-in-laws put a TON of work into this shower. It was December 29, 2008 at Village Woods. The menu was MEXICAN!!! yay. We had the most amazing enchiladas, as well as a delicious Mexican soup! For dessert we had a sea of delicious truffles, YUM!!! Todd and I were given a lot of very very generous gifts, it was very humbling! It was a great shower.
My mom and dad drove down from Sioux Falls for the weekend to meet everyone in Todd's family, as well as attend the shower!




The sign at Village Woods


Todd's sisters, mom and I.
Michelle, Christy, Karen, Mom, Karla, Tiffany.

A Large assortment of "Little Critter" books
for Todd from Julie and Bekah!

We were soo excited to see our Extremely hard
to find dishes!! Thank you!!

Flower girl Kayla, and I!

Mom TS, Karla, Mom VB

My mom and I

We bought Todd's wedding ring!


It's official! We bought Todd's wedding ring :) It was very fun to pick it out together, he said is very excited to finally get to wear it... aww!!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Christmas night at the Van Barens






Christmas with the Van Barens was soo fun! We had lots of fun get-togethers etc. On Christmas night we came home from Eric and Tif's and played lots of Yahtzee!!! It was a blast- I also got serenaded by Todd Michael Van Baren!! Whoo Hoo

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Paiting the living room!!


The BEFORE!!!!!!!!



DURING!!!!

Special secret message in the wall! It will forever be the foundation of our living room!!



AFTER!!!!!!!

The final product!!


We are very pleased with the color! Although it looks much better in person, you will all have to come over and check it out!!!

This was a photo op! Todd was trying to re-assemble all of his cords etc! I couldn't NOT snap the photo!!!!!