BrookE!!!

Brooke made a surprise visit to Austin from South Korea! Rae was a part of the event team coordinating with Brooke's borther-in-law, mother and some family friends to surprise Brooke's sisters, nieces and nephews. It was a great visit for all and Brooke got to do some baking and American shopping!

A Snowy Christmas

We had a great time visiting with our family and friends this Christmas. We were introduced to the joys, sorrows, and obsession of playing Settlers of Catan with the Minerich family and Rae and Ben got to do some hunting with Arlen. Oh, and we may have played some guitar hero.... =)

Rachel's Birthday

Rae made the most amazing Indian meal I have ever tasted. Restructuring an Indian classic, Tandori Pheseant took the mainstage supported by Basmati rice, along with Baingan Bharta, Moong Dal, Raita, Palak Paneer, and loads of garlic naan! The best part of the day was when six of Santa's reindeer jumped through the Schamber's backyard ( I am convinced it was Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donner, and Blizten. )

Celebration of Mark Meschke

We celebrated Mark Meschke joining his heavenly Father.

The impact he had on us all was tremendous. We will miss him!

Ugly Sweater Party 2008

Troy and CJ threw a lovely Ugly Sweater Christmas party complete with a gift exchange and wonderful treats. Even Babs joined in! Even though CJ should have won for Christmas footie pj's, Rachel won with her chocolate snowman calendar.

Geoff Turns 40!

We had a great time celebrating Geoff's birthday at Mona Lisa's in Eau Claire, WI. We checked out their new home, too. Nice red leather davenport Ally!

Gretchen's Baby Shower

The Reetz family opened their home to the most lovely baby shower for Gretchen and Paul. They are expecting at the end of February. Christy made a gorgeous baby cake and we had rubber duckies everywhere! What a wonderful time! Thanks to everyone who celebrated the excitement with us! The day will be forever commemorated by Mary falling and breaking her leg - the other one this time. She is in recovery.

Drumstick Dash

Ben ran the Drumstick Dash 10k with Erin and Rob on Thanksgiving Day.

Alayna Irene is here!

We welcome Alayna Irene Winkels to our lives! How excited we are to have her!

Weight : 7.2lbs
Length : 21in
Gorgeous: Absolutely!

The Happy Gnome

Rachel met up with her cousins Angel and Mark from Chicago, after Mark's gruelling medical exams. It sounded like he did very well! It was great to catch up.

Later Erin, Anne, Ben, Dan, Adam, and I all ended up at the Happy Gnome to spend some quality time together. They have over 125 varieties of beer with 30 on tap. We ended up trying some fantastic brews (including one that tasted like toffee!) from WI and MN and ended with baba ghanoush and pita. Delightful!

Fogo de Chao

Troy and CJ took us out for our wedding gift to Fogo de Chao in downtown Minneapolis. I don't believe I have ever seen Ben sitting with one foot in reality and one in heaven; I never dreamed I might almost lose him to another being, but I almost lost him to Fogo de Chao. Troy and CJ explained the rules and the game was exquisite! It was truly one of the most enjoyable evenings, capped off with a friendly game of Disney Trivia! Thanks CJ and Troy!

Wee Reetz Babe

6 months and Gretchen is going strong! Can't wait to see what the future holds in store for the Reetz family! They have been working very hard to finish their website for The Grannies: http://www.thegrannies.net/. Paul has his first book signing over Thanksgiving!

Election Craze

Haloweeeeeen!

"Brrrrrrrrrrring!!" "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrring!" "Uh-huh.....Uh-huh!"

The Yip Yips have landed and they are coming to your home if you invite us! We had a wonderful time celebrating with friends, both old and new. Ben's creative genius was phenomenal once again. He never ceases to amaze me :) If you can't tell who is who....Ben is blue and I am in the pink.

Ben's First Turkey Chasing Experience

"Gobble, gobble - you can't escape the sprinter and the dead-eye shooter!

The Minnesota Symphony

SHCHEDRIN
Concerto No. 1 for Orchestra, Naughty Limericks
MOZART
Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major for Winds
COPLAND
Quiet City
LUTOSLAWSKI
Concerto for Orchestra

We had the opportunity to attend the debut of the Minnesota Orchestra's charismatic assistant conductor, Sarah Hicks. She showcased her enormous range, from the hushed intensity of Copland’s Quiet City to the headlong joy of Mozart. We were so thankful to our good friend, Eric, and his generousity!

MMEA

What an amazing palette God has created to paint His autumn! Mom and I followed the Mississippi River down to Saint Louis to see Mark and Dottie, Marc and Greta, and the Goodens. We had a wonderful time visiting, enjoying the fall harvest - pumpkins and apples as big as Stephen's mouth! :) Mark was in good spirits as we celebrated Dottie's birthday with delicious fresh apple crisp.

The Paper Palace Reunited

The Northwest Austin girls celebrated Sara's birthday in style! They met in Uptown and went to a Comedy Sportz show and then out to Calhoun Square for desert at Figlio's. Decadent! What a wonderful chance to catch up!

Grandma Warner's 90th Birthday

The family gathered in Findlay, OH, to celebrate Iola's 90th birthday. Annie created a commemoration of Iola's life events that inspired much conversation.

Welcoming Autumn

The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in.
And thought of doing something to the shore.
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies.
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if...
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff;
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken.
Before God's last Put out the light was spoken.


Once By The Ocean
Robert Frost

The Mighty Mississippi

Ben and I have been enjoying the crisp, early autumn air by exploring the running paths in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. There are so many wonderful opportunites to explore nature in this glorious city including Como Park, The River Parkway, The Chain of Lakes, Dean Parkway and Cedar Lake, Minnehaha, and of course, Sibley Memorial Highway.

Higgs Boson

As of noon, I have not noticed any black holes (I know they would be very, very tiny, but I am looking very, very hard). Looking forward to the results of this new venture into quantum science as CERN's Large Hadron Collider has begun experimentation.

Twin Cities Hepcats

We are back in the Paris of the Midwest and proud of it. It feels so nice to have a cool breeze, wear socks, and expect the leaves to turn magestic colors any time now. We are eagerly awaiting picking apples with our nieces, carving pumpkins, and ice skating. It is amazing how many diversions we have created for ourselves up here to keep us entertained throughout the winter. We are looking forward to reconnecting with friends and their families, as well as spending more time with our own familes!

Mower County Fair

Happy Anniversary to Gena and Casey! The Minerich's had a weekend full of lovely little Winkels girls all to themselves while Gena and Casey had some Twin Cities fun. What perfect timing! You can't go wrong when you get Watkins cheese curds at the Fair!

High School Reunion

Seeing people that you haven't seen in 10 years can really open your eyes as to how things progress and yet how close you can remain!

Joe and Patti's House

Our last stop on the way back to MN for the third and final time was at Joe and Patti's house in Michigan. It was a wonderful place to relax, enjoy my aunt and uncle's wonderful company, hear about their amazing trip to Alaska, and share some red wine. Joe also let us sit - and start - on his Harley---what can we say?!?

Kevin and Jessie Minerich

Welcoming Jessie to the Minerich clan was as easy as 1,2,3: A beautiful ceremony, a karoke machine, and being with family = a great time had by all! Grandma and Grandpa danced the night away.