Moments 11 25 :: Week 01

It's full on Fall around here. Love it when the wall of leaves changes colors. They are already gone.

More beautiful trees on a walk. Could also hear the lake in the background. Stunning.

We celebrated Halloween this year! Our friends Matt + Jeff had us over to their scary themed party. 

No mistaking which house on the block was theirs.

The best part was seeing Matt who was 6' 8" in his heels, next to our teeny tiny friend Dre. It was ridiculous. Everyone's costumes were so great. 

The next day, we met Leif/Mel, Bill/Lora for brunch. Always such a great time. 

On Monday I took Josie out on a field trip. She was such a shy, but super sweet 1-year old dog. I had to lift in her into the car, she was so scared, but she turned into a new dog on our walk, even going up to people and greeting them. It's getting cold out, so I'll need to find indoor dog friendly places. I'm going to miss it so much. 

There is a WHS foster facebook page. I typically don't post on there, but have twice recently with a couple of dogs I felt really would shine outside of the shelter. Josie was one of them. Several volunteer dog walkers and another foster mom who was at the shelter while her foster kittens were getting vaccinated, all chimed in on what a great dog she was. And guess what? Another foster family agreed to give her a little 1-2 week break. This news made me so happy. He posted photos of her and she looked so calm and carefree. I hope she has a great time. 

A benefit of the cooler weather is stunning sunrises. 

The Auggies ranked #2 for D3 schools in the latest coaches poll. I'm sure it was before their horrible semi-final loss to the only team that has been able to defeat them. To get kicked out of the conference playoffs in 6th place kind of stinks. The good news is, they already have qualified for Nationals next weekend. 

Moments 10 25 :: Week 05

Stunning! Just some fall colors on my walk with Van. I love this season so much.

Can you even with this guy? I got to take Bucky out on a field trip, and could not get enough of his little piggy legs, snorts, smooshy face and floppy ears. I cannot imagine being a 5-year old dog stuck the shelter. I'll confirm next week, but I think he was adopted though, so yeah! He was so sweet!

Poor guy was so tired after our long walk. He could barely stay awake on the ride home. He looks like such a grumpy old guy, but he was the sweetest. 

Brian had to get cataract surgery on his other eye this week. It's been really bothering him, so I know he's glad to have it done. Even if the following couple days have been a little uncomfortable. 

Minneapolis Weekend No. 2

We were back in Minneapolis last weekend — twice in one month! This time, Hudson flew in to join us, and it felt so good having the P4 back together again.

Brian and I met the boys at Wesley Andrews for matcha chai tea lattes (so good!) and then hung out at Cole’s place before dinner at Little Tijuana. We love it there and wanted Hudson to experience it too. Next time, though, we’ll have to branch out — there are just so many amazing restaurants in Minneapolis. My “must-try” list is getting long!

The next morning, Hudson, Brian, and I met up with Leif, Mel, and Finn at Brit’s to watch the Manchester United game. YES — Leif and Mel were in town visiting Finn too! We’d planned this weekend for a while, and it all came together perfectly. After the game, the three of us headed to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It was a little rainy, but it’s been years since we’ve been, and I just love that place.

Next up was Augsburg vs. St. Olaf — both top-10 nationally ranked teams. What a matchup! One of the parents even organized a little tailgate beforehand, and it was fun meeting some of the other families. There were 750 people in attendance! Cole’s been dealing with a knee injury this week, so I was nervous, but he was taped up and ready to start. He played great until he landed awkwardly on his other foot and had to come out after 40 minutes. Crushing! Augsburg was up 2–0 and looked set to win, but in the final minutes St. Olaf scored twice to tie it up. The most heartbreaking tie ever — St. Olaf hasn’t lost a conference game in 29 matches. We had it!

Still, we ended the night on a high note with dinner at Pizzeria Lola with all the boys. No photos this time, but it was delicious as always.

The next morning, Brian and I had to hit the road, but first stopped by Cole’s apartment to pick up donuts from Glam Doll. Our neighbor up the street works there and happened to be on shift that day — such a fun coincidence! We grabbed Lu’s for the road and headed out. It was hard to leave, but Hudson had a great day with Cole — seeing his school and doing other fun things. I’m so glad they had that time together. And honestly, I’m just so glad we all did.

Moments 10 25 :: Week 04

Met out with Andrew/Shelly, Scott/Ali and Leif/Mel on Friday. It's always a great time getting together with this group. 

Monday was a perfect Fall day, and it was made even better by getting to take 5.5 year old Maurice out for a Field Trip. 

I really look at these excursions as a way of lifting the dogs spirits. Most of the dogs I take out are Benchwarmers, meaning they've been there a little while. And usually, they will get adopted within a week or two. Maurice has only been in the shelter for a few weeks, but he's a guy who really, really dislikes it there. He's known to try to bolt out of his kennel when someone opens the door. He was so happy in the car he cried most of the way to the park. He has a calm demeanor and was used as a helper dog when testing the other dogs, but is starting to get a little reactive (he was not at all on our walk). He hates it there. I noticed he hasn't been on the site, and just found out he now has a upper respiratory infection. I'm just so bummed. I hope he feels better soon and doesn't let shelter life get the best of him. He's a great dog. (P.S. Yes, I absolutely love spending time with these dogs. It's my favorite day of the week for sure. But it isn't always easy. Foster parents are so incredible, it's not even funny. I'm constantly blown away, and just so happy to play a small role in all of of this.)

Cole sent this photo and I love it. Caleb, Maia's fiancee, happened to be in Minneapolis and they got a chance to visit each other. 

Moments 10 25 :: Week 03

Gretel on the way back from the kennel. She loves her lips flapping in the wind. 

Finally finished this book. It took forever! I didn't not like it. But I really struggled to get into it. 

Watch dog. Actually, I think she was hunting mice in the bushes. 

Hit a PR this week. 5 deadlifts at 250#. It was only a 2.5# increase, but from my former PR of 247.5# from 3 years ago. I'll take it. 

First time buying mums for the planters. I never understood what the hype was, but they are absolutely lovely. I get it. 

Van loves our new king bed. Brian and I don't have any extra space, but Van sure has room to sprawl out. 

St. Louis Weekend

This weekend's adventures took us to St. Louis to visit Hudson! Wish our kids lived closer than 6 hours away, but it sure does make for a fun weekend. We were able to find a house in Hudson's neighborhood to rent this time. It worked out perfectly. He came over and we watched Cole's soccer game (they won and he had a beautiful assist). After Natalie was done working, she came over and we went to Broadway Oyster Bar. Can't believe this was our first time there! We had raw and baked oysters, and I had a crazy good shrimp po-boy. Afterwards, we went to The Famous Bar for martinis. I decided to go for it, and got a chocolate martini. Let me tell you, it was amazing. 

The next day, we started our day at Damn Fine Hand Pies. Our late start meant not much of a hand pie selection. But, their turkey sandwich and brioche donuts were fantastic. After fueling our bodies, we went to my favorite store, AO&Co, then met some of Hudson and Natalie's friends at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We haven't visited since our trip back in 2019, and considering it was such a gorgeous day, it seemed like the perfect thing to do. Hudson recreated a photo from back in the day, and we had a great stroll around the grounds. We were originally going to go to a pumpkin patch, which would have been fun too, but we did end up at a Harvest Festival in Tower Grove Park afterwards. Not the same thing, but we had a taste of Autumn after all. That evening, we went to The Golden Hoosier and got to meet Natalie's mom. Natalie's family is just so great to him. It was really fun getting to know them a little. 

The next morning, Hudson came over for coffee, then it was time to leave. These weekends always go by way too fast.