Friday's Letters

Dear summer, you are going by so fast. I LOVE fall…its my favorite season of all time but STILL the summer is flying by...slow down a little bit please :) 

Dear babe, thank you for all that you do for me. Thanks for working so hard and staying positive all the time. Thank you for encouraging, supporing and loving me. You are the best. This weekend is going to be a BLAST finally we have no mandatory plans we can just relax and have us time. We get to play softball, run together, grill out and have a bonfire yessss J I cant wait for our washer board game to get here so we can play in the yard every day! and p.s thanks for kicking my butt in ping-pong today...I will beat you next time don't worry

He makes popcorn on the stove EVERY night :) 

Dear Aubrey, happy 2^nd birthday. You are so stinkin cute I cant stand it, stop growing up so fast!

Dear Scarlet, YOU are ADORABLE. I just love you to pieces. I don’t get to see you often but when I do I enjoy every second of it. You babble nonstop, I wish I knew what you are saying. You are getting so big and I love love love you.

Dear future puppy, we cant wait to be your parents and spoil you, walk you, and snuggle with you

That is all for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

Xoxo,

Amber

Lately

Hello FRIENDS!!

Wow oh wow it has been way too long since I have posted anything. I have a lot of updates to share for anyone out there who is actually interested J hehe. There might be a picture overload in this post so be prepared :) 

Last weekend was pretty fun…My dad and his girlfriend Sharon came to Iowa for the Kevin Costner concert at the surf ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Tim and I went with them and it was actually a great time. We went out for some beers and apps before hand and then headed to the ballroom to watch the concert. The surf ballroom is such a cool place. It is the last place that Buddy Holly played in before he died. There is a lot of history there and I highly recommend visiting it.

line dancing :)

The next day we went to a wedding with the Olson family. Tim’s brother Ben was in the wedding. It was a pretty good time. We hit the dance floor quite a bit J. Ben’s girlfriend Kimmy was back in town and it was SO good to see her, she has been in Florida for grad school since last yr.

Tim's brothers- Dan and Ben

Other than that I have been keeping busy with church stuff. Our pastors are so good to us…they know that Tim works late hours so they got me involved in the kids and teen ministries on Wednesday nights and it is great. They have also invited me over and are very welcoming and nice to Tim and I. We feel so blessed.

Tim got a promotion…so proud!! However, his hours are not ideal for either of us. He works 2:30-midnight which can get long and lonely and is also the opposite of my teaching schedule. It is going to be a challenge for us but we know that if God brings us to it he will bring us through it.

Other news! I might be the head special education teacher rather than the para! I find out tomorrow if she is going to move me to the “long term sub” position while I work on getting a conditional license and take a couple more classes to get certified in Behavioral disorders.

I spent some time in the cities this week and got to see some friends and family that I have not gotten to see in quite awhile so that was awesome and fun and kept me busy while Tim is working down in Iowa. I went for a run with my mom in the 98 degree weather which was pretty tough and then we went to Menchies in Highland to get frozen yogurt...that place is so good! 

crazy runner

cake batter and cheesecake frozen yogurt YUM

I got to see my dad and uncles softball game and spend the night with my cousin Abby! I got to see my great friends Bre and Laura, I watched them win their softball league championship woohoo! I also spent some time with Angie, Noah and the gang :) 

Adorable cousin Aubrey!

Once the summer wedding weekends settle down a little bit we will have weekends to spend together and everything will be just fine. It is a little hard to live in a new town where I don’t know many people but I am so blessed to have the love and support of friends and family.

Summer is flying by and I hope everyone is enjoying it!!

God bless!

Xoxo,

Amber

My niece Scarlet...getting so big!

Timothy J :)

God Bless the USA

It has been quite awhile since I have posted.  The summer seems to be flying by already.

Last weekend Tim was at a bachelor party in Alexandria so I went to see my good friend/teammate from college, Kaitlyn. She lives in a really small town called Paynesville, MN. We hung out, caught up, babysat her little niece and in the morning we did some farm chores like feeding the cows! Ha. It was fun to see her life on the farm.

The fourth of July was very fun this year. Since it was on a Wednesday a lot of people had to work the day before and after so Tim and I invited our families down to Iowa to spend the day here. The day was awesome. We grilled and chilled. Listened to tunes, talked, sat outside for a bit (it was a hot one!)

And later Tim and I relaxed and napped and then went to Clear Lake to watch fireworks.  It was so good to see everyone and that they could see where we live.

My attempt at some patriotic food haha

My mom and youngest brother Troy :) 

Three of the Olson men :) 

Tim's family! just missing his brother Dan 

AMERICA

The fourth of July is such a wonderful time to spend with friends and family and I always think about how blessed we are to live in this great country. I love America. Our flag stands for FREEDOM. I am so thankful for all the men and women who sacrifice so much to serve our great country. The song "Proud to be an American" and "God bless the USA" and of course the Star Spangled Banner always seem to give me goosebumps! 

Tim is working 3-11 this week so the days get to be a bit long but I have been keeping busy.

This morning we made banana vanilla protein pancakes! They were delicious! Even if I set the fire alarm off haha. The recipe is from Julie the girl behind Peanut Butter Fingers . I highly recommend trying it out!

My brother Troy plays in a hockey tournament this weekend so if we decide to head to the cities I would love to go watch him play. I love watching hockey but I especially miss watching Troy play. I went to all of the games I could possibly go to for the past 15 years that he has played.

I hope everyone had a great fourth of July! 

Xoxo,

Amber

Summer Randomness

Hello friends, 

Today I am going to write about a few random things that I have done in the past week :)

 

But I am going to start by writing some of my favorite lyrics by Gary Allan because everyone goes through some rocky roads in their life and I would like to share some of the ways that I pick myself back up when I fall. "Life ain't always beautiful

You think you're on your way
And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day
But the struggles makes you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has its own way of takin' it sweet time
No,life aint always beautiful
Tears will fall sometimes
Life aint always beautiful
But it's a beautiful ride"

I love that song. So true. I like to meditate on Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength".

Often times I have to remind myself to be strong and to remember that I am not in control of my life, GOD is.

Now for some randomness:

I got to meet Tim for dinner last week when he wasnt working overnights. Here is a picture of him in his Cargill uniform :) 

Cargill's Top employee :)

Last weekend I got to see some of my close friends from West St. Paul :) Bre, Laura Patty and Emily, but I didnt snap any pictures :(

I did snap some pretty pictures of Tim's cabin on Grace Lake however:

I put some new wall decorations up in the house:

Just ignore the ugly wallpaper, I want to take it down but it is a rental house so I think I'll just leave it for now 

I am going to paint these :)

I have been looking at a new blog lately  http://www.pbfingers.com/ 

You should all check it out, Julie is the girl behind the blog and she is awesome. I have been following a lot of her fitness tips and recipes. I made some stuffed french toast with sandwich thins. The creme part is cottage cheese and raspberries with some syrup on top. yumm

Also, I would like to confess that I too have a peanut butter addiction. I think Tim realized this last summer in Colorado when the peanut butter seemed to be disappearing quite frequently haha I think we went through about 3 or 4 jars in 3 months. oops

Well I hope everyone has a great night. I should totally be sleeping right now. off to bed I go. goodnight!

Xoxo,

Amber