Ava and Santa

Here is this year's picture of Ava and Santa. What a little cutie but no "cheesy" smile this time!

Christmas 2007

Some of the Solseth Gang celebrated Christmas on Saturday, December 22nd at Laurie and Terry's house. We had a pot luck (we are never lacking in the food department) and exchanged a couple of gifts. Jon and Joyce had come up for the weekend so we had decided to get together to celebrate at that time. Jon, Joyce, Brian, Mom, Jessie, Bjorn, Ava, Leslie, Aricka, Allie, Laurie and Terry were in attendance. Lia was with us via the webcam for a little while also.

We had a 4 generation picture taken in front of my tree. Ava was practicing her "cheesy" smile for us. What a cutie!

Jon and Joyce brought their Wii game along so we had the pleasure of playing golf, bowling, baseball and watching Bjorn and Jon box. What a hoot. It was a great time.

This year for our "family gift" to Mom, we decided to send her back out to the east coast to visit Lisa's family and maybe do some traveling around the area. The lights of New York, maybe a jaunt into Boston, the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The details are still in the planning phase. Lisa made the card, her boys recorded the message and then they sent it out here. She opened the card Saturday night. I do believe she was quite surprised. We are all pooling our resources to send her on this trip and we hope she has a chance to enjoy the many wonders out "east"!

It started snowing early Sunday morning and continued for quite a while. The snowing wasn't so bad but the blowing wasn't so great! Mom and Brian had spent the night, which was a good thing so she didn't have to drive in the lovely weather. Jon and Joyce took off for St. Cloud amidst blizzard like condtions at different parts of their trip. They made it home safe and sound, as did everyone else. We are all happily tucked into our warm homes and waiting for Santa's arrival.

We will have white Christmas this year for sure!! Merry Christmas to everyone. Wishing you all a Happy New Year also!!

Our Buck

I woke up this morning and wandered out into the kitchen for some coffee. I looked out the kitchen window and saw 4 of our animal neighbors.....does and their babes.....feeding in the back yard. It has become a daily ritual. They come in to feed and we get to watch them. Something spooked our little friends and they ran off into the woods. I watched a little longer and out of the woods comes the buck I had seen a few days ago......minus his horns now. He was kind enough to stand in the quiet of the morning to let me snap a few shots. If you look close at the top of his head, you can see where his horns used to be. What a glorious way to start a morning.

A Scary Night

It was a scary morning for a few people in Carlton early Thursday morning. At about 2:45 am, a fire broke out in a 2 story 9 unit apt. building. This apt. bldg is right next door to the Third Base Bar. The "Base" as we call it is the bar that has sponsored my softball, pool and golf teams over the last 15 years. Evidently a couple of women had been drinking and decided to make something to eat. They got in a fight and one of the women left. The other women (the one that lived in the apt.) fell asleep with the food still cooking on the stove. Needless to say that wasn't a wise thing to do. Everyone in the bldg. got out safely but the bldg itself is a total loss. The roof completely collapsed onto the bottom floor. There were a total of 9 fire departments working together to get the fire out. Approx. 12 people have been displaced. Both women have been arrested and charged with negligence. The bar suffered smoke and water damage but is still intact. It's really unfortunate as the guys (Adam and Brandon, the owners) had just put up a new ceiling, remodeled the bathrooms and painted the entire bar. Wed. night they had just hauled in brand new flat screen TV's. It was looking so nice. Thank heavens for insurance. I've added a few pictures to give you an idea of the damage the fire did. .

Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work since the accident. It was a little wierd but all went just fine. My knee still has a bump and a little bruising but not too bad. I just have 1 spot on my chest/side that is still a little sore. Much much better than I was though. I can actually raise my arms above my head now! Hopefully back to normal now....whatever normal is!! :)

A few more pictures from yesterday.

Starting Over

Well, after a small, accidental mis-hap, I think I am back on track. Yesterday was a fun day. I had Mom, Jessie, Ava, Leslie and Allie here working on Christmas baking. My house smelled so good. It's such a fun day-doing all the baking together. Ava got to make her first cut-out cookies (her Mom's favorite) and then decorate them too. She's so much fun to have here. I can't wait to watch her open her gifts this year. She has mastered the name "Santa" and "ho ho ho"! I think she likes the lights on the tree and dancing to holiday (or any other) music! What fun!