I'm back, don't you worry

Alright, I sincerely apologize to whoever has been wondering or waiting for a post on here... as I have been lost in the busyness of school, papers, quizzes, life, and football games. Bethel football made it into the semi-finals after defeating St. Thomas this past weekend! My family has obviously been really busy following the team all over the place for games. Over the weekend of Thanksgiving break, I got to road trip down to Chicago to watch Bethel play Wheaton in the second round of playoffs. My friend Betsy actually lives in the Chicago area, so Katie J and I were able to stay at her house, meet her awesome parents, and have a great time touring the city of Naperville! Maddie and Randi (two of my other roommates) were able to join us for a couple of hours and we had such a fun time. The downtown area of Naperville was all decorated for Christmas and it looked so cute.


After Bethel played Wheaton, and WON, I had a lot to get through school wise (hence the absence from blogging). I am happy to announce that my Senior Seminar paper is COMPLETE- all 32 pages, done and turned in! The next phase is to prepare a presentation that will be given in front of ALL the history professors at Bethel. Oh, no, it's not intimidating at all, in case you were wondering. And in case you are really still wondering, I'm being sarcastic. I'm confident that it will be fine, and finals will go smoothly afterward.

OH! And Thanksgiving, I didn't even get to recap about that! I had a great time with friends and family. We all gathered at my Uncle Bob's house in North Oaks and had a great time. I especially love the time I get to spend with my grandparents at every holiday. I'm very fortunate that both sets of my grandparents are actually very good friends... of course every holiday we miss Grandpa John, but I'm so glad that my Grandma Bev has always been welcomed at every single family gathering with my mom's side of the family. It's also fun to have new babies around at holiday celebrations! All my cousins are starting to have kids, which is a lot of fun. How adorable is this picture....

My cousin Drew's daughter Malaina planted a sweet kiss on my cousin Brittany's daughter Olivia. Adorable.

The game this past weekend against St. Thomas was unreal. Definitely one of the most exciting sports moments of my life! St. Thomas was our only loss in the regular season, and so it was a pretty huge win for Bethel. My dad was pretty nervous all week leading up because the winner goes on to semi finals... in other words, the winner of the game would be one of four teams in the whole country continuing with practice this week! Pretty insane! It was such an incredible game. Both defense and offense played so great and held St. Thomas for a full sixty minutes. If you are curious to hear more about it, here are some great articles written up in the paper about the whole game between the Royals and the Tommies:
http://kstp.com/sports/stories/S1867247.shtml?cat=7
http://www.kare11.com/sports/sports_article.aspx?storyid=887297&catid=24

And of course, an amazing picture that I stole from the Star Tribune website of the victory:


It was honestly such an incredible weekend. To make it even more special, Friday night (before the game) we had "roommate night" at our house. The night was filled with delicious food: Gouda cheese covered with croissants, Brie cheese and raspberry chutney sauce, crackers, and Mediterranean chicken pizza. A-MAZING. Plus, chocholate chip cookies for dessert. We had an awesome time being together. I love those girls. It's never a dull moment with them around.



Sunday was a very relaxing day. I recently discovered the most amazing blog that is full of fun ideas for homemade crafts. I spent the day making a gift for my mom based off an idea I got on their DIY page. If you are looking for fun gift ideas, especially for Christmas, make sure you check them out, I LOVE this website! http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/product

Once I am absolutely positive that my mother has not been keeping up with my blog, I'll post the gift that I made and would LOVE to hear feedback on what you think about it! :)

As for this week, I am ecstatic to be able to go to Ohio this weekend to watch Bethel play Mount Union in the FOURTH ROUND of playoffs! Can't wait! Next week I have three finals, then I am off to Florida to visit DUSTY!!!!! For seven days! And then we have three days apart before he FINALLY gets to come home for Christmas. I just can't even wait.

WHEW!!! What a lot to catch up on. I'm so glad I finally have a few days to rest and not have ANY homework to worry about. That will surely free up some time to keep writing on here. MISSED YOU ALL!