Inspiration

Rachel Capistrant and her lovely blog inspired me to do my hair for the 1st time in ages. I NEVER do my hair... except straighten it (which is really boring). So I decided to try this style I found on pintrest. Speaking of Pintrest... my mom is obsessed. In her words "Why would anyone Facebook when they can pin?". :)

The finished style!

My family

We are all completely normal.

The Balgaards

The Hoff's

my little angel neice

BEFORE

AFTER

Awkward Family Photo

My friend Erin and her husband... Can you feel the love tonight?

First time on ice!

Chad brought his awesome girlfriend Lana to visit Duluth! She lives in LA and has seen very little snow and walked for the first time on ice this weekend! We had a really fun weekend showing them around Duluth. It was a beautiful weekend!!

Phobia

If there is one place that I just hate going it's the mall. I think I have developed this phobia for the mall within the past couple of years. There is sooooo many more fun, interesting and local places to shop. I really really don't want to go tomorrow... but when you have a coupon for a FREE pair of undies at Victorias Secret you just have to right?! My plan is to run as quickly as I can get my free undies and run out... as.fast.as.I.can. I hope I don't trip.

Let's get extreme!!

So if you are a snowboarder you would know that the title of this post is a quote from the "That's it, That's all" snowboard movie. But today i'm not talking about extreme sports, i'm talking about extreme couponing! Ever since I have watched the extreme coupon show I have had this fascination about how it works. I met a couponer at a financial class we are taking and she sort of showed me the ropes. I've been collecting coupons for two weeks now and i'm happy to report I had a successful shopping trip to Walgreens today!! I'm not looking to stock pile a bunch of stuff I will never use, but definitely stock up on things when they are cheap to save some money. This was my first "extreme" purchase & I'm sure I will only get better at it.

Total before coupons: $64.11

GRAND TOTAL (after coupons): $14.40

I got (2) crest pro health toothpaste, (2) Nivea body washes, (4) ricola dual action cough drops, (2) colgate toothpaste, (2) Tide laundry detergent, (1) carmex, (2) reeses peanut butter candies (very important!), three caramels!

Woohoo! The Frey's will be good on toothpaste for a while and enough cough drops to last through the winter!

Three little monkeys

Spending time with the Frey family in Omaha! These girls just keep getting more and more cute!

I love mornings!

That's right... I said it! I would have never ever said that 5 years ago. There is something about mornings that make me really excited... especially in the fall! It is pretty rare that Robby and I get to enjoy a morning together.... so when we do we take full advantage. Breakfast and coffee on the porch with a wool blanket = love! :)

Fall Camping and Pretty Sunrise!

Munger Trail

Robby and I enjoyed an afternoon biking up the Munger to Jay Cooke State Park. It was so so beaufiful! The weather was nice, colors were breathtaking and my broken lung actually did pretty good! It was my first big work out since I was in the hospital and it felt really great... so I am thankful for that. Enjoy the pics!

You know you want to sing it!

Love how many State Parks we have in the Northland!

Friends for life!

My sweet friend Mary & I have been friends for going on ten years! Crazy!! Back in 2004 she gave me this cookbook and I finally made one of the recipes! Mary has been there for many of my cooking catastrophes but I have definitely improved my skills in the kitchen in the last few years. I decided to make 7 layers bars... yummy!! They were delicious!

Fall in Duluth!

Mom, Dad and Lily came for a visit to Duluth. We had a wonderful weekend together, perfect weather and beautiful scenery. We ventured up to Bayfield for Apple Fest (which by the way is totally overrated). We ended up having a good time at Apple Fest... but I think we all agree that it would be okay if we never went again. On our way to Bayfield we stopped by some garage sales and all found a treasure. We sampled wine at the winery, bought some yummy apples and took a ferry over to Madeline Island (where Robby & I got engaged) and enjoyed a beer at the burned down bar. Probably our favorite part of the trip was our campsite in Herbster. I'm bummed that I don't have any pictures of our campsite because they are all on dads camera. We had a lakeside campsite so we fell asleep listening to the waves crash into the shore. It was so peaceful, relaxing and perfect. The weather was amazing for October camping... I didn't even need a blanket! Lily was very excited to camp. We ate at both of the small town restaurants... one for dinner and one for breakfast complete with the small town hospitality. We all loved Herbster and would definitely like to camp there again one day. Overall we it was a grrrreat weekend!

Favorite photos with my blog friends!

"Mary" Christmas! I put this as my Facebook profile Christmas picture every year. It's tradition.

My favorite memory with Rambow... testing out the goggles!

I laugh when I see this picture of Rocky & I... I mean who wouldn't dig us?

Sisters! I really really love this photo because it reminds me of Thanksgiving, home, cutting wood, fall, pheasant hunting, the farm... oh and mom never having any food in the fridge.

This is the day I learned that you must wear plaid to the Balgaard Thanksgiving.

And how could I have a photo of my sweet friend Beth without her sweet mom (and Mary & I). After all, this was my impromptu bachelorette party!

Renee & I won this cupcake by being the most "crazy". Imagine that!

My favorite 10 hour tri partner! I love this action shot of Jen & I from our 1st 10 hour triathlon!

This cracks me up. I don't remember what the conversion was about but our facial expressions are priceless!

Frey Dinner

So here I am eating my dinner and Robby comes over and said "babe, you have to eat the skin of the apple it's the healthiest part."

I look over and this is what Mr. "Healthy" Frey is eating for dinner...

The Karley special...

MN Pride.

As you know, I'm a Vikings fan. I may not be able to name all of the players or know all of their positions... but i'm from MN so by default i'm a fan. I do get excited to watch the games and even tend to jump off of the couch and scream if the game is close. So far this season has been quite disappointing!

We had a decorating contest at work and Erin & I won tickets to the 1st home game for having the best decorations! Our space was filled with an entertaining video, cupcakes, wear the Ragnar stash, game calendar... and a lot more! The game was fun... but at the end of the game Erin's husband turns to me and says " this is like watching a slow death" and wouldn't you know we ended up blowing the game. I've learned that being a Vikings fan does not come easy at all... but it sure is fun!

Erin, Elsa & I working on our decorations and homemade helmets!

Robby came to check out our decorations. Yes, he got a cupcake and a stash :)

Joe's (my boss who is a packers fan) fish have something to say!

My ride to the game.

My sisters showing me how to tailgate in style.

Tickets from the best boss ever!

Skol Vikings!

Haiku-pons!

I'm all ready for my Target trip tomorrow! Maybe not quite as ready as someone from extreme couponing... but ready enough. I have a feeling if Mary and I lived within 20 miles of each other we could get really good at this.

So in love...