Weekend in Chicago = Mo Run 2013

The second weekend in November the Klinge family went to Chicago to run a race in honor of brother Nathan who just was told he is "in the clear" from cancer. WOOT! Caleb and I also went down a day early to look at apartments and I had a job interview. News on both, we dont have either,  YET. Fingers are crossed on both.

Please enjoy the photo montage father Paul kindly sent to us. Thanks, dad.

This is normal chaos of being a Klinge.
We rented a house seven blocks from Nathan and Kelly...
best decision EVER!

Getting our "moustache" on before the race

Kelly was asked to speak about Nathan's journey, I cried.
Big whoop, it is a presh story.

Cheering on the family at the finish line.

We be done racing.

Helping Anna across the finish line.

Playing "Headbanz" with Miles.

Making dinner as a family. A crowded, big family.

Watching the Bears game as a family.
I did watch the Packers, on the iPad.

Klinge Family Reunites

The first weekend in November we journeyed down to Dubuque, IA for one of Caleb's cousin's wedding. This was a precious Lutheran wedding where we visited grandma Klinge and got to squeeze our nieces and goof around with our nephews. Seeing family brings so much joy to my heart. They hold a special place of my life. The kids have grown so much since 4th of July. After the wedding festivites some of us kids came back to Waverly to extend the weekend. We even trained for the 5k in Chicago while we were home.  Please enjoy the photos to recap the weekend, meaning... check out how cute our nieces and nephews are!

Oh my, she is super cute!

Bro and Sis

Della read the Bible looking for pictures
through half of the 45 min service. PRESH!

The goofy two. 

Caleb showing how to use a "quiet book"

OT in the quiet room wanting in on the
action in the sanctuary.

Kendy playing hide and seek after the service

The 5k trainers before the big run (2 mile run)

Anniversary Spent in LA

We were gone the last weekend in October... doing what? Well we celebrated our 1 year anniversary, silly. We saved up mucho to take this trip and it was well worth it. We began our adventure at 8pm on Friday at the United Airlines Premier Club room where we got free treats and liquids while relaxing in the midst of silence.

Caleb in the "Club".

Caleb is 6'1", these seats are not very friendly. We thought
of Nick and Nate, our brothers, who are far taller than Cale.
Ouch.

Shenanigans, what else would you expect from us?

LIVE tv during the flight was a HUGE perk.

 We had troubles once the plane landed. The rental car was free or else we would complain to the agency. 2 hours to wait for a car is far too long, especially at 1 in the morning. We were happy to sleep in our rented bed. Let me tell you!

The next day we went surfing! It was a beast of a sport to learn but Caleb and I are official "beginner" surfers. Novice, if you must. I have NO upper body strength so surfing did not come easy for me but Caleb on the other hand CONQUERED! I am so proud of him. Please enjoy the photos:

Surf Shop Owner

Mike, our instructor. He had a rad salt water 'stache going on.

Hott boy, my husband.

Wait for it, there is a "sweet spot" when you
should "pop-up".

He is up! Surfing the 3 foot deep waves. 

WIPE OUT! Can't win them all.

I am proud of this pic. I am.

This is me being "coastal".

After surfing we went to get fish tacos in Venice Beach. That were good and we were satisfied. We loved the name of the shop, Holy Guacamole:

After that... well we went to Hollywood Boulevard and saw no real stars but we did see the sidewalk stars and the hand prints at the Chinese Theater. We also went to Cirque du Soleil. That was a blast but it always is, let's be honest with the MN Klinges... we LOVE Cirque. 

All the streets lined with palm trees.
How Hollywood!

Other than that, we just chilled and enjoyed a year of blissful marriage. Could not imagine life without him and I cannot wait for this year to come as we continue to adventure this life we have. 

Happenings in October

Seeing that I have been lazy with posts in the entirety of October... here is a recap.

One of my key items to do for my job is event planning. We are very bottom heavy on the calendar when it comes to events. Our first yearly event is the end of September and the last one is the first Thursday in December. We had 6 this year and needless to say, it takes a lot of thinking to get these event to work out so I have been occupied with those.

With the first event being an orchard, I had a plethora of apples to use up so bestie Bek came over and we made all things apple. I have the easiest, healthiest, and yummiest applesauce recipe. You should ask me about it. We literally cut up over 50 apples and enjoyed chit-chatting all through the afternoon.

A couple weeks ago I went to watch another bestie conquer a half marathon. It was a early but very rewarding day to share in. She beat her time that she wanted to get and we visited her a few times throughout the race. There is something powerful about watching those around you conquer goals in there life, especially if you can watch the feats live. Here she is before the race.

Such a precious person to me.

A different bestie, Kate, had her baby a couple weeks ago. She had a baby boy and named him Josiah. He had a rough few minutes of life but now is just the cutest. My oh my, babies are gifts, however seeing someone nearest to me having a baby makes me want to wait longer for babes. We are just so young, people. Here he is with Bek and one from Halloween too.

Other than babies, races, and client events, Caleb and I still sit at home and watch TV. Yup, that is all we do if we are home and I am not even joking a lil.

 

Cirque du Soleil at MOA

So for my birthday grand finale, my boy took me to Cirque du Soleil at the MOA. Caleb and I are obsessed with Cirque du Soleil. We have gone to Cirque every big celebration for us. We went while Caleb was in Spain proposing and we went on our honeymoon in FL. Did we go on Caleb's birthday? Well, no... but we DID go on mine. TeeHeeHee.

Caleb preordered the tickets way back in April and I asked daily in the month of Sept to go to the show. It was annoying for him but I needed to make sure he got the drift. He did, far earlier than I would have ever thought. The theme was love under the moon that is translation to "Amaluna". There was many crazy acts but I think Caleb and I would agree that our favorite was this chinese act that spun lanterns over their heads while being tossed in the hair by their counterparts. Here is a YouTube of the act.

http://youtu.be/k5pSTJJ3Ukw

Is it not so cool? We think so too. There was many things that occurred over the 2 hours we watched but it would ruin the fun to tell you all about this travelling act. Yes, you read correct, you may be able to see this close to you too. This show travels all over the world to entertain.

It was so nice to have a date night and cuddle up to my husband. We do A LOT in life together but sometimes you are just more thankful of those moments over the normal moments. You know?

Birthday Month!

So, Laura has somehow convinced everyone around her that it is essential for her to have "birthday month".  Merely celebrating for one day out of the year just isn't enough for this special girl.  Because Laura is so darn cute I couldn't help myself, I caved and we celebrated the birth of the great Laura for the entirety of September.

How in the world could I say no to this face!?

I gave her one present a week up until her birthday.  I wanted to get her something really special, but wanted to put some time/effort into it instead of just buying something.  So I decided to fix up her old bicycle.  I got her an old classic style bike a few years back but it has always had a few problems.  I went all out and totally dismantled the bike one weekend that Laura was away.  I cleaned up all the rust and eventually got the paint and the chrome looking close to new.  Then I replaced the brakes, gears, tires, handle grips, seat, chain, and added a basket.  After a whole weekend of work it was finally done!  

"My favorite present!"  - quote by Laura Klinge

Also, Laura had mentioned a few times, maybe more, that she has never had a surprise party thrown for her.  Oh my goodness right, what a hard life!?  Being the best husband that I am I arranged a fun surprise for her.  She loves the Shout House, piano bar in Minneapolis, so I took her there where a few friends were waiting.  Boom!  Surprise party complete, but wait there was more.  Unbeknownst to Laura, we had planned for her mom to meet us there.  All the way from Wisconsin Dells.  She was super surprised, mission accomplished!

Partying it up at the Shout House

Finally, September 23 rolled around and we were able to cap off the birthday month with a fun filled adventurous day.  We started early by going to Al's Breakfast, the best breakfast in downtown Minneapolis.  After that we hit the golf course for a quick 9.

Laura is actually a phenomenal golfer!  She beat me by more than a few strokes!

Oops, how'd that get in here!?

Then we hit up an afternoon movie, Monsters University.  It was pretty good, not as good as the first Monsters Inc movie.

To end the night we threw some BBQ ribs on the grill and relaxed.  Laura opened up the last of her gifts and we celebrated with blueberry pie and Culver's ice cream.

happy lil Laura

              

Cirque Du Soleil tickets!

   

I painted these, no big deal though.

Birthday girl.

I love my Laura.