My boys are participating in NaNoWriMo (starting tomorrow!) this year and I have been convinced to join them. For those that don’t know what NaNoWriMo means, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. During the month of November you commit to writing a 50,000 word novel. There’s a young writers program for kids where they can set their own goals.

Trevyn participated last year and did a great job. We’re still working on getting everything transcribed and edited. When it’s done, we’ll make it available on Lulu. Same with this year’s results, eventually…

Things might be even slower than they normally are during November as a result. Wish us luck!

Now that it’s sold and we’re currently renting, I find myself in need of a new hobby. My old hobby was fixing up my house. What to do, what to do? I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

Update 1: There will be an open house on Saturday, April 26 from 2pm-3pm. Stop by and see the house!

With my new job, comes another cross country move to a new location. Which means, sadly, we need to sell our very cool, big house. When we first purchased it in 2006, we planned on staying put for several years. There were no plans to move anytime soon, so we embarked on cleaning up and fixing the house how we wanted it. In the process we’ve improved several aspects of the house, including rewiring the living room (and pulling enough wire to complete rewiring the upstairs) updating the phone wiring for better high speed internet connections and installed a climbing wall in a bedroom for the kids. Now it’s finally how we imagined it to be, and we’re leaving.

The house is located in the original plot of the town of Stewartville, Minnesota, a small town 10 minutes south of Rochester, MN. It’s the birthplace of Richard Sears, (we can see the house he grew up in from ours.) The neighbors are wonderful, the neighborhood is quiet, and there’s a city park just around the corner with trails and picnic tables and a great play area for kids.

If you work in Rochester (possibly at Mayo Clinic or IBM–the area’s two largest employers), there’s a commuter bus stop a mere 2 minute walk from the house! That’s how I’ve gone to work the past 18 months. It’s great. Had I not accepted my new position, we’d be happily living in this wonderful house for a long time.

So if you are looking to buy in the area, or know someone who is, let them know about this great house.

Thanks.

I’m also leaving behind another talented and fun group of designers at Mayo Clinic who I will miss. It’s been great working with the creative team lead by Dan Brevick. He’s been one of the best Creative Directors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. He’s looking for my replacement right now. It’s a great place to work and has some incredible benefits that are hard to find in today’s job market and you’d join a stellar team that is a lot of fun to be a part of. Not only that, you get to work on a wide range of projects that help people live better, healthier lives.

One of my heros passed away last night: Gordon B. Hinckley. Next to my parents and grandparents, he’s one of the people whose influence and example has helped shaped who I am today.While I’m saddened to hear of his passing, I’m also grateful to have been privileged to hear him speak on countless occasions and have watched his tireless efforts to help others improve their lives through living good, God-fearing lives. My condolences to his family. He will be missed by many.

Things are going well. I’m starting into work and the family’s still getting settled. I’ll try to post a few photos of our trip as well as give a bit of insight as to how we ended up nearly 2,000 miles from where were have recently been located (for the better part of the past 10 years) and some of the adventures we’re now having.

Stay tuned for more!

Update: Here’s what the new digs are like. Lots o’ work to do.

Anyway, we had some friends over on Tuesday, the 4th of July, and the kids were playing in the backyard. We pulled out sparklers and gave each kid one to play with. They were all delighted, and the boys (5 of the 6 kids in the backyard) quickly transformed their sparklers into wands and turned into dueling wizards.

“Expelliarmus!” echoed throughout the neighborhood as they tried to disarm each other. Not to be left out, Ruby — my two (“and a haff” as she reminds us) year-old — jumped into the fray.

Wand at the ready she pointed it at the nearest wizard and unleashed her spell with a firm voice: “Bippity boppity boo!“