Happy Birthday Becky

Happy birthday to the most beautiful woman I've ever known.  You are my sunshine.

Wonders of a Great Vacation

January, we took 1 of the most wonderful vacation of our lives. We stayed with Becky's family in Fort Myers Beach Florida on Estero Island.  The kids had a great time in the pool, on the beach, and on the jet ski.

Here just a few of the photo from a great time.

Can I Run 1000 Miles?

Last year around this time, I began a new habit of running.  My goal was to loose some weight, get in shape and perhaps have a little fun.  Running was the easiest thing to do, especially when the weather turned warmer.  In time, the family also joined in and we ran a number of races in town.  First, a 5K for all of us (May), then a 10K for me, 5K for Becky and 2 miles for the kids (June 2010). Then, in August, I ran the Bill Seymour Half-marathon.  It was a really great time and I rolled right into P90X that took me right into December.

In all, I was able to run over 550 miles between January - August.  My goal for 2011 is to run 1000 miles.  That will require just over 19 miles per week and I am happy to report that I have over 90 miles down already.  Tomorrow, my plan is another 10 more and that should get me on a good start.  The key will be to avoid injury and illness. 

My next big running goal is to run a marathon, but I am finding it a great challenge to find a marathon that is not scheduled for a Sunday.  But, if push comes to shove, I'll run around Grand Island twice for my 26 miles.

I still laugh often at how much I am running since I always viewed running as a punishment more than exercise, but I think that I have found that runner's high and if I don't get my exercise in, I turn into a bit of a bear.  Now, if only scripture study came as easily, right?  Perhaps it just takes the same habit building that came with running.

I'll let you know how that goes!

Back to Blogging...

I used to be pretty good at this blog and have fell out of practice.  With this new year, Becky and I have a renewed interest in journal writing, and this is as close as I had for a time. Perhaps a weekly blog will help jumpstart my journaling.

Since Becky did such a great job with a recent family Christmas letter, I'll simply add hers as this week's entry and back it up with photos as appropriate. I will try to be better in the future...

December 2010

Greetings!  Because we have not been diligent in sending Christmas cards and newsy letters in the last couple of years, it is our desire this Christmas to rectify our negligent ways.  We hereby present The Rosenlund Review – 2010 Edition!

A main catchphrase for much of the last two years has been “Road Trip”.  Our family has spent a lot of time traveling in our trusty 2002 Dodge Caravan (and wishing we had upgraded to the roomier “Grand Caravan”).  Between late June 2009 and early August 2010, we went on six trips to Utah (four weddings, one funeral, one temple sealing); a trip to Idaho (Rexburg & Meridian); a trip to California for a wedding (but we added visits to Arches, Bryce and Zion Nat’l Parks in Utah, and our first ever trip to Disneyland!); and our favorite destination:  Florida, where we spent about four days in beautiful Ft. Myers Beach and a day at Sea World in Orlando.  On our way to and from Florida, we drove through as many states as we could and saw many wonderful sites, including the Oklahoma City Memorial, the St. Louis Arch, Church History sites near Independence, Missouri, and many temples.  

During a less than 14-month period, we traveled nearly 20,000 miles through 22 states (NE, WY, CO, UT, NV, AZ, CA, ID, KS, OK, TX, AR, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, TN, KY, IL, MO, IA … do you know your abbreviations?).  We have literally been from “Sea to Shining Sea” in about a 7-week period, wading in the Pacific Ocean (Venice Beach, CA) in mid-November 2009 and the Atlantic Ocean in early January 2010 (Canaveral National Seashore, FL).  We’re tired of driving and plan to stay put for awhile, but have loved traveling through much of this beautiful country and we’re grateful that here in Nebraska, we are really only a two-day drive from anywhere.  Strangely enough, we spend a lot of time during our long drives talking about other great trips we’d like to take and have big road trip plans for our future!  We still have so many more states to visit …

This year, another keyword for our family is “School”.  Daina thought she’d start school the day she turned 5 (in Nov. ‘09) and loves finally being in all-day kindergarten (though it was a big adjustment for mom and especially Matthew this fall).  Jared is in 4^th grade and likes being the oldest Rosenlund at the elementary school.  He is taking his role as big brother/protector very seriously and takes good care of Daina when they walk or ride bikes to school.  Christopher is in 6^th grade and though he was nervous about starting middle school, he is having a great year.  He is particularly excited about participating in Jazz Band, even with early morning rehearsals twice a week.  Meile is in 8^th grade, but takes two classes at the high school (Honors English & Spanish).  She enjoys participating in choir and orchestra and as a student ambassador.  This is Matthew’s first year at home all by himself with Mom and he is sometimes lonely for “the guys”.  He is a huge fan of Thomas the train and enjoys playing with his train tracks undisturbed, but the best part of his day is always when everyone gets home from school. 

Another important keyword in our home is “Music”.  The chaos of a recent afternoon was accompanied by the sounds of music with Meile practicing the violin upstairs, Christopher downstairs playing his trumpet, Jared working on the recorder in the dining room and Daina plunking out a tune on the piano.  It is music to our hearts (if not always to our ears!).  We’re grateful for wonderful school music programs that provide our children with opportunities to develop their talents in this area, and even though Becky is a mediocre teacher at best, we’re glad that she can at least give the children a start on the piano (and at a low cost, too!).  We’re determined that they all will learn to play many of the hymns on the piano, if for no other reason than to give their mother a break once in a while at church.  One of the things we’ve learned in our small (but wonderful!) ward here in Grand Island is that we need more church members who can play the piano! 

“Scouts” is another buzzword you’ll hear at our house a lot.  Jon is the Scoutmaster in our ward and has particularly enjoyed having Christopher (who recently turned 12 and was ordained a deacon!) join his Troop.  They are looking forward to attending Scout Camp together next summer.  Becky is still the Cub Scout leader as part of her responsibilities in the Primary Presidency and runs a pack with about a dozen boys from 4 units in our stake (den meetings at our house tend to be a little noisy!).  It has been fun for her to participate in scout activities with Jared (a Bear) and Christopher (who, as Den Chief, is Becky’s right-hand man).  One of the highlights of our summer was when we attended “Family Camp” at our local Boy Scout Camp.  We enjoyed camping as a family for the first time in several years and participated in a fun-filled Saturday of swimming, hiking, canoeing, ropes course, archery, bb-gun and rifle shooting and other activities.  We had such a great adventure and can’t wait to do it again next summer!

A new keyword for this year is “Run”.  Jon decided this year to become a runner.  His motivation has inspired all of us and we competed in 3 “Fun Runs” as a family, including a half-marathon for Jon in September (the rest of us ran much shorter distances).  The next step is a full marathon in 2011!  His new habit of waking up extra early to go running proved to be a blessing this fall when he was called to be an early morning on-line seminary teacher in our stake.  He conducts his class through video-conferencing and has about a dozen students from all over rural Nebraska and even two in Kansas.  He’s had to make some adjustments in his exercise schedule, but wants to continue running, with a goal of 1,000 miles in 2011 (almost double his 2010 total of 550)!

Jon isn’t the only Rosenlund Runner:  Meile enjoyed participating in Track and Cross Country at the middle school, and Christopher and Jared both did lots of running on the basketball court, baseball diamond and soccer and football fields in community sports leagues.  In her first official 1-mile kids’ race in September, Daina placed 1^st in her age group and crossed the finish line with a big smile on her face.  She also enjoyed her first tumbling class and soccer season this year.  Although Matthew wasn’t an official participant in any of these activities, he embodies the word “Run” more than anyone we know and spends a lot of time in a full-out sprint … and is the reason Becky has to do a lot more running than she likes.

Our most important keyword is, of course, “THE WORD” (John 1:1).  We are so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and are so happy to celebrate his birth and life and Atonement during this special time of the year.  As we reflect on our many blessings, we express gratitude for all of you, our wonderful family and friends, both near and far (sadly, mostly far!).  As we prepare to begin a new year, we wish you peace, health, happiness and wonderful experiences with your families (maybe a trip to Nebraska…)!

Love,

The Rosenlund family

Florida in January - The Place to Be

The Rosenlund Family American Tour of 2009-2010 ended with a wonderful trip to Fort Myers Beach, Florida.  Here are some of the quick stats:

States: 15 (NE, KS, OK, TX, AR, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, TN, KY, IL, MO, IA) 
Miles: 4265.
Travel Hours: Approx 67.5
Ratio of Car Hours to All Other Hours: 1 in 4
Souvenir Spoons: 10
Souvenir Bells: 5
Souvenir Alligator Heads: 1 (authentic alligator!)
Temples Visited: 6+ 1 site (OK City, Dallas, Baton Rouge, Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, St. Louis, Far West Temple Site)
Gas Station Churros: 30+
Average Gas/Potty Stop: 11 min.


Oklahoma City

Left Grand Island in the afternoon of Dec 30 and drove our way to Oklahoma City where we saw the temple and stayed the night.  First thing in the morning, we visited the Oklahoma City Memorial downtown.  It was a somber reminder of the consequences of evil in our world, but an inspiring and touching rememberance of the victims, survivors, families and rescuers.  There were portions of the memorial dedicated to each group, and we found the experience profoundly moving.

One of the things we tried to do along our trip was to visit Temples.  We were fortunate to see 6 temples (see above) and the Far West temple site in Missouri.  In most cases, these visits happened when we arrived into our nighttime destination and the temples were lighted up and looked very beautiful.  The kids loved these short visits for photos and I think it gave them an idea of the widespread nature of the church in these latter days.

Florida

We arrived in Florida after three days of driving from Grand Island, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Texarcana (so we could add Arkansas to our list of states), Baton Rouge, Mobile, Tampa and Ft. Myers Beach.  Arriving in the evening, we hurried out to the coast and got our feet wet in the Gulf Coast waters. 

 Rosenlunds finally see the Gulf Coast!

 Daina's uniform for days and days at the beach!

 Peaceful sunsets. 

 Matthew found these dumptrucks at the hotel sandbox and never stopped driving them up and down the beach.

 The boys and I particularly enjoyed the shuffle board.  I always won! :)

 Grandpa Roger and Daina spent many hours in "Grandpa's pool" right off the beach.

 One of the funnest things we ever did was take a kayak out to the ocean with the kids.  At around 55F with a stiff breeze, no one could believe that we'd go out in such weather.  Our response, "Hey, this is a great day at the lake in Nebraska!" 

 We took a drive along the Estero Island and found many homes in the area with back yards right along a little "water alley" where they park their boats.

Matthew tries his hand at what he called "honkey".















We all agreed that there is no better place to be in January than Florida.

Our thanks to Grandpa Roger and Grandma Leslie for such a wonderful trip. 

Well, this is enough for tonight.  Next time:  The trip home....