Remembering

 

Remembering...to recall to the mind with effort; to retain in the memory; to keep someone in mind as worthy of consideration or recognition.  Today, all I do is remember.  One year ago today, I received the phone call that I never wanted to receive...my Grandpa had died unexpectedly.

 

I will never forget that day nor the minutes and hours that followed.  The desperation of wanting that moment to be just a dream...this wasn't really happening to me.  My Grandpa was perfectly healthy last weekend when I saw him.  This is just a really mean joke.

 

Denial...the refusal to grant the truth to a statement; a refusal to accept or believe something.  This wasn't happening to me.  Stacy and I had just been talking how we were going to go and visit Grandpa the next day.  We were still going, but now it wasn't to visit, it was to remember.

 

I have never experienced a loss like the loss of my Grandpa.  I cried myself to sleep that night and Laramie stayed up all night to make sure I was ok.  I would wake up thinking that life was fine and then it would all flood back in to my memory and the tears would come rushing back.  All Laramie could do was just hold me.

 

My Grandpa was a great man!  He was a kind, loving, generous, ambitious, and warm-hearted man.  He loved the Yankees and his John Deere tractors.  He will be remembered by many today because of his warm spirit and love for life.

 

 

Grandpa, I love you so much and miss you even more.  You always knew how to bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart.  You had a passion and love for life that can't be topped by anyone.  I owe so much to you and all the lessons that you have taught me.  Thank you for everything.  You mean the world to me and I miss you everyday.  I know that every morning that I get up, you are looking down on me saying, "Good Morning" with a big smile on your face.

 

 

Love you Gramps!

 

 



Never Too Late

 

As you may know, Laramie and I got married six weeks ago today.  In traditional fashion, the groom and bride exchange gifts.  Laramie received his gift a couple days after our wedding while we were on our mini-moon.  He had wanted a Go Pro HD Hero.  For those that might not know what this is, its bascially a helmet camera.  When you see the videos of all the skiers or snowboarders taking video of their actual runs, that is on a Go Pro Hero.  Laramie has been asking for one for the past three years and I finally decided he could have one :)  Plus, its waterproof up to 60ft so we can take it snorkeling when we go on our honeymoon.

 

Now, you may be wondering what Laramie got me, well...he had originally purchased something, he won't tell me what it was, but when he ordered it, it was on backorder.  The backorder date was before our wedding so no worries.  Well, the backorder date kept getting pushed back until finally he received an email this week that the order had been cancelled.  On to plan B.

 

Plan B came today!  We were up in the Cities to get the car serviced and afterwards Larmie took me to the greatest place ever...Tiffany's!  I have wanted a Tiffany's bracelet for years and today I got mine  :)  Thank you Larmie for being an amazing husband!

 

 

 

 

Oh and by the way, we also got our wedding pictures back today so stay posted for photos of our amazing day!  They turned out so good!

Softball

 

All summer Laramie has been playing on a men's slowpitch softball team.  The past few weeks has been the playoffs and last night was the final night.  They made it all the way to the championship game, but unfortunately they lost the game 3-2.  They were still excited to have made it as far as they had for a bunch of "old guys."  Hahaha.  Of course we had to get a team photo.  Great job guys!

 

 





Minnesota Zoo

Today Laramie and I went to the Minnesota Zoo!

This was the first time that I had ever been here, so I was super excited.  We headed first to the Tropical area and saw tons of different animals, including monkeys and a komodo dragon.  We also saw different types of birds, turtles, alligators and flamingos. 

 

Next, we headed to Discovery Bay where they had all the sea life.  This is the last year that the Minnesota Zoo has dolphins so I was really excited to see those, but unfortunately they were in a different exhibit area so we didn't get to see them at all.  We moved on and went to an aquarium where they were feeding a Zebra Shark.  It was need to watch them feed it.  It just sucks the food right off the claw.  They are more like bottom feeder sharks and not like a typical shark.

 

We moved on to the outdoor area.  Here are some ground hogs and a yak.

Can't forget about the random camel that was just chilling in the water...

My favorite part of the zoo was the Grizzly Bears.  There were three of them in the cage and one was swimming next to the window where all the kids were lined up, including myself (yes, I did consider myself a kid today)  :)  The bear was so fun to watch, he just kept swimming back and forth.

The other two bears were just relaxing...

 

We had a great time at the zoo.  We did a ton of walking around and my legs are tired!  The weather was perfect to enjoy the day and the animals.

Iowa State Fair & Miranda Lambert

As I stated in the last post, this was the weekend for concerts.  We made our way down to Des Moines on Sunday to go to the Iowa State Fair with Stacy and saw Miranda Lambert and the Pistol Annies.  Of course we had to go early and get our corndogs!  As we were eating it started raining and then it started pouring.  Thank goodness for the rain jackets with hoods  :)  Laramie wasn't so lucky...

 

After we got done eating we headed to the grandstands and took our seats, hoping that they would be covered and out of the rain.  Luckily they were, however the seats were not the best.  Oh well, I guess that's what you get for buying the tickets the Wednesday before the concert.

Miranda put on a really good show.  Half way through she brought out her other group called the Pistol Annies.  They are my new favorite band.  Love Them!!!

 

 

One of my favorite songs that they have is Hell on Heels.

 

After the show came the firworks.  I think we got some pretty cool pictures with the Grandstands as the back drop.

We had a great time at the Iowa State Fair and the concert.  We have had a fun weekend of entertainment.  It is going to be hard to top this one!

Mylo Xyloto

This weekend is the weekend of concerts.  Last night Laramie Sandquist and I went to the Coldplay concert up at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.  It was absolutely amazing.  We had been to Coldplay a couple years back when they were here last so when I found out they were coming back, I surprised Laramie and bought him tickets for Christmas this past year.  The atmosphere was thrilling and unbelievable.

When we got to the Xcel, as we were going through the ticket scanners we were given wristbands that were multiple colors and everyone was different.  Mine was purple and blue and Laramie's was red and blue.  We had no idea how these would play into the evening but we were soon to find out. 

Coldplay's opening act was Marina and the Diamonds.  She was pretty good and fun to listen to with her British accent.  Then came Coldplay!!!  The arena was pitch black and as soon as they started playing Hurts Like Heaven all of our bracelets lit up and started blinking.  Here is a video of the scene...

We had an amazing time.  They put on a great show and Chris Martin never stops moving.  They played for about two hours and played all of their best songs.  Here are a couple more photos and another video from the concert.

Tonight we are off to see Miranda Lambert and the Pistol Annies with my sister, Stacy at the Iowa State Fair.  Stay tuned for photos and videos of that concert!

Rainbow

Tonight Laramie Sandquist had a softball game so I decided to go and watch.  Not even 10 minutes into the game and it starts raining.  At first it was just a sprinkle so I didn't worry about it but then it started coming down pretty good.  The softball game continued but I went and grabbed Laramie's golf umbrella out of the trunk and continued to watch the game.  The sky was fun to watch because half of it was sunny and the other half it was raining.  Because of the rain/sun combo there was a beautiful double rainbow.  The main rainbow was so distinct and bright, it was amazing. 

Scrapbooking

Last night I met a friend up in the Cities and we spent the evening scrapbooking and catching up.  On the weekends, Archivers has open crop for $10 and you can win prizes throughout the night.  Its perfect because you have the entire store at your disposal...which is also dangerous as well on the bank account :)  We had a great time and got alot done.  Our table was an absolute mess with our stuff scattered everywhere.  Thank goodness no one else was sitting at our table.  Since I got so much done last night, I was in the mood to continue scrapbooking today.  Here are a few pictures of the layouts I got done. I still need to do the journaling on all of them, but I will get around to that...

And finally, here is my favorite one that I got done.  Miss you Grandpa.

Farmers Market

Laramie Sandquist and I walked down to the Farmers Market this morning.  It was the first time that we had gone down there this summer.  We decided that we were going to look for some fresh vegetables.  We were amazed at the amount of produce that everyone had.

 

There was a ton of different items down at the market.  From produce to salsa to bird houses.  It was fun to walk around and see everything.  After we had finished our shopping, we went to the bagel shop and grabbed some breakfast and then walked back home.  Here is all the fresh produce we bought...can't wait for next weekend.

-Lynn & Laramie Sandquist

Let it All Begin

So, I decided to start a blog today while I was at work.  A co-worker helped me out this morning and now I am on my own.  Laramie Sandquist asked me who I thought would actually follow me and I said probably just my mom (Mom...you better follow this) but that's OK, I think this will be fun!

Life has been a whirlwind of events over the past few months.  Laramie Sandquist and I got married three weeks ago today.  Here is the only picture that I have so far of the wedding...

Our photographer was Betsy Cole and she did an absolutely amazing job.  This photo is on the home page of her website.  If this is one of the pictures, I can't wait to see the rest!  Our wedding was absolutely amazing and I will share more details of the wedding when I get my pictures back.

Life recently has been consumed by the Olympics!  I love watching them.  We have been staying up way too late catching every moment of the swimming and gymnastics.  Not going to lie, I have an infatuation with Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte (who wouldn't?).  The women's gymnastics is absolutely amazing and I love watching the Fab Five.  I was so excited when they won the Team Gold and when Gabby Douglas won the All-Around Gold medal.

Here is to all the other Olympians competing tonight!

-Lynn & Laramie Sandquist