The summer is breezing by!

Hello everyone!

We are in full swing this summer. We've had a great spring and summer is already almost done! Right now we're in the thick of it. We've just purchased a small home to plant some roots. In about three weeks, after Andy and his Dad fix it up a bit, we'll move in. I'm hoping to post some pictures of that soon. Also, our theater company is busy with gigs and all the various things that go into a performance. We're loving it. Life is good. The pace is quick and the stakes are high right now, but we're so glad to be right where we are!
Here's a few random pictures of our life over the past several months...



Burning the prairie at Andy's parent's farm. They are doing a prairie restoration and need to burn it every once and a while...

At one of our theater company meetings, the firs thing on the agenda was for everyone to sample the beers that Andy and I have been brewing...

Me in the shop with my father-in-law. Buildin' stuff.

Our beloved Black Dirt Theater.

My 1-year-old nephew, Keenan. He's an eating machine!

Andy's sister and brother-in-law on her birthday ( I won't say how old she is)

Andy on our 1928 fire engine with his neice and nephew.

Memorial Day camping trip with the family. This is along beautiful river bluffs in Red Wing, MN

At the circus!

Long over due...

Well, life has been a wonderful combination of busy, fun, and full of change! I'm so happy for a quiet moment to try and catch up with life.
So where did I leave off...
Winter has been wonderful so far (although I"ve been feeling quite cold lately and wishing spring would come soon). It started when Andy's sister got married in November. It was a small wedding at their home with a few family members and friends. I had the wonderful honor of being there photographer (something I'm just starting to get interested in and hope that I can do more of in the future). It was a beautiful evening and a very meaningful celebration.
Christmas came and went very quickly, but we were happy to have several excuses to eat delicious meals, drink too much wine, and laugh late into the night at several family and friend gatherings during the season.
The new year brought a new and amazing job opportunity. Andy's sister owns a hair salon in a beautiful renovated historic home. To make a long story short, I have helped her to open a spa to complement the salon. I am working as a massage therapist there and it has been a great experience in the short time that we have been open. All I can say is that this job was an answer to prayers in several different ways and it feels good to feel like you are right where you belong doing exactly what you should be doing.
Andy was very busy in January because he was asked to be a part of an exciting theater project and performed just last weekend. He played the part of the Lieutenant in a lovely play called "The Gypsy and The General." He really enjoyed reconnecting with old friends through the project, including one of his classmates (Ryan U.) from LISPA. Right now, Andy is in Duluth directing a show for the Duluth Playhouse that will be performed at the end of March.
Our family went through a major changes just last week when we grieved the death of my maternal grandmother. She was the last of that generation in our family. She was an amazing woman who inspired and cared for many during her lifetime. I can't even express how much she will be missed.
So, that is the list of recent events. I have included some photos of winter on the farm as well as several from the wedding. I was so worried about experiencing a Minnesota winter after getting used the winters on London. Although it can be painfully cold some days (sometimes as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit when you include something called "wind chill factor"), but I can actually say that I have enjoyed the winter. On a very regular basis, I am witness to so many beautiful things in the world around me. Some examples...one day there was a frozen mist in the air and it created the illusion of two rainbows shining on either side of the sun. One day I woke up and absolutely everything was covered in a thick white frost, sparkly and bright. And as I experienced many times in my childhood, we had some wonderful heavy snows and at night it is gorgeous because the street lights are a kind of orange color that fills the sky as it reflects on the snow. And one of the coolest things has been driving with the lights off because the moon is so bright that when it reflects off of the snow, it's almost like daylight. (Just a disclaimer, I don't usually drive with my lights off, but I did get a little crazy and try it for about 30 seconds) I wish I could show you pictures of all these breathtaking moments, but maybe it is better to just imagine them.
We are feeling at home, our life is full of good things and sweet people. We send our love out to all those sweet people and hope you are each well.
Peace, Mandy

The salon and spa where I work



winter on the farm











Christmas images

wedding pics

Life on the Farm

Just a brief note to say that life is good in Minnesota. Here's a few highlights, more will be coming.
Hope you are all happy and healthy where you are!
Peace, Mandy

A few things we've been doing to stay busy:
Beer making, an antique car show, and a recent wedding of a dear friend





Some pics of our family, we are so glad to be reunited with them:






Life on the farm. We get great sunrises, sunsets and harvest moons out here where the sky is big. We are living with Andy's parents and they have lent us their camper to stay in until the weather gets cold.

Top Ten

Top Ten from our recent travels...
(In no particular order)

10.Notre Dame
We had a great time when our friend, Phil, went up the 350+ steps to the top towers of Notre Dame. It is one of the most spectacular structures I have ever been in.





9. Hanging out on the river in Paris with Abby and Brian. We loved how relaxed the city was on these warm, quiet nights. The best part was when someone showed up with an upright piano and a small drum kit and a crowd over over 100 gathered to sing along with this impromptu outdoor piano bar.


8. Playing with fire in Prague. There's only one place in the world where you can have a proper flaming glass of absinth, so we went for it!


7. Parks!


This is in the Kew Gardens in London. These lilypads are literally 2 feet wide!


We had a little too much fun on the merry-go-round at this park in Glasgow.


6. Ashley.
She's our good friend from MN who showed us around Liverpool and Manchester. It was the first stop on the journey, what a great way to start!


5. Climbing down a mountain in the Swiss Alps







4. Time with friends
Manu and the little daughter of our hosts in Swizterland

Soren and Andy with the hats they traded


3. The monuments in Berlin

This one goes deeper into the ground as you walk into it, so the blocks get taller and taller.

This includes the Jewish Museum in Berlin. We thought this museum was great because they had a couple of rooms that were like installments. This one was amazing. You got to walk all around this room that had these iron faces on them. The room wasn' very big, but the ceiling went up at least 3 stories, so the sound of these clanking iron pieces was so loud and melodic.



2. The East Side Gallery in Berlin. The Berlin Wall was an amazing thing to see, espicially this portion of it where artists have made it into their canvas.





1. Home Sweet Home, our lovely Thames River in London on our last night. There are no words and no pictures to express how much I miss that life, those people, and that place. What a gift the past two years have been. I have faith that what comes next can only be better!