Christmas at the Van Havermaets'

Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family!

Merry Christmas! Well this is our 1st official Christmas letter as a married couple (and probably the first Christmas letter I’ve written)! Here’s a quick note about what we’ve been doing for the past year.

Scott has started school again. He went back for an accounting degree at Rasmussen College. This proves to be a challenge for both of us. Scott has to get his homework done and I have to either do quiet things or leave the living room or leave the house all together so that I won’t distract him. Because of this challenge, I have taken up crochet. It’s quiet for Scott and I make nice pot holders. Everyone wins!

Scott has also switched jobs from being a carpenter to contracting accounting jobs through Ajilon Finance. In February, Scott worked for Michael Foods in Minnetonka (Near the Carlson Towers) and this July he started working at Checkpoint Security Systems in Chanhassen. We are very happy that Scott got out of the cold to work in a nice (heated) office setting. I am still busy in Edina at Rimage Corporation, working in the Human Resources Department.

We have discovered lots of (free) things to do in Plymouth. One of them is the Luce Line trail, which is only a mile from our place. We have experienced most of Minnesota’s seasons strolling down the trail (and maybe skiing on it this winter). You can find some of my pictures form the Luce Line on our blog. That’s another thing we have discovered; blogs are a great way to share pictures and stories with family and friends. Scott put me in charge of the blog because I like posting info and pictures (and he has no interest in it whatsoever).

This year has brought some additions and sadly, some losses to our extended family. We welcomed our nephew Nicholas Keith on May 6 (Eric and Rebeckah’s son). My sister Kathy got engaged in March (St. Patrick’s Day) and was married on August 11th to Austen Miller in Roseau. (Yes, both of my sisters are Millers.) We mourned the loss of Scott’s grandfather, Joe Van Havermaet, in November. We were blessed to see most of our relatives this year because of the family events.

Speaking of blessings, we have been blessed to learn more about our loving Savior by attending the Great Adventure bible studies through the Church of St. Paul. The studies emerse us in the salvation story from Creation to Christ to now. It really has put the Old Testament in a whole new light for us! Especially now as we celebrate the reason for the season, Jesus Christ’s birth!
May God Bless you and your family during the Christmas Season!

In Christ,

Keri and Scott

Weekend in LaCrescent

Fall Colors Along the Luce Line

Pruden Wedding!

MacKenzie and Jeremiah's Wedding

Simpsonize Yourself!

Keri as a Simpson
Scott as a Simpson

Check out Keri! Get Simpsonized!

Thanks for checking out our blog! Sign our guestbook!

Keri

Heidi's Wedding!

Kathy's Wedding Slideshow!

Flowers

I wanted to share some pictures that I took of some purty flowers. It's kinda sad that I can't plant a garden. To make up for that fact, I take pictures of other gardens. Enjoy!

Please sign our guestbook!

Keri

We are Okay!

You might be wondering about our safety in regards to the collapse of the I35W bridge on the Mississippi river. WE ARE OKAY. I heard about the collapse when I was on my way home from shopping at Target in Medina (About 20 miles from downtown). When I got home, Scott was working on homework and I said "Have you listened to the radio at all?"

"No."

"Well turn on the TV because 35W collapsed onto the river."

Soon after I got home I got a call from my sister Kathy and my mother-in-law Ruth. They were doing headcounts. My sister Kylee heard from a person at Curves in Bartlesville that a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. Kylee called me and was flabbergasted when I told her it was 35W on the Mississippi River.

The bridge is six lanes across and is one of the major crossings of the Mississippi River in the Minneapolis-St Paul Metro Area. The bridge is located near downtown Minneapolis and the interstate itself is one of the main thoroughfare of the area.

I've attached some links to pictures/video of the bridge.

Star Tribune

WCCO TV

KARE11

I was able to find this slide show with pictures. It still isn't sinking in yet. (No pun intended) The pictures look like there was an earthquake.

Please pray for the people who were injured in this horrible accident.

Twins Game

When Scott and I were in Roseau, Ana Pratt called and invited Scott and I to a Twins game. My Scott wasn't able to come due to homework load so I was the lone Van Havermaet to join Ana. I met Ana in North East Minneapolis to eat and car pool down to the Metro dome. Ana's friend Scott Esenrich joined us at dinner. We parked our cars at home depot and took a vote on who would drive downtown. Both Ana and I voted to take Scott's Sebring convertible and drive there with the top down. The only downside to driving to the metrodome in a convertible was that we had to drive on 35W through a construction zone. Once we got to the game we bought cheap seat tickets ($7) and headed to our seats. We tried to get down to the lower level, but our tickets were checked and we were sent to the upper level.

When the game started, we decided to play a game of our own. After every inning we would get up and move to another section to get better seats. I have a slide show below of the different views of the game. We started in right field, upper level and worked our way around the Metrodome. By the sixth inning we were sitting in $44 seats on the right side of home plate. The Twins won 6-2 over Oakland and we had a blast! I've posted a couple links of the game we went to. Go Twins!

Star Tribune Article

Fish Cycle

On Sunday July 8, Dad took Scott and I out to Lake of the woods to go fishing. The trip was off to a rocky start. i forgot to bring my camera so scott and I had to turn around to get it. When we met Dad at the bait shop, he prompted told me to go back home and pick up his tackle. When I got back to the bait shop, Scott told me to drive to the marina to meet Dad. We arrived at the Warroad Marina to find it silent with no Dad in sight. We looked around and decided to go to the public launch in Warroad. There we found Dad already in the boat in the water. He had launched the boat all by himself! Dad has assumed that we would go to the public launch in Warroad and didn't bother to tell Scott where he was going. Scott had never been to the public launch and knew only of the marina. If only our cell phones worked!

We finally got out onto Lake of the Woods and it was a little rough. Scott wasn't holding on to his hat and it flew into the lake. We went back to look for it but it was a victim of the water. We were only able to fish for a couple hours. The only saving grace is that we caught 6 fish, kept 5 and exhausted our worm supply. Scott had a great time on the water and I got a refreshing shower from the ride back to our cars. I've included a slide show of what we did with our catch.

Enjoy the pictures!

Keri and Scott

Home Improvements

While Scott and I were up in Roseau, we helped my parents fix up the house. However, most of the work was already done when we got there (by my sisters and brother, hehe). Scott really wanted to help my Dad and use his carpentry skills. Scott finished painting the house and painted the shed. He help Dad remove a rafter that has been bugging him for years in the garage and from that wood, he made a banister for the garage step. I've posted a little slide show of what Scott, Austen and Dad accomplished when we were home.

You may asked what I did, I helped Kathy prep for her wedding. My fingers were sore from wiring and taping plastic flowers.

Sign our guestbook!

Sister's Shower

On Friday July 6, Kylee and I threw Kathy a Pampered Chef shower in Roseau. A bunch of ladies from First Baptist came and celebrated with us and Kathy. Even Austen's mom Lorrie came up from Pelican Rapids to join us. Here are some pictures from the party. Kathy and Austen have the same pictures on their webpage, so I borrowed it from them. Enjoy the show!

Enjoy the pictures and sign our guestbook!

Keri

Un-Planned weekend with Family

If you would have told me on Friday that I would be moving my sister's stuff to her new place in La Crescent on Sunday, I would not have believed you. It happened no less and here's the story of our weekend.

Saturday, Scott and I decided to go see Ratatouille, the new Pixar Movie about a rat who is a gourmet chef. It's an excellent movie and we recommend seeing it. After the movie, we had planned on going to a BBQ in Minneapolis. Then I called Kathy, and our plans changed in an instant.

Actually, I left Kathy a voice mail about some funny pictures I found on the web. Unfortunately I cannot share them now. She called me back and we chatted and I wondered where she was calling from. Apparently she had moved out of her duplex in Moorhead and was on her way to La Crescent to drop off some stuff. She was driving through St. Cloud when she called me back. She told me that their crew composed of Dad, Grampa Fish (Paul) and her. I didn't want to put Grampa through more moving so I volunteered Scott and I to help. I figured it was worth spending time with Grampa, Dad and Kathy and with the five of us, unloading would be a heck of a lot quicker.

So Dad and Kathy pulled over in Clearwater to figure out hotel options. They were to arrive in La Crosse at around 9:30pm and were scheduled to unload Sunday morning. After about an hour of going back and forth from hotel to hotel, they decided that they could fit us all into one big suite. In the meantime Scott and I packed up a weekend bag, found a list of churches, and cancelled our plans for the BBQ.

We met the crew at the Kwik Trip in Plymouth and headed out. Kathy wanted me to ride with her in her van, Dad and Grampa were in the other van and Scott drove our car. When we reached LaCrosse we settled into our hotel room, relaxed a bit went to sleep. When I say settled I mean totally re-arrange the suite furniture to fit our sleeping bags and Kathy's hide-a-bed. When I say relaxed a bit I mean find Grampa a sandwich or something to eat at 10pm. We did actually go to sleep that night.

The next morning, Scott and I got up to go to church at St James the Less in La Crosse. As we were leaving, Dad and Kathy were trying out the hot tub in our suite. When we got back, everyone was ready to check out and go out for breakfast. The day before, Grampa and Dad got stung by Perkins ($20 bill for 2 people) and didn't want to spend that much at a restaurant. Kathy asked around and the hotel clerk told her about a diner down the street. That bill was $25 for five meals (Not bad!).

After breakfast we headed over to La Crescent to move Kathy's stuff. The actual unloading didn't take us too long, but getting there did. Kathy and I missed the exit to La Crescent and had to turn around at the next exit. Then we missed a turn and almost left town. When we finally got there, Scott and Dad moved most of the big heavy stuff, Grampa sat and chatted. Kathy and I moved our share though not as much as Scott and Dad. Kathy's landlord told us about a very pretty way back to I90 called the Apple Blossom Byway. The drive was filled with views of the Mississippi River, winding roads, bluffs and Apple Orchards. We didn't stop and enjoy these views because the crew needed to drive 9 hours to get home.

After the 3 hour drive from La Crescent we had to switch cars and part ways. Scott and I really enjoyed the time we spent of the road with family. We are looking forward to this weekend at home in Roseau.

Keri and Scott Van Havermaet

PS Sign our guestbook!

Moving August

No, we are not moving in August. We helped our friend August Jokela move from Chad Pruden's place in St. Louis Park to his new place in Bloomington. It only took us two trips to get most of his stuff down to Bloomington. For a thank you, August took us out to Fat Lorenzo's near Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. They specialize in Pizza, Hoagies and Gelato. The restaurant was really cool. The place was covered in Italian landscapes and frescoes inside and outside the building. Even the ladies room was painted like you were overlooking a village next to a vineyard. They kept every table stocked with crayons to draw on the table cloth. And the food.....Huge helpings at a reasonable price. It was a little greasy but the food tasted outstanding. Thank you August for taking us to this restaurant. It was excellent!

Keri and Scott

Chad's BBQ and Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our favorite Dads, Doug and David! We spent Father's day like every Sunday, at the David and Ruth's home. I wasn't able to talk to my Dad when I called home because he is in the Warroad Summer Theatre production of "Everything I needed to know I learned in Kindergarten." Dad usually auditions for the summer musical but Kathy's wedding is preventing him from doing that this year. We Love both of our Dads very much!

We also went to a BBQ at Chad Pruden's House in St. Louis Park over the weekend. We got to see old friends, eat a few burgers and drink a couple cold ones. We were also introduced to Nintendo Wii by our friend August. I must be beginners luck, because I was awesome at it. I (Keri) am not a gamer whatsoever. My awesomeness bubble was destroyed when I played against Scott. He totally kicked my but in Cow racing.

We had a lot of fun celebrating Chad and Sarah's completion of exterior remodeling to their home. We put together a little slide show of the BBQ. Check it out!

Thanks!

Keri and Scott

P.S. Please sign our guestbook! :)

Baptism Video

Here's a link to Nicholas's Baptism The sound isn't that great but you get the picture. Enjoy!

Keri

Nicholas's Baptism

On Sunday we headed up to Epiphany to share in our nephew Nicholas's Baptism. Afterwards we headed up to St. Francis for a party at Eric and Rebeckah's home. We were blessed to see Grandma and Grandpa Van Havermaet (Maggie and Joe) and Jill's Fiance Dan Rieder. We had a great time celebrating one of the cutest Sacraments. God Bless!

Keri and Scott

Please scroll to the bottom of this webpage and sign our guestbook!

Graduation

On a windy Wednesday June 6, Timothy and Susan graduated from Blaine High School. Scott and I were able to sit with the parents of the grads (they had twice as many tickets). Both Timothy and Susan are going to St Cloud State University this fall. We are going to miss seeing them every Sunday after church. Congratulations Timothy and Susan!

Keri & Scott

Grad Party

On Sunday, May 27, We celebrated Timothy and Susan's Graduation from Blaine High School. We spent most of Saturday and Sunday morning preparing for the party. We enjoyed the company of everyone who came and missed the people who did not come. We put some pictures up from Saturday and Sunday. There are lots of pictures of our nephew Nicholas and of Lisa who flew in from Detroit to share in the festivities. Enjoy the slide show!

By the way, please sign our guestbook on the bottom of the page. Thank you for visiting our blog!

Keri and Scott

Spring on the Luce Line

Ever since it's been warm enough to walk out side, Scott and I have walked on the Luce Line Trail. It's an old train bed that goes from Plymouth at Parkers Lake City Park to Cosmos MN. It's 63 miles long! Scott and I keep to the Plymouth and Wayzata portions of the trail. Here's a slide show of some of the sights we see while walking on the trail. The first few picture are fishing lures on the powerlines. People forget all about them when they are casting for sunnies!Enjoy!

P.S. Sign our Guestbook at the bottom of the page!

Catching up!

Wow. We've got some catching-up to do with our old friends. The Beldos had a baby, Strange and Ryan are looking for houses, Chad is fixing up his house, and Bridget is going to Poland! Again Wow!

Here's the latest with us. There was a pretty major storm that went through Plymouth today. (May 23) We are okay and so is our apartment complex. There was major damage a mile or so east of us at Parker's Lake Park and near the Home Depot (hmm...I bet Home Depot might get a little busy). Scott was home the whole time and I sat at work worrying about him. (This section is for all the mothers out there)

In other news, our pool at our apartment complex opened last weekend. We are taking it with mixed feelings. On one hand, we can swim when it's wicked hot outside. On the other hand we get a balcony seat to view scantily clad slightly overweight people bask in the sun beside the pool. Oh, the joys of apartment living!

Bride update: My sister Kathy and her fiance Austen found a house to rent in La Crescent! It's a four bedroom, two bathroom home just steps from the community pool. Kathy and Austen spent the night with us before they finalized the lease. How exciting! :)

Please keep in touch! Sign our guest book below with your smiling face! Thanks!

Keri and Scott

Mother's Day and Baby Nicholas!

Happy Mother's Day!

Scott and I spent Mother's Day in Blaine with Scott's family. After church and lunch we were blessed with meeting our nephew Nicholas Keith for the first time. Nicholas was born last Sunday, May 6 2007. (05/06/07 Easy to remember) He is such a cutie. We forgot our camera at home so we had to use my David and Ruth's camera. I took so many pictures of little Nicholas that Scott called me the camera nazi. We've posted most of the pictures we took of Nicholas's introduction.

Enjoy the slide show!

Keri

1st Anniversary Slide Show!

In honor of our First Anniversary, we are posting a few pictures from our first year of marriage starting with our wedding reception. Enjoy!

Sister Update

We have been blessed with multiple visits from my sister Kathy. She came to stay the night prior to attending a job fair and we had some fun trying on my wedding dress. (It doesn't look too bad on her :) )

She stayed with us again for the night before an interview with the high school in La Crescent MN. The interview went well, because she received a job offer that night. My little sister is a teacher in La Crescent! What a blessing. Austen got word that he can student teach in Winona which is only 30 minutes away!

Now all they have to do is plan a wedding, find a house and move to La Crescent! We are so happy for them!



On Wednesday, I made the trip up to Moorhead to pick out bridesmaid dresses with Kathy. We headed over to Allen Evans to try on the dress that Kathy had picked out on a prior shopping trip. It turned out that it didn't look awesome on me. We had one of the guys at the shop pick out some dresses and we chose this one. The dress that Kathy is wearing now is the template for the dresses. The actual dresses will be deep red and hemmed at the knee. Now we have to find some spectacular silver shoes to go with it.

Both Scott and I are excited for the wedding! We can't wait to be a part of their special day!

Kathy and Austen's Wedding

This just in...

Kathy and Austen's wedding date has been moved from December 29 2007 to August 11 2007. Her sister welcomes this change because she will not have to miss the last week of the year at work for her wedding! If you want more details about this go to Kathy and Austen's website.

The wedding will be in our home town of Roseau MN. Scott and I are very excited to have another brother in our expanding family.

Check out and sign our new guest book at the bottom! (Yes Kylee, I am copying you. It was a good idea!)

Our First Slide Show!