Yellowstone

Finally a whole week of vacation to get away and spend some time together! We've just returned from a good old fashioned road trip to Yellowstone National Park. It was Katie's first trip out west. We started with a family wedding in Billings, MT, headed to Yellowstone for 2 nights in the Old Faithful Inn, drove through Grand Tetons National Park, Jackson Hole, and then back through the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was a memorable trip putting more than 2500 miles on Kate's car. There are oodles of photos on our photo web site. Enjoy!

Weddings, weddings, weddings

You may notice that many of our summer trips have coincided with weddings this year. In fact, it feels like weddings have become our new hobby! We have had so much fun celebrating with friends and family this year. Congratulations goes out to Kris & Jason; Mary & Joey; Ruth & Trent; Renae & Allen; Alana & Sean; Mandy & Tim; Molly & Eric; and Alicia & Thuyet!

Calgary & Banff

We spent a long weekend in Calgary to attend Kate's friend, Alana's wedding. Luckily, we had a bit of extra time to drive out to Banff one night for a look at Lake Louise (pictured here,) a gondola ride, and some beautiful scenery. More photos at the link to the right.

Hamburger University

I have told stories for many years about the unique artwork at Hamburger University in Chicago and this year we have finally captured it to share with y'all. I attend LeaderShape training there every April and this year Jason joined me for the weekend. More photos of the artwork and our time as tourists here.

Puerto Rico

We had an exciting opportunity to visit Puerto Rico as an extension of a college recruiting trip and spent four days in San Juan. We visited El Yunque rain forest, Old San Juan, the Bacardi distillery, and the beach of course! Photos available here.

To be Certain of the Dawn

On February 12, I had the opportunity to perform and record with the Minnesota Orchestra through my Basilica choir. We performed a piece commissioned by the Basilica in 2005 called "To be Certain of the Dawn" by Minnesota composer Stephen Paulus. It was written as a Holocaust memorial oratorio, a very powerful piece of music, and the recording will be available in spring 2009.

LeaderShape!

Katie just returned from a week of LeaderShape at Michigan Tech. Although it's no fun to be away from Jason & Roxy for a week, LeaderShape continues to be one of the most fulfilling things I do. It's a 6-day leadership institute for college students and I travel to a different campus each year. This was year #5 and we couldn't have asked for a better group of students.