What we do in Iowa

Konrad, Aunt Susan and girls at baseball game.

You probably are all wondering what it is we do here in Iowa. Well, we spend alot of time at the pool....
we eat corn........we go to baseball games(remember Field of Dreams....Kevin Costner walks out of the
corn field..."Am I in Heaven?" he says...No, son, you are in Iowa! (the pic at the baseball field is with Kon, the girls and cousin Susan)and we go
fishing at the Cedar River which is across the road from our apartment. They had a big FishOrama weekend which is where these pics were shot. Konrad is the only one
of us that caught a fish. )

Summer Fun

 
 
 
 

Fourth of July weekend in Minneapolis/St. Paul. We went to Waterpark of America for
Zoe's 6th birthday. The girl's were crazy with excitement. Konrad and Cheryl
endured to the end...actually it was a 2 day ticket so we went past the point of
endurance!!

Babic Reunion

 
 
Konrad had the privelege this year of attending his first Babic (Serbian) reunion. This is my stepdad's side of
the family- both of his parents came to America from Yugoslavia. I have been in this family since I was four so I consider it my own. It is a tradition to do a big pig and lamb roast. There are great facilities at the
Serbian church hall and picnic grounds. We had close to 100 people there this year. The men prepare and cook
the meat. The most important ingredient beside the garlic is the Slivo which is taken in shots throughout
the cooking process...the meat was exceptionally good this year as 3 bottles of Slivo were consumed, this is
2 more than usual!!! Konrad loved the whole process and was taken in as an honorary Serb.

Andy's Graduation

Another exciting Spring event - Andy graduated from college. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and also, a minor in Chemistry. (He gets his brains from me!) It was great and I am so proud of him. Todd and his family were in town and we had a really nice luncheon afterwards. I am happy to report everything went well and my new husband met my ex husband and everyone was quite cordial and a fine time was had by all with the help of a few gin and tonics(the ex husband) and imported beer(the new husband) and diet coke(me)!!!!! Andy has decided to take
a year off of studying and to work in a lab at the University of Utah. He has
become very interested in Botany and plans to go to Grad school next fall.
 
 
 

Moving On

Well, it has been 3 very busy months since I have had a chance to
add to the blog. Since the wedding, we have had a whirlwind
of a time. Konrad, unfortunately, did not receive tenure at the
University of Utah even after a successful appeal of the
tenure decision.
The appeals committee was unananimous in support of his
tenure and stated they had never read such exceptional letters
of recommendations in their entire careers. The President of the
University, though, reckoned otherwise, and so Konrad was
ultimately denied. He immediately begin applying for jobs and
almost as quickly was offered a great job with Rockwell Collins
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There is an excellent group there that
was interested in his expertise.

Moving away from SLC was not our first choice, but in this
economic climate we are just feeling very blessed that Konrad
got a job, and a good one at that!

We knew moving away from the girls was going to be traumatic
for all of us, but we have chosen to be very upbeat and accepting
of the changes in our life. The girls have actually taken our lead
and have been great about all of it. We are starting out in Cedar Rapids
for Konrad to integrate into the company, then in the fall moving
to Minneapolis/St. Paul where Konrad will work out of the Rockwell
Collins branch office.

There are frequent daily nonstop flights to SLC (and Calgary!) from
there. This will make it much easier to get the girls to us and for
Konrad to make frequent trips to them. On the other hand, the
move has been a huge effort so we are not
looking forward to packing up again.

In any case, this spring has been busy with trips to Cedar Rapids for
interviews and apartment hunting, mixed in with a trip to Calgary for
baby baptisms and a trip to Florida for my stepdad Bob's 80th birthday
celebration.

Konrad's company has been very generous in moving us, including
having a moving company come and do all the packing, driving, and
unpacking. We had so much stuff (all mine,of course!) that they had to
bring another truck! It has been quite an experience. We had my
car shipped and drove Konrad's car, with the cats, to Cedar Rapids, on
the first of June. We have moved into a little apartment for the summer.
It has a great big swimming pool to help ease the pain of the Midwest
humidity. Already the girls have been in it nearly every day. They will
be with us for half the summer, divided into 2 three week segments.
They arrived last week and just settled right in. Kids really do keep
things simple and adapt so much better than us adults. Zoe is taking
swimming lessons, and Hannah is teaching herself to type and hopefully
will begin work on her first novel soon.

I have been fortunate to get a job also. Nursing jobs for the first time
in my entire 27 years in the field are scarce. I am working in the Recovery
Room here at a local hospital. I started last week and it has been great.
The group of nurses who work there are just wonderful and I felt right
at home quickly. Cedar Rapids is actually a nice town, very family
oriented and a fine place to spend the summer. Konrad is enjoying
his job also, so we are feeling good about our decision.

I have posted some pics from our trip to Calgary over Easter weekend
and the trip to Florida. We are so behind on the blog, that everything is
getting tossed in all at once! Konrad and I were asked by his brother
Chris and his wife, Patti, to be the godparents for their 1 1/2 year old girl
Natalie. They also scheduled the baptism of their 4 month old twin girls
the same weekend. We drove up SLC-->Calgary with the girls as we
had them over spring break. It was a wonderful weekend.

Memorial weekend was spent in Florida on Siesta Key for a big surprise
80th birthday celebration for Bob. We were all able to make it...the 4
girls, (me, Dee, Bobbi and Andra), our husbands, and all of our
children. The kids all told us it was the best vacation they had ever
had! We stayed at condos on the beach, and everyone had their own
space (which always contributes to a successful vacation!!!) The weather
was great. Bob was very surprised and thrilled! We did the traditional
family pic on the beach with everyone in white and khaki, per my
mother's request. Everyone was as cooperative as could be expected
and we did get some great shots. It was a memorable weekend.
Pictures to follow. The first slideshow is of the Easter baptism in
Calgary. The second slideshow is of Bob's birthday. The best way
to view the pics is to double click on the slideshow, this will take
you to the web album and click on full screen or slideshow - this will
really show the pictures well.

OUR WEDDING DAY MARCH 7, 2009

Well, it has been almost 3 weeks from our beautiful, memorable wedding day. I am finally gathering in pictures that many of you took and choosing some of our favorites for the blog and albums. I don't think that the pictures will be able to fully capture the joy of that day! It has taken us a couple weeks to come down from the euphoria of the day. We just couldn't quite process all the wonderful moments that we had. We both felt that it was one of the best weddings we had ever been to and it was our own!!! So many people ( I think final count was between 110-120) who were so happy for us that we were quite overwhelmed. What an outpouring of wonderful love and blessings we received on that day. There was alot of joy and laughter accompanied by an amazing number of grown men in tears! Konrad did not believe me that a large portion of people were in tears during the ceremony but it is true. I guess he couldn't get his eyes off of me long enough to observe the crowd but I did witness an outpouring of tears and downright sobs at times (including my own)!!!
We are so grateful to everyone who joined us and our family in celebrating this great day. A huge thank you to all the helpful loving hands who made it possible. The biggest thanks of all goes to our friends Steve and Diane Hague who provided their beautiful home and property for us to hold this ceremony and party and spent endless hours in helping prepare for this. They , of course, had no idea what they were getting into....We are so grateful to them!! Their property nestles up against a small canyon and was the perfect venue for this day.

The above pics are of us coming together down 2 separate trails...Konrad with his girls, Hannah and Zoe and Me with my boys, Andy and Ben (led by nieces Virginia and Isabella.

Our children definitely contributed to the day. Hannah wanted to write a poem for us and recited it during the ceremony. Many people have requested a copy so here it is:

VERY MERRY DAY

Oh! Today is the day! Flowers bloom, so does the groom on this very merry day.

Clouds cry, so does the bride on this very merry day.

Trees bray and children play on this very merry day.

Butterflies crowd, so does the loud crowd on this very merry day.Leaves clap, so does the old chap on this very merry day.

Buds dance, so people prance on this very merry day.

Stems bow, will it end now on this very merry day.

Yes, I am afraid to say on this very merry day, Konrad and Cheryl will marry!!!

My oldest son Andy and his roommate made 2 wedding ales which received very good reviews...a Grooms IPA and a Bridal Apricot Pale Ale. My youngest Ben did the labels

Our ceremony was performed and made official in the State of Utah by my dear friend, Catherine Tanner who besides being a RN, parish nurse, legal nurse consultant, Medical Writing instructor, Master Knitter, Wife and Mother, can now add Ordained Minister to her repertoire. You, too, can receive your certificate on-line at the Universal Life Church http://www.ulc.com/ !!!! She did a beautiful job and we are very appreciative of her making the trip from Wisconsin to be with us. Our vows were quite nice but I won't bore everyone with repeating them here. Just let it be known far and wide that I DID NOT agree to Love and Obey...just to Love!! Konrad denies that he became emotional during the ceremony but luckily several people captured his quivering chin on film and this can be viewed on our on-line albums to follow! Tears aside, there was also much laughter which is more our style. Konrad stopped the ceremony before we did our final vows with the announcement that there was an impediment to our union. He proceeded to tell the story of a lien against my hand in marriage that my stepdad, Bob, had informed him of when we called to announce our engagement. For over 25 years, I have owed him $150 that I borrowed to buy my first husband's wedding ring. I was a new graduate nurse and swore I would pay him back as soon as I got my first job but never did! Konrad insisted that he needed to clear this debt to assure that this union was lien-free! He presented Bob with a check for the full amount and we were able to complete our vows!

We were, also, very blessed to have the contribution of wonderful music for our ceremony. My sister Dee came in from Ohio and blessed us with her beautiful voice and our friend Wen, who plays for the Utah Symphony played a beautiful piece on her violin as we walked into the ceremony. Konrad's very talented friend and colleague Eric and his band the Lab Dogs entertained us throughout the evening with their great blue grass sound.


There are so many pictures and so many memories that there is not room on the blog so I have made 2 separate albums which I am (still) working on. Click on the links at the end of this blog post. I will be adding to them over the next week. One is with the main ceremony pics, the other with friends and family "party pics". Our wedding party started several days before the wedding with family and guests arriving from as far away as Amsterdam (darling Herbert a vibrant 85 years young) and lasted until the last guest left 5 days after the wedding...Konrad called it the Big Fat Utah Wedding that is never going to end!!! We loved every minute of it and will never forget it!

Click on albums TWICE to view and enlarge! Keep checking back as I will be adding labels to the pics and probably adding more pics to the albums.

Wedding Bells are Ringing

Yes, it is true, he did ask me on bended knee (well, sort of) and I did say Yes! (absolutely!) We are both quite excited about it and have decided to have a big celebration and exchange our vows in the Great Outdoors. We love to be outdoors no matter what the weather and we have chosen late winter, March 7 for our date. As though the whirlwind of our love is not enough, Konrad who craves more dramatic weather is hoping to be married in a gale! The setting we have chosen is very beautiful, a bit of a wild feel but conveniently located behind my friend's home. This means we will have the convenience of electricity,a kitchen, bathrooms and a warm spot for those of a weaker constitution.
I will keep this post up to date with information about the wedding/party!
Please RSVP and
feel free to email us with questions or comments at alpenglo59@gmail.com
My number is 801-440-2428

Wedding Plans
Party starts at 4:00 pm. Exchange of vows (i.e. the wedding part!) at 4:30 pm.
Great food and music(live band) and fun with friends to follow. Dress is casual and weather appropriate. This will be mostly outdoors with deck heaters but plenty of room inside around the fireplace, also. Warning: there is a fast flowing stream throughout the property so children under the age of about 5 may not be appropriate.

Directions: The actual address is 3601 East Heughs Canyon Circle, Salt Lake City
You can get here coming from either direction on I-215 on the I-215 belt route. Basically just follow the signs toward the Ski Resorts and the road to the house is off of Wasatch Boulevard which runs alongside the mountains between about 3900 south and 6200 South.
Take I215 to 6200 South. Get off the exit and head east toward the mountain. The road will wind up and begin heading south. You will see on a sign that says Wasatch - Park and Ride - Ski Bus. Turn left at the light onto Wasatch Blvd. Go north about 1/2 mile to Canyon Cove Drive (plaque on the wall entrance that says Canyon Cove). Turn right. Go up the street to the 3rd street on the left, Heughs Canyon Circle. House is at the top of the hill.

We will have some sort of shuttle or valet system set up so watch for signs as there is a bit of an uphill climb depending how far away you have to park. Call ahead if you have special needs.
Numbers to call the day of the party: 435-770-5324 or 801-718-2273.

No gifts, please, as our combined household is overflowing. We have so much of my stuff in our basement that Kon says there is no way we could possibly need anything.

We will accept acts of service or talent to help with the party. Call or email our Wedding Planner i.e. Cheryl!!

Christmas 2008

We had a lovely holiday season. Very relaxed and low key. We had the girls starting on Christmas day so we flew in the afternoon to Calgary. We celebrated with Andy the weekend before going to a wonderful concert in Park City, Natalie Mcmaster, who plays amazing fiddle from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He then headed to Ohio to be with his Dad and and all of our Ohio family. As Ben lives there now, I didn't get to see him but I knew he was surrounded by family so it was ok. Alberta was lovely but frigid. Konrad's brother has 5 little girls including brand new twins so Hannah and Zoe were quite happy and entertained for the whole week.Konrad and I also thoroughly enjoyed all the little ones. It was a delicious chaos. Konrad took Hannah skiing one day and she was quite proud of herself, skiing blue and black diamond runs. Konrad's parent live out of Calgary on a bit of acreage and it was so nice to be in the country for me. They have well-visited bird feeders like my Dad does in Ohio and I enjoyed getting to know some new birds. Also saw moose and deer and heard the coyotes every night. I have no idea what I did for over a week but just relaxed and it was great!! Click on the album and it will take you to another site where you can view it larger. Choose slideshow option for the best way to see it and read the captions.