Notes from Isaac's Graduation

It was a quick trip, but worth it. Sonja and I left Mayville with our kids at 9:45am. We stopped for lunch in Rugby and made it to Bottineau just in time for the ceremony. Sonja kept the kids busy outside until the rain brought them in and Sharon and I found a couple chairs in a very crowded gym. The reception was at the country club and as you can see we had quite a group of Haugen's. Sonja and I were back on the road by 6-ish. She had to work today at 9am. Here are a couple things I learned from the short time spent visiting:

Sonja starts a new dimension to her job this Friday--working for the oncology and palliative care departments at Meritcare doing medical massage. She is excited to try this new venture. Shonella is employed through a grant that has five pilot sites around the state of N.D. putting together a team that works with victims of domestic abuse. She isn't sure if the grant will be reinstated but has definitely had an eye-opening experience. Dean is spending usually two weeks on the road, running out to the east coast. He said you get used to the traffic...one time it took him two hours to go five miles. Uffda! Shane and Amy are heading out for a great camping vacation soon. They will be going through Medora and out to Yellowstone. They've got Russell and Sharon's old camper and are excited for the adventure! Carley received a presidential academic award at school last week, way to go! Kori is still at Basie's in Fargo, where Isaac is headed to school next year. Before heading to NDSU he has a trip to two-week trip to Mexico with his Spanish class planned. He will work some in Botno at the DQ this summer but is ready for classes to start in the fall. He doesn't know exactly what degree he'll work toward, maybe education, maybe medical, time will tell.

We didn't get to see Ben, as he had to work at Jack and Jill since there were several employees who were graduating and couldn't work. We look forward to seeing you graduate in a couple years, Ben! Margo did a great job of putting together a party, the food was great. We got to visit some with her sister Tina and her husband who have moved to the area. The Larson's were there and Sharon (I can't remember how to spell her last name...). Brad also kept busy putting on a party, sorry we missed him in the picture!

Now you all need to keep up on the posting. It's an easy way for us to keep up on each other's lives. My family update is this: Signe is done with school for the year and looking forward to second grade already. She always tells us how much she loves the LEARN! She hopes the kids in her class will be better listeners in second grade. The boys are excited for kindergarten next fall although they will be a little disappointed because some of their friends are in the other kindergarten class. For the summer we plan on doing t-ball, vbs and some trips to the lake. If anyone wants a get-away to Lake Ashtabulah, we are taking reservations! Our cabin is open! You can even use our fishing boat! Jeremiah is excited to go up to Canada in July with Trent, Trent's father-in-law, and Dad for a week-long fishing trip. Jeremiah and I survived running the half marathon in Fargo last weekend and we are super excited to run the half in Duluth in June. Then we'll wait until fall to do another one. If anyone wants to run with us, let us know! That's our news, now let's hear from the rest of you!