Back to School… again!August 24th, 2010

Yes, it’s true.  I finished Grad school and I’m still going back to school.  But this time, it’s faculty orientation!  It’s been fun to meet so many great people at the university and get a sense of all the opportunities that are going to present themselves throughout the semester.

In the days leading up to my orientation, my parents made a visit and had the chance to check out our new place.  They are great with (and sometimes a little obsessive about)  creating a beautiful looking yard, so we all got to work and cleaned up the landscaping.  Now it looks amazing!  Check out all the brush we ended up with:

We also went into Sioux Falls and checked out… what else?  The Sioux Falls!

Their visit wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the beautiful campus, which is less than half of a mile from our home!  We are so lucky to have gotten such a great location.

There is a lot of excitement (and some stress) that comes with a new position like this, and I am really looking forward to getting classes under way and settling into a bit of a routine again.  As the fall season approaches, Cassie and I plan on getting some house projects started as we try to get involved in the arts within the community.  For now, so long from the house.

All of these fantastic pictures in this post were taken by my parents!

Home Sweet HomeAugust 22nd, 2010

Here it is, our new home in Madison, SD.  Well, it was actually built in 1962, but it is new to us!
My parents came to visit over the weekend, and we all spent a lot of time making the yard look beautiful.  We are slowly settling into the house, and Cassie has a ton of ideas for projects to make the interior look really fantastic.

In job-related news, I am starting my first day of faculty orientation tomorrow.  It’s like going back to school all over again, and I’m really looking forward to it.  The anticipation has taken too long.  Then, after a week of orientation, there is Cassie’s sister’s wedding in Wisconsin, and then I’m back to Madison for the first week of class.  I’m gearing up for a busy week!

August WeddingsAugust 15th, 2010

Oh, it has been so long since I last brought out the updates, and oh so much has happened.
It feels like an entirely new life has started here in Madison, South Dakota. We made it here, our cats made it here, and our moving truck made it here, everything accounted for.

But, before I get into all of the fun details about the new place and the new university, I want to share a few thoughts about a really special weekend we were a part of last week. Our good friends Paul and Abby got hitched, so we drove from Madison (SD) to Madison (WI) to take part in the proceedings. In fact, Cassie was the photographer, and I was her always trusty sidekick. Here’s a couple of my shots of the groomsmen that I’m especially fond of:

The ceremony was really great, with fantastic music (of course), and our friend Mark was phenomenal as the officiant.  It was really great to see so many old friends from the college days at Oshkosh.  I am honestly so proud of our friends’ accomplishments.  So many people we know have traveled all over the country, from California, to Texas, to… well, South Dakota!

We are so happy for Paul and Abby and couldn’t be happier to see them together. (And we were there when they first hooked up!)  There’s also another big wedding day coming up… Cassie’s sister Amy and her fiancee Zach!  I’ll also have more on the new house and university shortly.  (I promise it will be shortly!!)