Grand Rapids, MN

Now it was Presley's turn for an out of town tournament. Both Mom and Dad were able to come watch her play. The 12UAs did not win but they played hard and fun was had by all. And we saw the best of Grand Rapids, including: dancing in the locker rooms and chuck a puck at the Grand Rapids hockey arena, lunch and Dubsmash at Toivos, great pics and a visit to Judy Garland's childhood home and museum, double decker pizza at Mad Dogs, and kid and adult fun at the Saw Mill Inn. Fun tourney weekend!

Ron Turns 49

We celebrated Dad's birthday this week. Mom and Dad spent the day with some of Dad's favorite things. We started the day at the gym where he got to start off with a nice swim. We then went to Al's for breakfast. Ron then took us to his favorite guitar spot, the Podium, where he played guitars, got his guitar restrung, and Mom met Ralph, a super fan of the Podium. We finished off his day with Gina Maria's pizza, present opening, and a parking lot party before Canyon's hockey game! A fun day of celebrating Ron!

Spirit of Duluth Tournament

Mom and Canyon had a nice mother/son weekend together in Duluth for his hockey team's tournament. We kicked off our weekend with a great brunch at Amazing Grace Bakery and Cafe. Mom did get a flat tire after dropping Canyon off for his first game but it was the best way to get a flat tire. She found a service station that was able to fix the tire right away so she didn't even miss a shift of the game. While the boys didn't end up where we wanted to be in the tournament, the weekend was still filled with lots of fun team meals and events. The weather was beautiful and Mom was able to take a 4 mile walk along the lakeshore. A highlight was a trip to Bentleyville, a huge (and free) light event on the lakefront that is put on the city with characters, hot chocolate, cookies, popcorn, marshmallow roasting, and of course Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Fun weekend!

Christmas Tree Decorating

For the first time ever, the Pergandes put up their tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We usually don't get our tree up until the week before Christmas. We picked up the tree at our local hardware store and then had a nice family decorating session. It was Presley's year to put Santa on top. However, the bummer was the tree looks dead even before we put the ornaments on. However, we didn't have enough energy to return the tree. Just can't keep the lights on when we are not at home. Still looks good from far away. Maybe next year, we will cut our tree down!

Jim Fessler Comes For a Visit

Ron's college fraternity brother, Jim Fessler, came to MN for a visit and to watch the Illini play the MN Gophers in football. The boys had a pretty crazy and fun day with a fun game, lots of guy bonding and adventures, and ending with one of Canyon's Bantam AA games. Thanks for the visit Lumpy!

Early Season Hockey Activities

Both Canyon's and Presley's hockey seasons are off to a good start. Presley's team is a pretty young 12UA team. While they may not have a winning season, they are bonding well as a team. Presley's team got the opportunity to skate on the ice and cheer on the University of Minnesota Women's hockey team (NCAA 2015 Champions) at the beginning of one of their home games. Before the game, Presley went out to eat with some of her teammates in Dinky Town. At the game, her team stood in the tunnel as the players took the ice. Then her team then got announced to the crowd and skated onto the ice. It was a fun night. They got some fun selfies with Goldie, the team mascot, and watched a pretty amazing game!




Canyon's Bantam AA team is an experienced and strong team and is ranked as one of the top teams in the state. The Thanskgiving Weekend tournament was Eden Prairie's "Test of the Best Tournament". It was an amazing tournament and the boys knocked off the #1 ranked team in the state to win the tournament! Fun win with a fun feature in the local Eden Prairie and MN State Hockey papers.

UCLA Anderson Girls Weekend - NYC

The weekend of November 5th - 8th, Mom traveled to NYC to meet 7 of her friends from business school. The girls traveled from all over -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boulder, Minneapolis, and Luxemborg. We rented a great apartment from VRBO on the Lower East Side. The weather was gorgeous during our visit, which included runs along the river, shopping in SOHO, a walk along the new High Line, star sightings (Lance Bass at Sugar), great meals both in and out, dubsmash, and quality time together. I was so honored to in the company such high caliber women, both personally and professionally and look forward to the next reunion. Thank you ladies for including me!

Halloween 2015

All the Pergandes like to participate in Halloween. We are never too old to get dressed up and celebrate. Mom and Dad celebrated on the 30th at an adult halloween party. Thanks to Aunt Kimmy, we dressed up as lucky leprechans, granting wishes and handing out Lucky Charms. Wasn't sure if Canyon would still want to dress up. But he and his buddy Nathan went as "rappers" and managed to pull in 18 pounds of candy each trick or treating. Presley went with some girlfriends as super heroes. She is the spiderman in the middle. Fun and tiring weekend!

MEA Weekend at Grand View Lodge

The Pergandes were excited to be invited again up north for MEA weekend. It is a great weekend with friends and some fun traditions that include: spa day for Moms, jumping in a frigid lake for the kids, scare crow decorating contests, bingo, bonfires, and golf! This year we also had some great fireworks and lots of games of corn bags! Thank you Jones family for a fun weekend!

2015-16 Hockey Seasons Begin

The 2015-16 youth hockey season is upon us. Presley made the 12UA team for the season and Canyon made the Bantam AA team for the season (both the top for their age groups). Both kids are super excited. Mom a bit nervous for the increase physicality that comes at the Bantam level. Keep your prayers coming!

Presley Has Fun Start to Fall

School is back in session and fall sports have begun. Presley's soccer team started strong by winning the championship of the top tier in their first tournament together. She is also growing up fast. Went to homecoming game with a group of girls. They all got dressed up and curled their hair together. Super cute!

Chicks with Wicks Weekend

Mom and some of her friends have started making candles from wine bottles. We get together about once a quarter and have branded our future company "Chicks with Wicks". This quarter, we headed out of town to Alexandria to a local winery that was having a fall festival. The local wine was not good but we had a blast participating in the grape stomp competition. Two of the women in our group won the whole event and we also took second place for best costume. It was also a productive night on the candle making front! Fun weekend with good friends!

First Day of School 2015

Canyon and Presley are back to school as 8th graders and 6th graders. I have really enjoyed watching these "little" kids grow up. We are truly blessed.

Canyon's school starts early. Still dusk at bus pick up time...


Presley is now the big kid at the bus stop. Hard to believe she was this little once...

State Fair 2015

We absolutely love the MN State Fair, which is always a highlight of our summer. This year Mom and Presley went an extra day for a girls' date and then we went again as a family. We tried new things like breakfast corn dogs and pretzel curds and explored new things like the pig judging contest, the state fair sky tower, and the best of Texas. We also continued with the things we loved like the giant slide, the midway, live music at Leine's lodge, regular cheese curds and kettle corn. One of these years, we are going to make it to the fair every single day!