A New Beginning

March 9th, 2011 marked the beginning of the grandest adventure for the Holm family.

It has been one week since our move to the city of 10,000 lakes and what a beautiful journey it has been this far.

What a treasured time we have to spend united together as we cleave to one another. We are learning and growing quickly--and trying to figure out the ropes of a new town.

Thank goodness for the inventor of the GPS, or heaven knows where I would end up on my daily quests to the grocery store and library. I would end up in Timbuktu given my sense of directions! (Especially without the grid system to guide my way).

On our first pre-visit here house-hunting, I had called a local Bishop of the area to get some sort of idea where we should be looking to live as a young family. Bishop Dahl was so sweet and even gave me the name of a beautiful couple in his ward that we would be great friends with according to him.

Well, our first day spent on the lookout was anything but a success. So a bit downtrodden, we headed toward the closest restaurant that the GPS could find, which was a cute little Italian shop.

Peter and I quickly ordered as our stomachs were getting louder and louder to reply. We were given an order number we set on a corner booth for a little privacy as we raced to the restroom to wash up. Upon our return however, someone had removed our number, which forced us out in the open to actually socialize heaven forbid! :)

Shortly after we sat down, a cute couple came and sat directly to the side of us as this cute blond asked me how my dish was. We casually exchanged smiles as we nearly completed our meals. All the while I kept getting the strangest feeling that I needed to ask her what her name was. Denying the prompting over and over again, Peter got up to leave the table when I couldn't stand the awful pit in my stomach that kept saying "JUST ASK HER!"

Finally, I looked over at her and said, "This is going to sound completely crazy, but what are your names?" She laughed and said, "Well, I'm Courtney and this is my husband Pete." The EXACT couple Bishop Dahl had said I would make wonderful friends with.

This whole move has been one of small miracles such as this one. I guess to reassure me that Someone is watching over us and is taking care of us always--no matter where we are.





We currently live in Plymouth, Minnesota which was ranked the #1 city to live in the nation last year by Money Magazine for its low crime rate, wonderful schools, and cost of living being just a few of the reasons for the high marks.



We are living in a cute townhome just a half a mile away from Medicine lake and a hop, skip and a jump away from a couple beautiful trails. On our first night here our beds hadn't yet arrived so here's a picture of us bundled in all of our clothes for the night having a sleepout together, which reminded me of when we were kids sleeping in Sar or Pres's room for a night. That was an exciting adventure!

The ice is melting quickly on the lake--although Peter said this didn't stop one guy from driving his truck out on the slush today to have one last ice fishing trip! (However, I don't know if the trill is worth the cost of a new car when he sinks in!)

I think we'll have to take up a new sport next winter just to fit in-- drive on the frozen lake, get in your little snow shack, and fish! :)

Peter LOVES his new job, although he is the ONLY boy on his floor of 25 women! He says they talk about silly girl stuff. But he is so excited that he has a special pass that only grants him access on his floor of 5 other team members.

His first day was Monday and he has enjoyed a welcome breakfast in his honor, an end of year celebration with special guest Ricky Martin, and early leave Fridays where everyone in the office is excited for the weekend.

He is in charge of 4 major projects throughout the year to help better the HR department for the Targets throughout the nation. Good thing his secret niche is anything computer! This is right down his ally...AND with the added bonus of weekends and holidays off! Hip-Hip Hooray! Now we can have more of a routine and start some of our family traditions!:)

Peter just completed putting up our projector screen in our room and we ordered a bed set to complete our room that will be coming shortly. I will be going to the library to learn how to paint our rooms! So, pictures will come shortly, Liz!

We went to IKEA to get some good ideas and ended up with a small indoor garden for our house. We will see if I have a green thumb! We found a really neat Bonsai tree.



Alyse loves her new spacious bedroom with a brand new bookshelf for all of her books. She is keeping Mom busy as she has learned how to roll over and she can wiggle her way just about anywhere! She is so much fun and a ball of energy and laughs. I absolutely love getting to spend time with her everyday as she shares her huge smiles with everyone she meets. Everyone absolutely adores her and says she is the best behaved baby! I would say so, but then again, I might be a bit biased. :)