Kaufman's Unite! ...in Fargo!

Kevin, trying to act like he doesn't care (but I know he does).

What a great weekend this was. Not only was it homecoming for NDSU and the Bison ended up dominating in their game on Saturday after a most entertaining parade, but mom, dad and Kev all came up on Saturday night and we got to spend the night together. What a treat. I've been waiting anxiously for Kevin to come visit me in Fargo sometime but knew it would take mom and dad already making a trip for him to come, rather than just hopping in his Impala and making an 8-hour trip all by himself. Kevin's the only brother I have and until recently let's just say that our relationship didn't have a whole lot of substance to it. After being with him for only a brief night I can tell that both of us are growing up and we're starting to realize that when it comes to siblings, we're all the other's got!

The original reason mom and dad came was so that they could take the Taur home ("my" old car, although always theirs and never really mine), and I think just to be united as a family for a weekend. I don't know what it's like to be at home without little Rosco as the center of attention, but I'm sure it's not any fun, especially for them, whose lives practically revolved around that dog.

They got here around 4:00 on Saturday and before they got here Cari and I were busy baking chocolate muffins and lemon bars (Kevin's favorite) for a tasty 27th Anniversary (which was the day before!) dessert for mom and dad post-dinner. The four of us scooted across the street to the Newman Center for 4:30 pm Mass and right after that enjoyed a delicious dinner and wonderful quality time at Grazie's. Fr. Cheney, Bryan, Cari and lovely Marissa Oster joined us, entreated us by letting mom share stories, mostly about me getting my wisdom teeth pulled, but also about Kevin and I growing up. Her and dad love talking about us so anytime there's an opportunity they both grab onto it, no matter what the audience is (although I'm quite confident Fr. Cheney and Bryan got a good kick out of some of the stories).

Me and my "fathers"! A.k.a. Spiritual father and actual father

I really love quality time and my family, so when the two of them are combined I am one happy camper. And I know I'm not the only Kaufman that feels that way! Shoot, all three of 'em drove eight hours just to see me for a dinner and a breakfast early the next morning and were home again by 4 pm on Sunday. Now that's dedication, and I feel awfully blessed to have such wonderful parents.

Lastly, since I'm trying to keep y'all in the loop of my vocational journey I do have to throw this out there as some "not-really-news" news; I created an account on CatholicMatch.com! Ha, I'm still laughing. I created it not knowing you had to pay so much so I ended up just creating a free thing where people can send me "emotigrams" and messages, but I can't actually read them unless I shell out. Nuh-uh, I don't know if you remember that pretty little white car, but I'd rather pay to keep her out back than to get myself a boyfriend, at least at this point and time. I just thought it'd be fun to see what this whole CatholicMatch thing is all about. So I am trying, kind of. If anything comes of it I'll let ya know! ;)

And I'm off! Mass at 5:15, team dinner at 6 and bible study at 7:30--what a great Monday! Ciao!