Higher Ground 2007

A couple of weekends ago, I took our niece, Tiffany, and nephews, Evan & Nicholas camping at the Higher Ground Music festival in Winsted, MN. Friday was a beautiful day and the most perfect day we could ask for to be camping and listening to concerts. :)

This year we borrowed Angela & Eric's new screen tent so we had some shade and a virtually bug free place to eat. :)

Evan & Nicholas carrying their chairs to the concert area.

Tiffany, Nicholas & Evan waiting for the Go Fish concert to start. Nicholas was so excited to see Go Fish. He kept asking all day when it would be time for Go Fish........I think he was afraid we would miss it if he didn't keep checking. :)

Nicholas & Tiffany enjoying the Go Fish concert. :)

Nicholas, Evan & me.

Nicholas & Evan with Go Fish (Jason, Jamie & Andy). We waited in line so the boys could get their posters signed. While we were waiting, Nicholas asked, "Do you think I will get to hug them?" :) He didn't hug them because they were behind a table but he did get to talk to them a little bit.

Saturday morning it started raining at 7:30 am and rained all day. I was very, very thankful for the screen tent. It allowed us to still be able to cook breakfast. The people on our right went to McDonalds in town because they couldn't cook their food. The family on our left just packed up and left. Here the boys are eating their french toast. :)

We listened to the concerts while playing games in the tent. Here we were playing HuskerDu? and we also played Dora Candyland, Oh Rats! and Sum Swamp. We also had to keep mopping up little puddles that came in thru the seams of the tent because it was raining constantly at a pretty good rate.

The adult ponchos were a little big on the boys, but they thought they were fun. We did finally give up and start packing up after we at supper. I was tired of carrying the boys over the mud to go to the port-a-potties and I didn't want them to wake up in the middle of the night in puddles of water. I had just changed them into dry clothes and Evan had to go to the bathroom. I said, "You have got to be kidding. I just got you dry." So instead of walking there, I loaded them up in the truck and we drove to the port-a-potties. One lady found this amusing. I told here I was tired of fighting with the mud. :) We were finally packed up and ready to leave at about 9:40 pm. We only missed one concert because we didn't want to wait around in the truck for the Mark Schultz concert to start at 10:00 pm. It started to lightning while we were leaving so we were glad that we were going home. Evan said, "I am a little sad because I wanted to stay." Over all, we had a very good time. :)

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P.S. I have decided that I do not like packing up the tent in the rain.......very soggy! :)

Freedom Celebration 2007

Mom (Annilea Lane), our nephew, Evan & I were in the Freedom Celebration at North Heights this year. There are 3 special services honoring our country's veterans and people in all branches of military. We really enjoyed doing it and the people who are honored are always very grateful.

Evan has a blast carrying his flag in the Freedom Celebration. The last service, a couple of veterans in their 70's or 80's were just tickled at all of the kids that were carrying flags along with the adults. When Evan came across the front of the stage, one of them nudged the other, pointed at Evan & whispered, "Look at the one!" They were so excited and I was very proud of Evan. :)

Sonja & Evan dressed in our Freedom Celebration red, white & blue.

Evan & Grandma...........Grandma was also very proud of how well Evan did carrying his flag in the services. :)

Passion Play 2007

Wow! I can't believe it was our 5th year of performing in the Passion Play this year. Evan has joined us for about half of the performances for the last 4 years. If I watch him for the weekend (for Angela & Eric) when we have perfomances, I just put a costume on him and he comes out for the Market Scene & Triumphal Entry. That is about 15 min. long, so he literally has his 15 minutes of fame each performance! :) He loves wearing his costume and doing the play.

Evan also likes spending time with Grandma "A" when we do the play. :)

This year Todd & I got to play some new roles. So we had some quick changes that kept us hoppin'. :) We were the magician & magician's assistant in Herod's Court.

Todd pulled a scarf out of the "magic" bag. :) They were very fun parts to play.

We were also trumpeter angels in Heaven. We really like doing that too. :)

Evan really enjoyed greeting people after the performances. He just stuck his hand out and waited for people to come shake it. Of course, lots of people thought he was extremely cute! :)

The Dybviks' First Christmas

Here we are for our 1st Christmas as the Dybviks.

We had our own Christmas a few days early because we go up to Duluth to spend Christmas Eve & Christmas Day with Todd's family. We have started having the Lane Christmas festivities on another weekend after Christmas to make things easier for everyone. It seems to be working out well that way.

Sonja Turns 40! December 9, 2006

Todd wanted to make a big deal of my 40th birthday, so he made it a week-long affair. On Monday, Dec. 4th, he showed up in the morning with balloons & flowers before going to work himself. The big Tweety Bird balloon, in the back, talked & sang very loudly if you hit it. " A witto bird told me it was your birthday! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, ........" People at work liked making it sing. :)










































We had to go out for my birthday dinner on Wednesday night (12/6) because the rest of the week we had performances for the Christmas production at church. We went to Axel's in Roseville and it was delicious! :)

Here we are, the actual day of my birthday. We had two performances (3 & 7:30 pm) of The Gospel According to Scrooge because it was Saturday. Before each performance we have a half hour of Praise & Worship & announcement for the cast & crew. During the singing, they suddenly started singing Happy Birthday to me and Todd had 4 of the gentlemen give me 3-flower bouquets of carnations. It was really cool! Of course when it happened, my head was covered in hot rollers (I think someone got a picture of that but I have not seen that) so I could get the curly look for the play. The headband with antenna on my head says, "Birthday Princess". :)

Here Todd & I are in our 1800's costumes for the Gospel According to Scrooge. We were "the couple who meets Scrooge on the street". We even had a lines!

Sonja: "Good Evening, Mr. Scrooge."

Scrooge: "Bah!"

Todd: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Scrooge."

Scrooge: "Hum-bug!" Right in Todd's face.

Then Todd acts like he is going to go after Scrooge behind his back and I grab him & pull him off stage while shaking my head "No".

And that was our exciting scene. :

We were also in the choir with Mom & Tiffany so we were on stage a lot singing songs. It was really fun!

Tiffany, Mom, Sonja & Todd

The birthday fun was not over when the performances were over. Todd had me close my eyes while he drove to the Hilton Garden Inn where he had reserved a room for the night and decorated it in between performances. What a guy! :)

The birthday girl with her flowers, presents..........and..........antenna. :)

Todd even set up a table of food! Which was good because I was hungry. :) We had Chicken Salad from Cub (mmmmmm), Hawiian Bread rolls, cheese & crackers, sparkling apple cider and cake with lemon filling. Yummy! Todd takes great joy in spoiling me! I must admit, it is nice. :)

Tyler James Lane--9/3/2006

Our nephew, Tyler James Lane, was born on September 3rd, 2006. When we got back to the cities from Two Harbors, we had to go see him. :) Tyler is Jeremy & Kim's 4th son. J.D., Justin & Brenden love their new baby brother. :)

Labor Day Weekend 2006--Two Harbors, MN

We spent 2 nights at the Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast in Two Harbors on Labor Day Weekend. We had a gift certificate from Sonja's mom from Christmas and we also used Anthony & Heather's certificate because they were unable to use theirs. Thanks guys! :)

Our camera was then set with the day/month/year (don't know when we did that one) and the year was still wrong. We were there from 9/2/06 thru 9/4/06.

When staying at the lighthouse, everyone gets duties assigned to them. Our's were to feed the birds and............

.........and the deer. :)

It was a beautiful place to stay. The weather was great and the food was wonderful! We decided we would like to go there again some day. :)

Memorial Day Weekend 2006 in Iowa

Three weeks after our wedding we went to our 1st wedding as a married couple. This is my cousin's son, Joshua & his beautiful bride, Sara. :)

Our Honeymoon 5/9/06 - 5/16/06

We went to the Grand Superior Lodge, on the North Shore of Lake Superior just north of Two Harbors, MN, for our Honeymoon. It was a beautiful place to spend the week. It was cold, foggy & rainy most of the week, but we had a wonderful time! This was the view from our balcony to the right..............

........and this was the view from our balcony to the left. :)

Sorry, I don't know how to rotate these sideways pictures. I will have to learn how to do that later. :) Todd was excited to get his picture taken by the rooster in front of one of the gift shops in Two Harbors. He remembered always seeing it as a kid when they went to Two Harbors. For those of you who didn't know, Todd grew up in Duluth.

We drove up to Grand Marais one day and walked around even though it was raining. We found a couple of people cut outs...........

.........do we make a good Viking couple? We did not get any of the "World's Best Donuts", but we had lunch at a pizza place called Sven & Ollie's. It may have been the best pizza I have ever had. :)

We got a gift card, from people at work, for a restaurant called Birch Terrace in Grand Marais. We ate dinner there and it was delicious! We had a wonderful table on the windowed porch with a view of the lake. It was cloudy & rainy so we couldn't see the lake very well, but we had a wonderful, relaxing dinner. :)

Our first Sunday going to church as a married couple. This is the Assemblies of God church in Two Harbors, MN. It was Mother's Day and they gave gifts to all the ladies at church that day. So I got a red rose, a geranium plant and an angel pin. :)

The day before we left, we finally had a sunny morning. So we got ready and went a couple of miles north to Gooseberry Falls. We spent the morning walking the trails around the falls and down to the lake. Then we looked around the gift shop.

It was really beautiful and fun. It was a good thing we went right away in the morning, because that afternoon it was pouring rain again!

The last morning, I got up early to try to get some pictures of the sunrise over the lake..........

...........it appears that I succeeded. :) Of course it was going to be a beautiful day..............because we were leaving! :o))

We took this picture in front of the fireplace in the lobby of the lodge before we left.

We spent the day walking around Canal Park in Duluth before driving home. We took a ride on the Vista King on Lake Superior and in the Harbor. We had a guy take our picture, while on the boat, and the aerial bridge was centered perfectly between us. :) Of course, to make our honeymoon complete, it rained off & on all afternoon, often quite heavy. :)

Our Wedding 5/6/06

My oldest brother, Leonard, gave me away.

Our First Dance song was The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. It was the song that Todd played for our 1st Valentine's Day and he played it when he proposed to me.

Our wedding cake was modeled after Sonja's parents' cake. 4 heart-shaped cakes on bottom, then large, medium & small round cakes. The tiers are held up by upside-down champagne glasses with frosting flowers under them. My mom gave us the actual glasses from their wedding cake so it was very special! :)

Technically, all of our nieces & nephews were there except for one. Todd's nephew, Matt, was in Alaska in the Coast Guard. Our nephew, Tyler, would be born in 4 months, but he was there. ;) All of them had something to do for the wedding, too.

Justin was the ringbearer, J.D., Tiffany, Mya & Michelle (across the back row) all read I Corinthians 13 in sections. Nicholas, Evan, Brenden, Emily, Nathan & Natalie (across the front row) were all "Bubble Kids". They handed out the bubbles after the wedding. Sophia was the flowergirl. Also, J.D. was in charge of collecting the gifts before the ceremony and Tiffany was in charge of the guest signature frame.

Sonja's Family

Todd's Family

This is one of my favorite pictures that our photographer took......it is a candid shot that really shows how happy I am. :)

Our groomsmen were Matt Anderson (Todd's friend), Jeremy Lane (Sonja's brother), Anthony Lane (Sonja's brother) and Tory Schaefer (Todd's friend). Ringbearer, Justin Lane (Sonja's nephew).

Our bridesmaids were Kim Dalbol (Todd's sister), Janelle Thompson (Sonja's friend), Angela Cota (Sonja's sister) and Connie Johnson (Sonja's friend). Flowergirl, Sophia Pantano (Todd's niece).

Todd's niece, Sophia, was the flower girl. She was excited all year because she said she was the only one who would get to make a mess. (Throwing her petals on the floor.) :o))

Sonja's nephew, Justin, was the ring bearer. At first he declined. We found out later that it was because he didn't want to wear a dress. :) We heard that once he saw himself in the tux during the fitting, he thought he looked pretty good and was excited about wearing it for the wedding.

They both did a wonderful job! :)






Todd's friend, Matt Anderson was the Best Man "we could find". :) Hee! Hee!



















My sister, Angela Cota, was my Matron of Honor.

Todd & I were married on May 6, 2006 at Brookdale Christian Center in Brooklyn Center, MN. Our colors were purple, pink and silver. The weather was perfect............70 and sunny. :)