As promised, here is the year in review.  What a year of ups and downs, but all in all a good year.

I guess I didn’t blog about it a lot.  It was dominated by work, I would say.  It started out with another Legislative Session.  That was what it was.  A year of budget deficits, and craziness.  In March I was appointed to the Blaine Planning and Zoning Commission.  That was a great experience.  I really enjoyed working with the great folks there, and I learned a lot about the Planning and Zoning laws.  Come June my time at the House came to an end.  Some what unexpected, but for the best.  I had been looking for a new job, something to utilize my Master’s Degree, that I was working on.  I already had an internship lined up with the City Administrator of Oak Park Heights.  So I interned there and got some great skills and experience.  During that time I had a few interviews at various places.  I was offered the job of Community Development Director for Wells, MN. I took the job, and it’s been a lot of fun.

One of the big projects I’m working on is utilizing state, county, and local funds to help get a meat processing plant into town.  The plant is working on moving into an old meat packing plant currently.  They should be up and running, with a small crew to start, in a few weeks.  Within about 2 years it should be up to 250 jobs.  It’s been a lot of fun to work on.  The other parts of the job, Planning and Zoning and Housing Redevelopment, have been a lot of fun as well.  I’ve learned so much.  The P&Z stuff I learned during my time as a P&Z Commissioner with Blaine has been very valuable.  It’s been interesting bringing what I learned in a town of 55,000+ to a town of about 2,500.

Other highlights included a week away at Lutheran Island Camp, which was fun.  The whole family was there and we were able to hang out.  We did some fishing, and had our own mini-fishing contest.  I’m proud to say that my boat (consisting of me, Beth, and my brother-in-law Barry) caught 7 fish while the other boat (my mom and dad, brother-in-law Jeff, and nieces and nephews) caught 1.  Go us!

Looking back through the archives of my blog for this past year I remember I did some house stuff.  That was kind of fun.  Being a “handy man” of sorts was interesting. Some worked well, some not.  In August and September we really spiffed up the house more.  Of course that was to sell it.  We really like what we did with the place and it’s kind of fun to be able to enjoy it still.  We have more stuff that we want to do, and we’ll probably be able to do some of it.

So, my friends, after much waiting, that is what I will call the year in review.  This coming year should be more interesting.  I’ll try to be better at getting pictures up for y’all to see.  In the mean time, enjoy life!