Tag Archives: family

Christmas Thoughts: On Trees

21 Dec

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One of my favorite parts about getting ready for Christmas is decorating the tree. This year, we have a real 8-foot Fraser Fir, but every other year that Travis and I have been married, we’ve had a 3-foot pre-lit tree that we just pulled out of the box and plugged in. There are benefits and drawbacks to either real or fake, I think. The fake ones look a little too nice to be real, but they are convenient, economical and much less messy. The real ones are fun to pick out and smell good, but ornaments are often too heavy for their branches and they are needle-dropping factories.

The best part about either kind of tree, though, is the ornaments you put on them. And in my opinion, the best part about ornaments is not whether they color-coordinate or match, but the memories they bring to mind. Maybe it’s because I grew up with a hodge-podge tree full of ornaments that had been gifted, made or were unique in some way, but I personally prefer a tree full of memories and not-so-perfect ornaments than a tree that looks like it belongs in the mall or Martha Stewart magazine. Though those trees definitely have their place too!

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Travis’ mom bought him an ornament every year when he was growing up and wrote the year on it. When he got married, we inherited his collection, so that makes up 80% of our ornaments right now. There’s only one creepy ornament that I could do without – a boy wearing a stocking hat and singing.

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Am I right?

I liked Travis’ family’s tradition so much that we’re going to do the same thing with our kids. Emma’s ornament last year was the token “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament.

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For Travis and me, I buy a picture frame ornament every year that either includes the year or I write it on. The picture I put in is a highlight of the previous year.

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Right now, our tree is at least half decorated with standard red, blue, white and green balls but I look forward to all the new memories that we’ll collect and hang up over the years with fun and unique ornaments – even the very-homemade ones contributed by Emma and her siblings. 😉

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Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

2 Dec

I had grand plans for Thanksgiving this year, but apparently God wanted to teach me a lesson in slowing down and letting go because things didn’t go quite as planned.

We hosted the big meal at our house for Travis’ immediate family, my parents and my brother. We’ve never hosted a fancy meal for that many people so it was a learning experience! Monday, I went grocery shopping after Emma went to bed. Tuesday, I deep-cleaned the house while Emma was at daycare. So far so good.

Wednesday, I attempted to repurpose an old tablecloth that didn’t fit our new table into a table runner and placemats. Well, somehow I got my math wrong because the table runner ended up being too short and then my sewing machine broke in the middle of the placemats. I ended up borrowing a tablecloth from my mother-in-law. It worked, but that wasn’t the plan! (Luckily, the table runner fits our table when we only have one leaf in it.)

Some more of our fall decorations:

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My parents, Travis’ brother and his girlfriend arrived Wednesday night and we had elk steaks, roasted vegetables and mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner. After getting everyone mostly situated, I hit the sack for an early morning – running the local turkey trot. Never mind that it was supposed to be about 0 degrees at the start.

Unfortunately, that plan got derailed as well because I developed a horrible sore throat and cough overnight that made me sound like a 50-year-old chain smoker. Running outside in the freezing cold probably wouldn’t be a great idea. So no turkey trot. Money down the drain.

Being sick also meant that I couldn’t help out in the kitchen much, since who wants a sickly person making their food? Instead, I took a nap, a long hot shower and directed people to where things were and what else had to be done. (I must admit, it was nice in some ways.)

The most important things though – food and family – were perfect. We all ate until we couldn’t eat anymore and enjoyed conversation, watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and playing Big Buck Hunter.

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Emma was not impressed with the Thanksgiving fareIMG_6056 (Large)

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The cute cupcakes that Travis’ bro and his girlfriend made

Everyone left that evening except my parents and brother. It was nice to have some extra time with them.

Friday morning, Travis and I headed to our 21-week ultrasound while my parents and brother watched Emma. Everything looks great! I have my 22-week appointment with my OB tomorrow.

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Legs up over the head

After my parents and brother left, it was Emma’s naptime – which, these days, means time for mommy or daddy to hold Emma for a nap. She was a little sick and we’re pretty sure she’s getting her 2-year molars. She’s been putting her hands in her mouth a lot, drooling up a storm and seems to be in pain quite often. Poor girl. After Emma’s nap, we attempted some Black Friday shopping but Emma had a meltdown so we just came back home.

Saturday, Travis’ uncle got married so we journeyed down to the Cities for the wedding. It was nice to see his extended family again, and Emma actually did really well. There was another little girl there her age and Emma walked right up to her and gave her a big hug. So cute! I am proud of Emma for being so friendly and outgoing.

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Eating a tide-me-over at McDonald’s before the wedding

Sunday, we went to church and then hung out at home until our date night! Some friends watched Emma while Travis and I went to Mockingjay Part One. It was good – different than the other Hunger Games movies and a little slow at first, but we enjoyed it overall. Then we grabbed a quick bite at Buffalo Wild Wings before we picked Emma up.

It was a fun weekend! Unfortunate that I had to get sick (and am STILL sick) but such is life, right?

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Fall Fun at the Farm on St. Mathias

22 Sep

Last Saturday, Travis, Emma and I went to a fall festival with my mother-in-law and Trav’s aunt. It was a fundraiser for the Early Childhood Coalition here in Brainerd. We had a lot of fun!

The first thing we did was go through the corn maze.

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There were 8 different scissors you were supposed to find and use to cut your ‘punch card’. If you got them all, you got a treat (which ended up being a sucker). I think we found almost all of them.

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One of the bridges had a slide – that was fun (yes, I went down.)

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After the maze, we checked out the llamas and alpacas, and then got some food. I had a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie that was pretty tasty.

Then we went on the ‘hayride’. I thought it took us out to the pumpkin patch but it just went in a circle back to where we started.

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By that time, Emma was getting pretty tired so we headed back home for lunch.

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{Unrelated side note: My laptop died so I will be blogging from my phone more often until I find a replacement. Please forgive any spelling or formatting errors!}

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Our San Francisco Trip {Brill’s Wedding Weekend}, Part One

19 Sep

Our trip to San Francisco for my brother’s wedding over Labor Day weekend was a whirlwind. It went well overall, and we enjoyed all the wedding-related festivities, but let’s just say that being in downtown San Francisco for a wedding with a 1.5-year-old is CRAZY exhausting and stressful. We weren’t able to relax and enjoy everything like we would have wanted to, but we did our best given the circumstances.

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IMG_5847 (Large)My family rented a VRBO house that had 2 bathrooms, 6 bedrooms and slept 14, so we had my 2 other brothers and sisters-in-law, nephew, 3 cousins and 1 boyfriend, 2 uncles, 1 aunt, my parents plus me, Travis and Emma all staying in the same house. Luckily, our oven was broken when we arrived and the owners compensated us by giving us access to the downstairs unit, which had 4 more bedrooms and a bathroom. So we had plenty of space to spread out in the end.

IMG_5851 (Large) IMG_5848 (Large) IMG_5849 (Large)The first day, we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf with my aunt, uncle, brother, sis-in-law and nephew, and toured the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a ship used during WWII.

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That afternoon, Jill (the bride) had a ‘bridal bash’ where a group of us ladies went on a chocolate tour in downtown San Fran. We learned a lot about gourmet chocolate, the history of the area, and ate/drank chocolate until we were sick of it. It was fun!

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After that, we went to dinner at the Biergarten, a casual outdoor German restaurant. The food was delicious, but unfortunately Emma was not the happiest camper sitting around, so Travis and I had to take her across the street to a park for a bit, and then we headed home early.

Saturday, we hung out at the house and park across the street until the Welcome Picnic in the Redwoods that Brian and Jill (Brill) were hosting. It was a beautiful setting, and the sandwiches, potato salad, chips and dessert really hit the spot (so much so that I ate way too much). Emma loved running around and getting dirty.

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Jen and I got dropped off with the kids at the Conservatory of Music on the way back by our aunt and uncle for the rehearsal and groom’s dinner. During the rehearsal, we decided that Emma would just come in during the procession with me and Travis instead of her walking with the other (older) flower girl – which, it turned out, was a very good decision. The groom’s dinner was on the bottom floor of the Conservatory and was BBQ catered by one of Brian and Jill’s friends. It was tasty! There were also 3 cakes for dessert – the one I tried was pineapple and coconut. Delicious.

Without my aunt and uncle’s car, we had too many people to fit in just the one minivan so my brother Chris and SIL Meg ended up walking the 1.5 miles back to our house – and they had to push our jogging stroller (empty) because it wouldn’t fit in the car either. It was a very hilly 1.5 miles home, but they were troopers.

Stay tuned for Part Two…

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Cabin Time

7 Sep

In August, Emma and I drove down to my parents’ cabin for one last hurrah before lake season is over – unfortunately, Travis had to work so he didn’t come with us. Bah! We drove down Friday and back Saturday so it was short, but nice. We took the pontoon out to the local sandbar and around the lake.

20140815_170428 20140815_143618 20140815_170417 20140815_170420Emma loved throwing stuff in the water, so we hooked one of her toys on a rope.

On Saturday, we girls journeyed to the outlet mall in North Branch to do some shopping. I ended up buying Dress #5 for my brother’s wedding (finally, a keeper!) and my mom found a necklace to wear with hers. I bought Emma a shirt and some socks from Oshgosh. And I ate way too much ice cream – I ordered a single scoop and it was like 4 scoops. Emma also rode the carousel, which I failed to take a picture of.

Then the weekend before Labor Day, Travis, Emma and I went up to Travis’ parents’ cabin in Voyageurs National Park (right across the border from Canada!) with his parents and brother. It was a cooler weekend, so we didn’t spend as much time in the water as we would’ve had it been warmer, but we still enjoyed being up there. Emma slept pretty well the first night, and not so great the second night. Of course, the second night was when we agreed to have Travis sleep in the cabin instead of the bunkhouse so that he didn’t have to worry about making noise and waking Emma up. Well, that lasted about 30 minutes before I was down in the cabin requesting demanding backup.

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IMG_5835Can’t believe the summer is over already!

Emma is 17 months old today, so I’m hoping to post her update and our San Francisco trip recap in the next few days, as well as a Worth Repeating quote too! We’ll see if that happens. 🙂 

 

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4th of July 2014

10 Jul

We had a very enjoyable 4th of July, even though I ended up getting (what I think was) food poisoning and spending most of the actual holiday on the couch!

Emma and I drove down on Thursday morning. Travis came down Friday night, since he had to work on Friday. My brother, SIL and nephew were already there when Emma and I got there. My younger brother and SIL came up for dinner on Thursday night – they spent the rest of the weekend down in Indiana with her family.

Friday, my dad and I ran to Walmart before breakfast for a few things, which is when I started feeling sick. I thought it was because I had drank 1 1/2 cups of strong coffee and not eaten much. After breakfast, we took a pontoon ride, which I enjoyed laying down.

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The rest of the day, I pretty much just laid on the couch. More family arrived around dinnertime. I was feeling slightly better – enough to be up and moving around some, but not enough to eat any dinner. I stayed up just until Travis arrived and then hit the sack – so I missed the fireworks this year! 😦 Around midnight, I ended up throwing up a couple of times. I felt better the next day, but then I got a massive headache and have been extremely dizziness since. So weird. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and she said it should go away in 7-10 days. ::Here’s hoping.::

Anyway, our family reunion was on the 5th so that day, we all got dressed up in our Superhero costumes. I didn’t take any pictures the whole weekend so I’m waiting on the people who did to post their pictures. My SIL Jen was on the ball as always (with taking pictures AND uploading them), so that’s where all of these pictures came from. 😉 Thanks Jen!

10527555_10101510482827512_6214095437906051171_n 12488_10101510482967232_8160426312722380331_n 10487195_10101510482612942_7356252945640392589_n We of course ate a lot of good food too (though my not feeling well kept me from digging into the sweets and booze!).

The evening of the 5th, our group activity was an obstacle course that me, Travis and my parents put together. My uncle Roger told the story that the Iraqis had a huge stash of beer that they were going to pour into the Red Sea so we had to go in and save the beer! The first obstacle was zigzagging around 5-gallon buckets with pool noodles sticking out. Then we had to cross over a kiddie pool balancing on a 2 x 4. The next was crawling under “laser beams” – string attached to tall wooden stakes. Then we ran into the “burning building” – painted cardboard hung on the garage with a cutout for the door – and grabbed a water balloon – the “beer” – and carried it down the driveway on a shovel. Once that was accomplished, we threw 3 tennis balls at 3 cups to knock them over – which was “killing the bad guy”. Three people raced at a time, one from each of 3 teams. 100 points per person were possible – 30 for the obstacles, 30 for the water balloon, and 30 for the cups (10 each), plus 10 for being the first one to finish in your round. It was a lot of work to plan, set up and tear down, but everyone really enjoyed it! I think we have to do something like that every year.

The 6th was the best day weather-wise, so we spent a lot of it out on the water. We went swimming, floating, paddleboarding, jetskiing, waterskiing and kayaking. Emma loved being in the water, once she got used to the temperature.

We even got the dogs in on the action (though they didn’t get wet at all).

10500334_10101510493151822_2413368952540722719_n 10492140_10101510500876342_7304979035915219610_n 10447861_10101510493236652_6122080517151365786_nThe night of the 6th, it was just my immediate family left so we all went out on one last pontoon ride (except for Travis, who took a nap).

10501717_10101510500946202_8798094127552864707_n 10435843_10101510493670782_3730429239130951360_n 10456816_10101510494079962_5195454766865633883_nThe next day, it was time to go home! Sad. But we’re looking forward to next year already – the theme is Disney! I am so dressing up as a princess.

I’ll post more pictures of our costumes once those get uploaded to FB. Looking at you Jayme!

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Memorial Day Weekend 2014

29 May

Sorry, didn’t mean to leave you hanging with my last post, but I’ve been busy pinning ideas for our new house! A couple weeks ago, we drove down to Brainerd on a Wednesday evening to look at just 2 houses – one we had found on the MLS and the other had been recommended by our realtor based on the other house. Looking at the pictures online, we were pretty pumped about the one our realtor had sent us but it’s always different in person. We also weren’t sure if it had a 5th non-conforming bedroom – since Travis works from home, we would like to have 4 bedrooms, plus an office.

When we arrived at the house though, it was just as awesome as we had thought it would be. And the basement has a large area that could totally be closed off for a 5th real bedroom, so that pretty much sold us. We put an offer down in the next few days, they countered (which we mostly expected), and we accepted the counter. The inspection was done last week – we asked for a handful of things and they agreed to all of them, so now we’re on to the appraisal and closing on June 20!

We won’t move in until the following weekend for a couple of reasons: 1) Travis’ parents will be in Alaska the weekend we close and it’d be nice to have their help, and 2) The current owners have cats. Travis is allergic, so we’re going to have the ducts and carpets cleaned, plus the whole house deep-cleaned. We’re also going to scrub the rooms that Travis will be in the most with a denaturalizer product to kill the cat dander and ‘germs’. But the owners chose paint colors and stuff wisely, so there are only a few things that I want to change before we move in.

So that’s the story. I’m not pregnant again, if you were wondering. 😉

On to our holiday weekend…

We drove up to Handberg’s Marina on Crane Lake on Saturday morning and got up there by about 11:30 (it’s almost a 4 hour drive!). We loaded all of our stuff into the boat and set off for the cabin, about 30 minutes by boat.

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IMG_5769 (Large) IMG_5766 (Large)The weather this year was PERFECT. Couldn’t have asked for anything better – well, except the water be warmer I guess. The ice had just gone off the lake the week before so only a few brave souls jumped in for a few minutes. I waded in the water a decent amount while cleaning pine needles off the beach, but that was as far as I would go.

Activities during our cabin stay included:

Emma swinging…

IMG_5778 (Large)And napping. (Emma’s getting a bunch of new teeth right now, so when she napped in the swing, it was a relief to not have to battle her!)

IMG_5802 (Large)Lots of playing in water warmed by the sun on the dock (don’t worry – we watched her like a hawk, and rigged up some shade after these pictures were taken.)

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IMG_5798 (Large)Campfires

A canoe ride

The dogs enjoyed themselves too. Both our dogs and my sister-in-law’s 2 dogs were completely wiped out the second day. Everytime we went into the bunkhouse, they followed us hoping it was naptime!

IMG_5799 (Large) IMG_5771 (Large) IMG_5780 (Large)Hope you had a good holiday too!

 

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Emma’s 1-Year Pictures

30 Apr

We had my friend Jen Jacobs of Kitestrings Photography take Emma’s pictures again (she also took Emma’s 3-month pictures). It was a busy weekend – Travis had the first part of his California PE test on Friday, we had a supporter brunch on Saturday morning and had to dash right from that to our photo session at the Roseville Arboretum. Emma was a little crankier than normal while we were taking pictures, and it was cold and windy, but overall, she did great and we got some GREAT shots. LOVE them!

Here are some of my favorites:

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IMG_0237bw (Large) IMG_0262 (Large) IMG_0236 (Large)Thanks again Jen for helping our family capture these precious memories!

 

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Emma’s 1st Easter

26 Apr

Travis, Emma and I drove down to Rochester on Saturday after the Hot Chocolate race. My brother and sister-in-law were there when we arrived so we got to visit with them for a while. Then, Travis went to study, Chris and Meg went to her dad’s house, and the rest of us went out to pizza at a new place called Toppers. Yummy.

Sunday morning, we went to the 8 am service at my parents’ Lutheran church, ate breakfast in the fellowship hall and then hung out at home until it was time to eat again. 😉20140420_105758 20140420_104106 20140420_104106-MIXThe reality of how hard it is to get a good picture… I didn’t worry too much about it though, because we got professional pictures taken of Emma in her Easter dress during her 1-year photo shoot.

Travis unfortunately had to study for his PE test the whole day. He did break to eat lunch with us though, which was delicious. My mom made this dish called Pineapple Bread Bake to go with the ham and it was amazing.

After our lunch digested a bit, we ate angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert and then Travis packed up his stuff and headed up to the Cities, since his PE test was at 8:30 on Monday morning. The rest of us went over to my aunt and uncle’s house to see them, 3 of my cousins and their wives, and Emma’s second cousin Morgan, who is 19 months. She loved to give Emma hugs! They had fun ‘playing’ with each other.

1512297_735121823184809_7088956606253318788_nWhen it was (past) Emma’s naptime, we headed home. We tried carrying her carseat in while she was sleeping, but she woke up – dangit! Instead of fight her for a nap that late, I just kept her up and we all went on a walk around the cul-de-sac outside. Emma loves being outside. Then it was bedtime for little girls. My parents and I stayed up late marathon-watching Scandal on Netflix. That show is so bad, and so good at the same time.

Monday, Emma, my mom and I drove up to the Cities and met Travis at Olive Garden for lunch after his test. Freedom! He felt that the test had gone well – very challenging but he felt like he got enough questions correct to pass. I hope so! He won’t find out for a couple of months though.

Then Travis, Emma and I drove up to Nevis while my mom headed back down to Rochester. It was a good Easter, though weird since we didn’t see Travis much. Glad that test is over! And glad that I got this post up before a whole week had gone by.

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We Made It!

27 Mar

Last Thursday and Friday, we loaded all of our possessions into a 26-foot U-Haul moving truck. Our awesome friends and family helped us. Nothing had to be left behind! Travis and I slept on cots for Thursday and Friday night, my dad on an air mattress, and Travis’ parents got a hotel room. Oh, and Emma slept in her pack & play.

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MovingtoMN 022 (Large) MovingtoMN 025 (Large) MovingtoMN 026 (Large) MovingtoMN 027 (Large) Early Saturday morning, Emma, Grandma Beth and I flew to Minneapolis/St. Paul. Emma did really well on the flight. She played with toys and the in-flight magazines until she crashed.

1966916_721446454552346_1619279792_nAfter we landed, Emma and I drove my dad’s car (that he had left at the airport) to Rochester while Beth headed up to Nevis in her car.

Meanwhile, Travis, Grandpa Al and Grandpa David drove the moving van, pickup truck and SUV (with our 2 dogs) to Minnesota. My dad split off in Omaha – he kept going NE to Rochester while Travis and his dad headed north to Sioux Falls. My dad arrived in Rochester just a little before 11 pm. The dogs were very ready to get out!

Emma and I stayed in Rochester until Tuesday morning. We had a great time hanging out with Grandma Sheri, playing with fun toys (books and magazines count, right?)…

998461_723575161006142_640768047_n…and shopping for Emma’s Easter dress. We looked at every dress in every store in the Apache Mall before deciding on this one. (Apparently, I’m very picky?) Emma will look so cute in it! I also had to buy this one and this one because I’m obsessed with neon coral and stripes.

On Tuesday, Emma and I headed up to Nevis (a 5-hour drive). Emma slept the first 2 hours, then we stopped for lunch. I took the dogs and Emma on a very short walk and then got back on the road, but Emma was not having it. So we went shopping at the Shopko in St. Cloud and I bought Emma’s birthday present and a cute swimsuit top for me, among other things. She still wasn’t the happiest about being in her carseat after our shopping trip, but she fell asleep after 10-15 minutes, and woke up when we were only about 10 minutes from the house. Whew!

The minute I walked in the door, I was organizing and unpacking. There’s something in me that can. not. stand. things being out of place and messy. By the end of Wednesday, everything was pretty much in its place. So today we went to the library in Park Rapids!

10155088_723504804346511_2129091930_nNow I’m on to planning Emma’s birthday party. We’re just doing a small brunch up here in Nevis, with some cute, simple decorations. Well, that’s all for now!

 

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