Get to Know
Kristin Ann Raclaw
There are some important things to know about Kristin. First, she's short. She can't do much about that, so she attempts to compensate with an arsenal of high-heeled shoes. Second, she abhors Styrofoam - it feels weird, it doesn't biodegrade, and most importantly, it's squeaky as all get-out.  Third, she's irrevocably and wholeheartedly in love with Jeff Lamont but you probably knew that already.
Kristin was born in Algonquin, IL, on May 21st, 1981 to loving parents, Robin and Claude. They were especially thankful for the arrival of the little redhead as she was the impetus to get her taciturn brother, Jonathon, to start talking, with admonishments of "No baby, NO!".  Not long after, the family moved to Coral Springs, Florida, and tiny K. played with Barbies, wore lil' cowgirl swimsuits, and chased around the lizards, hoping to make them jettison their tails. She memorized the key movies of her youth, and did her best to foil the efforts of her Mom to train their Rottweiler, Bailey. A brief residence in Seoul, Korea taught Kristin the value of learning foreign languages ("Yogi nay-dea ju-say-oh!") and that rollerskating on the roof is awesome.  Once the family moved back to the U.S. and she was just about to start the 4th grade, Kristin got the worst haircut of her life, and despite what her Mom said, she still doesn't think the koala sweater distracted from the 'do.
In high school, she followed her brother around, joining the fencing team and helping to organize the "Toss-Up" juggling club. 
After perfecting the art of giant paper crane making and passing a slew of Advanced Placement courses, our girl headed out to upstate New York for college.
Kristin graduated from Colgate University in 2003 with a B.A. in
Biochemistry, and quickly found herself moving to Minnesoooooooooota to begin Ph.D. training for a degree in Cancer Biology at the Mayo Clinic. To her surprise, her training came to a triumphant close on April 2nd, 2009, and now she'll have to figure out just what the heck a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology means. She couldn't have done it without Jeff, though.  Seriously, he deserves some kind of reward for always being able to make her smile when she was convinced that all the data she ever produced was lame, when she felt like giving up and getting a job at the yoga studio, and when she couldn't type one more paragraph. Today, with Jeff and Tali (their Rottweiler) with her at the start of a new chapter, she's thankful for the love and support of her family and friends that were paramount to her ability to make it this far. And while she misses her Dad deeply, she knows that he would have heartily approved of Jeff, even though he's a Packer fan. She's eagerly anticipating her wedding to Jeff and can't wait to celebrate with all of you at the party!
Oh, and yes, she can still recite "The Princess Bride" by rote.
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Get to Know
Jeffrey Donald Lamont
Wow... Where to begin? If you're reading this, you probably fall into one of two categories: you either know Jeff fairly well and are curious about which of his seemingly endless supply of stories and eccentricities will be highlighted here (and may or may not track him down to inquire as to why a certain favorite tidbit that was seemingly neglected), or you know virtually nothing about Jeff and are hoping to learn a little something about this guy that somehow got lucky enough to convince Kristin to spend the rest of her life with him. We'll see what we can do :) 
Jeff was born on June 21, 1981 (Father's Day, appropriately enough) in Richmond, VA to two very loving parents, Jan and Jeff. A year later, following his dad's completion of his residency training, they navigated their way a few miles northwest to Harrisonburg, VA. Jeff lived here in blissful wonderfulness, and his time was highlighted by various adventures in preschool, swimming lessons, and an amazingly magnificent backyard hill that served as a setting for many great rides on the wheeled blue plastic shoe. Despite all of this, though, Jeff's parents saw fit to move to Wausau, WI, in the spring in 1985. There was talk about job opportunities and the schools, but some still maintain that it was really just to keep little Jeff from cultivating his already-developing Southern Drawl.
A couple of short months after arriving in Wausau, Jeff's world became infinitely more... interesting... with the arrival of his sister, Chelsea. Like most siblings, they've had their differences through the years, but he is now fortunate enough to count her as a great friend in addition to being a wonderful sister.
Anyway, Wausau may not have always been the most exciting city in the world, but it was a great place to grow up.  Jeff met some great friends, managed to keep himself occupied through a wide variety of activities ranging from Little League and piano to forensics and the great sport of curling. And despite what his parents might say, he had no ill will towards them when he decided to start playing the tuba in middle school -- he just wanted to try and do something different to attract the ladies. Joining band to get girls... hey it's an interesting thought, at least!
Having enjoyed his work in numerous subjects throughout high school, and unable to make up his mind (a situation that has since become a bit of a theme) regarding a career path, Jeff decided to attend St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN -- a small liberal arts school where students study a little bit of everything. Well, after a bit of hemming and hawing, Jeff decided on a biology major.  In addition to serving as president, secretary, recruiter, and janitor of the St. Olaf Curling Club, he engaged in the detailed study of a variety of malted beverages with some great friends. The relationship between time spent curling and the quantity of said refreshments imbibed is still under investigation. Quickly enough, though, the spring of 2003 rolled around and Jeff was once again on the cusp of making a major change and not too sure about where he would end up.
Through some sort of divine intervention, Jeff managed to land a position as a research technologist in a pathology research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN shortly after his college graduation, and it was here in the summer of 2005 that he first met Kristin. The two of them actually have a mutual friend to thank for their first couple of encounters (ahem, Sarah), and after each realized that the other had the potential to be someone special, it was another great network of friends (F&C!) that really helped reinforce their relationship.  Quite honestly, Jeff still wonders from time-to-time how he managed to get lucky enough to even meet Kristin, and given his history of indecision, some might call it amazing that he ever even got up the courage to ask her to marry him. If these past few months of living together with their adorable Rottweiler puppy (Tali) are any indication of things to come, they all have a heck of a future ahead of them, and Jeff cannot wait to celebrate this wonderful occasion with all of you.
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