Christmas preparations

One more post and I am all caught up. Finals being the week before Christmas has really hindered my ability to prepare for everything. However, in procrastinating studying, Tony and I took a trip over to Lowe's to pick out a tree. I really would have preferred to cut one done ourselves, but drastic times call for drastic measures. Just kidding. Maybe next year we'll find a tree farm near by. I like the tree, but Tony has some structural integrity issues with it. I love having Christmas lights! Here is the final product.

And we got a new coffee table!

The next step in Christmas preparation is making Christmas cookies. All I wanted to do during finals studying was bake some cookies, so now that they are over Tony and I attacked the kitchen. We made four different things. My favorite peanut butter cookies with a chocolate kiss, some famous family gingersnaps, 150 year old molasses cookies and some chocolate covered peanuts.

All ready!

Rolling out the molasses cookies

I has also been making some quilted stockings for the two of us, but my sewing machine does not like me at the moment and I am ill supplied in the way of needles for it so those pictures will have to wait. So today is Christmas Eve, the tree is up, the cookies are made (and are delicious), other decorations are up, the presents are already under the tree and we are late to hang out with some friends. So I bid you adieu and enjoy catching up on our lives.

All done!!

It is no surprise that graduate school was going to be difficult at times, however, this last semester has been particularly trying. I took four classes, which in undergrad, would have been very little. But life is different. I don't want to spend all my time doing schoolwork. I want to come home and spend time with my husband. I want to partake in leading our small group. I want to be able to have time to think about making dinner and cleaning the apartment. Maybe not so much the last one, but I want to have time to think about things beyond my current project and it is hard to do that when there is so much homework. What I really want is to be able to leave most of what I have to do at work to come home and be with Tony and partake in the social events that we are a part of. Don't get me wrong, I love what I have been working on. In fact, this was probably the semester where I have enjoyed the material the most. However, I am so glad that it is over. I finished all my final projects, I studied for all my exams and finished them, I am done! And I will never take four classes again. I only have four required courses left, but I am not taking them all at once. And now I can more seriously focus on my research and a timeline for graduation. Don't worry, it'll still be a few years.

November

Weekend # 1:

November was a month of weddings beginning with the first weekend. We traveled up to Wisconsin to for some time with friends. It was great catching up with the Harris's and everyone over the weekend. Here are some photos of the wedding. The reception was a dinner reception only so a group of us went to a pub downtown Port Washington to hang out, play darts and taste fine alcohols. It was a beautiful wedding, great weekend seeing friends and, as usual, way too short.

The wonderful couple

Centerpiece with Tony's fine artistic ability

Me and the bride!!

Friends!

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Weekend # 2:

Once upon a time, back in like 2010?, Tony took me to Wicked in Milwaukee for my birthday. For years, I has been singing the songs and it was a wonderful present. Well this last November, Wicked was in Des Moines. Naturally, we bought tickets and went with two of Tony's coworkers. This was the first time we went to the capitol and ended up having a wonderful time. We went to a matinee showing, absolutely spectacular again!!, and ate at this wonderful little pub afterwards. It was a great time. The following Sunday, our church had a Thank You dinner for all of their volunteers. With Tony on the sound team and myself in Nursery we were invited. The invitation said a black tie affair and I wanted to wear my prom dress, but Tony said that was a little too much so I settled with something less formal. Sad day. Regardless of outfit, it was a wonderful dinner and we had the chance to spend some time with more friends.

The girls :)

The guys

Back from Wicked

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Weekend #3:

The third weekend in November was a long one. We headed off to Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon. I dropped Tony off at work and hung around Cedar Rapids doing some schoolwork and some much needed shopping for the weekend of wedding festivities and baby showers. This weekend was going to be packed. (For everyone who doesn't know, all names mentioned in this section are my sisters/brothers, unless specified)

Thursday night: Naomi's bachelorette party

We picked up Laura on our way home and made it back in time to run off to Beth's house for Naomi's bachelorette party. Much to our surprise, Sara had come up for the weekend from Costa Rica, sans family. It was a very pleasant surprise to see her since we were under the assumption that she was not going to be able to make it. The night was full of food, slightly embarrassing Naomi at Kohls and ending with wonderful conversation. The maid of honor did a wonderful job!

One of the beautiful outfits Naomi had to wear

Friday: Nails and rehearsal

This was a very busy day. We had the chance to spend some time with Sara and family before I headed down to visit with my friend Percy. She was graduating from college the following weekend and I wanted to congratulate her and give her a nice present. We met up for some breakfast and it was wonderful to catch up, talk about life and how scary it is, and see the look on her face when she got her very own stethoscope!

I then met up with Naomi, Zach, the Harris's and Tony at Noodle for some lunch. We really are an odd crew, but a good one. The girls then went to get our nails done before the rehearsal while the guys went and played some games.

The rehearsal went well with some hilarious moments from Zach's groomsmen. They were a very comical bunch. Somehow I ended up being the tallest girl stuck with the shortest man. O well. The night ended at a nice restaurant, as rehearsals usually do, and everyone went to bed ready for the big day.

Saturday: The wedding

Us girls got up early to get to church to line up to get our hair and makeup done to be ready by noon. Normal wedding things commenced, pictures, ceremony stuff, more pictures (it was raining so picture locations were revamped, but it all worked out well) and onto the reception. Great reception! Best part: dancing. Hands down. Once again, we had the chance to catch up with friends and it was a blast. Tony was sore for the next four days from dancing so much. Great celebration!

I just had to show off my hair. I loved it!! Thanks Krystin for the suggestion

And their off!

Sunday: Baby shower

The weekend ended with a baby shower for my soon to be sister-in-law. The weather was a bit shotty so it took a while to get there, but we arrived in time to celebrate the eventual birth of their little baby boy. It was great to see some of her family and bless both her and Nathan. Can't wait to meet the little guy!

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Weekend #4:

By this time, school had finally come to a halt and Thanksgiving break was upon me. We began the week with our first college football game. Being from Michigan, Tony is a Wolverine fan. It just so happened that Michigan was playing Iowa at Iowa this year and we couldn't miss it. It also happened that it was going to be approximately zero degrees outside for the game as well. Bad weekend to become a college football fan. Since we live about 2 miles from the stadium we took a nice stroll up to Kinnick right before the game started to get to our seats (I could've swore I bought them closer than we were, but o well). Other than the fact that it was absolutely freezing and that Michigan played poorly (Iowa did well), it was a great experience that I would probably do again, with more layers on of course. Also, why does everyone have to stand for everything? They have seats for a reason.

Freezing!

The field is much smaller in real life

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Weekend #5: Thanksgiving

Tony had the opportunity to go hunting with his Dad and uncles in Michigan so, come Tuesday, he left me home alone for the week. I may sound like I'm complaining, but it was great. I had a million and a half final projects to finish/start (mostly start) for school and I probably didn't need the distraction. My week was spent sitting on the couch with Netflix and my computer. A friend from small group came over for Thanksgiving afternoon and we had a great chat, but other than that, most of the week was spent alone. I accomplished leaps and bounds. I scrubbed the apartment and got some cleaning done that I had been meaning to do, I made great progress on my projects and watched way too much on Netflix. However, I was very ready for Tony to come home on Sunday afternoon.

As for Tony, he had a great time hunting and catching up with family. He even got to go to our friends wedding that took place near the family cabin. (I told you this was a month of weddings.)

This ended the very busy month of November.

October

Quite a bit happened contrary to the picture documentation that occurred. This was a month of visits from other people. First, some friends visited from Milwaukee. The guys went mini golfing while the girls went shopping. We watched lots of movies and had delicious food. Second, Tony's parents visited from Michigan. They came during the week, so while Tony and I were working, they took a trip to the Amana Colonies, traditional German style towns with little shops, and went to the Hoover Museum near here. After work we spent time catching up and watched Lincoln. Beyond this, school really began picking up due to midterms and my social life slowly disappeared. Hence, the reason why this is the first blog post since early October. So here is to catching up!

Baking galore

The month of October is upon us and Tony and I decided that we were going to keep all of our four feet in the state of Iowa for the entire month. We have decided that traveling should not be the rule for us anymore, but rather the exception. In fact, our wonderful car has officially over 100,000 miles, which was bound to happen eventually, but we have only had it for a year and we bought it with 65,000 miles on it.

Anyway, this plan was bound to fail and within the first week Tony was invited to Milwaukee to see our friend speak at the large group meeting for Intervarsity (the campus ministry we were a part of at MSOE). This meeting was on Thursday so I didn't get to go, but Tony had an amazing time catching up with friends and seeing so many people. 

While he was gone, I had the chance to finally put together some care packages for some people that I've been meaning to get out for the last two months. I ended up baking two pans of brownies, making a full box of puppy chow, a large batch of monster cookies and two batches of chocolate chip cookies. Thankfully, one of my friends came over on Friday to help me with this. In the end, my kitchen table was covered in cookies and the counter was covered in dishes. All in all, I think I'm a pretty neat baker so clean up wasn't too bad. I hope everyone enjoys their (hopefully) tasty treats!

Bagged up and ready to be packaged

Color all around

I'm not much of a long distance runner. Never have been. In fact I still don't really run long distance, even though it is growing on me. (I find its a lot easier to tolerate when listening to a podcast rather than music.) For this reason I never really run street races or have really had the ambition to run a half marathon; however, about two months ago my friend asked me if I would run in a color run with her in Cedar Rapids the last weekend of September. It was only a 5k and you get covered in lots of color. Why not do it?

September 28th came upon us and I woke up early to make it up there by 7:30am excited to soon be covered in color. There were four of us total, me, Abby, Kimberly and Kimberly's dad. The (very informal) race went off at about 8:30 and Kimberly and I made very good time since we ran the whole way. There was no official timing mechanism, but based off the camera (Tony was our official photographer) time, it took us about 26 to 27 minutes. Either way, it was for sure sub 9 minute mile pace. Unfortunately, the color was only colored corn starch so it was permanent. Regardless, it was a fun time with some great friends!

All ready to begin!

Finished and covered in color

Rounding the final corner with Abby

All four of us at the end of the race

Home Sweet Home

The third weekend in September was the wedding shower for Naomi, this meant traveling to the good old land of Wisconsin for some quality time with the family.

We left Friday afternoon to take Tony to my brother's house in Chicagoland. Every year the guys in my family get together for a man's weekend and this year they planned it for the weekend of the shower (since all the women would be gone) and it was in Chicagoland. Normally, this should not be a problem, but we own one car and needed to be in two different places at the same time. Tony arrived in Chicagoland around 7:45 so I stuck around to hang out with the guys for a while. I must say. I truly enjoy some quality time with those guys. This little detour meant I arrived in good old Saukville around 11 pm. Just in time to wake up Naomi, Laura and Mom to have a nice late night chat.

Saturday morning was spent preparing for the shower. We managed to shove almost 30 ladies in the basement of Mom and Dad's house. That took some skill. It managed to go great. The remainder of the day was spending some quality time with Payton and the wonderful women in my family. Of course this required a fire in the backyard to facilitate lots of talking.

Payton!

Some quality chatting around the campfire

Apple pie!!

From the weekend of apple picking, we had soooo many apples!! Well not really, but it was more than I really wanted to eat in a reasonable amount of time. So what better to do than make apple pie!!! I have never made apple pie so I started with the basics, use a store bought crust and mix the middle. It turned out delicious! Maybe next time I'll make the crust too (when I have more time).

recent TIMES

August 26th marked the start of a new semester for me. My second year as a graduate student. These last three weeks have, as always in a new semester, been an adjustment to the new schedule and to new professors. I am taking 12 credits (9 is full time for a graduate student) so it should be a busy one. Number one goal: re-finding my time management skills and avoid wasting time.

We have also officially transitioned to become the leaders for the 20-somethings ministry at our church. It really means that we are in charge of facilitating the small group specifically for our age group. It seems strange considering we are the youngest members. This will be a great opportunity for us to grow in our relationship with Christ and with those around us. It also makes me feel more obligated to be social. We'll see how this goes.

Beyond school and church, here are a couple other things that we have been up to.

Labor Day weekend we had the opportunity to spend time camping with our friends Ben and Sami. Our plans were to take our bikes up to southern Minnesota to ride one of the state trails. This meant we were traveling with bikes and camping gear for four people, and we fit everything into their Honda Fit. It was quite a feat. The weekend was filled with sitting around the fire, taking slow-exposure photos, biking, ice cream, four square, and relaxing. We also traveled to Mystery Cave nearby and took a tour.

We're ready!!

We fit!

Saturday night dinner

Speaking of biking. Tony has found a love for his bike. We bought one for him before we took our trip out to Oregon, however, it had the worst brakes known to mankind. We got them replaced the other day and he loves it. Unfortunately, the recent rain has put a damper on two of our recent planned trips. I have also been biking to and from campus/work for the entire summer. One problem that comes with biking is known as sweaty back. I had been wanting panniers (bags that hang over the back tire) for my bike and Tony surprised me one night by buying some. I was very excited!!

The weekend following Labor Day we had the chance to go apple picking at Wilson's Orchard. It was extremely hot outside, but that didn't stop us from walking all over the orchard to grab some of our favorite apples. The adventure ended with some fresh apple cider and nice warm turnovers. Next step, making some delicious apple pie.

Ready to pick those apples

Tony went a little crazy

Honeycrisps!!!

We're all done

Lastly, this last Saturday we traveled up to Dodgeville, WI to meet up with our friends the Harris's. They live in Oshkosh, WI so we decided to meet up halfway. We were supposed to camp for the night, but the Sunday morning rain cut our trip short. The trip was not ruined, rather we spent the day hiking, playing bocce ball, playing Settlers of Catan and some fine dining at a local barbecue. Days like that make us wish we lived a little close to our friends and family in Wisconsin.

Typical Tash and Pat

Hiking on a random trail

Bocce ball

Settlers

Margin

I'm not going to lie, this last week has been difficult for me. On top of our typical Monday and Thursday night small groups, we spent Tuesday and Wednesday with friends. This was not a bad thing, but Tony was leaving Friday morning and I wanted a night with just him, especially after leaving him the weekend before. On top of this, I had to work some late hours which meant most days I came home from work in time to change and then immediately turn around to partake in the nights events. Once again, not a bad thing (I know I say this a lot), however, if there is one thing I learned about myself this week is that I like my downtime, or at least my alone time filled with cleaning, homework or other activity of my choice. All this nonstop activity left me pretty crabby, or at least terribly sarcastic.

Tony left on Friday morning to get to Michigan by 4 pm at the latest. He was attending a Promise Keepers conference with his dad and some of the men from the church he grew up in. (He had a great time and really appreciated being able to go to the conference and spend time with his family.) With him gone, I was left with some good quality time to myself.

Friday night I ran some errands (on my bike since Tony had the car) before I arrived back home after work. The dishes were done, a couple loads of laundry complete, and popcorn was made to settle in and watch some Netflix. Saturday was also spent doing laundry (after biking to the bank to get some more quarters), watching more Netflix, some other odd projects, playing portable ping pong with some friends, watching How to Train Your Dragon, and a skype date with a friend I haven't talked to in over a year. Overall, it was a great weekend for me to relax and collect myself before school began.

Beyond my self-realization, one thing Tony and I learned this last week in regards to our marriage is our need for margin. This upcoming semester I have a night class that requires my Tuesday and Thursday nights, Monday nights are spent with friends and small group (that we are now leading) has been moved to Wednesday nights. This completes our weeknights. It will be a very busy semester for me and Tony, but hopefully this realization will make a significant impact on how we manage our time.

Reconnecting

One of the side effects of getting older and growing up is that we tend to move apart from our childhood friends. The question is: how do you stay in touch with each other? We decided that the third weekend in August was going to be spent camping together. Only four of us showed up, but we met Friday night at Governor Dodge State Park for a weekend of camping, hiking, swimming, frisbee throwing and lots and lots of talking. It appeared there were only two rules: no make-up and interesting conversation topics were a must. It was a great time to catch up with one another.

Four beautiful ladies

Trying to find the trail head that was not where it appeared to be

Stopping by the falls

Our attempt at an awkward family photo

Taking a break in one of the small caves

An afternoon at the beach

Porkchops, sweet potatoes and fruit salad for dinner. We eat good!

Just your typical game of Quelf