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