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

One free weekend

With out visit to Wisconsin the first weekend of August we did not have an opportunity to celebrate my birthday so the following weekend was reserved (mostly because it was the one and only weekend in August that we would both be home). 

Friday night was the last regular season softball game for the church league Tony has been playing in. He had a good game with a couple great hits, however, the team ended with a loss. 

Saturday turned out to be a lazy day. I woke up to make banana pancakes and then we headed off on a bike ride. This area of Iowa is pretty bike friendly and we took the time to explore some of the bike trails. We ran across an area that was actually a stopping point for the Mormons on their trek out west.

A field near the Mormon Handcart Trail

A rest stop on the way

A late lunch was had at Which Wich and we made it home in time to watch Oz: The Great and Powerful (interesting movie) while eating a delicious dinner of popcorn.

The weekend was complete with a birthday party for an adorable little girl. Happy Birthday Naomi!!!

Naomi daintily eating the frosting

Babies and Weddings...they're all over!

The last couple weeks since we got back from Oregon have been a little bit of a whirlwind. We have spent most weeknights spending quality time with friends, eating dinner and talking so much that I feel like I haven't cooked a meal for just Tony and I since we got back. Don't get me wrong, it has been wonderful fun, but this week is just for us.

While the weeknights have been spent with friends, the weekends have been spent traveling to visit family.

The end of July brought about a trip to Michigan to visit with Tony's family and catch our first glimpse of Baby Richard, the first grandchild on the Hammond side. We left Friday night after Tony got off of work to arrive at 1 in the morning, Eastern Standard Time. These late night trips are always hard for us and we managed to stay awake by listing off words in alphabetical order from a specific category. Somehow it did the trick.

Proud Uncle Tony

The Hammond boys

It was by far the best trip to Michigan as we spent most of the time hanging out and chatting with one another. We both had meaningful and wonderful conversations, got to meet the baby (!!!!) and hold him, eat dinner with some of the extended family, gave Heidi her baby shower gift, and attended church at the park even though it was raining.

The following weekend (the first one in August - my birthday weekend, but we'll celebrate this later) we drove to Wisconsin for a Dieringer family reunion and wedding dress shopping. Once again we got there late Friday night since we left after Tony's softball game. Spent the night camping in the backyard and the following morning I had the chance to visit with Percy in the Milwaukee area. The rest of the morning was spent putting the food for the reunion together and we headed off to West Bend. The kids played in the pond, the adults chatted and bellies were filled. The girls went dress shopping on Sunday (mission accomplished!!!) while the boys watched the kids. Another great weekend with family!

With all these busy days, we (or I) have decided that this week and upcoming weekend are ours. No extra planning and no obligations other than to spend time with each other.