Traditions

Since we have moved to Illinois I have felt like we have just spent our time getting used to being here and adjusting to everything new. We haven't had many traditions for just the two of us for things like birthdays and holidays. I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to start some traditions. Last year I also worked the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving so this year Brett again cooked a big meal while I slept :) I think I like that tradition :) We also went out and braved a few shopping places Thursday night. We really didn't have anything that we wanted to get that was majorly on sale. We mostly just wanted to see the craziness of people. Not sure we'll keep that as part of a tradition though. We didn't go to bed until 5 am on Friday. One thing we decided on was going and picking out a Christmas tree and decorating it on the day after Thanksgiving. We had gotten a coupon in the mail for a tree nursery here in town so Friday afternoon we went and checked it out. We picked out this cute little Scotch Pine tree. Brett kept looking at the really big ones and I kept saying, it is too big! I think we are both happy with the way it looks in the living room. It could be a little taller maybe - but the taller ones are also bigger around. Every time I look at it I think that it is a fake tree it just looks so perfect. Definitely a tradition I believe we will keep.

Tonight we are wrapping presents (taking a break currently) while we watch The Princess Bride. Such a great movie with great lines. Also a tradition we will be keeping. I want to have traditions that are ours so if we have kids some day that we can continue those traditions with them. I have 4 more weeks of work left (12 shifts) before we go back to Iowa! Looking forward to seeing family and friends again.

The past couple weeks work has been going quite well. I really enjoy the nurses I work with at night. Everyone is so quick to help out and I know if I need it they will take care of my patients in the same way I would. It has been good to have a few good night shifts to make up for the not so good ones that pop up.

And with that: I'll end with a few pictures before I go eat some leftover cherry pie.

Note: sweatpants and sweatshirt make me look larger than I actually am :) hehehe. Brett insisted on having a picture with me in it - so that's what we got.

Friends

So I really need to get better at posting here more often. I just think people would get sick of reading the same old same old thing and looking at more pictures of the cats :) We don't have any children to take pictures of - so the cats will have to do. Sunday nights seem to be the nights when we have friends over for food and games. It just works well with all of our schedules. Josh and Anna both work days, and Josh is on call some weekends for work. I work nights and usually don't work on the weekends so I am free. Sunday is good for Brett if he doesn't have homework to do because he doesn't have class until 9 on Monday. We finally were able to get together with Sarah this weekend as well, and met her new boyfriend Randy. I should have taken pictures of all of us together - we had a good time tonight! (or rather...I guess it is last night since I am writing this at 1:00 in the morning on Monday). Brett made chicken pasta and we had salad and garlic bread with cookies for desert. We played "The Game of Things" - hilarious and provided lots of laughs for us all.

Last Sunday Josh and Anna came over too and we ate pizza and played the Wii. So thankful we have friends like them here to hang out with! Anna and I are going to get together after Thanksgiving to do some holiday decorating and crafts and make our own decorations and things. Time to be crafty! I might take a trip to the fabric store and see if there is anything there I can use to make some crafty things. Even though I don't really know how to sew....very much....

I work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night this week. It will be interesting to see how our census is this week if people get sick before Thanksgiving! We will have our own Thanksgiving here this year again. Last year Brett cooked the ham on the grill and we had cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole and other yummy things. Looking forward to some good food. We might start our own Christmas tradition this year - since last year we really did not do anything. I'll keep ya posted on what we decide to do and how the house ends up being decorated.

So remember when I said I was doing to do more menu planning and shop for everything I needed for the week to cook? Yeah, that lasted one week.....but we made it through the week! Maybe I'll try it again some other time.

Lately I have been spending a lot of time at the gym. I took a few days off after 5 days in a row - need to get back into a better routine this week. I've been making some progress in several areas - just wish it was a little more noticeable that I've lost a good chunk of weight. Oh well! A shout out to Kelly Clarkson for getting me through my workouts with her music. :)

Okay so now that this post contains a bunch of random things - it is time for a picture of the kitties.