There is actually so much that has happened since I last blogged. Not really big things, but so many activities that I could have blogged about and have pictures to show. I am going to attempt to catch up on a few things! I'll start with last night. (This was actually several weeks ago now - but I never got around to publishing this post...) Josh and Anna and Brett and I went to downtown Bloomington to a chocolate festival :). We basically walked around and visited different stores and businesses that offered a variety of chocolate treats, truffles, miniature cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, hot cider, and more. In the museum there was a competition for desserts and we got there at 7:45 when the judging was supposed to happen and then we were to get to try the different desserts there - but they were gone already... I have generally avoided downtown Bloomington but after last night Anna and I decided that we need to visit more stores there and generally walk around and see new things. There was this cute little music/guitar store that we quickly walked into just to look, we'll have to go back. Another plus to last night - it was free! We're all about free things around here. I don't have any pictures from last night. Afterwards we came back to our place and played a rousing game of scrabble.
Now lets go back to December. I was able to get some time off from work thanks to some great coworkers who switched dates with me and a flexible schedule. We took both cats with us back to Iowa over Christmas. Parker basically hid the entire time like he did last time in the truck and at the farm. Marshy explored the truck a little bit and also explored the farm a little too. We split our time back in Iowa with both our families and had lots of meals and lots of family time. A few pictures to follow!
Brett has been busy like usual at school with teaching labs and doing research again this semester. He is getting ready for a trip out to California to present some research and attend some seminars, etc at the end of March.
Claire in her apron helping me make cookies one day at Mom and Dad's. She was a really good help with putting all the ingredients in the mixing bowl! (and eating M & M's) :) 
There were a few toys at Mom and Dad's that didn't quite work right. The batteries had been in them so long that they had corroded. Claire brought them to Uncle Brett to fix - and she was quite interested in everything he was doing! 
Claire and Natalie playing the piano and singing together. I have so many pictures of the girls from our time in Iowa that I could fill this blog with them - but I'll just share a few. Miss these girls!!
We have had such a mild winter here in Illinois and I love it! I have not shoveled once this winter so far, and Brett has only shoveled a couple times. The high is supposed to be 51 today, the 22nd of February. Today is kind of a lazy day, although I have been awake since 3:30 this morning - couldn't sleep. ugh. I work tonight so I went to the gym early this morning and I will nap this afternoon before work tonight.
Our 5 year anniversary is coming up in May. I really can't believe 5 years have gone by already. Wow. I would love to take a week long vacation to a warm beach somewhere to celebrate but I don't think I will be able to take that much time off work, or afford a vacation to a beach.....oh well I can always dream right? Time to take a nap with my kitties today! And since a blog post on here wouldn't be complete without a picture of the cats - here is one from our trip back to Illinois after being in Iowa.
Yesterday was a joyful day. A relaxing morning, a wonderful lunch made by Anna Roorda. She is such a wonderful cook. I'll say it again and again and again. She even made Pioneer Woman's potatoes that we watched Saturday morning on the Food Network. Delicious. Their apartment is always warm (literally too!) and inviting and joyful. You can tell that Josh and Anna make their apartment a home. It doesn't matter if their walls aren't decorated perfectly and all the furniture doesn't quite match - it still feels like a home. It is the people that make the home. This got me thinking about how I am always thinking/striving to make our home look "perfect". So when people walk in they look at the matching throw pillows, the artwork placed on the wall, the coordinating picture frames and curtains and think that our house is so put together. Those are such outward things though. We are what make our house a home - not the decorative pillows. Why am I trying so hard to make things look so good on the outside? Why not focus my time and energy on the things that you can't see right away?
We got together with some other friends on Saturday evening. Part of our discussion was about how no matter how much we have in common with another person and how much we are alike - those outward things do not matter. What really brings us together in unity is our belief in Christ. In the end all the outward things and the small things we try to chat about - we are bound to disagree about those earthly things. Thankful for that unity in Christ.
Maybe it is time to start focusing more inward instead of outward. (side note, I had inwardly and outwardly written first and then changed it because I couldn't decide which was grammatically correct. Then I realized that it doesn't really matter because it is my blog and I can spell things wrong if I want.....or if I don't know how it is supposed to be - end site note).
Yesterday was also joyful because after eating lunch with Josh and Anna we played this new game called Scotland Yard. There is one person labeled "Mr. X" who is against all the other players, trying to hide/sneak around the board. It is a strategic game but what I liked about it was that the team who was against Mr. X could talk together and decide what their moves were going to be as a group. You weren't just playing by yourself, unless you were Mr. X. Brett was the X person first and he lasted a good while but then we caught him. The next time we played Anna beat us all. She even wore the hat labeled Mr. X so we couldn't see where her eyes were looking on the board. We also watched the Packers lose yesterday. That wasn't so joyful. It was fun to have another person cheer/yell at the teams like I do sometimes. Telling them they should run faster and how it was so silly how they just ran right into a bunch of people instead of running to the side. Oh, Anna, I think we have a new bond in football. :)
The cats are still the cats. I think Marshy has just mellowed out a lot lately. At first I thought maybe he was having some vision problems because he was just slinking around the house and moving slowly and just not his normal self. However, he still goes after food and runs down the stairs like there is no tomorrow. No problem there! Parker has this new thing in the morning. He will come into the bedroom and shut the door. Then meow and complain that he is locked in and can't get out. He is such a pest :)
I found our camera! It was in the couch cushions. I think last time I was putting pictures on the computer it slipped in between the cushions and got stuck. Now the battery is charging so the next post I write should have a few pictures instead of just boring words.
Until next time.
I have had so many ideas for blog posts floating around in my head lately but just haven't had the energy/time/motivation to write them out. Since I last wrote we took a trip back to Iowa over Christmas. I've got many pictures to post about that, so that will be a post of its own. I've been fighting lately to get my shifts in at work. I actually got 3 whole shifts in this week and even signed up for extra on Thursday but ended up just getting but on call. We then spent New Years Eve here at home and had Josh and Anna over for a low key night. It has finally snowed here. Everyone acts like this is a blizzard around here - just a few inches of snow. Crazy people.
Well that is a short synopsis of happenings around here. Maybe I'll find the energy later to actually do a real post. As for now - I think maybe I'll just lie here on the couch. Or maybe do some dishes....yes.....dishes it is.
I think I might just never sleep again because time just goes by way too fast!!!!! And let's face it, I don't sleep at night anyway. December brings some exciting things though. Brett turns 27 this year on the 12th. I joke with him that he is old and almost 30. :) I work that night and he has to study for finals then, so I think we'll have friends over on Sunday for supper and cake and all that jazz. So far there is no snow here, and I am COMPLETELY okay with that. Not really the snow type person. Although it has gotten colder. Saturday I think it got up to 55 degrees though which was beautiful! December also brings the end of the semester for Brett. He has been working hard at studying and research this semester. (although not as hard as I worked in nursing school...hehehe). It is because he is just way smarter than I am and does not require the type of studying I had to do in school.
The month of December also means that we will be traveling to Iowa. We will leave December 22nd when I get off work and return December 28th. Excited to see family and friends again! December means that the year is coming to a close and 2012 is right around the corner. I am looking forward to the start of a new year. Not reminiscing about all the things I should or could have done in 2011.
Well this is going to be a boring blog post without pictures because I can't find my camera battery charger so I can upload pictures to my computer to put on here. Later!
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.
Claire in her apron helping me make cookies one day at Mom and Dad's. She was a really good help with putting all the ingredients in the mixing bowl! (and eating M & M's) :) 
There were a few toys at Mom and Dad's that didn't quite work right. The batteries had been in them so long that they had corroded. Claire brought them to Uncle Brett to fix - and she was quite interested in everything he was doing! 
Claire and Natalie playing the piano and singing together. I have so many pictures of the girls from our time in Iowa that I could fill this blog with them - but I'll just share a few. Miss these girls!!
