Wishes

A couple of weeks ago I managed to catch one last leaf on a tree for this year.  Winter is officially here and snow, cold weather, and bare trees seem to be out in full force.  
As this wonderful time of year begins as we wait for Christ's birth, we want to wish our friends and family many blessings and peace!

 Luke 2:9-12
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Marketing standards at an all-time low!

I'm going to take a detour from the standard "updates on married life" course to geek out about college football. If you haven't already heard, Jim Delaney, Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, recently unveiled the names of the two athletic divisions beginning in 2011, as well as the new conference logo. Yesterday, they were broadcast for all the world to see...and ridicule.
If you haven't seen it before, here's the new logo and the division names:

I'll start with the logo...bear with me.
 Aside from the powder blue and white scheme (since when did North Carolina join) one of my biggest gripes is its simplicity. Don't get me wrong, simplicity is not necessarily a bad thing, but the logo lacks any hint of creativity, inspiration, and just plain doesn't represent anything the Big Ten has come to signify over the decades of its existence. Give a two year old a box of crayons and five minutes and he would come up with something better than this. Many hoped the new logo would include a cleverly hidden number like the "11" in the old one, but they decided to go with a hidden "10" in the I and G. This was apparently an attempt to pay homage to the ten members before the addition of Penn State and Nebraska. The logo already acknowledges them because the name of the conference is the "Big TEN", what's the point of the hidden 10 then? Nothing! It makes no sense! Marketing companies get paid millions of dollars to come up with this!? Give me a break.
  Secondly, the division names also lack any logical reasoning. Sure, they tried to be creative with "Legends" and "Leaders" trying to portray the conference as a trailblazing pioneer both on the field and off. But much like the ACC's Coastal and Atlantic divisions, trying to place the schools in their respective divisions is like trying to draw the outline of Azerbaijan on a map with no key or reference points. I was a fan of the "Plains" and "Lakes" division names myself, heck even a straight up "East" and "West" scheme would have been fine. At least these ideas make sense and tie the conference together geographically. Instead, Delaney claimed geography was not important, and nit-picked at the little details in drawing division lines. Sure, Wisconsin and Michigan would have been kind of sore thumbs in an East/West split, but I thought we had given up on nit-picky details the day we continued calling it the Big Ten with 11 (soon to be 12) members.

Stupid names, stupid logo, and it will all help contribute to the current perception of the Big Ten: slow, stupid, stuck in the past, and just lacking ingenuity and inspiration. Jim, sorry but you dropped the ball big time on this one, and I truly hope somebody in Chicago slaps you back to your senses, and quick!

Hey, there's Jesus!

For the past twelve days, Braedan and I have opened a different window on our advent calendar.  Even though this calendar doesn't have chocolates or a little prize behind the windows, it's still a surprise to open the window and read the inspirational word or phrase for the day.  Sometimes it asks us to read a Bible verse and think about it, other times it asks us to think about how we've seen or lived Christian qualities during the day. Still other times it just gives us a bit of advice to live a better life.

Today, it asked how we saw examples of Christ's love within the past 24 hours. We had just happened to spend the weekend with our family in Washington. It was so much fun to be with everyone and celebrate Christmas, a birthday, and an anniversary all in one weekend! We saw examples of unconditional love that families have for each other, and that Christ has for us.

So now we're going to turn the tables on you!  Have you have seen Christ's love in your life lately?

Happy December 6th

Happy December 6th everyone. In case you didn't know, December 6 is a monumental holiday and one that should be celebrated and remembered the world over. Today we celebrate Miriam and I getting a big chunk of our Christmas shopping done. I'm not going to tell you where we went because you may just find yourself on our Nice list. But let's just say, by the end of the whole ordeal, I was one tired, grumpy shopper. Miriam and I definitely have different shopping styles. For example, we finished our day with some grocery shopping. When I was shopping for myself, I knew exactly what I wanted, exactly where to go, and how much I was going to get. Miriam, on the other hand, is a very calculating shopper, with plenty of lists and coupons to go around to get the best deals. Both sides have their pros and cons, but for a guy used to getting in and out as quick as possible, the slow and steady method can really wear on you, especially at 5:30 in the evening.
Nevertheless, we got all our groceries and gifts in the same day, and all in all it was a successful trip. So if you find yourself lucky enough to be on our list we've checked twice, you're in for a treat. Celebrate this monumental day, and celebrate the fact that I survived Christmas shopping for another year!

Who's in Charge Here?

Sometimes I forget who is in charge.  Maybe it's me being an older sister, maybe it's me being a teacher, maybe it's just me being stubborn...sometimes I just like to think that I have it all planned out and it has to go my way or else.  But then when I see an answer to a prayer or when I see a beautiful picture of our world, I realize that no, it's not me in charge here. 

All We Have Are Stories

Due to my current substitute teaching employment situation, I am constantly meeting many new people each day.  By the end of a day in which I've subbed in music, sometimes I've had about 90-100 students come in and out of my classroom in one day.  When I sub in a general classroom, I have the students names down by the time lunch comes around, but it is on my drive back home that I begin to think about what each of their stories are.  For I only get to be with them for 8 hours of one day--out of their life. 

Think about how much and how little has happened in your life up to this point and has shaped who you are as a person.  If we pass someone in the street, we probably could never even begin to guess their story...but the thing is is that their story isn't stopping the moment they leave our classroom or the moment they are past you are on the sidewalk. 
Along those lines is a story about one of my friends.  She was heading home on the interstate for the weekend when due to a semi crash, all lanes of traffic were completely stopped.  Not only stopped for a few minutes, but at least 2 hours!  She was supposed to meet her husband at 5:00 and when she was still stuck on the interstate at 6:00, she knew he would be getting worried.  The problem was that her cell phone had died an hour into the trip and she had no way of connecting with him.  She saw another single woman sitting in the other lane in her car.  So being pretty gutsy, Mel decided to actually get out of her car and ask to borrow the woman's cell phone in order to call her husband.  Believe it or not, the other woman was supposed to meet her husband as well and was stuck in the crash traffic obviously.  I just found that story so interesting because as we drive on the busy streets with tons of people, we never stop to think about their story and how it might be very similar to our own.

I read a really good article recently called All We Have Are Stories by Hal Green.  I'm trying to find the link to post on here, but for now I just wanted to share a few paragraphs from the article.  Hopefully it gets your mind going as well, because it did mine!

To live a life is to play a role, hopefully the protagonist, in our very own most personal story, drama, comedy, play - call it what you will.

There are doubtless as many stories out there as there are variations of musical melodies, of which there shall never be an end. 

So, which melody should or could be determined as not essential to the wondrous whole of music?  None; they are all essential, and there forever, whether someone has yet heard them or not.  

Even in the final book of the Bible, the book of "Revelation," it is said that the heavenly residents sang new songs with new melodies which had never been heard or sung before.

How might it affect your life, if you understand that yourself as well as those around you are in the midst of your respective stories?  Surely you would quickly see that no life is truly boring; unexamined perhaps, but never boring.  

Who knows but that meaning of our life is hidden in our stories.

The Follow Up

Christmas tree mostly up and getting decorations around our apartment---check
Substitute jobs lined up for this week (thank goodness for getting them in advance)---check
A great Thanksgiving week and spending special time with families---check
Christmas lists finally made and shopping in progress---check

To follow up on our previous post, we lost our battle with the heater sadly.  After a rather cold Thanksgiving, Braedan came back to our apartment to find it rather chilly in here...when we talked on the phone that night (I came back on a different night) he said he had a sweatshirt on, blanket on top of that, two pairs of socks and my slippers on his feet.  Why my slippers you ask?  First of all, they are appropriately Hawkeye slippers, but slippers are on his Christmas list, so he had to make due with what we had.   So all in all, we made it to November 25 until turning on our heat.  Not too shabby...

We hope you are all staying nice and toasty these days :)

Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light,  
For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Stand Off

We are in a stand off with our heater.  Braedan and I are determined to make it at least through November until we turn on the heat.  We both much prefer being cold than too hot, so maybe that is where this idea comes from.  We've put the wool blanket on our bed and basically we live in our sweatshirts or under blankets, but we are winning thus far!  I mean, if it gets ridiculously cold, well then we'll have to concede, but right now we are still on track.  There are pros and cons to living on the third floor of our apartment building.  A con is that carrying up groceries by yourself sure stinks...but a pro is that when our downstairs neighbors are using their heat, we get some of the warmth as well.  So right now as I see the wind starting to blow around outside...I'm hoping we'll win the stand off..but we'll have to see...'tis the season!

Words to Live By

Live simply

Laugh often

Love much

Speak kindly

Care deeply

Expect little

Give generously

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

It's Coming!

Well folks, believe it or not the holidays are right around the corner!  If you can't tell, in this household, we are excited!  It means seeing family and eating good food, what more can you ask for?! 
Anyways, B and I are getting in the holiday spirit and decided to make a list of things we are thankful for about these days.  You know that family and friends are always on the list, so here's some other fun things we are thankful for right at this moment.  

*

Taffy

Sudoku

back rubs

my camera

 a cute niece

vanilla candles

college football

Christmas music

a clean apartment

Seinfeld on at 6:00

Flamin' hot Cheetos

Friday nights at home

Mama's choc. chip cookies

the warm afghan on our couch

everyone who reads our blog :) 

  having visitors at our apartment

leftovers in the freezer for busy nights

finding enough quarters to do laundry

not having to scrape off car windshields before work

**AND the fact that 2 years ago today we got engaged and that 3 years ago tomorrow was our first date!

Some of Our Fall Through My Camera Lens

 

 

Almost November Resolution

I am making a "almost November" resolution that I am going to be better about uploading pictures from my camera. We take a ton of pictures, yet I am always falling behind on keeping them updated and uploaded. While my mind seems kind of cluttered these days...I am trying to be more organized. Though probably talking to Braedan would give you the impression that I am organized, I feel like I've slacked off a bit in that area and I need to get back on track.
Anyways, the main reason I'm on here is to introduce you to our pumpkin tree! The story behind it is that a couple of weeks ago we spent the weekend in Illinois for a friend's wedding and also got to spend some quality time with my aunt Mimi and my 92-year old grandpa. Mimi and I made a quick run to Trader Joe's (we love that store) and discovered the pumpkin tree! It was just so cute and unique--we couldn't pass it up!

The Adventures of a Referee and a Super Teacher

Well I'm still working on the super part of super teacher, but Braedan sure has turned into a referee!  Football season for him is winding down, but I think it has been a pretty good side job and experience.  I don't want to speak for him, but I'm sure he would agree and sure have liked to be his little cheering section at some of his games!  I'm so proud of my husband!
Besides spending time with our families the past two weekends, B and I have been incredibly busy between his work and football and my subbing.  I had hoped that I would be able to have pictures up the next time we posted, but alas that has not happened.  After lots of waiting for substitute teaching jobs...the calls have in finally started to come in and I am so excited to be back in a classroom again!  Some good and bad experiences along the way thus far, but I have so much more experience under my belt now and I just have to be patient for my own classroom someday!  After being able to have a good amount of time at home being a "housewife," I am glad to be working more regularly, but I have fallen behind on my housecleaning.  Thus far I haven't gotten a call for tomorrow, so that is going to be my "fall cleaning/catch up on cleaning/upload pictures from my camera" day.  It is much needed!
It is also our 4 month wedding anniversary tomorrow!  Crazy how fast these 4 months have flown by!!
Pictures to come soon :)

--M

Yummy

So, fall has finally made it's way to our little nest.  Maybe it's the fact that we have:
--beautiful colored leaves falling outside our living room window
--leaves I've picked up on my running route being pressed between our dictionary pages
--we can sleep all cozy at night and not be hot and kicking off the covers
--a leaf-shaped glass bowl is sitting full of candy corns on our side table
--pumpkin decorations are finding perfect homes in our apartment
--there is zucchini bread and apple crisp waiting to be eaten
--Braedan and I have simultaneously gotten our first colds of the season :(
--I've had to scrape off my car in the morning on the way to school only to find that the marching field also has frost on it
--my pashmina collection has been making more regular appearances lately
--and the fact that I'm baking a ton more..but it's heats up our apartment on those chilly nights

My latest baking adventure was making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies.  I had been waiting and waiting for pumpkin to come back out in the grocery stores; so when I finally found cans at Hy-Vee, I quickly snatched some up.  Then, my mom gave me another can, so I thought I needed to find some good recipes for pumpkin.  The cookies I made turned out pretty well.  The pumpkin makes them a bit "cakey," but if you can overlook that fact, they are still a delicious fall treat!




Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
*1/2 cup applesauce (I used natural applesauce w/o sugar added)
1 egg
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. milk
1 tbs. vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
     *you can also use oil instead of applesauce

Directions:

1.  Combine pumpkin, sugar, applesauce (or vegetable oil), and egg.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. 

2.  Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. 

3.  Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. 

 

Enjoy!

--M 

A Million Plus Reasons

 I love my husband for a gazillion different reasons.  One of those reasons among the long list is from our little adventure this past weekend.  The short story version is that we had tickets to the Hawkeye game.  We hadn't been to a game together since our marching band days, so we were pretty excited to get to a game.  When we left C.R., the sun was partly shining and it was NOT raining.  So as you can expect when that rain started falling in the first quarter...we were "poncho-less" and armed only with my hot cocoa and B's pop.  Now I will admit that I might have been a bit crabby as I started getting wetter and wetter, but I was not going to mention leaving early from the game because I knew how excited B gets from the Hawkeyes and in addition we had pretty good seats!  However, by the middle of the second quarter Braedan looked at me and to my great relief mentioned that he thought we should go to M-town to pick up Taffy (a story for another day) and listen to the game as we drove in a dry car.  I don't know if it was the fact that it looked like we had taken showers in the middle of Kinnick during a football game, or the fact that we were shivering, but I couldn't have loved Braedan more at that moment!  It was one of those moments where I was trying to be tough to stay at the game for Braedan and Braedan was noticing how chilled I was...I think that those are the moments where you grow as a couple.  Now I didn't mean to make this a mushy post...but I love my husband!  And by the end of the day we were dry, warm and the Hawkeyes won :)

--M

As Life Speeds Up

It seems like summer went so fast!  All of the sudden the nights are cooler and geese can be seen flying south.  We love summer and this summer will always be a special memory for us...but we can't wait for fall!  After spending a very humid and hot summer in our apartment, we are glad to have some cool relief.  Fall is such a short season, but it is always exciting to see the beautiful colors that appear in the trees.  It seems like so many people love fall also...the change of seasons always are welcome!

Once school started and July ended, life sped up all of the sudden.  It wasn't that the days were busier, but since I teach mainly in the evenings and Braedan officiates in the evenings, the days fly by! 

As many of you know, I've had a challenge finding a music teaching position in the schools.  Right now in our area, there are no positions open.  Partly because of the budget cuts and I think partly because of the cycle of teachers retiring, etc.   In the meantime, I am going to start my substitute teaching adventure up again and that will hopefully (cross your fingers) keep my quite busy and maybe lead me to a permanent position.  I have been working as a (for lack of a better title) marching band assistant/ coach.  The district is small with only one director who needed another set of hands to work with her pit percussion section.  It has given me an opportunity to make some music connections in the area and I totally enjoy working with the students! 

In addition to working full time at the station, Braedan began his adventure in officiating local high school and middle school football games.  He had quite a few meetings and a couple tests to pass, but he did with flying colors and has three games under his belt already!  Though I don't understand that much about football, I like to go and watch him officiate--he does a great job!  I am kind of like his paparazzi; I try to take pictures while the parents of football players around me aren't paying attention.  I don't want to seem creepy...  My only problem with football is that the past few games I have watched have produced very chilly-windy rain during the 2nd and 3rd quarters...I guess I need to start dressing more appropriately...my flip-flops might need to retire for the season very soon :(

This past weekend brought more football and family visits.  I went to Aurora with my mom and visited Mimi and Gramps.  It was great to see them, I miss them already!  Braedan spent Saturday tailgating with his brothers and visited his parents.  We have said it before, but I'll say it again--we have been blessed with wonderful families!

Inspiration

One of my favorite things is to find inspirational phrases or sayings in unexpected places.  This saying was under my lemonade cap the other day and totally made my day!  When I was staying at Mimi's house in March (right around Easter), I found He is risen! in my egg carton.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it...I did try to take a picture of course, but it was fuzzy.  Now, really, doesn't that make you smile a little bit?

You've Got To Be Creative!

Braedan and I have been meaning to post pictures of our apartment for a while now.  We are still in the process of decorating it, we (I) am always moving things here or there to see if it works better in a new spot.  Our apartment it petite, so we are limited on space and have to be pretty thrifty with our funds...but I think we've been pretty creative on how things are arranged.  We are still deliberating on what pictures from our wedding/reception/honeymoon to put on the walls, but we are getting there.  So, now for your entertainment, here are some pictures of our cozy apartment from the beginning to now.

My dresser, we can actually fit 2 dressers in our room, imagine that!

B's manly dresser.

Thanks to the Pusateri grandparents, this shelf is perfect.  AND we finally have found a way to display the slate cross we got for our wedding!

When you live in a cozy apartment, this is the closest thing to a recliner that you can get.  A vintage, very comfortable rocking chair (we will re-upholster it someday) and a Target ottoman, perfect and comfy!

Our kitchen, one of my favorite areas.

A different view of the kitchen.

Our little table nook, thanks to Gramps and Grandma Battenschlag--the table fits perfectly!

I know it looks like our bed takes up our whole room, but it really doesn't!

The view you get when you first walk in the door, WELCOME!

Looking back towards the front door, don't mind our pile of shoes.

Our "office" area.

This was taken right after we got back from our honeymoon...wedding presents and luggage basically took up our entire apartment.  **Please note B's posters are still on the walls.

The windows face west, so we get pretty sunsets in the evening, if you discount the heat.

It's August and it's freaking hot!!!

Hello friends and family,
 So, it's kind of hot outside. It seems like no matter how long we run the air conditioner it's still not enough to keep the sweat off of us. To beat the heat, Miriam and I took a trip to the Coralville Reservoir to enjoy the sandy beach and nice cool water. It was a while since we were last there, our best estimate was about two years, so quite a long time, but it was nice to get back and enjoy the outdoors.
 Things have really started to pick up with my football officiating. Yesterday I officiated a scrimmage in Anamosa and I realized just how much I had yet to learn. Despite a lot of questions and missteps, the experienced refs were more than willing to give us pointers or tell us some techniques that help them. My first official game is still about three weeks away, but I'm already excited to get working and have fun!
 Miriam's eating leftover Olive Garden, thanks to a special treat from the Garrett parents (thanks mom and dad!) and we're just about to start hanging pictures up and watch football (I agreed to help hang up but we had to watch football while doing it, haha). Hopefully this week goes by fast, the weekend sure does.

It's Gone!

Well, after a long-long time of growing out my hair to donate it...it is officially cut off and on its way to being made into a wig for cancer patients who have lots their hair.  Basically, I have been growing out my hair since Braedan and I started dating.  It was a long couple of years trying to grow it out, but it is definitely worth it in the end.  A woman, somewhere, will benefit from my hair in a wig and then I got a cute haircut out of it as well.  Here are my before and after pictures :)

Please Vote for "June Skies!"

Hi everyone!  We hope this hot and humid weather is not getting the best of you.  I just keep telling myself that somewhere in January, I will be wishing for warmer weather, so we might as well enjoy it while it lasts!
So, on a whim, I entered a photo in a photography contest of Shutterfly.  Now, what would be spectacular is if I could get all of your votes for my picture titled "June Skies."  This is the picture (from our honeymoon) I entered:

So, what I need is:
1)  after 12:00 p.m. tomorrow (Monday), go to shutterfly.com,
2)  scroll down to the bottom right hand side of the page and clicks on the Summer Freedom Photo Contest. Here's a link to the picture! Awesome picture
3)  please click on the box and read the directions on how to vote for my picture.  My picture is titled "June Skies" and the picture with the most votes wins...so please vote!  
 Thank you!!!

One month

 Miriam and I have been married about a month now and the first thing I think of is where has the time gone? It seems like not long ago I was driving down I-380 through one nasty thunderstorm on my way to the rehearsal dinner to kick off the festivities. The past month has been a blur of activity. A day doesn't go by when we don't work on our apartment in some way, putting pictures up, rearranging furniture, taking down my posters :P But it's been so exciting at the same time.
  Thank you to everybody for making our first month of marriage absolutely amazing! We hope every month in the future is just as good, if not better :)

Blackberries in July

What a great couple of days we've had!  We spent the weekend with my family and then celebrated my birthday today with them also.  It was so much fun to see them multiple times in a row!  Braedan and I feel so blessed with our families!
My home church is in the process of calling a new pastor to lead the congregation, so this is an exciting time for the congregation.   On Sunday, we had a special congregational meeting about calling the new pastor and everything is starting to move forward after many months of having an interim pastor.  Braedan and I are also going to start the process of "church shopping" in the area.  Most of the weekends for us are spent out of town, so we haven't started the process yet...but we are anxious to start.  It is important to us find a church together.

Yesterday after church while the rest of the family was having their afternoon siestas, my dad, Taffy and I went to a friend's farm (in fact, we lived at this farm at one time) to pick blackberries.  Well, my dad went to pick blackberries and I went to take pictures and Taffy went, well, to snoop around like a Golden Retriever should :)  Here are some of the pictures I took from our little adventure.  If you didn't know already, I really enjoy photography--especially black and white pictures.  I see so much beauty in the beautiful world God has given us.  These are only a few of the pictures I took.  I took about a gazillion pictures and got about a million mosquito bites in the process...but it was worth it. 

Settling In

Well, it has been a while since we last posted, but we haven't forgotten about you!
In the past week, we've been settling into married life a bit more now that we're back home. For the majority of our relationship, we have been a long distance couple. We would see each other about once a week on the weekends. Now, it is so nice to not to have our nightly phone calls--because instead we have actual face to face conversations! It is so nice to be able to live together and see each other every day! While it is an adjustment for each of us, because this is uncharted territory--we are just so happy to be together!
We are also settling into some roles as husband and wife. I have discovered my love for cooking! My parents are great cooks and love to cook, so I never really cooked much at home. Now, however, I love scouring my cookbooks and trying new recipes out. So, while I am the planner of meals and the chef of the house; Braedan is an excellent "logistics" man. Meaning, he is the one to always get the mail, he will take out the garbage whenever I ask, and is the one to go on errands if they are needed. He is just great!
Recently, one of Braedan's favorite meals was this great recipe. I thought I would post it on here for you all to enjoy. It is a really simple recipe called "Baked Taco Dish."

1 med. bag Doritos, crushed
1(14-16 oz.) can refried beans
2 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
shredded lettuce, as desired
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
chopped tomatoes
2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

Put half the chips in the bottom of a 9x 13" pan. Add taco seasoning to
browned ground beef. Stir in beans; mix well. Layer on top of chips. Bake at
350* for 20 minutes, until bubbly. Remove from oven; add layer of lettuce,
tomatoes, and cheese. top with remaining chips.

Well, we are hoping to post some pictures soon--however we're still figuring out the ins and outs of our blog.
Ciao!

Mmmm....tacos

Miriam is making some sort of "taco bake" thing and it smells delicious. We're currently waiting for her family to get here so we can eat, but I don't know if I can wait that long!

I don't know if this post served any purpose other than to let you know how hungry I am.

Home alone

Braedan here.
Miriam is in Muscatine tonight for orchestra rehearsal and unfortunately that means I'm spending the night home alone. Despite the down feeling of being alone, it was fun to see the Pusateri's again. It was the first time since the wedding that we have seen them and it was great to share stories from our honeymoon and all the pictures we took. Good times. Plus, we had fried chicken for dinner, and that's always a plus to me! God bless the Hy-Vee kitchen.
I have also been tasked with bringing a number of our gifts home with me, and I have no idea where to put everything!!! We received so many great gifts from family and friends but the one thing we didn't get was a bigger apartment, which we really could have used :P
Getting close to bed time. Drop a line if you feel like it, we always love to hear from people. More to come later, stay tuned!

Sunny Blue Skies!

After an amazing, beautiful, and cool (weather wise) honeymoon in Colorado, we are glad to be home and start getting back into the "real world." I must admit that is was nice to not have any cell phones or emails to check while we were there! It was a great week and we will post some of the beautiful pictures we took of the scenery soon!

We celebrated the end of our honeymoon at the lake today with Braedan's family. It was so much fun to just relax on a Sunday. We spent the day on the water and it was great! The day started off with cloudy skies and rain, but by the afternoon, it definitely felt like summer in Iowa! Though, after all that fun in the sun, Braedan and I are definitely sporting some pink, sunburned skin and are regretting the lack of reapplying sunblock as much as we should have...

Braedan goes back to work tomorrow morning after a nice vacation and is sleeping right now. I think he will be ready to get back into his normal work routine, my work will be organizing and cleaning our apartment--which he said was a fair trade! I wonder who gets the better end of the deal?

Coming home...

After one crazy week of rehearsals, weddings, and 28 total hours of driving, we have finally come home to our hot apartment. It's a little crazy right now, what with all our bags, luggage, baskets, and all that stuff lying around. Miriam is busying herself tidying up all the things Braedan forgot to clean before last Friday. Meanwhile, Braedan is busying himself writing the two's first blog entry.
We would like to thank everybody for making our wedding the most wonderful day of our lives. Each and every one of you has made our special day one we will never ever forget and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We love you all so much and can't wait to see you all again!