Thursday, December 12, 2013

'Tis the Season

Hello my long lost blog,  how are you lately?  We've been good - and busy.  That's what I always say, but it's true, and I'm enjoying it.  We've slowed our traveling down a bit but we keep pretty busy around this area.  Babygirl is so not a baby anymore but a toddler!  She's walking and she talks a lot and she is so fun!  We have made some new friends and we spend lots of time with them and I LOVE it!  I'm so sad they are leaving in 6 months because they will be done with residency.  The hubby is crazy busy at work and I don't feel like I get to see him very often but I was expecting that.  This weekend I'm hosting a cookie exchange at my house and I couldn't be more excited!  Tomorrow an old friend is coming to visit and I'm also super excited about that!  And then next week will be filled with last minute Christmas shopping and finishing projects before we celebrate Christmas at the Watson's and then we travel to Alexandria to spend the 28th with my family.  I made a trip to the mall yesterday and got Miss G's Christmas Dress and I'm so in love with her in it, but I may be a little biased :) Here are some pictures!!




Oh, and we got a puppy, named Reggie.  They love each other! They really do - she seems like she's apprehensive here, but she is giggling up a storm.  And in other pictures she has him in a headlock, lol.


Monday, September 9, 2013

Life Lately

We had a busy week leading up to Labor Day.  So busy that I can't really remember what we did.  Then came Labor Day Weekend, which was actually filled with labor, which kind of sucked.  Don't get me wrong, I love the family cabin, but Labor Day Weekend is all about dock take out and boat winterizing and basically a lot of work for my hubby and not a lot of rest - it sucks.  The baby and I got to hang with the family, which was nice and good food was served, but it would have been nicer if we could have just all relaxed - well, more so have Ryan relax. He works so hard and he deserves more breaks than he gets - and I feel like it's a little bit my fault because I encourage a lot of "extended" family time - meaning, his parents, my parents, his siblings, my siblings, grandparents, etc - and quite frankly, he doesn't have the time or the energy for that right now and it's sad.  He does a great job of doing it, but I get to hear a little complaining about it.  The main problem is that we live too far away.  I love La Crosse, but I want to transplant it closer to family.

The past two weeks have been good - Babygirl started swim lessons and loves them!  I got a bit of scrapbooking in :)  Grandma W got to see Gwen lots.  I wish my mom got to see her more too.

This weekend we head out to a camp out that we do every year with all of our college buddies.  I'm so excited!  It will be so fun to see them all again - together!!  We have a busy week leading up to it, so wish me luck.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

I absolutely, positively, without a doubt, can't stop thinking about, how much I love FALL!

That was probably a weird non-realistic sentence, but that's okay.  My point is - Fall is upon us - shortly - and I can't wait!!  It's hard to think about fall, when it's literally 104 degrees outside, but I have faith that it will cool down very soon.  This weekend is Labor Day weekend (my unofficial start date of the Autumnal Equinox - I know, it's actually September 22) the first day of Fall!   For me Fall starts on Tuesday, September 3, the first day of school for Minnesota high schools. My whole school career that is what signified the start of Fall for me and I think I'm just going to keep thinking about it that way.  I cannot wait for cooler days.  It's been even too hot for walks outside, so I'm looking forward to doing that.  Fall makes my life a little busier, but I'm not complaining.  Tuesday starts swimming lessons for my little girl and Wednesday night they do baby story time at the local library so we might try that.  My weekends are already pretty much packed until November, and even November is busy but I'm not thinking about that too much yet.  Anyway, I can't wait to pull out my canner and get the fruit that is in my freezer done and get my tomatoes turned into yummy salsa.  I've been on Pinterest a little today while babygirl naps and I found some awesome pictures of fall and little sayings that remind me again how much I love the season, so I will leave you with this:

Everything I love and can't get enough of about FALL

Oh and this picture, I think I have to find it for Gwen: 

Fall for Gwen <3

Oh and one more thing: I have a mom date tonight and I am so excited!  It's Endless Pasta at Olive Garden right now and 4 other moms and I are leaving the kids with dad and heading there tonight - can't wait!! We never get to visit sans kids so it will be nice :) We love our kiddos but one of us is always running off to fix the latest crisis.  

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

And so it goes...

Well hello again dear Blog,

I've neglected you once again.  This time it's been for very good reason.  We've been a traveling...for some fun reasons - and some not so fun reasons.  First of all, we took a much needed mini family vaca to the cabin for a whole weekend.  That sounds crazy, I know, but the hubby had a Saturday and Sunday off so we took off late Friday night and did it.  It was fabulous!  

Then, we received devastating news on Tuesday morning the 13th that hubby's 19  year old cousin died in a car accident the night before.  It was a terrible week.  We ended it with going to the funeral and paying our respects.  No mother should have to bury a child and that's all I will say about that.  It is truly tragic.

The weekend brought some fun when my BFF and her little girl came to visit and we went blueberry picking and to the pool.  It's tough when you have littles that have a schedule and need naps and go to bed early because you can't squeeze that much in, but it was a wonderful weekend visit and I can't wait to see them again.

This week I've been cleaning up.  And going to a birthday party. And going to a new book club meeting to get signed up.  And tomorrow I'm babysitting. And Saturday we have a wedding.  And then it's already a new week! EEK!  Time is flying.

Well, in about 84 minutes I have a lady from the "La Crosse Welcome Committee" coming to give me a welcome packet full of gift cards and brochures, etc, so I feel like I need to clean up my mess a bit.

Until next time, Mr. Blog.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Feeling Too Plugged In

I find myself too plugged in these days - not so much via my blog (obviously!) but with facebook and texting...it's very time consuming.  And I don't like it one bit!  This weekend I'm making a promise to myself and my family that I'm unplugging.  Admittedly, I'm starting small....I'm just putting my phone on silent and checking it once or twice a day....and I'm not checking facebook!  And then once I get a handle on that, I plan on shutting off the phone for a whole weekend at a time.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about what we've been up to - we had a house full of people for about 5 days.  We celebrated a Baptism and had multiple cookouts!  It was a great time, but I'm exhausted and we still aren't cleaned up from last weekend's fun!

Whew!  Better get back to it!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Another Week Flies By

Whew, is all I can say about our last week!!  We took off last Wednesday for my hometown to partake in a family reunion.  It was a blast!  But I'm exhausted (and it was last weekend!)  We had over 200 people show up.  The food was awesome, the visiting phenomenal and overall, it went off without a hitch - which is great, because my mom was one of the primary organizers and so it was a bit hectic and stressful leading up to it.  The county fair was also going on during the weekend we were home and I was able to take babygirl there to visit all the farm animals!  She loved it!  I have pictures, but they are on my camera and that's in the other room and I'm too lazy to go get it right now.   We drove back on Monday and it took us 14 1/2 hours!  So, needless to say, Tuesday we did nothing.  Literally, we napped, ate, and watched TV.  Wednesday we had a playdate and then did more napping.  Thursday, my little peanut woke up with a temperature and was crabby ALL day :(  She's teething and was not a happy girl.  Friday was more of the same, but she did a bit better towards the evening so we went on a family walk and to the Farmer's Market to pick up some peas and rhubarb - yum! That leads us to today, which we spent going to an Art Fair, doing some yard work and cleaning.  I still have a lot of cleaning to do to make up for my lack of everything this past week, but I think it can wait until tomorrow and I can go to bed...cuz I'm tired!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Weekend Run-Down

So Friday babygirl and I had a visit from Grandma Karyn (Ryan's mom).  We had a blast!  We hit up Caribou (an obsession for both of us) and the Harley shop.  We got a little lost on the way to the Harley shop but it was quite an adventure.  Turns out we just went the wrong way on the highway and had to do a big loop to get back.  Then, we hit up the pool for 2 hours!  Gwen had a blast!  I didn't get any pics cuz I accidentally left my phone at home :-/  I think Grandma snapped a couple so I will have to get those from her sometime.  

Friday night we went on a family cruise (old school car style) South of town to check out some of the smaller towns along the river.  We grabbed some DQ (minus some for babygirl - she was out like a light!) and just drove.  I love going on drives, so it was perfect.  

Saturday we dilly dallied all day long about what we were going to do (even though I felt like there were PLENTY of options) and ended up attempting to go on a walk through a place called Goose Island that we discovered before.  It was super buggy though and we ended up cutting out walk pretty short and heading down to the riverfront for Crazy Days.  Crazy Days weren't as exciting as I thought they'd be, but then I learned that we hit it up on the very last day....so I'm thinking that Thursday and Friday were probably more hopping - plus it was like 90+ degrees!  Yuck!  Saturday night we rented a movie - Identity Theft (I've heard mixed reviews, but we liked it).  

Sunday we hit up church in the morning and came home and babygirl and I both took naps while Daddy did some reading.  Then we went to SAMS club and got a membership and loaded up on groceries (lots of produce!!!)  I am thrilled!  We then came home and grilled out and this evening I have a wild hair to clean, clean, clean - although it's like 11pm and I should go to bed!  We have a super busy and exciting week - I can't wait to share it with you!  

Goodnight!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Taco Pasta Salad

So I'm on a little bit of a food kick here.  Last night I made Taco Pasta Salad - recipe via Pinterest of course! Anyway, another hit :)  Hubby said "So I think you should be keeping track of these recipes and we can put them in a hat and draw out the week's meals once we get a big pile of them" :-)  So he likes 'em!

I made this tonight - SO GOOD!  will be adding it to the mix :)

Ingredients: 
1 lb browned hamburger seasoned with 1 package of taco seasoning
1 box of rotini noodles, cooked and drained
1 small can of black olives, drained
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 bottle Western Salad dressing (I used Light)
Optional 2 cups shredded cheese (I forgot this)

Mix all together and enjoy!   We ate it warm.  Recipe technically says to eat cold, so I assume it will be delicious both ways.  Hubby ate his over a bed of lettuce and I ate mine plain, so again, tons of options with it! I loved it because it was a super easy one pot meal (Kind of, I had to brown the hamburger separate I guess) but overall, it was one pot once it was prepped and it was delicious and we have leftovers for tonight! 

Oh yes, and recipe also called for sriracha sauce OR Western dressing.  I don't like things TOO spicy so we opted for the dressing.  

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

BBQ Chicken, Apple & Avocado Salad

Last night I tried a new recipe.  I sometimes feel like we get in a rut of eating the same old things and wanted to try something new. So, I headed over to Pinterest to find a new recipe and came up with BBQ Chicken, Apple & Bacon Salad.....but when I made it I forgot the bacon :-/.  It was still delicious!  But I'm slightly bummed.  I looked at the recipe just once and didn't look at it again, so apparently bacon just slipped my mind.  We grilled the chicken, added the BBQ sauce, sliced up one granny smith apple and one avocado, added our lettuce and then topped it all with Bleu Cheese Dressing.  Highly recommended!  I'm happy to say I have a new salad to add to our "regular" menu :)

Here's the Pinterest pic:

BBQ Chopped Chicken, Bacon & Apple Salad

Friday, July 5, 2013

4th of July - Part 2

Another post - crazy, right?!?!  


Well, the evening of the 4th was still wonderful, but it didn't turn out like I had planned.  The hubby didn't get home until 8:45, so basically my potatoes that I grilled were cold and my dessert was melted, but it all tasted good all the same. Ryan was pleased with dinner and super hungry, so it was appreciated.  

Our dessert (before it melted):


Check out my smiley side-kick. 

Today, we went strawberry picking with some new friends!  And then we went to the pool!  And then my trusty side-kick and I went down to RiverFest for some lemonade and cheese curds. 
Getting ready to go pickin'
At the patch! 

Bright sun! 

Reminds me of Little House on the Prairie

Lunch post pick!
The girls chatting up each other in the car! 
Funny pose!

The girls post swim!


Riverfest!

Watching the Dragon Boats at Riverfest!

And then we came home, had a bottle (or she did), talked to Daddy, and went to bed! We had such a fun and wonderful day.  And it ended nicely too.  Ryan thanked me for being a stay at home mom and told me how much he appreciated coming home to a fridge that actually has food (ready to eat) and a clean house and dishes put away and a kid well taken care of - awe! I told him that I felt a little bad because we have so much fun that I feel like I must not be doing it right, lol.  But we are both happy so I guess we are doing something right :)  I hope your weekend was great as well! 


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July!!!! Part 1.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY -  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN WHO CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM! 

WHAT WE DID: 

Well, it was our first Holiday alone since the hubby started residency - oh yea, forgot to tell you about that....it's been a little hectic...let's backup.

The hubby graduated Medical School on May 4th.  We packed up our entire apartment and prepped for graduation, celebrated graduation and promptly vacated the apartment on May 6th.  The hubby flew to Seattle, WA to work for a week on May 5th and was there until May 11th.  I took babygirl to my parent's place for a few days and then down to the in-laws for a few days and then met up with the hubby and went to the cabin for 2 weeks.  Starting June 1st (I think), he started work in Bemidji for an additional 2 weeks.  We lived in a hotel room.  Well, we spent about 4/5 days with my parents and then went to the hotel to stay with Ryan, but he lived in the hotel room.  The entire time we didn't have any internet and only part of our belongings...it was hard.  Mainly because I'm attached to the internet...now mind you, I had access via my phone, but it wasn't the same.  We were also trying to buy a house at the time so we had to make multiple stops at Coffee shops to use their internet to send specific emails.  We also made multiple trips to places like UPS and OfficeMax to use their fax machine and scanners.  It was a little bit of a chaotic mess.  But I'm happy to say there were minimal arguments between the hubby and I and babygirl did fairly well.  Then on June 13th, we closed on our house in La Crosse, WI.  Babygirl and I moved in and Ryan went back to Bemidji for ONE day :(  But that's how it goes sometimes.   Anyway, his family came to help us move everything in on June 16th (what a way to spend Father's Day) and we've been unpacking/settling ever since.  It's been good though!  We've met some amazing people, which I'm very thankful for since we will be here for the next 5 years!  So onto today......

Today is July 4th.  It's also the first Holiday that Ryan is on-call. So, he's at the hospital all day 7am-7pm for sure and potentially longer if need be.  It's my first official Holiday as a resident's wife.  It's my first official holiday all alone.  But I'm okay with it.  It's a minor one (meaning, no Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter, which are all huge in our family), so it's kind of a nice transition I guess.  Ryan's worked on the 4th for many years so it's not too different...except we are in a new place and we have a baby.  So, babygirl and I have made the best of it so far.  This morning, we got up and went and bought a Caribou (you know, priorities) and then we came home and she napped.  Then, we went grocery shopping and bought supplies for a nice supper that we can have when Daddy gets off work.  Steaks are thawing and I bought stuff to make a broccoli salad, grill potatoes, and make a fun festive 4th of July dessert.  One thing I'm still missing is some sparklers - maybe I can run out and get some....??  Anyway, then we came home and got ready and went to the pool!  I've been wanting to take Gwen to the pool for awhile now and it's 2 blocks from our house, so there was really no excuse.  We slathered on the sunscreen, tied on our bonnet, grabbed a snack and hit the road.  She LOVED it!  And it wore her out :) So, we came home and she is now napping.  I was going to wait and write this post after we did all our festivities, but I was in the mood now, so I figured I better do it while the iron is hot.  Now that I did, though, I'm going to go and make that salad and cut up some potatoes for later, etc.  If we do anything else fun, maybe I can get it in another post ;)  

Hope you had a fun and safe 4th of July!! 




Tuesday, April 30, 2013

My Last Day

Today is a bittersweet day for me.  I'm currently working my last day at Children's.  I LOVE my job, but am very excited to be able to stay home with babygirl for the next *few years*.  I'm not sure if I will decide to get a job or not, definitely the right one would have to present itself before it would be worth it to me to go back to work. It's been a wonderful 2 years here and I've learned so much.  I am sad that I won't be able to utilize all the things I have learned, but maybe in their own way they will come in handy.  Maybe now I don't need to freak out *so much* if my baby catches something that I've seen before and know the course of. I will miss the structure of having a job where I had to be somewhere at a specific time, but on the other hand am so excited I can get dressed at 10am or 5pm if I want to.  I probably won't do that because I will be super unproductive if I don't start early in the morning, but it is nice to have the option.  I will miss my co-workers...each and everyone of them are wonderful people who really go out of their way to help one another. Well onto my last day of rounds - census is mediocore so I will definitely get in some good hours on my last day :) 

Heard this on the radio yesterday and am IN LOVE with it!  So motivational -

Sara Bareilles - Brave
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwTr_CRw3GY

I hope it inspires you today. 

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Weekend Run Down!

Whew!  What a weekend!!  It's still Sunday, so it's technically not over, though I did have to work today.  I'm not complaining though because I was only there until about 3pm so I still have all afternoon/evening. 

We've had a wonderful weekend.  We started out on Friday by packing (like crazy) all of our stuff....okay, so that part of the day wasn't so fun, but anyway...we ended the evening on a River Boat Cruise down the Mississippi for an end of the year party put on by the U of M. We had a great time, although I think the music was a tad too loud.  I like to hear myself talk :)  They served hors'devours that were delicious too.  I just love social events with our friends!

Saturday we moved all of our stuff.  I was a little nervous because I was thinking it was going to take ALL day and that were weren't quite prepared (which we weren't) but overall it went fantastic.  The hubby's brother is a professional mover so he knew exactly what/where/why/when/how to get it all done.  He was the brains of the operation and had a lot of the muscle - we were super grateful he was there to do it! The whole process took about 3 hours.  Then we went out to the 5-8 Club for the famous Juicy Lucy's.  Delicious!  We came back home and sent out guests/helpers/free labor on their way and took a family nap.  Then, we went on a walk, ate some ice cream and watched some Downton Abbey...LOVE! 

Today, like I previously said, I worked but am hoping we will get to go on another walk this evening and I have a coffee date scheduled with a friend.  My mom is also coming down to watch babygirl for us while I work tomorrow and Tuesday.  This week will fly by - at least I kind of hope anyway because I don't have a real bed to sleep in. 

I saw this the other day on Pinterest and just love it....

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed is maybe not the appropriate post for this - or maybe it is.  We have so much stuff going on in our lives right now, it's crazy!  I really want to sit down and write a beautiful, long, inspired post, but I pretty much just don't have time. I want to write about more places I want to travel - basically planning family vacas on here because when I was previously planning our trips on here (or more dream trips) I really felt like I was learning and becoming more inspired to work towards my goals.  I want to write about my new house and all the remodeling I want to do...yea, new house...did I mention that?!?!  We are moving to WI in June so the hubby can start residency and we bought a house! We are super busy with packing and trying to figure out what should be packed right now and what can wait.  I want to write about the books I've read.  I want to write more about Little Miss G, she's getting so big and learning so much!  It's so fun - we took her to the zoo the other day for the first time.  She didn't pay much attention to the animals, but loved the flowers she got to touch and loved looking at the water in the sea lion and polar bear tanks. I also have crafts to start and people to write - and well, maybe that's it.  probably not. It feels a bit better to write it all out though - all the things I want to do....I also found this (which I kind of feel like I do - Nothing - but now that will change):

Instead of doing nothing because i'm overwhelmed TODAY I WILL DO SOMETHING EVEN Small BECAUSE IT WILL BE ONE STEP CLOSER TO MY GOAL

A few positive notes:

1)  The sun is shining today!  Seriously, it's a huge improvement.  We've had snow storms every two/three days for WEEKS!

2) A great friend of ours welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world yesterday. We couldn't be happier for them!  Can't wait to see him in May! 

3) I have been playing catch up on a few of my friend's blogs and realized another great friend is over halfway done with her pregnancy - can't wait for them to welcome their little one into the world!  

4) My Mom and Dad are visiting this weekend, I love seeing them!

5) I'm drinking my fav. Caribou drink right now - yum! 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

WOW - Time Flies!

It has been a while since I posted - and I won't apologize.  It's not what I wanted to have happen, though life has a way of becoming crazy busy and it doesn't always leave room for all the fun things.  Don't get me wrong, I've been having fun, just not with blogging.  Here's what we've been up to:

1. We welcomed a beautiful little girl to the world on October 21, 2012.  She is absolutely the light of my life and the best thing ever!  Her smile melts my heart and I love her personality!  She is definitely a little dramatic  *I have no idea where she gets that from* ;)  but she is also super sweet and occasionally shy.  However, when she wants to be the center of attention, she knows how to do that too!  She's pretty much perfect, haha.  Other than the sleeping thing, that we are still working on.

2.  Hubby is almost done with Medical School!!!!!!!!!!  In fact, tomorrow we will find out where we go for Residency - which will be 5-7 years depending on what place he matches to.  I can't wait.  I'm super anxious/nervous.  I can't really concentrate on anything else tonight.  I should be cleaning in preparation for our babysitter tomorrow, but I can't.  And the hubby is on call tonight so he isn't home.

I'm sure there's a ton more, but like I said, I can't concentrate on anything, those are the two biggies and the most important right now.  Here's hoping for a good match tomorrow and more time to allow me to blog :)