Merry Christmas

We made it home safely from our first WI Christmas as a married couple. We had a great, and very busy, time while we were there. Brief highlights are the Bucks game (they won), shoveling snow, going to a graduation party for a childhood friend of Steve, watching an entire season of Weeds in one day, and Christmas in Chicago with Steve's sister, parents, brother in law and the kids. Christmas was spent eating a lot of good food and playing an incredible amount of games. Olivia and Ben love to play games, including the Disney Guessing Game which Ben wanted to play whenever we were sitting down at the table to eat. Additionally, Ben and Olivia got a Wii for Christmas, so we all got a bit of an uneven upper body workout. The flights weren't so bad... no trouble with the weather heading out but we were delayed in Denver coming home. We ended up getting home a little before 2 am. UGH! But we were grateful to get home safely without any cancellations. Plus we got to spend extra time at the Denver airport which is one of the craziest airports I have ever been too. The next afternoon we went over to the Gerlt house for a belated Christmas celebration. We exchanged gifts and ate pizza, mellow and relaxed. For Christmas, I made Margey a portfolio of all of the flowers she has done for weddings and funerals, which got a perfect reaction! It was great to be able to celebrate with both of our families and friends but we are glad to be home and look forward to the New Year.

Snowy Days

Portland has shut down recently due to a few inches of snow and ice. Steve was out of school Monday and Wednesday with a 2 hour delay on Tuesday. I have been picking up sessions here and there depending on the amount of hills the commute would involve. Overall though, Steve and I have been hunkered down in our bedroom, only venturing out to get food or be pelted by snowballs thrown by a 2 year old.




The remodel is going smoothly. We now have oak floors in our kitchen and our contractor is currently sanding them down, hoping to get one coat of the sealer on before he leaves. We still have cabinets invading our living room but what a relief it will be to have them installed when we get home from WI.


We leave Saturday afternoon to go spend Christmas in WI and Chicago. We are excited but a little nervous for weather related trouble at the airport. Hopefully, we will be out on time. I am not sure of the final plans but I do know we will be going to a Bucks game, heading up to Wautoma to see Ma and spending Christmas day with our niece and nephew in Chicago. I am hoping to have Steve's camera so we can get lots of pictures to show everyone when we get home.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!!!

Helicopter

Starting earlier this week, Lucas decided he was scared of Santa. When Margaret asked why, his response was that he says Ho Ho HO. He then began asking if Santa was there whenever the house settled or he heard a noise. Margey and I were talking and thought about how creepy it is that some man can climb down your chimney and enter your house whenever he wants to. Anyway, Lucas went to meet Santa this morning and was great. Santa entered the room and Lucas yelled HELICOPTER as Santa walked by. Later, he did a good job asking for what he wanted while sitting on Santa's lap.

Then, all the Gerlt children and their spouses went to hear my Mom's choir concert. Lucas was asking questions throughout but the best by far was "Where is Jesus? Is he at my house?" Funny kid!

Steve wrote his last song today for his next c.d. Next step is for him to draw the cover and do all the printing. Hopefully he will have a few done before Christmas so we can bring them to WI when we leave in a couple weeks. It takes a lot of work and he doesn't get any time off prior to us leaving. Time will tell.

Where did my living room go?????

Oh my goodness! The cabinets have arrived. Just to share with everyone the craziness that is our house, here are some pictures of our living room and dining room.



But the good news is that we finally have a lovely vanity counter top.

All that is left to do in our upstairs bathroom is for us to finish painting and to buy curtains. I am hoping to have this done on the 9th, right after my last final.

The next few weeks are going to be crazy with holiday events. Mom (Gerlt) is going to be singing in a Christmas concert with her church choir on Sunday, cookie exchange party on the 11th, Jason and Margey's Christmas party on the 13th, Nutcracker (girls only) on the 14th then we fly out on the 20th. When to shop????? We will manage, as we always do but no one can say the holidays don't bring a little bit of stress with them.

Back from the Beach

We just got back from a very relaxing (and needed) weekend at the coast. The weather wasn't great as it was super foggy and not quite stormy enough.




However, the bed and breakfast was beautiful, we met some very interesting people and enjoyed sleeping in without cats waking us up. We also made it a "no computer" trip so I couldn't do homework.




We didn't do much. Lots of seafood, walking on the beach and football watching. Poor OSU Beavers and Packers! Not a good football weekend.

One week into our kitchen

It is amazing how fast demo can go. Today we are meeting with the contractor to get all the information we need for ordering our cabinets, flooring options and whatever else we need to figure out.

Our kitchen before


Our current kitchen.



Obviously we will not be hosting Thanksgiving this year.

We are having a busy weekend with remodeling, a wedding, homework and housework. We are excited for our Thanksgiving break. Steve and I will be eating breakfast and watching football with Mark and Angee, eating dinner with my family and then on Saturday, we are going to Cape Arch and staying St Bernard's Cape Arch House.

http://www.archcapehouse.com/

I am going to do my best to leave my computer and all of my homework at home but who knows.

I hate Mondays

Well, to start the week off in the best way possible, I went out to my car this morning to find all of my work toys, cd's, jumper cables and personal care things stolen out of my car. They used a screwdriver to get in, which they so sweetly left behind for me. Thankfully, I can still lock and unlock my car as well as drive it. However, they did break my stereo, no music for Sara :(

***CORRECTION*** They tried to take my stereo, bent it pretty badly but a hammer was all I needed. Sara DOES have her music. Bascially all they really got was a bunch of sentimental stuff and my toys. Not NEARLY as bad as it could have been. I am able to write this off as a lessoned learned...Don't leave toys in my car.***

A very nice Police officer came out and took my statement. Nothing can really be done so I just need to get over it I guess. I think I am going to get my car detailed though. It feels gross in there now.

The past week

Not much has changed in the past week. Remodeling is still chugging along but nothing is done yet. The upstairs bathroom is waiting on the counter top and for Steve and I to find the time to finish painting, which could easily be put off until December. The kitchen demo is scheduled to start on Monday. It is interesting having a microwave and coffee maker in our living room but we will adjust and it is only temporary.

Steve has been working on his latest video for The 40 Foot Falls, which is one of my favorite of his songs. If it isn't on our video stream, check it out on YouTube. The stop motion takes forever but he is enjoying it.

School is chugging along as well. This term has had an extra amount of computer time (6 papers!). I am really looking forward to the end of the term.

Well, since Steve and I don't have the opportunity to connect with everyone like we want to, we decided to start up a page for friends and family to check in and see what we are up to. (plus all my friends are doing it...). It is weird to do an "introduction" since everyone who will be reading this already knows us so I am going to skip it.

Recent news...I have solidified where I will be doing my internship starting this January. I will be working with Oregon Center for Environmental Health helping them with their EcoSafe classes, teaching people how to reduce the toxins in their homes. I also will be in charge of developing and implementing the evaluation plan. I get to assist in planning and shadow at a lobby day for the Child Safe Products Act in Salem (which I am pretty excited about). I couldn't imagine a better fit for me. This is a great opportunity and hopefully it will allow me sufficient networking to find a job. Seems like whenever I graduate from school there is a finacial crisis (Summer 2001 and now....)

We are also in the middle of our remodeling...ugh...
Our upstairs bathroom is now functional but still needs some touch up. Our window and door frame have yet to be painted and there is a delay with the tile stuff but it is coming along. Pictures to come soon.

We are leaving for the Hawthorne Fish House to watch the Packers game now. Go Packers!