Our Family Life

School, Work, Home, & Kids.

2011-06-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

I started the HCA program in February, and the theory portion of it seemed to fly by. I'm just finishing up my first three week rotation at a facility here, and I'm excited to start my next three week rotation next week at a nearby hospital. I've never worked in a hospital before so I'm curious to see what it's like. I've had great feedback from my preceptor, who has nothing but really good things to say about me, which makes me feel confident this is the right direction career wise. Not trying to toot my own horn, but it's just what I'm good at. Nursing next? It's still on the agenda, eventually.

Derek has still been on the hunt for a new job. It's amazing how many grads struggle to find a job. Feels a bit discouraging at times but I continue to have faith that he'll find something when it's meant to be. There's the potential that he'll be switching jobs soon, and while it isn't his dream job, it has more to offer than his existing job so it's a step in the right direction!

Our home renovations have been null. A person needs some $$ to do those kinds of things, and with me not working, and in school, that is certainly something we haven't had extra of. But....the wheels are turning and we've got a list of projects that we are going to tackle starting this summer. SUPER excited about it too!!

Last weekend the two of us spent a good portion of the evening babysitting the little kids I nannied for. Wait. They actually aren't little anymore. Seriously where does the time go? They are so big now, and so busy with activities. I was beaming with excitement when I heard that they got a piano and Jorja is taking lessons, and Jack is right in there begging for lessons as well. LOVE it. I loved playing on the piano when I was younger, so it was fun for the kids to hear Kari play a couple tunes that haven't escaped my mind. The four of us had a blast. We went to the "spider" park that I used to take them to when nannying. I haven't laughed so hard at Derek's obsession with staying clean, and the kids chasing him around with determination to cover him with sand. It was one of those moments I really should have had a video of.

And it's thanks to those wonderfully behaved, fun, and full of love children that we get to come home, laugh about our time with them, share with each other how much we miss them, and I get to hear those sweet words from my husbands mouth "I can't wait to have little ones of our own". Me too honey, me too!

Bathroom Remodel

2011-02-11T14:05:00.001-08:00

In July we renovated our bathroom. A big thanks going out to my father for making the trip up to help us, without him we surely would have been lost, and might have needed to file divorce papers. I kid, I kid. But I'll be honest and say that Derek and I are very different when it comes to doing things, so sometime it can be a bit of a challenge working together. I guess that's a great way to learn from each other.

It's not my dream bathroom by any means, because that would include a big jacuzzi tub, a huge walk in shower, more cabinets, lots of natural light, and a little bit more space, but we sure are happy with how it turned out!

I had before pictures but I believe those were lost on our other computer when the hard drive crapped out. So just envision the before with dull off white dingy looking walls, almond colored tub/toilet/sink, a really old looking light fixture, wood colored cabinets, half missing old tile floors, a really nasty tub surround, and black mildew stained ceiling. Are you picturing it? Yes my friends, it really was that bad. lol.

Now I present to you our new bathroom...

new medicine cabinet, sink, towel holder, fan, enclosed 3 piece tub/shower, light fixture, low/dual flush toilet, peel & stick groutable floor tile, painted cabinets, cabinet hardware, shower rod/curtain

We still have yet to put in new trim, and we haven't decided if we'll sand and paint the old door or buy a new one. But man if only you could have seen the befores!

New Year, New Plans!

2011-01-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

The holidays were hard this year. I get particularly excited around this time of year, love the lights, music, decorations, gathering of family. For whatever reason though, I just had a hard time getting that warm fuzzy feeling inside. So one evening Derek and I bundled up, drove to Starbucks and bought 2 tall Eggnog lattes and set off to the ritzy neighborhoods to take in the festively decorated homes. It was lovely!

Just 2 days before my youngest nephew Ethan would turn 1yrs. old, my oldest sister would welcome into the world a beautiful new baby boy on December 20th and he would be named Carter Herschel. Sounds perfect!

We welcomed in the New Year just the two of us in our pj's, with our 3 furries along side us. We couldn't be more happy to have a new year, and are feeling very hopeful that this year will have some wonderful things in store for us.

I'll be starting school in February to take the 5 month long Health Care Aide program. It is a full time program, monday thru friday, from 9-4. It's a lot crammed into a short amount of time. It's my hopes that when I'm finished I can land me a job working at one of the hospitals. My long term goal is to go to school for nursing.

We are also hoping to taking a small vacation this year since it has been 2 years since our last vacation to NYC. We are also planning to continue on with some home renovations this summer.

Oh and this year I'll turn the big three-o.

Should be a great year. Can't wait to share bits and pieces of it.

Let's play catch up...

2010-09-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since I last blogged anything here. Where does the time go? I'm really going to make an effort to keep this up to date and share random little bits of our life.

Lets start by doing a quick recap....

2009

June - Derek graduated from U of W with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science....still searching for a job.

August - Kari celebrated her 28th birthday

October - We celebrated 5 years of marital bliss, took a road trip to MN for Kari's childhood friend Arica's wedding, and we finally bid farewell to our lemon of a car and bought a 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring.

December - Another road trip to MN for the christmas holiday with the family, and to help welcome Ethan Wade born on December 22nd.

2010

February - Derek celebrated his 30th birthday...surely one he won't forget!

April - Kari's parents came for a short but lovely visit

May - Unexpectedly Derek's Oma passed away just 1 day after her 82nd birthday. We also got the news that Kari's job would be coming to an end in August....lot's of thinking to do!

July - With the help of Kari's father we renovated our bathroom.....still a work in progress. Hard to believe but just months after the passing of Derek's Oma, his nan suffered from a massive stroke and passed away just 7 days later.

August - Short road trip to Fargo where some of Kari's family met up with us. It was great to see everyone!! Also Kari celebrated her 29th birthday.....can not believe it's gonna be the big 3-0 next year. After 3 years with the family, Kari's days as a nanny came to an end.

September - We took a road trip to MN to spend a few days with our friends Thea & Jeremy and their beautiful baby girl Olivia who was born in July. Kari started a couple classes, which will allow her to meet all the requirements to apply for nursing come January.

well that about sums it up. It's been a bit of a stressful year but we are doing our best to make the most of each new day we are blessed with.

New York City!

2009-05-03T07:08:00.001-07:00

So this is a little late, but better late than never! Without further ado and in no particular order here are some bits and pieces of our time in New York City!

Westin Times Square.
When planning our trip for NYC we spent hours and hours reading about all the different hotels, reviews, prices, locations, etc. etc. and after much debate we chose the Westin. We certainly were not disapointed and would stay there again in a heartbeat. Everything about it was wonderful.

They are called Heavenly beds for a reason. I have never slept so good in all my life. Did you know you can purchase these beds? you better believe I've considered it. lol.

The Late Show.
Our first 10minutes of walking through NYC, passing by here, and we almost caught our first celebrity siting. It wasn't the crowd of people that first caught our eye, it was the unbelievable amount of flashing cameras followed by everything screaming "Jennifer, Jennifer".

The Subway.
Aside from walking this was our main form of transportation and we loved every minute of it. If we could give up having a car to instead ride a subway we would in a heartbeat! I had visions of it being scary, dirty, full of weird people but I was pleasantly surprised!

We quite enjoyed listening and watching the different entertainment in the subway stations. This one was by far our favorite. They had a HUGE crowd around them and let me tell you...they were there to entertain! Very Cool!

Times Square.
Can you feel the energy? We sure could. We would get tired from all the walking we would do throughout the day but the second you came back to Times Square you just couldn't help but feel like you could go all night.

Liberty Island & Ellice Island.
Our first day in NYC and it was beautiful, sunny, and warm.

Madison Square Garden.
A hockey lovers dream come true. Or maybe just my husbands? This place was amazing, and so were our seats for the Rangers game. I'm pretty sure you could add this to the list of reasons why Derek wants to move to NYC. lol.

Central Park.
First we enjoyed browsing the little shops. We were a big fan of the parks that had these little shops set up. Some very neat things! On this particular day we had been outside for a LONG time so we decided to stop and purchase some hot apple cider, a ginger cookie, and an apple turnover to enjoy on our carriage ride. Deelish!!!

This picture cracks us up. Love the color and decor of our carriage? I'm pretty sure it was the ugliest one there. We didn't really think twice about it until the beautiful white ones with red velvet seats started passing by us. LOL. We didn't care. We were having the time of our life.

Top of the Rock.
This is probably one of my most favorite memories. I took a bazillion pictures trying to capture what it felt like standing up there looking over the city. It just wasn't possible. No picture or words could fully describe that feeling.

FAO Schwartz.
A kids dream come true. Okay we are adults and we loved it! An unbelievable amount of toys and candy. And we had our first celebrity siting here in the barbie section of the store. Ludacris! He was there shopping with his daughter. And no I didn't take his picture.

Tom's Restaurant.
Are you a fan of Seinfeld? We are!
I'm glad that we went to see this place because I loved the look and feel of this neighborhood.

Empire State Building.
Some views from up above.
This just puts into perspective how big Central Park really is.

In the center of this picture, the darkest building, that's our hotel. Kinda cool.

Need a taxi?
Surprisingly we only took a taxi 4times throughout our stay.

Metropolitan Museum.
One of 3 art museums we went to and by far our favorite. We spent at least 4 hours walking around the museum and we only saw a fraction of everything. This was a dream come true. I love art, and I can remember when my high school art teacher had shown us pictures from when she had gone to the met and I never thought I'd get to see it with my own eyes. Very Cool.

World Trade Center Gallery.
One word = emotional!

This man was very fascinating to listen to. He spoke of the events leading up to 9-11, the day of, and the days that followed. He wanted to make sure that everyone new and understood what it was they were looking at, and what really happened that day. We could have stood and listened to him for hours.

Grand Central Station.

Battery park.

Rockefeller Center.
That tree is way bigger than we could have imagined! Beautiful & Dreamy!

Bryant Park.
Another little park with this beautiful fountain, little shops, and skating rink.

Christmas Decor.
If you know me, then you know that I was lovin' all the christmas decor!

Radio City Music Hall.
We didn't make it to see the Rockettes but that is just another reason we have to make it back to NYC!

Bella Vita.
Our last stop in NYC, a trip back to Bella Vita, some of the most delicious pizza we have ever tasted!

According to Dereks pedometer on his phone, these feet walked at least 60miles in NYC!

The adventure didn't end when we left NYC. Our flight out of New York was delayed, we missed our connecting flight in Minneapolis by half an hour, and since we didn't get in until 11pm we decided that rather than waste the time trying to find a hotel room to sleep in for only a short while we would just sleep at our gate. Between the printer that kept going off, being cold, and the cleaning guy clanking chairs and running the vacuum we didn't really get a whole lot of sleep. lol. It's all part of the memories that we hold of this trip, and we can laugh about it for years to come!
Having fun on the walking escalator thingy. Kari's first time riding one. hehe.

Goodbye!

Changes!

2009-03-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well we are back to blogger. Yup making the switcharoo back because wordpress just has not really impressed me all that much and I find the designs boring. Maybe it's the change that I haven't given it a fair shot but either way it's gonzo!

Since I haven't figured out a way to import the blog to here I'll just go and add this link to the old blog for now!