Merry Christmas!

We are so excited to be leaving for Arizona in the morning! Yesterday we got about 9 or 10 inches of snow, had to spend 10 minutes digging our car out, and then we got stuck driving down our street because it wasn't plowed yet! I still love the snow, but it will be nice to be somewhere a bit warmer! We are also so excited to spend time with our friends and families since we only see them about twice a year.

This year I sent out Christmas cards/letters, mostly just to family (sorry guys!). So I decided it would be fun to post the letter we sent and the picture we included so that all of you can hear about what's gone on with us this past year!

Dear Family and Friends,
We hope this holiday season find you all happy and well! Yet another year has passed and we have so many things to be thankful for. We’ve definitely had a busy and fun year! Here’s an update on us:

Josh is already in his third year of medical school and has been learning a lot. In the spring he completed all his classroom work and began clinical/hospital rotations in the summer. So far he has rotated through internal medicine, OBGYN, psychiatry, and will soon be doing his surgical rotation. Each rotation has helped him decide areas of medicine he likes and dislikes, which is good. At the present time he thinks his preference is emergency medicine, but that still could change. At the beginning of November Josh traveled to Orlando for the American Heart Association conference to given an oral presentation on some of the findings from the CPR research he did last year. This was a great opportunity and learning experience for him! Outside of school Josh keeps busy as the Young Men’s President at church. We have a good group of boys in the ward and Josh enjoys the activities and scout outings he does with them.

Melanie continues to work at the University hospital, in labor and delivery. Even though her job can be challenging at times, she enjoys being able to help bring new babies into the world. She even got to work with Josh for a couple days when he did his OBGYN rotation. That was exciting! In her spare time has enjoyed developing talents and hobbies. She’s been sewing, is part of a card club, and likes to make new recipes. She’s been taking part in a church project by tutoring kids at a local school. She also recently started taking online classes towards her Master’s Degree in Nursing through the University of Phoenix. The stress of assignments has definitely been demanding and keeps her busy! At church she is on the activities committee and has fun planning various activities for the ward.

We have also been able to fulfill our love of traveling a little by taking a few vacations. In March we went to Florida and spent time in Key Largo, the Everglades, and Miami. We enjoyed SCUBA diving, kayaking, and we even saw some alligators! In the summer we were able to go to the beautiful White Mountains in Greer, AZ. We sure do miss the mountains! Then, in September we took a road trip to Niagara Falls. It was our first time to Canada, and the falls were so beautiful! We were able to visit some LDS church history locations-Palmyra and Kirtland- on the way. It was a great trip.

We continue to recognize all of our many blessings, and are most thankful for the blessing of the birth of our Savior. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!


We hope all of you have a very happy Christmas holiday!!

Winter Fun

One of the things that makes Chicago such a great city is the fact that there is always something to do, all year round. There are lots of traditional events the city puts on, and that makes it even more fun because everyone gets so excited for them! This past weekend we enjoyed some fun winter activities. On Friday we went with another coule to the Lincoln Park Zoo for their Zoolights. This is, in my opinion, one of the best zoos because it's FREE and there really are quite a lot of animals!

It was fun to watch this guy carve this giraffe. I think anyone who can carve something out of ice is incredibly talented!

On Saturday we went to the annual Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza. This is a fun German Market with lots of German Christmas ornaments and other goods for sale, plus yummy German food! We enjoyed bratwurst and Wiener schnitzel. I told Josh we were celebrating his German heritage.

I really liked these stars and how they glowed so bright.

I wish I had a nativity scene this big.

After the Christkindlemarket we headed over to Macy's (the old Marshall Field's) on State Street. Every Christmas a different children's story is displayed in the display windows around the outside of the building. This year it is The Nutcracker. Everyone always talks about the window displays at Marshall Field's (Macy's), and the displays are always gorgeous and so elaborate! I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures of it. Then we went inside to see the Christmas Tree on display in the Walnut Room, which is a restaurant on the 8th floor. There's a viewing area to see the tree from the 9th floor. We've done this every year since we've lived here, and it's been fun to see how it will be decorated each year. The one on the left is this year's, and the one on the right is from two years ago.

To end the evening, we bought carmel apple cider from Starbucks along with my favorite Marshall Field's Frango Mint Chocolates. Yum!

SNOW!

We finally had our first big snowfall of the season! I love the way everything looks right after it snows, so calm and quiet and peaceful and pretty. I wish it would stay this way instead of just getting all slushy and dirty. And even though I don't really enjoy digging our car out of the snow, it is still fun to have snow!

Things that make me happy lately

These are some of the things that have been making me happy lately:

My George Foreman grill with removal plates. I love this thing! I use it all the time. It's the removable plates that make all the difference, they are so easy to clean. My favorite thing to grill on it lately is zucchini. Yum!



My new Brita filter water pitcher. It is so clean, shiny, and holds a lot more water than our old one, which means less time spent refilling it.




Picking out the perfect pineapple. I'm usually am the worst person at this, but the other day my pineapple was so juicy and sweet and flavorful! Yummy!



Finally getting my old crown for my tooth replaced, {even though I need a new crown on a different tooth now :( }


Finally getting my school paper written. It was painfully tortuous, and didn't help that the topic was not interesting at all. It's a huge relief to have it done.


My new set of kitchen knives. They cut things so much easier and more smoothly than my old ones! I love chopping things now. And it was a breeze cutting the pineapple mentioned above.



Spending time with my husband on Monday evenings watching Chuck and Heroes. Chuck is one of my new favorite shows, that is until LOST starts again!



Yummy Greek/Mediterranean food. Every few months I go through this Mediterranean kick where I just can't get enough feta cheese, kalamata olives, hummus, and pita bread. I even wrote about it in a previous post that you can find here

Improving my crafty skills. I made some cute Christmas cards this year for card club, and I finished making hot pads to match the apron I made over the summer.




Frango Chocolates from Marshall Field's. These are seriously the best mint chocolates!

Only having to work two days this week. Woohoo! That means I'll have an extra day to go shopping. (that is after I get my school stuff done). :)

Knowing that'll I'll be leaving for Arizona in two weeks! I can't wait to have Christmas in the desert!

~HAPPY THANKSGIVING~

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Since living in Chicago we have decided to make Thanksgiving Day a relaxing and stress-free one (when I don't have to work). Today we went downtown to a movie, took a nap, and bought dinner to take home with us and eat, and watched TV. It was great! We even had our first snowfall this morning, which made the day even more fun!

There are so many things to be thankful for, and it's so nice to reflect on it during this time of year. There's a long list of things I had wanted to list hear, but for sake of time and me needing to go to bed soon, I'm not going to list them all. But the most important things I am thankful for:

my dear husband

my loving family

my home to live in

my job I constantly learn from

my safety and freedom

my knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ

my good health

my wonderful friends

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!


Snow falling-view from our apartment

This is the movie theater we go to most often- downtown Chicago.
I just love the color of those trees, that's why I took the picture!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Saturday, November 17th, was my 26th birthday! I am one year older, and have entered a new stage in life: the downhill of the 20's. I'm close to 30 now than I am to 20. At first I was sad to turn a year older, but now I'm over it. 30 will probably be harder!

I had a pretty fun birthday. My dad was in town so we spent the day with him. I started out the day by sleeping in then eating my favorite oatmeal pancakes (thanks to a recipe from Amy Brinton) with strawberries, yum!! Then we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, a fantastic place. They had a "Christmas Around the World" display, with a Christmas tree decorated for every country. They were also having a special Star Wars exhibit so we got to take pictures with some star wars characters.

this is the back side of the museum

After fun at the museum, we headed downtown and went to the movie Fred Claus**. (see comment at bottom for more info about Fred Claus). It was pretty cute. Each year Chicago also has a big Lights Festival along the Magnificant Mile (a stretch of Michigan Ave., a popular street, lots of shopping) with a parade and everything. We went to that, and there were SO many people there! It was fun, and the parade was good too!

Mickey Mouse led the way for the parade

To end the evening, we ate dinner at a great Italian place called Volare that we just happened to run into. We were planning on eating somewhere different, but this place looked better. By the end of the night my toes were frozen from walking around outside for so long, but it was worth it!

For my present, Josh made me some flowers out of balloons, almost as good as real ones! (he learned how to make a few balloon creations on his mission). One of them had a clue inside telling me what my present was. He knew I had wanted kitchen stuff, so he got me a new knife set! This was greatly needed and appreciated. Thank you to everyone who helped make my birthday special!

**Back in January I was filmed as an extra for one of the scenes in Fred Claus (I got to see Vince Vaughn!) so I was pretty excited to see if I could find myself in the movie. Well, I saw the scene I was filmed in but didn't see myself. Even after a full day of filming the scene was only about 1 minute long, and much of the stuff filmed didn't even make it in the movie. If you ever go see the movie, there's a scene were Vince Vaughn's character is in a building talking to a guy and he mentions the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the camera cuts over to look at that building, and there are people walking in front of the building. That's where I would have been. At the end of this scene, Vince Vaughn is standing along the street as a car drives off, that's also where I would have been. I'll have to rent the video sometime and pause it to see if I can find myself in the crowd!

Fun at the Circus

On Wednesday Josh and I felt like a kid again when we went to the circus! It was the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Bellobration. It was a Bellobration because the main character was a guy named Bello whose hair stood straight up. That part was pretty cheesy, but the performances were awesome and often breathtaking! Plus, we were in the fourth row so we saw everything up close. Warning, lots of pictures that follow!

Feeling Thankful

The last week or two has been pretty busy and crazy at work! It's at times like these when I am reminded to be grateful for the good health I have. As of recently our unit has been trying to specialize in high-risk obstetrics (it a money thing). This means we have been seeing pretty sick people or people with just crazy stuff going on. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've seen! But seeing these things has helped me realize how thankful I am to have the health and situation that I do. When I feel like my life is rough, I realize that my life could be much harder or difficult. What can I say, my job can be quite challening at times, but it is also so rewarding to know that I am helping these people who need it the most. (Plus, I never tire of seeing a baby enter the world!)

DEEP DARK SECRETS

I've been tagged again, by my sister Kim. The topic of this one is

DEEP DARK SECRETS!!

The rules are to post 6 items about yourself (habits, traits, deep dark secrets, etc.) on your blog, then tag 6 more people to do the same.

Here I go:

1) I have a bad habit of biting my nails (fingers, not toes!). I think it stems from when I played the violin in school and we couldn't have long nails. I know it's gross. I've been trying to be real good lately by clipping them or filing them. Wearing nail polish helps too.

2) I'll just move on to another bad habit: I crack my joints. Habitually. And pretty much all of them. I'm talking fingers, elbows, neck, back, toes, ankles. My knees and hips crack too, I feel like an old lady! It's turned into a physicl need for me because if I don't crack them I feel all stiff and tight, and they'll end up just cracking on their own anyway.

3) I don't consider myself a picky eater, but there are certain foods I don't eat. Here is a list of some of them: Onions, unless they are small and cooked so they're soft. I dont' like them crunch. Green Peppers, can't stand the flavor! Cantelope, I don't know why. Every once in a while I'll eat some just to see if I like it yet, and I never do. Honeydew, same as cantelope. Red meat (as in undercooked), I like steak, it just can't be red and bloody. Gross! Dark Chocolate, unless it's mixed with something like in a peppermint patty.

4) I fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I've never had a problem falling asleep and feel sorry for people who do. Once I lay my head on the pillow my body's automatic shut-down system kids in and I'm out. The times my shut-down system gets my into trouble are when I fall asleep during movies, during conversations with my husband, while I'm studying, while I'm at work, while I'm in the waiting room at the dr.'s office, while I'm driving (that's never happend yet, thankgoodness, but there've been times I feel like I could fall asleep!). And it doesn't matter how much sleep I've had....if I'm relaxes, not moving, it's quite, and/or it's mid-afternoon or night time, that equals the perfect recipe for me falling asleep.

5) I suffer headaches every time I go running or have a hard work-out. Don't know why. I stay hydrated, I try to stay relaxed, I warm up and cool down, I take ibuprofen. I've seen a couple dr.'s about it and they don't know why either. I still like to run though, it's a good form of exercise and a great stress reliever, so I just suffer through the headaches.

6) I'm terribly affrais of tornados. I've never seen one before, but I used to get frequent dreams about tornados. For this reason I will never live in tornado alley! Some may argue that Chicago is in tornado alley, and there have been some in the suburbs here, but so far I feel pretty safe being close to the lake and in the big city. And at least my building has a basement!

Sorry those weren't too juicy. :)

So I don't think I'll tag anyone this time around, but if you want to do this, feel free to and hav fun! I'd love to hear about your Deep Dark Secrets!

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! Josh has clinicals but got done early, I had to work, and we didn't get any trick-or-treaters. But we don't ever expect to. Makes it easy for us. :)

We did have a ward Halloween Party last Saturday and this is what we dressed up as:

Captain Josh and his sidekick cat. (I know, doesn't make much sense. We weren't creative enough to get matching costumes.) I was wearing a tail, you just can't see it.

These are the pumpkins we carved:

I also have eaten WAY too much tasty junk this past week. Now it's back to exercise and vegetables because Christmas goodies are just around the corner!!

**Savannah Smiles**

Today I took a walk down memory lane and watched my favorite childhood movie, Savannah Smiles. I'm sure not too many people have heard of it, but for some reason I loved it! When I was between the ages of perhaps 4-6 I watched this movie probably a hundred times! It's about a little girl who runs away from home and ends up with some jail-bird escapees whose hearts soften and they fall in love with the little girl. I don't know why but I had been itching to watch it again and it finally came in our netflix. I wanted to see if it still lived up to my fond memories, and it did. :)

Happy Sweetest Day

Saturday was Sweetest Day!

Most of you are probably wondering "what the heck is that?" Well, out here we get to celebrate an extra holiday every 3rd Saturday of October! I know, jealous, huh.

As the name implies, it's a day to celebrate the "sweeties" in your life. Last year I heard people talking about it and thought they were saying "Swedish Day," so I really had no idea what they were talking about. But this year I confided in my dear friend Wikipedia and learned it's a holiday only celebrated in the Great Lakes region, and it was created by candy companies in Cleveland 84 years ago for the sole purpose of increasing their candy sales. Their idea was just never widespread.

Seems kind of funny to me, since candy companies are making a bundle on Halloween candy this time of year. But it's a fun excuse to think of your sweeties, it's like another Valentine's Day in October!

Working Together

For the past two weeks Josh has been doing his hospital rotation in labor and delivery, one week of night shift and one week of day shift. That means he and I had the privilege of working together for a few days this week!! It was fun, and probably the only time in our lives we'll work together. :) He got to see and experience a lot, including all the craziness we get at the University of Chicago. He saw the good, the bad, and the sad things that go along with having a baby. He helped deliver several babies and got to scrub in for a couple c-sections. He scrubbed in on a c-section I was the circulator nurse for and it was so fun for me to see him standing next to the surgeons wearing his sterile gown and bloody gloves, all doctor-like. He learned he doesn't like surgery as much as he thought he would, and he still doesn't want to be an obgyn. In fact, after his first day in L&D he said "I don't know how you can stand doing what you do, IT'S GROSS!!" Yes, that's true. Having a baby isn't the prettiest thing. It was fun that he was able to meet the people I work with and could see what I do at work and what I have to put up with (it's not always easy being a nurse). But he learned a lot, and one of my co-workers gave him such a nice compliment when she said he'd make a great doctor because he was so nice to the patients and actually talked to them like a person. I'll have to agree!

Good Bye Warm Weather

Here in Chicago we were pretty spoiled for a few weeks while it was unusually warm. I was wearing shorts and sandles up to ealier this week. The leaves weren't changing color yet. In fact, last Sunday the Chicago Marathon was cut short due to the dangerously hot temperatures. Apparently people were getting dehydrated and passing out everywhere. I think it was the hottest Chicago Marathon ever.

But then literally over night, in just a few short hours, our weather completely changed and the heat is nowhere in sight! It's been in the 50's and 60's and a little rainy. I guess it's time to say good by to flipflops and short sleeves and to say hello to:

sweaters

socks

down jacket

hats and scarves and gloves

flannel pajamas

thermal underwear

This time of year also welcomes the fun things of fall:

falling leaves

reds, oranges, and yellows

pumpkin pie

apple

cinnamon

Halloween candy

the smell of warm fireplaces
pumpkin patches

(these pictures are from last fall)

I love autumn time! Everything about it is so fun. I hope to enjoy everything about it while it lasts. Because then winter is just around the corner and I know it will come fast.