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!