1 year ago...

We were in sunny/warm San Diego on our honeymoon. We would walk to the ocean, with flip-flips and shorts... ahh it was divine!

This year? We are in Iowa, with the wind chill tonight expected to be 20 below. We are trudging through what's left of the 18 inches of snow that fell over Christmas, still trying to see around corners piled high while we drive, and today? More snow. Four-six inches. Winds up to 40 mph.

Anyway, I haven't posted for a while! Thought I'd update a little bit. Hmm it was November when I posted last. Well, since then...

-I have wrapped up my first travel season. Overall it went well, it was definitely a first season, but I learned from everything and am glad to be back in the office for a while. I'll probably start traveling again in late February (weather permitting) and will make another trip out to the Pacific NW in March.

-Ross has started student teaching at Rock Valley HS. He is enjoying it I think, but today was his 3rd day and they had early dismissal because of the weather. I am excited to see him grow through this experience, and learn tons about teaching. He is in charge of one piece for their concert in February, and he will conduct that piece at the concert.

-We surprised my mom and drove out to Washington for thanksgiving, along with Michelle and Josh, a family friend of ours who also surprised his family. My dad knew the whole time so that he could coordinate everything on that end, and it worked out so well! That was really a fun trip.

-We stayed here for Christmas this year, and celebrated with the De Wit's, which also was fun. We stayed at Larry & Ellen's house for a few days due to the weather (that 18 inches I mentioned...), so we were sure to bring our Wii along, which kept us all entertained, along with movies, board games, and TV specials. Oh and food and snacks. Lots of food and snacks :)

-Ross and I took it easy over break, but wrapped up with a trip up to Minneapolis to celebrate our first anniversary. It was a lot of fun, we went to a Minnesota Wild game, saw a movie and played mini-golf at Mall of America, ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp and Texas Roadhouse among other restaurants, and went to a dinner theater showing of Oklahoma, which was my favorite part. Ross had the idea of the dinner theater and he was right on... it was really a lot of fun. We really enjoyed getting out of this area and exploring the city together :) We are suckers for getaways to the city!

-We became youth group leaders in an effort to become more involved at Bridge of Hope. We have been going there every Sunday for the past 4 months or so, and it fits us well I think. We love the kids at youth group, and it has been fun to get to know them.

-We got cable. I am addicted to HGTV, we love FoodNetwork. Anyone seen the show "The Worst Cooks in America"? It's great. Watch it.

-The Avalon has started to get old. Like probably 80 in human years. We had a few times where it wouldn't start, but we got 'er running! It has close to 202,000 miles on it. We cross railroad tracks to get to our house, and I'm not sure how many times over the railroad tracks it has left in it! Ross and I switched cars for the semester since he now has further to drive, so I get the beater car for a while. At least I live on the same street as one of my coworkers! We are hoping to get an SUV once Ross gets a job. Oh and a puppy... hopefully our landlord doesn't mind!

-I started to pay off my student loans. It sucks. The end.

We did also get to see some really good friends over break. We love having people over. But give us advance warning so we can clean, because our house is never clean. It's pretty much always messy :)

Overall I am enjoying my job, hating the snow, missing my friends, missing my family, proud of Ross, and hoping he'll find a job soon after grad. We have so much to be thankful for!