Christmas

So, it has been a long time since we updated out blog. I guess we have been kinda busy. Last week we were in Missouri to celebrate Christmas with Jenna's family. We had a great time seeing everybody including our nieces.

While we were there we visited several wineries in the area. We drank some good wine and brought several bottles home with us. We are looking forward to the new year and would like to wish all our friends and families a happy and healthy New Year!

End of Summer Update

Well, summer if about over and it's almost time to head back to school. I have to say, I am looking forward to it. I miss the kiddos and all my fun co-workers.

My grad classes have begun and are actually about half over for the summer. It is unreal how fast summer classes go by. I really didn;t expect grad school to be so hard, but I guess that is the nature of the program. I have been busy reading chapter upon chapter and writing paper after paper. I will be glad when it is over and I will have my 8 credits to get the next pay raise. (p.s. John's class is over and he got an A)

I worked at Old Navy for a whooping 3 weeks. I couldnt take it, when I was 16, it was one thing, but now I just want to say "Fold your own dang shirt!" haha, oh well, at least I got a few extra hundred bucks.

I am also volunteering at the Anti-Crulty society. I love being able to help all the animals. Everyone should totally adobt their pets from there. Its a great cause.

In just a few weeks, work will begin on our kitchen remodel. We are excited to finally have a better arranged kitchen that will hopefully have more potential to bring in buyers when we list the house on the market. Cross your fingers!

Hawaii Pictures

Hawaii

Well, its back to the real world. Hawaii was great, even more beautiful than we expected. John and I were able to do so much sightseeing in the 8 days we were there, but soon realized 8 days was not enough, we needed just a few more to really see everything the Big Island had to offer.

We started off the week by doing a lot of sightseeing. We spent one day traving south via the west side of the island and went to a black sand beach, the southern most point in the United States (where we saw the biggest, most destructive waves we had ever seen; see above)and explored a Lava tube that was on the side of the highway.

The next day, we went to Volcano National Park via the nothern and eastern side of the island. Along the way, we stopped at almost every waterfall and scenic point our little guide book suggested. We spent a few hours at the park (which is not near enough time, but part of the park was closed due to toxic fumes), and then traveled to the ocean to see the current lava flowing into te ocean. It was a really neat experience; probably something we will never see again.

We spent the next few days relaxing buy the Lagoon at out hotel. We took a sunset cruise (AWESOME VIEWS) and went snorkling several times.

Hawaii is definetly a great place and I want to go back badly (we lost about 300 of the 600 pictures we took so we need to go re-take them!)

.....I cant beleive June is almost over.

Tony and Tina's Wedding

Last night, John and I went to see Tony and Tina's Wedding for my friend Abbies birthday. I was a good time. For those who don't know, Tony and Tina's Wedding is a wedding and reception that is completely fake and staged. It is a very Italian family and all the stereotypical things that happen at big Italian weddings. They pull random people to participate all through out the night. John and I both got pulled onto the dance floor to dance with the cast.

Afterwords, we went to Adobo restaurant for some margaritas. It was good to see Abbie, we have been friends since the 4th grade and only see each other eavery few months.

4 days till Hawaii...........

Once again, it has been a long time since we updated and I apologize. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind.

For one, school is out for the summer. This is definetly one of the perks of being a teacher. I will be starting grad school in July and I am busy trying to find a mind-less summer job to keep me busy until then. I got a job at a restaurant but I dont really want to work it since they are looking for weekends only. I applied at Old Navy and Bath and Body Works too, so we will see what pans out.

The weather is being consistanlty nice now which is really great. This past weekend, we spent Saturday sitting outside at a bar and grill, wandering around a street fest, and seeing Sex and the City (if you like the show, you will love the movie). Sunday, we went a layed by the lake. It was only 62 out, but John got so sunburned! Luckly, I have been tanning, so I didnt burn at all. This was just a wake-up call that when we are in Hawaii, suncreen will be a must.

I bought us a Wii fit. It is really fun. Its weird how a little board can tell how you are moving. Its almost like some one is in the room watching. Its also quite entertaining to watch John try and hula hoop! :)

8 days until we leave for Hawaii.....I cant wait! I have been shopping like crazy so get ready. Sun and Sand.....here we come!

Spring Break Fun

The weather has started to get nicer and I am so excited about that. We were actually able to go out on Saturday without a coat! It was awesome. We spent the day shopping and ran into some friends and ended up going to an impromtu dinner with them. We went to Coast Sushi and YUMMM-O. It was some of the best we have had. Needless to say, we also enjoyed several bottles of wine which led to John enjoyed a nice hangover the next day.

Over Spring Break, we spent the week with my parents at the ranch in Farmington. We got to see our newest neice and I babysat her over night to try my hand at this baby thing. I have to say I did a pretty good job and only needed advice from my mom once. I got really lucky though because she is a GREAT baby and slept from 9:15pm-6am, so I was able to get a full night sleep. Pretty good for a lil one that isnt even 4 months old yet.

Right before break, I can down with the worst case of the flu I have had in a LONG time. The worst headache and fevers since I was a little kid. I went to the doctor and wasnt allowed to go back to work for an entire week.....thank goodness for paid sick days!

Last but not least..........ATA airlines. We have had to totally scramble to find new flights to Hawaii. Needless to say, we are now paying about $400 more and had to more our other flights and hotel to accomodate the change in flights. All I have to say is Hawaii better be beautiful!

peace-Jenna

A Lazy Saturday

Today we took a trip to the burbs. We went to a wine tasting in a great little shop we found in South Elgin. I would tell you what it was called but it wouldn't really be much of a hidden gem anymore if I told everybody about it. The tasting was great. They had 75 wines for free!!! My wife was in the mood to buy wine today so it is the tasting that keeps going. Unfortunatly the tasting that keeps going is not free :(. After the tasting we did a little shopping and then ate dinner at Walter Payton's Roundhouse. This is a pretty neat place. The food was pretty good and not too expensive. There is also a night club and a comedy club but we were a little too tired to check them out. I guess we are getting old.

Bye Bye Winter

I am so sick of winter. This has been the longest winter I can remember. Today is in the high 30's and I see a day in the 50's on the forecast so that is promising.

In a week and a half is spring break! I am so looking forward to the week off. John and I will be going down to St. Louis to spend some time at the ranch and see our newest neice Krystina. I think we are going to try our hand at babysitting. I am totally looking forward to it, Im not sure John shares the sentiment.

I have started tanning in preperation for Hawaii in June. We are SO excited for the trip. We got an email last night that ATA cancelled our flight out of Chicago. That started a whole mess of trying to find flights to still be able to catch out connections. Finally, we decided to fly to California the day before, get a good night sleep, and fly to Hawaii the next morning to catch our original connection out of Oakland. In the end, it works out for the best, but booking this whole flight thing has been a royal pain in the butt!! Now we are officially travelling from June 12-21. Its a nice LONG time!!

No other big news in our world. Hope everyone is healthy and Happy.

1st bath

1st bath
Originally uploaded by jenisys07

poor poor scooter! 1st bath!

latest in the life....

Well...first off, I have to apologize for not updating sooner. The truth is I have been lazy!
Not a whole lot is changed in our household. We are really looking forward to the spring and with it a lot warmer weather. Chicago winters always seem to live up to their reputation. We have had quite the snowfall in the last few weeks... not to mention ice and sub-zero temperatures. John will definetly be digging his car out the next time he drives it. Luckily, his car moves about 1x every 8 weeks.

In other car news, I got a new one! I got a grey 2008 Saturn VUE and I LOVE IT! I have never owned a brand new car it is very nice to be the only driver. With as how far I drive to work each day (100 miles/day), I am already up close to 4000. I know it dosent sound like much, but it only had 3 when i got it.

John is away on business right now. He is in the 2nd week of a 2 week training in Dallas, TX. It's always hard when one of us is away, but I think our 2.5 years of being in a long-distance relationship while we were dating, makes it a lot easier....plus, it's kinda nice to have the entire bed to myself once in awhile!

John will be startign gradschool in March. He got accepted to Depaul University in Chicago and will be studing Tax Law. The good news is that the program is 100% covered by his emplyer. I am in the process of getting approval to begin my masters as well. I am waiting for approval for tuition re-imbursment and then I should be set to begin in the summer at Depaul in Curriculum Studies with an emphaisis in reading.

I have decided to continue teaching preschool for another year. I really like my district and am going to stick it out at least one more year. It is truley challenging teaching such severe kiddos, but in the other hand, it is one of the most rewardng experiences of my life.

I think I am rambling now, so I will say goodbye for now! ~~ Jenna