Ugly Xmas Sweater Contest

I know what you are thinking and no John does not typically wear this sweater and crew neck turtleneck.  This week we had my work Christmas party that included an ugly xmas sweater contest (that I won in case anyone was wondering!).  Before we left we decided we needed a family photo and what would be a family photo without embarassing your kids (or dog in our case).  Poor Charley...she puts up with so much.

The first snow

Winter in Iowa has officially arrived.  With that comes cold winds, snow and long months ahead.  John has officially broken out the shovel while I watched from the warmth of our home :-).  I have it good!  At least John has a great companion outside to help him out (Charley)

Trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon

A few weeks ago John and I headed down to Arizona with our wonderful friends Lauren and Johnse.  It was a relaxing weekend of laying in the pool watching football with a cold drink in our hands.  While we were there we also did some sightseeing.  We headed to the Grand Canyon one day while making some pit stops on the way.  We went to Sedona where John quickly learned that homemade chorizo for breakfast was not the best option when you have to sit in a car for 4 hours.  We took 1000 pictures (not joking) but here are just a few.  If you have not been to the Grand Canyon you really have to go to see how beautiful it really is.


Sedona, AZ



Happy Birthday John

After a crazy hectic summer of doing...well i don't know what we did but seemed like we were busy...i decided to surprise John for his birthday and take him up to a Twins game in Minneapolis.  He had been talking about how he wanted to see the new stadium so I got tickets.  I didn't tell John where we were going until that morning and he was definitely pleasantly surprised.

We headed up to Minneapolis which ended up only taking about 3.5 hours from our house!  I had booked us a hotel room at the Marriott 3 blocks from the stadium.  We headed to the park and enjoyed a wonderful day of baseball, hot dogs and beer! 

Happy 32nd Birthday John!!!!

Summer Time = Baseball Games

Here are some pictures of a few trips we have made this summer to see the Cubs (yuck) and the Cardinals (yay!)

Here are John and I at the Cubs game.  Rooftop tickets what a great day!!!!

So great that Elaine, Brett and Ryan live so close and we were able to visit with them while we were at the game.

Showing our friends around St. Louis.  First stop...Brewery...we decided that their rule for only having two free beers at the brewery was meerly a suggestion.

AWESOME TICKETS...8th row off of 1st base..THANKS DAD!

End of the night....I think we all had more fun than we have had in A LONG time.  Made for a long ride home to Cedar Rapids the next day.

2 years ago...

Now that the house is basically done, I decided to change the name of the blog since it was more dedicated to what is going on in our lives these days.  Hopefully we can keep you slightly entertained but I can't make any promises.  I figured this post was a good one to start with....

It was just about two years ago when Marisa and I decided to come up to Cedar Rapids to visit Lauren and Johnse for the weekend.  Would never have imagined that weekend would change my whole life!  I remember the night very vividly.  Lauren had mentioned the night before that I should meet her and Johnse's friend John.  He was the Best Man in their wedding, so I probably should have remembered him...but...if you were at that wedding you know why I wouldn't remember!  Anyways Johnse had called John and told him that we were all going out and that we should meet up.  We headed to Lauren's parents house for dinner and Jeff's margs (potent to say the least).  Johnse said a lovely prayer at dinner and made sure to "thank God for Lisa's credit card" (marisa's mom) before we went out on the town.  We walked into the bar, I saw John, and was instantly attracted to him.

I knew from the moment that I met John that there was something very special about him and about us.  I left that weekend to go back to Kansas City and knew I had to see him again.  I made up an excuse to get his email address from Lauren and emailed him pictures from the weekend.  We decided to try to meet up again and that we were going to give this long distance thing a shot.  It wasn't easy...but I wouldn't change any of it!  I am truely blessed.

My favorite quote is "life is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.."  Thank you John for creating all those wonderful moments for me I know we have millions more ahead of us...i love you xoxo

Family Vacation to Destin

After months of worrying whether oil would hit the beaches of Destin and ruin our vacation we finally headed there for a wonderful OIL FREE trip.  Our original plan was for John, Elaine, Brett, Ryan and I to fly to Florida from Chicago and Mom and Dad would drive from St. Louis.  The Thursday before we were to leave I received a call from my Dad letting me know that our Grandmother Hattie Mae Isom had passed away suddenly.  We contemplated whether we would even go on our vacation but the family decided it would be best for everyone to take a vacation.  We all headed down to Southern Illiniois on Saturday and John got to meet the whole family for the first time at the funeral.  It was unfortunate that it was under such sad circumstances.  Later that day we all jumped in two cars and headed off to our Florida vacation.....let the Griswald Family Vacation Begin!

So it's 2010..cell phones are a normal accessory to carry HOWEVER...why not just use walky talkies???  We had one in each car so that we could communicate back and forth (more for the entertainment than anything).  We headed south and decided that we would stay the night in Prattville, AL actually in a hotel I have stayed in before when I worked at Cerner.  The next morning we headed back on our way through some very interesting towns in Alabama and finally arrived at Sunny Destin around noon. 

Everyone was really excited to take Ryan to the beach for the first time however after one mouthful of sand and a whole bunch in his eyes it was decided that he would stay at the pool for the rest of the trip.  Our condo was amazing with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a deck that was the size of the first floor of our home!!  We had a great view of the Gulf :-)

My Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Jerry live down in Fort Walton Beach so we were able to enjoy time with them that we only get every couple of years.  It was a great week of relaxing, fishing, parasailing, having a few tasty beverages and just enjoying each others company!  Family Vacation = SUCCESS!  Here are some photos from the trip.

The Hanleys visit Cedar Rapids

Memorial Day weekend my sister, brother in law and newphew came to visit Cedar Rapids for the first time.  We spent the weekend hanging out in the backyard as well as hitting up the Kernals game here in Cedar Rapids. By the end of the weekend most of the house had been remodeled due to everything having to be put up high so that Ryan wouldn't get into it!!!  He is such a stinker. 

Saturday we went to visit Uncle John at the Fire Station.  Ryan got to sit in the fire truck and also got a hat and a sticker from John.

Charley and Ryan got along great and we definitely know Ryan is not allergic to dog slobber as he got tons of kisses from Charley all weekend.  Ryan enjoyed playing patty cake on Charleys back and talking to the doggy.  They have something in common too...both love to be in the backyard!  It was a great weekend!! Can't wait to head to Florida in a few weeks with everyone :-)

Life is a highway, i wanna ride it all night long!

So we finally decided to get the bikes out this weekend!  We hit the trail around 8 am on Sunday and rode for 9 miles.  Not bad for our first time out this year!  It was a beautiful morning and not too warm out.  I would say overall it was a successful trip considering it was my first time clipping in and out of my pedals.  I actually made it the whole 9 miles without falling until we got to the car to pack up the bikes and my foot wouldn't clip out and I tumbled to the ground.  Needless to say I was very angry with myself!  We are heading out again tonight for another ride....wish me luck!

Gormet meal in the new kitchen

So I am so excited to have a brand new kitchen that I decided I would make a yummy gormet meal for John.  I had been wanting to make homemade ravioli and finally was able to now that I had a stove.  It turned out pretty yummy.  Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it out for themselves!  Really wasn't very hard just extremely time consuming.  Would be very simple if you used wonton wrappers that you can find in the freezer section of your grocery store.  I was unable to find all the mushrooms listed below so I just doubled up on what I could find.  The sauce I made I did not love it was a gouda based sauce.  I will definitely just do a basic alfredo next time.  I did however use some of the leftover mushrooms and just chopped those up into the sauce so add some chunks to it. 

WILD MUSHROOM RAVIOLI!!!

Ingredients

For the Filling

1/4 cup sliced shiitake mushroom
1/4 cup sliced oyster mushroom
1/2 cup sliced cremini mushroom (baby portabella)
1/2 cup sliced white button mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped mixed mushrooms

For the RaviolI
3 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup water

Directions
1THE FILLING.
2Melt butter in pan.
3Add olive oil to melted butter.
4Add mushrooms.
5Let mushrooms sweat until they release their juices.
6Add pepper, salt, and onion/garlic powder.
7Add 1/8 cup beef broth and let mixture reduce.
8Once reduced, remove from heat and let cool.
9Add cheeses to blender/food processor.
10Add cooled mushroom mixture to cheese.
11Blend together until smooth.
12Add more broth if mixture is too thick.
13Remove mixture to bowl stir in 1/2 cup of mixed mushrooms.
14Set aside.
15THE DOUGH: Sift flour and salt together.
16Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour.
17Drop eggs into the flour well, using your hand or a fork, break the yolks and beat eggs slightly.
18Combine the eggs and flour together, gradually adding enough warm water to make a stiff dough.
19Knead dough well, until smooth; cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
20Cut dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board, into a very thin sheet (about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick).
21FILLING THE RAVIOLI: Drop about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of filling about 1 1/2 inches apart all along the dough.
22When the sheet of dough is fully dotted with dabs of filling mixture, cover filling with other sheet of dough.
23Using your fingers, gently press dough between each dab of filling to seal it.
24Cut ravioli into squares with a pastry cutter, or very sharp knife.
25DRYING THE RAVIOLI: Allow ravioli to dry for one hour before cooking.
26COOKING THE RAVIOLI: Drop ravioli into 6 to 8 quarts of boiling, salted water and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until dough is tender.
27Remove cooked ravioli from pot carefully with a skimmer or a large slotted spoon, and drain well.
28Serve hot and enjoy with your favorite cream sauce.

3 months after signing the contract...WE'RE FINISHED!

The day finally came...the day when John and I could just sit on the couch and relax.  This weekend we pretty much wrapped up working on the house.  There are still a few minor things we need to do (fill nail holes, put up a few pieces of trim, organize etc) but for the most part we have a fully functional house!

Looking back I am absolutly amazed at what we (mostly john) accomplished in 3 months.  Here is a list of everything that was done.

New paint, carpet, hardwood floors, new cabinets, countertop, bathroom vanity all new light fixtures as well as a handful of plumbing fixes!  Wow I am exhausted just listing that out.  Not sure how we managed to get through it with only minimal disagreements but we did!  Take a look at some kitchen before and after shots!


Kitchen before had wallpaper, yellow walls, linolium floor, oak cabinets, formica countertop and a mismatch or appliances!

We started with a fresh coat of paint and tore off all of the wallpaper (we were not sad to see that go).  We also tore out the linolium and prepared it for hickory floors.

We found new cherry cabinets and John and the guys did a wonderful job installing them

We went with a corinthian countertop (similar to corian) and got all new appliances and here it is..the finished product!   

A weekend away from it all...

Last weekend/week John and I headed to Boston, MA.  I had a work conference out there and John and I decided we would make a mini vacation out of it and take a break from the home remodeling to enjoy ourselves (not that all this remodeling isn't enjoyable haha). 

Our first day in Boston we headed to the oldest restaurant in the United States, Union St. Oyster House, and had a bowl of clam chowder...delicious!  We then were so excited to meet up with Meredith and her husband John for SEVERAL drinks :-)  They had both never met John so it was great to finally get to introduce him...we had a blast to say the least.  I would insert a photo here form the night however NOT ONE photo was taken..Meredith how did we let that happen??

Day 2...John and I went to the New England Aquarium for the morning and then went to Boston Common and sat underneath a tree listening to live music that was playing in the park.  I think we sat there for a good 2-3 hours just hanging out.  I can't remember the last time we just kicked up our feet and relaxed...IT WAS AMAZING!

The rest of the week was spent with me going to the conference which was very informative and John touring Boston on his own during the day.  We also were able to head to Fenway to see a Red Sox game which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!

BIG Trash Day!

Today is finally here.  After about 2.5 months we are finally ready to get rid of the DUMPSTER!  This is definitely a sign of things finally coming to an end as far as remodeling goes :-).  I am not sure we could fit one more thing inside of it!

We have been doing a lot of organizing inside the house as well as getting all of John's stuff from his condo moved.  He is getting the last of it today and will officially be 100% moved in!  The only thing we are still waiting on in the house is the countertop for the kitchen and that should be here by May 5th (not soon enough in my mind). Here are some pictures of the backyard we have really battled the dandelions and I think we have finally won!  Also the swing set has become a great place to hang out upside down strawberry and tomato plants

A weekend outside

John and I spent the entire weekend working out in the yard.  Felt great to get some things accomplished out there.  We had our lawn sprayed last week and finally some of the dandelions have started to die.  I don't think anyone has taken care of the bushes and plants here for a few years so it took a full day of just trimming and cleaning to get the yard looking decent.  John and I created a spot for our garden ...now if I could just make it bunny proof.  I have heard that rabbits don't like marigolds so I planted some of those.  Our garden is going to consist of red peppers, green peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, tomatillo's, cherry tomatos cucmbers and onions.  I also planted some basil and cilantro YUM!  Hopefully by the time that it has veggies on the plants I will have a fully functional kitchen!  We ordered our countertops so hopefully they will be in by the end of next week! 

John has started to move a few things into the house.  We now have end tables and a coffee table (John's) and hopefully he will be bringing over the kitchen table soon.  His plan is to move in by May 1 but we'll see if he can pack and move in two weeks.  He shouldn't have much else to do since most of the big work is done now at the house.  Just need to start hanging things on the walls and make this place look like a home.

April showers bring....dandelions?

So it looks like we are going to have to have our lawn sprayed professionaly.  John and I had talked about doing this anyway just to get the grass in good shape so that we could then maintain it on our own.  With all the rain that we have had 1 dandelion in the yard turned into about 100 this weekend. 

It is really starting to feel and look like spring here.  Saturday John and I spent the morning reading the newspaper on our new comfy carpet.  We then got all the doors hung on the cabinets which was a pretty easy task!  We decided to take the day easy and got Charley out for a nice long walk and then had our friends Lauren, Johnse and their little one Micah over for dinner. 

Sunday John had to work so I decided it was time to get some boxes out of the basement and stocked my cabinets!  I also wanted to do some work outside so I headed off to a nursery to buy my favorite bush, lilac.  When I got there and actually looked at them I realized that I had two in my backyard that had just started budding.  I ended up getting some strawberry plants, a tomato plant and a peony.  John and I have been very intrigued by the upside down planters so we now have upside down tomato's and strawberrys in the backyard (I will keep you posted if they actually amount to anything). 

This week John is working on running the gas line to our stove (hope the house doesn't blow up)!  I think we are also going to start cleaning out our garage of the 900 cardboard boxes that have accumulated there. 

Another weekend ahead...

Not sure what is on the agenda this weekend. We were going to get the bikes out but I think it's going to be too cold for that. I am hoping to buy a lilac bush this weekend and plant that and maybe do some decorating.

Yesterday was a BIG day! We finally got our carpet in the living room installed so no more sub flooring!!!!! The carpet is a frieze (don't really know how to spell or say that word) so its similar to shag but shorter. It looks great in the room and feels great under the feet! Soon it will be time to put up decorations and start making this place actually look like a home and not just a construction zone.

So once the carpet was installed you would have thought I would be busy working on the house...instead...popped a movie in and curled up on the couch (shh don't tell John).

Here is a before and after picture of the living room...we took out the chair rail, installed a ceiling fan, painted the room a lighter color and changed out the carpet! Obviously from the picture below I have some decorating to do.

On to the Kitchen!

Wow its April!!! A lot has happend since my last post. The floors are finally completed and look beautiful! It was a big relief for everyone involved to have that project completed! After that was done it was on to the kitchen to start hanging cabinets. Our cabinets are Cherry and really bring out the dark boards in our Hickory floor. Here are some pictures of the finished floor and the final board that was put in. We definitely could not have finished this project without the help of our friends! Thanks Guys!

Here are a few pictures of the cabinets that are hung. We are now working on putting up the crown molding for those (a lot harder than it looks) and then getting the doors on and our countertop ordered. John is going today to pick up our carpet for the living room and that is getting installed tomorrow! YAY NO MORE SUB FLOORING!