Moving!..... Again!

Aaron and I came to a sad realization the other day - we have moved AT LEAST once a year for the past 6 years. Luckily, we have had the help of wonderful family and friends that selflessly offer to lend a hand. In July we will be moving to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for Aaron's second rotation of his training program at Watlow. So, even though we've only been in Saint Louis for a short time, we are packing it all up... again. Getting up before the crack of dawn to move it all several states over... again. Unloading and unpacking it all in the new place... again. Only to have to do this all over again in another year. We are crazy.

Joy has graciously offered to come help us pack this week, huge blessing because we've only been slowly getting stuff packed up so far, very slowly. We have movers coming on the 9th (hopefully) to put the boxes (and boxes and boxes...) in the truck for us. And then when we arrive in Lake Geneva, we have a crew of family and friends that have offered to help unload the truck! We are so, SO thankful for all these helpers!

Alaska

We just got home from our week-long adventure in Alaska, and it was nothing short of amazing. Here are some of the highlights:

- Wilderness camping in Denali National Park. We climbed a mountain, hiked 15 mi or so, saw tons of wildlife, and slept under the stars (that we couldn't really see because it was light out 22/7), all the while surrounded by magnificent formations. We got to see Grizzly Bears, Wolves, Eagles, Caribou, and a Moose!

- Our flight-seeing tour of the Alaskan Mountain Range and Denali (Mt McKinley). We got to land on a glacier in the mountains 5,000 ft up!

- A day-cruise of the Kenai Fjords. We saw whales! Two families! Of Orcas and Humpbacks! And we saw Seals, Otters, Dolphins, Sea Lions, and Puffins! It was amazing.

- Getting to see huge glaciers up close. We got to get close to 2 glaciers on our trip, one on a hike (Exit Glacier) and one on our Fjords Cruise. The face of the glacier below is 300 ft tall!

- All the fresh seafood! We got to try Alaskan King Crab, Salmon, Calamari, and Rock Fish... yum!

It was definitely a trip of a lifetime, and I am so glad we did it. I just kept thinking, "I can wait to do this with our kids someday!"

Life Update - the last 15 months, in a nutshell

Wow, I have really neglected this blog. heh - whoopsies! Since my last update, here's what's happened:

Jan-Mar 09: Aaron continued to look for jobs around Wisconsin. After weeks of little luck, he extended his search a bit to cover the Midwest.
Apr 09: Aaron was offered a job by Watlow in St. Louis, aaand we took it!
Jul 09: We moved to a high-rise apartment in the city. We can walk to Cardinals, Blues, and Rams games!
Oct 09: We celebrated our first anniversary! We made it a long weekend and visited Branson, MO.
Nov-Jan: We traveled a bit visiting family for the holidays, and I had a hectic few months of work (as usual for the end of the year).
Feb 10: We started planning a summer vacation to Alaska!
Mar 10: Aaron turned 24! Whoa, old man!


These days we are getting ready for a few upcoming events. Aaron's job at Watlow is moving us back to Wisconsin for at least a year. The move is happening in July, so we are starting to look for a place to live and dreading packing everything up.

Our trip to Alaska is happening at the end of May/beginning of June. We are "in training" for the hiking/camping that is going to happen on our vacation. We've gone on a few hikes in the area in preparation, and we're planning a few multiple-day hikes between now and the time we leave.

Also, we're planning to add another member to our family this summer or fall... a puppy! :) Stay tuned for more details on that in the next few months.

The Third Member of the Family

First, I will give you all an update from my last post about the job search update. Aaron's Paris, TX interview that was scheduled this got pushed back for now. The UW Career fair is coming up in less than 2 weeks, so we are now preparing for that event.

I've had my cat Carl for about a year and a half now, but I wanted to share some pictures of him for those of you who haven't seen him before. Recently, I got him a UW Badgers shirt (which he hates to wear, of course). The crabby hat was a gift from Aaron's mom, Joy, and it suits him very well because he gets crabby instantly when I put it on him :)



Aaron and Carl did not get along very well at first, but they are learning to live together. For instance, if Carl does try to sleep in the bed, he knows not to go near Aaron. It only took one or two "launching" experiences for Carl to get the idea.

Job Search Update

As many of you probably know, Aaron has been searching very hard during his post-graduation break for a job. In the current state of things, it's proven very difficult. He just went through a second round of applying for jobs, and he's starting to hear back. He has an interview in about 2 weeks in Texas! Also a phone interview coming up next week. At the beginning of February, there is another Engineering Career Fair going on at the UW too that Aaron is planning to attend. We're very excited at the possibilities that lie ahead.

We know there are many people out there thinking and praying for us, and we really, really appreciate all of your support!

Happy New Year... from New York!

I left my husband for the first time in our marriage! I am currently away visiting my best friend in upstate New York, while Aaron is stuck behind in Madison still. I'm a bad wife, I know. Luckily, our good friend/best man, John, is throwing a 3-day New Year's party this week. They are playing poker, bowling, and going to a hockey game. I don't think Aaron will miss me too much :)

I am having a wonderful time here in Plattsburgh, NY. My maid of honor, Jackie, flew out here with me from Milwaukee, and we are visiting my other maid of honor, Therese. It is so wonderful to have close friends who you know will always be there for you. I know that not everyone has this, so I am indefinitely thankful to the Lord for placing these two beautiful women in my life. I don't know what I would do without them.



Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

We will be heading to Waukesha, WI for Christmas tomorrow afternoon to see my family. Tonight, we will be attending a candlelight Christmas Eve service at Blackhawk, and then we will watch movies and bake some goodies. We're trying for a relaxing, quiet first Christmas together :)

Safe travels everyone!

The End of an Era

This past weekend was Aaron's graduation ceremony from the College of Engineering at UW-Madison. We were joined in the celebration of Aaron's impressive achievement by both of our parents. The weekend's events caused us to reflect on the last 4 years and all the friends we made, all-nighters we pulled, crazy activities we survived, and the great times we shared. We had so much fun in our early years of college that it actually made us sad that we're so boring now!!


College was the time when we figured out who we were. It was definitely some of the most difficult times and some of the most fun times. For those of you reading this that are currently in (or almost in) college: soak it up. Work hard, but enjoy yourself. It goes by so fast.

Wedding Pictures - Preview!!

Our awesome photographer has posted "preview" pictures of our wedding on her blog. Check them out!

http://blog.angelicangles.com/2008/12/heather-aaron.html

Keeping Connected

Hey everyone!
We decided to start this blog to keep you all informed on the little day to day things going on in our wonderful, new, exciting life together! yay! So here goes nothing...

Last week, we decided to put up a Christmas tree, and, oh boy, did we not realize what we were getting ourselves into! First, we had chosen to get a large, real tree. Although I love the look/smell of a real tree, this was probably our first mistake as first-time-tree-putter-uppers. The first problem we ran into was that the tree trunk was too short for the tree stand we had. Luckily, the man who sold us the tree had enough foresight to suppose that this may be an issue. He gave us an extra piece of "trunk" to nail to the bottom of our tree if this came up. Awesome! Oh, but the only nail we could find was too short and didn't go all the way through the wood piece.

So, we were off to Wal-Mart to buy some nails. (At this point, it was 9pm on Wednesday night) After driving cross-town and wandering around the store for a while, we made our purchase and headed back home. Aaron nailed the wood piece to our tree, and, of course, our tree trunk was still too short for the stand. So, we pulled out the hack-saw we happened to have lying around, and took out a few of the lowest branches. Low and behold... The tree now fits!

The next task was to actually get the tree to stay up on it's own in the stand. Aaron's job was to tighten the EIGHT metal screws under the tree, and I was in charge of holding the tree straight. (Now if you are usually the person under the tree, please know that hold the tree up straight is not as easy as it seems!) Since this was the first time we had used this tree stand (and it was plastic), the screws were nearly impossible to get tight enough (poor Aaron!) It was during this task that one or the both of us reached our peak of frustration and shouted "I hate Christmas!!"

About 45 minutes and three horribly crooked tries later, we finally got a straight Christmas tree. This is when we realized that we were only halfway through this awfully difficult holiday tradition! Next came the lights (second worst part, in my opinion), ornaments, and star.



When it was all said and done, we found ourselves with a beautifully decorate, semi-straight Christmas tree in our living room. We're learning to just breathe when things get stressful around the holidays and remember what this time of year is all about.

We hope you're having a great holiday season (despite the stress of the tree, the shopping, and the crowds)... Merry (almost) Christmas!!
--Heather