What a beautiful weekend

What a beautiful weekend!!! We could not have asked for better weather! On Saturday Steve and Sue came down with the kids and we all went to the zoo. We all had fun and enjoyed being out in the sunny 80 degree weather, and it was great to see them again. They have some great animals and exhibits, but I think Fort Wayne still has a better zoo.



Joe and his Dippin Dots! :)

After that Joe and I spent Sat evening and Sunday working on the yard and deck and things around the house. I, of course, managed to get a pretty bad sunburn on my back after pulling weeds for a few hours. Ouchie!!

We found out more homes in our neighborhood have been broken into and it has been mentioned on the news and on the radio. Our neighbor stopped over on Sunday concerned because she was worried about me being home alone sleeping during the day. She said she heard they are going around with a clipboard like they are selling stuff, then when no one answers they break in. A girl at work also heard about it and heard they were breaking into home with easy access. It makes me feel better knowing there are a few neighbors around who are retired and keeping an eye out on things, but nevertheless, I'm nervous about going home and sleeping all day tomorrow.

Worried

So I'm a little worried... Tuesday morning after work I went to bed and slept most of the day. When Joe got home that evening I got up and we were eating dinner together and watching a movie when a police officer knocked on the door. He told us the neighbors a few houses down was broken into and wondered if we had seen anything suspicious or strange vehicles that day. There have been lots of days I'm home alone sleeping. How would any burgler know I'm back in the bedroom sleeping, and what would happen if they broke in and then discovered me there? It would be very easy for someone to get into the house if they wanted to. Joe put the poker to the fire-pit next to the bed... although I'm not convinced it could do much harm to them no matter how hard I tried... It just has me a little worried and shook up... I never would have thought in our neighborhood we'd have to worry. :(

Fort Wayne

Thursday Joe and I made a quick day trip to Fort Wayne. We needed to get the lawn-mower Steve and Sue had been so kindly storing for us! Joe was able to get in a visit to Parkview to see a few old co-workers while I got my hair cut, then we visited Parkview North to see more old co-workers. It was so great to see their familiar faces and get a quick update on how everything is going up there. It makes me sad to be missing out on some of the exciting things going on in their lives, or being there when they going through some rough times. As much as we both miss all of them, and would do anything to just move the hospital and some of our old co-workers down here with us, we are a lot happier here than we would have been in Fort Wayne.

We fit in a quick visit with Dad, which wasn't very long but it was nice to sit for a bit with just us three. I try and quiz him every chance I can on questions about the house and repairing things! Hopefully he isn't too tired of it yet.... I've got lots of questions!! :)

Then we headed off for dinner with Ayren, Josh, and Hailey. They are closing on their first home in Greenwood at the end of the month (yay!), after a nice trip to Disneyland... or world... I don't know, I always mix those up! :) It will be nice to have Ayren close again. As hard as it probably was for her to be back in Fort Wayne for the last year without her husband, I was spoiled having her there to help with wedding plans and de-stressing all those times I needed it! I am very lucky to have had all her help and advice over the last year. Thank you!!!!

We also made a quick stop at the Gin Mill for an after work get together with some of Joe's old RT co-workers. It was great to visit and catch up, and the guys got to start plans for this years white-water rafting trip. I'm already nervous about this one and it's months away!

Saturday's plans were for Grandma's birthday party and having a little cook-out at Mark and Cindi's to celebrate. Unfortunately Grandma ended up having to spend a couple days in the hospital to rule-out pneumonia, but we decided to still get together. Dad came down and Ash and Keaton joined us over at Mark and Cindi's. It was fun to see them and the twin's again. She is getting a cute little belly... I'm excited to see if it's a boy or a girl!

The next month should be fun. Steve and Sue are coming down with the kids for a visit, and hopefully Kirstin will be here next month!!! Yay! I still have yet to get details, but last week she had to defend her thesis and did an awesome job (which we all knew she would do! :) Good job Kirstin!!! :)

Too cute not to share

You would think they actually like eachother from this pictures... Tommy decided he wanted to sleep where Parkers head was at the time, so Parker took the opportunity to use Tommy's butt as his pillow :)

Weekend Fun

Joe and I both had the weekend off. It always seems to go too fast when that happens. Friday night we tried out a new sushi restaurant, and were able to cross it off the list of places we'll probably go back to! :) We also finally picked out some patio furniture and a fire pit, which we were able to put together Saturday and get a little use out of. We had some fun making s'mores with Ash and Keaton Saturday night over the fire. It was still a little too cold to be comfortable, but it's nice to finally have our own backyard space.

Today we spent the day doing a little yard work. We hadn't thought our yard looked too bad, other than a few patches, until a couple days ago when a dandilion field took over! Seeing all the neighbors doing yard work last weekend made us feel guilty so we got out to spray weeds and put some mulch down. Now I just have to do some research on flowers and which I should plant where. It definitely reminds us of the perks of apartment living, but I still wouldn't trade it for that tiny little balcony we used to call our "backyard".

A New Start

I thought it would be a great idea to start a blog to keep everyone updated on our lives. Partly because of how far we live now from many of our friends and family, and also because I was told my first week at work "everybody blogs!", so I felt compelled to start. :)

I would love to say things have settled down here at the new house, but it still seems to always be busy around here. I moved to working nights (7p-7a), 3 days a week, and Joe has continued his day shift, 4 days a week (either 7a-3p or 7a-7p). I don't mind the nights, I just don't like sleeping through most of my days off, especially on the nice days. We didn't think the opposite schedules would be hard but it seems like Joe and I aren't getting to spend a lot of time together. Sometimes we have to say "goodbye" to eachother for three days at a time since we work complete opposite shifts and wont even pass eachother. Work for the most part is good. We are both adjusting to new hospitals and different ways of doing things. We definitely miss our old Parkview family back home and hope to get back soon to say hi.

Other than work we are managing to continuously find things around the house to do. So far we have mostly done some painting, but I'm hoping for tiling the floors in the bathrooms and kitchen soon, as well as new countertops. Despite the many things we have on our house "to do" list, we are finding that we love the house more and more everyday. I feel so lucky we found it and have the opportunity to grow in our first home together. We definitely know things we'll plan to look for in our next one, but for now this is the perfect house! Here are the before and after of the dining room paint job... we still have some work to do!

Ash seems to be doing well in her upstairs "apartment"! :) I'm glad to have a "roommate" who works night shift me. I am incredibly bored on nights off at 2am without her around to talk and watch movies with!