Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas Family and Friends,

Thank you for following along with our blog this year.  We have so much to be thankful for in 2011!

Josh is in his 2nd year working on his doctorate in Physical Therapy at Concordia University.  We are so thankful for him to have over a year completed and looking forward to his 2nd clinical in January.  He is doing a great job in the midst of very busy class schedules and reading, breathing, eating and sleeping studying (if that's possible:) Other class mates are often looking to him for guidance and understanding of assignments and he is a trusted leader within his class.  In the beginning of the year he enjoyed a tad bit of stress-free time, by playing basketball and indoor soccer intramural sports with classmates. Hopefully he will get the chance to fit this into his schedule again this coming year. I am very proud of his hard work and dedication to this journey towards his PT career.

I started a full time job as administrative staff at a mental health clinic about 10 minutes from our house. After looking for a job for 7 months, I was glad to finally get back into the working game. I am very thankful to have a job and I have been challenged in many ways through this position.  We continue to have changes in the office. Myself and another new full time employee from 2 weeks before me have been learning how to create a more efficient office with limited direction.  I am very thankful for this employee, who has become a great friend and is also a sister-in-Christ. What a blessing to share work frustrations with a believer and also be able to pray together about our roles in the office (not to mention we laugh a lot!). I have also received my training license in WI to purse my clinical hours to become a Licensed Professional Counselor.  In January I will begin earning hours towards the 3,000 hours required.  This will be a marathon process taking several years, but at this point I believe the Lord surrounded me with great professionals and resources at the clinic to get this part of my career started.

Josh and I enjoyed time with his family over Thanksgiving week and we look forward to time with my family the week before Christmas.  We are also looking forward to an addition to our family...a NEW CAR! I couldn't resist. No children on the way, but we are in need of a second car.  We are currently car pooling to school and work, which is easy to do because they are 1 mile apart. However, when Josh starts his next clinical in January he'll be in Milwaukee everyday and carpooling will no longer be possible.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  May you remember Christ's birth this month and enjoy the gift of His love! Many blessings to you in 2012!

j & j moore

A slideshow of our favorite moments in 2011:)

Photo collage made with Smilebox

Thanksgiving at the Weis'

Thanksgiving was a full day of various events.  The day started out with the guys running the Turkey and the Fox race in Batavia. After surviving the cold we headed back to the Weis house to finish preparing Thanksgiving dinner. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal with all the usuals. It was wonderful to spend time with family and to catch up with one another.

The afternoon brought pie, naps, looking through Black Friday ads and enjoying each others company around the fireplace. Later in the evening we celebrated Chuck's birthday!!! Maddie and Hannah were especially excited for grandpas birthday and for him to open all his cards.  Maddie was making the rounds having each of us read grandpas birthday cards to her:)

Josh and I were able to stay for a few days at the Weis' house.  We had fun playing with the kids, shopping on Black Friday, watching a Christmas movie, and eating more food! The guys took the kids outside to play on Friday because it was sunny and beautiful outside. The outdoor play time turned into guys cut down part of the dead tree time. They were making Sharon and Eric a bit nervous. But the large hollow branch came down with no injuries.

Josh and Mike were hauling the wood to the other side of the yard and then Hannah took a small stick and held it above her head just like the guys...LOL! Maddie had to be strong too:)

We had fun drawing with sidewalk chalk that afternoon as well.  Saturday was cold and raining so we took a trip to the mall. The Weis' got family pics in a photo booth which they really had fun with. The kids had some time playing on the indoor play area and Josh and Mike became snowmen:)

Thanks for a wonderful visit Weis Family!!!

Movember & The Turkey and the Fox Race

You may think I spelled November wrong, but I did not. I meant to write "Movember" Not sure what Movember means? Here is a quote from us.movember.com:

"During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men."

As you can tell from the above picture Josh, Mike and Eric grew moustaches in honor our Josh's dad, who had and recovered from prostate cancer over a year ago. The guys were also planning on running the Turkey and the Fox race on Thanksgiving morning so this made the race and the pictures more interesting:)

Getting ready for the race 

Their back number tags say " I am running for DAD" hence the pointing at Chuck! 

 Josh's dad ran the race as well will was a great accomplishment for him. Way to go Chuck! Marilyn, Melissa, the kids and I picked a good corner to watch the race from because they all ran through that intersection two times.

The first pass I tried to get a video of each of them. Apparently Chuck was pacing faster than he had practiced because we were not prepared for his first pass and I didn't get a video. In fact we almost missed him if Hannah hadn't kept screaming at the top of her lungs "grandpa, grandpa!"

Mike in the lead with a few other guys!

Josh in the front of the pack, looking good:)

 Eric making sure to wave to his kids!

Mike almost to mile 4 marker, in the top 10!

 Josh in good form running hard...Great Job Hun!!!

 Chuck in the grey sweatshirt, never giving up:)

 We enjoyed watching the guys run the race! It made for a fun morning regardless of the cold weather.

Waldo ran the race too! LOL

June thru November goals update

So I am WAY behind on posting especially on my monthly goals.  The first half of the year was going well for my monthly goals and for posting the goal updates.  Once June hit, things started getting harder to stick to and time was getting away from me.  Part of the issue might be that I made my goals during the time in which I was still unemployed and had plenty of time on my hands.  After I started working in April, the reality of working full time started to settle in and impact my motivation and energy level towards my monthly goals. So next year, my goals will better reflect my busier schedule.  For now, I am glad for the six months in which I was highly successful with my goals. Especially since this was the first year I tried to set and complete a goal for each month. 

June Goal: Make something homemade for each of my nieces and nephews

I made monogram shirts for Maddie, Hannah and Charlie...and look adorable in them!

I made a handbag for Bailey and a shark pillow for Braden's ocean bedroom!

I made some items for Alyssa and Jacobs rooms.  I had pictures of each of them with their room accessories, but I cannot find the picture at the moment.

I made a big monogram "A" framed picture, painted pink wooden hooks for hanging jewelry or clothes and a collage covered memory box for Alyssa.

I painted some wall box shelves in navy and funky green to match Jacobs room for storage, painted an old wooden unique "Private" road sign in green and also made Jacob a collage covered memory box.

I love each one of my nieces and nephews very much. I wish I could see them all more often, but I cherish the moments that I do get with each of them as if they were my own!

July Goal: Read 2 Max Lucado Books

So I thought July was the goal I actually had for September, my biking goal, tried biking a couple of times and my allergies kicked my butt so hard that I wasn't about to try to go 20 miles on the trail. Unfortunately, maybe it Sept. when I actually planned it, might have been a better time of year.  I never did read 2 Max Lucado Books (in July or later)

August Goal: Create a project to show the best/most significant moments of my life = 30 years:)

I did A LOT of reminiscing about my 30 years on this earth and thought and even started several different projects related to this goal. But they seemed so overwhelming and wouldn't not capture all 30 years to my satisfaction.  So instead I started creating a modern, abstract family tree that only consists of the names of family members on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper that I would like to ultimately have printed on fabric and framed. So this is still a work in project, and I'll post pics when I finish this creation.

September Goal: Take a 20 mile bike ride on the Ozaukee County Interurban Trail

As I mentioned before, I thought this was my July goal in which I decided would not work in July. So when September came around I was busy and by the time that I check the goal for the month and realized my mistake, the month was mostly over. So I abandoned this goal all together.

October Goal: Learn all the official NFL calls/penalties, what they look like & what they mean

So after my confusion with July and Septembers goals, I jumped back into the goal game with October.  I spent time researching and studying the officials NFL calls. I even downloaded an app on my  iPod touch that acted as flash cards of pictures of what a call looks like by a ref. I was much more in tune with the calls while watching football and I would often tell Josh what the call was (even though he always knows even before the refs make the call) in order to show him how much I was learning and taking in. At the end of the month he gave me a little quiz by naming a call and I would give him the signal. I would say I at least got a B+ on the quiz, which is a passing grade and that is good enough for me:) Plus I now can watch the Steelers play and understand what is going on much better with flags are thrown or whistles blown.

November Goal: Make 4 new crock pot recipes

I actually had thought that my goal was to make 2 new crock pot recipes until I just now looked at this goal.  Either way 2 or 4 I didn't make any new recipes. I had one planned for White Chicken Chili, but ended up not having the time to make it in the crock pot so I made it over the stove. At least I made something I have not made before:)


I do intend to attempt my December goal of making a gingerbread house with homemade gingerbread.  I'll let you know how that turns out!

A little bit of Fall next door

Josh and I enjoy taking walks through the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary that is right next door to us. They have beautiful property and woods, so it's nice to go hiking over there. Every time we walk over there we see deer which is awesome no matter how many times we have seen deer (which is now very often because they are always outside our apartment eating from the trees). This time we saw two large salmon that must have swam up stream after laying eggs and we think they were now dying. I guess this is a normal cycle for salmon. Sad to see, but it was also interesting to see a fish that big so close up. We climbed tree trunks over the creeks and hiked through the woods in the crunching leaves. These are some of my favorite pictures from that day.

The Pickard's visit

My parents came to visit a few weeks back and it was a great weekend. They took a trip through the UP and stopped at several different locations on their way around and enjoyed spending some days and nights enjoying the beautiful scenery such as Pictured Rocks and other areas on Lake Superior. They made their stop to visit us in WI and then when they left they continued through IL, IN and back to MI around the other side of the lake. They also enjoyed stopping at the air museum in Kalamazoo.

While they were visiting us we had a chance to try out some local restaurants that after a year of living hear Josh and I have just never tried. A local diner where we ate breakfast felt like everyone knew we were not regulars there, but it was good food and a friendly environment. We also tried out a pizza place down the street.  One of the days while Josh was studying for classes my parents and I went out to give him some quiet. We ended up going down to the 7 Mile Fair south of Milwaukee which is a giant flea market. It reminded me of a flea market that we went to as kids when we lived in California. There was your typical stands from produce, clothing, crafts, junk, knock-off electronics etc. It was fun to just walk around and enjoy time with my parents. They bought Josh a cool remote control helicopter that caused much laughter and fun as dad and Josh trying flying it around the apartment. Josh's goal is to someday fly it through the slats in our entryway:)

After the flea market we went down to the Third Ward area in Milwaukee. There are a lot of unique shops, markets and restaurants. We ate lunch a really modern Chinese restaurant with great food. Walked the river walk a little bit and went to some shops. I look forward to checking out the Third Ward again since we only walked through a little portion of that popular downtown community.

It was nice to spend time with my parents and I am glad they had such a good trip traveling around Lake Michigan.

Gumdrops and pillow covers

I continue to try to enjoy time making projects, crafts and my newest endeavor...homemade candy:) These projects are things I enjoy and with winter coming up I need to stock pile some good ideas for projects. My latest homemade projects were making homemade gumdrops and sewing pillow covers for our couch pillows.  The gumdrops took a lot of time and attention. They looked fun in the end and they even tasted yummy, however, they never really crystallized to be more firm like a gumdrop so it was kind of like biting into a really small sugar coated jell-o jiggler...lol. It was fun giving it a try though. I am looking forward to giving homemade caramels a try.

The pillow covers were a simple pocket style pattern. This way I can wash them and even change them out if I wanted to very easily. We needed a little bit more color in our living room rather than the neutrals in the pillows that came with the couches. So I didn't go too crazy with the pillow covers. But I have working on crocheting us a blanket to keep out on the couch that is a really fun bright blueish green color like in the striped pillow cover. That will bring a lot of color when I am done:) This was an rather easy and quick project that I did in one two night.  Here are a few pics of the results.

Labor Day with Good Friends

For Labor Day we had our good friends Ben and Sarah come an visit us from Sunday to Monday. It was great to see them and for them to enjoy some adult time while their boys stayed with grandma and grandpa. We check out a Venetian boat parade in Port Washington on Sunday night. We weren't really sure what it would be like. We walked the decks of the marina where all the boats were docked. Many of the boats for decorated with lights for the parade (at night). There was one boat that had a human "Jack in the Box." (That made us laugh for many reasons). The boats paraded by a judge tent that scored their decorations and lights and the crowd of people got to enjoy the boats parading by the shore.

On Monday, Sarah and I enjoyed a wonderful pedicure while Josh and Ben went golfing. Sarah and I decided to get our toenails painted with colors we normally didn't choose for the fun of it (purple and blue). The massage chair we got to sit in while getting our pedicure was awesome and the foot massage was very relaxing. Loved it!!! Afterwards the guys met up with us to get lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and of course we enjoyed some cheesecake after eating our delicious lunch:)

It was great to spend time with them and to have a day off work and school for that week.

4 Years of WE, 30 Years of ME

At the end of August we celebrated our 4th Anniversary and my 30th Birthday.

For our Anniversary, Josh made a special dinner. Homemade ravioli with three different types of filling. We enjoyed filling our ravioli noodles and then boiling them. The were delicious! Josh also made peach cobbler for dessert. He spent a lot of time on this special meal. It was nice to spend the evening together in the midst of busy schedules with school starting back up and my work being very hectic right now with a lot of changes going on. Thanks Josh for the special dinner and time together celebrating us. I'm okay with you making homemade ravioli anytime:)

For my Birthday, Josh took me to to zoo. I have been wanting to go since we moved here. I was very excited! My favorite animal that day was the GIANT brown bear laying in this hammock like structure just hanging out. It was hilarious! I also always really like the big cats. Watching the tigers interact was great.  I think there was a mother and her children. She was trying to wake them up from napping and one of them began wrestling with her while the other one kept avoiding her attempts to wake him up. Made me laugh thinking of them as teenagers or something. We watched one of the giraffes trying VERY hard to reach the tree leaves above him with his long tongue. So close, yet not close enough:)

A big celebration wasn't necessary for my 30th. I have actually enjoyed reminiscing over my life this past month. So many good memories about places I've lived, people that I have met and experiences that I have had. I cannot imagine my life happening any differently. Even the difficult times, I would not want replaced because they have made me who I am today. I thank the Lord for my family and friends and for the gifts and abilities he has given to me that I can use to help others and glorify Him in the process. I am so blessed and look back on 30 years feeling as though I have accomplished so much and still have so much too accomplish in life as well.

Thanks to all of you as family and friends who have shared in my 30 years for one or all seasons of my life:)

A great day for a walk

Not too long ago Josh and I enjoyed a beautiful Saturday outdoors by going to an nearby nature preserve and walking through the fields. There is a tower in the middle of the fields that has stairs to climb up to the top and look over the preserve. It was a simple activity that allowed us to be together and enjoy a break from our busy schedules.

We saw the largest butterfly (that I've ever seen in the wild). I wish I would have gotten a picture of it. It was goergous and maybe 6 inches wing span. That was awesome! On the way back to the car we picked a couple of the white wild flowers (don't know what they are called) because I wanted to replicate a childhood past time from my grandmas house. I remember picking these from the hill behing her house and then we would put them in water with a couple of drops of food coloring. After a a day or two the flowers would have a tint of the same coloring as the water. Of course I went for my favorite color...blue!

Thanks for the walk honey, it was a great day to spend together!

A week at Topsail Beach

Click below to see more pics of our trip:
http://www.slide.com/r/hiQXh76f7D-Fx5vgpLbhEkKNUYfznl7u?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

We just recently returned from a week at Topsail Beach in North Carolina with Josh's family. Despite the initial threat of a tropical storm and the fact that this beach is ranked in the top 10 for shark attacks...we had a GREAT time! The tropical storm diminished way out in the ocean so our weather was just about perfect for being at the beach every day. As far as the danger in the waters...well I think the risk of sand mites was higher.

I personally enjoyed walking on the beach each morning after waking up. It was great to hear the waves, feel the sand under my feet and enjoy a good hunt for some unique sea shells.  My favorite day was the day I finally decided I could go out in the water further than my calves. Most of the days the waves were pretty big and the undertow was strong so I avoided going swimming. Not to mention that the whole shark thing did linger in my mind. However, on my favorite day, the water was more calm and clear. I went out pretty far with Josh and we saw dolphins out in front of us about 50 feet or so. That was awesome! Also on my favorite day we went to a homemade Popsicle shop. I ate a pistachio pop dipped in milk chocolate with almonds. It was tasty. I need to figure out how to make some of these at home:)

Josh enjoyed swimming and doing so very far out in the water. He also got a kick out of doing many other beach activities other than swimming. He tried boogie boarding and another type of boarding where you move across the water close to the beach. He threw a football, built sand castles, flew a kite or two, let the kids bury his legs in the sand, surf fishing, shell searching, sand crab catching and he even let me take a few pictures of him.

Of our many walks on the beach, walking under the moonlight was a fun night together. It was low tide and their were crabs everywhere. We had flashlights, but the moonlight was almost bright enough to not need them. It's trickier at night to find the original spot you accessed the beach. We managed to find our way back after a couple crabs ran over Josh's feet.

We enjoyed the time spent with family catching up on each others lives, making memories together and relaxing. Thanks for Melissa, Eric and Mike we were able to play some board games as well:) I always like that no matter when I am. Unfortunately, Mike had recently broken his hand so he was in a cast, but that didn't stop him from having a good time at the beach. That's what a baggie and duct tape or good for:) The kids were so much fun at the beach and the cottage. Melissa took some great pictures of the kids at the beach. Uncle Josh had fun showing them the crabs he caught and playing in the sand with them. Maddie and Hannah were especially helpful in finding shells for me along with their own stash. Charlie really liked playing in the sand at the beach and I'm sure he would have been catching crabs with Eric and Josh had he been big enough to hang through the slats on the boardwalk with the net (lol). Thanks for Dad and Mom Moore for making this trip happen for all of us! They made a delicious surf & turf meal one night and one night they brought stuff to make s'mores over the grill.

Until next time Topsail Beach!

CU Reunion

My roommates and friends from college become a second family for me.  I've had the chance to see a few at a time on different occasions in the past 7 years, however, it was time to get us all together again.  We had the chance to spend the weekend together at the end of July in Grand Rapids.  We spent time catching up on each others lives and sharing our favorite stories from college.  A good game of balderdash, a picnic at Riverside park, BBQ and a meal at Steak & Shake were some of the things we enjoyed over the weekend.

I had two favorite moments from the weekend. The first was walking through Cornerstone's campus and reminiscing as well as seeing the changes on campus.

I also really enjoyed walking on the bike path to the ice cream shop in Rockford. Our line of traffic on the bike path was pretty long and eating ice cream outside the shop in downtown was a great way to have someone get a full group shot off all of us.

I am so blessed to have friends that are like family and to be able to pick up where we last left off together. I thank the Lord for each one of you and for the chance to share a weekend together.  May He bless you each in the next years to come until we can get together again.  You're in my thoughts and prayers.