Happy Spring!

Hi! It's finally starting to look like Spring up here, and it makes everything so much better! We don't have any flowers blooming yet, but there is a lot of green grass everywhere, I guess because the snow kept it hydrated all winter? It's so nice to look out at our backyard and see green grass, little blooming wildflowers, and of course, my "pet" rabbit that sits back there all day. I just pretend he's my pet, even though I can't get close enough to touch him. He's very cute though, and loves to sit in the grass and annoy all the squirrels.

Kelly came to visit Easter weekend and stayed most of the week, and we had a great time! After we picked her up at the airport on Sunday we went to St. Paul and did several fun things. We went to the Como Zoo, the Cathedral of Saint Paul, and the Science Center/Museum. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun, even though we wore ourselves out with all the sightseeing. I took her to the Mall of America, on Monday, and we found little local things to do around here for the rest of the week. I was sad to see her leave, but I finally get to go home this Sunday, the 25th, and I can't wait!!! I'm actually going to be home for the entire month of May!

Ryan was in Atlanta last week, so I spent my first week alone in Owatonna. I think I did alright, I stayed busy hanging out with some of the other girls who were also alone. We made sure we got together to watch Dancing With the Stars and American Idol, and a few Chick-Flicks that we normally wouldn't get to watch with the guys around. It was fun, although I did miss Ryan. I also didn't really get scared at all at night, I find that I just have to keep the TV on at all times, even while I'm sleeping, for comfort. Ryan got back Friday night, and we had a beautiful weekend, so we took advantage by going to the driving range, and Ryan played golf Sunday, which was really nice. My allergies are really bad right now, but the lovely weather and absence of snow is worth it!

We leave for Atlanta on Sunday, and I will be there for a month, but Ryan will still be going back and forth. Kelly's graduation and party next weekend, and I can't wait to see my family! It's been way too long...

Starting to Look Like Spring!

Hi! I know it's been way too long since I wrote my last blog post. I didn't feel very inspired at the end of winter, but today it's 81 and sunny here in Owatonna! The snow has all melted, and it makes everything seem so much better here.

Ryan and I were in Florida last week, and it was exactly what we needed to feel rejuvenated! Ryan had to work in various cities, but I got to stay in Ocala with Ryan's parents and relax. I even got to go down to St. Pete beach and stay at a lovely condo on the bay, right across the street from the beach. I had a great time! Going to Florida definitely pulled me out of my Owatonna Winter funk.

Luckily, the weather has been very nice upon our return. I'm very excited because Saturday my sister Kelly is coming in from Atlanta! She will be here next week for her Spring Break! I can't wait for her to get here! It will be strange actually having a family member here and showing them this town and our little apartment.

This was just a short update, I'm sure I will have more pictures to post after Kelly's visit!
Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

Minnesota Winter Continues...

It's been a long time since my last post, sorry to keep you waiting! It's a very snowy day here in Owatonna, and I can't WAIT to be done looking at white and seeing some green! I have just about had enough of this winter, but I know I've still got two more months of it...

Besides the weather, things have been good up here. Ryan is halfway done with Phase Two of his training, and I have finally started working. I have been substituting at the local schools, and I am very happy to have something to do! I am called when I'm needed, so I don't know if I will be working tomorrow until about 9:30 the night before. The schools are actually closed today because of the snow, so this must be a lot, even for them!

We are still trying to have as much fun as we can, and we have really enjoyed all of the people we have met here. We continue to gather on the weekends to play very competitive games of Cranium, Wii Bowling, or whatever else we feel like at the time.

There is not a whole lot of new information to write about, we are just continuing to make the most out of our time here and be as patient with this winter as we can!

Happy New Year!

It was eighteen below when I woke up this morning! I just got back to Owatonna last night, I flew into Minneapolis on New Year's Eve and Ryan picked me up. There is much more snow than when I left, and my car won't start because the battery fluids are frozen, but I'm jumping ahead...

Going home was great, Ryan and I had one night together in Atlanta, and we got to see some of our friends, and that was really fun. We went straight to my parents' house after the airport and had dinner first, and it was so nice being there! Ryan and I had the best meal we had eaten in a long time (filet mignon and kale)! The house looked so pretty with all of the Christmas decorations Mom had put up. I went to Dublin the next day with my family and Ryan stayed in Atlanta. Dublin was fun, as always, and then I went to Orlando with Mom, Dad, and Kelly. We had a great time! Ryan had a good time in Denver, and especially in Vail, where he went snowboarding with his family.

It was tough to leave home, knowing I was coming back to extreme cold, but I was excited to see Ryan again. We had a fun New Year's in Minneapolis, we ate a five-course meal at a really cool restaurant and stayed at the W Hotel. We're back in Owatonna now, who knows when I'll get to leave again!? Ryan has begun Phase 2 of the training program, so we have three months down and six more to go! Come visit us, if you dare! I don't blame you if you don't want to come until March or April, though.

It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter...

Well we finally had a blizzard this week, even the locals were calling it a "storm." We got about a foot of snow between Tuesday and Wednesday, and it has gotten so much colder! I never knew it could be this cold outside. During the day it's been around seven to ten degrees, and at night and in the mornings about two to five below. Ryan had to shovel the entire driveway to get his car out for work, and I drove for the first time today since Monday. There isn't much ice on the roads now, mainly packed snow, but it's still kind of slippery to drive on, but I'm trying to get used to it since the roads are going to be like this for a long time. It's really weird driving on roads that are completely white and have no visible lines or lanes!I feel like a stranger in a strange land, but I got really excited when the snow was falling hard because it was so pretty and looked like glitter flying everywhere. I did some shoveling myself today, which is another first for me! The cellar doors that are in the ground and lead to the laundry room were under a huge mound, but I found them eventually! I had to shovel a path from the back door to the cellar. I never thought I would have to work that hard to do laundry! My back hurts...
Ryan took his final last Friday and did very well, and next week he has more classroom time but no tests. At the ugly Christmas sweater party last weekend, almost all of the guys I talked to in Ryan's class told me that they think he's one of the smartest in the class. (Of course, Ryan thinks he just done a great job of fooling everyone!)
We fly to Atlanta next Saturday, and are very excited to do so! Enjoy the pictures of the snow, hopefully tomorrow we will be out playing in it! We are looking for a hill where we can do some sledding!

Holiday Happenings

The snow has finally arrived here in Owatonna, and it has gotten so much colder than it was in the past month. I just looked at the forecast, and the low on Wednesday is 10 degrees! The first day it snowed, I was out driving and had a pretty scary ice incident which included my car sliding around on a hill. My wheels started spinning and I had to just put my flashers on a sit there! Luckily, a cop came up behind me and pushed me back off of the ice. He laughed when I told him I was from Georgia and had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully the salt trucks and sweepers have taken care of the roads now, but we are supposed to get a foot of snow this week, starting tonight.

We had a great weekend of Christmas festivities, starting with Friday night and the Village of Yesteryear. We ventured out in the 16 degree weather to see Christmas in the Village, which is in the Village of Yesteryear. The village is a group of historical buildings including a chapel, log house, general store, and school house. It was decorated for Christmas Friday night, and we went out and toured the buildings and sang Christmas carols in the church. The general store had really good hot wassail and some Norwegian foods like Lefse that I had not seen before. Saturday night we went to an ugly Christmas sweater party at our friends Benji and Ashlee's house, and it was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from this weekend, and once the snow piles up I'll post some pictures of that too!

Thanksgiving

We really missed everyone this Thanksgiving, I especially missed getting to go the farm and see everyone! Thanksgiving was good for us anyway, I made too much food, but it was fun nonetheless. I made a turkey, baked macaroni and cheese, sweet potato bake, squash casserole, and banana pudding. I wore myself out, but it was worth it, and Ryan enjoyed everything I made, so that was good! After dinner we went over to Thomas and Mallory's house and played some games with them, which is always fun.

Friday we drove into Minneapolis and looked around a little before going to the Mall of America. It wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be, we got in easily and found a parking spot within five minutes! There were a lot of people inside, though. It was huge, as you might imagine. It was fun being there, the roller coasters and Lego Land in the middle were cool to check out. Ryan was very excited about the Legos.

The locals here say that this has been the warmest November they have had. Usually, they get about 18 inches of snow here by this time, but we haven't had any yet! It did get colder this weekend though, it's starting to stay in the upper-30's during the day, and the 20's at night.

We can't wait to come home on December 19th! It will get here soon!!