For Valentines Day, I got tickets for us to go on a chocolate wine trail in Hermann, mo. Local wineries pair up their favorite wines with some kind of chocolate dessert, from truffles to muffins. We had a map and the names of the wineries - other than that we were off on our own little adventure. It was a great time. Seven wineries participate in the wine trail and we hit them all. You can take the entire weekend to go to all of the wineries so we decided to taste on the first day, take notes, and go back to the ones we liked and buy on the second day. Adam Puchta Winery, the first winery we went to, was our favorite. They had a great variety of sweet wines - our fav! We also got some great scenery pics. The pics taken with us both in them were done by other people, so some of them are kind of blurry. We appreciated the offer of having our picture taken, so I can't complain!
Steve made the overnight arrangements and took care of all of the driving - he is so sweet. He always drives because he knows that I will fall asleep in the car! I try to stay awake, but that seldom happens. My inner sleep monster takes over.
click here for pics
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
TOO LONG !!
Sorry, i know I know. it has been way too long from the last post - thank you Ariella. So, here's a short version of the last month. New Years eve we spent at home. When I was younger, iIalways wanted to go out with my friends, didn't really matter where, just out. Now that we own a home, I realize how much I enjoy having people over and staying home! So Rachel, James, Jeff and some other people came over. Had a few drinks, some Whits Castle's and called it a night! For Christmas Steve nought me 5 Blues hockey tickets for a game in mid January. Bradie, Kayla, Stece, Jeff and I all went and had a great time. It was a free food day and we even got to take our picture with the Blue Bear - the mascot!
A lot of my time has been devoted to Rachel's wedding. We (Maria and I - rachel doesn't know anything about it!) have just planned the bridal shower. The dresses are all picked out, (a link to the bridesmaids dresses, the brown ones http://www.anntaylor.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=4094&N=1200051&pCategoryId=193&categoryId=229&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_229&defaultColorNameFromCategory=Black&defaultSizeTypeFromCategory=Misses) DJ is reserved, the only things left are the cake and flowers. It is going to be a great party. Rachel asked Steve and I to be her wedding photographers, but after some discussion, we decided that being a part of the party would be more fun!
February 10th was my dad's birthday and it came with big news. He announced to the immediate family that he has decided to retire. The cold winters and hot summers have gotten to be enough for him! I also had big news. I am quitting Cardinal Glennon and am going to Missouri Baptist. I am really going to miss the kids, but there will be time for that later - I really see myself going back at some point in my life. At MoBap, they offered more money :) and training to be a first assistant. This position is difficult to get in training for, so I am very excited, nervous but excited. The first assist has many roles, but most importantly it is to be the surgeons first assistant - I will help open, close, retract, sew, hold cameras....the list could go on forever. My hope is to build good trusting relationships with my new surgeons so that I can perfect my new skills!! MoBap is also only 10 minutes from my house. No more fighting through highway 70 or 40 traffic. It will be a big change, but I am ready for it! Lastly, Rachel also had some news for us. She also got a new job. She will be a preschool/ day care teacher at ABC Daycare in St. Charles. It is also close to home for her. What a great option for when we all start having kids - just drop them off with her!!! I hope there is a family discount!
A NIGHT OF GREAT MUSIC
Later that night my Aunt Jan went to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo. http://www.ladysmithblackmambazo.com/ What entertainers! They are a south african choir that has been performing for 47 years. All of there music is accapello. There was even some audience participation, unfortunantly I couldn't sing my greatest as I had a nasty upper respiratory infection. The show was great as the performers sang and danced the entire time!
SICK
If you live in St. Louis, you know how crazy the weather has been. One day it dropped 35 degrees in 7 hours! Of course everyone here is sick and I could not escape it. Steve on the other hand did - lucky. I had to call off for 2 days at work. I slept about 19 hours each day. After some sudafed, a lifetime supply of puffs pluss, orange juice and Afrin, I am all better.
STUPID FOOT
In the middle of November my left foot really began to give me problems. After a lot of Motrin I gave in and went to the podiatrist. X- Rays showed that I have Metatarsis Adductus - a malgrowth of the foot bones. Instead of growing straight, my foot bones grow curved to the midline = OUCH. Because of this the weight bearing bones are not doung their job and the outside bones are taking up the slack, but they were not designed to do this. So, what happens, a stress fracture. For two weeks I had to wear a huge boot that somed up to the back of my knee. Now I am out of the boot and hopefully healed. Only time will tell!
Okay, feel caught up a little? Good, I am done typing for a bit!
A lot of my time has been devoted to Rachel's wedding. We (Maria and I - rachel doesn't know anything about it!) have just planned the bridal shower. The dresses are all picked out, (a link to the bridesmaids dresses, the brown ones http://www.anntaylor.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=4094&N=1200051&pCategoryId=193&categoryId=229&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_229&defaultColorNameFromCategory=Black&defaultSizeTypeFromCategory=Misses) DJ is reserved, the only things left are the cake and flowers. It is going to be a great party. Rachel asked Steve and I to be her wedding photographers, but after some discussion, we decided that being a part of the party would be more fun!
February 10th was my dad's birthday and it came with big news. He announced to the immediate family that he has decided to retire. The cold winters and hot summers have gotten to be enough for him! I also had big news. I am quitting Cardinal Glennon and am going to Missouri Baptist. I am really going to miss the kids, but there will be time for that later - I really see myself going back at some point in my life. At MoBap, they offered more money :) and training to be a first assistant. This position is difficult to get in training for, so I am very excited, nervous but excited. The first assist has many roles, but most importantly it is to be the surgeons first assistant - I will help open, close, retract, sew, hold cameras....the list could go on forever. My hope is to build good trusting relationships with my new surgeons so that I can perfect my new skills!! MoBap is also only 10 minutes from my house. No more fighting through highway 70 or 40 traffic. It will be a big change, but I am ready for it! Lastly, Rachel also had some news for us. She also got a new job. She will be a preschool/ day care teacher at ABC Daycare in St. Charles. It is also close to home for her. What a great option for when we all start having kids - just drop them off with her!!! I hope there is a family discount!
A NIGHT OF GREAT MUSIC
Later that night my Aunt Jan went to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo. http://www.ladysmithblackmambazo.com/ What entertainers! They are a south african choir that has been performing for 47 years. All of there music is accapello. There was even some audience participation, unfortunantly I couldn't sing my greatest as I had a nasty upper respiratory infection. The show was great as the performers sang and danced the entire time!
SICK
If you live in St. Louis, you know how crazy the weather has been. One day it dropped 35 degrees in 7 hours! Of course everyone here is sick and I could not escape it. Steve on the other hand did - lucky. I had to call off for 2 days at work. I slept about 19 hours each day. After some sudafed, a lifetime supply of puffs pluss, orange juice and Afrin, I am all better.
STUPID FOOT
In the middle of November my left foot really began to give me problems. After a lot of Motrin I gave in and went to the podiatrist. X- Rays showed that I have Metatarsis Adductus - a malgrowth of the foot bones. Instead of growing straight, my foot bones grow curved to the midline = OUCH. Because of this the weight bearing bones are not doung their job and the outside bones are taking up the slack, but they were not designed to do this. So, what happens, a stress fracture. For two weeks I had to wear a huge boot that somed up to the back of my knee. Now I am out of the boot and hopefully healed. Only time will tell!
Okay, feel caught up a little? Good, I am done typing for a bit!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Christmas time is here
Christmas is always a very hectic time. Many places to go and not a lot of time. This year we tried to minimize the number places that we went so that we could stay longer at the places that we did go. We spent Christmas eve with Steve's Grandma and Grandpa on his mom's side. Christmas day we started at his dad's house that morning and then went to my mom's house around 1pm. We opened presents with our immediate family and then around 4pm the extended family came over for more presents and dinner. My mom did a great job as hostess - the food was great, the house was beautiful, and we all had a great time. Steve, Jacob, Rob, and Matt played dominoes while Rachel, James and Maria played Guitar Hero. Grammy and Pa kept Kaylee happy - not hard to do. Just sit still and give her a warm place to lay. The day after Christmas we tried to go to AB for a brewery tour, but it was closed. We detoured to Kate's new apartment in south city. It is really neat - large room with tall ceilings. It has a lot of character. Our christmas was nice and we hope yours was too!
Click here for christmas pics
Click here for christmas pics
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Honduras
November 4 - 11th, I went to Honduras on a surgery mission trip. My good friend from work Bradie went with me. We performed ear nose and throat surgery. It was an experience like no other. We Stayed in the bishop's home and "worked" at the only hospital in town. I didn't know this before we arrived, but we were not in a nice area. It is very very poor and a little dangerous. Our group was driven any where we wanted to go by the bishop's driver, Rolando. Any restaurant or shop we went to had armed guards at the doors. Despite the danger, we survived unscathed. The preparation was almost tiring than the work. We had to make all of out own packs, make all of our own instrument trays, and find all of our own supplies. We washed the our instruments by hand once in honduras. The pictire of the blue bowls has the cleaning solutions. The ones we brought are all old or almost broken. It is amazing what you can work with when yhou have no other choices. We had to make do with in a lot of areas - suture, dressings, drains, OR table, cleanliness, etc. One of the best experiences we had was at the orphanage. We visited an orphanage that was run by some nuns. These kids are almost all the the product of inscest and would have been killed if not for these ladies. They raise money for the place by sewing. The kids were great! Everyone of us had at least two kids hanging on us. They were so much fun and really loved playing with us. It was not all work and no fun. We went out a couple of nights for some cervezas and anafres - Honduran nachos. They were wonderful. We had so much fun - I would absolutely go again!
I have posted some pictures - approach with caution if you have a weak stomach. There are real surgery pictures.
I have posted some pictures - approach with caution if you have a weak stomach. There are real surgery pictures.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Let it snow!
The first big snow of the year happened on Dec 16th, my birthday! It was so pretty, but it changed our plans. We were planning on going out to dinner with our family and friends, but it was very icy and dangerous. We rescheduled to the day after. I still had Steve get the camera out so that we could get some great Pics of our house in the snow!
Click here for pics
Click here for pics
Monday, December 17, 2007
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