March 2012

Current Temperature:  80 degrees with isolated thunderstorms
Current Gas Price:  $3.59 per gallon
Total Cockroach count: 4 (I keep waiting for my first summertime sighting...eek!)

Howdy familial relations!

How are each and every one of you? We miss y'all and have thought about you this week! It's about time we saw you! We're excited that we are going to see most of you pretty soon! Just a couple of months and we'll be together!  :)

So, ok, March.  Well the good news (for y'all anyway) is that March was way more exciting than January and February so you'll actually have some fun things to read/see!  As of now, I am completely finished with my IEP audits and am only one week away from Spring Break! YES!! This month has been filled with working weekends, staying late at work, and crying on Wesley's shoulder but I have survived it and am DONE!! It is a good feeling to finish something and know you put your best effort toward it, isn't it? Now that rewriting the IEPs for this audit is finished, I can now begin my testing and writing the IEPs (again!) for annual reviews.  And there was something else I was supposed to do........hmmm.......oh yeah, therapy! Haha, just kidding! This time of year is pretty crazy for all the speech therapists.  It's especially crazy down here because they do all their IEPs at the end of the year!  But the first thing to go in order to get all this done is your regular therapy schedule.  Interesting...

Wesley is almost finished with his ER block and will begin Block 11 (community medicine) next Thursday.  Community medicine is probably the easiest block of them all so Wesley will have lots of free time in April.  We're going to be in Charleston for vacation of 1/4 weeks of the block and then he really only has a couple more things he needs to do! The rest if free time! The best part is that he will get every weekend off (with the exception of a CME he's doing in Atlanta at the end of April).  Wesley is taking his STEP 3 exam this coming Tuesday and Wednesday (April 3-4) so please keep him in your prayers.   As usual, he is not at all nervous and feels confident that he'll do well on it! Hee hee, so unlike what I think before big tests...but hey, I'm not the doctor!  THANK YOU to all of you for supporting Wes on National Doctor's Day! He felt very loved and appreciated by your kind words!

The most exciting thing that happened this month was the resident retreat, which was early in March.  This is a weekend, sponsored by the hospital, where all the residents go to some retreat location (either beach or mountains) and hang out all weekend.   The attendings are responsible for staffing the hospital and being on-call and all that jazz...so it's a pretty great weekend for the residents! Everyone brings their family and we all just have a great time!   We spent the weekend at the Ridges Resort (http://www.theridgesresort.com/) in Georgia.  Our villa ended up being the "party house" and everyone came over to our place to hang out! Which was awesome until about midnight when I wanted to go to sleep ;) We also went hiking together on Saturday, which was super fun! Our friend, Matt Haldeman, is a big hiking guy and he planned a hike for everyone with lots of waterfalls and stuff.  It was great to see so many of the residents come with their babies strapped to their chest and what not! Haha, we weren't sure what kind of turn we'd get but lots of them came! And the waterfalls were beautiful! Check out the pictures:

This is me with Amy Boyer (left) and Clory Foust (right) watching the guys play football.    These are by far my two favorite friends down here! With the exception of Lauren Pinkston, whom I also really love but is not in this picture!  She's in another picture though!  I have just really enjoyed spending so much time with other ladies, since our husbands are always working there is always some other girl to hang out with and it's been so much fun! 

One of the little girls was picking flowers and putting them in our hair.  Amy didn't want to put  her flower in her hair,  so I took it and put it behind my free ear.  She started cracking up and thought I looked like a little alien guy or something.  I suppose you had to be there but we were all laughing pretty hard...I made her get in this picture with me since she was laughing so hard! 

Here's Wes playing football with the guys.   

Here we are by the first waterfall! 

Here's a bunch of us hanging out while everyone gets pictures by the waterfall.  Not my best photo ;)

Here we are by the second waterfall. 

Wes, Payton, and Matt climbed over a bunch of rocks and stuff to get closer to the waterfall. 

I did not bring my jacket so I was freezing by the waterfalls.  We were standing in the shade and the mist from the waterfall was so chilly! Clory looks less cold than me in the this picture I think...but she was cold too!! Do I look cold? 

This is Lauren Pinkston.  She has bad knees too so I let her borrow one of my trekking poles  to try out!  She was a big fan after using it to go down hill.  Here we are showing off our "ghetto" trekking poles! 

We stopped at a scenic overlook on our way back on Sunday.    It was pretty lovely! 

So there you have it, the Resident Retreat! We really did have a great time!  We were talking afterward about how it really felt a lot like being at college again.  Like at a Mosaic retreat where we'd all hang out and just do whatever.  But there were a lot of people around and it was just fun to "hang out" together...and I mean like really hang out...not like the hang out until 10:00 when everyone has to go because all of the resident's have to work the next morning kind of a thing.  We also had a church service together on Sunday. Lauren's husband, Gavin, did the teaching and Wesley did the music.  I must say I was super impressed with Wesley because we did not have any instruments so he would just start singing a song and then everyone would join in...yikes!  I would have been beside myself having to sing in front of everyone but he was calm, cool, and collected as usual and just belted it out! And he sounded great too!

Several weeks later, we hosted 5 high school boys (plus two leaders) at our house for the weekend.  They were doing a little retreat of their own and Ben, the student pastor, had people in the church host the kids for the weekend.  We ended up with the boys because they were the smallest group and we have a pretty small place! I certainly would have preferred the girls but it turned out to be a blessing because the Thursday before, Clory and I decided at 10:30 to go and see the Hunger Games at the midnight showing.  It was amazing to me that we were still able to get tickets at 10:30 but this is Greenwood, so they still had some available! We also got there at 11:45 and still got great seats! Sweet!  I totally loved the movie and thought they did a pretty good job of keeping true to the book but also having it make sense to people who had not read the book.  Did any of you see it? What did you think?  Well anyway, so I got three hours of sleep the night before the boys came for the weekend.  So it ended up being a good thing that it was boys and not girls because I would have wanted to hang out with the girls and instead I went to sleep :)  Haha, Wes enjoyed getting to know the guys a little better though!

Just last night, we went and saw the Hunger Games again with some friends.  It was fun to see it with other people a second time too!  We went to Fusion for dinner beforehand!  It's a pretty good Thai place in Greenwood.  Here we all are:

From Left to Right:  Gavin & Lauren Pinkston, Nicole Kennedy, Matt Haldeman, Payton & Clory Foust,  and me & Wes. All of the girls (and Wes) had read the book so we were excited to see it in action (even though Clory and I had already seen it!!) 

Welp...that's about it!  We're having dinner with Jim & Opal Halderman (G&G Haldy) tonight, so we are really excited to see them! They are headed back up to Ohio and are going to stop to see us on their way! Jim is doing much better but please continue to keep him in your prayers! We love and miss you all! Please let us know how we can be praying for you!! Hope you're all doing well and we can't wait to see you in June!

February 2012

Current Weather: 80 degrees and sunny
Current Gas Price:  $3.56 per gallon
Total Cockroach count:  4

Hello dear family...well I lied when I told you that January's post would be the most boring to date because really THIS ONE is going to be the most boring post!  Haha, in fact February was so uneventful that we took NO pictures at all during the entire month....awesome!

We have basically just been working, working, working.  Wes is finished with Block 9 (Peds).  So he's officially in Block 10 (ER) now.  It is so crazy that we are already in Block 10! This intern year has gone SO fast and we can hardly believe that it's almost over.  Wes comments on this fact between on-call shifts, "I'm SO happy...I can't wait to not be an intern anymore."  Well said Wesley!

Work has picked for me as well because of the crazy way they do their IEPs here! In Ohio, IEPs start after an initial evaluation and end a full year after the "Initial IEP date."  Here, the IEPs start after an initial evaluation but end on the last day of school.  SO...in Ohio I had to write IEPs all throughout the year and had IEP meetings sprinkled throughout the year.  But here I will have over 40 IEPs to write and meetings to attend in only a week or two (they like you to keep the new IEP date as close to the end date as possible).  So basically, May will be a crazy month.  Also, because of the way they do their IEPs, I have not been able to dismiss any of my kids, even though some are ready to go, but have had to add all the new ones that I evaluated this year...so my caseload is nice and plump and I'm finding myself having to do a lot of work at home just to keep up! BUT...only 10 more weeks until summer vacation! WAHOO!!

Ok, so wow...that's all I've got! Sorry February was so boring but we've got a lot going on in March so we should have more to update you on! We love you all and miss you! We think of you often and want to hear what's going on in your life! Please keep us updated!

Love you!

January 2012

Current Weather: 74 degrees and sunny
Current Gas Price: $3.30 per gallon
Total Cockroach Count:  4

Hello family! Greetings from sunny South Carolina! We had been AMAZED at the "winter weather" here and  are enjoying wearing t-shirts and flip flops some days.  Haha, it does still get pretty cold sometimes too but there were several bursts of warm weather throughout January.

 It seems like just yesterday that I was updating the December blog.  Wow! How the time has flown! Honestly, this will probably be the shortest and most boring post yet! January was seriously uneventful as we really just worked.  The only pictures we took during the month were from a baby shower that I co-hosted with my girlfriends and it was at the very beginning of the month! Here are the pictures below...

We split up all the hosting duties and my job was to make cupcakes, party  favors, and a veggie tray.   It was a co-ed baby shower and they didn't want to know the gender of their new baby so we went with bold colors for the shower!

The food table.  

Jason and Katie Kelly are on the left side.  This was their second baby.    They actually ended up having their baby only four days after the shower! Haha, we were lucky to get it done in time! 

Wes, Jacob, and Payton sampling all the baby food flavors.  They had to guess what each one was.  Wes got four out of five correct!  It's because he has such a distinguished palate!!  :)

Carly, me, and Clory.  We honestly threw this entire shower together  in less than a week so we were pretty relieved that we pulled it off and that everyone seemed to have a great time! 

The guys were a big help as they came over early and helped us get everything ready...we were running behind!

Other than that, we really didn't do anything in January.  I went to Greenville two different times for People to People meetings.  I am currently in my first year as a "delegation leader" and I'm hoping that I'll get to travel with them this summer but am not really expecting too.  You kind of have to "put your time in" in order to travel and it all depends on how many students enroll.   It is likely that if I do not go this summer, I will go next summer.  Here is the website for the trip that I may get to lead this year, depending on how many students enroll (http://www.peopletopeople.com/TravelExperience/Pages/Students-European-Heritage-WH-2012.aspx?zip=29646&range=75).  Again, I'd be super excited if I could do this trip but am not getting my hopes because enrollment numbers are down with the economy like it is...so it will probably be next year! But enjoy the video!

Ok, sorry our lives were so boring this January! Hopefully we'll have more to update y'all on for the February post! We love and miss you!

December 2011

Current Weather:   55 degrees and sunny
Current Gas Price:  $3.09
Total Cockroach Count:  4

Hello Family! How are all of you? Are you enjoying the new year so far?

Whew! Sorry this post is coming out in the middle of January but our 2012 has started with a bang and this is one of the first chances I've had to write.  That's not true...I have chosen on multiple occasions to read some the Hunger Games Trilogy instead of write this :) Libby bought Mom the first book, "The Hunger Games" for Christmas and Mom (of course) read it in like one day so she left it for me and I've been hooked ever since! I just finished the second book and am on to the last one.  They are making the first book into a movie in March so I can't wait to see it! My friend Clory is reading them as well so hopefully we'll all go see the movie together! That would be fun! Check out the trailor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY

So the majority of December was pretty typical with us just working as usual. Wes completed his fourth block of medicine which is awesome! He only has 1.5 blocks left of medicine.  I received a very good evaluation from District 50 which was so wonderful after being mildly deflated by Hamilton's evaluation the previous year.  We attended Self Regional's Christmas party which was very fancy and we went around from table to table stuffing ourselves and talking to the other residents.  It was pretty fun.

Hospital's Christmas Party

It was around this time that we put our tree up too! I just love putting up the Christmas tree and I confess that we actually still have ours up as we just haven't had time to take it down! We are shooting to take it down tonight though! Haha, half way through January is too late to put it up! But we always have a good time getting our ornaments out and talking about them! Here we are putting up the tree:

We also took a little trip to Greenville which was fun! I had to be there for a People to People meeting so Wesley came along and we made a little weekend out of it! It's about an hour away from Greenwood so it's not a bad drive. Unfortunately, I go there more than I would like because that's where all my People to People meetings are located.   Wes took me to a Persian restaurant which was pretty good...my food was chargrilled (as were most things on the menu) and I am just not a big fan of the blackened chargrilled flavor so it wasn't my favorite but we enjoyed trying some new things!

Greenville has a river that runs through downtown and there are parks all around it and bike trails and stuff.  It's a cute little town and this was my first time actually seeing the river and walking on the neat bridge they have! 

Us after dinner at Pomegranate on Main.  You can see the road behind us. It's sort of like an "Eastonish" feel  as it has lots of restaurants, bars, and little shops lining their main street.  There were a lot of people out even though it was pretty cold (for South Carolina).  It was fun to be out in more "city" civilization...haha, Greenwood doesn't have too much city feel to it! 

We spent almost an entire Saturday making chocolate covered pretzels for the girls in my high school small group.  Haha, we had initially thought it would only take an hour or so...but like six hours later we were getting tired of dipping pretzels in chocolate.  They turned out really cute though and the girls loved them so I was really happy!

Dipping our pretzels!

The finished product! We also had some with red and green stripes but they are not in this picture. 

And then came CHRISTMAS! Yay! We began our christmas festivities by having all of the intern class over to our house for dinner and a movie (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, of course!).  It was really fun to have everyone over and for whatever reason it seemed like a night that everyone needed! It was very relaxing and fun to be with people but also kind of nice that we could just watch a movie together and chill.

I was SO excited when Mom and Libby arrived on the 22nd for Christmas! They had a terrible drive down, with heavy rain and all, so they didn't get here until like 10:30 or something but they were relieved to be out of the car!  I had so much fun with them and we had a great time just hanging out, talking, playing games, watching movies, etc.  Libby had a crazy hard month at work and this was really the first break she'd had in a while so she was soaking in the down time! Wesley had quite a work schedule, working overnight on the 22nd, 24th, and 26th, so he spent most of his Christmas at the hospital or sleeping at home.  He did get to have Christmas dinner with us on the 25th though so that was fun!

Our outside decorations! Nothing too fancy but it looked really nice at night when we had the  lights on  in the bushes and our candles/tree in the window! We miss them! 

Mom and Libby were loving the sunshine and warmer weather ! 

We took a walk on the path that Wes and I usually go! There are some nice little neighborhoods near by that have lots of trees, little lakes, and interesting houses so we enjoy walking around as much as we can! 

Mom made some special martinis for Christmas called Cosmonaut's.  She got the recipe off  of the website  for the Middle West Spirits which we mentioned in the November post.  It's the place where we did the forever long tour and tasting with Wes' high school friends.  They were delicious!

We talked to John and Kim via Skype on Christmas Eve! This was their first christmas together and  it was nice that they could spend together, just the two of them! We were so happy that we could talk to them! 

We have a tradition of reading the story of Jesus' birth and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve .  John always reads the story out of the same book that he set on fire as a kid.  Here he is reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to us over the web cam :) 

 This year, John surprised us all by writing a new version of our old classic Christmas Eve story about Wes in the hospital on Christmas Eve (which was fitting because Wes left for work right after we talked with them!).  It was so funny and were all cracking up! Wes and I were very touched that he would take the time to write it (even though I guess he wrote it in ten minutes) as it was difficult for us to be apart on the holidays (and obviously difficult for Wes to be working on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning). John, you made us feel very loved, THANK YOU!

Here it is for you to enjoy:

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the hospital

Not a creature was stirring, not even a cockroach

The IV bags were hung by the bedside with care

In hopes that Doc Halderman soon would be there

The patients were nestled all snug in their beds

While drug induced visions danced in their heads:

And the nurse with her attitude and I with my charts

Had just settled in for a long Christmas farse.

When in emergency bay there arose such a clatter

Wes sprang from his bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the ambulance he flew like a flash.

Tore open the automatic doors and opened the hatch.

The moon on the breast of the severe lack of snow

Gave a luster of the South to objects below.

When what to his wondering eyes should he sees,

But a miniature gurney and eight diagnosees,

With a little old patient, so lively and quick

He knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than hemroids, his prescriptions they came,

And he whistled and shouted and called them by name,

Now, Nighqel, Now prozac, now tylenol and aleve

On Viagra, On Lipitor, on Topomax and Valium

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away resident!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So into the hospital the coursers they flew

With a gurney of nurses and Doc Haldermann too

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As he drew in my head, and was turning around,

From Ohio Doc Haldermann came with a bound.

He was dressed all in scrubs from his head to his foot

and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and vomit.

A stethiscope he had flung on his neck

And he looked like a genius just opening his chart.

His eyes -- they had circles! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the coat that he wore as white as the snow;

The stump of a pen he held tight in his teeth,

And the wisdom it encircled his head like a wreath;

The patient was fat with a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And Wes laughed when he saw him, in spite of himself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon told the patient he wouldn’t be dead

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the IV bags; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, to the Doctor’s Lounge he rose;

He sprang to his coffee, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

I was so happy that he could be there for Christmas dinner! 

Dishing up our food! 

Christmas dinner: broiled salmon, roasted winter veggies, and steamed broccoli , yum!

I was very sad to see Libby and Mom go on the 27th even though they actually stayed an extra day because the weather was looking awful on the day they were supposed to leave! Thanks so much to you both for keeping me company over Christmas! It was wonderful having you here! Really, Mom and Libby left and two days later we left for Ohio too!

We began our Ohio Christmas festivities on Dec. 29th at the Halderman's.  Wes and I forgot to bring our camera with us to Ohio so we don't have too many pictures unfortunately.  We received some sad news on the ride down that my grandma had had a heart attack the night before and was in the hospital.  She is doing well after having two stints put in and healing at home for a while. We were really happy that we were heading to Ohio so that we could go and see her and it turned out to be kind of like Christmas because John and Kim came and my aunt, uncle, and cousins! So that was nice that we were able to see everyone since we didn't get to for Christmas.  And because grandma was doing so well, it was more like a celebration that she was okay than a sad get together.  We also saw Wes' grandparents who had been in and out of the hospital several times during the month of December. We were able to see them at Thanksgiving too, kind of right when things were beginning with them. They are also doing better but needless to say, our grandparents have been on our minds and hearts a lot lately.

We spent several days at the Haldermans just hanging out, playing games, reading and playing darts :)  We had a wonderful New Years Eve party (the kind that Wes and I LOVE) in which we put on a movie and sleep through it until 11:30 when we wake up, get a glass of wine, and toast to the New Year at 12:00 and then go to bed! YES!! Again, we didn't get too many pictures because we forgot our camera...but here are some that Brent took.

The guys busted out their childhood train set and put it together.  I had heard about this train before so it was good to see it in action.  I confess that train sets apparently don't hold my interest for very long as I watched it go around one time and felt satisfied.  Haha, but the guys enjoyed themselves for a while with it!

P.S. Logan and Wes make me laugh in this picture.  You guys look like male models or something...

The Halderman's tree so large this year that it was nicknamed the Behemeth.  Haha, it looked pretty bare because it was so huge that all the ornaments couldn't cover the front of it!  

Our Christmas card for next year :)

Don't you want to come in and warm yourself by the fire? I know I would! 

After our Christmas with the Haldermans, we had Christmas with Dad and Lynn! Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, we didn't take any pictures. Why do we do always do that, guys? Haha, I guess Wes and I are usually the ones taking pictures with that crowd and since we didn't have our camera we have nothing to show! Dad and Lynn surprised us all by buying each of us a Keurig.  Wes and I had asked for one, but I had an embarrassing "kid" moment when my dad had us all unwrap one Keurig and told us we could share it throughout the year (he really just didn't want to wrap all three) but the first thing I said was, "Dad, I thought you were going to buy us our own?!?!" in a whiny voice.  Haha, sorry Dad and Lynn! I really was embarrassed, cause Libby and John seemed to realize that Dad was kidding before I did and they both looked at me like, "seriously?" Haha, after that we headed back to South Carolina to officially begin the 2012 year! Wow, can't believe it's 2012!

We love you all and miss you already! We are sad that we won't see most of you until June but it will make our reunion that much more special! Unless of course you come and visit...perhaps this is not the best way to end my post but I would like to officially renounce any belief that you guys may have about visiting us being an "inconvenience" and a bother to us.  It's NOT! Almost all of you have mentioned that you feel bad coming down on a weekend that Wes has off because "we need that time together."  Although we love having weekends together, we really love you guys too and we get more time with one another than we do any of you! Also, it's probably more inconvenient for us if you come on a weekend that he is working.  First, because you'll have to hang out with me for most of the time and I'm really not that entertaining after several hours :) and second, because Wes wants to see you and it is frustrating for him to have to go to work when his family is here! So please, please don't keep feeling like you're intruding on our time together.  You are all welcome here any time! Ok, done!

We love you guys and pray for you and think about you often! Love you!

November 2011

Current Temperature: 58 degrees and cloudy

Current Gas Price:  $2.96
Total Cockroach Count:  4 (saw one in our bedroom! EEK!)

Hello to our dear family! I cannot believe that we are updating our blog already! It seems like just yesterday I was sending out the one for October and now it's already December! Wow! November may have been one of the fastest months we've ever experienced! I'm sure that y'all will love this post though because it is filled with pictures of the most wonderful people we know...YOU! It was so marvelous to see all of you and spend time with you two weeks ago. As we were talking on the ride home (the rainy ride home) we realized that we had, in some ways, been kind of proud that we had not felt homesick since we moved down here...but after spending a week with y'all we realized how much we really do miss you! Whether we're eating delicious Indian food with Dad and Lynn, relaxing/making beeswax candles with all the Haldermans, or making astronauts helmets with Debs at John and Kim's, y'all are wonderful to be around and we truly enjoy each and every one of you!  Thank you for a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation!

The month of November was fairly uneventful in the beginning.  In fact, I think we were just doing the usual daily grind of working, eating, and sleeping for the first several weeks.  I did take a little day trip with a committee that I am a part of at work called SALT (Supportive Assistive Learning Team) to the Washington Center (http://greenville.k12.sc.us/washctr/).  The Washington Center, although a part of the Greenville Public School District is a public school specifically serving moderately to severely mentally or physically disabled students.  It was SO cool to see some of the things that they do there and it gave us some great ideas!

Then after that, it was time for the birthday celebrations to begin! My friend Clory's birthday is November 10th so we had a birthday dinner with the Fousts and Ringenbergs to celebrate both of our birthdays.  We went to this restaurant in Abbeville called "The Village Grill."  It's one of the nicer local restaurants around!

Birthday dinner in Greenwood!

After that was an uneventful week of work and we headed to O-H-I-O to see all of you! We began the week with a birthday celebration at John and Kim's house with Libby, Dad and Lynn.  Unfortunately, John and Kim were unable to participate in our second "get-together" with Dad and Lynn which took place later that week at our favorite Indian restaurant in Columbus.  We used to meet up with Dad and Lynn there about every month before we moved. We miss seeing you and I miss eating Libby's tikka masala! Hee hee!

John's birthday is on December 1st so we had a triple birthday party for  Libby, John, and me!  Here we are blowing out our candles.  Kim made an amazing red velvet cake that was the best I've ever tasted!

See how fresh and rejuvenated we look? It's because the drive from South Carolina is so easy!
You should try it sometime :)

Birthday celebration with Dad & Lynn!

After that we headed to the Halderman farm and enjoyed two days of doing nothing.  Although our parents still had to go to work, we really enjoyed simply reading, watching Wes' baby videos, and napping on their couch! We had planned to do some more things outside but the dreary weather just made it that much easier to stay inside and do nothing! After that, we headed back to Columbus for dinner at Aab.  After dinner, Wesley went to see J. Edgar at the movies by himself while Libby and I stopped by Bravo for a Lemontini before going to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn.  Wes enjoyed his movie and despite being completely grossed out at the vampire-birth scene Libs and I enjoyed Twilight. :)

I finally got to try one of Libby's favorite Lemontinis! 

On Wednesday we spent the day catching up with friends in Columbus.  I had breakfast with my high school friends and lunch with my college friends while Wes had breakfast with Nate Richards and lunch with Logan.  That night we headed out for a night on the town with Wes' friends from high school.  Currently, this group consists of people living in Akron, Columbus, Boston, New York City, and Greenwood...so it was a miracle we could all get together! Before going to dinner we went to Middle West Spirits (http://www.middlewestspirits.com/) for a tour and tasting.  We had an "okay" time.  Even though the tour was informative and the drinks delicious (relatively speaking) we were 30 minutes late for our dinner reservation because the tour took two and half hours! Yikes!

From left: Tom & Sarah Porto, Jayme & Aaron Huber

Wesley and I with Andy Lawler trying our samples of Middle West Spirits. 

From left:  Ryan & Michelle Bundenthal, Sarah & Tom Porto, at dinner!

Wesley and I at Lindey's. 

After that, it was officially THANKSGIVING! We started our Thanksgiving festivities at John and Kim's house in Cincinnati.  We celebrated with Kim's family, the Pienings, and I must say that our families seem to fit together like peas and carrots! Perhaps it's because Libby and I are girls and Kim is one of four sisters (so there are a lot of girls) but I just feel like I've known them for years!  John was up to his usual ways in the kitchen and he and Kim made an amazing meal for us! John was also up to his usual ways when he informed us that we'd be making astronaut helmets to win our dessert! This needs some explanation: Libby's boyfriend, Craig, works for NASA and this was his first time meeting us.  So naturally, John asked him if he could bring some astronaut ice cream for dessert.  Then John told us that we all had to make astronaut helmets out of household products to try and win the ice cream...and Craig had to chose a winner and a loser.  This may sound silly to you but John has a gift for making people get excited about dumb ideas and before you know it we were all taping foil around our heads! Haha, it was an enjoyable evening activity!

Ready to eat our turkey!

Libby and Craig (before he realized he'd be judging the helmet contest!)

 Video of us making our astronaut helmets! Enjoy!

Our astronaut helmets.

All of us wearing our astronaut helmets.
Winner: Trish Piening (on my right),  Loser: Kim 

Later that evening, we sadly said our goodbyes and headed back to Dayton for Thanksgiving with the Haldermans.  This Thanksgiving proved to be just as eventful as we ate more than we should, had a "boat" race in a creek, attempted to make beeswax candles, and played touch-walking football.

Turkey Day! Nice Ben...

Dana and I walking in Shawnee Prairie Preserve.  

Wes has told me before about how he and his family used to have "boat" races when they would go to parks and stuff but this was my first time actually participating! Basically, everyone picks out something that they want to "race" with and they launch them at some point along a creek and everyone cheers on their "boat" until someone wins.  Haha, it was so cute and totally want to do this with our kids! Unfortunately, I lost...big time! Enjoy! 

Discussing my "winning" boat. 

Our boat race.  Unfortunately, Logan fell in the creek while he was launching some of the boats.  It was not a comfortable walk back to the car for him! 

Logan's muddy pants and soaking boots :(

 Enjoy this video of us making our beeswax candles!

Our beeswax candles! Unfortunately, they didn't turn out because we think there was still too much honey left in them or something.  So we're going to try it again another day!

After that, it was time to head back to South Carolina, which by now seemed very far away! But we did it! We tore ourselves from all of you, our dear loved ones, and are now simply looking forward to when we will see you again! Luckily, its not that far away!

Until then....Merry Christmas!