Long Time, No Blog

Well folks, I know it has been ages since the last blog update. I sincerely apologize for this. It is no one's fault, but my own. In Nickel news, Justin and I both finished up our finals and are loving our vacation from work and school. We started our holiday adventure by bearing the winter elements and heading to Ames for an overnight pit-stop before heading to the northern tundra known as Manley, IA. We thought we were really out-smarting the weather by leaving the night before, but had to hurl through regardless. It was a very lovely and cold Christmas with the Nickel/Whitehurst/Petersen clan. Next stop, was the Duree/Owen/Nickel Christmas in West Des Moines. Again, the weather was cold and there was plenty of blowing snow. Later that afternoon, we drove through more blowing snow which had practically drifted over the highways and had our final Christmas stop in State Center for the Duree/Nickel Christmas. It really began to feel that no matter where our car turned, the wind changed and blew snow against our vehicle. Weather aside, it has been a wonderful Christmas and we truly feel blessed to have such great families. Happy Holidays to all and a huge thanks to my friend Sam for navigating us through some of the winter weather conditions we endured on our way to Iowa.

Legendary Bull Riders

My sisters Erin and Amy came down for a weekend full of fun. We decided to hit The Legends for some shopping and bull riding. The Legends is a new outdoor shopping facility located near the Kansas Speedway. There are all these great restaurants, including Sattle Ranch and the legendary machanical bull. Gotta love living in Kansas! Later we came back to my place and trimmed the Christmas tree and had a lovely pre-Thanksgiving feast. More pictures will come, but I thought you all might enjoy these first.

Deck the Halls?

After getting pumped about fall festivities last weekend, I decorated our fireplace with bittersweet and a pumpkin. Really, this should have been done like two months ago when we moved into our home. I say this because with the weather changing and all the commercials about the Holidays, I now want to put up all of our Christmas decorations. Is it to early I ask? We never really got into decorating for any holiday until about three years ago when I worked an extra job at Bath & Body Works/ White Barn Candle Company. Yes the fine art of selling scents and wax, as my good friend Sam once said. It was a fantastic job. Maybe it was the fumes that made it so enjoyable. The other funny things was the realization that one cannot help in any retail position to be thinking about a holiday months before the holiday actually occurs. I believe I put up fall decorations in August that year and was already priming the home for Christmas right after Halloween. Overall, I must say the season only comes once a year. Thus we must relish in the moments and signs of the season life has to offer. Up goes the tree!

Yarrrrr!

Yes, the best of Jack Sparrow. Well, at least the best I can do. Justin played a much better pirate of the Johnson county than I today. His whole work team dressed as mighty pirates. Yarrr! The gote was too much fun to pass by, so we alternated between trick-or-treaters this evening. We wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween! Yarrr!!!

Much a do about not nothing

So after the snake incident, there has been much a do about researching snakes. I did my research later that evening only to find venomous news. I compared pictures to our squiggly friend and concluded maybe he/she was a rattle snake. Justin being the resourceful engineer he is, sent the picture to the Kansas Herpalogical Society's Vice President and discovered it was a rat snake. If any of you have different thoughts or can identify the snake, please comment. I'm not sure who to believe, but either way I don't like it. If the snake is found in the driveway or garage again it will get run over by my car while I am protected from bites and venom.

On a happier note, our weekend was spent in Creston, Iowa for Justin's sister's wedding shower. We stayed with our good friends the Kenyons. While we did not get much sleep as young children under the age of three have very different sleeping patterns, it was a fabulous weekend. Jacqueline picked out the perfect pumpkin. I wish we would have gotten a picture. Trust me, it really had lots of character. Many thanks to our good friends! We love you guys!

Snake!

If you look very closely, you can see a snake charging at my camera. I could clearly see the little fellow in my garage when arriving home this evening. He was a fierce little sucker really. This all occured after Justin had come home early for the arrival of our new washer and dryer. Yes my friends, the washer and dryer rock! I could go on and on about the washing and drying capacity and literally how quiet both machines run, however, I was not pleased by the snake in the garage. Justin was doing yard work and had left both garage doors open. This seems to be a problem when he is engrossed in raking leaves this fall season. Monday night he had left them open all night. Both events have lead to a good you-know-what chewing by none other than myself. Maybe the snake in the garage has been a good lesson. If left undiscussed, the next thing could lead to some badger or mountain lion invading our refrigerator and attacking us in the wee hours of the morning. Can you just picture the headlines, "Young married couple devoured by mountain lion." Ugh!

In other news, everything seems to be going well. The house is looking great and we are pretty much unpacked.

Home Improvement

While we were a little disappointed about the loss to the Hawks, Justin and I quickly cheered ourselves up this weekend with our first home improvement project. We cleaned out both of our storage closets in the apartment and took about four carloads of stuff over to the new place. Then, we went on our first trip as proud home owners to Home Depot. I have a major aversion to padded toilette seats. Some find them quite comfortable; I however, find them grossly disgusting. Maybe it's a texture thing or something, but padded toilette seats just seem dirty to me. It doesn't matter how clean the bathroom or the rest of the toilette may be, it just makes me cringe. Anyhow, above is the nice new, non-padded toilette seat Justin installed. It even can be easily removed for deep down cleanliness. How cool is that?