NYC

Last week Steve had a week of vacation, so we decided to go to NYC for the week.  It was so great to get away and enjoy time with my honey. It was much needed time together after being apart over the holidays.  This was perfect timing since I started work this week and will get no vacation time for a 3 months.

We rode the train from Albany to Penn Station.  What a beautiful ride. The train went along the Hudson River, and the ride was very scenic. I am sure it is beautiful in the spring with the foliage blooming, or fall with the changing leaves!!  We did alot while we were there, but did not kill ourselves running around everywhere. We slept in everyday, which was so nice for Steve since he is usually up and gone from the house by about 5 everyday.  Our activities included:

• Eating (of course, they have the BEST food there!!).
• We went to Lombardi's, which is the birthplace of New York style pizza, and has been around since 1905. The pizza was great! We also went to Juniors for great NY style cheesecake. For lunch one day we went to a local diner, Steve got a Reuben that was just massive and super tasty

                                                                                      

• Walking around Central Park.
• we enjoyed getting coffee and just walking around the park talking and taking in the scenery

• Ice skating at the ice rink in Rockefeller Center
• This was something I had really wanted to do. I have seen it in so many movies, and it looks so romantic. (I know, what a girl thing to say) Steve humored me by going, but reminded me if he fell and broke his wrist that we would be in trouble. (A surgeon with a broken wrist is not the best!)

•  Going up to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building at night
• It was so cool to see the city from way up high. When walking down the streets all the buildings seem so tall, then when you are up on the 86th floor some of those buildings then seem so short.

•  Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

•  SHOPPING
• My man knows me all too well! We went to Macy's, FAO Schwarz, and Century 21. At FAO Schwarz, they had a barbie foosball table that had real barbies as the "men". There were only 10 made worldwide, and it retails at almost $25,000. 

• Nice dinner and then The Lion King on Broadway
• We went to Felidia, a fun Italian restaurant. The food was great! We tried the 4 course pasta tasting menu. The chef made the pastas based on our preferences and they were all amazing. Then dessert was four mini super tasty treats and homemade Italian cookies. Definitely would go back again.

•  Walking tour of Broadway

This was such a great trip! I am sure we will go back to NYC, since we will be living in NY for at least 4 1/2 years, so we will have plenty of time to see the other things the city has to offer.

BIG change

Sorry for my absence. Did you miss me? Since last posting on the blog, life has thrown a curve ball at us! Surprise surprise... it tends to do that sometimes! My plans are not God's plans. I find that I am all too often reminded of Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This verse is on a candle pot thingy in my bathroom for me to see every morning.

Back to the BIG change. WE HAVE MOVED. Steve and I moved to Albany, New York the beginning of January. (Well, he moved the end of November, and I moved the beginning of January. We will get to that) Here's the story... Steve did not have a permanent spot for residency at University of Colorado, so we knew that come June of 2012, we would most likely be moving. God had other plans! Steve found out the end of October that he would most likely not be given a permanent spot at CU, so he decided to look at an online database of available residency spots to see if something had opened up across the country. He had already applied to interview to start over as an intern at lots of programs across the country. Upon looking at the database he saw an opening at Albany Medical Center and decided to apply for it. In order to apply he had to go through the program he used for applying for intern spots, which is a timely process. So since he had already entered all of his information in this system it was fairly easy to apply. 

Soon after applying he received a phone call inviting him to interview. He interviewed the beginning of November for the position. Albany Medical Center only interviewed 2 people, out of hundreds that had applied for this spot. The day after his interview, he was called and offered a spot starting December 1st! We had 3 weeks to pick up and move across the country, very unexpectedly. After much talking and research, we determined it would be best for Steve to move out the end of November, and I would follow the beginning of January. We decided this based on the fact that it could take 10 weeks to get a license in NY for nursing, and I would not be able to work until I had a license. Also 3 weeks to uproot everything was quick!

Steve and I loaded up the 4-Runner and started the trek to NY, 2 days before Thanksgiving. We made it to Albany the night before Thanksgiving. I stayed in Albany for a week with Steve and we explored the city to find a place to live. Until we had a place to live, and Steve could move in, we stayed with an amazing couple that is the parents of my brother-in-law's best friend from college. They were so amazing to open up their home to us! After a week in Albany, I went back to Denver to work for a couple weeks, and pack up our apartment. I quit my job right before Christmas, and was able to enjoy the holidays with the family.  It was tough being away from Steve for Christmas, but I reminded myself that there are lots of military families that sacrifice holidays together for our freedom, so I could do 5 weeks apart!

January 2nd we loaded up the moving truck with the help of my my cousin, uncle, some of Steve's cousins, my mom, my dad, and Steve's mom. Then January 3rd my dad and I started the trek to NY with a 24 foot moving truck, towing a vehicle behind it. Fun times!! We drove almost straight through taking 2- 2 hour long breaks at a rest stop to catch some sleep. My dad was hardcore and just wanted to keep going. That was not the original plan,we had planned to stop and stay in a hotel, but my dad just wanted to keep going. I did not drive the truck at all, just kept him company.  The weather was great for our drive, and we made it to Albany in about 43 hours with stops for gas, potty, food, and a little sleep.

The day after we arrived, my dad and I unloaded a good majority of the truck, minus heavy furniture. Then after Steve got off work, a couple other residents came over to help with the heavy stuff.

There you have it... how we ended up in Albany!

We are getting settled and making our place feel like home. We both  feel like this opportunity is such a blessing from God. He has richly provided for us.

Pumpkin Patch

This past Saturday, the husband and I made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Well, this is only the second year in a row that we have gone, but it will be an annual occurrence. I want to tell our grand kids when I am 90 that their Grandpa and I have been going to the pumpkin patch yearly since we first got married. :) I am trying to start family traditions that the husband and I do together and eventually do with our kids. We have only been married a little over a year, so the tradition making is just beginning.

This year we decided to go to Anderson Farms. I had heard about it, and seen pictures from the farm that a girl I work with had of her family trip to the farm. We got a little bit of a late start on the day at the farm, the husband was on call the night before, so needed to catch some zzzzz's before we could go.  As soon as we got there we decided to go out to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. We stood in line to wait for a tractor trailer to take us out to the patch. The tractor trailer took us by a pack of Scottish highland cattle that were very friendly. They came right up to the trailer and let people pet them. The husband did not want to pet the cattle for fear that it would turn on him and injure him. (He has been at the hospital and seen too many freak accidents). Silly hubby!

The Scottish highland cattle feeding



The tractor trailer took us between two patches and let us search around for 15 minutes for the "perfect" pumpkin. We are not going to carve pumpkins this year, so decided to pick out cute ones to decorate with. I really wanted a cinderella pumpkin, for those of you that don't know, that is a white pumpkin. The patch was amazing! They had a ton of different types of pumpkins and gourds. 





Pumpkins as far as I can see




The quest for the "perfect pumpkin"

My little cinderelli

Our chariot

We love our pumpkins

After we finished picking our pumpkins we rode the tractor trailer back to the main farm area to put the pumpkins in our car. We then went to check out all of the animals that they had for us to pet and see. They had goats, llamas, bunnies, chickens, and geese.

This kid was smaller than our cat

After checking out the animals we decided it was time to do the corn maze, on our way across the farm to the maze we ran into these giant pumpkins. Wouldn't they be fun to clean out and carve?!

The corn maze was huge. It was 3 corn mazes in one. There were "check points" where you could punch a card that they gave you. There were 18 checkpoints in all. We initially just wandered aimlessly through this thing until we found a check point. It was check point 6, nothing like starting a third through. Once we found this check point we then tried to find the other checkpoints in order. The husband was a great navigator. We ended up finding 6 through 12 and then decided to call it quits. It was starting to get dark and kind of chilly, so we found our way out of the maze.

Child of the corn

Mr. Navigator

Our punchcards (you can see how big the maze is!)

What a great farm! Not only did Anderson Farms have a pumpkin patch, corn maze, and animals, they also had little john deer tractors for kids to pedal around a track, hay bales to play on, pumpkin launching, mine cars, and barrel cars. We will definitely be going back! So much fun!

HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!!










It begins

Today I made the first thing on my list of "things to make with pumkin". I have been waiting weeks to start baking my way through the list. Multiple times a week this girl has been checking multiple grocery stores to find pumpkin puree, much to my dismay they have not had it. My mom actually found some and bought it for me. What a good mommy!

The first thing to be checked off the list is Pumkin Cream Cheese Muffins. These little suckers are super tasty. Pretty sure they are going to be added to list to make again this fall!! They are well worth the weeks I have had to wait for my pumpkin puree. I am trying with all my might not to eat them all before the husband gets home from work and tastes one. My original plan was to take some to work to share. I think I am just going to do everyone elses waistline a favor and take a hit to mine by eating them all myself. (ok, fine I will share with the husband) Maybe next time some will make it to work...

This fall colored bowl helped them to taste even better :)

Fresh out of the oven, took self control not to shove one in my mouth right away



My little pretties.
(said in a cackly witch voice, come on it IS almost halloween)



Alright, I am now salavating... think I need to go eat another muffin!

Three-Oh

August 19th, the husband turned the big three-oh. He did not seem to mind the least bit that he was saying goodbye to his twenties and entering a new age bracket. He has never really been super big on celebrating his birthday. I on the other hand love celebrating birthdays! I decided that even though the husband does not care if he has a celebration for his birthday, I wanted to make him feel special. 

For the thirty days leading up to his birthday, I gave him a small present everyday to count down to his birthday. These were anything from a package of Reece's (his favorite candy) to a new broncos shirt. Some days the wrapped present was in his lunch for work, and others the present was just on the counter waiting for him when he got home. During this whole countdown I was on nights, so sometimes it required me to plan ahead for the next day since I would not see him at all. In the middle of getting all these presents, he asked me if I was going to do the countdown for his birthday every year. (He is so silly!) My response to this was that when he is 90, he will just get a mini Reece's for 90 days leading up to his birthday. :)

The night of his birthday, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at The Capital Grille in downtown Denver. The food was delicious,and our waiter was wonderful! We were so full after dinner, but somehow found a couple of cracks in our belly for the amazing cheesecake that they brought out for the husbands birthday.

The next day, we had a birthday party at my parents with friends and family. It was a great time of celebrating the husband. Here are a couple pictures from his party. 

The spread. We had Pioneer Woman's Fancy Macaroni,

BBQ pulled chicken, baked beans, Garden Pasta Salad,

Fruit skewers, Chips, and Pickles.

For dessert we had chocolate and regular strawberry

shortcakes, brownies, and chocolate peanut butter cake pops

      I love my Birthday Boy!!

                                                    The Party Guests





Thank you to everyone who helped to make SPs Birthday a special one!!

The start of a new season

This titile is two fold. First fold... fall just started. I am not usually a huge fan of fall, but for some reason this year I am kind of excited about it! Mainly I don't get excited about fall because it means that winter and cold weather are coming. You would think I would not mind cold weather being that I was born in Alaska, and have only lived there and Colorado. NOT the case! I am totally a warm weather gal. If I could wear jeans and cute tank tops all year long, I would be ecstatic! I digressed... Back to fall and why I am excited this year.

I am excited for fall drinks at Starbucks. Usually I love the pumpkin spice latte, but this year my new favorite is the Salted Carmel Mocha. Just puts a smile on my face! :) Makes me want to go get one right now!
  (Yum yum yum!)

I am also just so excited to go to the pumpkin patch with the husband and pick out pumpkins. We did this last year, and I think it is going to have to be an annual occurence. (Now I will have to blog about our pumpkin patch trip we do this year)

 
This is me picking pumpkins last year



My love and I with our pumpkins last year.

I have also been so hooked on cooking blogs this past year. I am excited to try all of the fun fall recipes that I have found. The husband gets "guinea pigged", as my mom would say, quite often. Now for finding lots of pumkin puree for all of the recipes.

Another thing that makes me so excited for fall, is wearing cute tops and jeans with boots! I bought my first pair of skinny jeans a couple weeks ago, and just love wearing my knee high boots over them!

I am also so excited to decorate for fall. I love decorating with pumkins and fall berries!


So for the second fold... I have been wanting to start a blog for quite some time. So this is a start of something new for me, blogging! I have always thought to myself "what is so exciting about my life?", but I decided there are lots of exciting things.  I am sure that someone would enjoy reading about what the Dr. and Mrs. are up to.

So there you have it. My first blog post ever!