One Down, Seven to Go!

I’m done! I’m done! Last week I wrapped up my first semester of PT school, and what a whirlwind it was. I am so happy to be finished, because this semester was SO much hard work! But I loved it! I learned so much! Now for the next 4 weeks I have time to do whatever I want, and that includes… AZ for Christmas!! We are so excited to make the drive down on Saturday (the 23^rd). We will be there until January 2^nd, so a nice long time, but we already know it is going to be completely full of family and friend time, which we are not complaining about! But I will plan to make a post about that trip once we’re back, so for now I need to backtrack to what we’ve been up to the past couple of months.

After our couple of weekend trips that Jeremiah described in October, our visitors and travel slowed down for awhile. For Halloween we started a couple of fun little traditions for ourselves, including carving a pumpkin, watching Nightmare Before Christmas, and getting food delivered to our door (which I was way too excited about). We had a bowl of candy ready in advance (because I was also way too optimistic) and only had two trick-or-treaters who were pretty old and barely dressed up. Oh well, I got to see cute pictures of my nieces and nephews dressed up, so that was good!

In early November, Jeremiah made a quick trip to AZ for our friends Adam and Andrea’s wedding! Andrea was my former roommate and we were in a small group with both Adam and Andrea. I was really sad to not be able to be there, but luckily Jeremiah was actually able to FaceTime me and put his phone in a tree at the back so that I was able to see (sort of) and hear the entire ceremony! The sun was blocking most of my view, but the words are the most important, and it was so beautiful. He also FaceTimed me a couple of other times during the reception, so it was nice to be a part of the wedding in some way, but Jeremiah had a blast celebrating them and spending time with a few of our other friends who were also there! While he was there he went to Oregano’s with his family, went to Paisley’s soccer game, and had a game night with our friends Tommy, Emily, and Kevin! Some of our absolute favorite things to do, so it was once again bittersweet for me, but I am so glad he was able to make the short trip!

Back here in CO, Jeremiah experienced his first hockey game with me! My school was selling really cheap tickets to the CO Avalanche game for grad students so we took advantage of the opportunity! The tickets also came with a voucher to the concessions so we got some delicious food and had an awesome time watching the game! The Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals pretty badly too.

The end of November came really quickly and that meant Thanksgiving! It was a different Thanksgiving for everyone in both of our families this year. My parents were in NYC with Heather and George, Brian and Terrisa were in San Diego with Terrisa’s brother, and Emily had Thanksgiving with our grandma and cousins. We were of course here in CO so we were all spread out! Luckily we didn’t miss out on family time because Jeremiah’s family was able to fly up to see us! They flew in bright and early in the morning on Thanksgiving, so we picked them up at the airport and Jeremiah’s mom started right in on making her carrot cake! We had already picked up all of the ingredients she needed and we also made a Pumpkin Cheesecake the night before so that it was already ready to go. It was a little bit crowded in our little kitchen, but we made it work! Mostly it was just really nice to have them in town and just get to hang out all morning catching up with them! Around 12:30 we drove to Downtown Denver where J’s mom’s cousins live- the Swenson crew! There were about 10 of them over there and we had an awesome time getting the rest of dinner ready, talking, eating a delicious meal, and playing games after dinner! I will admit I was a little bit sad about not having the Thanksgiving meal that I am used to, but this one did not disappoint! Especially the sweet potatoes and stuffing! So there was no need to worry. I was able to FaceTime and talk to most of my family too, so that was really nice and completed an awesome Thanksgiving. The next day, before everyone got going Jeremiah and I did a little Black Friday shopping which mostly consisted of buying Christmas decorations. We got some great deals, and were back home nice and early! Then we took Jeremiah’s family on a hike a little west of Boulder to a really pretty reservoir and little waterfall, and showed them around Pearl Street in Boulder. That night we had a delicious dinner at Sloan’s Lake Tap House and Burgers. If there is one thing we have discovered about Denver it is that beer is huge here! There are endless breweries! We ended the night playing games again! The next morning we met some of the Swenson crew for breakfast before taking his family back to the airport. Even though it was a quick trip, it was so great to have them in town!

Not even a week after the Dwights had left, my family arrived in town for our annual Beaver Creek trip! Most of them came into town on Wednesday, but Jeremiah had to work on Thursday and I had class, so it was torture knowing they were so close but we couldn’t see them for 24 hours! Once Jeremiah was home from work Thursday we pretty much immediately turned around and headed up to Beaver Creek. It is only about 2 hours from our apartment, so it couldn’t have been much more convenient. Once we got to the hotel I was basically skipping down the hall (just ask Jeremiah) to their room because I was so excited to see everyone. That night we all just sat around talking, and the next day was a day for skiing! Unfortunately the snow here in Colorado so far has basically been nonexistent, so there was literally only one run open. But it wasn’t too busy, so Jeremiah and I managed to do that run I believe 9 times! In addition to a couple of the halfway-up runs with Paisley! Paisley rocked the skiing this year. She was so confident and kept wanting to go again and again. It was awesome! On Thursday before we got up there Parker and Madeline also got on the skis! They didn’t last too long, but they did a great job! Friday night most of us went down to “The Grotto,” which is the spa area in the hotel, and it is always one of the most looked-forward-to things about the trip. It is so nice! After we were all relaxed from that (well, those of us who don’t have kids were fully relaxed!) we joined in on the final prep for the Pasta dinner that we have with all of my dad’s former coworkers and my brother’s current coworkers. My brother now works at the company my dad used to for those of you reading this who don’t already know that, and the people whose time share we use for this trip all work for that company. Anyway, we have a pasta dinner with everyone on Friday night every year, so my mom always works very hard to put it together and it never disappoints! Saturday we did a few more runs, then walked around Beaver Creek village, many of us went ice skating, and just had a nice, relaxing day! Saturday night we celebrated my birthday/Christmas with the Lucas’ in the game room of the hotel. We ordered pizza, played games, and exchanged gifts! For me there is no better birthday celebration than being with my whole family! Sunday was our last day, so we packed up and took family pictures like usual! We all headed out a little bit earlier so that everyone could see our apartment! We stopped for lunch and then had ice cream back at our apartment. Then just like that, it was back to just Jeremiah and me at our apartment! And unfortunately I had a final the next day so I spent the last few hours of my birthday studying… Boo! The next two weeks I actually had 6 finals! Two lab finals and four written finals. It was an insane amount of studying, but it all paid off! The finals were hard, but I made it through as well as I could have hoped! I said this before the semester started, but now I really believe that this is the program I am meant to be in! For one, my class is incredible and all so supportive of each other, and the professors challenge us but want us all to succeed, and we have already been taught so much! Bonus- I have an amazing husband who helped me every single day push my way through the semester! Quizzing me, doing extra household things when I had to study, and just encouraging me! All the while he has been crazy busy with work! He works incredibly hard, and definitely faces challenges with the work, but he is always learning and pushing harder every day!

Volunteering at a local health fair with some of my classmates (and professor in the middle).

My lab group!

A few other things that we’ve done are decorate our house for Christmas, go to a candelight Christmas service, Lockheed Martin holiday party, game night with my lab group, trivia night at a local brewery with a family friend, and many other miscellaneous things! With Christmas decorations I have been trying my hand at more creativity (and cost effectiveness) this year, so I sewed our own stockings! I was pretty excited about it! The candlelight service we went to was with the Swenson crew in this tiny Lutheran Church called Rissby Church in Longmont, up north. We had dinner with everyone before the service and it was a really beautiful service!

It is snowing today and it makes me so happy!! However, I have nowhere to go today, and I am planning to curl up on the couch and read my book, so that is the perfect snow day, right? Ask me how I feel by the end of winter though!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

The Leaves, They Are a-Changin'

Wow, mid-October already? The last two months have been a whirlwind! We've had visitors, done some traveling ourselves, and kept busy at work/school - especially Hannah, who just finished her first round of exams this last week. She was concerned all our activities would hinder her performance, but she stepped up to the challenge and aced every one!! I'm really proud of how hard she's working. Seems like she's constantly studying and doing homework all week, and this first round of exams validated that hard work.

I was also proud to cheer her on at her Professional Ceremony a few weeks ago. Physical therapists obviously don't wear white coats, but this ceremony is effectively the equivalent of medical students' White Coat Ceremony; instead of a coat, they receive a little backpack containing a variety of instruments used in physical therapy practice, like a goniometer, pulse oximeter, reflex hammer, stethoscope, and blood pressure cuff. The faculty gave some really encouraging speeches, and we all celebrated with pizza afterward. Can't wait to cheer for her at graduation in just a few short years!

Meanwhile, work at Lockheed Martin has been busy but great. My coworkers are very helpful, and my manager vocalizes a desire to help us maintain a good work-life balance, which surprised me given the nature of the industry. But of course I'll take it! I work a 9-80 schedule, which means I fit 80 hours of work into 9 work days and get every other Friday off. Pretty sweet! While my job started slow with standard online training for the first couple weeks, I've recently been given a lot more responsibility, so I'm beginning to feel like more of a contributing team member. It's neat to think I'm handling parts that will literally be in space one day, and the materials and mechanisms we test in this lab are pretty interesting, so I think I'm gonna like it here!

Right before we started work and school, we flew out to AZ for a quick weekend trip and surprised Hannah's dad for his 60th birthday. Heather and Luke came out from Pennsylvania, too! Hannah's mom had planned a scavenger hunt of gifts, and the last clue led him to the front door, which he opened to find the four of us. It was so fun! We had a great time celebrating with the rest of the family that weekend, and were grateful to get to see my family for a bit, too.

One week later, Emily visited us for Labor Day weekend. We had a great time with her going to Taste of Denver, exploring Boulder, making ravioli from scratch, and going to a Dbacks/Rockies game. I proudly sported all my Dbacks gear as they rolled to their 10th straight win! Just wish they'd had the same mojo in the playoffs...

Then, the very next weekend, two of our great friends Morgan and Marsie - bridesmaids in our wedding - spontaneously decided to pay us a visit, too! We took them on a hike, showed them Pearl Street in Boulder, made some more ravioli from scratch (thanks for teaching us, Emily!), and went to the outlet malls in Castle Rock.

But that still wasn't the end of our visitors! Two weeks later, Nathan came out and brought with him some cold, rainy weather (ironic, given that he hails from the Valley of the Sun). We didn't let that stop us, though - we still went on a hike in Boulder, stopped by Pearl Street for some pizza, and went to one of our favorite places, Pierogi Factory, for dinner. We also discovered an amazing ice cream place downtown called Little Man Ice Cream. It's inexpensive, great quality, has fun workers, and unique flavors like apple pie, salted Oreo, and brownie cheesecake. Need I say more??

Amidst all our visitors, we went to a Chris Tomlin & Friends concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater! It was an incredible experience, both because of the gorgeous setting and the moving Christian music. It's so uplifting to see literally thousands of people united in worship, all in one place. Even the location itself, in its beauty and glory, seems to be praising our creator. What a night!

We also had a blast making our annual October pilgrimage to Disneyland with my family! This was the first time we've ever not driven there altogether, so it was a bit weird flying in and then meeting them in the parks. But I won't whine about the way we got there - we were just grateful to be there at all, now that we live much further away. We had some incredible meals (Cafe Orleans, Carthay Circle, and Ghirardelli Square), saw the newly revamped Fantasmics show, tried the Guardians of the Galaxy makeover of Tower of Terror (not the same but still great), and even met up with Hannah's parents for Space Mountain! I miss it all already!

I always love Halloween time in Disneyland! And now it's spread into CA Adventure, too!

Then, just last weekend we travelled out to Lindsborg, Kansas, and met up with my extended family for Svensk Hyllningsfest, a biannual celebration of the area's Swedish heritage. It was a pretty unique and fun experience! We saw a parade, had some homemade pie, explored the town's shops and church, saw a Birger Sandzen art gallery, and just had a good time reuniting with family we don't get to see as often. My grandparents are particularly proud of their Swedish heritage (really, the whole town is!), so it was rewarding to have them share with us places and history so dear to their hearts.

My grandpa's aunt's (I think that's the relationship) Swedish outfit was on display, along with many others, in one of the Lindsborg shops!

One thing we're still getting used to here is the weather. Upon returning from balmy weather in Disneyland, we were greeted with several inches of snow! In early October! But Denver weather is fickle: the rest of the week warmed back up into the 60s and 70s, leaving no trace of snow except on the tips of the distant Rocky peaks. Until the next snow comes, we're soaking in the beauty of fall in a place where the leaves actually change colors before January! Just yesterday morning, Hannah and I went on a gorgeous 5-mile hike out near Golden. Still, we'll welcome the snow when it comes because we're anxious for ski season to arrive!

Loving Quasi-Unemployment

I have some exciting news!

No, nobody is pregnant. Come on, guys.

If you read the last paragraph of Hannah's post a couple weeks ago, then you already know this, but I'll share it again. My job search has come to an end: Lockheed Martin offered me a position as a Mechanical Engineer in their Materials Technology Lab in Littleton! The gist of the job is that I'll be helping develop and test new materials and mechanisms for various space system projects, from satellites to manned spacecraft. Needless to say, the job sounds cool, and it's with a great company - so I accepted the offer! They're in the process of completing a background check, so I expect to start around the end of the month.

It was remarkable how quickly it all happened. I'd had 3 months of pretty much no interest in my resume; not a single interview request since April. But one day in early July I cold-called the hiring manager for this position, and he immediately offered to bring me in for an interview! It was nothing like what I'd experienced before. He just brought in all the team members to a conference room, pulled up my resume and project portfolio on the screen, and had me talk about my experience while fielding questions as they came up. I guess it went well, because two days later I got the offer!

One of the biggest challenges of searching for a job was remaining patient and keeping a balanced perspective. It's so easy to let a job/income become the "end-all-be-all" of your unemployment, to the point that your happiness and self-worth are completely intertwined with the success of your job search. I struggled to combat those feelings with the knowledge that my worth comes from God's love for me, and that He'll guide me in accordance with His will. I don't think I completely vanquished those destructive instincts, but the whole experience taught me so much about faith amidst struggles and developing a deep, personal relationship with Jesus. It's also helped me understand that walking with God doesn't mean life will be easy - rather, I should expect and even embrace difficult times, because those are the experiences that teach us most about ourselves, challenge/grow our faith, and give us a powerful opportunity to minister to others.

On a lighter note, now that I'm still unemployed but have secured a job (I'll call it quasi-unemployment), I can enjoy my freedom without the burden of a job search looming over me! Hannah and I have been making the most of it over the last month.

In July we visited upstate NY for Hannah's cousin's wedding, which was beautiful and a lot of fun. It was our first wedding since our own, so it was nice to just kick back and enjoy someone else's celebration, having garnered an appreciation for all the hard work it takes to pull it off. We especially enjoyed all the dancing at the reception (though I'm sure nobody was having as much fun as our nieces and nephew) and posing for goofy pictures inside a photo booth. Our time in Rochester also included trips to Sea Breeze, Lake Ontario, and of course, restaurants like Bill Gray's, Abbott's, and Carmine's.

After the wedding, Hannah and I went back to Philadelphia with Heather and George for a few days. Their apartment in Collegeville is really neat, and it was fun to spend some extra time with them since we see them the least out of Hannah's siblings. Heather took us on day trips to Lancaster (Amish country), NYC, and downtown Philadelphia. They were all great, but our favorite was definitely NYC. We saw Ground Zero, Little Italy, Grand Central Station, Chelsea Market, the New York Public Library, Time Square, and Central Park. And it wouldn't be a trip to NYC without awesome food! We had pizza in Little Italy, amazing halal food from a food cart, and an insane milkshake from the Black Tap. Heather and George's love of the city definitely rubbed off on us - we can't wait to go back!! Unfortunately it may be awhile before we do.

This milkshake was topped with an ice cream cookie sandwich plus a whole second cookie and a lot of whipped cream. Not to mention the rim was coated in icing, then dusted with cookie crumbs. Pretty sure the Black Tap has a deal with the diabetes clinic down the street.

In Philadelphia we saw and heard the world's largest pipe organ, located in what's now a Macy's store. The organist was happy to let people watch him play up close! We also saw the Liberty Bell and took a really interesting tour of Independence Hall. Those desks you see in the last picture are original! No joke!

Since then, we've done a lot more exploring around Colorado. We drove up to Boulder to hike and walk around Pearl Street (an awesome outdoor mall); we took a tour of the original Hammond's Candies factory; we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with my cousin who volunteers there; we visited my cousins in CO Springs for a weekend, which included a trip to our family cabin, BBQ at Rudy's, and fishing; and we walked around 16th Street Mall and Grand Central Station in Downtown Denver. The 16th Street Mall even has a temporary outdoor mini golf course set up, completely free to the public! (You know how we love free stuff!)

Hiking Saddle Rock trail, we climbed 2000 feet while traversing just 1.3 miles. It was a workout!

Great view of Downtown from the top of the Museum of Nature and Science.

BBQ at Rudy's followed by fishing the next morning. I got a trout about 8 inches long - not bad for my first time!

This past weekend, we welcomed our first guests to our apartment: Hannah's parents. On Friday we drove out to Frisco and Breckenridge to watch a professional bike race, which I have to admit was much more exciting than I expected! It was a circuit of 10 laps that passed right down Main Street, so we just wandered through shops and ate good food while we waited for the cyclists to come through town again. Saturday we hiked and visited Pearl Street in Boulder, where I had possibly the greatest gyro I've ever eaten. Sunday we went to 16th Street Mall and stopped by Voodoo Doughnut on our way home. Their donuts are crazy but delicious!

We hiked the Green Mountain West Ridge trail, where we got a great view of the Rockies that included a brass diorama of 24 different peaks.

These donuts are huge! The smallest was probably about 5 inches in diameter.

Now it's just two weeks till Hannah starts class, and probably about the same time till I start working. We're both excited to begin these new experiences, but in the mean time, we're loving quasi-unemployment!

Settling In

We have settled into our new apartment in Denver! Well, officially Westminster, CO in Northwest Denver. We flew up here for a few days back in the middle of June for an apartment hunting trip and it was very successful! We are really lucky to have some of Jeremiah's extended family in the area so we were able to stay with them and borrow one of their cars. Our first full day we went to ten different apartment complexes and had some good options... Small and expensive, but that's what we expected for the area. The second day we looked at a couple more places including a couple of condos. One of the condos was our largest, nicest, and somehow least expensive option! We both really liked this option and had a great conversation with the landlord while we were there. But we were a little apprehensive because it seemed too good to be true and we didn't want to fall into any traps. We talked it over with our families and did our best to verify that this was a legitimate deal and our last day of our trip we went back to checks few things, solidify our decision, and ultimately put a deposit down on the place! Success! We were really excited to have a place to call our own! 

Our move-in date was July 1st so that meant we didn't have too much time left in AZ! Thus began night after night of time with friends and family! It was the best! Over the past couple years we have really established some awesome friendships that were hard to say goodbye to. But we plan to keep them up as best we can while we are in CO! Most of these goodbyes happened over food so we simultaneously got to eat at some of our favorite AZ-only restaurants too! We will miss you, Oregano's. 

Anyway, the goodbyes were difficult but we managed because it was also really exciting knowing we were leaving to establish ourselves in our first apartment and together as a couple! Also, I knew we would be seeing my family just three weeks later, so that was a big bonus.

Friday, June 30th we rented a big 16-foot Budget Rental truck and managed to fill the entire thing! Who knew we already had so much stuff?? We packed in a couch, dining room table and chairs, china cabinet, stools, desk, dresser, bikes, and lots of boxes. Both sets of our parents as well as Nathan helped us load up so it really didn't take too long fortunately. Saturday morning we took off bright and early! Jeremiah and I packed up our cars (which were also stuffed full) with a few last minute things and met over at his parents house. Jeremiah and his dad drove the rental truck, my parents were in my car, and Jeremiah's mom and me in Jeremiah's car. We had a little caravan with the rental truck in the middle and with a few stops along the way for gas and food, no major bumps in the road, 14 hours later we arrived in Colorado Springs! Phew! It was a long, tiring day but we made it! Jeremiah's great aunt and uncle live in the Springs so we had a beautiful home and really comfy beds to stay in that night. The next morning Ralph and Jan provided a really nice breakfast for us and a couple other family members stopped over so we had a relaxing morning chatting with everyone! At about 9:30 we hit the road again for the last hour and fifteen minutes up to our apartment. Not bad at all compared to the day before! Once we arrived we pretty much immediately began unloading everything! Our apartment is on the second floor so it was a little tiring and somewhat tricky (aka our couch was nearly impossible, thanks to our dads for the help with that!!). We pretty much just dumped everything anywhere in the apartment so Jeremiah and I could slowly but surely get things situated. 

Also notice I chopped most of my hair off!

That same night that we moved in we went over to Joy and Michael's house (some of J's extended family) for a Fourth of July party! It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of delicious food! After that we dropped my parents off at the lightrail station so they could get to the airport. It was strange saying goodbye! The next morning we joined J's parents, and some other family for breakfast and took his parents to the airport soon after that. So then it was just us and our new apartment! 

The next few days we nonstop unpacked/organized. It was tricky finding a place for everything, but we somehow managed! We made trips to the store here and there to break up the unpacking as well. Since moving here we have also gotten my name changed at the bank, I got a Colorado driver's license (which was a bit of a headache with all of the documents we needed), gotten a gym membership a two minute jog from our apartment, tried a couple new churches, and other misc important things. We've also done a few more fun things as well! We live right around the corner from Waterworld, a huge water park here in Denver so we spent a very fun day there. We also spent a full Saturday at Rocky Mountain National Park with Jeremiah's great Uncle Bill! It is so gorgeous! I'd been once before a few years ago, but the scenery was just as incredible this time around. We drove around a big loop that takes you to different lookout points and walked around/took pictures at many of them. We also dipped our hands in the Colorado river, had a wonderful picnic lunch prepared by Bill, and took a shuttle bus to Bear Lake where we walked the loop around it. We finished the day off at a yummy dinner with Bill as well. It was an amazing day exploring the mountainous side of the state and spending more time with Bill than I ever have. Plus it reminded us that we just moved to a gorgeous place! 

One other thing that I have been up to here since we moved is a little part time job! I work MWF from 9-1 at a company called Wunderkin about 25 minutes from us! So it's not a lot of time, but it's a little extra money. Wunderkin is this company that makes little girls' bows that my sister loves. Heather knew that they were located in Denver and needed some help packaging and shipping the bows. She gave me the email of the owner of the company whom I emailed basically asking if they could use my help and she said, sure come in Monday! So I started that a couple weeks ago and it has been a good use of my time, since I would otherwise not be doing much productive until school starts. 

Most of you probably know from reading that Jeremiah turned down a full time offer at Stryker in Phoenix so that we could move up here to Denver. Which meant that we were moving here without him having a job. So after a lot of persistence in the job search/application process, Jeremiah found out last Wednesday that he got a full time offer as a Mechanical Engineer with Lockheed Martin!! He and I are extremely excited! I just know that they are going to be so happy they hired him, because he is so talented and such a hard worker. He can update on more specifics of the job in his next post, but he will be starting in a few weeks after they have completed a background check. That means we have a few weeks of minimal obligations and lots of exploring to do! 

That's it from us Colorado Dwights for now! As I said, our apartment is all put together so any and all visitors are more than welcome!