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!