Pleasant Surprise

Last evening I drove to Indianapolis for a class I was supposed to have today. I knew that a snow storm was coming, so I thought that it would be wise to leave the night before. I didn't want to drive on I-69 in 4 inches of snow. Well, about two hours after I arrived in Indianapolis, my teacher emailed me saying that the class was canceled! Even though I was glad to see my family, I was regretting the "planning ahead" I had done. Gas isn't cheap!

Fortunately, Matt called later on last night to ask grandma if she could watch Madelynn because her babysitter was sick. My grandpa had surgery last week, and he is still isn't 100%. It would've been impossible for grandma to take care of grandpa and Madelynn without help. Luckily, God had provided a way for grandma to have help!! I was there! I no longer felt dumb for driving to Indianapolis.

Whenever Madelynn napped this morning, I did some homework. I played with Madelynn all this afternoon once my homework was completed! I had a lot of fun watching my niece. I was able to giver her a bath, which she LOVED!! The last time I had seen Madelynn she wasn't able to sit up by herself. Now she can, which made bath time a lot easier. She loved splashing the water.

This just goes to show you that God always has a plan!! I thought I was coming to Indianapolis to go to a class, and God's plan was for me to help my grandma and play with my niece.

Birthday

My 21st birthday was today, and it was a great birthday! I was afraid that it would be a boring one; my mom had planned on coming up to visit us. Unfortunately, my mom had to change her plans, and she was not able to come to Muncie. Despite the change of plans, the day was still fun.

James and I sat and read the entire day. James began reading the Harry Potter books late last week. Today he finished reading the second one. We have reached the agreement that we will buy the movie after James has finished the book. Since I have been a fan of the books since elementary school, I'm glad that James and I can now discuss them. Well, James and I sat around reading the Harry Potter books all day.

We wanted to go out to dinner so I could get my one birthday beverage. We decided to go to Texas Roadhouse, which was delicious. Susan, Dennis, and Kristen joined us. I had initially told our waiter that I didn't want to do the saddle, but I was convinced that I needed to by everyone else. The food was good, and I had fun showing my I.D. to get a drink!

Following dinner we decided to go bowling. I'm not a very good bowler, but I love the environment (when it doesn't smell like smoke, and this one didn't!). James even beat his mom at one of the games. We then went to the Gnaps house to play Wii bowling, which I am sort of good at.

It was a great birthday!! I have to return to reality and start doing homework. Breaks are always relaxing and necessary in my opinion.

First Week of Class

The school year started off with a loud bang after a fun trip to Texas. We arrived in Muncie around 10:00 PM. I quickly went to bed because I had class at 10:00 the next morning, and all of us were exhausted. The day before class started I was half-expecting an email from my teacher assigning chapters I would need to read for the next day. Last semester I experienced the same predicament, and I had to read ten chapters the day before classes started. No email came, so I was relieved.

The day went fairly easily. My professor for one course seemed fairly nice; she definitely was not intimidating. My other professor seemed just as nice and very laid-back. My two online courses are being taught by the same professor, so I better be nice to her because my fate in two classes depend on her. I vowed to not take any more online classes after the horror of last semester, but I was reassured that these classes had assignments with due dates. I have already semi-started one assignment out of two that are due on Friday.

The clinicals appear to be pretty intimidating. I have one huge paper and one huge project in one of the clinicals. My other clinical is being instructed by a man, which is a new experience. I LOVED my Med-Surg clinical instructor from last semester; I hope I can figure out a way to ask him questions if I need to.

It should be a busy semester, and I hope that I am up to the challenge!

James went to Ivy Tech this week to possibly investigate starting a Criminal Justice degree in the summer.


Here is a recent picture of Sunny:

Last Day in a Warm Climate

Friday was an eventful day. We woke up with a plan to go to the Water Gardens and Uno's Pizza. James and I also had plans to eat with my cousins Misty and Brian. The weather was amazing; I believe it got up to near 70.

We arrived at the Fort Worth Water Gardens, and we were greeted with amazing fountains!! The first one was very loud, and one could walk down to be in the middle of it. I wasn't for sure if I was going to go down there because I am desperately afraid of heights. I was also frightened to walk down there because I had heard of a family dying from falling in. However, the walk down there was worth it. James, Susan, and I went down there, and we took some nice pictures. I have never seen a fountain like that before! It was cool to look up and see water tumbling down towards you. The next structure you could climb up. James, Kristen, and I did it. I don't know if it was a good decision yet because my knee is still hurting. I think the combination of keeping my knee in one position in the car and then climbing made my knee hurt. The other fountains were just as amazing.

Lunch was good, but it didn't live up to my expectations. I personally think that I am a picky eater, so I think that had a lot to do with it. I don't like tomatoes, and the pizza sauce had chunks of tomato in it. I picked out the tomatoes, but it still wasn't as good as I thought it could be.

Susan drove us to where their family used to live in Texas. She said the little town had really grown since they lived there. I thought it was a quaint little town. It seemed like a nice place to live.

James and I went over to my cousin's house for dinner. She made us a delicious homemade dinner, and it was nice to be able to catch up with her. Her house is amazing!! I think James loved the fact that Brian is in the process of building his own chopper. After dinner James went to a hockey game with Joe, Heidi, Kristen, and Joey. Susan watched the little girls. He said that even though their team list, he had a great time. I spent the evening with Misty and we watched a movie. She really made me feel welcome, and she encouraged us to move to Texas. When James picked me up, I YET again left an item behind. I was able to go get my purse via a much easier route than my cell phone. We just simply turned around.

Joe and Heidi graciously let us spend the night at their house on Friday evening. James and I slept in the guest room/Joey's room. Joey normally slept in the big bed that James and I were sharing, but he was going to sleep in his toddler bed that night. James and I went to bed, and we thought everything was very comfortable. When I fell asleep, I had my arm under Jim's head. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I thought Jim hadn't moved from that spot. I felt James get up out of the bed, but I still felt someone on my arm. When he came back to bed, I whispered, "James, is Joey in the bed with us?". He sure was!!! Not only was he in the bed with us, but I had been holding Joey for the better half of the night! It was very humorous. The next morning Heidi made us a delicious breakfast. After breakfast Heidi gave us our birthday presents! They got James a Mario T-shirt and Dublin Dr. Pepper, and they got me a Dr. Pepper shirt with Dr. Pepper!! I thought our gifts were very appropriate and funny. I have become quite the Dr. Pepper fiend. We said our goodbyes, and we pulled out of Ft. Worth. It was a great trip, and I can't wait to go back!!!!


We stopped and ate at Lambert's Cafe this morning. They "throw" rolls at you. The food was great!! Unfortunately, James is pretty sick, and he spent most of the time in the car. We think it's a combination of a cold and sinuses problems. We pray that he will be back to normal soon. Well, we hear that Muncie, Indiana is experiencing five degree weather. I am not looking forward to getting there. Classes start tomorrow, and I am dreading it!!!

Relaxation

I realize this post is coming a few days late, but I still want to update because I want to remember this trip!! On Thursday we went with the mantra of relaxation. I woke up feeling a little tired from the splendor of the trip. We realized that we needed to change hotels because a hockey team was going to be coming in, and they didn't have any available space. We luckily didn't have to move too far because there was another hotel with the same price across the way. We moved over to the hotel, and we tried to decide what to do with the rest of the day. Everyone wanted to take it easy that day, so we decided to go to the mall!!!

Since I LOVED the BBQ from the night before, I wanted to eat there again before we went back to Indy. I wanted to get the desire for BBQ out of my system. We went there for lunch, and we had a nice time. We then went to the mall. The store "Brookestone" caught my eye, and I love that store. I asked James if we could go in there and sit in their comfortable chairs. I think all four of us spent about ten to twenty minutes sitting in their massage chairs. They are just so comfortable!!

Right outside of the store was a calendar place, and we meandered over there. Susan discovered that there was a "Lefty"-handed daily calendar that she was going to get for Heidi. The clerk said that she had a Lefty daily planner, which I ended up getting. I wrote in it, and it was pretty awesome to not have to worry about a wire spiral being in the way! I know that I'm not a true Lefty because I do accomplish tasks with my right hand, but today I began to wonder if that's because no one knew how to teach me to do anything with the left hand. I always thought that a right-handed mouse was fine, but I used Heidi's today. Heidi's mouse quickly made much more sense to me. Perhaps I am a true Lefty, and I have altered my way of doing things when I was younger. Who knows?

While at the mall, Kristen and I walked into a jewelry shop. We knew we'd never be able to get anything, but it's still nice to just look. All of the diamonds were so sparkly; I quickly became ashamed of not giving the proper maintenance to my engagement ring. I actually told Kristen, "Man, I need to get my ring cleaned!". The clerk told me that she would clean it for free, but she was going to look for any flaws, so she could fix them (AKA my ring would be broken, and I would have no money to fix it!!!). The clerk put on her diamond microscope thing, and she began to inspect the ring. I started to break a sweat because I knew that I wouldn't be able to get it fixed. Kelly's ring is very similar to mine, and it seems that she commonly has issues with the ring breaking. I was nervous that my ring would have the same fate. Luckily for me, my ring is in good condition with no problems!! The ring is also now clean and sparkly!!! While we were waiting for my ring to get clean, the clerk let Kristen and I try on some rings for fun. She even let us put on a $50,000 ring!!!!! I couldn't believe that she let us do it. That ring has one huge diamond on it, and it was worth more than my life!!! We were both afraid to even touch it. We both thought the diamond was too big to actually wear because it was the size of a knuckle. It was huge!!!

Later on that evening, we went over to Joe and Heidi's for dinner. Everyone had fun playing Wii. The Lasagna was very delicious, and we enjoyed hanging out. I was able to assist Susan when she gave Joey and Lizzy a bath! It was a good night.

Zoo and BBQ

Yesterday we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo. While we were there, we saw some pretty interesting stuff. We initially went to see the monkeys. There was a baby monkey, and it was so cute! The mommy picked some of the fleas off of the baby just like in the movies. We saw the guerrillas, and one of them was not in a good mood. While observing it behind the glass, it pounded its chest and rammed hard into the glass. Even though one knows that the glass is reinforced, it's still a bit frightening to see it happen! The other guerrilla in the cage reminded me of James. It was eating while looking over it's shoulder, which is classic James. He'll sneak food, and he is notorious for saying, "Are you gonna eat that?". My camera battery began to die, and I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I was able to get all of the essential pictures taken.
The flamingos were fascinating, and while we were there we heard this loud animal roar. We glanced at each other wondering, "What the heck was that!?!?". We discovered that it was the lion later on. Any time that I have gone to the zoo, the lion was always sleeping, but this lion was on the move! Both the female and male lion were pacing back and forth and roaring at each other. It was awesome to hear one up close! Later on we heard the leopard roar too. The animals must have been hungry or plotting their escape!
After the Zoo we ate at a bbq place because the kids could eat free on Wednesdays. I LOVED it! I can tell that if I lived in Texas, I would probably become very fat because the food is amazing!! Not only did I eat all of my food, but James and I ate about half of Kristen's food. She had a baked potato with meat on it. Oh my gosh the potato was amazing!!! It is definitely one of my new favorite foods!! Of course my Dr. Pepper craving got the best of me at lunch and dinner. It's just so good!
When everyone had finished eating, we went swimming. Susan and Heidi went to Walmart to get some goods. The rest of us began to swim. We had a good time, and it was nice to be able to swim with our nieces and nephew!!! I had a moment where Joey reminded me greatly of James!!! When I get into a pool, I usually have to walk myself into the pool; I've never been able to just jump in. James usually will pick me up and somehow toss/walk me in. After we had gotten out of the hot tub, I went and sat on the steps leading into the pool. Joey gave me a very sly smile and said to me, "Are you going to get in the pool? I'm in the pool. You should be too. Swim with me.". His little grin reminded me so much of James! We rarely get to have one-on-one time with the little kids because usually ALL of the family is together when we see them. It was so nice to be able to play with them. Susan spent the night at the Londt's house, and the rest of us had a relaxing evening watching TV.

Texas Day 2

The morning started early yesterday. We decided to go to the Ft. Worth Stock Yards. We had a lot of fun looking at the different shops. James and I bought our traditional magnet and shot glass ( Disclaimer: We do not actually use the traditional shot glass. They're just something cheap to buy as a souvenir. Dumb? Probably, but we still do it). Many pictures were taken, so the day was well documented photographically. We were very happy when Heidi arrived with all of the kids!

I had some Dublin Dr. Pepper on tap. It is DELICIOUS!! I've found that since I've been here; I have craved Dr. Pepper. Anytime we eat anywhere, I want it. It might just be me, but I am a new addict!! Another interesting food item was a waffle in the shape of Texas. Susan and Kristen brought James and I some breakfast. We got a huge kick out of the shape of the waffles.

I saw my first "real" cowboy; however, it was actually a cowgirl! The kids enjoyed petting some of the horses. Across the street we saw a mechanical bull. We saw people riding it, and they made it look pretty easy. Heidi wanted one of us to do it, but I was too chicken to go first or be the only one! Normally, I would depend on James to be the "first" one to do something, but he wisely decided to not attempt it because of his knee. Susan went first, and she made it look like it was a lot of fun. I went second with Kristen and Heidi following. Poor Lizzy did not enjoy watching her relatives be in peril. I do not regret doing it for a second!! It was a lot of fun.

Following the Stock Yard trip, we gathered at Joe and Heidi's house to go on a trip to Ikea!!! Ikea has been my new favorite store since we took a trip there last year. I wanted to get some candles for my birthday. I loved the candle we got there last time, but I had to use it sparingly because I only had the one. For my birthday I requested to get more of those candles. While we were there, I also saw a lamp that I really wanted, and my loving husband decided that it was okay to get it. I had a lot of fun with Joey while pushing him around. He loved watching a chair being "tested" for durability, and he loved playing with the paper rulers they have there. Another fun Ikea trip is under my belt!

When we arrived at the hotel, I uploaded the pictures I had taken. My cousin, Misty, commented on the pictures, and she wanted to know what part of Texas we were staying in. I had completely forgotten that she lives here! I didn't know what part of Texas she lived in. Since I don't really know my way around Texas, I told her Ft. Worth. I later told her the area that I was in, and she told me that I was about `15 minutes from her!! She and I plan on getting together later this week and having dinner. I guess I can no longer say that I don't have any family in Texas!!!

The weather here is amazing! I can't believe how great it is. Most people who are here are saying it's freezing (not all though). The news said that it was going to be a cold one. 60 degrees is prime Spring weather back in Indiana. I got a nice picture of James touching green grass in January!!

All Safe in Texas Minus 1

Around 7 o'clock yesterday morning everyone arose from bed and went to a free breakfast. James and I were already wide awake from the night before as a result of the other snoozers in the room. lol. We quickly packed up, and we were on the road!! We had another fun ride with the assistance of ABBA and The Beatles. While on the road, I was requested to get my phone out. I quickly realized that I didn't have it!!! Being the woman who is notoriously infamous for misplacing a cell phone, I quickly became angry at myself! Susan called the hotel, and we discovered that my phone was there. We left the beloved phone behind as a result of Jim moving it, and I didn't remember to grab it. We were luckily able to work it out, so my phone will be safely returned to me!

We arrived at Joe and Heidi's house around 5:30 PM. After everyone said their greetings, we went to the local skating rink to get some pizza!! The pizza was delicious!! We then went back to Joe and Heidi's house and started playing with the Wii. I had a lot of fun reading to Joey and Abby!! I also heard Joey say Jim's name and mine for the first time. Usually we were just called, "Hey!!". It was exciting for us to have Joey run up to us and say, "HI Uncle James! Hi Aunt Holly!" We had a lot of fun hanging out and talking. Since the trip was VERY spontaneous, we were trying not to intrude on Joe and Heidi's work/sleep schedule. We returned to the hotel, and thanks to two sets of earplugs, James and I slept a peaceful sleep!

Westward HO...Texas or BUST!

After a phone call from Susan asking us if we would be interested in going to Texas, James and I quickly decided that we were interested. James hadn't been to Texas in a few years, and I have never been outside the DFW airport. We're both excited to be going. We wanted to pack and leave that minute, but we didn't. We spent a relaxing evening over at the Gnap's house. This afternoon we left for Texas!!!!

The trip has been fun so far. We've had a lot of fun, which has included the singing of many Abba and Air Supply songs!! We reached our hotel this evening and enjoyed some pizza. James, Kristen, and I had a lot of fun in the pool. We plan on getting an early start tomorrow, and we should hopefully be in Texas tomorrow afternoon!! I plan on taking lots of pictures with my NEW digital camera!!!