Life

I was doing very well with blogging, but lately I have been very busy! Well, we have been very busy. I got the fli, and then Nathan got a cold (still has it actually). The he gave me the cold back, and here we are today. Still sick.

A quick update. Wedding planning is going great. I think the lack of wedding planning is really what is going great. I really decided to take a step back for a while and it has been wonderful. We are just relaxed and enjoying the upcoming holiday season. We got our Christmas tree up and we are in full swing of the holidays.  If I am feeling better, I plan on getting all of our shopping done tomorrow, wrapped and under the Christmas tree. Lets just hope Jack doesn't life his leg to the presents!

I have really been spending more time in the kitchen, trying new recipes and doing fun recipes. The good thing is that Nathan will pretty much eat anything. There have been a few things that I just don't like, but Nathan eats them up! It has been great trying out this whole wife thing.

With the holidays coming up, we really started to think "what are we going to do". We kind of thought this year since we were only engaged we would just do our own thing like we always have. I am going to my families house and he is going to his for Thanksgiving. We have yet to figure out Christmas. Splitting time is not fun, but we will find a way to make it work! Good thing we both have great families!

Well, thought I would just catch everyone up on our lives. I will post pictures when the presents are under the tree!

Routines

Most people who know me, know that I like routines. I like things to be done in a certain way, at a certain time and I really believe that there is an order for things to be done for a certain reason.  Call me OCD, call me crazy, call me whatever you want, but I live a pretty strressless life and I believe that it is because of the order in my life. 

With that being said, Nathan started on nights tonight where he works from about 11am-10pm. He really only needs to be there from 1pm-10pm, but as most of you also know, I am marrying a work-a-holic. :)  

This just throws an entire wrench into my routines. For the next 3 weeks, I will be home by myself at night, spending breaks by myself at work, and going to bed at night without Nathan. Yuck! 

It really isn't that bad. I also have adaptability as a strength so by Tuesday I will have a new routine in place and my life with be back in order! But for tonight, I'm going to have a bit of a self-pity party! :)

In love with my crock pot

So lately I have been making a lot of stuff in the crock pot and I just love it! It is so convient to just throw everything in there in the morning and then have dinner ready at night. Well, I had to work at 7 am this morning, so last night around 10pm I put an egg bake in the crock pot and it was ready for work this morning! Everyone at work really enjoyed it. I didn't like it much, but I'm pretty picky.

Crock pot egg bake
Place 1/3
1 30 oz bag of frozen hashbrowns
1 lb pre cooked ham-cubed
1 sm onion
1 lg green pepper
1 lb cheese
12 eggs
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee chopped onion, green pepper and cubed ham. Spray crock pot with cooking spray or use crock pot liner. You will layer ingredients until the top. Place 1/3 bag of frozen hasbrowns on bottom, then add 1/3 of ham veggie mixture, then 1/3 bag of cheese. Repeat steps until all ingredients are gone. Beat eggs in bowl and add 1/4 cup milk to mixture. Pour over top of layers. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve with salsa if you like. Can also be mixed up and used for breakfast burritos.

How lucky we are

This weekend, Nathan and I had plans to go to my Aunt and Uncle's cabin in Southern Iowa. It was about a 3 hour drive and we really didn't want to make the full drive Saturday and then turn around and make it again on Sunday. So, we decided to go down to Newton Friday night and then drive the rest of the way Saturday. Plus my sister and brother in law were going as well, so they could just follow us down Saturday.

This took us to my Grandma's house on Friday night. She is seriously so predictable. Nathan got held up at work so we didn't get on the road until about 6:15. I had called my Grandma and told her not to make us dinner because we would be there late, and I didn't want her to stay up late. Yes, 8:00pm is late for her.  Well wouldn't you know, there was dinner there for us when we got home. She pushed and pushed food on us and Nathan just sat there and ate for her. As my Uncle and I were pushing my Grandma to go to bed, Nathan was saying that she could just stay up as late as she wanted to. As she went on and on about how she doesnt ever do anything, Nathan told her how exciting he thought her day was. She was just eating it all up.

Then comes Saturday. Nathan is outside playing with Jack and I am inside with my Grandma. I look over to see her crying and I asked her what was wrong. She told me 'I am just so lucky to have someone like him in my life". I asked her "Who Nannie? Kent?" She said "Well, yes Kent, but Nathan. I am just so lucky to have someone like Nathan in my life." I kind of set quite for a while as I was thinking to myself I AM THE LUCKY ONE! So I said "Nannie, don't you mean you are lucky that I have someone like Nathan in my life." And she simply said "No, I am lukcy to have someone like him in my life"

And with that, I say that we are BOTH very lucky to have someone like Nathan in our life!

Stay at home something

So, the United Way bake sale is tomorrow. I went to the store last night and got all of these fun fall/halloween ideas and I was going to bake them all tonight when I got off work. Well, I just got so excited that I got off at 11 today so I could come home and start baking. Nathan has also been wanting the crock-pot fiesta chicken that I make, so I threw that into the crock pot as well. Now that things are baking and our house is smelling so good, I could really get into this having days off.

Nathan came home for lunch and we were just standing in the kitchen together. It kind of felt great. I have never ever ever EVER wanted to be a stay at home ANYTHING. I always said that I would be back to work 2 days after I had the baby and my husband could take paternity leave. Well, now that I feel as if I am "nesting" without the baby, I could really get used to this staying home.

A couple of the things I made today were:

Pumpkin Muffins
1 box yellow cake mix
1 can pumpkin
mix together

Fill muffin tin 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes

Leave plain or top with a cream cheese frosting

Crock-pot Fiesta Chicken
6-8 frozen chicken tenders
1 sm onion
1 lg pepper (whichever color you prefer)
1 jar salsa (Nathan prefers 1/2 jar hot salsa and 1/2 jar green really hot salsa)

Slice onion and pepper into large slices. Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on high for 6 hours. Take a fork and break chicken into pieces. Serve over rice for on tortillas.

I am also making:
2 dozen blueberry muffins (out of a package)
6 cherry turnovers
6 apple turnovers
12 Individual cherry and blueberry pies (in muffin tin)

Pumpkin rice krispy treats

When mixing rice krispy, use food coloring to die orange. Spray hands with non stick spray. Roll rice krispies into balls, can be any size. Add a tootsie roll for the stem and you have little pumpkins! :)

Car Rides

Tomorrow night Nathan and I embark on another trip together. Oh joy! Haha! We truly love each other, but we travel completely different each other. First, I drive fast. Nathan drives slow. I drive, Nathan gets annoyed, Nathan drives, I get annoyed. I listen to country music, Nathan listens to rap. We try to go half and half, but the other person sighs heavy the entire time. We try and talk, Nathan gets annoyed that I talk and don't listen. Nathan packs the necessities, I pack everything except the kitchen sink.  Nathan likes to stop to use the restroom,  I like to keep on truckin. 

So, tomorrow we will make the usual trip to Newton. Stay for one night and then head down to my Aunt and Uncle's cabin for their annual fall festival. This will be a total of about four hours in the car together. I can't wait!!!!! 

Oh, eternity is going to be a FUN ride!  In all seriousness, I once asked my Grandpa how he put up with my Grandma for all the years that he did, because quite frankly you could have never met two more opposite people. He told me that it's not the differences that matter, its how you work compromise and work through those differences. Nathan is truly one of the first people in my life I have been willing to compromise for. And that is why I know that eternity WILL be a fun ride! I couldn't imagine being on this ride with anybody else! 

Time

Nathan and I met at The CBE Group, where he is a trainer and I am a collector. Yes, he was my trainer! What? I've been a teacher's pet my whole life! Ha! Jokes aside, I am very blessed that I met Nathan. I took quite the pay cut and quite the leadership cut to take this job. I had actually hired someone to work for me at Sprint that left CBE to come work for me. When I made the decision to quit Sprint without a job or even a plan of what I was going to do, I was very lucky that CBE called me and hired me the next day. Landing me in Nathan's training class! 

We used to get to spend our 15 minute breaks together and my 30 minute lunch, but with a schedule change for Nathan with becoming the trainer of a new division of the company and getting Jack, we don't get to spend that time together at all. I have really noticed it taking an emotional toll on me as I need kind of that time together. A lot happens during the day that I just want to tell Nathan about. I really just enjoy spending time with him and talking to him all day. 

So tonight, I didn't get off work until 6:30 and Nathan is at workout until 7:30. I haven't really seen him since about 10pm last time! UGH!

PS. I am changing the blog name to "Keeping up with the Jones'" As this is becoming more of a blog about Nathan and my new life together! :)