2 years!

it's hard to believe that our wedding was 2 years ago already! a lot has happened since then.....we've lived in 2 different states, 3 different apartments, i've had 2 different jobs (well, major jobs - i'm not counting dog walking and all those crazy part time ones i had when we first moved here!), and all in all we've had 2 wonderful years together. i thought i'd be fun to relive that day with a few pictures....

garage sales

i'm a big fan of garage sales, especially when neighborhoods have them together so you can avoid the drive five blocks, park the car, drive five blocks, park the car routine. matt and i made our first garage sale sweep of the summer this weekend. matt found a vhs he uses every fall for class, but otherwise we just enjoyed the adventure of hunting for a good deal. and you never know what you are going to see along the way....

like multiples of the same things - lotions, tshirts, jewelry, and brownie mixes....yes, brownie mixes. for a little while i thought this couple was running a mini convenience store right out of their garage.

it's just the beginning of the summer....who knows what we will find on weekends to come!

ahhhh...summer nights

it seemed to change to summer in a matter of a day and it's exciting to start smelling, hearing, and seeing everything i love about spring and summer....

the smell of mud....fresh cut grass....rain....flowers....
the sound of birds waking me up....cicadas at night....
late night sunsets....pink shoulders and noses....running barefoot in the grass....
riding with the window down and the music loud....
baseball....bags....grilling....bonfires....summer nights....

and the best thing of all? finishing that last day of school....matt's is next week wednesday and mine is june 11 - almost there!

this weekend i got to go up to michigan with my mom to play in a volleyball tournament and visit family. mom and i got a little more quality time in the car than we planned on, after crawling along I-80 around two different 5 car accidents within 1/4 mile of each other. oh, chicago traffic....you never seem to disappoint.

buying transportation

we have been in the business of buying transportation lately...

first was a bike. the last bike i had was the pink and purple 10 speed that i got as a birthday present in grade school. i had brought it to college and it served me well. but after the chain rusted out and you could hear it squeak from a mile away, i figured other college students would appreciate a free bike. so after saving up for a while, i was able to buy a new one....


and second was a car! much to matt's disappointment, it was time to trade in the beretta. but he had a very proud moment when the manager talked to us after he inspected it for trade in value. he said...and i quote "that's the best beretta i've seen in a long time. you must have loved that car!" i have a feeling they don't see many berettas come through there, so i have to give him props...he's a pretty good car salesman - obviously he knew just what to say to my husband!

when we were finally ready to go home, matt jumped into the driver's seat, turned the ignition, and..... instantly a look of confusion and concern. i could only think - you've go to be kidding me! we've owned this thing for 5 minutes and something is wrong?

me - "matt, what's wrong? something with the car?"
matt - "well i turned the car on, but i don't hear anything. is it on?!"
me - laughing hysterically .... the car was definitely on :)

i think this qualifies as a - you know you've had an older car for a LONG time when...... no worries, the car is just fine and it's running great.


now we are ready for summer road trips and bike rides! :) i hope everyone is having a wonderful spring!

spring break

last week was spring break for both of our schools, so i took off work and we headed out on a spring break adventure. we started off the week flying out to new mexico to visit tim & chels in zuni. it was great to see where they live, work, and the people they talk about. here's a few pictures...

we thought jeremiah looked pretty good in a twin's hat.....he only liked it for about 3 seconds. someday...

on monday, we hiked up DY, the mesa near zuni. zuni is in the background of the picture, and was awesome to get up that high and see for miles!

one night we also went to turtle rock to watch the sunset. once again....beautiful!


tuesday and wednesday we went to the grand canyon - matt and i's first time! on tuesday we went to a lot of lookout points and watched the sunset over the grand canyon at night. it was amazing just to take it all in! that night we camped out, and wednesday we hiked the kaibab trail. although a little chilly, we had a great time.


thursday we flew back to chicago, but not before i snapped a happy picture with jeremiah. the poor guy was working on 3 top teeth all week and usually just wanted chels. by the last day he was feeling better and i got a good smile. i told him he could practice saying my name for the next time we see him....but we just may have to visit again for that to happen! :)

after a few short hours of sleep, we unpacked and repacked our bags on friday morning and headed out to minneapolis for the 1st twins game in target field. zack, one of matt's college roommates, got us tickets.....matt was like a kid in a candy store. it was rainy all day, but as soon as we got to the stadium, the rain stopped and it was great weather!





and on our way home, we celebrated easter with family. this is just a little family game of carrot baseball. team siblings-with-spouses took the W this year, but team parents-and-unmarried-siblings did have an impressive showing....snapping the carrot top off the bat and breaking a ball in half.
and finally back to chicagoland. it was a great spring break....the only thing missing was a vacation day to recover from our vacation before monday rolled around!

children's books

this quarter i'm taking a literacy course for K-4th grades, which means that i have spent a great deal of time in the children's section of our local library. i've read some really great books and now have a new found appreciation for them.....and realized that this section of the library is not made for people my height. the book shelves come up to about my hip, so for me to browse the top shelf, i have to stick out my rear end and crane my neck sideways in a very awkward way. with the bottom shelves, i usually just sit indian style on the ground, but my long legs take up most of the aisle. i know the obvious - the shelves are made for the little people. but i had to laugh the last time i was there....most of the people searching the shelves were the parents, while the kids were comfortably reading by the tables and on the couches. maybe i'm not the only one feeling like a giant among the children's books after all.

taking a break

so what have we been up to for the past two months? well, january was a lot of basketball. matt and i both had teams to coach this year - he had 8th grade boys again and here's my team of freshmen girls. it was a lot of fun to coach them this year....it's easy to get to know your team quite well when it's so small. we ended up 16-4 on the year and were conference champs. they made me look quite good :).

this year i decide to brave the homecoming game crowds, but it was all worth it to see matt dance with the pommers in a father/daughter dance that they put on every year. one of his former students asked him to step in cause their dad couldn't make it. i have tried for years to get that boy to bust out a move at a wedding dance and i've got nothing so far.....so i wasn't going to miss this. (i think he's going to post the video someone took on facebook)

february has been the month of homework. school is going great and i'm a few weeks away from being 1/2 way done. but as any college student knows, the last few weeks are always the busiest. next quarter i have a 50 hour practicum (classroom observations) and in the fall i'll be student teaching....which also means that i'll be looking for my own teaching job in less than a year!

teaching is going well for matt. he enjoyed his february break between basketball and baseball...and i did too. he went to the chicago auto show with some friends a few weekends ago and has actually made it home from school before 5:00 several nights this month. but tryouts start for baseball on monday so he'll be off and running once more. he's coaching the jv by himself this year and has a lot of guys trying out for the team, so he also has the awful job of making cuts. it's hard to believe that the season should start already when i woke up to 4 inches of unexpected lake effect snow on my car this morning!

well i'm off to do another project for school. adios!