Friends are wonderful!!!

Jennifer Caldwell came to visit us!!! Surprise :) She called us on Wednesday night and said her plans to fly to Idaho to visit family didn't work out, but she still had a buddy pass to use! Long story short, she flew into Chicago on Thursday afternoon and will fly home to Vancouver, Washington on Sunday. Anywho, so we drove down to Chicago on Thursday morning, went to the Field Museum near Soldier Field Stadium, drove to the airport to pick up Jennifer, then made our way to the north side of Chicago to visit Heidi's mom's cousin, Kay! After going out to dinner with Kay (we went to this fabulous place that you bring your own beverage...helped to keep the price down!) we went back to her beautiful condo to chat and sleep. On Friday (today), it started to snow, so we made our way back to Wisconsin, shoveled the snow our of our driveway, made a snowman (pictures of the snowman will come later because they are on Jen's camera), and went inside to relax and watch movies. We took a video of the snow...so hope that it turns out for you all to watch :)
This one is a video... press the play button to see our snowy drive :)

Our First Christmas

We had our first Christmas together as a married couple!!! It was a wonderful day of sleeping in, talking with family over the phone, opening presents, and relaxing. We were apartment-sitting for some friends (feeding their plants...that sort of thing) who invited us to take full advantage of their Christmas tree...so, we did! We made monkey bread for breakfast (see the picture of the rolls) and took a long walk in the very cold weather in the afternoon. All in all, we enjoyed our time together, but also missed being with family and friends. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!! Keep us posted on how you are all doing over this next year!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

WOW! Have we been getting LOTS of snow here in Wisconsin! The news said that we have had about 23 inches of snow since December 1st...apparently that is the most they have had here in the month of December in quite a while, and there is more snow in our forecast.

David finished his first semester of his Masters Program with flying colors! He is very happy to have a break for a few weeks and we plan on taking a few day trips to Chicago during his break (we took a friend to the airport and spend the day there last Saturday...it snowed!!!)! Heidi has been subbing in the Elementary and Middle Schools and will continue with subbing in January, but adding a few more school districts. The first 6 weekends of the new year will also be busy for us. We are both working for OWLS those weekends with the crazy elite volleyball club coming from the Chicago area. It should be a cold but very adventurous/challenging time for the girls coming, but we are looking forward to it!

As for the Holidays, we will miss all of our family and friends, but we are also very excited to spend our first Christmas being married!!! We are watching a friend's apartment and are going to enjoy their Christmas Tree :) Today we even put up some fancy string so that we could display all of the wonderful Christmas cards and letters friends & family have sent! Thanks!

Take care,

Heidi & Dave

Winter is here!!!

Winter is officially here! We had our first Wisconsin winter storm Saturday, beginning with a snow/frozen rain storm which left our yard frozen like an ice cube. Last night we had another snow storm, but this time we had a total of 6 inches of beautiful powder-like snow! We took a walk down to the post office and were very surprised how clear and dry the streets were...I guess that is what happens when a place is ready for snow. Also, everybody was out in their yards and on the sidewalks using their snow blowers (looks kind of like an electric garden tool) to clear their driveways and sidewalks. We are supposed to get about 3 or 4 more inches tomorrow night as well as Saturday and Tuesday. I guess we better get used to wearing our snow gear, eh? :)

A special note to all of our west coast friends and family... our thoughts and prayers are with all of you as the flood water goes down. Take care...we love you and miss you!

Turkey Day Fun in Nashville & Chicago!

Dave's parents came to visit us this past weekend for Thanksgiving! They spent a few days with us here in Williams Bay and then we took a road trip to Nashville, TN, to visit Dave's brother and sister-in-law. On the way back from Nashville, we stopped in Chicago on Sunday before returning to Williams Bay.

We took Tom & Michele (Dave's parents) on a tour around the Lake Geneva area. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating with us so we could only see halfway across the lake :( We also went to the Grand Geneva Resort to look at the Christmas decorations!

It rained the whole trip down to Nashville, but 9 hours later, we finally made it to Tara & Kevin's condo. It is a 2 bedroom apartment that they have decorated quite nicely and they can even see the downtown city lights from their deck! We spent Turkey Day at Tara's mom's house where we had delicious food that everyone helped to make. On Friday, Tara, Michele, & Heidi went shopping in a historic little town near Nashville and then met the boys for dinner before we all went to see the Christmas decorations at the Opryland Hotel.

After saying goodbye to Tara & Kevin, we drove to Chicago. We walked the Navy Pier, ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, walked around the shops on the Magnificent Mile (all the fancy stores), and rode the free trolleys round! Luckily for us, the weather was beautiful in the morning and early afternoon and only started to rain when we were ready to go home. On the way back to Williams Bay, we stopped for dinner at a place called Famous Dave's (so we obviously had to take a picture of that too!) where we had fantastic ribs!!! All in all, it was a fantastic trip with lots of stories to share :)