Winter At It's Best

January turned out to be a great month, After the wedding we got back to school and back to work. The past couple weeks or so have really presented a lot of great news for us. Aaron called to tell us that we are going to aunt and uncle again, although worded differently. I got new tires on my car, so now it doesn’t shake anymore. Just this week we had a record drop in weather, the day started at 54 degrees and by the end of the night it was 4 with i think with wind chill in the -12's or so along with freezing rain, and we couldn’t get our car doors open because they were frozen shut. The wind was so strong that we thought our house was going to blow over that night. and the wind was also coming through the window so we had to thumb tack a blanket on the window. Mike got sick, and is still trying to get over it. Although luckily I have not experienced sickness. Yesterday we received the best news of all, Boeing called mike and offered him the internship this summer. the pay is really great, so i think he is going to take it, the only thing is that its in down town Chicago, so we are still wondering about housing or commuting? We’ll just keep praying. last night we got hit with our second biggest snow storm this winter. And we had to once again shovel our way out. Olivet for the first time in Olivet history canceled classes today so after we shoveled the driveway with our neighbors , (which by the way is about the only time we all get together) Mike and I make some blueberry pancakes, enjoyed some starbucks French roast coffee and watched home improvement . ahhhh a snow day! a day to relax and enjoy each other. I hope that whoever else had snow today, take some time and enjoy a hot drink and sit down and read a book or relax and watch a movie. Snow days don’t come very often , so take some time and do something you like :)

Stinky Pete

STINKY PETE
Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
shouted Olivia from across the way
who got a Kit doll on Christmas day

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
said Owen who played with Mikes car
and then looked up at the evening star

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
exclaimed Joe
who stubbed his toe

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
yelled Aaron at noon
who turned 30 too soon

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
stated Lori who ate chili
and then played with Owen something silly

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
announced James by the tree
who gave Pete shorts far above the knee

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
proclaimed Ali
who used to be a Chally

Stinky Pete
had horrible feet
sang Dad
who bought a guitar and was glad

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
wrote Mom in a letter
saying that her Kifla was better

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
whispered Mike
that Kifla he does like

Stinky Pete
had horrible feet
cried Annie who doesn't mind
for to Pete she is now legally bind

Its been a crazy beginning and end to this Holiday season, needless to say it turned out to be a great holiday, It began by spending Thanksgiving with the Heinolds and then the Kennells which turned out to be a blast, I think that my favorite story during the Thanksgiving holiday was when we were all sitting around Grandma Kennells table playing apples to apples i believe while at the same time the Bears were on TV, Dustin the youngest of the kennell kids was the only one watching the Bears while the rest of us were in the kitchen playing apples to apples well needless to say Dustin got excited when well, pretty much on every play, so every couple minutes we heard noises from the other room including things like "fumble" or "touchdown" , at the sound of these words every Kennell kid, followed by Bryant and Lisa would run into the TV room to find out what happened. well after a few times it started to get kind of funny, and then grandma kennell brought out this amazing cheese spread along with crackers everyone was into the crackers, well then Dustin yelled "TOUCHDOWN" from the other room, and everyone went running, so Mike and I decided to get in on the action and we jumped around yelling and screaming. Well little to our knowledge did we know what had just happened in the kitchen, Rebekah and Dale decided to steal the crackers and cheese first by trying to eat them as fast as they could and then just piled them into their laps. All the while Betty laughing uncontrollably needless to say the whole situation was rather funny. Well after thanksgiving Mike and I bought our fake tree from the local wal-mart and gathered all of our hallmark ornaments and decorated for Christmas, we finished our classes for the semester and before we knew it, it was time to leave for the first of the family Christmases. Our First stop was the Great Heinolds on Christmas Eve- we enjoyed some great chili and then since we were rather late getting there and everyone had already opened their presents Mike and I opened the presents we brought for ourselves and to be funny since everyone was watching we switched gifts, so that I opened a pair of men’s dress shoes and Mike opened my shirts that I had got. Everyone laughed it was kind of funny. Christmas day we had two places to go, the first stop was grandma Kennells in the morning where we had a great meal followed by some great presents followed by a circle full of things we are thankful for, and the beginning of "Lester" When it was Rebekahs turn to share what she was thankful for Rebekah said "I'm thankful for laughter, and then grandma Kennell yelled out "Who's Lester?" which was followed by much laughter. we then headed to the Heinolds in Goodfield where we enjoyed a great meal along with some more wonderful presents and some interesting present s that were given to josh, I’m not sure but I’m guessing that he had an eventful year. As dec 26 approached we enjoyed Christmas at the Heinolds in lacon where Mike and Joel got Drills, along with remote control cars which they drove off the porch, and we all got beautiful green sleeping bags. Dec 27 James came into town!!!! but not till late so really we didn’t see him until the 28th which on the 28th we had the first family Christmas with me mike and James Annie Pete, and of course mom and dad and then Mike found the pickle, Dec 29th I turned 21!!!! Eleven of us enjoyed some great times at olive garden! Dec 30 we all went to church. Dec 31 James left and it snowed so we took a lot of pictures in the snow including the ones below where I have my new bangs. Also in these days we experienced some games including telephone Pictionary, king elephant, and the new famous the Christmas tree toss, which I think Mike won in the end, not too sure on that one. We also tackled making snow covered pine cones, (Fake snow, real pine cones from Colorado) Making white chocolate covered pretzels with blue sprinkles, and then stuffing the boxes, I do not think that we did ever find out who received the lump of coal we hid in one of the 225 boxes, that may be a mystery that will hang over the Cerf center for the many years to come. New year’s night was spent with Annie Pete Rebekah and Joel good times had by all.
TIME TO BREATH! ITS NOW 2008
Jan 1st we went to Rebekah and Joels for a Heinold, Zehr, Lamborn, and Kennell get together. Where we played some great games including King Elephant and I give Ryan Kennell the award for the best improved first time player and Josh Lamborn the award for worst hand and rhythm coordination, Jan 2 was a big day because Joe, Aaron, Lori, Owen and Olivia, along with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson(Pete's parents) all arrived on this day. Later that afternoon Nadine and I went to the store where she spent 83 dollars on peanut butter M&Ms, life savors, and peanut butter. Jan 3 was Christmas Time again, at least we didn’t have a repeat of last year when Uncle Joe was jumped on at 6:45am by owen saying “Uncle Joe wake up its Christmas Time!!! So we had another Chally Christmas which involved mainly gifts for Owen and Olivia. Owen got some cool stuff including Thomas and Olivia got some really cool American girl stuff along with her very own American girl doll named Kit then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa challys house Aaron and Lori wrote this amazing play in honor of Grandma and all of her hard work putting on Christmas plays throughout the years. We gave her a certificate stating she had received a long time achievement for play writing and then we acted out a play about Christmas, Neil Diamond, and some gross green that Aaron actually tried to eat and almost threw up I think. Everyone laughed it was a great time. but us ladies had to leave somewhat early from Grandma and Grandpas because we had to get ready for annies personal shower. I won’t go into any details- all I will say is that we had a really great time! Jan 4 day before the wedding i remember being busy doing things and stuff. first picked out the flowers that she wanted us to carry for the wedding I gave her a hard time and told that we were going to be carrying tree branches because it was a lot of pine. well from all of the trees that we had stolen off the road (Christmas tree's that is stolen) and we cut them up and so the night of the rehearsal they brought us actual tree branches from the trees we had cut up to carry. My words indeed came back to haunt me. we carried real sticky pine that night. after the rehearsal we headed over to Washington where we had our rehearsal dinner we had chocolate candies that looked like rocks on the table that were really good, but they had to make an announcement that you were not supposed to eat the big rocks because they were real. When annieannie and Pete gave out gifts to everyone, I got a really cool mug (that i love) and owen got this really cool gun that makes noise. and a lot of people cried. after words we quickly tried to get out of there to head out the bachelor ette party. While all of us girls were having a great time talking and laughing i get a phone call and its joe, he says "Hey where are you ? we are coming, and don't tell the girls!" so i quickly give him directions to where i was and soon enough Pete came walking in which a paddle and a nurse outfit and on the back it said spank me I'm getting married tomorrow! well after a somewhat late and exciting night we got up the next morning and headed to the salon for hair make up and painted toes and fingernails. Before we knew it Annie had her dress on and was on her way to meet Pete. A little later we met at Mikas and then for a coffee break and some pictures. Right before the wedding started Annie and the girls sat waiting in the little nursery. Annie said her goodbyes to Zach Morris (from saved by the bell) and the rest was kind of a blur from there. We cried we laughed, and then Annie and Pete got married. Well we made it to the Cerf center I realized that i soon had to give a speech to my older now married sister. Being under presser and having about 200 people looking at you, i knew what i wanted to say and hopefully said the right thing. Although I did forget to raise my glass... sorry. well the dancing began, and I think I danced with Pete two or three times, I danced with my new father-in-law for the daddy daughter dance, then Owen my nephew wanted to have the next couple dances which was so much fun, although it was funny when my husband tried to bud in and Owen said no, so we danced some more! Aaron and I later danced and had a dance off with ray and mike; I think we won by far. Us chally's have some good moves. after we cleaned up and the newly weds headed out we came back to the chally house and engaged in a large game of telephone Pictionary, The next morning was an early and long morning, I packed up Nadine into my little car and we headed to the Chicago O hare airport she had a long day of traveling for her. Then after coming back home to Bourbonnais, Mike and I took Annie and Pete to their hotel in Chicago.
WOW so much info for just a couple weeks- to conclude what turned out to be a great holiday – Just wanted to extend a thanks out to all of our family, the Challys, Browns, Nelsons, Heinolds, Zehrs, Lamborns, Kennells, Kindreds for giving us a wonderful 2007 Christmas and a wonderful New year with a lot of love and memories. Have a great Start to the new year !!! 2008!!!!!

The Smell of November

Ahh yes November is here- a lot of exciting things have been happening... first of all to start off November Mike and I were able to take a trip to Chicago for one of our classes. Yes can you believe it we are in college and we still get to take field trips! I love it. since the field trip was cordinated by our teacher Dr. Daake we were able to skip all of our other classes for the day without getting in trouble. Dr. Daake even gave us money to ride the Metra up to down town Chicago. so Me Annalisa and Mike headed up to the train station at University Park just 20 minutes from Olivet and then we headed to downtown Chicago. It was a beautiful day to be in Chicago, it was sunny, not too windy and not too cold either. we headed to Quiznos for a quick lunch and then met the rest of our group at the World Trade Center of Illinois. which i might add is a very large building. We were instructed to enter at the south east lower entrance with none of us knew where that was. so we decided to walk all the way around the building, (our exercise for the day) until we found the entrance. we had to hand in our ID's so that they knew it was us, and gave us some cards with our names on them. We headed up to the 22nd floor, really high up and went into a small room where the speakers would give their presentations. It was really neat that they made this whole day just for our class. we were the only people their. well we listened to four different people talk about globalization and green marketing and also the best way to market globally. it was interesting especially the lady who spoke last. after she was done Anna looked at me and said "that's who I am going to be when i grow up!" or when I become a "real person" me and Anna always joke about how since we are in college and we don't have real jobs we aren't real people yet. we had a good laugh about that one. since the presentation got over relatively early we headed out in search of the mall, once inside the 4 story mall anna went looking for some make up and mike and I wondered around. i picked up a small pink purse with a large bow on it. I looked at the price and I almost fell over. 1,295 dollars!!!!!!!! My wedding ring double that didn't cost that much!!!!!! All mike said to me was put the purse down and walk away. after looking around for a while we headed out across the street to enjoy some PFchangs ! after some good food , good company , and the great atmosphere of Chicago we headed back to the Merta which we barely made the 5:17 train we came back our apt at 265 Mohawk.


Well the Warm Weather has finally left I think for good, and the Leaves have finally fallen the cold has crept into our house, so we finally decided it was time to turn the heat on, one because I was freezing and two because all of our plants died because its too cold in our house, and three because at night Mike steals the covers. This picture was taken at 6:45 am when i finally decided to get up and capture the evidence of Mike stealing the covers. he was really sleeping here, and the flash woke him up, when he said "what are you doing?" and i said "collecting Evidence!" The following night we turned on the heat tucked the covers into the bed really good and enjoyed a warm good night of sleep!
It seems as though November is really flying by and people all around town already have their Christmas trees, lights, and light up reindeer all ready to go. Wait Hold on a second! we haven't even enjoyed the Turkey yet, or the sweet potatoes along with the cranberries, stuffing and the PUMPKIN PIE! I told Mike we will put our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving but never before we sit down enjoy dinner and praise God for our Families, our Friends, food and warm houses! First we have to thank God for what he did for us, then we can celebrate Christmas with his birth, or at least that's how it should be done.
One last note: last year we experienced a new jewel in town, and yesterday we experienced a new Kroger which is only a block away from our house. so last night at 10:30 Mike and I headed over to Kroger to check out the new store. The lay out was hard to follow, but we had a good time shopping, while listening to Christmas music being played, the lady at the cashier was rather nice, and asked if we were able to find everything okay. but i think everyone in sales asks that kind of question. with some cereal bread milk, and cheese. The everyday essentials we headed out into the clean crisp November air where we found that mike was already catching frost on top of his car. one thing that I highly recommend for any married couple, go grocery together its a lot of fun! Well today turned out to be like any other friday, sleeping in late, working on hmwk and heading off to work in a couple of hours. November is here for sure, but for some reason it feels like its already over! Happy Birthday to Aaron today! and happy birthday to Joe on sunday! Enjoy November while its here, because December seems likes its already taking over.

Finally a breath of fresh air

Well lets see, before the mess in our apartment happened. Annie came to visit on a Thursday and stayed for the weekend. I drove up to Chicago to pick up Annie from Midway airport. I would just like to state that people from Chicago who work in airports are not very nice people. after pulling up for a fraction of a second a lady told me i had to move because my party wasn't waiting for me, while little did i know Annie was running over to the car, in my frustration with this lady who wouldn't leave me alone i drove off, right as Annie came up. Annie also explained to the lady that she was here and ready to enter the car. I'm not sure, but i think there is some opportunity cost in the case of driving around the airport once again and only to make Annie wait longer. all in all, we made it to Eureka IL and only to enjoy a fun and exciting couple of days full of showers and girl time! On Thursday night the Nelsons were able to join us, for a home cook feast cooked by Momma Chally and then we spent time watching Annie open a plethora of presents. And of course later enjoyed stories shared between both families. A good time had by all. Friday Mom Annie and I spent the day doing wedding things along with taking a trip out to the much coveted Tanners orchard. It was really packed, and quite hot that day so we didn't stay long. Got the goods, and left Saturday we took a trip up to Gevena IL, where we had a wonderful lunch hosted by Aunt MB, Emily, and Aunt Cindy the afternoon was a blast. Abigail became the center of our comic relief, and then grandma didn't remember how long her and grandpa were married which made everyone laugh. It was a great day had by all. Well after a fun filled day in Geneva we headed home. Although for me the traveling of the night was just beginning. my car was left on 17, which is about 20 miles from Lacon, where Mikes parents live. i got into my car and headed back to bourbonnais to pick up mike, and then we got back on 17, and drove the hour and 30 minutes to lacon. all in all that day i think i drove a good 7 hours and 30 minutes or so. we spent the night Saturday at dale and Betty's only to get up at about 6 am and drive to carlock IL where mikes aunt and uncle live. we then drove to Turkey Run and spent the day hiking. The Heinold Hike, a tradition held every year by the Heinold family. it was pretty hot out that day, but we had a good time. mostly taking pictures on every rock we passed . after a long weekend we headed back home only to learn from our landlord that instead of starting the construction for our apartment on Thursday they were going to start on Wednesday. (it being Monday night we had a lot of work to do). we moved everything out of the living room, and then worked on the kitchen as well. Our guest bedroom became so full you couldn't even walk into it, and our bedroom also became our kitchen. Our microwave and coffee maker were plugged in right outside of the bathroom in the hallway between all three rooms. It was a tight space for a couple of days. When it was all said and done, everything looked really nice. While Mike and I have been trying to put our house back together, go to school and work a lot. our computer decided to die on us. With mine being "in the shop" right now, and now our only working computer won't turn on, things are not looking good. with midterms last week, we both had a lot of hmwk to accomplish. i was able to have a few days off work, so we went home for a day to Mikes parents house where dale was able to fix mikes computer. and we also just got word that mine is going to be saved as well. one of the memory sticks went bad, so we are ordering some new parts and she should be as good as new. With October flying by and probably being the busiest month since the wedding we had a lot going on. I cant believe there are only 5 days left in October. The weather is finally starting to feel like fall! although i would like to say as a conclusion to this busy month loaded with laughs, tears, and some great memories! God will never give us anything beyond what we can handle. Praise God for our new renovated apartment, praise God for all the great weather we've had to enjoy fall this year, praise God for great friends and family to enjoy life and also praise God that October 2007 is almost over! finally time to take a breath of fresh air!

Ode to the Hills

As some of you know, and some of you who don't know yet, I've been talking about these bumps that are appearing in our apartment. we first noticed the one right in front of our door because we can only open our door about a foot. then soon enough we noticed one in the kitchen, then the half bath, and now there is even one in the living room. needless to say, we have mini hills growing in the carpet. none of these hills really bothered me until i had to kick the door open one day because I couldn't get through with the groceries.
well after about a week of these mysterious hills showing up , and us in wonder if our apartment was going to burst from below us, we got a phone call.
Our landlord who moved to south Carolina right about the time we were flying home from the honeymoon, called us and said he was making the drive back to ILLINOIS, he then explained the story
Our apartment is really a town house, therefore we have no one under or above us, only people to next to us. four all together, the guy who is at the end, just a side note, his door mat says "go away". his water heater broke, and according to Larry (our landlord) he didn't know his water heater broke for a week, maybe longer. which in turn Larry loudly expressed I think in frustration, "How can you not know your water heater broke? You wouldn't have any hot water!" so needless to say, all this water filled into the bottom of our apartments and because of so much moisture, hence the hills.
So there is the problem, now the solution.
Larry has been around the past couple days, he hired some professionals to look at all of our apartments. in the meantime, these other guys who have a green van, almost like scooby doo, are going underneath the apartments, and installing these loud fans, which i haven't heard yet, but Larry stated they will probably be very loud. These fans will be on for a week, maybe longer. Then the guy who has to come into our apartment and look at the floors will determine what needs to be replaced. which the worst are the front door and the kitchen.
Our Landlord has been really nice to us throughout this whole ordeal, although we secretly believe he is very mad at the guy on the end. Larry has offered to put us in a hotel on him, if the noise is too loud.
in conclusion to everything, our apartment will probably be undergoing a lot of construction over the next month. we may be getting new carpet totally throughout the down stairs, which means we have to move everything out and so on, which will be hard for us because of school everyday and work. its an interesting story, with maybe a good ending, New Carpet!!!!

A few stories.....

Well Married life has been going great, school is way underway, and work is well, selling the pizza's mostly Fiesta's all in all God has been good. His love and Providence is really showing through while we balance our schedule of work, school, and just spending time together. learning to cook has become my new passion. i love trying new things, and well as far as i know mike is rather excited about it as well. being in my small and sometimes very warm kitchen has been a joy to be in, a time for me to think and watch as i put together a few small ingredients to make a rather delicious something.
a few rather, funny, and interesting stories to begin, well mike works at a country club with a lot of rich old men, and one guy left behind to mike a rather good cigar after mike looked it up online and found out some information about it. so then mike bought me a cigar so that we could enjoy them together, after i got off work that night i popped some popcorn and mike and i headed to our small back porch to smoke our cigars. because we live on a street with a lot of apartment buildings, we do not have much of a back yard, maybe 10 feet before you are next to the lady who lives behind us with about a million cats. one, i might add that does not have a tail, who mostly sleeps on our front porch or under our cars. well, this lady leaves food out 24/7 for her "cats" but really to any animal who is hungry enough to eat cat food. so while we are smoking our cigars enjoying some popcorn and talking about anything going on in life, we see a raccoon approaching, he was moving rather slow, and sort of limping, he was defiantly heading for the cat food. well i said to mike "Hey look ! that raccoon is limping really bad" and mike said ya it is, "but i think that its missing a leg" me - "NO way its limping" as we see it in the light- Sure enough he didn't have a front right leg, it was just a nub! a raccoon with three legs, eating cat food, that made my night-
ahhh yes, and another odd thing going on in the Heinold household, we find that our apartment is coming up with random bumps in the floor, the first bump we noticed is right in front of our front door, because one day is noticed that i could only open the door enough to barley squeeze through, which is all we can do right now, the other day i had to kick the door open and in doing so to open it all the way i scraped the bottom of the floor,,, oopppss. and also i noticed a bump in the kitchen as well. rather strange I'm not sure what is going on but i think mike is calling our apt fixer guy Fred this week. i don't understand what could cause a bump in the floor, its like a mini hill grew or something.
All in all, life is busy right now with so much going on, but we still have time to enjoy the simple joys in life, and see the blessings that God has been giving to us. We've been able to have friends over for dinner many times, and even Mom came over, (Momma chally) "With God all things are possible"