Week 19: Thanksgiving #1

Hello there! I am getting a bit of a late start this week. Between the short week and visiting family it has been a bit crazy, but I will try to give you an accurate picture of our entire week!

Monday was a long day for me, I had to go get shots for the month, which involved driving back to ONU after work. I finally got home at around 6, we ate pork sandwiches and leftover potatoes. Jonathan went to the gym and happened upon a guy who invited him to play one-on-one with him, it made his night! Sara stopped by to say hi when she was in the area visiting friends, then we got everything cleaned up and spent some good quality time together.

Tuesday we went for a run outside after work to make sure our warm clothes would be sufficient for the race on Thursday. It went well and we both stayed warm! When we got back we just had leftovers, did laundry and packed for our long weekend!

Wednesday my preceptor was kind enough to let me leave an hour early and Jonathan got to work a little early so we could be on the road by 4. It was nice for us to get out of here at a good time so we could get back to my parents' house around 7:30. Once we got there we had some dinner and hung out with everyone there. Grandpa and Grandma Dickerhoof were there as well as Kyle and Philip. Kyle actually spent the night and we all went to bed pretty early since Thursday morning was coming early!

The Hustlin' Haas family dressed as Play-Doh!

5AM came pretty early on Thursday! Mom, Dad, Shem, Kyle, Jonathan and I all piled into the truck and rode the 2 hours to Kunkle Park in Apollo, Pennsylvania to run the Kiski Valley Turkey Trot, planned and executed by our good friends, the Prusia family! It was wonderful to see all of them and it felt great to finish a race! Sadly, I was not able to run the whole thing. One mile in my shoe came untied and around the second mile my lungs closed up and I had to stop to use my inhaler, but I did finish! Jonathan stuck beside me the whole time and Kyle ran 

The whole Haas family!

with us too! Shem won the race, but he came back and ran with us after he was finished. He got a ton of prizes, so we are enjoying the treats he won but will not eat! After the race we came back home and had a few snacks before we went to Aunt Chery's house for the Haas Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because we all sit at one table and have good food and it is all about quality time together. Delicious and meaningful - what more can you ask for??? It is always good to see the Sutton family who comes in for the holiday and we all enjoy spending time together. We played euchre and Apples to Apples, both of which were a ton of fun! 

Post-run selfie!

Shem and all his winnings!

Haas family Thanksgiving dinner!
Right: Jonathan and I finishing the race!

Friday we packed up from the Haas farm and headed to the Landis' house. Before we left we packed some weights for my truck since the weather is getting bad and we stopped at the Rich's house to look at Grandma's old Christmas stuff. On our way back to the Landis' we dropped Jonathan's car off to get it looked at by the mechanic then we went back and hung out for the afternoon. Basketball was played, leaves were raked and food was prepared for the evening! Around 7 the Landis family came over and we had haystacks, caught up with Jonathan's cousins who are living in New York and Seattle, as well as the rest of the family! It was wonderful to catch up with everyone, we even got to play games like catchphrase and 4 on a Couch! 

Landis family and Dustin in front of the Christmas tree!

Saturday Jonathan went to play basketball in the morning, we had pancakes, watched some OSU football and went to get the Landis family Christmas tree. After we found the perfect tree and appreciated the Christmas atmosphere at the store, we took the tree home and the decorating began. It was fun to go through Jonathan's Christmas tree ornaments and choose which ones to leave and which ones to take with us to decorate our own tree! Later we had pizza, played Taboo and Scattergories and listened to the Orrville game on the radio. They won! So next week Orrville football will play for the state championship, which is pretty neat!

Today we went to church, ate some lunch then packed up to come back home. We loved seeing family, but coming home has been wonderful. After unpacking and getting a list put together we went shopping and grabbed some dinner, then we meal prepped, ate and got ready for the next week. We have a pretty quiet week coming up, but it will be a good one! It is my last week for work for a few weeks since I am off in December, Jonathan isn't quite sure what his week will entail, but work has been picking up, so positive outlooks all around!

This weeks menu:

• Monday - Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Tuesday - Hot dogs and Macaroni and Cheese
• Friday - Pork Chops, Baked Potatoes and Green Beans

We loved visiting, but are so glad to be home and are ready for a nice, normal week! Love you all! Talk to you next week!

Love,

Alli and Jonathan

Week 18: Breakfast Club

Today marks 18 weeks of marriage and one year of engagement! Whew! Eight months of engagement and 4 months of marriage have flown by! Thankfully we made it through all the challenges of engagement because marriage has been super fun! We really enjoy spending time together, doing things we love and teaching each other about our different interests! It has been super great and we are excited for forever!

Monday was a little long, we went over 12 hours without seeing each other, which is super strange for us (thankfully). Jonathan had Bible study and went out for dinner with Graham (friend from college who lives in Wapak) and I went straight from work to Panera to meet up with Hannah (bridesmaid, disciplee). So we both had a really good time with friends, but were super happy to get back home and spend some time together.

Me in my natural habitat...

While I was waiting at Panera I got a lot of my studying done for the week, so that was really nice and freed up our Tuesday evening! We had parmesan chicken and spaghetti - which was okay at best, not a recipe we are dying to try again, if we are all being honest. Jonathan got some Christmas presents ordered and I got to work on some handouts I was making for my current rotation. We watched one of the shows we enjoy and prepared potato soup for Wednesday!

By the grace of Bailey we did have potato soup on Wednesday. I was really being productive before work and got a lot of stuff done...unfortunately I realized about half way to my rotation I forgot to turn the soup on. Thankfully, Bailey, my preceptor, was more than willing to let me go home at lunch to start our soup. We went for a run, even though we did not feel like it and I got to finish the handouts I started working on Tuesday. It was a really nice evening at home. Wednesdays are our relaxing nights where we are both home and I don't study, so we always enjoy those!

Thursday night we had our last small group of the semester! It was a long one too, we stayed later than usual so we could plan our holiday dinner and distribute gifts to the family we adopted from our community! 

Friday was a pretty long day (especially since we were up late on Thursday) so we just stayed home and relaxed. Jonathan made steaks and I made some potato casserole, we got our laundry done, watched some shoes and just relaxed. Unfortunately, Jonathan didn't feel so well, so we went to bed early and got a good nights sleep!

Making pancakes!

Saturday was a really great day. I had a slow week at work, so most of my weekend studying was already finished, giving us the whole day to do things! Jonathan didn't feel so hot again, so we took it easy. Our landlord came to fix our bathroom door, fun fact, it closes now, yay! We did our running around, got groceries, gas, went to TrueValue to get a snow shovel, stopped at CVS and cleaned our house! Jonathan took a nap while I wrapped some Christmas presents, washed dishes and got our apartment ready for the guys to come over. Jonathan invited Anthony, Dillon and Graham over for breakfast, but since they couldn't come for breakfast we just had it for dinner! Jonathan made pancakes and I made some fruit dip, sausage and bacon. They seemed to love it (we have about zero leftovers) and it was a really great time! We played some 7Wonders and pig pile. 

Pancake making and topping area

Fruit and drink area

Sausage and bacon area

The Lil Landis Buffet

Happy customers!

The Lil Landis Buffet

Today we went to church and afterwards we went to J. Marie's with Elise and Steve, a couple from our small group. It was fun to get to know them better and we are both happy to have friends who are a couple! We both love the guys, but it's nice to have another girl around every once in awhile...especially when she is mature and encouraging! Afterwards we ran to Walmart to get some Christmas wrapping stuff and a few other things we needed. I took a nap when we got home, so now I feel super refreshed and ready for what is going to be a pretty long week! This evening we are going to have chicken noodle soup, I'm going to study a little bit and we are going to watch a movie, the perfect way to start the week!

Our menu this week is going to be just about anything in the fridge, then Thanksgiving and family time towards the end of the week! We can't wait to see who we can this upcoming weekend! The plan is to run my first 5K and then eat all the Thanksgiving food and enjoy all the family time!

Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Alli and Jonathan

Week 17: Sickness, sweets and snow

Kind of crazy we have been married for 17 weeks now, but here we are! It has been a great and relaxing week -- thank goodness! I am not a person who thrives rushing around being busy all the time so it has been nice to have a bit of a break. My current work site is awesome and leaves me time to get most of my projects done there which gives Jonathan and I our evenings back! The beginning of the week I was pretty sick, but thankfully I am about good as new. My coughing fits and seemingly constant nose-blowing got a bit bothersome to both Jonathan, my co-workers and I. 

Chicken Alfredo

Thankfully, Jonathan had Bible Study on Monday, so I just stayed home, worked on feeling better and studied another chapter! For dinner we had chicken alfredo, Jonathan got to play some guitar when he got back while I finished studying and then we got our chili and cornbread ready for Tuesday! 

My voting outfit!

Tuesday was another slow day, Jonathan got some stuff figured out from Monday at work and I got to study again. I must say, I have the best husband. He did the dishes so I could study Tuesday night and then we got to spend some time together in the evening just relaxing. Our chili was delicious and so was the cornbread! Right when we got home we went for a run, I went 2.25 miles and Jonathan went 2.5. We are working on preparing for a 5K. To clarify - Jonathan can run a 5K easily, but he is patiently waiting for me to be able to run the distance. We DID get to vote, so that was great!

Wednesday we both ran 2.5 miles! I was pretty surprised, especially since I was still not feeling great! Jonathan helped me figure out how to watch TV while I ran, it helped the time go faster since we were on the treadmill. I had to make dessert for small group this week and I decided to make my favorite cake - apple cake! It is the perfect fall dessert. Of course, I ran out of flour and wasn't sure how to prepare the apples for it...so after a call to Mom/Dad and Jonathan running to Dollar General for some flour, we finally got the cake made and iced! Running out of flour turned into a blessing since Jonathan brought us back some Reese's cups! 

Thursday we had small group, which is always good. It is also the day we make our grocery list, another thing I really enjoy. Planning our meals for the next week is always exciting to me, we really enjoy food around here!

Friday we had our first snow...which is typically exciting but it is a little bit chilly and early at this point! So we are now using our snow scrapers and blasting the heat in our cars every morning. We ordered East of Chicago subs - our go-to meal for ordering in. During our dinner we watched Numb3rs on Amazon Prime, then we watched Unbroken - a fantastic movie, if you haven't seen it, you should. It's always great to gain a better understanding of the sacrifices people have made for our country and our freedoms.

Saturday was a pretty big day for me - we ran 3 whole miles!!! I am finally ready for the 5K on Thanksgiving! Of course, we have to keep doing this until the 5K, but I honestly didn't think I could do it, so it was a huge surprise and we are super excited about it! While I studied half of my weekend chapter, Jonathan cleaned the house and worked on some Christmas shopping and our Operation Christmas Child box. We got a tracking label, so hopefully we will find out where our box ends up going! We had planned on having cajun pork chops for dinner, but I forgot to get them out of the freezer...so we had sloppy joes and juicy noodles instead and saved the pork chops for today! Before we ate Jonathan played his guitar and we sang some worship songs, something we really enjoy. Then afterwards we played games, another activity we enjoy! Splendor and Carcassonne were our games, Jonathan picked the first and I picked the second...ironically, I won the first and he won the second! We had a good time though and enjoyed our evening together!

Above: Donuts and hot chocolate from the bakery
Below: cajun pork chops over rice

Today has been great! It was the last week for Operation Christmas Child drop off so we got to help check boxes in and make sure they were full enough and ready to go. Because of this, we had to get to church around 8:20. To get ourselves awake and ready to go we went to Vogel's Bake Shop and got donuts and hot chocolate. Jonathan got a custard filled one with chocolate icing and peanuts on it and I got a peanut butter icing filled 

cream stick with chocolate and peanut butter icing on the top - it was all absolutely delicious! Additionally - it was only $5 for two donuts and two hot chocolates, we will definitely be doing it again sometime! After church we went grocery shopping to get everything we needed for the week, then we came home, put all of the groceries away and made our lunch and stuff for the week. We had cajun pork chops and rice for lunch. I made them once before and I won't lie - it was pretty terrible. Kind of caught our mouths on fire. I will say, we were very hydrated after since we were drinking all the water in sight but we cried the whole way through the meal because it was so spicy. TODAY it was really good though! I think have successfully figured out a delicious way to make it. After lunch I got my chicken salad ready for the week and made some apple-cinnamon muffins for breakfast. This afternoon we watched football, Jonathan worked out, I did my nails and finished studying. 

Lil Landis Eats:

• Tuesday: Parmesan Chicken and Spaghetti
• Wednesday: Potato soup
• Some day this weekend: Steak and potato casserole
• Breakfast special: Apple-cinnamon muffins

* Note * - the scones last week were awesome! 

The upcoming week is expected to be the perfect mixture of relaxing and exciting. Tomorrow I am meeting up with a friend for dinner, Thursday we have our last small group and the weekend is still a pretty big question mark but we have quite a few fun ideas, we will let you know how it turns out next week!

Love - Alli and Jonathan

Week 16: Some Minor Improvements

We are back! Week 16 has been partly relaxing and partly crazy! Last Sunday we actually had time to watch a movie, which is a bit odd for us, usually our Sundays get away from us pretty quickly, so it was a treat to watch Groundhog Day. 

Monday was very enjoyable! I had the day off, so I had time to study, prepare for the job fair, go to Lima for my ring cleaning and to start Christmas shopping! Jonathan had a dentist appointment, so he got home around 2:00 so we got to spend the afternoon together! We went to the YMCA to run and we finally upgraded to a couples membership, this means I am now a proud, card carrying member of the Wapakoneta YMCA! 

Our wedding album came in on Tuesday!

Tuesday I was off again, so another day studying and preparing for the career fair...but Jonathan got to go on a tour of Tri Star, a career center Fanning Howey designed and a project he helped work on! He really enjoyed seeing what they have done so far and hearing about how the facility will be used, they are super excited about it! (If you look closely at the pictures in the Tri Star link you might see someone you know in two of them -- hint - the person is SUPER attractive.) 

Wednesday was the big day...my first career fair! It was a bit overwhelming, but it went really well and I had a lot of good experiences. I ended up doing 5 interviews in 2.5 hours...which was a bit exhausting but I didn't have any time to get nervous, so it worked out well! It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months. Jonathan and I have been talking about the future a lot. We are excited to see where God leads us! Since I was at ONU I got to sneak in a quick visit with Hannah (one of my bridesmaids) and it was so refreshing! It has been quite a while since we have had time to catch up! 

Thursday is one of our favorite days of the week because it is the day we have small group. Our small group consists of six couples, three of them have kids and the other three do not. The people in our small group are all amazing. We are so blessed to have found people who are like-minded. It is wonderful to be able to tease, joke and laugh with people who are also willing to have deep, meaningful discussion. Small group makes us feel like we are really adulting - and it is actually fun! Thursday was also my first day back at Gene Wright, which was wonderful, the only downfall of Thursday was the all day rain. The Auglaize River was so high and most of the back yards along our street morphed into lakes - it was kind of amazing to see!

Clockwise: Jonathan, Graham, Dillon, Hannah, Alli

Friday we both worked, came home and quickly changed into warm clothes for the football game! Before the game we had a "cookout" with Graham and Dillon at Graham's house...after calling Dillon to wake him up (a normal occurrence) we finally got to eat!!! Since the football field is right down the road from our house, and Graham's house for that matter, we all walked to the football field! Hannah spotted us when we got there and asked to join so we all sat down and enjoyed the game in nice-ish weather, it was barely rainy. It was a close game, which made it fun to watch, and Wapak won 24-21, making it even better! Graham is a teacher at Wapak and Dillon helps coach wrestling, so they know some of the kids and keep us in the loop on who is what age and what other sports they do.

Tea and hot chocolate for Saturday breakfast!

Saturdays are typically spent at home for us, so we tend to get a lot of stuff done. This week I had some studying to do, so Jonathan was amazing and helped get a lot of chores done - laundry, cleaning, dishes - he is the best! Typically we would do these things together, but since we had plans last night we had to make the best use of our time. Our church does Operation Christmas Child boxes and we are joining in! Last night we did our shopping for a 2-4 year old little girl! Additionally, we went into Lima to get a head start on Christmas - it was partly shopping and partly window-shopping to get some ideas. Afterwards we met Ally and Jacob Dingess for dinner at Beer Barrel! Ally and I met during Chem Refresher at ONU before I started my P1 year and Jacob joined our friend group the next semester, so it was nice to catch up with them and update each other on our lives. The nice thing about being in Western Ohio is having so many of our friends around to hang out with!

Pizza for lunch today - do you know who's half is who's?

Unfortunately, I seem to have contracted some sort of minor illness (a cold) over the weekend and last night it made itself known in full force! Needless to say, I am grateful for that extra hour of sleep we got since I was not able to sleep the best. Last week we started going to the early service and it has been quite the treat! Not only do we get to see most of the people in our small group, we get an extra head start on our day! In a typical week we meal plan on Thursday-ish and get our grocery list ready, then we go grocery shopping on Sunday after church. Let me tell you - we were super efficient today! We got home from church and the grocery store by 11, put all our groceries away, made pizza for lunch, scones for breakfast this next week, prepped our veggies/sandwich stuff for lunches and washed all our dishes by the time the Browns game started at 1 - IT WAS AWESOME! The rest of the day has been spent watching football, getting clothes ironed for the week and catching up on some school/household management stuff.

Quesadillas from last week - delicious!

The upcoming week is looking pretty ordinary! We are going to be voting (of course), running, working and enjoying life! 

This week's menu:

• Breakfast special - Cinnamon Scones
• Monday - Chicken Alfredo
• Tuesday - Chili
• Friday - Cajun Pork Chops

Top: Jonathan helping me get my CVs ready for the Career fair
Right: Cinnamon Scones for this week - can't wait to try them!

 

If you want us to let you know when we post something new - send us an e-mail at lillandisfam18@gmail.com so we can send you next week's update and make it a little easier! Love you all! 

Love, Alli and Jonathan

P.S. I hope you enjoy the space and pictures - we are still getting the hang of this!