Week 37: A Week of Rest

It has been such a restful week here! We have finally got the chance to breathe and enjoy being at home. Most of my projects were finished, so I was able to relax a little bit in the evenings, which was life-giving to both of us!

Honestly, I have no idea what we did on Monday, I totally forget. I think I did a lot of studying so I would be free later in the week? I am not confident though, we just stayed in and got stuff done I think. Tuesday night we had Graham and Dillon over for steaks and cheesy potatoes. Jonathan made all of it (since I was not home to help out a lot), and it was all so great! We enjoyed getting together with them and we think they enjoyed the food! Jonathan does a great job pan searing the steaks, they are absolutely delicious. For Christmas I got him a new cast iron skillet, thinking it would be nice and big so we could make two steaks at one time. Well...our steaks are so big they don't fit on there!!! So he made the steaks one at a time and we ate in shifts! Everything was really delicious and the company was great too. It has been a really long time since we have all got together, so it was very much so time for that to happen!

Wednesday we had hamburger helper so I would have time to wrap up all of my rotation things and get ready for my last day on Thursday. Thursday was a great day. I finished my rotation and got to come home a little early! We had some stuffed shells that I got out of the freezer, so I made those for dinner and started our laundry. I also got to wrap up all of the rotation things so I did not have anything else to worry about. Jonathan got home a little late, but they had a lot of projects to complete this week, so I think it has started to slow down a little bit.

Friday I had the day off, so I went to ONU for allergy shots, finished laundry and this months studying so I could get everything ready for us to head home when Jonathan got home. I packed everything and finished all of our laundry. Jonathan got home and we packed everything in the truck to head back to the Haas house. We were only there for about 14 hours, ate dinner with Mom and Dad, chatted about life, watched basketball, then got up, ate breakfast and went to look at the duplex we are now renting! It is so exciting to have a place to live. Moving is much less daunting when you actually know where you are moving to! After we signed the lease and got everything ready, we headed back to northwestern Ohio so we could enjoy the rest of the weekend at home. Once we got home we did a deep clean of the apartment, went grocery shopping so I could make food for the evening. Shem and Victoria came over for games and dessert, so that was fun! I haven't been able to cook a lot this month since I have been so busy. Cooking things brings me joy and makes me feel productive, so I got to make up for the month of business. I made blueberry crumble bars, chocolate chip scones and a new granola recipe, so I got to do some baking therapy! Also, yesterday we noticed that we have 18 baby lemons growing on our tree...which is a lot! We are going to have to pick which ones to keep...which we will decide at a later date.

Today has been a great day, we finally got to go to church again, so that was awesome, then we came home and had leftover pizza for lunch. Ribs and leftover potatoes were our super yummy supper tonight and I prepared chicken enchiladas and lasagna soup for dinner this week, so they are both ready to be made whenever we are ready! I also got chicken salad and oranges ready for the week for my lunch. Jonathan looked over our finances and watched some basketball this afternoon, he also cleaned up our lemon tree. That means exactly what you think it means - put that lemon tree in the bathtub and gave it a good scrub! He cut off some of the leaves that had been eaten by grasshoppers this summer, cleaned off some tiny little brown bugs that had come to visit it, it looks so much prettier now! Ready to keep growing for sure! We enjoyed our yummy dinner while we watched the Duke/Michigan State game. Now Jonathan is at volleyball and I just finished cleaning up the kitchen. It has been a really great weekend and we have loved getting to spend some time at home.

Tomorrow I start my LAST rotation of pharmacy school! Crazy, right? We are both very excited for me to be done. Lots of studying to do for the NAPLEX, so any prayers for focus, understanding, quick recall and a passing score would be SO appreciated. I do not know when the test is, but I want to be as prepared as I possibly can be. Jonathan is still unsure what he will be doing when we move when it comes to a job, he has a few different options and knows he will for sure have a job, we are just waiting to see what it will be, so prayers for that would be appreciated as well.

April starts tomorrow and it is going to be the end of a really good chapter in our lives. We are so excited about our next step, but have an amazing support system here in Northwestern Ohio that we will miss tremendously. The next few weeks we plan to be as invested as we can be here in our community of people we have grown to love. Lots of friendships to enjoy and invest in while we are still close.

{Menu}

• Breakfast:
• Chocolate chip scones
• Blueberry Crumble Bars
• Saturday: Sausage Frittata
• Dinner:
• Chicken Enchiladas
• Lasagna Soup
• Salmon/Breaded fish (depending on which one of us it eating) 

No exciting plans coming up this week, so far. A few options, but we shall see what takes place! Have a great week! We love you all!

Love,

Alli and Jonathan

Week 36: Chicago in the Springtime

It was another rough week, but the weekend has been super great! This week we basically just survived and fended for ourselves. Jonathan made sloppy joes on Monday for us and we just ate leftovers from last week and from the sloppy joes for the rest of the week.

We both worked all week (as usual) and it seemed to go really well for both of us. Wednesday I was there until 5:45, so that was a late day, but otherwise it was okay. I also had a quiz to take for school that evening. Those are always stressful, but, thankfully, it was the second to last one and I got an “A” on it, so life is good! I also heard back from my last rotation site about my schedule. Sadly, they have me working on Thursdays during small group, so I am hoping to talk to my preceptor about changing that, but we will see. I am pretty disappointed about the prospect of missing out on small group though.

Thursday was the last work day of the week for both of us. Jonathan went to a site in Madison-Plains with his boss, so he didn’t get home until a little after 5 and we took his car to drop it off at the mechanic’s place because it needed to be looked at. My preceptor let me leave a little early, so that gave me time to get some things done for my rotation and to start laundry so we could be all prepared for the weekend. We had small group, which was wonderful, as usual. They are dividing the small group since we are so big and we did not get assigned a group…of course, but it is still sad that we are going to be leaving all of our awesome friends!

Willis Tower

First time on the ledge!

First time on the ledge!

First time on the ledge!

First time on the ledge!

Ledge selfie!

North side of Chicago before sunset                                                                                         North side of Chicago after sunset

South Chicago

East Chicago/Lake Michigan - love the shadows of the buildings
 on the water!

Sun setting!

Friday we left for Chicago! Jonathan had been there a few times before, but it was my first time. We went directly to Sara’s place and then proceeded into the city after seeing her apartment and school. When we finally got to the hotel (God bless Jonathan for driving in the city) Sara went to Dustin's and we dropped our things off and walked to Willis Tower. Willis tower is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and we went all the way up to the 103^rd floor. Up there they have ledges you can walk out onto and see down. Somehow we timed it up perfectly. We got to the building at 6:15 and were at the top by 6:30. To put this in perspective – Sara said they waited about 3-4 hours when they were there. We walked right in and got to step out onto the ledge twice (don’t worry, there’s a line for that too). It was so great. The view of the city is amazing from every side. From the east side you can see Lake Michigan and then the ledge is on the west side, so we got to watch the sun set from the 103^rd floor of this enormous building. It was truly an incredible experience! We were on the ledge before and after the sun set and thoroughly enjoyed the view both times. After we had our fill we walked back to the hotel and picked up some Chipotle on the way. No, it’s not anything special for Chicago, but we were super hungry and it was not the time for experimenting.

Sun set!

Second ledge visit!

Second time on the ledge

Ledge selfie

Greenhouse!

Breakfast!

Navy Pier from our walk along the lake

Saturday morning we met Sara and Dustin for brunch at Yolk, which was a 15 minute walk from our apartment, and it was really close to Navy Pier, so after we ate an enormous breakfast, we went to Navy pier and enjoyed the greenhouse and the little shops out there. Jonathan found an awesome deck of playing cards, they are probably my favorite of his collection. He has been collecting playing cards for a long time and has quite a few awesome decks, but these ones are for sure my favorite. They are really intricate and are made with gold foil so they are pretty glitzy! After we enjoyed our time at Navy Pier we walked along the lake to the north side of Michigan Avenue, which has a bunch of different stores and things along it. My store request was the American Girl store, as I have always loved the American Girl books and dolls and everything about all of it. It was definitely a fulfillment of one of little Alli’s dreams! All the dolls and books and outfits and everything cute and girly.

Favorite American girl

Sara and I in paradise

Happy hubby!

Yes, the entire background is Lego!

Dustin and Jonathan in absolute awe

As an added bonus, there was a Lego store right outside of the American Girl store! So, of course, we had to go there as Legos in general are a fulfillment of little and big Jonathan’s dreams. (See photos...)

Area beside the river!

Trump tower in its glory

I really wanted this photo...

Our souvenirs!

Bean selfie

Bean photo

After that we basically just walked down the road and enjoyed the nice weather. Once we got to the river we stopped to sit for a little while, then we kept walking until we got to Millennium Park. This is where “The Bean” is, so we had to get a picture there, then we walked across snake bridge (don’t worry, no snakes, it just looks like one), and sat on a bench to chat for a little while. We also people watched, which is a great activity in the city. Once we felt well rested and were ready to pursue dinner, we went to check out a few more souvenir places so we could find a Christmas tree ornament (our family souvenir) and a mug. Mugs are my new souvenir collection established by Jonathan on our honeymoon. I have never collected anything or had something I always get when I travel, but since I absolutely love mugs, it is the perfect thing for me! This one is a different shape than any of my other ones and it is pretty plain on the outside, but the INSIDE has the city skyline, so I think it’s pretty cool. After we were all set, we took some quick pictures at Trump tower (because it is probably underappreciated in the city) and went to Giordano’s for some deep dish pizza. Since it takes an hour for them to make it, we also had some bruchetta. All of the food was amazing, so we thoroughly enjoyed our time. Dinner was our last hoorah with Dustin and Sara, so we said goodbye at the corner of Ohio Street and Michigan Avenue so they could head back to Dustin’s and we went back to our hotel.

Photo in front of the bean :)

 We relaxed at the hotel for a little while (it felt great to take our shoes off!), then met up with Rodney and Kyra. Rodney and Jonathan went to school together and his fiancé, Kyra, is going to school in Chicago, so Jonathan text him to see if we could meet up for drinks or dessert. One of the cooler things we did in the city, was go with them to an underground tiki bar. It was SUCH a neat experience! The drinks were good, we loved spending time with them and they said we were the first people to come see them since they moved! It was an honor to be their first visitors and we thoroughly enjoyed experiencing our first underground tiki bar.

This morning we woke up, checked out of the hotel and pointed the truck toward home. Jonathan has a volleyball game tonight and I need to do a little bit of studying and preparing for the next week, not to mention, we need to go grocery shopping in a bad way. It has been an amazing weekend and we are so glad we took advantage of how close the city is! Next week is looking really boring, so we are very excited about that and plan to protect the boring as much as possible. We have missed boring. I hope everyone has had an amazing week and is ready for whatever comes next! We love you all!

Love,

Alli and Jonathan

Week 35: A Lil Rough Patch

I will be completely honest – it has been a rough week at the lil Landis home. My rotation is pretty demanding the four days I am there and it makes it difficult for me to get all my studying and projects done. It also makes it difficult for me to be involved in making dinner and keeping the house nice and neat. Thankfully, Jonathan has been more than willing to pick up my slack. He has been absolutely amazing and has made sure we have dinner made and dishes cleaned every day. It was especially stressful since we went home this weekend and I knew I wasn’t going to have as much time as I usually do to get everything accomplished.

As you can expect, our week was not very exciting. Most days consisted of both of us going to work, Jonathan coming home, going for a run and making dinner, me getting home, eating dinner then going straight to my desk to study, getting ready for bed and repeating the process the next day.

Tuesday evening Jonathan had his last meeting with his men’s Bible study, which he has really enjoyed. He learned a lot, got to know a few more of the guys from the church and it has definitely made an impact on his life! Both of us have noticed a difference! Plus, it has allowed him to step up as a leader in small group for this session! Thursdays now involve us splitting up by gender and Jonathan is leading the guys’ group since they are going through the same study he just finished. He is doing a great job and is really enjoying the experience as a leader.

Jonathan's complete project from the last week!

Wednesday was probably the best day this week. It was my most emotionally stable day and we got to relax a little bit. Jonathan made us a new pasta dish, which was delicious, and our landlord brought a guy to look at our apartment. That was interesting…since the potential future renter took my parking space. It did not make me the most happy, but we got through it and had a good evening together.

Thursday evening is always good with small group, I got home pretty late so it was rushed for me, but I just took dinner with me to small group and we made it work! Thankfully, I don’t work on Fridays, so I can finally relax and not worry about getting ready for the next day, which allows both of us to enjoy small group more because there is not pressure to get home in time for sleep.

Friday I had a lot to do. I did our laundry, studied as much as I could, packed for the weekend and organized some of the contents of the extra room in our apartment. We left as soon as Jonathan got home from work, packed and we piled everything into the truck. For Friday evening, we went to the Haas house. As an added bonus, the Franks were there, so we got to see all the little kids and we got some Girl Scout cookies. After we got everything unloaded and got to catch up with everyone we went to bed so we would be ready for Saturday.

It was a pretty early morning yesterday morning since we had to go check out an apartment at 8:30. We got up, had some yummy breakfast and made it to the rental right on time! It was a very nice place, a little small, but it was cheap and would meet all of our needs! We have a few prospects and are not sure exactly what we want to do, but we are excited to see where we end up. Afterwards we went straight to the Landis’ to help with the maple syrup process. It was a great day for it! The weather was mostly wonderful and the company was great. Emily came and brought some friends with her from ONU, then it was Ken, Pam, Grandpa Landis, Tim and Dan for the most part. A few other people stopped by throughout the day to see how it was going, but mainly us. I had to do a little bit of studying in the afternoon, but Jonathan was down there for the majority of the day! He came up for dinner, so that was a good break. After we finished dinner Mom and Dad came to see what was going on, which was a ton of fun! They really loved seeing it and we loved having them there to see what it is all about! They left and we headed back down for a little bit, but I was getting pretty tired, so Jonathan took me up to the house at around 10:30-11. I chatted with the girls for a little bit, then finally went up and went to bed. Jonathan stayed up to finish though, they didn’t get in until about 1AM! It was a long day, but the syrup was great! This morning we had pancakes and got to enjoy the outcome. After breakfast we stopped to see Grandma and Grandpa Landis for a quick hello, which is always a good decision. We love getting to see everyone! Now we are in the car, headed back to Wapak. Grocery shopping needs done, Jonathan has volleyball and I have plenty of studying to do.

Boiling sap!

The fire definitely helps keep us all super warm!

We are hoping for a good week this week and it is looking likely. Our meals are seriously boring so I will not bore you with our “plan”. Currently, my motto is “just have something to eat and it will be fine”. Survival mode is our main concern. The good thing is – we are on the home stretch of me having to balance work, school and home. It will be nice to have less to juggle! I hope you have a great week! We love you all!

Love,

Alli and Jonathan

Week 34: Almost There with Rotations

Almost there with rotations, after this month I will only have one more left! I must say, the motivation is waning for sure...but, thankfully, Jonathan is here and helps me stay sane! This week has been a bit of a blur with everything we have had going on, but we signed up for it and enjoyed it a lot!

Monday was my first day of rotation and I was only there from 9 until 4:30, my normal hours are 7-5:30, so it was nice to have a slow start, there's a lot to get used to and learn, so she let me leave a little early, she thought I might be a little overwhelmed. In the evening we had Po-Boys, they are a Louisiana-style shredded beef sandwich with a nice Cajun flavor, we enjoyed them! Jonathan worked late, so I had time to do some school before he got back and before dinner. Over dinner we talked through some questions Landon gave us to prepare for the relationship panel. After we cleaned up we relaxed and watched the Voice a little bit.

On Tuesday, my preceptor had to be off-site, so I had a project day. I got two topic discussions down and did a little bit of studying done once I was completely exhausted from reading. After lunch I started another project I was assigned, then when Jonathan got home we had stuffed shells. He had a great day, they finished the project they had been working on for awhile, so that took some pressure off! In the evening, Jonathan had Bible study and I studied, worked out, did some reading and got ready for bed while he was gone. Overall, it was a nice day to relax and really get some stuff done for the rotation!

Wednesday was quite a long day, I got home at 5:45 and Jonathan had leftovers all ready for our dinner. There was a lot to talk about, so we had a lot of discussion, then we got ready quick and went to the church for the relationship panel! Landon, the youth group leader, asked us a few weeks ago if we would be the young couple on the relationship panel for the youth group's relationship series finale. We had such a great time! After we participated in the panel we got to talk to Dillon, Pastor Gary, the Durrs, Landon and the Heindels...we were there later than anticipated! It was so great to be surrounded by people who appreciate us and know us for the couple we really are. They were all so supportive of us and our decisions. While they always tell us how much they want us to stay, they never waver in their support for the decisions we are making because they know how strong our relationship is and how committed both of us are to doing what is best for our family. It was such an encouraging evening with those people.

Thursday was another day that my preceptor was off-site, so I had another day to work on projects. I got a lot done, finished my topic discussions and the project I started on Tuesday. It is nice to have project days so early in the rotation so I can get ahead a little bit! We had small group in the evening and I was teaming up with Brittany for snacks, so I threw some brownies together before we left. Jonathan is helping lead the guys' study and it went really well! I am so proud of the amazing leader he is, it is so awesome to see him recognized by people who have only known us for about 6 months, that's how awesome of a leader he is! 

This month I have Fridays off, so I studied a lot and finished up a few things I had to do to for school. Friday night we relaxed from our long week and enjoyed the evening together. We had some leftovers for dinner, enjoyed a few drinks and had ice cream for dessert while we watched We're the Millers...a movie which thoroughly earns its "R" rating but always results in a good laugh. Jonathan hadn't seen it, but he definitely enjoyed it!

Saturday morning I got to go to brunch with Allie, we chatted with my parents before we left and Jonathan got a lot done while I was gone! He cleaned, did dishes and talked to John about a potential job! I got to catch up with Mom on my way home from Lima, then I studied the rest of the afternoon while Jonathan went on a run and set up plans for the evening. We went and got take-out with Dillon, came back, ate, caught up with him and then watched some basketball. Jonathan got to try Thai food for the first time and he really enjoyed it!

Today has been a lot, especially with the time change! Church felt super early, then we went and did our grocery shopping, I took a nap, we ate lunch then I have been studying for the rest of the day while Jonathan worked on a puzzle and talked to his mom. After he played his volleyball game, and won, we had dinner, watched some TV and now here we are! Getting everything ready for the rest of the week. Our evenings are going to be much quieter, so hopefully much less studying to do next weekend, but we shall see! We definitely enjoyed our busy week being surrounded by quality people, they make being behind on all the work worth it.

Have an awesome week! We love you all!

Love,

Alli and Jonathan

Week 33: A Glimpse of Spring

Until today, the weather has been pretty nice around here, not as much snow and cold...of course today has been quite different, but we have enjoyed the break! It was my last week at Mary Rutan, so the weekend has been super relaxing, we always enjoy the weekend between rotations when I don't have a lot to do! Honestly, this week has been pretty boring...to give the whole post away for you! It has been great timing though, Jonathan has had a bit of a cold, so he has been able to recover from that and I have been able to get a little bit of sleep, which is always good!

Monday we had Chicken Potato Chowder - which was wonderful. When I got home I cleaned out our pantry because we had a mouse...sadly, we never caught it, but we haven't seen any signs of it, so we are hoping it just ran away or something! Both of us got to play some music in the evening while we were relaxing.

Tuesday Jonathan had a lot that he wanted to get done before Bible study, so we had leftovers from Sunday for dinner. One of the things he got done was paying off one of his school loans! So we are super proud of that accomplishment and are really excited to keep plugging away on those loans. When I got home from work I made cookies to take the next day, since it was my last week and I enjoyed this rotation. Impressively, I forgot the cookies not only on Wednesday, but also on Thursday! Jonathan was far from disappointed, but I was a little let down by myself - definitely not something I do often! But oh well, all is good!

Wednesday was another relaxing evening, we watched a show and Jonathan was able to start working on his Bible study for next week. For dinner, we had bacon pasta (which we thoroughly enjoyed) and watched some Bull. Thursday was our crazy day! Jonathan told his job about our upcoming change in location and we started looking at rentals...there are a lot of decisions we have to make as for our lil family and we are excited to see what happens! We had a lot of good conversation as we sat and ate sandwiches and juicy noodles. It was my last day of rotation, which was pretty uneventful in the whole scheme of things. Small group was great, it was one of our last ones together because next week we start meeting separately (girls and guys) to do different studies. The guys are going to be meeting here, so that will be nice for Jonathan, I am not sure what it will be like for me...stay tuned! 

Friday was busy, it was a nice day and I had a lot to get done since I had the day off! I studied, went to the salon, grocery store, Walmart and Goodwill, I filled my truck up with gas for this next week, really started looking at some rentals, did laundry, made salsa and got some food ready for the weekend. When Jonathan got home we walked to East of Chicago to pick up sandwiches for dinner - so we got a great walk in and also some good food! While we ate, we watched the Masked Singer. Throughout the evening I showed Jonathan all the new information about rentals I found, we finished the cleaning I had started, did dishes, finished preparing food and finally went to bed!

Saturday was super fun! Mom and Dad came to visit and we went down to Dayton to visit the AirForce Museum. It was a ton of fun, Jonathan and Dad really loved the airplanes and Mom and I enjoyed talking...and the airplanes! We got to catch up on the trip down and back, then came back here for the evening. Shem was here when we got back and we all came in for tacos. Sadly, Shem had already eaten, but he did say that I make great tacos (he isn't making it up, he has had them before, promise), so that was encouraging! I will say...we do make great tacos here. Huge Mexican fans, Jonathan and I are, so we have a great mixture between how the Landis family makes tacos and how the Haas family makes tacos and, in my opinion, the Lil Landis Fam has the taco making figured out! They were really good and they seemed to like my salsa as well! So that's always a plus! After we ate, Mom and Jonathan were sweet enough to do the dishes for me while I put everything away. Then we played some games, something the five of us really enjoy doing together. We taught them Ticket to Ride, which is a game we really enjoy playing. You might not believe it, but Jonathan was teasing Mom quite a bit and it was pretty hysterical. Surprisingly, I lost, but Jonathan won, so that was good! After ticket to ride we played some pig pile since it is one of Mom's favorites and we all enjoyed that. They all spent the night in our tiny apartment (bless them) and we went to church this morning. After church we went to RJ's Coffey Cup for "brunch". Jonathan and I had never been there before, but it was a cute little diner with good food, so we were all content with that! Shem left when we got home, then we loaded Mom and Dad's car up with a bunch of stuff we don't need to keep here anymore. The moving process has (barely) begun! 

Once everyone left, Jonathan and I sat down and got to work. I studied while he looked at and applied for jobs. Once he finished that he started to work on planning the study for small group on Thursday, as he is going to help lead it. I went in to do some meal prep for this week - Po-Boy sandwiches (a new recipe), stuffed shells, oranges and grapes - all ready to be eaten this week! Jonathan called his parents and we talked to them while I finished meal prep and now he is off to volleyball! The rest of the evening should be spent in a rather chill manner, but we shall see what happens!

This week our meals are looking like Po-Boy sandwiches, chicken and stuffing shells and fritattas, but we aren't really sure if we will be doing the frittatas since we have a ton of leftover tacos left! The good thing is - we have lots of leftovers and most of our meals are ready to go into the oven or started on the crockpot, which is great when I am starting a new rotation and do not know what to expect! Lots of exciting stuff coming up! We cannot wait to see what happens next! Have a great week, stay warm, it looks like winter is back!

Love you all,

Alli and Jonathan