Year 2, Week 2 - A week of firsts

Jonathan planted some sunflowers that Mom gave him and we love having them all around - they are just so cheery!

What a fun week last week was! I worked my first shift as a pharmacist, we hosted our first little party and we got our first car put in our name so we can finally drive it. It was fun, it was crazy and we are glad to be moving on!

Monday was the day I found out I was licensed. I was working 9-10 in Copley when I found out, then I got to check scripts and be a pharmacist for the end of the evening. It was a great, soft start. Jonathan worked Monday, then he went to game night at the Haas farm for dinner and games. He tried to go get the title transferred, but didn't realize he needed to go to the court house, so he had to try again on Tuesday, the day I was supposed to be off. As luck would have it, a pharmacist called off on Tuesday, so I worked in Lisbon from 3:30-10. (Luck was also with Jonathan as the courthouse closed at 4 instead of the assumed 5, so another day was needed to figure out car stuff). It was my first shift as the only pharmacist and it was another slow start - they opened on the 15th, so there isn't a ton to do yet. Before I left I made everything for Black Bean Lime Burrito Bowls so that we would actually have food to eat for dinner. We love these for multiple reasons - they are delicious, they are Mexican and they travel really well, so it's really easy for me to take them with me to work. 

The only problem with picking up the shift on Tuesday was Jonathan leaving Wednesday morning for Celina. It's always hard when he leaves because time apart is never fun since we enjoy each other (surprise), but it is especially hard when I was working the days before and we didn't get to spend much time together. I ended up working all day in Lisbon on Wednesday while he was gone. He spent the night at Graham's and I spent the night at my parents' since I'm still too much of a baby to stay home alone.

Staying at Mom and Dad's turned out to be an all day Thursday affair too. I meant to go home after breakfast, clean the house, make a nice supper, do a bunch of stuff...but I didn't. Instead, I hung out with Mom and Shem. Mom and I went on a 4 mile walk, we sat on the porch and talked and it was way better than cleaning the house. Nights that Jonathan comes back from Celina rarely end up the way we plan them to, so I ended up eating dinner at the Haas farm while he drove back. I also got a lot of cleaning done once I got home, so I ended up getting more done than I expected. When he got home we caught up over some banana ice cream (our summer favorite snack) and relaxed for the evening.

Happy little sunflower!

I was off on Friday as well, so once Jonathan was done with work we took a final trip to Carrollton for the car. It all worked out perfectly, we transferred the title, got the car registered and did some grocery shopping while we were out. On the way back we picked up Dad's chain saw so Jonathan could cut up some wood in our back yard. When we got home, we had pork chops and potatoes on the grill, Jonathan did some organizing in the car, I read a little bit then we sat down and watched a show before bed.

Flowers from Aunt Bev and Uncle Ron

Flowers from Mom

Flowers from Mom

Jonathan getting the fire going

Saturday I worked 9-2 in New Philly while Jonathan mowed the lawn and cut up the wood in the back yard. We invited my mom's family over for dinner, so he got everything ready for a fire and made sure the place looked nice since they either hadn't seen it at all or hadn't seen it since moving day. When I got home, we got the food ready and set everything up for the evening. Prepared the table, got our chairs out, finished fruit pizza, arranged all the utensils (called Mom to bring some), and made sure everything we needed was ready to go. Everyone got here around 5:30, Aunt Bev and Uncle Ron, Grandma and Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Shem and the Lumley family came. We had hot dogs and sloppy joes, baked beans, chicken dip, jello, deviled eggs, fruit pizza, chocolate lava cake, ice cream and I can't even remember what else - but it was all delicious. There is never a lack of food at our family parties, I can tell you that much. It was such a good time just relaxing out back in the shade, talking and enjoying each other's company. As you can see from the photos above...our house now has all kinds of beautiful flowers around! Not pictured - beautiful cards designed by Grandma and Troy. Once everyone headed home we cleaned up and went to bed so I would be ready for work the next morning.

Sunflower just opening!

Sunday I was in Wadsworth 9-6. It was a bit rough, so I was glad to get home a little after 7. Jonathan put lasagna rollups in the oven so that they would be ready when I got home. Dinner was delicious and we ate it as we watched the movie "Gifted". I got it for Christmas, but hadn't opened it yet. It is a fantastic movie and I highly recommend it for anyone to watch. 

This up coming week has a lot of work in store for us! Jonathan is making a trip out to work, I am working a lot toward the end of the week and we are meeting up with the Landis family for dinner one evening, so we will be glad to have some evenings together to re-coup this upcoming weekend. 

This week we are eating flash roasted chicken with potatoes and broccoli, beef bourguignon (you can just pronounce it however you want, that's what I do), stuffed shells and pulled pork. We plan to eat well and have lots of leftovers - I have the utmost confidence in our ability to achieve this!

Have a great week this week! Love you all!

- Alli and Jonathan

Year 2, Week 1 - A Week to Celebrate

Anniversary selfie

We have had a week full of blessings, it's crazy to have so many things packed into one week! Sunday we celebrated our first year of marriage, Tuesday we found out that I PASSED MY TESTS, Saturday was Jonathan's birthday and we made our first big purchase as a family and bought a car...many many reasons to celebrate and definitely a week to remember.

Bouquet from my mom and anniversary gifts!

Sunday I worked, which was a bit of a bummer, but it doesn't change anything! We went to Don Panchos for dinner, went shopping at Aldi's and enjoyed some time together. When we got home, we opened gifts. I got two books and Jonathan got a book, an automatic thermometer and an apron for grilling. I worked Monday, so we had to keep it pretty low key. While I was at work, Jonathan renewed his license and then went to game night at the Haas farm for an evening with the guys.

All day Monday I was on my phone checking my score, but it didn't come through until Tuesday. On Tuesday I checked my score, went to get allergy shots, and got home just in time for lunch. Before I ate, I checked my score and found out that it was a passing grade - so I am officially DONE studying and taking tests! Now I am just waiting for the state to license me, then I will be ready to work as a pharmacist! HUGE relief for the lil Landis fam. We also went to look at a car on Tuesday. This has been something we have been thinking about for awhile. Jonathan's car is stick shift and, though I know how to drive it, I'm not very comfortable doing so and it is just best for our family if we have two cars we can both drive. So we went to look at a 2010 Ford Fusion. When we got home, we had steaks, went to get ice cream and just enjoyed relaxing, knowing that the studying is over! I took my NAPLEX on 6/27/19 and found out I passed that on 7/1/19, then I took my MPJE 7/11/19 and got those results on 7/16/19. It was a crazy month, but we got through it and we are a lot better now!

Perfect little sunflower
outside our front door!

Wednesday I had to work 9-7:30 in Akron, so we had BLTs for dinner, Jonathan spent the evening at home just taking some time to himself, then Thursday we went and celebrated with my family. Shem's birthday was Tuesday, so we had the boys' birthdays, our anniversary and my passing the tests to celebrate and we did so well. We all went to Pondi's for dinner, then we went and checked out the brand new Drug Mart in Lisbon and stopped for ice cream on the way home. The perfect celebration. When we got back to my parents' the boys got to open their birthday gifts and we spent a bit of time relaxing there. Thursday was also the day we got some fun mail! Jonathan got a game from his sisters for his birthday and then he also got me a gift. For graduation/becoming a pharmacist he got me special hangers that say "Dr Landis" and "A. Landis, PharmD" on them. They are super cute and I am really excited to use them!

Friday I worked all day, so Jonathan mowed, went to Alliance to pick up a game we ordered and to get a few things at Walmart. He also went to a gaming store up there to get rid of some of his old video games that he had. For some reason, I was very hungry when we got home, so instead of having the breakfast I made for Jonathan's birthday in the morning, we had breakfast burritos at midnight and rang in Jonathan's birthday! It was spontaneous, fun and delicious!

Jonathan's Maple Syrup Cookbook!

Saturday was Jonathan's birthday, he turned 25 and we had a crazy day. In the morning we went to officially pick up the car and buy it. Unfortunately, it only had 1 mile worth of gas in it, so we had to pull over into a parking lot, go get gas and a gas can, then we finally made it home. Jonathan got to open his birthday gifts (a cookbook, movie and a pair of gloves for yard work), we ate lunch, then we headed to Lima for my friend Adam's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful and we had a really good time seeing some friends from school. We got home around 12 and absolutely crashed when we made it inside.

Today has been refreshing. We actually got to go to church together, which we really appreciate being able to do, then we went to lunch with my parents, Shem, Kyle and the Prusias, which we haven't done in a while. Once we got home it was nap time and we got to catch up on some of our sleep - super necessary after this weekend. After naps, we did dishes (which haven't been done for...well...we were out of spoons and forks, we'll just leave it at that), then we went to the Rich's for Daniel's grad party and to meet Juan (an exchange student from Spain). Now we are home, in our little home, ready to start a whole week of no studying and just relaxing. 

This week is going to be interesting since I don't have my schedule yet. They are waiting for me to get my license to they can schedule me as a pharmacist, we are all getting a little bit impatient, but I am sure it will be great regardless. I am looking forward to being able to focus on something other than pharmacy and Jonathan is excited to get to know me without me having school!

Thank you all so much for your love and support through all of this time. Your love and prayers have really helped as we have been going through this time. I went into both of my exams confident and I left peaceful. Out of the 6 hours they give you to take the NAPELX, I only used a little over 3 and the MPJE I used about half as well, but I felt relaxed during and after both. We are so thankful for all of you and can't wait to keep you tuned in for the next adventure!

Love you all! Have a great week!

- Alli and Jonathan

Week 52: One Year

Well here we are, one year of marriage! Seems crazy we've been married this long, but it also seems like it's only been a month! The past year has been hectic, we have been able to face some controversy, jump some hurdles, go on some adventures and really figure out who we are as a family!

After our wedding we went on our secret honeymoon to Gatlinberg and Pigeon Forge, which was a fantastic trip, then we went back to Wapak and started real life. Our honeymoon was a ton of fun and it was only made more fun by the fact that no one knew where we were. It was our little secret and, after being the center of attention for the day, we both needed some time to just be away from other humans. We drove home on Jonathan's birthday, got pizza and opened gifts in our apartment. It was such a fun day just enjoying home together. 

August was a good month, we got involved in a small group at our church there and they were a HUGE blessing in our lives. It was a place to be vulnerable about anything and everything and they quickly became some of our most favorite people on the planet. We also got to go to camp Friedenswald, in Michigan, with Jonathan's maternal side of the family, which is always a good time. It is a weekend with family we don't get the opportunity to see very frequently, so we enjoy every minute of it.

Every month I had a new rotation to go to since I was finishing up my last year of school. This was a bit of a challenge considering the fact that change is hard and new jobs are hard, so changing to a new job every month is kind of hard! September was one of the hard months. I was an hour away from my rotation, I did not enjoy it and felt like I was mainly just wasting my time. It was especially annoying because I absolutely ADORED my June and August rotations. First disappointment, which is always tough. So September was a little bit long, but we got through it. It wasn't super exciting, we just hung out and kept recuperating every weekend from the week before. We did take a trip home for Labor day weekend. It was short and came with some challenges, but we went to a festival with my parents and then got to go square dancing at the Stark County fair - a Haas family tradition of sorts. 

October was a pretty great month. My rotation was awesome, the only hospital I enjoyed working at. We went on a super fun framily vacation to Holland, Michigan, so see Shem with the Haas family, Prusias and Kyle. It was such a fun time, my preceptor was amazing and allowed me to have the day off to travel, we just had a great time. Even better - we got our Christmas shopping for Jonathan's sisters done while we were up there! For Halloween we participated in trunk and treat with our small group. We were Winnie the Pooh and company. Jonathan was Christopher Robin and I was Piglet. I ordered a super cute costume, which was a great plan, it arrived the day AFTER the event, so that was disappointing, but we made do and kids still recognized me as Piglet, so all was well.

November was a good month, I was back at the same place I did my August rotation, so I knew it would be fun. The holidays started, we ran our first 5K together on Thanksgiving morning in Pennsylvania, then we came home and had thanksgiving with the Haas family in the evening. Friday we went to the Landis' for a post-Thanksgiving celebration and spent the remainder of the weekend there. It was a great weekend full of food and family - two of our favorite things!

December seems like it was just a crazy mess! I was off work, so I studied a lot and enjoyed being able to make dinner. Most of the days I was in my pajamas all day long, but I would always put real clothes on so Jonathan couldn't tell that was the case. Jonathan started having stuff to do at work during this time, which was nice, but also a bit of a challenge since I was finally able to relax a little bit! We did our first Christmas together and I am so glad we waited to do that until we were married because I don't know if we would have continued with the plan if we had! 7 Christmas celebrations is a lot and it isn't super totally enjoyable all the time. For our Christmas, we spent 15 hours on the road, which doesn't seem like a lot to most people - but it was a bit excessive for us. Our own Christmas celebration was probably our favorite. Jonathan took the day before we had to leave for Indiana off and we pretended it was Christmas. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do everything we wanted since Spectrum turned our wifi off and gave it to our neighbors instead, but we still made the most of it! Opening gifts, watching movies, playing games, it was a fantastic first Christmas. Then the hectic craziness began! We went to Indiana for his maternal family Christmas, then we went back to the Landis house until Christmas day, we celebrated Chirstmas morning (which turned into Christmas afternoon) at their house, then in the evening we went to the Dickerhoof family Christmas with my mom's side of the family. On the 26th we had our Haas family Christmas just with my immediate family, which was a wonderful and relaxing day! We took two trips back for Jonathan's Landis family Christmas and the "big" Haas family Christmas was in there as well, I kind of forget how all of that went! New years eve we hung out with the Dickerhoof family at our house and got to spend lots of time with them, which was a lot of fun. 

Before we left home, we celebrated my birthday on the 1st, then headed back to Wapak. I love being home, so getting home on my birthday was wonderful. The next day it was back to real life. My rotation started and Jonathan went back to work. It was a pretty boring rotation month for me, I didn't enjoy it much, but we got through it. We had a lot of ice and snow, so that was a challenge, but it went okay. January was also the month that I signed with Drug Mart as a floater after graduation, so we finally knew where I was going to be, but it was the beginning of a lot of other changes.

February was a quick month, as usual, and probably provided me with the worst weather to drive in, period. We got through it and had a good month, but I don't remember doing a whole lot...to be honest. We started looking at places to live and tried to figure out where to move to, but didn't feel a whole lot of pressure.

March was insane, to be honest. I cried most days because I was miserable at my rotation site, Jonathan dealt with that so well and was really supportive, but we were both ready for the month to be over. Thankfully, we did have some pretty great weekends. One weekend we went home, looked at an apartment and got to help with maple syrup, which is always an awesome time with the Landis family. Another weekend we went to Chicago to see Dustin and Sara. It was such a great weekend and definitely helped keep our minds off of how rough of a month it was. The next weekend we came home to look at the apartment we now live in, so that took a lot of stress off for sure! Even though we didn't intend to live in Minerva, it is the perfect place for us to be right now, that is for sure.

April was a great month rotation wise, and it seemed to fly by. We were getting ready to move, figuring out what Jonathan was going to do for work and just trying to get our lives somewhat together. Fortunately, Jonathan's company loves him a lot, like everyone does, and wanted to keep him. Our duplex has plenty of space and allows for him to work from home, which has been amazing. We are so blessed to have this opportunity and it has allowed this transition to go really well! At the end of April, we moved back to Minerva and started to adjust to life back here.

May was crazy too, I had graduation and signing papers with Drug Mart. We made a few trips back to the other side of Ohio, but it was all a really good way to not have to say goodbye all at once. The last few weeks of May I started working as a grad intern and Jonathan really dug into working at home.

June has been a continuation of May, just lots of studying, working, family get togethers and quite a few weddings. It has been crazy recently and I am sorry we haven't been more active, but trust me, it is coming. July has been a crazy time as well and we are really excited to have more time here soon. Lots of studying for tests and trying to become a real pharmacist, but we are getting there. Just this week we finished reading the Bible in a year, which is something we started on our honeymoon. It was a fantastic way to spend our first year of marriage and I am so glad we did it, but it took some time, that's for sure! We have had a lot of support from a lot of people this past year and we are so thankful for those of you who have supported our marriage and encouraged us through this new phase of life. It has been a great year and we can't wait to see what the future holds! We love you all and will do our best to be better at keeping you in the loop!

Love,

Alli and Jonathan