You had to know...

...a cat post was coming one of these days!

Cooper being part of the action.

Zoey getting some early morning snuggle time in :)

Random Sky Pictures

Here are two pictures I've taken in the past couple weeks. Can't forget to enjoy nature's beauty in an otherwise stressful life of a resident.

This was the sky one morning as I left for work the week before this last vacation.

Storm is a coming! {This one was taken in St. Peter this past week on vacation.}

~Ashley

Llama, llama, llama

You better believe I had the coolest pets when I was growing up :)

~Ashley

Playing with Food

As I was looking through pictures from our Thanksgiving/Christmas gathering, I couldn't help but to think when I saw this picture...

..."I think I have seen pictures similar to this before."

So I went back in my pictures and looked through all the holiday gatherings, etc and came up with this...

Top picture is from Christmas 2011 and the bottom is Thanksgiving 2012. I thought I'd have at least one more to add to this but I couldn't seem to find any additional pictures. I'll be sure to take the obligatory Ryan-playing-with-our-dinner-food picture to continue to add to this picture roll at our future family gatherings - ha! {I might also tell him he is required to wear a black t-shirt!} All in all, I'd have to say, Ryan is a pretty good cook.

~Ashley

A much needed week off

One week every three months, I get a week off. Normally by the time it comes, I'm itching for a vacation! This time proved no different. We went back to my parent's place in Minnesota. Since I work Christmas and New Years and other family members weren't sure they'd get the Friday after Thanksgiving off, we had family Thanksgiving/Christmas.

For our holiday dinner, we feasted on crab legs. Ryan and I never make these on our own so it was a nice treat. Here are a few pictures of the night.

The Ryans in the kitchen

Ryan cooking up a storm.

The goods!

Chowing down.

Look at all the crab leg scraps.

Dave was out hunting earlier in the day and got a deer. He still saved room for some crab legs though.

We were all stuffed by the end of dinner. It was so delicious. We postponed dessert until our stomachs had some time to digest everything :)

My sisters, mom and I were able to spend some time with my grandparents at the nursing home. Grandpa was eating lunch when we got there so we spent some time visiting with Grandma. She is doing good. She opens her eyes on her own and responds to questions. She also laughs which is so good to see. After a while, Hillary and I went to the cafeteria to see if we could bring Grandpa back to his room. He had just finished eating. He had eaten everything but the squash, stating that it was no where near as good as the squash that Grandma used to make for him :) I'm pretty sure that Grandma would sweeten it up with lots of brown sugar. Grandpa uses a walker to get around but he can sure cruise. He made me laugh on the way back to his room when his neighbor across the hall was blocking the doorway as she was wheeling herself back to her room - as soon as Grandpa had enough clearance to the side, he zoomed right around her leaving her in the dust. Lol. A little nursing home competition :)

After visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, we went shopping. I got the basics: socks and a popcorn popper. I also picked out a frame for a print my parents gave me for Christmas of the woods up the valley from their house. I love it and can't wait to hang it up at our house. I've narrowed it down to two different spots in the house where the picture would look good, but I think it might find its way to the dining room.

Ryan wasn't able to get the week off so he came back Monday afternoon. Hillary, the two Ryans and I ate at Mexican Village before Ryan made the trek back. It has been forever since I've eaten at Mexican Village. Brings me back to my college days. Before heading back to my parents' house, we stopped by the Red Box and rented a few movies. For the rest of the day, we watched movies and went through some of my mom's Christmas things. It was fun looking at all the ornaments that we've gotten through the years. Hillary and I both packed up all of our personal ornaments and were able to bring them home to use on our trees this year. {We packed up Kristin's for her too.}

On Tuesday, Hillary and Ryan made their way back up to Duluth and I worked on a presentation for work. After my parents finished work, Sophie and I went to the polling place with them. Sophie LOVES going for rides in the car. She is too cute. When my parents went into vote, Sophie started to panic a little bit since she couldn't see them - lol, she is too pretictable.

I've had a lingering head cold for the past two and a half weeks but it seemed to get a little worse or the course of vacation :( I was so stuffed up and didn't sleep the best at night as it was difficult to breath at times. Wednesday I just relaxed during the morning and napped here and there. Then I took Sophie for a ride up the valley. There is something so peaceful and relaxing about bring back in the woods. The drive up the valley is so incredibly pretty, and its also therapeutic just going for that drive. Sophie and I took our time driving all the way up to the top of the valley and then turned around and drove back. When we got to the bottom of my parents' driveway, Sophie gave me a look like "Do we have to go home? Can we keep driving?" {I tell you, she loves going for rides} So I took her into work to see mom and dad. After we got back home, it was nap time for a short while until I was off to get my hair cut {chopped off 6 inches} and then over to Owatonna for dinner with one of the OB/Gyn's I worked with when I was a medical student.

Thursday, I felt so crummy. So congested and my poor nose was starting to hurt from having to blow it so frequently. I made the drive back home Thursday and have been just relaxing and taking it easy for the past couple of days. Yesterday was beautiful outside. It was 74 degrees! Ryan and I did a bunch of yard work {hopefully the  last time we have to mow the lawn this year} and also put up some of our Christmas lights. We got a few looks as people drove by, but this year is the first year we put our lights up with nice weather. We're usually putting them up when it's freezing cold outside. We won't turn them on until after Thanksgiving though because that drives me nuts when people do that. It's a good thing we enjoyed being outside yesterday as right now, it's 24 degree outside :/

~Ashley