Highlights from Semester 1, Year 2

Another semester down! Robbie is in the other room in his post-finals coma but, being the morning person I am, I couldn't sleep past 6:30 so the first thing I wanted to do was get a blog post written.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Robbie's semester just ended yesterday. It feels like he just started his second year maybe a month ago (though the -4 degrees F outside confirms to me it's not September). I have heard from numerous sources that the first semester of second year is supposed to be the hardest mostly because of the volume of classes. (Seriously. 27. Credit. Hours. When I told my best friend that she asked, "Isn't that illegal or something!?" haha)

Honestly, it went by so quickly that I didn't have much time to mope. It's sort of like that feeling of ripping off a band-aid, only this semester was a GIANT band-aid and now I'm just feeling a little dazed and thinking, "What just happened?" Not only did I go from staying at home to working 40+ hours a week, but it seems like there was something planned with friends or family almost every weekend. I made the hour drive up to Fort Collins more times than I can count.

Here are the highlights of what happened this semester.

1) BABETOBERFEST
We threw a fall-themed baby shower for my oldest sister, Altair. I really owe a lot to Pinterest for inspiring the food, decor, and activities. We served a baked-potato bar, bratwurst, and lots of little finger foods.

That is a red-velvet cream cheese ball. Thank you Pinterest. You have opened my eyes.

My sister, Deborah, being silly with the mommy-to-be, Altair.

You can't go wrong with mini pumpkin pies. They were fantastic!! Thanks again Pinterest!

I made pre-printed pages of the whole alphabet and each guest drew a picture with crayon.

Here is one that I made. You know you're a 90's kid if you know who this is.

2) RODIZIO GRILL DATE
Rodizio Grill is an amazing Brazilian restaurant where the servers walk around with huge skewers of all different kinds of meats and if you want some then they will carve chunks off onto your plate. I loved all the food but my favorite part was the fried plantains. It's normally way too expensive for us to go, but I snagged a deal on groupon that gave us half off.

Robbie loved the little thing used to signify to the waiters if you wanted more food. When it was on red, they knew to leave you alone. When it was on green, they knew to bring more food. I think he just liked the concept of having unlimited access to more food any time he wanted.

Enjoying some really nice wine.

3) CHAUNCEY CAME HOME
I seriously love squirrels but one squirrel in particular is my favorite. His name is Chauncey. He has big fluffy red ears and he's tame enough to take a nut from your hand. I hadn't seen him since last winter and I thought he had actually died but one magical Sunday morning, there he was outside our sliding glass door. I of course got really excited and opened the door right away to give him some walnuts.

You can see how excited I am and how unimpressed Riesy is.

After putting Riesy in the office, we opened the door and he came right in to get a nut.

Look how fluffy he is!!

And so plump!

4) OLIVE TIME
I got to spend lots of time with my niece, Olive. She was probably the main reason I made so many trips up from Denver this semester.

I love her dimples.

Stop it. Stop it right now.

 5) BABY LUKE WAS BORN
My oldest sister had her baby just a few days before Thanksgiving. We got to meet him the day after he was born but then Robbie and I both got colds so we haven't been able to spend much time with him yet. I can't wait to hold him some more once I'm better!

He was a big boy at over 8 lbs.

The proud papa

8) MY FRIENDS GOT ENGAGED
My friends, Dan and Chelsea, finally got engaged! He was smart enough to have his dad hide in full camouflage to take pictures. This makes my heart so happy.

7) WORKING AT THE DENTAL SCHOOL
What kept me most occupied this semester was working at the Dental School. I cannot say enough how much I love working there. The people are awesome, the work is interesting, and I get to have lunch almost every day with Robbie. You can't beat that!

Robbie saw his first patient. This was before the appointment.

I have no idea what any of this even means.

Exhausted and covered in dust from working in the lab for hours.

Placing teeth in a denture wax-up.

Me being cool with my awesome scanner in the Instrument Dispensary.

I am so thankful for all the wonderful experiences I had this semester. So many exciting things happened with my family. Praise God for bringing so many blessings into my life so I could cope with the stress of the last few months. He is so good!