One of the Christmas traditions my family has is that we visit the Hotel Del Coronado and buy an ornament from their tree, which changes themes each year. Now that John and I are in a new area and are starting our own family traditions, we decided to head south to check out Kansas City, since we had heard that they go all out for the holiday season. It also just so happened to be the anniversary of our engagement, so we thought we'd celebrate that too while we were down there. It turned out to be a quite the tropical getaway, since KC had temperatures in the high 40's... we even enjoyed a coffee outside on the patio together!

Our first stop was Crown Center, home of the mayor's 100 foot Christmas tree. It was a pretty cool tree, but we didn't admire it long since it was windy as all get out. And it wasn't dark out, which was a bummer since Christmas trees don't have the same sort of magic without their lights a'twinkling. There was also a pretty fun play area surrounding the tree area. I think it might have been intended for children, but John and I had a good time nonetheless. I did a little nutcracker investigating and John found himself a sweet new ride.

Once we had seen all there was to see at the Crown Center we headed over to the Country Club Plaza, which was sort of the Rodeo Drive of Kansas City. Alright, it wasn't quite that fancy, but it had all the stores I miss from San Diego that are nowhere to be found in Iowa. We had heard that the Plaza had a pretty light display at nighttime, so we lallygagged a bit until the sun went down, and then walked around for a while and enjoyed the festive lighting decor.

Since we were in Kansas City, John wanted to make sure we hit up a barbecue joint, because apparently they are sort of known for their BBQ skills. His friend James had recommended a place called Gates, which turned out to be the most delicious cafeteria-style establishment I have ever encountered. As it turns out, the San Diego Chargers are a big fan of Gates BBQ as well, seeing that they had eaten there the night before and earlier that day! John and I did our best stalker impressions we could and hung out for about an hour after we demolished some tasty food, but then decided to leave - Charger sighting-less. We never did get in a fancy romantic dinner for our anniversary while we were in KC, but neither of us were too sad about it after engorging ourselves with the scrumptiousness that is Gates BBQ.

After dinner we took our full bellies back to the hotel, spent some time with a group of toilets, and then attempted to relax on the Sleep Number bed (seriously, has anyone tried one of those beds... they are terrible!). The next day we had a not-so-successful trip to Nordstrom, which nearly broke my heart, and headed back home to get back to the daily grind. All in all, we had a great time in Kansas City and are looking forward to visiting again soon.

Tonight I was introduced to the weather occurrence, and cruel and unusual punishment, known as sleet.

With this big storm impending, I had heard the word thrown around a few times and was looking forward to discovering what form of weather sleet actually was, since it doesn't (at least to my knowledge) grace San Diego with it's presence.

When the storm finally hit, I was driving a co-worker back to her car at the office. From inside the car, sleet appeared to be a miniature version of hail, which led me to believe that it was really no big deal at all. Then I had to get out of my car to help my co-worker carry her things, and oh-so-quickly I realized that sleet was not simply miniature hail at all.

Tonight I learned that sleet is more like sharp ice shards pouring out of the sky - hail's pointy and vicious little brother, if you will. In the two minutes I was without the shelter of The Dragon, I was almost certain the sleet had pierced my ears and face in several locations and caused bleeding. As it turns out though, it only felt like the sleet had pierced my face, which is a good thing since I'm not too keen on this look:In other news, John and I went to Kansas City, Missouri last weekend to celebrate the holiday season and anniversary of our engagement. I wasn't aware that Kansas City was a super awesome place with lots of fun things to do, but as it turns out it kind of was. We've been really busy with work and Christmas right around the corner, but I'll update with the KC details soon (I promise, Jody!).

Last week the whole family came to Des Moines to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thursday was Thanksgiving day as usual filled with eating, snacking, football, lounging, and then some more eating. It was also the perfect day to showcase the Iowa Hawkeye's cheer that John had been teaching Ashlyn. After we were rested and some of our food had settled, the girls decided to partake in some Black Friday shopping. One of the local malls switched up tradition a bit and had the stores open at midnight, as opposed to the usual 4am. Now, I don't know how many of you have ever participated in this sort of spectacle (it was my first time), but it was quite chaotic! We got there about a half an hour early and opted to wait in a gated area inside the mall instead of outside, since weather.com reported that it was something like 10 degrees outside. Well, apparently the frost-bitten outside waiters were allowed to enter the mall a few minutes earlier than the room-temperature waiters, and this upset some anxious shoppers. So, they decided to shake their fist at the mall authorities, so to speak, and shook/pushed the gate until it broke and could be moved out of their way. I mean, really guys? All for some discounted sheets? Come on. Anyway, we shopped the night away at the mall and then decided to head over to Kohl's to get in on their 4am madness. Frankly, that was where the deals were at. The Kitchen Aid knives I got were quite the steal! So, after we waited it out in the horrendous Kohl's line, we hurried home to get to bed by 6am and sleep a little before the kids woke up. All in all, it was fun to be a part of the mayhem and shop amongst the Christmas atmosphere.

Friday was a lounge day since many of us were tuckered out from our all-nighter shopping trip, and Saturday was a free-for-all day. John and I took Mady and Kailyn to a Festival of Trees event downtown where companies decorated Christmas trees in various themes for people to purchase or donate to local hospitals and such. Since it was a festive holiday event I, of course, enjoyed myself, and the girls had a good time making gingerbread houses and ornaments for Grammy. Then we came home and played Trivial Pursuit - genius edition, where, surprisingly, neither team won.

It was hard to be away from my family for the holiday, but John's family was, as they always are, so warm and welcoming which made it a lot easier. All in all, I had a great Thanksgiving weekend. And to top it all off, we got our first big snow of the season!

My incessant efforts to find a job have finally paid off! I am now an employed woman once again!

Starting December 1st, I will be the Family Interaction Specialist for Visiting Nurse Services, a local non-profit organization, providing remedial services to children who have been diagnosed with psychological disorders. I'm nervous about the unknown aspect of a position I haven't worked in before, but excited about the opportunity to learn and to finally be busy again!

Last night, to celebrate, we shared a peppermint mocha while we browsed the aisles of Target and then got take-out from my new favorite eatery, Z'Mariks, to eat while we watched One Tree Hill. And then, just when I thought the celebration couldn't get any better, John's sister Casey brought me caramel apple and triple chocolate cupcakes for dessert! I couldn't have asked for a better day!

A couple weekends ago John and I decided to embrace our new town and get out and be festive with the locals. Our first stop was the Des Moines farmers market, since it was the last outdoor one of the year. Now, I can't say I went to too many farmers markets in San Diego to compare this one to, but it was pretty neat. It seemed more like a street fair to me though, which I guess is to be expected since freshly grown local produce is pretty scarce around here in late October. After all was said and done we had shared a delicious breakfast burrito and purchased some homemade root beer, fancy pasta noodles, and my personal favorite: banana marshmallows. Lets go ahead and chalk this one up to a success.

After the farmers market we went out to one of the area's pumpkin patches, since Halloween was just around the corner. Being newbies, we didn't know which pumpkin patch would be at the Bates Nut Farm level of awesomeness so we just picked one and went. Now, let's remember friends: we are in Iowa. Surely there are corn mazes, plentiful patches of pumpkins, and tractor hay rides, right? Not at our selected patch. Well, there was a tractor ride, but that was about it. I'm not really sure if people are just over zealous with their pumpkin purchasing around here or what, but we could have counted the total number of pumpkins at this place on our fingers. Needless to say, the pumpkin patch was not quite a success. Although, it did have one redeeming quality in the form of marshmallow roasting station, so not all was lost.

We haven't really done anything too exciting since. John has been busy working, and I've been busy applying for just about every job I see. This weekend we're off to the Quad Cities to dig through our boxes of belongings for winter coats, since it's already snowed once and the temperatures are rapidly dropping. I do have to admit, as much as I don't like being cold, it does feel more festive and holiday-ish with the colder temperatures. I wonder how I'll feel about being frozen once the holidays are over...

Let's start this one off with something we all love: surprise presents. I've recently received two surprise presents that I am so thrilled about I just had to share with everyone. And, I'm quite inclined to think that if I hadn't made this crazy choice to move to Iowa I wouldn't have been gifted either of these items. So really, this move is already paying off! The first item of wonderfulness that entered my life is the ice scraper of all ice scrapers from my future brother-in-law, Dave. Check this thing out! It has the scraper side for, you know, scraping things (ice, I presume), and the other side has the industrial size brush head for the softer variety of snow. Then, on the back side of the big brush is a squeegee sort of gadget, which I can only imagine the number of things I will find to use that on. And, what you can't see is that the middle of the handle bar untwists allowing for the length of the whole gadget to extend, which is super awesome for short armed folks like myself! I haven't had the opportunity to use this bad boy yet, but rest assured that when the first snowfall graces us with its presence, I will be more than ready for it.

The other surprise gift I received is an item that I've had my eye on since before last Christmas and occasionally throw it's name out there to keep it fresh in John's mind. Apparently this paid off, since the other day the UPS truck dropped off a big box for me containing one of the greatest inventions for chill-prone loungers everywhere... the slanket! And now, being a proud owner, I can tell you that the slanket is everything I had ever imagined and more! Remember last time you were all snuggled up on the couch underneath your favorite super warm and soft fleece blanket and wanted to read a book or channel surf, but you couldn't because when you took your arms out they got cold? Not with the slanket, my friend! It's a blanket with sleeves so I'll never have cold arms while enjoying my favorite lounge activities! And just when it seemed like nothing could make the slanket any more awesome, they went and made the purchase of the pink one donate to the Save the Boobies (breast cancer research) fund! Internet high five to the slanket creators and corporation... you've really out done yourselves.

That's it for now. I've got some pictures and whatnot from this past weekend, but I figure I'll save those for another post. Not too much is new here... John is into his second full week of work and is enjoying it so far, and I'm still enjoying my free time while I continue with the job hunt. We both miss sunny San Diego and all of our friends very much! We hope you have a safe and happy Halloween!

What kind of person sets up a blog, tells everyone about it, posts only a few times and then goes MIA for a few weeks? I know, I know... but I promise I have good reason for it. Since my last post John and I have moved to Des Moines and are now officially situated in his sister's basement. Now, if you're like me, you probably hear "basement" and think dark, damp, and filled with creepy crawlers. But our little set up down here is quite the contrary. The room is painted and carpeted and all that, and if you didn't know any better you'd think it was just a room downstairs. So, we're nice and cozy and incredibly thankful of John's sister and brother-in-law for being so welcoming and allowing us to invade their home until we get a place of our own.

With John starting his new job this Friday, we thought it would be a good idea to tag along with his parents and go visit his sister in Minneapolis for one last weekend get-away before returning to reality. Plus, since the Travel Channel makes it look so awesome, I've always wanted to go to the Mall of America which is in Minneapolis also. It's pretty much just a regular mall as far as stores are concerned, except every store you've ever seen in any mall is right there all in one place. Also, if you have gargantuan feet and are in need of a new pair of kicks - this is apparently the mall for you. The extraordinary thing about this mall, much to my surprise, isn't the sheer enormousness of it, but rather the fact that they've shoved an amusement park right smack dab in the middle of it all. And I'm not talking about a roller coaster and a few kiddie rides - this place has enough rides, for both kids and adults, to warrant the purchase of an unlimited ride wristband. It's both ridiculous and fantastic all at the same time, really. Naturally, I was too chicken to ride any of the rides, but John and his sisters had a great time.

Since we had the free time, John and I decided to stay an extra day in Minnesota after his parents went back to Iowa. We had all sorts of extravagant plans to go on a river walk and climb some fancy tower to see all that you can see, but due the the rain that lasted the entire day we didn't get to do them. The day wasn't a total loss though. We ended up spending a good amount of the day driving around looking at different areas of the city and then exploring the downtown skywalks. I'm pretty sure they're exclusive to crappy weather areas, but these skywalk things are actually kind of neat. From the outside they look like hamster cage habitrail-ish walkways linking the downtown buildings together, but when you go inside of them there are all sorts of stores and food courts and whatnot. They even link to apartment and condo buildings, so if you lived and worked downtown you would never ever have to set foot outside if you didn't want to. I'm slightly facinated by them, to be honest. Here's a picture of me running in one. Despite the rain, we still explored enough of the city to run into several different statues of various Charlie Brown characters. I guess since that Charles Schultz guy is from the area, they figure they should put a character in every possible location. They even put one in the skywalk!

So now we're back in Des Moines and all settled in for John's first day of work on Friday. I'm still applying for jobs and have an interview next week, so hopefully I'll be employed in the near future. But, for now, I'm still enjoying my abundance of free time and my cozy sweat pants!

I leave you now, with the feeling of insane jealousy that we are only paying $2.59 for a gallon of gas!

Alright, friends. I've got bad news and I've got good news out here on the Iowa front.

The bad news? It's cold already. The locals will try to fool you and call it "fall," but I don't care what they label it, it's just plain cold. It barely hit 60 degrees out here today, and it was cloudy and windy on top of that. And, according to local meteorologists, this crisp chill is quite typical for this time of year which only means that it's bound to get even colder pretty soon. Gross.

Now for the good news... John got a job!!! It's a Social Worker 2 position with the State of Iowa, working in the Des Moines area. This means a few things for us, the first being that we won't go bankrupt or starving any time soon, which is always good. It also means that we'll be relocating once again (just a small move this time) to Des Moines. John's sister Casey lives in Des Moines with her family, so we won't be super loners, and the rest of his family will only be a short 3 hour drive away. Also, Des Moines is the capitol of Iowa (you should have known that already) and thus, the largest city in the state, so we figure there's bound to be a variety of activities for lonely big city transfers like ourselves. He starts in a little over 2 weeks, which means we've only got a limited amount of free time to do lots of awesome Iowa things, like have impromptu agrarian photo shoots...

Remember when you were 17 and dreamed of piling all of your very best friends in your parent's Ford Escort station wagon and driving that bad boy across the country with reckless abandon? Yeah, me too. Our road trip to Iowa was kind of like that. Except instead of all of our very best friends we had all of our belongings, which inhibited our ability to recline our seats or stretch our legs. And instead of reckless abandon, we traveled with extreme caution due to the fact that the weight of our cargo had The Dragon riding approximately six inches off the ground, Warren G style. Like the true champ she is though, The Dragon delivered us safely to our destination. We should probably repay her with a nice wash soon.

Our visit to Northern California was lovely, as it always is. We spent nearly the entire four days laying around in sweat pants, eating ice cream, playing mexican train, and napping. There's just something about the Nana's house... it truly is the most relaxing place. Except for when I was ATTACKED by mosquitoes. I'm serious, I was attacked. Viciously. There I was minding my own business, getting ready for my mid-day lounge by the pool, when all of a sudden 21 of those nasty little things bit me all over my legs. As it turns out I must have been allergic or something, because each of those 21 bites swelled up significantly, turned purple, and itched for about the next five days. I'll spare you the pictures, since at least one of you is munching away on your Nature's Valley granola bar while reading this and I don't want to ruin your appetite. Needless to say, Benydryl became my BFF for a while there.

Yellowstone was attack-free and beautiful. John was ecstatic to see any and all kinds of wildlife, despite the Yellowstone Newspaper's warnings of bison, elk, and bears charging the park's visitors. I, the more practical of us two, stayed in the car to view the wildlife. We did almost hit a beastly sized bison who happened to be grazing on the side of the road as we rounded a mountain curve, though. That was nuts. Nearly the entire park smells like rotten eggs, due to hydrogen sulfide gas, but it's sort of a trade off since the whole place is so astounding. We had a great time seeing the geyser basins, mudpots, Old Faithful, waterfalls, and taking a dip in the natural hot springs. If you haven't been out to Yellowstone, we both recommend you fit that into your schedule. It truly was an amazing place.

So here we are now, in the great corn-filled state of Iowa. To be fair, they have an awful lot of soybeans too, but those often get overlooked. Anyway, we've arrived safely and are spending just about every last minute lounging around John's parent's house catching up on movies and primetime t.v. With the last few months being full of finishing school, working, packing, and then moving, we're enjoying our time off together and looking forward to our new Iowa beginnings.

John Galsworthy once wrote, "The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy."

The truth of the matter simply is this: leaving San Diego will forever be the hardest and most heartbreaking day of my entire life. To say goodbye to such truly phenomenal people was infinitely more difficult than I could have ever possibly anticipated. And although I know better than to think I won't see everyone again, the conception of time and reality can often feel defeating.

But as untidy as this ending may seem, I've got strong ties to the people I love most, dreams of a happy life, and a wonderful man whose comforting touch and loving words remind me, "I will follow you anywhere."

Maybe these beginnings won't be so untidy after all...