Family Craziness

This week is going to be an interesting one. Saturday morning my Mom drove up to Rockford to spend the weekend with my grandparents and our other relatives up there. While they were over at Mark & Maren's new house Grandpa (my Mom's Dad) fell down the stairs and broke his ankle. It was so bad that the bone was sticking out of his foot. They ended up doing emergency surgery Saturday evening to put the bones back in place. He now has rods sticking out of his foot to hold everyone together temporarily. They are keeping him in the intensive care unit because he has a pacemaker, so they need to be able to keep a close watch on his heart, etc. A trauma orthopaedic surgeon is going to do another surgery tomorrow to make sure everything is cleaned out in there and there is no infection. I'm not sure what the next step after that will be, but I'm sure it will involve more surgeries.

My Grandma has been having a lot of health problems for the past few years, so my Mom decided to stay in Rockford for a while to get things under control. Yesterday evening Adam and I drove halfway to Rockford and met up with my Mom and my Uncle to deliver more clothes to my Mom so she can stay up there. I traded her clothes for Chloe! Adam and I brought Chloe home with us since things are a little crazy in Rockford right now, so we are puppy-sitting indefinitely...

We're not sure what is going to come of Grandpa's ankle. There is a chance he could lose feeling in his foot and not be able to walk again. We are all trying to be very positive and encourage him to be optimistic as well. He is a very strong willed man so I know he will do his best to recover as completely as possible. Please say a little prayer for him!

Adventures in Cooking

So it's no secret that I've never been the most fabulous cook nor have I attempted to be, but now that Adam and I have an apartment I am doing a lot more experimenting. As it turns out, I'm turning into a pretty darn good cook! Adam is even bragging to his friends now what a lucky man he is!

Last night I made the most fabulous chicken I have ever had! Adam and I loved it so much I thought I would share the recipe with everyone:

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

INGREDIENTS:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I use miracle whip)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 gloves garlic, chopped
1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
4 slices bacon

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium bowl, mix mayonnaise, spinach, feta cheese, and garlic until well blended. Set aside.
2. Carefully butterfly chicken breasts, making sure not to cut all the way through. Spoon spinach mixture into chicken breasts. Wrap each with a piece of bacon, and secure with a toothpick. Place in shallow baking dish. Cover.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F for 1 hour, or until chicken is no longer pink.


I ended up using two slices of bacon for each chicken breast because I stuffed them so full, but they are better that way!

I hope everyone enjoys it if you give it a try. If you have any wonderful recipes you'd like to share, please post them! I'm always looking for new recipes to try!

Bon appetit!

Memorial Day Weekend

This was a great weekend to kick back, relax, and spend some time with family. Friday we did our usual pizza night with Mom, Mark, and Maren. Adam had to work on Saturday morning but surprised me by getting home around 1:00. We got to take a nap together and just hang out for a while before going out to eat with Mom and then to the movies with Mark and Maren. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was great! On Sunday we just hung around and relaxed. Mom came over for a little bit and we took Chloe for her first real walk. It was so funny! She actually did a pretty good job of heading straight down the sidewalk, with the occasional distraction of sniffing something in the grass or checking out people and other dogs.

We walked over to King Kone to get some ice cream, and boy did Chloe like that!

After Mom went home Adam and I decided we should get out and enjoy the warm weather some more so we decided to go for a drive. We went out on Cemetary Rd. and Adam showed me this cute little park out by an old dam on the I&M canal. I didn't even know it existed! It's so beautiful out there. Might be a great place to go on a picnic!

After that we ended up eating dinner at Turtle's and then meeting up with Eric & Mary for a little while at Tully Monster (formerly known as Fool's).

Today we got to sleep in again (YES!) and take our time getting up. We went over to Debbie & Dana's this afternoon. The whole family came over to celebrate Memorial Day and Dana's birthday. Eric cooked ribs (YUM!) and Debbie made potato salad and baked beans. I brought cookies and the kids made Dana a birthday cake. We had some GOOD FOOD! It was so great to just hang out, eat good food, and enjoy the beautiful weather. I think it was somewhere around 84 degrees today with the sun shining and a perfect little breeze.

Happy Birthday Dana!

Adam cutting up the ribs...yum...

Our adorable niece and nephews Keihn, Karys, & Dakota

And their parents, Adam's brother Damen & his wife Kristen

Keihn had a blast walking Chloe around the yard!

This was so hilarious...Chloe went under the picnic table and Keihn followed her so the leash wouldn't get tangled. Well she decided to follow him around and they both got tangled under the picnic table!

How could you not love this face?!

Me and my sweetie!

I got to end the weekend by talking to my Dad on the phone tonight. I wish I could see him more often, but at least I get to talk to him on the phone!

Fun Weekend!

This last weekend was so much fun! I came home from work Friday and Adam told me that our friends Keith and Katie wanted to go out. Yay double date! The four of us hung out at our place for a little bit before heading to dinner at La Mex. Afterwards we hung out at our favorite watering hole....The Legion! Here's a picture of the lovely ladies.







And the guys...yes, they are close friends and very secure in their manhood!

Then on Saturday Annmarie came down to visit from Chicago! She was our very first overnight guest! Here's a picture of me and Annmarie before heading out to eat at.....yes, that's right.....La Mex! (Hey, we love Mexican food!)

We met up with Veronica & Jen at Ebbey's, and we had a blast! Thanks for a fun night girls!

Tagged!

A- Attached or single: Attached!
B - Best friend: I have lots of best friends...can't narrow it down.
C- Cake or pie: One of each please. :)
D - Day of Choice: Friday - Sunday...oh how I love the weekend!
E- Essential item: lip gloss & hand lotion
F- Favorite Color(s): Pink & yellow
G- Gummy worms or bears: Worms
H- Hometown: Which one?
I - Indulgence(s): CHOCOLATE & ice cream
J- January or July: Most definitely July...I hate winter!
K- Kids: Someday!
L - Life is incomplete without: chocolate
M- Marriage date (If applicable): Sometime in the near future hopefully.
N- Number of siblings: Just one, my brother
O- Oranges or apples: Apples
P- Phobias or Fears: Spiders
Q- Quote: "Eat, drink, and be merry."
R- Reason to smile: Family, friends, and chocolate
S- Season: SUMMER!!!
T- Tag Three: Aubs, Jen, and Jamie
U- Unknown Personal Fact: My parents got my name from one of the actresses on Little House on the Prairie.
V-Vegetarian or Oppressor of animals: Oppressor...mostly against chickens.
W-Worst habit: Grinding my teeth
X- X-ray or Ultrasound: Can't say I have a preference
Y- Your favorite food: Pizza, pasta, or anything Mexican
Z- Zodiac sign: Aries

Adam's Birthday Celebration

Adam's birthday was April 30th, so last night we had our families over to our house to celebrate. He and I spent the whole day cleaning, getting chairs ready (our dining rooms chairs had these hideous old cushions on them that we had to remove), unpacking and washing the china my Mom gave me, and moving furniture around. It was wonderful though because I didn't have to cook a darn thing! Everyone else brought the food, and my Mom even picked up the birthday cake for me! We had an awesome dinner and really enjoyed having both of our families over at our place. We are both so lucky to have such great families!

Here are some pictures of Adam opening cards with his niece Karys and nephews Dakota and Keihn by his side. He loves goofing around with them. Karys had a dance performance earlier in the day, so that's why she's wearing so much make-up!

Since Adam's entire family was together (which rarely happens because we are all so busy), we decided we needed a picture of all of us!

Top row from left: Mary, Kristen, Karys, Damen, Debbie, Me, Adam

Bottom row from left: Keihn, Eric, Dakota, Dana

This calls for a celebration!

Today I got the BEST news I have gotten in a long time.

For quite some time my co-workers and I in the Human Resources department have been struggling with our workload. We are constantly taking on more work, and the hospital is growing by leaps and bounds in terms of number of employees. When I started working at the hospital in August of 2006 we had about 800 employees. Now we are almost at 900! My role in the department has evolved, and I have taken on a lot more high level work in addition to my daily tasks such as reviewing applications, checking references, tracking FMLA, etc. Work has become very stressful, and I have been working a lot of overtime just to keep up. We are an excellent group, and I know that we provide excellent service, but we are on the verge of starting to go downhill.

We have been begging for more help for months, and FINALLY today our wish was granted! We were approved to hire another part time person. I could not even believe when my boss told me this morning. We were all jumping for joy!!! This is a HUGE deal for us, and the news totally made my week!