"Here starts the next 40 years of your life"

That was my quote from John the morning of January 5th....

Orientation started at Hershey... 1 1/2 weeks of long, 8 hour days; doing nothing but listen to the talk about benefits, policies, family-centered care, etc. Well, I am happy to announce that finally, I have started on the floor. Yesterday was my first day in the newborn nursery. I love every minute of! I loved bathing the babies, feeding them, changing them, and cuddling. It was also really nice to see some of the same people that I worked with over the summer. It's also nice to have people you know and who remember you too. I am only 1 of 2 new graduates working on the Women's Health floor. My days and weeks couldn't be crazier, but I'm taking them day by day, as I still juggle 3 jobs. Don't ask me why...

Have a great end of the week!

Ski Greek Peak

This past weekend, John and I had the opportunity to go to New York with his family and friends to ski. We do it every year, but this year, it snuck up on us so fast that before we knew it, we were scrambling to pack and leave in within 30 minutes! Craziness! I had packed dinner for the road the night before so at least that was a little stress taken off, but still.... The 4 hour trip seemed to go by fairly quickly. John got mad at my driving, we stopped for a bathroom break and changing of drivers, and before we knew it, we had arrived!

John's parents always rent 2 places, one for the younger crowd, and one for themselves. We have dinner and lunch at one place, but yet can be on our own in the evening if we want. It's very nice.

Saturday was spent skiing, although looking back, I wish we would have gotten up earlier in the morning and skied longer before heading in for lunch. I always seem to have trouble getting in the mood to go back out after lunch, but I promised John I would this time. After we trucked back across the street, the snow was really starting to fall hard by this time. After the chairlift ride, we would be so covered in snow, as it would just start to pile on your pants and in the crevasse of your zippers. Pretty cool to see, but not after we started to get freezing cold. I bundle up ALOT, where-as John wears a long sleeved tee and vest. Needless to say, he was ready to go in as well. We stayed out for quite a while and enjoyed ourselves. I think this is the first year that I said I really enjoyed skiing. I feel I've gotten a little better, accomplished all the levels! and can't wait to do it again.

Saturday was dinner and appetizers back at the other condo. Fun, Fun, Fun! PJ introduced us to a card game (the name is not coming to me right now) in which I majorly lost! My meat-balls were a hit the stuffed shells for dinner were great!

Carol, Bert, and Maura

We woke up Saturday morning to the blizzard from the day before. We easily got 8-12 inches of snow. I totally forgot my snow boots, so when I went to clean off the car, I sank right down in. I was freezing! and there was no way I could keep up with cleaning the car as the snow was falling that fast!


We took it easy coming home, no accidents! and enjoyed the warmth of our car and our own home once again!

GO PSU!

JUST ANOTHER REASON TO PARTY; BUT WHY NOT?


Cole and Mia



Abigail and I

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful time with our friends as we dined at Al Mediterraneo's in Hummelstown. We had awesome food! This was our first time ever going out on New Years for dinner and I knew to expect high prices, but not as high as we payed. The dinner included soup/salad, the main entree, and desert. John decided to try octopus before the meal and REALLY enjoyed it! I was surprised. Normally, I like things like this, but the octopus came out to the table with tentacles and it's suction cups still attached! I tried a little; tasted like a marinated portabella mushroom, but I wasn't going back for seconds! John devoured it! After dinner, we headed back to Brian and Amanda's to watch the ball drop. Short, quiet night for us as we sadly watched Dick Clark stumble through his count-down before heading back home. All in all, we had a blast!

Christmas 2008

Christmas came and went super fast. It was a week spent running all over the county to and from our family's homes. I finally convinced John to sleep at our own home on Christmas Eve, as we have always slept at his parents for the past 5 years. Our Christmas Eve was packed with 3 parties and church. We finally left John's parents home at 2:30AM, only to be back Christmas morning at 8! Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. When we arrived, we ended up having to wake everyone up to do the "Christmas thing." We had an amazing morning with them, followed by lunch at my grandmother's house and dinner back at the Phillips'.



Dinner at the Phillips Christmas night:

Amazing looking table!

Amazing cooks!

Amazing food! Eventhough the Christmas menu NEVER changes, I still look forward to Mushroom Supreme and Cranberry Sauce! YUMMM!

We previously did the Christmas dinner and gifts with my family on December 24.... like I said, it was a long Christmas. Our 'second parents' joined us and we had a fun-filled Disney Christmas... that's another story in itself...


Christmas at my grandma and grandpa's:

My cousin Ali and I


On December 27, we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side. We again, had more great food and had a lot of fun playing American Idol on Wee. Needless to say, neither John nor I were about to sing, but that didn't hold anyone else back!

Dad with Cassidy

My uncle John