Wall Decor

This photo collage is going right about our bed.

<3

On to the next break...

Ah, Thanksgiving. We truly do love you. Not just because of the amount of amazing food that is readily available, or even the number of football games on ESPN. We love you Thanksgiving because of the joy you bring, the people you gather, and the memories you create. 

We spent this Thanksgiving with the Cramer fam + the Langfoss fam hollering and cheering for the great Packers. It definitely was entertaining. I am just glad they won...otherwise Thanksgiving may have not gone so well over at the Cramer household. After their win, we happily stuffed our pie holes with lots of turkey, mashed taters, rich gravy, the traditional pound cake, rolls lathered in butter, pickles, salad, and then about eight different pies. SO GOOD. Can we do it this Thursday again?

After the wonderful food, the men returned to their football and the ladies got their CRAFT on (my favorite part). The craft for this holiday was Martha Stewart Style slippies, fabric earrings, and flower rings. I really can't get enough of these slippers and earrings. I love them and they are fairly simple to make! For the earrings, all you need is 

Buttons

Earring backs

Cute Fabric

Glue Gun

You then cut a small circle of fabric, enough to wrap around the button and glue the fabric onto the button. You then glue the earring back on to the fabric covered button...and TA DA. You have extremely cute earrings. 

So that was Thursday -- just the beginning of our holiday adventures. We left early Friday morning for Madison, WI. YAYY Madison. We love it there. I mean look at it!

Very beautiful. But the reason that we headed up there is because of my amazing grandparents, fun uncle, and sweet great aunt (who is like a second grandmother and just turned ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD in October). My grandparents put our stomachs to work the moment we arrived. They stuffed us with delicious tortilla soup and then later that evening with salmon loaf (like meatloaf but with salmon), seven layer salad, and cranberry bread, oh yes and then triple berry pie. And they don't ever let us have just one serving. It's more like three or four servings. 

Then Friday evening we hung out with my uncle, helped him with his new iPod, and then went bowling. I really am not good at all, but Curt and Tom were pros. I was just happy to get a score about 75, but I still had a ton of fun. And I know Tom loved it, he whooped the crap out of us!

The next day we woke up to the smell of pancakes and porkies (a Cramer tradition). I think we both had six pancakes and at least a dozen porkies. Again, they stuffed us like empanadas. We then went over to my Aunt Inez's apartment and spent the morning with her. She is the sweetest lady I have ever met. I love her and I am so glad that Curt has been able to meet her as well. She doesn't remember things as well anymore and says the cutest things. We were talking about her birthday party and she asked us how old she turned. When we told her she is 100 years old, she replied, "What! How awful!" But in reality, it's a great achievement. 

Afterwards, Curt and I browsed around at the mall and Savers (a nice resale shop). It's always fun to window shop and walk around with your favorite man in the world. We tend to head to the mall in Lafayette when we have nothing else to do, but it definitely is not as nice at the malls in Madison. We then met up with some of our good good friends who were driving by...Brooke and Phil Sadler! We love them so much and then are soon to be expecting their first baby! I am soo excited for them. They moved to Minnesota this summer and we miss them a lot. We went to this great pub and ate more food (WI mac & cheese and Brat burgers with bacon and cheese curds). So that was definitely a highlight. 

Later that evening, grandma, grandpa, Tom, Curt, & I headed to Outback and enjoyed delicious foods there. (I think I was still full from the night before!) Then headed to Tom's apartment and played cards. He again came out on top and ended up with a pocket full of quarters. Then we chilled and watched a movie. Another great great day. 

We then drove home Sunday morning and had to face a lot of annoying traffic. But Curt and I remedied this by a little game I invented. I would whistle a Christmas tune and he would guess the song. We discovered that either I am a horrible whistler (probably not) or Curt is just a darn stinky guesser (most likely). It probably doesn't help that I can only whistle in one tune...but still. It sounded great. We then ended up creating our own Christmas songs and hope to release an album by next holiday season.

The End.

We Still like Vampires.

So, we just got back from Breaking Dawn. And we approve. We just wanted to let the world know.

Beautiful moments & jolly old bus drivers

It was tough waking up this morning at 6:15 for work. It was even tougher being happy and cheery all day as I greeted  members coming in to the YMCA. But something happened today that really made it worth it.

Let me back track to last Christmas break.

There is a bus route that runs by our apartment and around campus. It's called the Bronze Loop. We get on it every morning and get off it every afternoon. You tend to learn who rides the bus, where people get off, and you get to know the bus drivers pretty well (whether they are grumpy or quiet or nice or jolly). We had a particularly jolly bus driver who always was happy in the morning. It didn't matter whether it was sleeting ice or if he was almost done with his shift. Every time you walked on the Bronze Loop, you saw Mark's (the bus driver) bubbly smile and you couldn't help to smile with him. It really made my day and I enjoyed seeing him every morning. I mean bus drivers can impact a lot of people's lives. They are often times the first person we see in the morning and the last person coming home from school. If they are happy, you tend to be happy. If they are grumpy, your tend to be a grump. Well, Mark really made everyone happy. (Mark is this happy man with a white beard and large in stature -- he would be a great Santa Claus).
I wanted to show him how grateful I was for what he does and how well he does it. I made him a small Christmas ornament out of blue and red cardstock paper that looked like the bus he drove with the license plate reading "Mark's Bus". On the back I told him what a wonderful bus driver he is and that I appreciate all he does for us. I wrapped it up and tied it up with a little bow. Very small, very simple. I waited at the bus stop the morning before Christmas break and gave him this small gift. And I never saw him again...

Until today. Mark came up to me asking if there were any basketball games going on (his grandson is on a team and unfortunately there weren't any games today). I recognized him immediately and asked if he drove on the Bronze Loop once, and he did! We had a nice little chit chat and then him and his wife left. About two minutes later he comes back inside and asked me:

"Are you Vanessa, the one who gave me that bus ornament?....I cannot tell you how much that meant to me. No one has ever done anything like that for me, something so heartfelt. You made me feel like I was making a difference in the world, or at least here in Lafayette. I really have been praying that I might run into you so that I could thank you for that. I have never been as happy as I was when I saw that small little handmade bus...thank you..."

Often times you forgot what a small thank you can mean to someone. What a beautiful and wonderful moment that was today. It reminded me how much small things like that can impact another person's life. I hope to continue to find people like Mark and thank them for their happiness. Everyone needs to hear those words in their lives.

Lots n Lots of ideas

On the way home from Iowa, the mister and I had 5 hours to concocted brilliant ideas. There was one in particular that we latched on to. I start a photography&design business so I can make lots of babies (in the far far future). All I can think about is this idea and the possibilities it brings. I named it PEARL photo&design and am specializing in senior portraits, portraits, homecoming & prom portraits, and photo invites. I am very, very excited. I'm thinking I should drop out of school even........JUST KIDDING. I would never do that....

Anyways, I cannot believe that we are HALF way through November and prepping for Thanksgiving. Where the heck is time going?? I seriously cannot believe this. I need to start doing my eating exercises NOW to get ready! We're gonna bump up our meals to 4x a day (which doesn't include our usual midnight snack). Thanksgiving, here we come!

Friends & Fam & Tramps

That's what our entire weekend involved.

One of Curt's good friends was married this weekend, Hurray! 

It was great to see his Urbana crew again,

they are all such great guys. 

After dancing a few songs, eating delicious foods, and talking to fun people

(namely Curt's old school counselor, Mr. Furrer. He is a VERY funny guy. He definitely loves the Isenbarger family)

We ventured over to North Liberty, Iowa.

We ALWAYS have a great time there 

& are so glad we were able to make it this weekend for the Primary Program.

But these pictures illustrate what our Sunday morning look like over at the Coleman Casa: 

It was TRAMP time for us. 

Trin & JC definitely know how to get my heart rate goin early in the morning. 

We also played the best Wii game invented:

Wii Party.

Loads of fun games that all ages can enjoy. 

If I had a Wii, I would be playing that game right now. 

After the great primary program,

Sarah made her famous CAFE RIO and it was delicious. 

Thank you Sarah,

my belly was happy the entire way home.

Curt & I arrived home at 10:00 tonight,

I just finished up some studying for my exams tomorry,

and now I'm pooped. 

Time for bed for this girl.

We are alive & well. (Carli this post is for you)

I have had several inquiries about whether we are alive -- and yes we are. We are more than alive, we are partying NON-stop. Every day we are doing something. I seriously have not had time to sit down and relax (except for today...which was much needed). The mister and I are very very busy right now. We both are in an ASTRONOMY class. Love it. It's turning into our FHE every Monday. School is SO much better when your best friend is with you. We also are taking Stat 301 together, and that helps out a TON also. Curt is very good at math and has helped me quite a bit. Love you Curty. I have also been stressing about my schedule because I need a B or higher to get into my major -- BUT it's looking good for now. Let's all cross our fingers & pray every night, alright?
We still have been doing couples volleyball (love it so much) every other Friday night. We get to see all of our besties. It's been getting a little too cold to play soccer, sooo we've actually started swimming a few weeks ago. It was rough at first, but we're getting there. (Curt may be having a reunion with his H10 swimmers back in Urbana in Dec. We need to get him in shape if he is about to compete!) What else? Curt's still a baller every Wednesday night and I'm hittin and spikin and bumpin with my girls every Tuesday. It keeps me sane for sure.
Besides that, we are doing the same old, same old. I am working at the beautiful downtown YMCA facilty. Ya'll should come check it out. Curt is lovin PFCU. He finally has another male working with him! That is exciting. Caleb just returned from his mish in Brasil and was recently hired as a teller at the 26 branch. We like him a lot.
Oh ya, we've also been attending a gazillion weddings/ receptions. Apparently October/November is the time for vows to be shared. This weekend we will be heading over to Urbana, IL for one of Curt's friend's wedding reception (and then heading out to IOWA...FINALLY....WE CAN'T WAIT). This reception will be the SIXTH reception we've gone to in the past SEVEN weeks. So crazy, but so good!

More info about our weekend to come...