It's my last week at Munson, and I'm suprised at how...unaffected I feel. I guess I don't feel that attached to the place, but I think its mostly because I'm moving on to something familiar. While there are a lot of new people at Biolife in Marquette, the people I enjoyed working with and hanging out with outside of work are still there. So instead of me being the new hire that everyone has to meet it will be like they are the newbies I have to meet. When I went in on Friday to talk to Trudy (my boss at BLPS) and sign some papers she said they really needed my experience, but I still have to retrain for all of the tasks I used to be certified to do. It will be really hard to restrain myself in the meantime....to be standing next to a machine that's alarming and not be allowed to fix the problem even though I'll be one of the most experienced people on the floor. I supposed that will pass though...and Trudy is starting me at the same wage I was at when I left, so once I'm all "trained" up I should be making a little more than I do at Munson, I'll just be part time as opposed to full time (for a while).


I wish I could say Joe and I are actively packing, but so far we've only managed to pack up a couple bookshelves. It's so hard to figure out what to pack when we're still working and living and all that...but I guess we'll get it done somehow. Right now the plan is to start packing hardcore on Sunday and load the uhaul on Wednesday. Then we'll drive it over to Grayling, stay at Joe's parents, and head to Marquette Thursday morning. Jack and Ruth are planning on coming up to help too, which will be really nice. I'm going to try and arrange for them to meet my Dad since he's the only member of the family they haven't met yet.

Holiday Update

We had a very busy holiday season, but here's the jist:


First things first! Joe asked me to marry him when we went to dinner at Bower's Harbour Inn a few days before Christmas (of course I said yes!). We purposely kept this a secret so we could tell our respective families in person over the holidays. Here are the details:


While we were eating we were discussing when we would open presents because both of us were working 12+ hour shifts on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th. At this point, Joe asked me if I wanted to open a present right then and went to retrieve the gift. When he came back he said we should go upstairs (the restaurant is an old victorian house) to open the gift. When we got upstairs we spyed a huge Christmas tree, so thats where he gave me the dvd sized box. I opened it and found a beautiful glass rose Christmas ornament (Joe seems to be making this a tradition ever since he told me my christmas tree had no character-he gave me an ornament last year as well). So there I am thinking it's a very sweet and thoughtful gift when I see the ring around the stem of the rose. I began to cry and he asked me to marry him. I stuttered something along the lines of yes and continued to cry. It was all very romantic and sweet. :) Here's a picture of the ring I took when we got home that night:

While we had previously gone ring browsing, I was still pretty impressed with how good of a job he did picking out the ring. He even managed to remember my ring size somehow!

On the 26th Joe's sister and her fiance flew into TC, so he went and picked them up from the airport while I finished packing and getting things together for our holiday travels. Then we all drove to Grayling to Joe's parents house. His sister Crystal and her boyfriend Zach were already there, along with Joe's parents and brother Tommy. The next day Joe's Grandma joined us, and I must say she's absolutely adorable. We opened gifts together and took some photos before sharing a great dinner of both venison and bear.

Holidays with the Pilons are much different than the holidays I'm used to experiencing. In my family, holidays tend to be busier and chaotic. I would imagine this is mostly because of number of people involved in a Kirkwood Christmas or Thanksgiving, and I always feel blessed to have all of those people around me during the holidays. Interestingly enough, however, after spending two very relaxed and comfortable holidays with the Pilons, I found I had to re-adjust to the hustle and bustle of the holidays in the UP. Fundamentally its the same idea: open gifts together, share a meal, take some family photos, perhaps play some cards or just hang out and chat. But the dynamics of this routine change drastically when you add 6 or 8 small children into the mix - especially children like Jake and Johnny. All in all, I'm enjoying the diversity in my holiday experiences these days!

We left Grayling on the afternoon of the 28th. I really didn't want to leave - I was having a wonderful time and wished we could have stayed longer. Also, I was disappointed we had to leave so soon after Joe's sister Becky was finally starting to feel better (she had not been feeling well for the first 24-36 hours we were there). I almost had Joe convinced to leave me there while he went to work, but in the end it was nice to be able to go home and regroup before leaving for the UP on Friday.

We encountered bad weather during our drive to the UP on Friday, so we decided not to make the trip to Marquette for my Christmas celebration with friends and headed straight for Gwinn/Little Lake. We dropped the animals off at camp and ventured to my Dad's to tell him and Teri about our engagement. Both seemed genuinely excited - a state I scarcely recall my father being in previously. We then visited my Mom and Steve - I hadn't even finished giving my Mom a hug before she noticed the ring.! After those visits we met up with all of my siblings at Brown's Tavern - they had all been shooting darts (they're in a league) and had stayed after to celebrate my sister in law's birthday. After being there for about an hour we finally told them all - I was quite suprised no one had noticed the ring since they always seem to be looking for it.

On the 30th we had Christmas at my Dad's, which was a lot of fun. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed opening presents with everyone, the kids especially.

Timmy on his Dad's Lap:

Phil with his new graphing calculator:

Megan and Brooklynne oogling their earrings:

Jake hoisting his LEGO ship:

Johnny checking out his viewfinder:

On New Year's Eve we had Christmas at camp with my Mom. Again, a great meal - Steve had made spagetti sauce using some venison from a deer he shot this fall and Mom made regular spagetting and meatballs. Both were delicious. This time Joe and I gave the kids presents to unwrap and my mom had presents for the both of us.

The Twins with their Spiderman Laser Tag:

Jamie with his Guitar Player's Repair Kit:

That night all of the kids went to Pat and Nicole's with a babysitter and we all celebrated the New Year at camp. On New Years Day we all went out to breakfast. On the 2nd, Joe and I went to Marquette to open bank accounts, look for an apartment (we found one) and so I could interview at Biolife (got the job). Joe and I had a great time, but were also very glad to sleep in our own bed on Tuesday Night.

Still Recovering

I'm still recovering, and no, not from New Year's Eve. I'm just starting to feel normal after a nasty course of pneumonia I managed to catch over the holidays. On one hand I managed to extend my vacation by four days...but on the other I was at home in bed with a fever and an elephant sitting on my chest. Not fun. I basically slept for the first 24-36 hours I was home, but once I was able to stay awake long enough to figure out how to use the remote for the tv, I discovered VH1's mega marathon of America's Next Top Model.


I normally don't watch these kinds of shows. I call them "trash tv" because of how shallow they are - celebrity focused and usually not very entertaining.


I watched 5 seasons of ANTM. And when Joe got home from work, I made him watch with me. I'm almost embarassed. Joe, however, should be the one who's embarassed...while I adore him for watching the show with me instead of going into the other room and flipping on the history channel, he was snuggled under the covers with me discussing who was going to win and who took better pictures. Too funny.


So anyway, now that I'm almost done with my antibiotics and finally sleeping through the night (I was waking myself and probably Joe up with my cough) I feel like I can return to my normal routine. So I went back to work for two days....and now I have three off. Life is good.


I feel like we should be packing, but we haven't even acquired boxes yet. I hate the idea of living out of boxes for the next two weeks, but not as much as I hate the idea of having to pack everything in a couple days. So I'm hoping to get some things packed today. I'm going to start by cleaning out the closests and cupboards and getting rid of the things we don't need/want/have space for at the new place. Our apartment in Marquette is certainly comparable in size, but not in closest space because one of the bigger closests is taken up by a washer and dryer (i'm so NOT complaining about that, mind you). So we're going to have to a little smarter about storing things.


We're headed to the UP tomorrow night because I have to do some pre-employment stuff on Friday. I'm also going to call and see if we can meet the with banquet coordinator at the Ramada about out reception - we're penciled in at the UpFront, but we got their price list in the mail and it's sooooooo expensive, so we're going to explore other options.