Laundry Day

I know it will come as a shock to most of you, considering how big and luxurious our apartment is, but...we do not have a washer/dryer in our apartment! I know, crazy isn't it! We don't even have a washer/dryer in our building. We have to brave the elements and walk to the building next door and then go down in the basement to use the coin operated machines. Carol and I affectionately refer to the "laundry room" as the "horror movie basement". It really would make the perfect setting for a scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is dark, damp, has large old furnace units and a huge incinerator in the middle of the room. I told Carol when we moved in that she shouldn't go down there at night and she has gladly complied with my wishes. Needless to say, anytime we are visiting our parents or grandparents we always take our laundry!

Carol always takes her phone just in case the boogie man comes to get her!

The scary incinerator

On the right you see the furnace units. On the left is a creepy painting that stares at us as we go back up the stairs.

A true representation of how dark it can be in the basement. One bare bulb...horror movie anyone???

Just watching TV......

I just thought I would share one of Harvey's favorite activities.......

watching TV with Matt. We just won't tell him that Matt was working on homework at the same time.........

A School & Ski Trip

Last weekend Matt & I made the long trek to Spokane for another on campus weekend of lectures and tests. Although for me the weekend is filled with lots of anxiety from flying to test taking, it is still nice to have a change of scenery! This weekend was the weekend of Valentine's Day, and although I spent Valentine's Day weekend in class and eating dinner with fellow students it was still nice that Matt was able to come! Before we left though he surprised me with these beautiful tulips!

Here are the pilots that flew the plane......they looked a little too young

Studying in the hotel

I had class and tests on Saturday and Sunday. We spent Monday and Tuesday though, playing in the snow and exploring Spokane!

Matt's brother Rob and Emily flew out to go skiing with Matt. On Monday morning the fog was so thick you could not tell where the snow met the sky!

Overlooking Spokane Valley

Here was our little rental car! We rented a mid size car and ended up with this! We got a lot of crazy looks on the mountain.

Matt getting ready to ski!

Overlooking Spokane Valley from the top of Mt. Spokane

Rob and Matt taking a break from skiing

A wicked fall!

NBC says "United is the worst of the worst"

A warning to all those who are planning a trip in the near future. Do not make the same mistake Matt & I made by flying United. After several delays in and out of Denver we finally arrived home very late last night only to find that our luggage did not make it. After talking to United we learned that while transferring our luggage from one plane to another (in Denver), someone forgot to connect our baggage trailer to the rest of the baggage train therefore leaving it somewhere in Denver. United told us not to worry, that we would have our baggage by 12:30 the next day. Well 12:30 rolled around and after calling United we were told sometime between 1pm-6pm. So I waited and waited and still no bags. So at 6:30pm we called and they said that 'they are not sure where the bags are', but that they were somewhere in Oklahoma City. I am not sure how they knew that though being that the individual I was speaking with was in India. It is currently 8:45pm and after several phone conversations our bags are still missing. We have offered to drive to the airport to pick our bags up several times, but were told that we could not do that. Oh and after inquiring about a refund (we paid $60 to check our luggage, I thought it only fair that we receive a refund since they could not deliver), I was told that they do not refund checked baggage. When I asked them why, '$60 to United is like drop in the bucket, so unless they lose baggage all the time and have to refund millions of travelers, $60 is nothing'. My answer was complete silence. After researching to find a local American representative from United to discuss my claim I found this website, www.untied.com. So if you don't take my word for it just check this website out WWW.UNTIED.COM.
Thank you for your time....... I feel much better now.

5 Hours in Denver

I realize it has been forever since we posted anything and we have five hours to kill in the Denver airport so I thought I would give everyone a quick update.
We are on our way to Spokane for the first of Carol's two trips this semester. She has to go to Gonzaga for a couple days to take tests, listen to lectures, and observe demonstrations. She hates going alone and this time we got lucky with my school schedule and I was able to tag along. Although the trip involves alot of hard work for Carol it is always nice to get away and take a break from our little apartment and our regular routine of eat, sleep, study.
It is supposed to be cold and snowy in Spokane so hopefully we will have some pictures to post when we get home. I may even get in a day of skiing!!
Well, it's time to go cruise the food court. Until next time...

Back to School

Just a quick update...
Happy New Year everyone! Carol and I had a great Christmas/New Year's break and we hope you all did too!
Carol and I started back to school today. This is going to be a tough semester and truthfully, a tough year. God willing, and if everything goes according to plan, when December rolls around Carol should be graduating as a Nurse Practitioner and I should be one semester away from completing nursing school. Please keep us in your prayers! We will keep you posted on our progress...keep checking back!!

A Very Merry Christmas!!

Matt and I have come to learn that one of the best things about being married is double the Christmases! This year Christmas was a week long celebration for us, which worked out perfect since I worked Christmas day. The celebration began the Sunday before Christmas with the Hammer's. Every year we play dirty Santa. The goal is to find a gift to bring that is a good deal! This year like every year, dirty Santa did not disappoint with a fight over Christmas dishes, a snowman, and tools. I ended up with a toaster with a retractable cord, which I was very excited about!!

(Bryan had just stolen the beautiful decorative snowman that Mitzi wanted)

All the Hammer Cousins!

We celebrated Christmas Eve early with my family on Tuesday night. Every year the cousins, my brother, sister, and I all sleep in the same room eagerly awaiting Santa. It has been a fun tradition, one that we just can't give up. One tradition we did give up though was getting up at 5am on Christmas morning to open presents. This year we slept in and woke up at 7am!!

My family celebrated Christmas on Wednesday complete with an amazing Christmas dinner! After dinner the boys played Wii and Anna and I worked hard at completing a puzzle!

On Thursday we celebrated Christmas with Matt's family!

Then Christmas continued on Saturday celebrating in Ponca City with my dad's family!

Christmas dinner!!

Bryan and Neil with their new sweaters!

It even snowed for a few minutes!!

Christmas of 1999 was one of my favorites! We woke up to a white Christmas that year. Here is all the Stangeland cousins and Grandad at the farm on Christmas day.