Our New Puppy

Well here he is...Emmet's big debut on the web. He is as cute as a button but tests every button that I have! Very cute and loveable!

Here is Emmet sniffing around after he first got home. He has done fairly well, given the 6 hours and only 2 accidents. He has gone number 1 outside twice which is great...it is just when I bring him in and 30 seconds later I turn my head and there he is squatting...the life of a puppy. If it wasn't so darn cold and blizzard like outside it would be much easier to stay outside for longer periods of time!

Our Christmas trees are both up and fully decorated. They both turned out beautiful this year here are some pictures of our decorations for the 2009 Christmas season:

This is the tree in the basement...Hans' tree with all the garland and since this picture he added blue garland and lots of tinsel.

These are snowflake lights that we hung downstairs in the basement above the windows. The curtains there are blue with moose on them and Sally, Hans' mom made them for us. They turned out really nice and are helping keep the house a LOT warmer!

Merry Christmas, I will upload more pictures later but at least everyone can see the dog tonight!

FINALS and Christmas 2009

WOW! I can hardly believe that finals week is starting next week which I am no where near prepared for, however God will get me through next Thursday as He always does! The most intimidating final is my Organic/Biochemistry which is 10 chapters cumulative. Speaking of that, I would like to ask all of you who read this to do me a favor and many others will appreciate this too...
go to http://www.youtube.com/ and search for Pink Glove Dance. This is a dance done at St. Vincent Hospital in Oregon in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. For each hit, money will be donated to breast cancer research. The reason I bring this up is because my chemistry teacher informed us that her mother's breast cancer has come back, but has metastasized to nearly every other organ in her body and has a very short time to live. This also hits close to home as my cousin is a Breast Cancer Survivor as well as my aunt, but is currently battling cancer again. So please, take a moment out of your day and think of someone you may know who has suffered or think of the people I mentioned. THe video is hilarious but uplifting and inspiring!

Christmas...wow...Hans and I have gotten lights up outside, but that is as far as we have gotten. We are both so busy working weekends and going to school that the inside of the house is no where near ready but hopefully next weekend...we will get the tree up! Our tree is quite large so it takes a while to get it up and lighted and then all the ornaments placed! However it is so much fun. I am planning on taking pictures of all our Christmas lights, and our backyard display that we came up with this year courtesy of my younger brother it looks amazing! We have done very minimal Christmas shopping, but slowly getting it done! However as many of us know...Christmas is about recognizing the birth of Christ and spending time with those we love not about all the gifts.

Hopefully as the amount of school work left to complete dwindles, I will post some awesome Christmas decorating pictures! Would be nice to hear from some of you!

Happy Holidays!

Life in the FAST lane!

Sorry it has been so long since we updated our blog, as the title of this blog implies we have been living life in the fast lane. Not much time to enjoy much of anything. The last time I posted, I was on the mend from influenza which praise God, Hans has not contracted!

Life is busy, fast paced, but ultimately going ok. My job with the ambulance is keeping every minute of free time that I did have occupied which is good because I don't have time to get bored, however it leaves me no down time, no time to procrastinate on homework, and even less time to see Hans. However, I enjoy having a job, and am learning lots which is always nice!

Speaking of jobs, I graduated in August with my Associates in Intensive Care Paramedicine, but in order to be a licensed Paramedic one must take boards which there are 2 parts to. One part is the practical (hands on), and the other is the computerized written examination. So last weekend, I finally took my Paramedic Practical and passed which was a huge relief. It was a very long and tiring day, but well worth all the stress, long hours of studying, money, and exhaustion because I passed on the first try without having to re-take any stations! The next step is the computerized written test, which I am planning on taking at the end of December, or beginning of January! Once I pass the written test, then I am able to practice as a Medic.

Not much else is new around the house. Hans got the brackets and poles up in the master closet, so that we are able to hang our clothes in our master walk-in closet which will be really nice when it is completely finished. He has also been very busy working on preparing boards to place a piece of equipment that allows him to ride his road bike indoors during the winter months so that he can keep in shape and not have to endure the frigid cold Minnesota temperatures.

However, I must get back to studying less then 15 days of school left, and 3 tests this week along with 4 ambulance shifts, along with daily assignments and taking care of a house, and somehow finding time to eat and sleep in there! So, back to studying for my biochemistry test. The first chem test I earned a C on, which I was obviously LESS than happy about, and the second chem test (last one) I earned an A, despite missing 3 days of lecture! So I am hopefully that between tonight and tomorrow night I am able to become more prepared and ready to take this exam.

Hope all are doing well! We would love to hear back from some of you! You can leave us messages on here, or email us at enieman@gmail.com  (Hans doesn't check his email regularly!)

Take Care!
Hans and Liz

Life...does it exist outside of school and work?

Well today was my first day back at school after being stuck in the house for a week with H1N1! Let me warn all of you, if you get it, be prepared to do nothing, and fall behind in everything because all you want to do is lay around and sleep, but oh wait, your body hurts so darn much you can't sleep. Vicious cycle!

Anyways...so after a week of missing classes I am now trying to play catch up, which doesn't work well in Organic and Biochemistry or Algebra for that matter. I am so far in over my head, not sure what I am going to do! Also trying to prepare for the National Registry Paramedic Boards in Des Moines Iowa on November 7th!

Hopefully the weather will be good througth the 8th so that I can make it back and forth to Des Moines safely to take my boards...after that it can start snowing all that it wants to. Oh wait...it already did that. Today we had sleet, ice, freezing rain, snow...terrible road conditions. Many accidents along the interstates, keeping the ambulance crews a hoppin! Gotta love the winter time...everyone forgets how to drive!!!!! As our teachers always taught us...Keep it simple Stupid...or for this matter Keep it Slow Stupid!

Well not much else to report, Hans and I have not seen much of each other over the past couple of weeks because I have been so sick, his long work hours, and that we work the exact opposite schedules. Oh well, at least we have food and a roof over our heads, we can't complain!

Will write more later!

Back to Blogging

Well, I am going to try this once again! Blogging, I find is a good stress reliever, and a way to let everyone know whats going on, since we all live so far apart and these days don't have much time to travel and or relax.

Our lives have been filled with lots of excitement and craziness the past several months, starting June 27th, the day we were married and became one! It was a great day, I have absolutely no complaints, and am so glad that Hans and I are married and best of all have each other!

Hans was able to take 2 weeks off from work, so the week after the wedding, we spent tearing apart our house and started making it a home! First room we tore apart was the master bedroom. We put up fresh paint, cleaned carpets, and strengthened one wall that needed to be reinforced. We also ripped off all the trim, and are waiting on the contractor to come and install new trim around the windows as well as new base boards. Hans is really into construction and doing things the way he wants them done, so he is still, 19 months later still working on our master closet, but slowly it is coming along and will look great when it is all done.

Most recently, Hans mom made curtains for the entire house, which look fabulous and are doing a great job keeping the heat in, and thus reducing our monthly heating bill!!!! His mom LOVES to sew, and she is always looking for projects. I will post pictures later of all the curtains!

I (Liz) graduated with my Intensive Care Paramedic degree in mid-August, and am busy studying for boards which take place in Des Moines on November 7th which I am trying to prepare myself for! I have a few friends helping me out, as well as some co-workers which is great!

Then came the influenza. Yes, you read it correctly, I was unfortunate enough to catch the H1N1 from as far as I can tell the little boy that I take care of after school during the week. It was bound to happen, however missing Chemistry for a week is not exactly great. I have never wanted to go to school as much as I did this week for the pure fact that I am now severly behind in Chemistry but as I always do...I will manage and I will pass, and make it through.

On the upside, I got a job with Gold Cross Ambulance which is affiliated and run by Mayo Hospital! HOORAY for my income finally! It feels so good to finally have a job, and be able to contribute to our income!

So, from here on out, hopefully I can this site up to date!
Take Care!

Wedding Planning and More Wedding Planning

Well wedding planning is really getting under way since we have 6 months till the big day! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. This coming weekend I am going home to Iowa on Friday and looking at wedding invitations because we need to get them ordered and sent out in the next few months I would guess. We got the DJ all lined up, the caterer, the Cake Baker :), we finally got flowers finalized! Believe that all took so much time...oh and we got the photographer all lined up this past fall! So this Saturday morning I am really excited because my mom and I are going to meet with the decorator that we have hired to do all the decorating! She has so much stuff to choose from and it is really quite cheap compared to going and buying all the stuff and then having to have it sit around my house when we are done with the wedding....makes more sense to rent it so that's what we are doing! This weekend I am also going dress shopping with Hans mom in Davenport. I am really excited about this, because I love dress shopping and I need to find a dress yet for our get away day with the photographer where they spend a whole day with us driving around to scenic places and taking pictures with us! VERY EXCITED ABOUT THAT! Time for just Hans and I to have wonderful beautiful pictures without being rushed! Let see...I don't know if I can cram much more into that weekend. Sunday will be spent in manchester for the most part and then driving back home to go to work early Monday morning. Hope Everyone had a great weekend! Stay Warm!

UPDATE!

Well it has been several months since Hans and I have posted anything on here! NO one ever leaves comments or apparently reads our blog so I don't see the point in updating it but will try again.

The biggest change that has most recently happened in our lives is that we have decided to get married! We decided back in September/October time frame which is really exciting for the both of us even as stressful as wedding planning is and can be at times.

Hans is still working for Hormel in Management and is and has been working some very long hours. In fact he went to work yesterday at 230pm and got home this morning at 830am. Needless to say I didn't sleep well and when he got home he was in a terrible mood....understandably so~

Currently Liz is in her last semester of Intensive Care Paramedic classroom training. This summer she will be on the ambulance doing student time the entire summer. She is also applying for some EMT positions with Gold Cross Ambulance Service. So God willing she will be able to get on with a local service which would be nice for her!

Hope to hear from some people out there. It would be nice.....we get lonely up here all by ourselves!