January and February!

Hello to all who follow...I know not many follow but I still enjoy blogging and for the few of you that read I hope you enjoy as well! I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted. This current semester is brutal with Mental Health Nursing and Women's Literature along with other courses. Who knew there was so much to learn regarding women, writing, and history? Had I known that the literature course would require more hours than my more important course...Nursing I would have taken it over the summer; however here I am 5 weeks into and there is no turning back now.

Life has been crazy in our house between winter storms the past 3 weeks in a row, planning our honeymoon/vactation, Emmet being sick, and everyday life.

Winter storms: The past three weeks our area of Minnesota has been hit hard with snow, blowing snow, and ice. Interstate 90 was shut down twice due to the storms and school was canceled three or four different days. Hans has had more than his fair share of difficult driving these past few weeks and is ready for winter to come to an end. Emmet on the other hand absolutely loves the snow whether it is blowing, drifting, or falling down he loves it. He attacks it, he eats it, he jumps, digs, and best of all plows through it like a trooper! Nothing phases that dog!

Honeymoon/Vacation: So you read correctly, for those of you that did not know we are leaving for the Eastern Caribbean on March 6th! We are both very excited and can hardly wait to be on the plane headed for Miami, Fl. We are going to be traveling on Carnival Liberty to the Bahama's (Half-Moon Cay), St. Thomas Virgin Island, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk! We have a couple days at sea in there too so plenty of time to let loose and be crazy, but to also relax and have a great time! We have excursions planned at each port of call which include snorkeling and the Bahama's, snorkeling and a sunset/champagne sail in St. Thomas, Zip-Lining through the rain forest in Puerto Rico, and Clear water kayaking in the Grand Turks. If anyone has a minute to say a prayer for us and that we are able to make all of our flights with no bad weather and a safe and happy trip that would be great!

Emmet: Well, poor Emmet had the unfortunate happen: he got WORMS. He was quite sick for a few days, pooping everywhere, stinking up the house.....and finally I figured that I would rather spend the money to have his stool tested than to have a dead dog. So I took in a bag full of it and sure enough he had enough worms that the vet said if we had not caught it he could have been dead in a months time or less. So we had to "de-worm" him. He took his butterscotch flavored medicine like a trooper and is now feeling better. I think he may still have a few as "it" still stinks, so we are going to de-worm him with another week long round of de-wormer. Stress tends to exacerbate Worms, and since we will be leaving him at doggy day-care in Iowa while on vacation we don't want him to get sick due to stress and end up at a vet hospital because the worms are not all the way gone so we are going to play it safe. Speaking of doggy day care, he is going to a place in Des-Moines that provides daily day-care and boarding at nights. They also have web-cams so we can log onto the internet and see how he is doing while we are gone which is reassuring. The most difficult part will be waking up in the morning without him and going to bed without him. He is a HUGE part of our daily routines and although it will be nice (but sad) to have a break from the same old routine it is going to be difficult. Obviously Emmet has no idea that we are leaving him but I am sure he will miss us. I  am clearly more upset about it than he is and I am sure he will be fine, as they have reassured me over and over that he will get great care! I am going to upload new pictures of Emmet at the end of the blog! He got a bath today which he absolutely loves. As he has gotten older he is learning what water is and that they are best friends. He loves to put his head under the water and blow bubbles and look for his toys, dump water on the floor and both of us, shake and get the entire bathroom soaking wet. Today we had about 1/4 inch of standing water on the bathroom floor, the walls all 4 of them were soaked from ceiling to floor...it was insane but lots of fun!

Valentines Day was great! Our first Valentines Day as a married couple and and Hans did a great job surprising me and showing me love and support. I have been wanting to set up a scrapbook table in the spare bedroom upstairs and he not only found what I was looking for, but went above and beyond and got me something even bigger and better. He got me a solid wood dining room table and bench set. It is a "Farm house" style table with 2 benches. So now during the holidays we can have both our families over and have plenty of seating for every one which will be great! As soon as we have everything put together we will post pictures!

Hope everyone has a great week! Stay warm!

Hans, Liz, and Emmet!

The New Year

Can't believe it is nearing the end of January already, time flies when were having fun! Life has been extremely chaotic around our house this past month since we added Emmet to our family; a great addition but he is one puppy who needs a lot of attention! He is doing very good on the potty training and is starting to understand that he needs to let us know when he needs to go outside...right now he does this buy going to the back door and laying on the rug; only problem with that is that we could be downstairs for an hour and he will have been laying at the back door for 30 minutes. At least he is starting to get the hang of it though, and he holds it all night long which is great! Emmet is growing like a weed and now ways over 20 pounds which is hard to believe but he is doing great!

Lots of news on the adult side: Liz is back to school full-time and acting as a nanny for a local family who is expecting at the beginning of March! Hans has been extremely busy at work, and currently taking a course through Hormel for 12 weeks by the Dale Carnegie foundation! The best news in the past 30 days would be: WE ARE GOING ON OUR HONEYMOON!

Yes, you read correctly we are finally going on our honeymoon and we couldn't be happier. We are leaving March 6th and heading to the Bahamas/Eastern Caribbean for 8 days and 7 nights! We are traveling on the Carnival Liberty and have many shore excursions planned such as snorkeling, zip lining through the Puerto Rican rain forest and lots of food on the ship! In fact there is 24 hour pizzeria, ice-cream/dessert buffet, and a regular 24 hour buffet! As we travel, hopefully we will be able to post and keep everybody updated as well as maybe some pictures. Oh we are also going kayaking, a shoreline sunset cruise in the Virgin Islands (all you can drink free rum punch), and many other fun exciting activities!

The weather has been extremely nasty up here, in fact yesterday Liz tried to make it to her evening class, but had to turn around and on her way back the car behind her ended up in the ditch...good thing she turned around! So far today there has only been freezing rain and sleet, but suppose to get even worse this weekend!

Well, that is it for now! We will post over the next 44 days about preparing for our wonderful vacation! Take Care! Stay warm and safe this weekend!

Week 1

Well Emmet has officially been part of our family now for a week and despite the chaos, stress, and craziness he has brought into our lives he has also brought much fun, laughter, and most importantly LOVE! Sometimes we want to call him Mr. Satan but we don't, but sometimes he really pushes not only my (Liz) buttons but Hans' as well. We were fortunate enough to finally make it home to celebrate Christmas in Iowa with our families early Saturday morning and of course Emmet came along. With a dose of Dramamine he did very well. First we went to the Nieman's where there are two other dogs, a bit on the wild side. We introduced them, and Emmet did not do so well so the other two had to be put in another room for the rest of the day until we left. At least we tried, he is still a puppy and gets scared very easily, to the point that he shakes :(  Saturday evening we then loaded everyone up and headed to the Quad Cities which was great. First we made a detour around Manchester to look at some lights which were magnificent and then we headed onward. Once we arrived in the Quad Cities Emmet was greeted and took very well to Hans' parents. He took quite well to them, especially Sally's purple slippers. No matter where we put them or tried to hide them he found them, so finally they became a decoration on the fireplace mantle :)

Between Saturday and Monday he had only 3 accidents which is absolutely amazing, and I believe 2 were because we didn't take him out immediately after his afternoon nap, and another was after we were playing we again waited a couple minutes until he settled, rather he settled for peeing in the house, but overall he is doing well with potty training. Knock on wood that he will be potty trained come February that is our goal so another 4-5 weeks!

Sunday morning Emmet learned that he could growl which was quite adorable, and today the 30th he has now mastered jumping up onto the couch. NOT GOOD. We have a tri-level, and our couch is against the wall that has an opening onto the entrance level below and he jumped on the couch, up onto the top and was ready to nose dive off when I came running up the stairs to see why he wasn't coming when I called his name and there I found him. First I was mad, because he is not suppose to be up there, and secondly I was scared for his safety, and last but not least it was quite funny.

His new favorite toy is the tennis ball. He is learning not only how to fetch and does very well I might add, but learning to entertain himself which is fabulous as we like to have time to get laundry and everyday chores done as well. Tonight he got beef and vegetable dog food mixed in with his dry dog food and WOW he literally LICKED the bowl clean....the first time he has sat and eaten his whole meal without someone sitting next to him or calling him back 15 times...so maybe we have found the trick!

Other than that not much else is new, he is growing and getting bigger. The neighbors across the street can't believe how quickly he is growing, in fact he has outgrown the travel kennel that they let us use in a weeks time. He starts his vaccinations next week and will finish his antibiotic for his bladder infection next week. Not sure if I mentioned that earlier, but Christmas Eve we had to take him to the ER Vet clinic because he was peeing about every 15 minutes and I was losing my mind...I thought he was the worst puppy ever, come to find out $133 later he had a severe bladder infection but is doing much much better! Praise God!!! He loves his walks, which he gets 2-3 times a day once in the morning and once at night before bed and in the afternoon if we have time. He wears his little coat we got him so he stays slightly warmer in this Minnesota weather!

In other news, Hans and I are both doing well. Keeping very busy with Emmet, Hans working, and myself...studying for my medic boards which I need to take sooner than later!

Had another minor surgery today to have uterine polyps removed which have been causing significant pain for quite sometime, but I was part of a research study and it went very well. Have had hardly an pain which is great! They sent them off to the lab to be checked for abnormal cell growth as they did have an awkward appearance to them but nothing major they said, so now we sit and pray and hope that all goes well.

Well I should call it a night, I took my pain medicine and believe it is kicking in, and Emmet is asleep on my lap so best we get to bet! Hope to hear from some of you, and I will upload more pictures soon!

First 24 Hours!

Well it has been nearly 24 hours since I (Liz) drove on ice covered roads to get our new addition to the family! So far things are actually going pretty darn well for him being a puppy and in a new environment, despite my frustration last night, today is going remarkably smoother! PRAISE GOD! I think that a lot of my frustration comes from the fact that he is hooked to my hip...FREAKS out if he can't see me, or I leave the room for 15 seconds which I must admit makes me feel special but it would be nice to get some Christmas baking done and clean up the entry way which is a disaster from taking him outside every 90 minutes to two hours.

So yesterday I picked him up and he at first wanted nothing to do with coming out of his big kennel, but once he was in my arms he snuggled up and became my apparent new jewelry that is attached to my hip! I placed him the kennel with a nice soft towel, an old shirt from both Hans and I that had our scents a chew toy and a little tiny milk bone for his ride home. The first 10 minutes he whined (high pitched) but soon stopped. We made it to the first rest stop, I put his collar on him which is WAY to big but we made it work and tried to get him to go potty but he wanted nothing to do with that, so back on the ice covered roads we went. He curled up and slept all the way home which was great! When we arrived home, his new dad was waiting him, and it was priceless, Hans melted immediately. However, Hans had to go to work, so he didn't get to spend a lot of time with him but at least got to see him.

So as Hans pulled away, the realization of taking care of our new baby puppy by myself for 36 hours started sinking in. It hit quickly and was not the most pleasant of times. That evening went well, he only had one accident inside for the first day home which was pretty impressive. We spent time on the couch lounging, eating, and then I decided that I would like to clean up for the night so I decided to hit the shower and bring him the bathroom with me so if he made a mess I would see it right away. Well Emmet had other plans apparently...he thought it would be fun to slide into the shower. So much for a relaxing shower by myself :(  I must admit it was pretty funny. So he quickly learned he could lick my legs and get lots of water...crazy puppy. So I quickly finished and decided that since he slid in he was getting a quick bath too....just a little shampoo and then he fluffed up and smelled oh so good!

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