Earthquake!

At 4:00 a.m. this morning I woke up to the startling sound of our bedroom door rattling rather loudly. Instantly I started to pat Dan on his back to wake him up. Finally, he did.

"What?" he moaned, in a weak and tired voice.

"The door!" I exclaimed. "It's rattling!"

"It's probably just the wind," he replied.

"No, it's too loud."

At last, once Dan got a good listen at the loud noise he got up and checked the door. By then it had stopped rattling. He went out into the living room and looked around. He peeked outside and saw nothing that would explain our bedroom door's strange behavior.

Dan got back into bed and assured me that it was probably just the wind. He then fell back to sleep. I laid there for a little while longer... a bit creeped out by what had happened. I didn't believe that it was the wind but I had no other exclamiation at the time.

At 6:00 a.m. Dan got up to go to the gym and then on to work.

Just after 7:00 a.m. Dan called me and woke me up. He heard on the radio that there was an earthquake at 4:00 a.m. I was surprised by the news, but at the same time I was pleased to learn that the door's rattling wasn't just the wind - just as I had thought.

I've slept through a couple of minor earthquakes before. This was the first time I was awake for one. Truthfully, I don't remember actually feeling the earthquake... I just remember the loud rattling. We live on the third floor of our apartment, so I wonder what it was like on the first floor.

It has been reported to be a 3.8-magnitude quake and it was felt from Wisconsin to Tennessee. Thankfully, there are no reports of serious damage or injuries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I know that this update is long overdue, but better late then never... right?

First and foremost, Kathleen got engaged to her boyfriend [Brad] on Wednesday, December 23rd in the Signature Lounge in Chicago! At last, I will finally have a brother! Their engagement along with mine and Dan's first Christmas as a married couple made this holiday season extra special! We have a lot of blessings this Christmas... God has been so good to our family!

Since the hustle and bustle of the busy holiday season gave me a lot of work hours, it felt like Dan and I weren't seeing much of each other throughout the months of November and December. Plus, Dan started going out to Iowa for work in December. So by the time Christmas Eve rolled around the corner we were both ready to relax and visit with our families.

The night before Christmas Eve we drove up to Wisconsin to be with Dan's family. We had a long and productive Christmas Eve with Dan's family. We got to visit his grandmother in her assisted living home and even though her Alzheimer's prevented her from knowing who everyone was, she still played nice and was a super friendly host. We even braved the mall that day... which wasn't so bad.

That evening we gathered at Mandy's house for a full-spread dinner with a variety of red wines and amazing desserts! That evening we opened presents - which takes about 4 hours! It was a beautiful day... we had a very special time with Dan's family.

VERY late Christmas Eve night, Dan and I made our trip to my parents' house. When we got there we went downstairs and crawled right into bed.

Christmas morning the house was all a buzz! First we opened presents and then my dad made his breakfast specialty, Egg McMuffins! Yum! Later that afternoon we went over to the other Koval home to celebrate with Uncle Ron, Aunt Tamie, and our cousins - including our newest cousin-in-law, Andrew (Jessica's husband).

We drew names for Secret Santa over Thanksgiving (well, actually during our Early Bird Special) so today was the day to reveal who had who. It was a blast! Actually, I think that it was my first time ever doing a Secret Santa gift exchange.

Christmas day was a wonderful and special day. It felt good to relax and be with my family. I only wish the day hadn't gone by so soon.

For New Year's Eve, Dan and I went to The Abbington for a fabulous party! We went with Jason, Rachel, and Rachel's college friend, Neelar. It was a blast! The night included:

- 5 Course Gourmet Dinner Prepared by Executive Chef Robert Fabbri
- Hot and Cold Hors d' Oeuvres
- 5 Hour Premium Open Bar
- Unlimited California Merlot and Chardonnay Wine
- Party Favors, Balloon Drop, and Midnight Champagne Toast
- Late Night Buffet and Sweet Table
-Complimentary Coat Check and Valet Parking
- The Hiline Band
- Spin Productions D.J.
- Special Hotel Suite Accommodations and Transportation with: Embassy Suites Hotel Oak Brook/Lombard and Lisle/Naperville Hilton

We took advantage of the hotel specials and free transportation - which made the night even more easy-going and carefree.

The food was delicious and we all ate way too much! We didn't have much room left for the sweet table - which really bummed us out because everything looked amazing. The band was a blast and the D.J. played a ton of dance-friendly songs. We also made sure that we stood right under the balloons for the balloon drop at midnight! It was one wild and crazy-fun New Year's Eve!

Welcome 2010... I love the feeling of a new year!

All-Clad LTD2

I'm so excited! On December 9th I finally got my new pots and pans from Williams-Sonoma - with many thanks to our wedding and shower gift cards! I've had my eyes on these beautiful pots and pans since they first came out (about a year ago) and finally they are mine (and Dan's).

I chose the All-Clad LTD2 10-piece set. It was the perfect size for us. This is what we got in our set...

The 10-Piece Set Includes:
10" and 12" fry pans.
2-qt. and 4-qt. saucepans with lids.
4-qt. sauté pan with lid.
8-qt. stockpot with lid.

In case you noticed, there is one extra piece in the photo. I got a free All-Clad 10" Non-Stick Fry Pan a while ago, but since I never used it Dan added it to the other new pots and pans.

Early Bird Special and Thanksgiving 2009

I just realized that I never wrote about my family's Early Bird Special! Okay, allow me to explain... since Kathleen was planning to spend Thanksgiving in Minnesota with her boyfriend [Brad] and his family, we had an "Early Bird Special" when they came in for a visit two weeks before Thanksgiving (11/14/09). Brad was the one who gave our special turkey day the clever title. The whole day was just like Thanksgiving! Dinner was at my parents house and we had our usual Thanksgiving spread with my dad's side of the family. The only things that were missing were the parades on TV and the Black Friday sale ads - which we replaced with just plain sale ads.
Since it was such a beautiful day outside, the boys played bean bags... a lot! As long as there was daylight they played. By nightfall most of them were pretty sore from throwing bean bags all day.

Once it was too dark to play bean bags we all played What Were You Thinking - a Thanksgiving family tradition. It was a blast! We had a lot of good laughs and, as usual, some unusual answers.

Even though we had a full Thanksgiving spread on the 14th, we still celebrated Thanksgiving at the other Kovals home on Thanksgiving day. We had another glorious meal and afterwords we sat around the table with the real Black Friday ads - another family tradition.

Once Dan and I got home we started decorating our apartment for our first Christmas as husband and wife! It was tricky rearranging our living room to fit the Christmas tree, but we managed. Our apartment looks amazing! Very festive! Thank you to my parents for letting us use their extra tree and a lot of other extra Christmas decorations!

Dan and I didn't do too much Black Friday shopping, but we did get up at 6:30 a.m. to do a little early bird shopping. We got just about everything that we had on our lists. Later that day I did the Gollwitzer family photo shoot and then I had to work at Williams-Sonoma. It was a loooong day for me.

Gollwitzer Family Photo Shoot

Today, I was honored to take some family portraits for a beautiful family! Jason and Rachel [Gollwitzer] Rose are dear friends of mine and Dan from church, so of course I was delighted when Rachel asked if I would take some photos of her family. The whole family was a blast and the little girls were so adorable! After our shoot I was so excited to start editing... so I did some quick editing this evening after work. Here are a few of my favorites:

Jason and Rachel Rose share a kiss on a beautiful fall day.

Rachel was a gem to photograph!
I don't think she can take a bad photo.

What a happy family!

A sweet Daddy/Daughter moment!

Mother and Daughter keep close to stay warm.

One of the friendliest pugs ever!
No wonder the girls had a blast when this pup was around!

Bella catches her parents as they sneak a kiss!

Another adorable Daddy/Daughter moment!

Rubbing noses with Mommy.

Grandma and Grandpa have their arms full of love with three beautiful grandchildren!

Playing on the swing set was such a blast for the girls!

The Gollwitzer women, what a gorgeous group!

Very much in love!

Such playful parents!

These couples really made my job easy, they were all so easy to pose!

So there you have it... those are just a few of my favorites from the Gollwitzer family photo shoot. I've still got many to edit, but I am looking forward to going through the rest of the photos. There are a lot of beautiful shots!

New Staff Photos 2009

We just took some new staff photos at Parker Road Bible Church. Last year we started taking staff photos around this time of year for our Chirstmas card for the congregation. It was a quick photo shoot, but here are a few that I took and did some quick editing to today.

Student Ministries Pastor, Will Peycke

Senior Pastor, Scott Newman

This last photo is a total candid photo... Will was being blinded by Scott, but Scott doesn't really seem to know it. We all had a good laugh. I'm still working on the rest of the photos, but I thought that I would share a few. Within the next couple of weeks I'll be posting our Christmas photo.

Halloween in Minnesota

This past weekend Dan and I ventured up to Minnesota to visit some family and friends. We stayed with Kathleen and her roommate [Lauren] throughout the duration of our trip. It was our first time seeing their new apartment - since they moved in mid-August. Kathleen's boyfriend [Brad] came down from Moorhead, Minnesota to join us.

It was a jammed-packed weekend filled with many rounds of Apples to Apples, shopping at Mall of America, Old Spaghetti Factory, Keys, and Buffalo Wild Wings for the Vikings vs. Green Bay football game.

In honor of Halloween we all got dressed up on Saturday before we went out for dinner. Dan was Dr. House while I was Dr. Cuddy... Kathleen was Miley Cyrus while Lauren was Hannah Montana... and Brad was Joe Dirt. Everyone looked great and we had a blast together!

Dan and I started our journey back pretty late on Sunday, so I did the driving. Dan had work early in the morning, so I wanted to give him a chance to relax and catch a couple of z's on our way home.

Before leaving, Brad couldn't stress enough how bad the deer in Wisconsin are this time of year... we were strongly encouraged to pay extra attention to the road. No doubt I saw why... there were so many dead deer on the side of the road, along with a lot of blood-smeared roads. Very disturbing. Thankfully, we made it home safe and sound.