Mike and Sarah

  We had a snow day today. Our 3rd of the year which officially makes the snow day count 3 more than last year (the year of no winter whatsoever). It was pretty unexpected too because the forecast as of Monday included no reports of mid week snow. By Tuesday it was in the forecast but they didn't make a huge deal of it until early evening Tuesday. A few people even teased as I walked out of school on Tuesday to watch the weather in the morning to see if school's cancelled.   We I got home I asked Mike what he thought and, of course, we both thought it was a long shot. Just to be safe, we did a quick kitchen inventory and realized we didn't have anything fun or exciting to eat if we did end up stuck in the house all day so we went to the store.    Well, it's a good thing we did because our afternoon was a lot sweeter after making homeade puppy chow! Yum, yum.   No I'm curious to see if we'll have any more... time will tell I suppose. On...

You know I like to keep you on your toes by not blogging for months on end creating cleverer-than-ever titles such as Weekend Preview, in which I preview the upcoming weekend (best one yet? perhaps). I know it's only Monday but once you take a good look at the advertisement below, you'll see why I'm so excited.    Do you see the line towards the bottom that states All Proceeds Benefit "I Have a Dream" Foundation? Well to find out more about their foundation click here . To find out more about the youth who make Share the Mic night a success, scroll down to find the RUNDSM link on the right side of this blog. And if you live in the Des Moines area please consider making an appearance at this one of a kind event. You will not be disappointed.

Last Friday Mike and I had every intention to come home straight from work and head to the gym together. If you would have heard the conversation in which this plan was created you'd have been completely convinced it was a for sure thing. We were determined. Then Friday night rolled around and I do have to say, if it were up to Mike we would've stuck to our plan, I was the weak link. On my way home from work last Friday all I wanted to do was enjoy a happy hour. Not because I had a particularly rough day or week but because it was Friday. And we had all weekend to go to the gym. And it was a 3 day weekend so we really had all weekend to go to the gym. So I decided on my drive home to down play my thoughts to completely ditch our plans and head to a bar until I could tell what Mike's feelings were about our evening. If he had already changed and was totally gung-ho, then I'd go with it through gritted teeth, but if he exhibited any signs of weakness, I'd pounce ...

Mike and I thoroughly enjoyed our extra day off today and I am super thankful I was able to catch some of the inaugural celebration for President Obama. True confession: I teared up when he was sworn in. It was so touching to see his whole family (and only his family) there as he took the oath, very cool indeed. How fitting for President Obama to be sworn in on MLK Day, can't think of a better way to honor this day. Although I'm biased, the best part of the celebration was seeing Des Moines represented so well in the parade. Enjoy everyone :). “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

We spent last weekend in Illinois celebrating a belated Christmas with Mike's family. Between the two weddings over winter break this year and a shorter than normal break, traveling to both families during that time was a long shot. Luckily, they were really flexible and agreed to delay Pentek family Christmas until the 2nd weekend in January (which is also the reason I just put away our Christmas decorations yesterday here at home... that's legit right? the fact that we weren't completely done celebrating Christmas yet?) It was swell and we walked away with some fantastic gifts including a new camera (thanks to Missy and Brian) and a new super suction hand held vacuum cleaner (thanks to Mike's parents) among other things. It was a great weekend and, as always, it was so nice to catch up and spend time with everyone in Mike's immediate family. We also saw Zero Dark Thirty all together (the six of us all enjoy seeing movies so it's become a nice past time we ...

Looking back, 2012 was not too shabby. Aside from sinking a small fortune into our humble abode (due to this and this ) and saying goodbye to a loved one  this past year included a lot of happy  memories as well. Like our summer filled with wonderful trips: Chicago with Erin. Rocky Mountain National Park with the Penteks. Lake Superior with the Dean's And 2 cozy snow days at home. It sure was a great year. Here's to a new year full of more memories and hopefully less large suprise home improvement projects :). Happy new year to you!

I figured before the spring thaw rolled around, I may want to recap winter break. You know... to document and such. What on earth has gotten into me? I have become such a slacker lately. The good news: it's a new year and after an extended break from work (2 snow days, duh), I feel very refreshed. Let the recap begin... Remember TravelFest 2012 ? Well, I'd like to affectionately label winter break 2012 and continuation of such TravelFest. Why? We traveled to 3 states in the span of one week. All neighbored one another so no where too drastic but when all was said and done, we felt as though we'd endured quite an adventure. Our first stop was Minnesota where we spent Christmas and a the days following. It was wonderful. Plenty of relaxation, excellent food, and nonstop family quality time. A few days after we arrived in Minnesota, my aunt, uncle, and cousin flew into town and joined us. They came for a family wedding, which I'll get to in a minute, but were abl...