Thanksgiving photos

Hal write:

The Thanksgiving photos have finally arrive. The first one is the entire crew.

Back row (l to ): Dale (Anna's dad), Buzz (Hal's dad), me, Jay (Hal's bro), and Sean (Lindsay's boyfriend). Middle row (l to r): Sandy (Anna's mom), Vicki (my mom), Anna, Haley (hiding behind grandma), Alex, Tabby (Jay's wife) holding Daisy, and Lindsay (Hal's sister). Front row (l to r): Kat (Anna's sister), Grandma Vivian and Charlie.

A photo before the feast. The tables not shown in the picture held all the food. We had to explain to the kids that Anna brought leaves inside and put them on the table, but it was for a special occasion and not to be done at home.

In preparation for my first winter of XC skiing, Dale showed me how to wax my skis. It is supposed to snow a lot here this weekend, so I might be able to take them out for my first adventure.

I don't have any pictures from the Turkey Trot, but Dale and I ran that Thanksgiving morning. He got first place in his grouping and I got second place in mine. He won a turkey and I didn't win anything for a second place group finish, but I did have some bagels to eat after the race. There were over 1000 runners, but I am thankful I am in an age group that no longer includes high school and traditional college age runners.

Bridge

Hal writes:

I haven't put together the photos from Thanksgiving yet for the blog. Actually, Anna and I were busy hosting and we are waiting for those who took pictures to send us photos for our blog (hint, hint).

I can't find the right words to preface this link, so I will just say that it involves accounts of the survivors of the Minnesota bridge collapse earlier this year. Click here.

Back from conference (aka the one day work week)

Hal writes:

Anna and I just happened to both be wearing pink the other day, so Anna thought that mean we needed our picture taken. Anna had dressed up for a two-hour presentation for one of her classes earlier that day and I was involved in RA interviews for the mid-year selection process.

Halloween occurred on the same night as hall council, so here are some of my RAs and I dressed up for the occasion.

This past week I was in Rochester for a regional housing conference. I only had to work Monday this past week and have a short week coming up for Thanksgiving break, so November is flying by. All of my RD colleagues were able to join in and we were able to spend some time together in the evenings. I appreciate the fact that not only were we able to have fun, but other groups began calling us the fun group. Here is a picture of us at dinner the first evening.

In addition to breakfast at Pannekoeken's and evenings spent eating out and singing karaoke, we attended programs during the day. I was able to go to some sessions and get some good information to bring back to campus (and went to one session that was terrible, but once you are in it's rude to get up and leave). I also had a variety of presentations. Jen and I did a presentation on RA programming for the Gen Y students in college, Nolan and I did a presentation on housing humor, I assisted one of our facility workers with a presentation on custodial work and I presented on learning styles.

Big news is that I was awarded with a "Top 5" program award. Out of the 130+ programs, my learning styles program was deemed one of the top five at the conference. Quite an honor considering that I'm fairly young compared to the other winners who had more experience. The bonus is I now have a one in five shot at being selected to attend a national conference to present my session with someone else paying for it. I don't know how they select which one of the five of us, but it's pretty exciting. Nothing like an additional resume booster, right?

Here's a picture at one of the banquet's with my colleagues Andrea and Artanya. Check out my Facebook account for more photos.

This week Anna and I will be hosting both families for Thanksgiving. I bought a 22 pound turkey this morning among other groceries. Only three days of work until the break begins!

Valley Forge

Anna Writes...

Well, I know that this is mostly Hal's blog, but from time to time I like to spice it up and post something too.

I went to Valley Forge, PA last week for a confrence about physical therapy. It was a lot of fun...I learned somethings, and even started looking at job possibilities (YIKES!).

This gem was captured during an afternoon off... what else do you do with free time in a strange place, but shop?? My friend Kim had to get in on the fun too....Neither of us felt the need to purchase the glasses, as hot as they were.

Here's a few of us at dinner... We always have a good time!

Even though I went out for a confrence, I don't have any pictures of anything that took place there. I DID attend though....

The next few weeks at school are very busy for me as we finish up our last semester of classes. It's exciting to be getting so close to the end, but scary (we're expected to know what we're doing now!!!), and sad as we won't be coming back together as a class for anything but graduation week next spring.

I can't believe how quickly three years has passed...