The first HOUSE guests!

Mom and Dad came to visit and we put them to work! We're terrible hosts, we make our guests work for their dinner. Not true, but really having Mom and Dad here was just awesome! First, they were our first visitors from my family, second, they helped us get so many things done, and third and most important we had so much fun! While they were here, we weeded the flower bed I forgot we had, we painted our guest room, finally purchased some decorations, discovered that I can be creative too sometimes, attempted to figure out our electricity problem, and organized the garage. WHOA. We also had time for fun. We took them to the sites of Austin, Mom saw the Heart Hospital, they were able to go to church with us, and spent a day in San Antonio. It was a busy 7 days! Below are some pictures!

This is our pride and joy. We were given that shelf as a wedding gift, and we found those plants at IKEA for so cheap! It's perfect. We now have a clock in the kitchen too. I love it. I know these are small things, but it makes the house more homey and lived in.

Ok, so there's a story with the garage. Between our house and the Mullin's there is a home with a perfect little yard with a swing in the tree, and a garage that is the definition of ORGANIZED. Every day that Shauna and I walk, or Brad and I go for a walk, I look into that garage and think "man I need to get organized, if only we had some peg board." I know that may not sound like a realistic thought, but it's sadly so very true. So our goal for when my parents were here was to get our garage door working, and build Brad a bench for the garage. We ended up with a garage that works, new lighting in the garage, an organized garage (almost), and PEG BOARD!! That guy down the street better watch out, he's going to have some competition for the most organized garage award someday soon when I get the last of the books and things put away. Pathetic?
Above our washer and dryer we had a shelf that I couldn't reach, and at some point when I was talking to Dad he said, well Lowe's will have a cabinet you could put in really easily by yourself to fix that. (Why didn't I think about that?) So while I was working Wednesday, the three of them picked a cabinet out for our laundry closet and we hung it later in the week. The picture of the three of us is a replay of how we looked putting it together. I say this because I told them to make it look hard for the picture, but then I smiled, and then I got lectured about smiling when I was supposed to be making it look tough. So, it actually was much more difficult than this picture displays. We now have a cabinet for storage though, and that's all that matters.


While in San Antonio we came across this blown glass shop that had the most beautiful pieces. We couldn't help but take a few pictures. These artists must be so talented, the glass was just gorgeous.
Then we made a stop at the Alamo, but the line was OUT OF CONTROL so we chose to stroll around, just not through the Alamo itself.
Then off to the Tower of the Americas. I think that is just the neatest thing. Plus, they have a 4-D movie, I think it's adorable, Brad thinks it's cheesy. We still went, and I think Mom and Dad enjoyed it. It's awesome. Come to Texas we'll take you there. From the Riverwalk, we ate lunch on the Riverwalk, then took a boat tour. It was a great day. On Sunday after church, we headed to the Hula Hut our #1 favorite place to eat here in Austin. I think they enjoyed it. After that, we went to Mount Bonnell. It's so pretty up there, God's creation amazes me.
On Tuesday, before they left, we headed to the state building and took our own little tour. Next time I think we'll go on the guided tours, I think there is so much interesting history in that building. It was fun! Then off to the airport which was not as much fun due to the whole saying goodbye thing.

This visit just further reinforced to us that we are meant to share our home. We love company so come on down.

Now back to real life with jobs and such, but life is great. The Lord has truly blessed us in ways we just don't deserve and are each day amazed by down here. We have friends we just love, and a church that we are so excited to be serving in, and we are both growing in our walks with Christ. Sometimes I know I complain too much about our schedules and how busy it is, but who am I to complain and why would I when I can see His hand in our lives and know that He has lead us to where we are right now. I've been so convicted lately to be a testimony in every circumstance, not just those that are convenient. Our father is so good. Take care all, have a great week.

Birthdays and Memories....

So first off...when I posted on Tuesday I completely neglected a big happy birthday to two of my family members! Dad had his 50th birthday on Tuesday and I got to SEE him!! Sarah also turned 27 on Tuesday (whoa) and while I couldn't see her we did get to have a chat. Tribute to both below.

Happy 50th birthday dad! My Dad is an amazing man of God. He has been a true living example every single day of my life of what it means to walk with Christ. Growing up I never realized how wise he was, and now with each day that passes I realize more and more how blessed I have been to have Mom and Dad as parents. Thanks Dad for all my sweet and special memories. Thank you for our trip to Colorado, and to Tennessee, and for my 10 years of 4h taking care of my pigs because I was too lazy, and for listening to nursing stories when Mom isn't around even though I know they're crazy, and for letting me talk for 15 minutes with only about 2 words in on your part, and for loving Brad, and for helping us fix our house, and for my awesome softball memories, and for teaching me how to be a servant-leader, and for being a part of a marriage that has shown me how marriage should be, and for laughing when I'm mad at you, and for saying "be still" to me more times than I can count, and for all those times in college where you walked with me through verses so my faith could truly be my own, and for always supporting me, and for being the best dad ever. I love you.
My dear sister, Sarah, also turned 27 on Tuesday. (They share a birthday) Sarah, I miss you so much. Selfishly I wish you lived in Florida still sometimes so we could talk as much as we used to. I'm so thankful to have you as a sister, and I'm so thankful that after years of being brats we're friends now. Sarah is so strong, and has so many qualities I have admired over the years. Thanks for being my big sister, thanks for sitting on me and scratching me when I tried to fight you when we were young, thanks for helping me make our wedding special, thanks for birthing my beautiful precious niece, thanks for emailing pictures and updating your blog so sometimes we can have a touch of home, thanks for letting us visit you in Florida, thanks for letting me steal your clothes without ever taking mine (hahahaha right), thanks for always being there when I need to talk, and for sometimes making fun of me when I need it, and for always having advice for me even if I don't always take it, and thanks for being an example to me, and thanks for being you! I miss you, and I love you.

On to the visit.

Visitors!!

Mom and Dad just left today after a full week here! It was such an AWESOME week! I already miss them, especially not knowing when we'll be back in Indiana. Promise for more updates soon, with pictures of all the home improvements they helped us complete while here, but currently the Olympics gymnastics finals are on..which is my FAVORITE event. Have a great week all!!

P.S. I Love You

Alright, so Allison came over tonight and we watched P.S. I Love You. Now, Titanic all those years ago made my cry like a baby. (Sadly it's true, and I think I saw it 3 times in theatre) Then, came the Notebook. Wow. Now that is a movie that will make you weep. I'm pretty sure I saw that in the theatre will all girls, and we all sat there and cried. Then comes P.S. I Love You. Now, it may not be the love story of the magnitude of the Notebook, but seriously, I was crying then I was laughing then I was crying then I was laughing. You get the idea. It was good. As with all movies now-there were obviously parts that the movie probably could have done without. But overall, I loved it. So Mom, this is for you, 7 months later, but I've finally seen it. And...p.s. I loved it.

Bad joke.

Also, Brad and I had another bet, and just to let you all know. I, Rachael Allison, won. WOOOOOOOOOOO! Let me explain. Last summer, prior to our wedding day, HGTV had a show called Design Star, and after cream of wheat Sunday dinner's for a month, Mom and I would watch Design Star. This year, it started again, and I wasn't home to watch with her, so I decided I would watch down here and we could discuss. I wanted Brad to join me, so we made it like a fantasy league so it's more his style. So, on the airplane home from Indiana I had bought a magazine, which had an add for Design Star in it. We "drafted" our teams, and on we went. This Sunday was the final challenge, and just so we are clear, the last two were BOTH on my team! Yay! Now, I won't say that he didn't have a good team. He had two of the best, and I honestly thought they were going to be the final two. Mine didn't let me down though. :) Yay.

Big week ahead. Work a couple more days, and then Mom and Dad arrive on TUESDAY!!! I am so excited for someone in our family to meet our friends and see what Austin is like. Woohoo.

In other news, I discovered a new website for recipes. Pillsbury has recipes on their website, I'm sure many of you knew that already, but if you didn't, quick and easy recipes at your fingertips. I am not the queen of researching anything on the internet, even with effort. However, you give me an ingredient and I will find you a recipe. Alright all, have a great week!!

Oh and, apparently the Journal and Courier knew how much I missed the fair this year, so much so that they put a picture of Dad on the front page. Aw..touch of home.

So happy!

We've had such a great week! Nothing too spectacular or out of the ordinary, but it's just been great.

This weekend I had the entire weekend off...which really almost never happens...so we were pumped. Saturday, we decided to spend some time together and head down to the outlets. We were determined to find some furniture for the house at the outlets, and we heard there were good sales. Well..there were good sales; however, we just didn't like anything that much. So sadly, after the hour drive down there, we came home empty handed. It was still fun though, being out in the sun, being together during the day. We had a great time.

Sunday, we spent most of the day at church. In the morning we had nursery duty, which was awesome. We LOVE kiddies! We had the class called stepping stones..where the children are just learning to walk. They're all around Emily's age and a little older, which made us miss our precious niece, but so fun. During the next service I had my class...which I remain so excited about. Will update more on this sometime soon. Then for the evening service, Brad went back with me so I go actually go to service this week. I'm so glad we did, we just started a new series this week, and we're discussing it in small group so that was awesome.

One pretty sweet experience from Sunday...we headed to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch because I have been craving crab. Here is a picture, I'm all dressed up ready to break into the crab bucket.

Sidenote: I need to explain that the reason I have been craving crab is a result of watching Ace of Cakes. Hahahaha. On Ace of Cakes sometime over the last couple of weeks they made a basket of crab cake for some restaurant in Baltimore, and ever since then I have been craving it. Strange, I haven't been craving cake! :)

Anyways, the best part of the week so far has been Tuesday. We were able to host our small group this week at our house, and it was just perfect. When we bought this house we knew that we just want to have people into our home, have them feel welcome, and just find a way to love on them. That's the dream for this place, and Tuesday we had the chance! Not to mention, our small group is just fantastic. We have really started growing together, and it's so great to have an opportunity to grow even closer to people down here in Austin. We LOVE it. That's all there is to is. So yay.

As for this weekend. I have some serious plans to watch some P.S. I love you, followed by a get together with the small group.

For the weeks coming up...MOM AND DAD ARE COMING TO AUSTIN!!! I'm excited, we're excited, we can't wait for them to be here with us!

P.S. Friends and family, as previously stated, this is an open invitation.

Alright, all for now, the laundry is calling my name!

P.S. For all of you in Tippecanoe County, Brad and I just want to inform you we're missing the fair this year! This is the first fair of my life...or of my memory I've missed, and Brad said he just feels like it's part of us. So...enjoy the elephant ears, and the pig show, and my dad the auctioneer, and the greased watermelon race, and the queen contest (El and Rox), and seeing everyone you possibly know, and the hoagie's, and the home ec building, and Wendy's, and Pizza King, and the Country Kitchen, and the rasberry milkshakes, and the sweltering heat, and the smells, and the animal excretions on the ground, and the free give aways in the tent (Breann). Enjoy it all. We miss you guys! Love you!

Long Night

Just so we're all clear...
Left our house at 5:10 Pm last night
Arrived home at 8:10 Am this morning.
15 hours at HHA.
Just insane.
It was a long night.
But home I am, cheerios to eat, and off to bed.
I felt the need to share this morning.
Other than that, nothing new.
Please pray for Nana and possible gall bladder surgery.
Have a great day!

Sorry sorry sorry sorry!

We've been doing well lately! Super busy, but really great! We just took a trip back to Springfield, MO to see Brad's parents and it was so great to be back there! We hadn't been to Springfield since Jess and Ryan's wedding last June and my shower. Whoa. So here's the play by play.

We got in Saturday and headed straight to Carl and Rosemary's house where Brad and I passed out for an hour nap before some family friends came over for a cook out. This was so much fun, we got to spend time with people that have been a big part of Brad's life, and I was excited to visit with people who took the time to travel all the way up to our wedding last year and let them know how much we appreciated that. I felt like at the wedding we didn't get enough of a chance, or we didn't do a very good job of showing our family and friends how grateful we were that they were a part of the day, so this was such a fun night. We had some DELICIOUS food as always. Rosemary is just a flat out great cook, and Carl rocked the grill out so it was a great night!

Brad with Jonathan at the cook out...goofy kids.

Sunday morning we SLEPT in, I think later than we've slept any Sunday morning since we've been married. We then got up and had a great mix of breakfast, including hotdogs and deviled eggs, and then headed to St. Louis. Rosemary and Carl stayed at Harrah's and went to a Joe Cocker/Steve Miller Band concert while we headed to Jess and Ryan's to spend the evening with them! These two are such awesome friends! We don't get to see them much, but it's like no time has passed when we do. Brad truly has such great friends from back home, every one of them is so genuine and awesome, so I have had such a great time getting to know them all, with their wives/families/girlfriends over the last few years. We're spoiled. Anyways, Ryan and Jess had gone all out and made us a FANTASTIC dinner. Brad and Ryan had these T-Bone steaks which were by far the biggest steaks I've ever seen. Jess and I had cute filet's wrapped in bacon, which as we all know is a WINNER in my book! We had corn on the cob with herbed butter and cilantro. Brie with brown sugar and grapes for an appetizer. Homemade potato chips, literally, and a desert that my words couldn't even describe other than amazing! After we ate dinner we just relaxed with the two of them, although we were total losers and headed to bed way early. It was so great to see them! Here's a pic from Monday morning, we look a bit like scrubs as we hadn't showered yet. Thanks Ryan and Jess for letting us stay...please come down here now so we can return the gesture!

Monday, after Ryan and Jess left for work we headed over to meet Brad's parents, his Aunt Susan, and his cousin Alex for a brunch. I tell you, for all the good food we had this weekend it's a wonder we're both not 15 pounds bigger. Brunch was great, it's always fun to see family, and I hadn't realized how close we were to Susan, Mark, Alex, and Ashley's house. So after we ate we headed over there to visit. Brad and Alex played some Wii, and now I can't remember who won, so we'll give the victory to Alex. I spent time just talking with Susan and Brad's parents. It was neat to see their home, I had never been there before. After awhile, we decided we needed to head back to Springfield, and that we did.
Monday night, Preston and Courtney's nephew was set to play T-Ball, and we really wanted to see that, so the two of us and Rosemary hitched a ride with Betty G up to the game. It was HILARIOUS! For Preston and Courtney, since you all can't be there we took videos. See below. Anyways, the little guys and girls were so much fun to watch, along with all the dads on the field trying to give some sense of order. We had so much fun! We also got to see Jason and Stephanie's new little girl, Emerson, who is just beautiful. Here are some pictures of the game...Preston and Courtney we really missed you two since we were with your family but not you! It's amazing to see the work being down in Puerta Vallarta though!



Here are the videos...

I love this, Elliot caught up to the sweet little girl ahead of him, and then turned around.


Priceless.


Again.


Got it the 2nd time around.


Last at bat...hard hitter!

Now we're back home and getting back into routine. As nice as it is to visit family, it's always nice to come back here too.

Work is good. I know on my end I'm feeling like I am geting my feet on the ground, and that I am a competent nurse, which is a relief. I will tell you though, I'm still having crazy dreams. Yesterday I dreamt that I never once, in 12 hours, went to check on my patient, and I was really embarrassed when the nurse I gave report to started asking questions. In this dream I also asked Brad to go draw some blood for me. Who knows. I'm losing my mind. Brad's job is going well too. We believe that in 2 months or so he'll be back on to compressed work week. (Wed-every other Saturday). This is great in some aspects, but it has made a little confusion for us as we decide it it is time for me to switch to a days position. Who knows, we're just praying and giving things time to settle.We know whatever happens, we'll make do so we're just happy that he won't have to work 5 days a week anymore on this schedule.

We've gotten to spend some time catching up with friends lately here in Austin. We've missed them. It seems like all of us have been out of town lately, and then we're each taking different classes this summer, so it's nice to catch up when we can. Below, Katie and Evan and the cornhole set. This was from back when they were our very first official guests. This weekend 5 couples went to lunch after church, it was great just to all sit and talk and enjoy. I love it. I love that the Lord has given us friends that have made Austin home to us.


At the Stone, we've both been taking a leadership class this summer. Brad is taking a class for potential small group leaders, and I am taking one on mercy ministry. I can't even explain how excited this class makes me. I love that we are going to be actively working towards showing mercy to those in our community and our church. I love it. That's all there is to it. Love it! We've also started Kidstuff once a month with the little kiddies. Heck yes. And our small group has grown and we're getting to know each other better and better. Yay! God is go good!

Alright all..I promise to post more frequently so I won't receive any more angry comments! Take care, hope everyone is doing well!