Tis' the Season....

Ho Ho Ho!

Eh. Ok, I'm not QUITE that stoked about Christmas. Yet.

It is now December and I still haven't posed any pics from Vegas Yet!

Brad and I had a great time in Vegas in late October. We spend a lot of time at the casino's and watching different shows and attractions throughout the strip. Our resort was awesome! We had a 2 bedroom suite with Mike and Tiff and it was very homey and comfortable.

Brad and I had a lot of time having a get away weekend vacation with each other. It was a good break for him from work and for me from school.

Here are just a few of our favorite things we saw/did in Vegas.

Anyways.

On my last post I posted our Christmas Card! Hope to see many of you during the holiday season!
We will be home for Christmas but not New Years! Hope you all have a wonderful time with Friends and Family!

<3 Roz

Photo Card

Initially Snowflake Christmas

Shutterfly Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

One Step at a Time....

Lately I have been trying to "rush" through life.

....... And it hasn't been working. Don't get me wrong, there are many things I enjoy about rushing through it and having everything done with, but at the same time... I am sick and tired of being exhausted and overwhelmed with everything flying by and not having any time to enjoy it.

I recently (like TODAY) made the decision to drop my Pre-Vet option on my major. Yes. I understand. I am a Senior in College, and only 3 semesters from graduation.... but I have made the decision to not pursue Vet School.  I dropped the pre-vet option changing from Pre-Vet to just a regular Animal Science major. This will hopefully, in the long run, make my life less hectic and allow me to graduate on time (2 more semesters) instead of being in school for another 6 years.

I am ready to be done.

If I stayed as a pre-vet major then it would be another 3 semesters before I graduated..... which would already put me in undergrad for 5 years, and 2 semesters late in graduating on time. After dropping pre-vet and switching to a regular animal science bachelors degree, I will be able to graduate only one semester after planned with only 4.5 years of school. Not only that, I don't have the motivation to fulfill another 4 vigorous years at vet med after my 4.5/5 years of undergraduate studies, IF I even were to be accepted on my first try....

I'm exhausted. I'm ready to enjoy life. I'm ready to slow down.

I am applying for an internship at a swine management company which is located just 20 miles from where Brad is currently working. I am really hoping that I will be given the opportunity to intern there, and potentially have a job offer for after graduation. I'm not getting my hopes up as competition is high in the internship field, but it would really be exciting for me.

Decisions. Decisions.

Life in general for me have been going great. I have been extremely stressed out with the whole "Should I do grad school? Vet school? graduate and be done?" decision  making process.

Besides that, everything has been going really well. I am not so much enjoying the life of the Ames community. Don't get me wrong... it's a good town and everything.... but I miss the farm. I miss gravel roads. I miss the smell of cow $h!t bright and early in the morning... I'm ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy my ride through life. I have been too stressed with my "futures" decision making and everything that comes with it.

School is going really well, besides in the future plans department. I been pulling 85's and above in ALL of my exams so far this year, so I am very happy about that. I have been working extremely hard to try and get my grades up so that my GPA can rise a little bit more. My 4.0 summer semester helped A LOT, but each semester takes a large toll on it from now on. I am looking at potential internships and jobs for next summer to help me get my feet in the door in more places... pretty soon I'm going to run out of feet! :)

 I am loving work. I'm currently writing an Abstract for my first research project, which I will present at Midwest in March of 2012. We are dealing with some SAS (data analyzing program) issues, but once we get those cleared up it will be smooth sailing. I am hopefully starting another research project next spring, where I will write another abstract and have another presentation/poster to present.

Maddie and Shepp are growing like WEEEEEDS. They have both exceeded 15 pounds now. Maddie is fatter than Shepp, but Shepp has way more energy. Maddie is our "jackrabbit" and she loooves to jump and hop around like a bunny. Shepp is our cuddler and lovey dovey with everyone. They both love giving kisses and hugs, as well as begging for food!

Other than the speal going on above, nothing has been too exciting in our lives. Brad has been keeping very busy with work, only coming home on the weekends and Wednesday nights. He has been staying at work due to gas costs and a larger work load around the farm. When he does come home, I usually have meetings or class, so we don't get to spend much time together. (another reason that graduation cannot come fast enough).

Our Vegas vacation is coming up in just 8 days from now! We are MORE than excited for this vacation and break from the norm. VIVA LAS VEGAS!

<3 Roz

Viva Las Vegas..... Viva, Viva, Las Vegas!

Oh how I am so excited to have that chorus stuck in my head.

I am experiencing skipped heart beats when I think about Vegas too much. Today especially has been a heart throbber. Brad and I have decided to join our friends Tiffany and Mike Van Roekel on a Honeymoon/ 1 Year Anniversary trip to Vegas. Mike and Tiff spent their honeymoon there last fall and received a cheap hotel room for this October, and asked if we would consider joining them on this years adventure..

Would we consider? No we wouldn't consider... We would jump right on that offer!


A Typical Vegas Vacation, If Brad and I had gone alone

A Typical 1 Bedroom Suite at the Desert Paradise Hotel: $155/ Night
                                            X 4 Nights = $620
Airline Tickets from Des Moines to Vegas: $395 
                                            X 2 Tickets = $590
Airline Tickets from Vegas to Des Moines:$395
                                            X 2 Tickets = $590

Our Vacation, With Mike and Tiffany


2 Bedroom Suite at Desert Paradise Hotel: $125/Night
                                          X 4 Nights, Split by 2 Couples = $250
Airline Tickets from Omaha to Vegas: $150.20
                                          X 2 Tickets = $300.40
Airline Tickets from Vegas to Omaha: $135.20
                                          X 2 Tickets = $270.40

Typical Price: 1800
Our Price: 820.80


SCORE! 


Tiffany and I have made plans to create a "Vegas Bucket List" of things we wish to accomplish while in Vegas for our short 4 day vacation. I have a slight feeling that the days will be cram packed with fun, exciting, and adventures we will never forget.

Anybody have any good ideas for the bucket list?

<3 Roz
                                       

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Ugh.... HEAT....

I love summer, but this whole "Feels like 117 Degrees" According to Weather Underground is a bit rediculous! 

Here: See that picture below... directly from Ames Iowa... 

I work in an Air Conditioned building, and I am still having heat waves hit me one after another. 

....

Why Can't summer just be nice and fun like it always was when I was a kid? Hit the pool on days over 90 degrees.... which so far this summer would be every single day....

I remember being able to actually work outside when I was in high school... training sheep, walking cattle... this summer you walk outside and you feel like the breath is knocked right out of you because its so dang hot! My lungs hurt! My eyes hurt because it's so bright! My head hurts because its hot and makes me dehydrated! ..... What happened to 80-90 degree summers... why this 115+ degree summer? ... 

anyone know how to turn on the Ozone's AC? 

A Daily Review...

Hello!!! Welcome to a Daily Review of my life! 

4 days out of the week I wake up at 5 AM to start the day. I eat a quick meal and head off to the Vet School. I work in the Large Animal Clinic as a Barn Crew Member. Here I do everything from scooping poop to assisting with surgeries. We don't have set hours, accept that we have to be there by 530 AM. This summer I have been leaving around 8/9 AM, but it all depends on the day! 

Here are a few hilights of this job:

 Super Cute Babies thinking their feed pan's are beds....

Assisting with a Downer Cow C-Section 

Watching endless amounts of foals sleep, jump, play, kick, and mimic mom's every move...  

And of course... you can't forget those wildlife that we get every so often.

After a few hours at the Vet School I head home for a quick shower, another bite to eat, a chug of caffeine, and head on over to the lab. Here I work with all kinds of chemicals and modern technology machines doing protein work for many different people. There are 2 grad students and a visiting scientist as well as 2 major professors who I "assist" within the lab. I do everything from washing dishes, and mopping floors, to computer analysis and running gel tests. 

Here are a few photos/ videos: 

Watching Pedro (the visiting scientist) and Kyle (grad student) put posters up in Pedro's new office, which used to be Steven Lonergan's office (major professor)....

 Some of the tools and chemicals I use to preform Assays within the lab... 

        

A plain photo of the gel before I run any analysis with the computer. The black dots are major protein                                                        

A photo of a gel after I run the initial analysis, gels can have over 800 initial proteins, each protein gets "weeded" according to which proteins we are specifically looking at.

          

 After I run the filter for the highest concentrated proteins.This usually puts me down to only 300 or so proteins that I need to go through and personally select for analysis.                                     

The Final Product. Ending usually around 175 proteins that we actually want to keep in order to compare them to that of other gels.

These are 2 videos of the sweet density mixture I get to perform once in a while. When make buffers so we can run gels for protein samples... the buffer is more dense than water, so here you see water and buffer being mixed together. It makes this cool wavy effect in the volumetric flasks. 

3 days a week round 3:30 PM I pack my bag and head out of the lab and off to my 3rd job.... The Doggie Dude Ranch.

Our Welcoming Sign by the Road

Windows in to the left is my office where I take in and release dogs and cats for customers. I answer phone calls, file papers, take down appointments, and provide daily chores for dogs, cats, and the animals on the farm as well. My Boss is a veterinarian so I get to assist her when she needs a helping hand as well. I also am learning how to groom dogs, and I give baths often! 

A side view of the building, all of our outdoor/indoor runs. We have 10 outdoor runs, 8 indoor runs, and 30 indoor kennels and crates. 

All together, my average week consists of about 40 hours of work. I just recently ended my summer semester of school, so it feels good to finally have hit summertime. I will be working more hours now, being as I have less homework and I'm excited about that! I love all 3 of my jobs, I just wish there was more time in a day! 

<3 Roz 

Ackerman Vacation

At the beginning of this month Dad, the girls, Brad, and Myself all ventured up to North Long Lake in Merriville, Minnesota. We stayed at a camping and lodging resort, the Train Bell Resort. 

Dad had reserved a nice cabin for the five of us just off of the lakes shore. We had two bedrooms with double size beds, a bathroom, living room/dining room/ and kitchen area, as well as a loft with two twin size mattresses on the floor. The girls took the loft and Dad took one room while Brad and I took the other room.There was a nice fire pit, a deck, along with wooden chairs and a swing that we could sit on right off of the waters edge. 

We did a lot of fishing throughout the few days we were here. They had a long dock that went off of the beach they had on the resort. They stored all of their rental boats, as well as the boats of people who had rented cabins, on this dock. We caught a majority of our rock bass off of this dock. We also rented the resorts Pontoon boat two of the days. We were able to explore the lake, watch the loons on their nest, and fish off the shores in deeper water. 

Sara most definatly caught the biggest bass out of the group of us. 

We also were able to use the kayaks that the resort had. Cassie, Sara, and I all had a fun time exploring the lake shore and floating around the docks looking at the fish, crawdads, and all of the snails and clams down on the sand. 

Train Bell Resort had a lot of activities for families and kids throughout the week. When we arrived it was "Halloween" week. Sunday started up the next week which was "Western" week. Here are a few activities that we DID participate in. Cassie and Sara thought they were too old for them... but I sure didn't! :)

Charley is the Mascot of the Resort. On Saturday we participated in the "Charley the Chicken Toss" We had to throw rubber chicken in tubs to get points, whoever had the most points got a prize. I was in first place with 90 points until a 90+ year old horse shoe player came and beat me with 130... =/

We also participated in the Minnow Races. This was fun. One little girl chose her minnow, and when they started the race he turned belly side up. And didn't move. She about started crying! But then she went on to win the whole thing with her 2nd choice of minnow. She wore that gold medal around the rest of their trip there! Below is Sara and I holding our minnows in the cups! :) Mines name was Fin and hers was Tiny.

We also went to Billy Bone's Raceway and Golf Course. The 5 of us raced each other in go-karts. Cassie and Brad kicked everyone's butt thanks to a guy who didn't know how to drive. At ALL. :) We also played a round of mini golf. 18 holes. There were some pretty tricky ones! We had 5 holes in one between all of us. I think I am safe to say that we all had a blast here!

We also visited Nisswa. This is a tourist town about 15 miles from where our cabin was. We walked down the boardwalk and did a lot of gift shop shopping as well as window shopping. We stopped at the Chocolate Ox which was a candy store, We visited The Fun Sisters store, The Totem pole, and many other attractions. We also stopped at Nisswa's Smiley Ox, based off of the Paul Bunion story. These were located all around the area we stayed at because the Paul Bunion Trail went right through where we stayed.

On our way home Sunday we stopped at the Brainerd International Raceway. The CRA Superbike Racing Finals was going on when we showed up. These bikes were awesome. They sped around corners and the guys knees ground against the pavement. It was crazy fun.

A bike speeding down the straightway nearing the finish line.

This is a guy going around a corner... They were at like a 10 degree angle when they went so fast. It was scary, but awesome at the same time.

All in All the vacation was a great one. We all had a lot of fun and it was good family bonding. It was nice to hang out and chill and not be on a time crunch for once. Brad and I are always on the go when we are home an feel like we never get to spend time with anyone because there are just too many to catch up with.

For now, Roz <3 

Change is a Good thing... Right?

Last week Brad and I had a bitter-sweet week.


Saturday Morning I left for Manhattan, Kansas for the Reciprocal Meat Conference for the Iowa State University Quiz Bowl team, and for my job working in a Meat Science Research Lab. We attended the Quiz Bowl competition all day on Sunday. Our teams did satisfactory. Nothing over the top, but nothing terrible either. We did well for all being first years! 

Quiz Bowl Team 2011

Left to Right: Steven M. Lonergan, Dr. at ISU (My boss and meats instructor). Kyle Grubbs, Coach and Grad Student ( I work with him). Meaghan Pryde, Kristin Adams (also co-worker), Myself, Michelle Semler, Kelly Lintz, Amber Nelson, Lauren Chesmore, and Shannon Cruzen, Coach and Grad Student (another one I work with).

While I was at RMC, Brad and his family laid his dear cousin, Erica, to rest in Sheldon, Iowa after a tragic hiking accident in New Mexico. Below I have attached a link about her story...

Iowa woman dies while hiking in New Mexico - KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com |


Erica was a very fun, energetic, and exciting person to be around. Brad and I have many memories with her at family gatherings throughout the past few years. Tuesday, June 21, they laid her to rest and said their final goodbyes. I was absent from this event, attending the RMC. They celebrated the life of Erica, remembering all the good times, and the bad. Brad struggled with the final goodbyes, but as the hurt dawdles in his heart, he knows she is in a better place.


Monday before the Family Visitation for Erica, Brad was at his parents house, wasting the morning away. I was attending conferences and reciprocations for the RMC with my fellow workers when I received a devastating text from Brad.


Brad had taken Sasha and Moose home with him for the few days I was gone. And being the curious dogs they both were, started chasing the neighbors chickens. The neighbor did not recognize the dogs, so he shot them. Brad recovered their bodies from his yard and buried them at his parents place. They will forever rest in peace at the one place they truly could be dogs. 

Brad and I returned home Wednesday night, June 22, together. The hurt burst through our hearts as we walked in the door to neither Sasha nor Moose greeting us like usual. We laid in bed together reflecting on the past year we have shared together. The celebration of our One Year Anniversary wasn't anything close to what we had expected.


Brad and I have accepted that Sasha, Moose, and Erica have all left our lives. Although it is hard to swallow, we realize it. Without proper farewells, it is hard for me to reflect upon the times we had with Sasha and Moose. My heart aches as my "babies" have left.


To help our grieving hearts we have welcomed two new pup's into the family. We got Shepp last Wednesday, a pure bred Blue Heeler puppy who is absolutely full of spit and vinegar. She is a handful. Thursday night Brad and I went to Des Moines to LOOK at a litter of puppies. Needless to say an adorable blue mearle Miniature Australian Shephard, with two different colored eyes, stole my heart. She also returned home with us that night. We have now had the two little farts for nearly a week and they have adjusted to live in a trailer completely. We are still working on the potty training, but that will take a while. We have noticed a lot of similar traits in the personalities of these puppies compared to Sasha and Moose in their young days.

Shepp

Maddie Jo

Shepp reminds us so much of Sasha when we had first gotten her. She was quite the handful. Shepp is full of spunk and energy and loves to run around and jump and play. Maddie reminds us of the perfect Moosers we took home just last October. She loves cuddling, hates Shepp's spunkiness, and just wants to nap in your lap all day long. The two have deffinately brought a change into our home, but they have helped us cope with the loss of our previous "babies". Although they will never replace the angels we had before, they will be as close to our hearts as both Sasha and Moose were in the past.


It has been a long two weeks, but we will return to our happy selves in the future. We are transitioning into the "new" and out of the "old". Last night Brad and I were sitting at home and I, without thought, called the high pitched "SashaMoose" phrase I am so used to saying. Habits like that will be hard to break, but new ones will come into play once we get a new routine down with the two new puppies. Routine is hard to break, but jumping on the bandwagon of a new one has helped our hurting hearts to recover. It will take time, it is a slow process. We are glad we have each other and the loving family and friends who have been there to support us in the last few weeks.


<3 Roz

A Little Bit of Appreciation...

I will admit, grudgingly, that I am not much of a vocal appreciator. I do appreciate everything my husband does for me, I just don't vocalize this so much.

This past week, I did something JUST FOR HIM! :) Although it was something that I enjoy very much, it was all for the intention of my hard working, much deserving, husband. He hasn't had much of a say when it comes to how the house is decorated, what colors the walls got painted, or anything like that. To make up for this, I gave him his OWN space for enjoyment. Even though it was just the hallway, I knew he would love it!

The hallway was one of the places that needed a lot of work in the house.

The hallway started out with carpet and was painted grey when we moved in.

We intended to rip up the carpet, and put hard wood floorings in, but the house had a different idea. The floor underneath was completely rotted out...

There was a place where we could see the ground underneath the trailer...

So We ripped it ALL UP!

And THEN we laid down new plywood...

And after that... the new hard wood flooring was able to be put down! :)

After the hard wood flooring was done, Brad and I both called it quits for the weekend. Brad left on Tuesday for his work, and didn't come home till Friday night... late. He had no clue I had painted and decorated the hallway for him, so he was very thrilled when he saw it.

<3 Roz