December 12, 2015 ~ Work, Ward and another Work Christmas Party!!

We are party animals today! I had a breakfast christmas party for my primary class then we went to Sunset station for bowling for the OIH work party and then we went almost straight to the Ward Christmas party. We had to leave the ward Christmas party to then go to Luke's work party. 

For the OIH work party someone had the amazing idea of bowling and a white elephant gift exchange. It was a blast and it was sad knowing it would be my last OIH christmas party as an official employee (I might crash the party in the future). A funny side note, neither of the twins girlfriends could come to the work party so they brought 2 other friends (that were girls). I am not sure how the girlfriends would feel if they knew that before hand. Dad, I mean Dr. Hoer, bought pizza, wings and fry for everyone to eat while bowling and people brought dessert. 

 In order from top to bottom: Rachel, The Professor (Luke), Kaitie, and i'm spacing who the C was

 Back row: Kaitie Borden, Jac, Dad, Luc, Lucas

Middle row: Paige Rose, Bailey Barschi, Me

Front row: Sarah and Austin and their little girl Marley

The priests were in charge of food for the whole party and they in turn asigned side dishes to the elders quorum but didn't tell Luke how much to have people bring. Luke was in charge of side dishes since he is elders quorum president. By the time Luke got ahold of Aunt Elaine (since she caters weddings and stuff) it was too late and we got stuck with making 4 trays of stuffing and 4 trays of mashed potatoes. Which meant Rachel got to make 4 trays of stuffing and 4 trays of mashed potatoes (Luke got all the stuff from the store though and really helped!). Since we had to make such a large volume of food we bagged the homemade option and went with boxed stuffing and instant mashed potatoes (it tasted okay). 

For Luke's work party it was at Alan's house and they had an Italian place cater. It was delicious food, good people to talk to and the most epic gift exchange I have ever been to! Brett, the head manager of Zimmer Biomet, came down from Utah for the Christmas party and he was very personable and good to talk to. He was genuinely interested in getting to know Luke and I. I wasn't sure how the work party would go but it ended up being really fun and I was able to finally meet some of the people that I have heard stories about. The gift exchange consisted of amazing onesy PJs, a Red Ryder air Rifle (like in the Christmas Story) and many more good gifts. We now know to come with a better gift for the gift exchange next year. 

December 12, 2015 ~ CTR 8 Christmas Party!

Each year I have a christmas party for the kids in my primary class. This year I mixed things up a little bit! We had breakfast that consisted of Waffles, bacon and hash browns. We decorated ninja bread cookies...yes NINJA BREAD cookies. The gingerbread cookies are shaped in ninja poses and they are pretty awesome. After decorating cookies we watched a short elf on the shelf movie (like 45 minutes short) while snuggling with their new stuffed animals. After the movie we played twister. Twister was really fun with the kids and they wanted Luke and I to join in so we did! It was a really fun morning, Im going to miss my kids! 

 John is a special kid thats all I can say.

 Caitlyn Bryan

 Xander Littlefield is the smartest 8 year old I know! He knows a lot about the gospel and posed thought provoking questions. He also has an anatomy app and is already on his way to being a doctor. 

 Nellie Olenslager joined our class just in time for the Christmas party! 

 Amie Burbidge

 Addison Bryan

 Everyone wanted a stuffed animal except for Xander, so I got xander legos. 

Proud teacher kind of moment and a "small world" kind of moment 

November 26-28, 2015 ~ Chicago Thanksgiving

From Diana: 

     It was fun to see where Bryant lives in Oak Park and where he goes to school at Rush.  I loved the old houses in Oak Park. They have so much character. We stayed in a quaint bed and breakfast across the street from Bryant's apartment called "The Harvey House". Every morning we woke up to homemade delicious breakfast and every night we fell asleep to the hum of the Green line passing by. I loved falling asleep to it each night.  
     We went to the Thanksgiving parade downtown. We spent an entire day downtown walking around. We waited in a line for 2 hours to get to the top of the Willis tower. It was worth it! But dad might say otherwise :) We loved Chicago and had so much fun!! Bryant was an excellent tour guide.

We ate at "Seasons 52" for Thanksgiving dinner. There was a plate available that contained food from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was really tasty! (The following pics are from Thanksgiving dinner)

November 27th

We took a day trip to Milwaukee! We saw our old house, dad's medical school, Lake Pewaukee, ate at Saz's, and drove downtown. We tried to visit the candy shop on our neighborhood's block but found it had shut down. :/ We got to see the beautiful mansions on Lake Michigan and stopped by a Walmart to get some Green Bay Packer shirts. I understand why Milwaukee is nicknamed the "cream city"- there are so many houses with beautiful cream stone! 

"Merry Christmas ya filthy animal". The "Home Alone" house in Illinois! 

Eating at Saz's in Milwaukee! The draft root beer was amazing!

Pictures from Lake Pewaukee!

November 28th

Riding on the Green line!

Standing in an entirely glass box at the top of the Willis/Sears Tower! So scary!!!

Just living out my German heritage!!! Christkindl market was a market full of traditional German goods and foods. It was nice to see our heritage come to life! Eating bratwursts with sauerkraut in Christkindl Market

Eating Chicago dogs at Portillos

 Christmas lights at the Chicago Zoo!

November 26, 2015 ~ Thanksgiving Bowling!!

The Hoer's took their thanksgiving to Chicago to have thanksgiving with Bryant since it was the "in-laws year". For thanksgiving day we had a blast bowling with the Tielemans in the morning before our feast in the late afternoon. It was fun bowling and having a friendly competition among the siblings but it was also exciting to see how enthusiastic Berkley was about rolling the bowling ball down the little metal ramp. Watching the excitement of little kids makes things a lot more entertaining and enjoyable I think but granted I am baby hungry right now I admit. 

Shows, Shows and More Shows!!

Due to Lucas' job we have had the pleasure of going to a lot of shows. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot!! It has been so much fun being spoiled by his job and there has been a lot of fun memories. I unfortunately didn't get pictures of all of the shows and fun free activities and therefore I am just doing one post with all of the show titles and pictures that I do have.  

May 5, 2012 -- The Beatles Love
May 15, 2012 -- The Wranglers Game. Wranglers vs. Florida Everblades
June 7, 2012 -- Phantom of the Opera (Right before our wedding!)
June 27, 2012 -- KA by Cirque De Soleil
July 3, 2012 -- Surf The Musical
July 4, 2012 -- 51's Game
July 12, 2012 -- USA Basketball Game. Men's National Team vs. Dominican Republic
October 6, 2012 -- Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza
October 18, 2012 -- America's Got Talent Live
October 27, 2012 Carrot Top
November 3, 2012 -- Wranglers game. Wranglers vs. Ontarios Reign
November 8, 2012 -- Zarkana by Cirque De Soleil
November 30, 2012 -- O' by Cirque De Soleil
December 8, 2012 -- Blue Man Group
December 21, 2012 -- Rock Of Ages

February 8, 2013 -- Human Nature. The Motown Show
February 9, 2013 -- Million Dollar Quartet
March 2, 2013 -- Boyz II Men
March 5, 2013 -- Mystere by Cirque Du Soleil
April 23, 2013 -- MJ Live
July 20, 2013 -- Veronic Voices
September 28, 2013 -- Jabbawockeez
December 26, 2013 -- Britney Spears

January 3, 2014 -- Panda
January 11, 2014 -- V The Ultimate Variety Show
January 17, 2014 -- Carrot Top

February 26, 2014 -- Mo5aic. Five Voices. No Instruments 

March 29, 2014 -- Zarkana by Cirque Du Soleil 

April 26, 2014 -- Veronic Voices. 

July 19, 2014 -- Lipshtick Comedy show with Heather McDonald & Iliza Schlesinger

October 22, 2014 -- Bodies: The Exhibition

December 2, 2014 -- Show Stoppers at Wynn
December 15, 2014 -- Luwow Hawaiian show
December 20, 2014 -- The Piano Guys in Salt Lake City

January 7, 2015 -- UNLV vs. Reno
January 10, 2015 --Jeff Dunham at Planet Hollywood
January 14, 2015 -- Sun Buggy "The Chase"

February 17, 2015 -- La Reve The Dream at Wynn
March 19, 2015 -- Shooting machine guns

April 2, 2015 -- Illusions Jan Rouven at the Tropicana (Lucas only)
April 21, 2015 -- MJ Live (Lucas only) and Stratosphere rides (both of us)
April 22 or 20, 2015 -- Michael Jackson One by Cirque Du Soleil (Lucas only)
May 11, 2015 -- Where event: Paranormal Frederic Da Silva and Carnival
May 28, 2015 -- Where event: Andiamo Steakhouse & Defending the Caveman show at The D Hotel

June 17, 2015 -- Penn & Teller at Rio
June 19, 2015 -- Michael Jackson One by Cirque Du Soleil (Rachel, mom, dad and Bryant)
August 12, 2015 -- Where event: Linq dine around
August 22, 2015 -- Matt Franco

November 14, 2015 ~ Antigravity Yoga

Antigravity was quite the experience! Anna was down from Provo for the weekend and Diana and I had bought a Groupon for $20 for 5 classes so we thought why not make it a sister/cousin workout sesh. It was so much fun until she had us hanging upside down swinging and I for some reason forgot I am a little sensitive. I got sick, Diana got sick and Anna actually left the class a little early to go throw up. Despite feeling a little sick it didn't stop us from getting our pictures upside down after (at least for Diana and I)! Taralyn didn't get sick, lucky her. But it was still a lot of fun playing in hammocks for a workout.