Raise Your Glass

Good Evening faithful patrons!

How are you doing on this fair weathered Tuesday night?

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(Please check all that apply).

Well - it's Tuesday - so you know what that means...

it means it has been

TEN WEEKS SINCE WE HAVE ARRIVED IN NEBRASKA!!!

10. Weeks.

It has gone by *SO* fast!!

Honestly, we really like Nebraska.

The weather here is so different than California...

One minute it can be raining, the next, hailing, and the next, it's 90 degrees outside.

At first it was hard to understand, however now, it is beautiful, and we can admit that we completely enjoy it!

Coming up, we have been told, is SNOW!

It is almost October... and in Nebraska, we could expect our first snow as early as a couple of weeks from RIGHT NOW!

This could be our backyard before we even know it!!

So - on Saturday - we went to Kearney, Nebraska

(believe it or not, that is pronounced Car-nee)

and went on our first trip (ever!) to CABELA'S!

As you can see from its logo, it's the world's foremost outfitter - very important!

While there we purchased a heavy winter coat (each!), gloves, earmuffs, wool socks, long-johns, beanies, boots, & slippers!

(Brian's on the left & Nina's on the right)

We are THRILLED - and funny enough - the next day - it was about 80 degrees outside...

we must have scared away the chilly weather.

But - don't worry faithful patron - it's Nebraska... the weather will be different in 10 or so minutes, so we'll be able to use our winter gear soon! Thanks for worrying about us, though - you're so sweet.

What else has been going on with us, you're asking?

Thanks - seriously - you are *SO* nice!

Nothing too much... we've been working, working, & working some more.

Don't worry though (seriously, though, you'll get sick with all that worrying - let us worry (haha) about that...), we enjoy what we do (& love that we can use these very expensive & handy degrees of ours), and enjoy spending time together when we're home because...

<3

And on that note - faithful patron - we shall leave you with our sign off...

Until Next Time...

22.

Today is Nina's 22nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Nina!

Until Next Time...

Time to Update- Brian & Nina Style

That's right! It's that time of day (or night, or evening, or morning, or whatever it is where you are reading this).

Time to inform all of you lovely listeners about our wonderful time with Nina's great grandparents (not "great" in relation, but great as in wonderful, awesome, and amazing! Just want to make that distinction).

This "great":

Great!

Not this "great":

Ahh, here they are:

So, what did we do with Nina's grandparents? Where do we begin? Oh, at the beginning, you say?  You, smarty pants, you.  Just to spicen things up, we'll start at the end and go to the beginning. From the end to the beginning? Look out, Brian and Nina are blogging crazy style.

So here we end:

Grandma and Grandpa left this morning. A bittersweet moment; especially considering all of the Vick's caramel popcorn we had all consumed in the last few days.

Be prepared, we are about to break away from our main story to go off on a necessary tangent:

Side note: Vic's popcorn!: Amazing!Wonderful!Yummy!Delicious! (That's right, Vic's popcorn is so amazingly good, it defies standard writing conventions). Ironically, we are eating some Vic's caramel popcorn right now. Yaya!

Back to our regular show:

On Saturday, we all toured the whole of North Platte.  Literally; well, literally, in a sense (confused yet?).  We learned about the history, heritage, and culture of North Platte and Greater Nebraska at the Lincoln County Museum at the Lincoln County Historical Museum.

From mammoth bones, 

to civil war cannon balls, 

to early photography equipment,

the Lincoln County Historical Museum had it all.  (What? You say our pictures don't match up with our descriptions? Hmmm....weird).

But the Lincoln County Historical Museum (or LCHM, if you are feeling lazy or tired) didn't stop there. In the back of the museum is a whole town.  That's right, there is literally (yes, literally) a town behind the museum, complete with three different antique homes, one blacksmith shop, one Fort McPherson station, one school house, one church, and two barns full of farming equipment.  

And, oh, we almost forgot, an amazing children's playground merry-go-round!

Weee!

Wooo-hooo!

Umm...Nina, you're about to fly off.  Maybe we should stop now...

Before the LCHM, we had all enjoyed our North Platte Farmer's Market and historical car show.  Very sweet (Nina's grandma bought some local tomatos) and very spicy (Brian bought three different types of peppers).

And finally, to begin, Brian and Nina enjoyed many great meals with Nina's grandparents, but even more great laughs 

(yea, just like that)

As we recounted some of our past memories and current adventures.  The visit couldn't have gone smoother. 

Thanks grandma and grandpa!

Welp, it's that time again.  Time to hit the hay!

I wouldn't eat a Mandarin, would you?

Good morning & welcome to Brian & Nina's amazing blog filled with

fun, laughter, excitement, and inside jokes!

This past week has been mighty exciting.

First, work was something that was went to by both of us.

Which, of course, is extremely exciting since we absolutely love what we do.

Then, on Friday, the 2nd of September, Nina went to Urgent Care

to get her foot checked out (remember all the swelling pictures on facebook?)

and to see why she had been shaky (like an earthquake) at work.

Well, after NO waiting, because the Urgent Care

was EMPTY,

we were seen by a very nice nurse who took an extensive health history

(sorry, family, your secrets were revealed)

and then a doctor came in to see us.

The doctor was nice and extensive, taking x-rays of Nina's foot

(not an actual xray of Nina's foot)

and listened to her concerns.

Wanting a CBC to check electrolytes, Nina's doctor then proceeded to

act like a vampire

(could be an actual picture of the doctor, we're not sure)

and poke Nina in each hand, missing each time because Nina's veins rolled.

So, instead, they poked Nina with a little needle (like one would use

to check their blood sugar if they were a diabetic)

and drained her blood into a little vile by squeezing her finger!

(imagine this snail is blood - then yes, it's gross)

Everything was normal with the blood work, except...

this little guy (a white blood cell) and all of his friends

invited about a thousand or so more friends than they should have

making Nina's white blood cell count to be "extremely" high.

Interesting...

So, leaving Urgent Care, Nina came out with an anti-biotic

& a muscle relaxer (to help with the frequent headaches she's

been having that I forgot to mention earlier).

Very interesting Friday!

Now onto Saturday.

A majority of Saturday was spent resting and recovering from the 

previous days endeavors. 

Very exciting.

Then at 5pm we went to Autumn & Nathan's wedding.

It was gorgeous!

The grass decorated with fake leaves (their theme was autumn)

so adorable!

Sideways Brian & Nina

Oooo.... ahhh....

Standing together <3

Autumn & Nathan

It was a beautiful ceremony & reception!

Afterwards we went to ThenUntilI (TYLER ;)) & Tracee's house

and hung out with them & Becky & Heath

exchanging stories of our childhoods and how our lives

are so different because we grew up in California and they didn't.

(Okay, we lie, but if we repeated some of the things discussed,

they might take Brian "huntin'" or something) ;)

On Sunday, we went to church

which was great (thanks, Ned!)

and then grocery shopped

and then came home and relaxed before we headed back to 

Tyler & Tracee's house for a triple date with them & the Tyans.

They cooked Betsy

(actual photo)

and let us try a real Nebraska cow.

(We do think that these kind of cows are happier than California ones... just sayin')

It was delicious.

Honestly - wonderful.

Yum-O!

After eating, we played this wonderful Nebrask(i)an game:

It was hilarious - and a fun time had by all.

After the above game, we played:

which consisted of playing rock, paper, scissors

(or rock, paper, corn if you're in Nebraska),

counting to thirty, spelling, doing animal sounds

(Dory and a whale were both at our table... at the same time)

and so much more!

It was a blast hanging with our new friends...

we can tell we're going to be friends for ... well... forever.

With plans to take Brian "huntin" and Nina to Cabella's (it's a store)

to shop for winter gear (soon, as apparently it's insanely scary

here in the winter if you're a foreigner - us!)

we left using our secret handshake
"CHIIIIIIII CHIT"

(it's a Nebrask(i)an gun thing, lol)

and headed to bed.

This now leads us to Monday, which is today, September 5th.

It is 66 degrees here in Nebraska right now.

A bit chilly - in September - compared to California weather.

The high this week will come upon us on Wednesday - an entire

81 degrees.

Yeah - we could be expecting snow in October.

Because we don't have much experience with snow, we're told

that this is what it looks like:

Today will be filled with contemplating what to do for Nina's birthday

(September 14th - we're excited!),

catching up on Brian's grading and lesson planning,

and continuing to relax and recover from the weekends experiences.

This week brings lots of excitement as well.

Nina has to travel to Scottsbuff, NE for work on Tuesday.

& on Saturday, we get to see our amazing grandparents

who we haven't seen since May!

So, all in all, this weekend was amazing - 

and we will now say - 

Until Next Time