Frost Year in Review: 2010

December 31, 2010

Alright, lets see…”Where has the time gone?”  2010 was a very interesting year in the Frost household, full of new cars, new jobs and a new member to the Frost clan.

So I am going to go about this is a quasi reverse chronological order, mean I will be jumping around a bit. On June 30th Gillian and I welcomed our first child, Elena Fordyce Frost, weighting in a 5lbs 15oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.  The months leading up to her birth were not as scary as I would have thought, though the last couple weeks could have gone smoother.  Gillian developed pre-eclampsia and was on bed rest for a week, then spent 4 days in the hospital before having a c-section after attempts to induce her failed…yea, little stressful!  Both mother and child are doing just fine now. The last 6 months have been wonderful, it is true what they say, they do grow up so fast.  It seems like just yesterday we brought her home and now she is rolling around and desperately trying to crawl, now if she could only grow some hair she might look like a 6 month old.

I was a busy summer and not only with the birth of our daughter.  I was in two weddings the first of  college friend Ben Retzer to Lisa Ulrich on May 15th and the other of life long friend Joel Michalski to Sara May on July 31st, both were wonderful ceremonies and I was honored to be part of them.   Colin, Katie, Colleen and PJ came to visit and we attended the first Nebraska State fair to be held in Grand Island.

After four years with Children’s Rehab Center, Gillian has changed jobs.  Coming back off maternity leave Gillian made the very  difficult decision to leave, she needed a job with a more flexible schedule, she would normally get off work at 6 pm and her new job with Aegis allows her the ability to manager her own schedule and be home by 4pm.  Though, in true Gillian fashion, she can’t just change jobs, she has to go from one job to two jobs.  Gillian also took a job at the local community college as an instructor in the COTA program, so Gillian has  gone back to school..again, but this time she is on the other side of the desk.  I have also recently made a job change of sorts, I have moved from being a contract employee to be a permanent salary employee of CNH.  I am still doing the exact same job, with the exact same people and boss but now I get CNH benefits ,which are a lot better, and I get e new employee number,I am not sure why.

I would not be me if I did not discuss the new vehicle in our life.  We decided that the Ranger was not very baby friendly and we needed something that would carry us, a baby a dog, baggage and pull a camper on occasion.  So, in March I sold the Ranger back to the dealership that I bought it from, I didn’t even realize they did that, and purchased an 2010 Outback, of course we had to drive to Omaha to do that.  We have had it now for about 9 month and have put 14000 miles on it, it is a great vehicle that fits our needs perfectly.  With the truck gone the BMW became my mode of transportation, which I am not complaining about in the least.  I still have to park outside because we still own more cars than drivers or garage spaces.  Speaking of the Falcon, the engine is still out of it but I am very,very close to finishing the engine rebuild, that being said there is still a lot of work to be done before it actually runs, but the engine is almost finished and that is progress!

In this upcoming year we are looking forward to a number of exciting events.  We are planing a trip to Germany to visit Brandon and Erika and my college roommate Dan and his girlfriend Ines, still need to nail down the dates, but we are going this spring/summer.  Hopefully we will not be “those people” on the plane with a screaming baby, the flight to Germany is long, crossing our finger Elena will sleep for most of it.  Also this summer we will be going to the Outer Banks of NC to spend some time with my mom’s side of the family.  They have rented a house on the beach and we are looking forward to spend some time in the ocean!

So there you have it and with about 12 hours to spare.  I would like wish everyone the happiest of New Years!  Good luck on the resolutions and don’t forget to check in from time to time to see what we have been up to, and if you check back in a day or two I might have all the spelling errors fixed, or just go to elenafrost.com to see all thing Elena, because I know that is all you really care about.

Christmas Cards, Batch one

December 23, 2010

I sent out the first batch of Christmas cards yesterday.  I say first batch because I didn’t realize how many friends and family we have, so I had to have more made…then I ran out of stamps.  Anyway, check back here in a few days, probably after Christmas, and I should have the “Frost Year in Review” up for your reading enjoyment full of all the grammatic errors, spelling mistakes and run on sentences you have come to love.  Till then check out Elena’s Blog and see even more pictures on my Flickr page.

Professional…me?, why not?

December 14, 2010

Last week I officially registered for the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam, which is the last, 8 hour 80 question, step to becoming a Licensed Professional Engineer.  Becoming a Professional Engineer is something I have wanted to do since college and it is not as simple as just taking a test.  First off I had to graduate with a degree in engineering, BSME from the University of Nebraska, check.  Secondly,  I had to take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, this an eight hours exam consisting of 80 questions covering the brevity of my education.  I took this test in October of 2004, it was the most difficult exam I had ever taken and I walked away positive that I had failed it miserably…but I didn’t,  I passed!  Now, after the required five years of working experience, step three, I was able to submit an application to the Nebraska Board of Engineers for permission to take the PE exam.  The board approved my application and I will be taking the exam on April 8th.  Now I just have to spend the next three months studying.

On a similar note, after nearly two years of working as a contractor, I have accepted a permanent position with CNH, doing the exact same thing I have been doing for the last two years.  I was required to submit an application and resume and am going to be getting all new sign-ins and passwords… for a job I am already doing. My “start” date is Monday Dec 20th, of course I will still be there from now until Friday Dec 17th.  The benefit of being a permanent employee is, benefits!  CNH has very good insurance and as a new father, I all of a sudden care a lot more about that.

17 Month Long Valve Job

October 12, 2010
After waiting for over a year, I finally have the cylinder heads for the Falcon back from the machine shop and when I say “back” what I mean is, these are entirely  different heads, from a larger engine, that should fit.  Yes, this will be a post devoted to cylinder heads and my car, so if you couldn’t care less stop reading now.  For those few still reading, this is the Tale of the 17 Month Long Valve Job….
Read the rest of this entry »

October Already?

October 5, 2010

Ok, so I have done these “where has the time gone” posts a few time before  and I think now that I have a daughter they are even more cliche but I have a number of things to blog about an if I try to make each one its own post it just plan won’t happen.  So here we go I apologize in advance if I forget something and as always the horrible grammar.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nebraska State Fair

September 19, 2010
This year was the first year for the Nebraska State Fair to be held in Grand Island Nebraska. The State Fair had previously been held in Lincoln since 1901 and the move to Grand Island was quite the controversy here in the midwest.  It was officially announced  a little over a year ago that the fair was coming and ever since these huge red buildings (see above) have been popping up like weeds.
The six buildings in total, were built just west of Fonner Park and the Heartland Event Center and we just happen to live two block from Fonner Park so we are literally within walking distance of the fair. We spent two separate afternoons at the fair and I must say everything was done quite well, especially considering they pulled all the construction equipment out the night before the start.
The last weekend of the fair, Gillian’s brother, Colin, his wife, Katie, and kids, Colleen and PJ came to visit from New York.  The kids loved the fair, with combine rides, pedal tractors, and copious farm animals.  It was great to see everyone and get a glimpse at what is in Gillian’s and I’s future.

2010 Subaru Outback: Cargo Carrier & Hitch

August 31, 2010
I decided we needed a cargo carrier for the Outback, not that the Outback doesn’t have enough space, it has plenty, I just wanted one.  My thought was it would make it easier to haul “baby stuff”  for weekend trips, along with luggage, Gordie, and of course Elena…well, Gordie and Elena would go in the Outback, not the cargo carrier, but you know what I mean.  I also had a trailer hitch installed, now we can haul the whole family and a place to stay…we have become “Those People”.
Read the rest of this entry »

Weekend in Omaha…Zoo Time!

August 18, 2010
Last weekend was another patent pending Frost family whirlwind trip, this time to Omaha.  I actually took Friday off of work for Elena’s first trip to Omaha.  The main reason for taking off work was to take the Outback in to have a trailer hitch installed, they are not open on Saturdays.  I also used this trip to break-in our new roof cargo carrier, as I have stated a number of times already…yes, we are those people.  In all honesty we probably don’t need it but I wanted it.  I put the stroller and our suitcase up there with plenty of room to spare, I will be writing a full review of the pod as well as the trailer hitch soon, I know you are all excited.
Anyway, back to our weekend.  Friday afternoon we took our first family trip to the zoo. For those not familiar with Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, it is truly a world-class zoo and if you get a chance, go, it is well worth it.  On the day we visited it was nearly 727 degrees outside.  We mostly visited the indoor, air-conditioned exhibit,obviously Elena is a little too young to do anything but stare at the top of her stroller and sleep but it was good practice for navigating through crowded spaces with a stroller…I only hit one person in the back of the leg.
On Saturday morning we went down to visit Elena’s Great-grandparents along with Granny, Aunt Jamie, and Lucas.  It was nice to see three generations in the same room.  Sunday we were all able to get on the road fairly early, it was nice to get back home after a long weekend with time to relax, before starting back to work.

The Wedding Of Sara and Joel

August 4, 2010

Last weekend was the wedding of Joel Michalski, one of my closest friends, to the lovely and intelligent Dr. Sara May.
Read the rest of this entry »

A Bit Tired

July 28, 2010

Really I can’t complain too much. Elena has been keeping us on a pretty constant schedule, she only wakes up two to three times a night and she goes back to sleep after she has been changed and feed.  Though, I have been late to work every day this week, I think that is more because I have an excuse.

Ok, now I am exhausted.  I was going to go into Gillian’s maternity leave and how Elena likes to grunt and growl, but those will have to be a later posts.  For now I will just say everyone is doing well and we are sleeping as much as we can.