A Day at the Arboretum

There is an arboretum in town that had a Fall Harvest Festival today. They had scarecrows on display, games for kids and lots of flowers. Justin and I met up with our friend, Andrea and her 2 kiddos. They will soon be joining husband & Dad, Dan in China, so we enjoyed spending a few hours with them. Here are a few pics from the day. You'll notice little Jacquelyn is in two different outfits. The poor girl took a wrong step and fell into the pond she's gazing at below. Luckily, Mom had a change of clothes for her and we were all happy campers again!

1/2 Marathon

It was a beautiful morning for a 13.1 mile run! Here are a few pics taken by my wonderful cheering husband.

Getting through a water stop at mile 4.

Finishers: Joan, Deedra, Theresa, Heather. Way to go, ladies!

The runnin' ladies with our supportive husbands (& one little guy). Thanks, hubbies!

Family Wedding

My first cousin, Justin, got married this weekend. It was a beautiful wedding on a beautiful day! It was fun to have a "family wedding" again and enjoy visiting with several family we haven't seen for awhile. The happy couple.

A quick pic of us before the wedding began.

My bro & best man.

My sis and her hubby.

My bro & his girl, Kesha dancin' it up.

Siblings at dinner.

Niece and her dad.

My cousins dancing with their dad to "Daddy's Hands."

Bro dancing with Brie on his toes.

2 of my aunts

John Deere 2008 Product Introduction Show

Justin was recently in Cincinnati for the John Deere 2008 Production Introduction Show. Below is a video of a project he's been spending a lot of time on.

Howard and Linda Visit

Howard and Linda were in town a few weeks ago. We enjoyed a lot of "down time" with them in the evenings eating meals together and relaxing. During the day while we were at work, they kept themselves busy with golf, reading, shopping, and an out of town visit to Galena.

Friends to China

The mom pictured in this photo is my good friend, Andrea. Andrea and I met in college and were student alumni ambassadors together as well as roommates for a year. She was going to be a bridesmaid in our wedding, but she was due to have a baby at about the same time (little Jacob pictured in her arms) so she opted to read scripture if she was able!

Andrea and her family will soon be moving to China to work for John Deere. They are in the process of trying to sell their home, put their possessions in storage and prepare their minds and hearts for a new living location. Would you join us in prayer for this family? Their names are Dan, Andrea, Jacquelyn and Jacob. We love you guys!

More "I dos"

On Friday night, a good friend of ours got married. Ryan was a friend of D's in college-former student alumni ambassadors together as well as roommates with the gal pictured above. He and Lisa are now honeymooning in Hawaii (aloha!!!). We pray for a wonderful marriage for the two of these great christians! Congrats, Ryan and Lisa!

Tech Basketball Reunion

Justin and I traveled to Houghton, MI for the Michigan Tech University reunion. Every five years, the mens basketball team has a reunion in conjunction with the college reunion. This was the year for the bball reunion! These are a few pics of practice and the actual reunion game. It was the "black team" vs the "gold team". It was tied up at 107 at the buzzer and went into a 3 minute OT. The gold team prevailed (Justin was on the other team) but all in all it was a fun game to watch, and for Justin to play. If you've never been to the Upper Peninsula of MI, we'd recommend it. It's a beautiful area and people up there sure are proud to be Yoopers!

Reunion Team Photo
Coach Luke

Getting instructions from the old coach...

Justin taking a shot over former roommate & 2 time All American, Matt Cameron! (And Justin made the shot!!) The other two at right in gold are also Justin's former roommates, JT & Caleb.

Warming up.

Black team getting ready.

Houghton

More pics from Houghton, MI and Michigan Tech University.

Bye-Bye Twenties

Birthdays are great. Birthdays are grand. But birthdays take on a whole new flava when you leave one decade and enter another. There's no going back. I have no problem with being twenty-nine plus one year :) -it's just hard to comprehend where the time went, you know?

It was a nice day as I took the day off of work and spent most of it with my mom who came to town. I figure if my husband has to work, who better to spend my birthday with than the woman who essentially gave me the birthday (thanks Mom-and God!). We visited, shopped and had lunch together. The hubby made it home early, unfortunately because he wasn't feeling well. He slept for a few hours and mustered the energy to take me to dinner. We swung through Walgreens on the way home for more alka-seltzer and he landed on the couch when we got home. I just came back from a walk and he is already in bed! I must say I'm feeling a little lonely this first night of being thirty...well, there I said it...thirty!

A new blessed beginning. It will be fun to see how the year unfolds.

Little People Visit

Greetings! Sorry the updates have been few and far between. Our internet was not cooperating for about a week and rather than frustrate myself, I decided to step away! But, I'm back. My niece stayed over night a few weekends ago and her brother's joined us the following day. We took her biking on the trails, watched movies and did some reading together. When her brothers joined us, we went to a petting zoo, had Happy Meals at McDonald's, went to a park, played farm and ran through the sprinkler. Thanks for the fun weekend little people!

Fourth

Happy 4th everyone! We tried a new adventure on Wednesday. There is a new paddling trail in our area so we rented some kayaks and went paddling. I was brave enough to take our camera along to catch a few pics. The trail involved kayaking on a few different lakes, a river and a stream as well as portaging. One of the lakes had a whole slew of lily pads-beautiful, yet tough to paddle through! Four hours later, we were ready to crash on the couch! We managed to stay awake and catch the fireworks to celebrate with the rest of the nation, our freedom.