March Wedding

Last weekend friends Gina and Jay tied the knot. Gina's sister, Andrea, is one of my close college friends. She and her family were back in town from China for the wedding. We had a great time visiting with them and enjoyed the wedding festivities. Congrats Jay & Gina!

New Home Construction

Justin's parents have been building a new home. Recently, we were back to help with some packing and moving. The big move is this weekend. Good luck family! We wish we could be there to help!

Sleddin' Fun

Last weekend we enjoyed a beautiful day at D's parents sledding the afternoon away. You might spot a snowmobile in the top picture-that would be my brother coming to the bottom of the hill to pick up weary sledders and take us to the top of the hill. The snow was DEEP! The middle photo is D's mom and niece and the bottom photo is niece Brie after removing her stocking hat...maybe not such a good idea! What a crazy hairdo!

Suit Studying

A few weeks ago, Justin sat for his GMAT exam. He's so glad to have it behind him! Here's a few pics I caught of him studying at the kitchen table-in his suit at that! He's the best looking student I've seen!

Spirit of the Marathon

Last night I was able to relive my marathon running experience with friend, Heather. The movie "Spirit of the Marathon" was being shown nationwide, one night. The movie follows six people as they train for and compete in the Chicago Marathon. The movie was especially neat for Heather and I because we ran the Chicago Marathon in 2003. The pictures and images of the route and excitement of the day brought all the memories back. If you are a runner and ever considered running a marathon, this is an excellent movie to see. They are going to have a repeat showing in February. Check out the website! Once you cross the finish line, your life changes forever!

Dear John

I was delighted to receive not one, but two Nicholas Sparks books for Christmas. I started reading the first a few days ago and could not wait to get home after work to pick it back up each evening. Last night, I couldn't put it down. I was up until 11:30PM (very late for me on a work night) and when I finished the book, had uncontrollable sobbing. Justin woke up and said, "Are you okay?" All I could muster was "It was just so sad!" I greatly enjoyed this read, even though it took out my heart, stomped on it and left it on the floor. Check out the description for yourself. Then, go to the library and check out "Dear John."

Christmas 2007

We enjoyed a great Christmas break with both of our families. We spent a few days in Iowa and a few days in MN. Surprisingly, IA had much more snow this year. The snow picture taken below is in my parents backyard. It was absolutely gorgeous. I felt like a kid again being at home with the big swirling snowstorm outside.

Other favorites of our break included snowshoeing with D's mom in the timber, seeing J's parent's new home (in the process of being built), playing "ImagineIFF" with J's extended family, roasting hot dogs on Christmas Eve over the fireplace, seeing our nieces and nephews excitedly open their gifts and most importantly, celebrating our Lord's birth!

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2008! God bless!

Winter Beauty

While walking on campus the other day, I couldn't help but snap this shot. The way the photo turned out, it looks a little like a particular famous tower...Isn't she pretty?

Chef Justin and His Helpers

Hello all! We had some visitors several weeks ago-Justin's brother Nate and his family. Due to some major winter weather that hit our area, we were pretty much confined to the house-but it allowed for some nice down time together and plenty of movie watching (which is always a nice thing!). Pictured below are niece Meeghen and nephew Cody helping out in the kitchen. They were either entranced or bored out of their little minds in the top photo, so Uncle Justin put them to work!

Ian ten Hoeve

What a fun evening we had last night! We got a call from our friend Gerben asking if we could pick up his brother and his wife from the Waterloo airport. They were flying in from Holland. So, we went with our welcome sign and picked up Theo and Danielle. Together, the four of us traveled to see Gerben, Julie and new baby boy Ian in the hospital. Ian arrived Sunday night at 8.5 lbs. 19.5 inches. He is beautiful! What a blessing this Thanksgiving week!

Great Weekend

It was a fun weekend last weekend. My mom came to town on Friday to do some Christmas shopping so I took the afternoon off and joined her. Then on Saturday, a few of my college buds came to visit. We had lunch, went to the ole bookstore, walked around campus, and shopped, of course! Twins Jen and Steph both announced they are expecting-one in March and the other in May! Nice timing, ladies! Here's a few pics of our day. You'll notice in the bottom three that we were trying our best to get a good shot--whether we got one or not, we'll let you be the judge! Thanks again for coming friends!

Baby Shower

On Saturday I threw a baby shower for friend, Julie, who is due November 20. Julie is a member of our church and has become a wonderful friend. I'm so excited to meet her little one! Boy or girl...we don't know!

Celebrating Birthdays

We celebrated birthdays for my dad and niece this weekend. We met up at a great new restaurant in a nearby town. We decided since we were all together, we'd take a few family photos. Happy Birthday Dad and Brie!

GNIRRRR

Last weekend I participated in an event referred to as the GNIRRRR (Great Northern Iowa Radical River Run Race). Co-ed teams of 3 participated in this event consisting of running, canoeing, portaging, and mystery events. The race started out with a mystery event of answering 6 questions about the state and about our local university. We turned our answer sheets in, they were scored and given back to us and we were told to start running down the nearby trail. Upon reaching a parking lot, our team was told to select 2 pumpkins (we estimated at 8 pounds each) and continue running down the trail (two pumpkins because we'd gotten 2 questions wrong on our quiz). Well, let's just say the run was at least 3 miles and we had some tired arms! My teammate, Heather, decided to devise a type of sling out of teammate Scott's shirt. We put the pumpkins into the shirts and carried them between us-a huge improvement!

When the 3 mile run was done, we got to leave the pumpkins behind and portage our canoe 1/2 mile to a boat dock. Once on the lake, we paddled to 3 locations. At the first, we got a...pumpkin...and continued paddling. At spot 2, we had to get 3 ringers while playing horseshoes from 10, 20, and 30 feet. Let's just say horseshoes were not our strong suit. We had been leading and quickly fell behind as we were at the horseshoe event 17 minutes! Once we got our ringers, we were back in the canoe paddling to spot 3.

At the final spot, we got out of the canoe and were told to carve our pumpkin who had been hitching a ride on the lake. Once the orange friend was carved, we paddled back to the dock, portaged our canoe to the canoe trailer, ran back and took our jack-o-lantern to a nearby shelter and had to light it. Once lit, the time stopped. We ended up in 2nd place out of 6. What an awesome event!

Purple Pride

It was purple pride around town this weekend with Homecoming taking stage. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast, parade, and tailgating with friends before the big win. It's great to be a panther!