Lake Michigan

About a week before Spring Break, Kyle came to me and informed me "Mom, next week is Spring Break. That means we can go on a trip. How about we go to Florida or something?" Florida isn't exactly a trip you plan in a week, but I thought this might be the perfect opportunity for us to take a couple of days and go and visit Jeanine and Elijah in South Bend, Indiana. A check of the calendar, a few phone calls to arrange the trip and the Rieger's to take Grandma for the duration of our trip...and we had a trip set in stone.
I worked Wednesday night, came home and slept for a few hours and we were on our way. We were able to get to South Bend after a couple of hours. The kids played football for a little bit and then we journeyed about 45 minutes away to a beach at Lake Michigan in St. Joseph, Michigan.
We were able to get a number of really great shots, but there are too many to include all of them in this posting. Check out the slideshow for more pics....

Nicholas drew our family name in the sand :D

Kyle tickled our hearts when he got out of the car with his cape on and light saber in hand. What a cutie!

Jonathan and Maria

Jonathan...so glad to be on vacation! (even if it is only for a couple of days)

Jeanine and Maria happy to be together again :D

Nicholas happy to see the water

Luke building a sand castle

Dylan standing at the water front. He enjoyed walking around barefoot and going in the Lake. You know it was freeeeezzzzing! Crazy kid!

Jeanine and Elijah Wicker...our fabulous friends

Jonathan sitting in front of a sand dune

Nicholas wanted his feet buried in the sand

Dylan and Luke playing in the sand together

Kyle exploring the water front

This is my favorite shot of the day! Jonathan and I argue over who took it :D

Jonathan collects Trains as one of his hobbies. His dream is to be a train engineer and drive trains.

You thought the kids were bad about having to leave. Jonathan was so distraught over leaving, he threw himself on the railroad tracks. LOL :D

The weather was decent compared to what it has been lately. It would be fun to come back again when the weather is warm.

36

Jonathan's 36th Birthday

The front of the card my mom gave to Jonathan
Happy Birthday Jonathan :D

Jonathan blows his candles out

Jonathan testing his "one bite" abilities...observe the next video

Impressed?

General Conference Weekend April 2009

General Conference Weekend is a great weekend for us. We get together as a family and "sit at the feet" of our Church Leaders, while they counsel us on ways to improve ourselves and to become better disciples of Jesus Christ. All of the talks were so good, but I especially enjoyed the talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland (of the Twelve Apostles) on the Savior.

We have lots of traditions during this weekend, we eat, watch, eat some more :D

Often times our time together, turns in to a family wrestle fest.

Today was Jonathan's Birthday, and Tiffany's birthday was at the end of March...we were able to celebrate their birthdays with them. Happy Birthday Jonathan and Tiffany :D

Dylan's 1st Track Meet

Arbor Hills Jr. High Track team vs. Maumee Gateway Meet

April 1st 2009

My favorite Track Star :D

Dylan is a strong long distance runner.

He ran the 1 mile and came in second place. He ran the 1600 meter in 5 minutes 56 seconds. He lost the race by 2 seconds...he said to me "Wow, Mom I never realized the value of 2 seconds before today!"

The Start Up Line for the 800 meter.

Dylan ran in the 800 meter and came in 4th....running it in 2 minutes 48 seconds.

Dylan said "it surprised him just how competitive he really was." He usually doesn't like competing. He is learning more and more about running and Coach Campbell says "At the rate Dylan is going...He is going to be a BEAST by the end of the season."

Dylan came in 4th place in the 800 meter race.

Toledo Connection

Heide Vence and Maria Simons Reunion

Heide and I were best friends when Jonathan and I were dating. In fact, she was the Maid of Honor in our wedding. We have lots of great memories of time we spent together doing Singles activities. Once I got married, our friendship dissipated because our worlds were so different. Heide was off still doing Singles things and I was becoming a wife and mom. We lost touch, and have tried to get together a few times this last year. This was the first time, we found success.

Heide and her husband Jim came in to town for the weekend, and I stopped up to visit them in their suite. We had a great time reminiscing about the old days and catching up on the new ones.

I've really missed Heide and her Zany ways...
We took picture after picture because I was trying to get a pic that didn't make me look so fat. A diet and exercise are right around the corner

I love you Heide :)

Sister Hansen's Visit

Sister Charlotte Hansen served a mission here until December of last year. She was an integral part in teaching Grandma, and was sad that she wouldn't be here for Grandma's baptism. She returned during her Spring Break from school with a couple of other sisters who served out this way. We were very excited to see her...especially Grandma!

Playing at Mar's

Family dinner at Mar and Grandpa Newbold's

March 15th, 2009

Me and my Momma!

I love you Mom!

Carly just loves playing outside with the kids

Luke playing ball

Luke and Nicholas with sticks! I am vehemently opposed to them "playing" with sticks...and yet everytime I go outside to check on them, they are playing with sticks.

Boys!...and their "warrior" spirits!

Dylan performing Sasuke Naruto maneuvers

"Warrior Leader"

My first experience at a Japanese Restaurant

My friend Liz McLaughlin from work was celebrating her 30th birthday with friends and family
She chose Sakura Japanese Restaurant on Monroe Street...the staff sang her "Happy Birthday" in Japanese.


This is our Hibachi grill chef. It was really fun watching him prepare our food right in front of us.

He popped chunks of cucumber into the air and we had to try to catch them in our mouths. My mouth was big enough to catch mine. Big surprise!

I have never had Japanese food before today. I've tried Sushi once before, but that is the extent of it. I wasn't sure how I would like it, but was ready to try something new. Fortunately, I sat next to Pam Gainsley...who is an old pro at ordering Japanese food. She explained things to me and helped me order. I loved it!

These are some of my work friends...from left to right...

Joyce Shank, Cory Hampton, Kim Davis, Melissa Barnhart,

Irene Jones and the birthday girl...Liz McLaughlin

Pam and I joined this pic...so now it is (from left to right)

Cory Hampton, Pam Gainsley, Melissa Barnhart, Irene Jones,

Me and Liz McLaughlin.

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had our Pack's Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet to celebrate Cub Scouts and recognize the achievements of the boys. Nicholas was awarded his Wolf Badge. Luke was awarded his Webelos Badge and he is one elective away from having his Arrow of Light. It was a proud night for us :)