Thursday, December 30, 2010

Busy Fall

Here is a pic of Kevin and Lindsy's new baby - Laynie Claire

We spent most weekends in November (and then some)
with our suitcases, traveling to Missouri, Oregon, and Oakville.
We went to Oregon for the wedding of Emily Sinn and
Evan Schmidgall. We took a long weekend and enjoyed the
Oregon coast.

David writing in the sand.


Restess Surf....lovely.



David and Janella at Silver Creek Falls.




Amazing

Evan and Emily :)



David's aunt Joan came to visit from Florida this fall.
We had the family over for supper, and enjoyed
using the fireplace as she was not used to the chilly weather :)

David's paramedic class participated in a mass casualty drill
in Kankakee in October. I came along to spend the day together.
We ended up sitting in the middle of a field, trying to get
as little rain on us as possible :(

The drill was a mock plane crash. David and I were
both "black" or "dead" victims.


The Forrest FD received a grant for new
fire gear this fall. David got a new set of gear.
We went up to the station one night so he could
try it on and get it all ready. He loves his new gear!

On with the new....


Bein' goofy



David and I hosted a wiener roast this fall
at the cabin he helped build. It was beautiful weather,
good food, great friends, and lots of flies!

Tyler and Casey at the Wiener Roast


Colorado Vacation - August 2010

In August, we traveled out to beautiful Colorado...


...to be with Grandma Gerst
(above pushing Ben in the wheelchair brought for her)
and the rest of the uncles, aunts and cousins.

All 28 of us stayed in the Summit Peaks Lodge.
There were plenty of rooms to spread out,
and then come back together for meals and family time.



David and I spent the first day in and around Breckenridge.
David is stretching before our 5-6 mile hike
to Mohawk Lake :(


Beautiful views...beautiful flowers

























An old miner's cabin...we hoped the rain would hold off
so we wouldn't have to spend the night in it!








Grandma and Jerrod









David, me, Luke, Ruth, Jim and Marleyse went
white water rafting in the Colorado river,
near Glenwood Springs. Wet and cold!



Sunday after church at Denver, we stopped by St Mary's Glacier.
It was a short hike to beautiful views of the lake, mountains, and glacier.
We had so much fun hiking, taking pics, playing with the snow....
I wanted to build a cabin next to the lake and stay there for weeks!

Snowball fight!




On the glacier.



We had evening entertainment when Sharon, Amy and Ruth
had the kids help out with some skits. They were pretty funny :)




This one, Amy is supposed to be doing CPR on Ruth,
and asks Sharon what Ruth's name is. "I don't know," Sharon
says. "But what if she has dependents?" Amy asks incredulously.


Dad, mom, David and I went to Colorado Springs for a day.
First stop: Focus on the Family and Whit's End!
Dad and I have been wanting to go there for a long time :)

Eating our Wod-Fam-Choc-Sod's at Whit's End
(World Famous Choclate Soda's)




We stopped at the Colorado Springs Fire Dept museum.
They had lots of old apparatus and equipment.
It was all really cool to look at.


We breezed through the garden of the gods before
returning to the lodge on our last night in Colorado.


The kids (and adults) love to play Dutch Blitz. We brought
along a life-size version of the game. We played for a while,
had a great time, and it was a good end to the vacay!


Saturday, September 18, 2010

Sunny Summer

Nothing better than lemonade in the summer!
The Fire Department spent a Saturday morning
training on an old house in Wing. After setting a
few fires and putting them out, they let it burn!








Celebrating Mom Z's Birthday
Loretta opening her gift while Cole and new baby Will look on.


The Kids Table



David and I had our 1st anniversary on August 16 :)
He came to work with me, and then we ate out
at a new restaurant in Champaign, Buttitta's.





Chicago Air and Water Show 2010

David and I went up to Chicago with JR and Larissa
and other friends. We all went to the air show on
Saturday, getting fried in the sun and loving the
Blue Angels.




This summer we spent some days trying to paint
our house. This is what it was before....



We borrowed Dad Z's manlift and that sped up the
painting process so much!


The finished product :)


ahhh...all done....




We went to Oakville in July, and I spent
a Saturday morning with my friends
in our annual "Creek Stompin'."





We came over for six baptism's at Oakville, and two
of them were from my Sunday School class.


We met Fred and Abby at Olde Worlde before we left
to catch up, have a few laughs, and try out the
new ice cream.


Lindsy and Evan met Janella in Galesburg and we
all had a fun day of shopping, eating, and talking, talking, talking!
Good times :)



Rebekah and Leah came over to our house for
afternoon tea. We found some clothes to dress up in,
and had our lemonade in teacups.
OHIO TRIP

David used to go to college at OTC, and lived
with Wes. We came out for the weekend to
visit Wes and see all the places David went
out here: college, Brown Bag Burger, the
ford dealership, and the old apartment.



Checking out the sweet BMW cars :)



Cleveland Zoo
David acting like the gorilla



The spider monkey's were so cute! They even hugged each other.



David and I went to Turkey Run State Park to camp
with Dad and Mom. The weather was perfect, the
stream was full, and our hike was fun.



Caleb and Brooke eating the homemade Popsicles :)