Family Vacation 2008

Family vacation was awesome this year! We stayed in a cabin at Whitetails Crossing by Lake Shelbyville (IL). We kept busy but also relaxed a lot.

Whitetails Crossing had a really nice pool so of course we used that quite a bit.















They also had 2 small fishing ponds. The kids (especially Brianna) loved fishing and caught about 10 fish. We used doughnuts to attract the "big" bass but never caught them!

We visited what I called the GT (Goat Tower) in Shelbyville County. This guy built a tower for his mountain goats so they would have a place to climb in the middle of IL. Random :)

Also, some of us went fishing at Lake Shelbyville. The white bass were "boiling" or "popping" and we caught tons of fish! And thanks to "Guided Wright," (the unofficial name of Eric's full-service fishing tours), we found the ML (mother load) which made up for the fact that we got up at 5 am! We had a fish fry for dinner one night thanks to Eric's expert cooking!

We also went to the world's largest Dairy Queen. It was...not so big but we had yummy ice cream!









The kids played lots of Guess Who and read books with Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa). In the evenings the adults played horse-feathers and laughed a lot. It was fun getting to know the kids again since we only see them a couple times a year. They grow up so fast! Isaac is such a boy, Brianna loves mac n cheese (girl after my own heart), and Halle is just all around cute with a mind of her own!










We went on a hike one day. Very interesting terrain with lots of spiderwebs. Mom was designated by the kids as the official Spider Girl waving a big stick in front of the path. She deserves a gold star and lots of grandkid hugs for that one!

Overall it was just a bunch of fun hanging out with each other. I can't wait for next year when we will have another little one around! And hopefully Aaron, Elisabeth, Carli, Grandpa S., Aaron and Vero can come too!

Hit In the Face With An Opportunity

We recently got hit in the face with an opportunity and we're moving to Oklahoma?! (I'll admit it, I used that phrase because I really wanted to use the above picture :) Most of you probably already know this but I haven't blogged about it so I thought maybe I should get my act together! Here's the scoop:

Well, out of the blue, Eric got a call from a friend (a former Calvary coach) asking if he would be interested in being the head soccer coach at Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College (where this coach just started as the AD). At first it sounded like a bum situation with little pay and Eric would have to work a full-time job somewhere else and coach part time. After the AD worked on it a bit more, it ended up being a great opportunity with quite a bit more pay for coaching. And to make it even better, they created a position at the college for him to be the facilities coordinator for this new building that they rent out to the community. So basically it went from a very small part time position to a full-time year-round position! After visiting a couple times and interviewing, we decided to accept the position. (Isn't it amazing how God works things out?)

Eric will be starting August 1 which is just around the corner! We are in the process of trying to sell our house. We haven't packed 1 box yet. Maybe we should get started on that :)

It will be really hard to leave KC since we have lived here for about a decade and my parents live here, BUT, it's only 5 hours away. We just bought the lunchbox with good gas mileage so we can come back more often!

Here's a map that shows where we are moving (Moore Oklahoma is a suburb of Oklahoma City).

Lunchbox

I got a new lunchbox today!  Just kidding, it's really a car but I think it looks like a lunchbox.  We decided to trade in the truck (that only gets 18-20 MPG) for a Scion XB.  We are excited about getting more like 35 MPG!  Even though I think it is kinda silly looking on the outside, the inside is roomy and comfy with plenty of room for a car seat for the little one.  AND we will be able to drive back to KC from Oklahoma and not spend $150 in gas!  Woohoo!  Here are some pics.

6th Anniversary

Monday night we went out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. Can't believe it has been 6 years! 6 wonderful years of course. We decided to go to a Japanese steakhouse called Gojo Japanese Steakhouse. It was a really cool atmosphere and of course the food was great (with the exception of Eric having to sit where all the smoke from the grill was blowing :)

It was fun to talk about all of the fun adventures we have had so far in our marriage: our honeymoon in Cancun, living in Calvary housing (always an adventure), family vacations, approximately a million college and professional soccer games, holidays, missions trip to Slovakia, vacation in Germany, fishing, road trips, lots and lots of laughing, and I'm sure a ton of other things.

I have to say, I honestly love my hubby more and more each passing year. And I can't wait to celebrate our next 70 anniversaries!