Going Away Party

Tonight we had to say another goodbye to some of our very dear friends. Dan is leaving this week as he is ready to embark upon his new teaching job in Colorado Springs, Colorado! Katie gets to wait a month longer from now to join him there. She will have the chance to stay with us for awhile before she heads out to the majestic mountains! We are so excited for this awesome adventure in their lives and I know that God has so much to offer both of them! Unfortunately, I have to see another best friend go away. This is the epitome of bitter-sweet. I cannot wait to see what spectacular things God offers these two, but I am in my own carnal self, so sad to let go of another friend. I know I must let go in order to see my friends prosper and build their lives, but my heart aches that I cannot witness it first hand with my own two eyes! That being said, we were able to send Dan off with a little visit from many of their friends and family. Katie's parents, Grandma, Andy and Julie (Brother and Sis-in-Law), Aunts and Uncles, and countless friends were all able to attend. I think one of the best parts of this was getting to see Andy, Julie, and Caleb again! We love that they have moved a bit closer to us so we can see with them more often! Other than that we swam, ate, played games, talked, laughed, and showed our love to these two who have so wonderfully touched our lives and made them much more full and deep by knowing them. Although they will be sorely missed as they have been such a HUGE part of our lives for SO long, I cannot wait to see all of the fun and amazing things they will get to partake in out in Colorado. YAY! I cannot wait to plan my next trip out there to visit! Take a peek at some of the fun stuff we did tonight!

My Hubby and Me

The VIP's of the party!
Katie's Aunt Ruth, Mom, Grandma, Aunt Denise, and Uncle Lloyd

Julie and Britnye looking so cute!

Caleb and Katie Playing

The boys in action playing some sweet basketball!

Britnye and Heather

The Girls: Britnye, Julie (and Baby #2), Heather, and Katie

The Current Toledo Gang - One Last Time! :-(

Some of the BEST girls I've EVER known!

The last of the current Toledo Gang! :-(

Summer Fun in the Sun in St. Louis

I just got back from a fantastic trip to St. Louis to visit Jeni and Brian! We had an awesome time doing lots of girl things like shopping and hanging out. I got to see Jeni in action teaching her swim lessons which was lots of fun. All of the little ones she teaches are so cute! They all liked "Miss Jeni" so much! I got in late Sunday night and we had movie night at their friends' house Jason and Hillary. They just had twins and it was lots of fun hanging out with them. On Monday we went to some Outlet Malls of course to do some quick shopping! Next, we went to the pool and had some swim lessons. I then got to go out to dinner with the whole entire Gardner family to celebrate Kevin's (Jeni's father-in-law) birthday. Tuesday we had a lot of fun doing some more shopping and lots of talking. We came home to have dinner with a bunch of their friends in St. Louis! Phil, Jill, and Chase, along with Jason, Hillary, and the boys (Aiden and Blake). We had spaghetti and some AWESOME cake from a great St. Louis bakery (MacAurthur's or something!). Yum. Wednesday we visited Grant's Farm where there was lots to see. We had lots of fun looking at animals and seeing a historic St. Louis place. Then of course the rest of the day was filled with even more shopping if you can believe it, and then we got tickets for the Cardinal's game Wednesday night! It was quite an adventure to say the least! We also went to an awesome ice cream place called Ted Drewe's, which is a tradition for most follwing a Cardinal's game. Then came Thursday - my last day! I was sad to see my visit end, but we did a bit more shopping on Thursday and then met Brian for dinner. After dinner I packed up and got ready to fly home. Overall it was a super fun trip and it was so great to have some quality time with Jeni! Here are some fun pics we took!

Me feeding Blake - what a sweetie! Blake was the
easy one to feed, while Jeni got spit up on quite a bit!

Enjoying the Cardinals game (eventhough we didn't quite win)

Brian, Jeni and Heather after the game

St. Pete Beach Vacation

David and I were able to spend some quality time this summer in St. Petersburg Beach. We basically did a bunch of nothing, which is the best kind of something in the world! We had lots of fun playing games on the beach, laying out, sleeping in the sun, and lots of swimming. Nothing is better than the beautiful sunshine kissing your face in Florida. It was also a nice time to have nothing else to do - no papers to grade or lessons to plan and no homework for David. We are definitely not taking this time for granted. We were also lucky enough to have my Grandparents drive an hour and a half to visit us while we were there. We took them to lunch at a place called 'Spinners' that was a restaurant at the top of the Grand Plaza Hotel that had a revolving floor. You were able to see some of the most spectacular views as you spun 360 degrees to see the Ocean Side and the Bay Side. We also took a dinner cruise that took us all around Tampa Bay. It was the perfect night for a sunset as well. It was a trip I will never forget and we're already planning the next one!

Our view of the ocean from our room

The courtyard in the middle of our hotel

Here we are enjoying the beach

The beautiful beach where we spent most of our days

Grandma and Grandpa Hall at the Restaurant
when they came for a visit! Aren't they so cute!?

The view from 'Spinners' Restaurant of the Bay

The view of the beach from 'Spinners'

Here you can see 'Spinners' on the top of the tall building in the back.
The whole restaurant spun around in a circle while you ate dinner!
It was lots of fun and a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Our cute little dinner cruise ship

Here we are getting ready to board the Starlite Princess

A view of the million dollar homes on our dinner cruise.
They said each floor of the house runs about a 1 to 1.5 million
dollars! You do the math on these babies!

David and I on the cruise taking in the views

The beautiful sunset to end our gorgeous night!
There were too many of these perfect sunsets to count!

Learning

Finally! I have given in and decided to create a Blog Site for us! Now that we have to face the reality of so many of our friends moving away :-( I have decided I HAVE to create a site to share our lives with one another! I am excited to get started on this project and have lots of fun with it! Look forward to seeing many new pictures and fun things added to this frequently - at least until school starts!