John and Carrie

I Tried

2012-01-12T17:50:00.000-05:00

My grandpa makes the best apple dumplings. And when you put them together with his homemade ice cream...yum! You have a real treat!

I have made his ice cream before but never the apple dumplings. So earlier this week I tried to make some. I had a little trouble with wrapping the dough around the apples but I was surprised that they didn't come out too bad. Of course, not as good as his!

I guess I went a little overboard on the cinnamon.

7

2012-01-08T13:54:00.000-05:00

This weekend we celebrated a little girl's 7th birthday! I can't really believe that she is 7 years old already!

Of course this guy was there.

Doesn't he look like he is up to something? :)

And so was this little cutie!

Happy birthday Gretchen! We hope you had a good one!

Wishing You...

2011-12-31T08:00:00.003-05:00

Peace, Love and Joy

in the New Year

(I liked this scrapbook page so much that I had to share it)

Joy to the World

2011-12-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And heaven and nature sing,

And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

*Christmas with John's mom on 12/25/2011

Away in a Manger

2011-12-26T16:33:00.000-05:00

Away in a manger

No crib for His bed

The little Lord Jesus

Lay down His sweet head

The stars in the sky

Look down where He lay

The little Lord Jesus

Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing

The poor Baby wakes

But little Lord Jesus

No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus

Look down from the sky

And stay by my side

'Til morning is nigh

Be near me, Lord Jesus

I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever

And love me, I pray

Bless all the dear children

In Thy tender care

And take us to Heaven

To live with Thee there

*Christmas with Millers on 12/24/2011

First Noel

2011-12-26T15:46:00.000-05:00

The first Noel, the angel did say,

Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay,

In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,

On a cold winter's night that was so deep.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,

Born is the King of Israel.

They looked up and saw a star

Shining in the East, beyond them far,

And to the Earth it gave great light,

And so it continued both day and night.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,

Born is the King of Israel.

This star drew night to the northwest,

O'er Bethlehem it took its rest,

And there it did both stop and stay,

Right over the place where Jesus lay.

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,

Born is the King of Israel.

*Christmas with John's Dad on 12/23/2011

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

Cherry Cordials

2011-12-06T20:21:00.001-05:00

Have you tried these yet?

The receptionist at work put them in her candy dish (because she is cool like that!) and they are really good!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

2011-11-30T20:12:00.000-05:00

Holiday Fest 2011

2011-11-25T11:24:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night they lit up Santa downtown. The weather wasn't too bad this year - no rain or snow. We watched the lighting of Santa, the Christmas tree and the wreath with John's dad, John.

Then we went to the Festival of Trees with John, Dan and Amy and the kids.

The Komets tree with Icy at the top.

I think Olivia's favorite tree was the Sesamee Street one.

She spotted Elmo from across the room

Baden Gage and Schroeder (CPA firm) had a tree.

It was called 'Busy Season'.

It had the word 'Joy' on it?!

Dear People...

2011-11-20T16:03:00.001-05:00

...who come to hockey games and think they know what they are talking about but don't,

Let me give you a few tips.

1. The Komets' mascot is an EAGLE - Icy D. Eagle - not a CHICKEN. Also, he probably can't hear your kids yelling from across the Coliseum.

2. There are three 20 minute PERIODS not QUARTERS. If they were quarters there would be four of them.

3. Yes, the goalie may leave the net so that the team can have an extra player to help score a GOAL (not a POINT) but this usually happens at the end of the game not with 9 minutes left.

4. The two players with an "A" on their jerseys - these are ASSISTANT CAPTAINS. They are not AGGRESSORS that are responsible for starting fights as I heard one person tell her friend.

5. Guy Dupuis' first name is pronounced 'Gee' (like 'see' with a hard 'g') not 'Gye' (like 'eye').

6. Please do not get up from your seat or return to your seat during play. Please wait until the WHISTLE BLOWS. Some people are actually there to watch the game.

7. If I were you I would not leave a game early. This is hockey not football. Goals can be scored in seconds.

Thank you and enjoy the game!

Happy Birthday Olivia!

2011-11-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

Somebody had a birthday this weekend.

And got a visit from a Disney princess...

What Gretchen & Trevor do at Grandpa & Grandma's....

2011-11-07T19:46:00.000-05:00

Bisque It

2011-10-26T19:47:00.000-04:00

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time with some lovely ladies. We went to Bisque It, a pottery painting studio. Tonight I picked up our finished products.

My yellow mug -

I had to free hand the flowers since the stamp was MIA. I think it turned out pretty well though.

For more pictures of the wonderful evening check out Jess's blog!

Thanks for wonderful evening Jackie and Jess!

Shutterfly Christmas Cards!

2011-10-20T21:11:00.000-04:00

Did you know that there are only 66 days until Christmas? Yep, and earlier this week National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was on TV. I only know this because I was flipping through the channels. I did not stop to watch it because I am sure I will have several more opportunities to watch this movie this holiday season. It is a Minnich favorite, which my husband and his brother know every line of.

Anyways, speaking of Christmas, Shutterfly, which is a cool website to play with your pictures (and is really easy to use) is giving away 25 free Christmas cards to bloggers. Who can pass up free cards?

This was our Christmas card done on Shutterfly last year.

We went with the football theme last year. In 2009 we went with a hockey theme. Not sure what this year's theme will be yet. The hardest part is trying to pick one card from the 928 options of Christms cards that Shutterfly has. Like these -

Pretty cool, huh?!

If you want to participate and get your free cards you can go here to sign up.

Big City

2011-10-02T17:32:00.002-04:00

We took this past week off and went to the big city (Indy) for a day.

We did a lot of walking! The weather was a little chilly because of the wind but we didn't get rained on which was good. We checked out Lucas Oil Stadium and the Colts Pro Shop. Of course, we couldn't actully get in to the stadium.

We saw lots of jerseys but for some reason we didn't see number 7. Hmmm... wonder why?

I am a big Peyton fan but these are a little freaky.

We also walked along the canal.

You can rent a box for your bike to keep it safe. We checked through the little windows and there were actually bikes inside some of them.

And you can pay for a parking spot with a credit card in this nifty little machine.

There was lots of construction downtown. Apparently they are getting ready for something big in February.

We also went to the zoo. It was the perfect time to visit - there were hardly any people there and the weather was cool enough that a lot of the animals were out.

John putting a spell on the polar bear.

They have this really cool area where you can touch a shark. You have to use two fingers and no touching the fins.

That's my arm!

They have some really fat penguins at this zoo.

And a huge walrus.

The dolphins were smiling for John.

This was pretty cool because the dolphins were swimming all around and above us.

A big rhino.

This guy was checking John out.

An elephant family.

These guys are just nasty.

The tigers kept pacing back and forth.

Oh look, there's the stadium again.

After the zoo we walked next door to the White River Gardens but it was just that, a bunch of gardens. Not to impressive for us. We also went to the mall and got to eat at Arni's, which was one of our favorite places to get pizza when we lived there.

It was nice to get away for a day in the big city.

Happy Birthday John!

2011-09-25T13:07:00.000-04:00

Today is John's birthday!

Last night we had a pre-birthday celebration.

~~Drew Carey~~ Gabe cheesing for the camera.

Playing in the Park

2011-08-20T21:38:00.003-04:00

Tonight we went to dinner with Dan and Amy and the kids. After dinner we went to Buckner Park. Of course, John and I had never been to Buckner Park before so it was quite the excitement for us. John was so excited that he ran through the water sprinklers with his clothes on!

He also had to make sure that the slides were safe for Olivia and Gabe.

Then he and Dan had to have some fun! Luckily no one was injured.

I guess this is a teetor-totter. It must be the new-style becuase it sure doesn't look like the kind we used to play on. Actually none of the playground equipment did. There was no wooden equpment to get splinters on. And another thing, the ground was rubbery, no stones to fall on.

It is actually a really nice park for kids (and big kids) :)

Thanks for inviting us! We had fun!

*Pictures courtesy of Amy. Thanks!

Faith

2011-08-11T17:36:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Miss Faith (our newest niece) made her entrance into the world and we got to meet her last night.

The whole family was there to welcome her.

Uncle John

Aunt Carrie

Grandma

Aunt Jenny

Cousin Gretchen

Cousin Trevor

Great Grandpa

Gladys

Uncle Ray and Grandpa were there too.

I just didn't get a picture of them holding her.

And of course, the new dad!

Trevor told his mom that he was only going to come to meet and talk to the new baby if she didn't have a stinky diaper. What a funny guy!

Gretchen asked how many toes she had. These two crack me up!

Here's her 10 little toes, Gretchen.

Congratulations Matt and Ada!

Strawberry Pineapple Smoothies

2011-08-09T19:33:00.003-04:00

I found a new blog. Well, it's not actually new. I've just never made anything from it before, until now.

This is the blog - Annie's Eats

And this is what I made - Strawberry Pineapple Smoothies.

Okay, so her pictures are MUCH better but mine still tasted good even though I did not add ground flax seed. I don't even know what that is so I don't think I'll miss it. And since John won't touch stuff like this, there's more for me!

The Recipe from Annie's Eats
Ingredients:
8 oz. low-fat vanilla or plain yogurt
1 large banana
1½ cups chopped pineapple, frozen
1½ cups frozen strawberries
2-3 tbsp. ground flax seed
¼ cup milk

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Process until thick and smooth. Add ice to thicken, if desired, or milk to thin. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Little Otter

2011-08-06T12:48:00.002-04:00

This past week we got to spend some time at the lake - Little Otter Lake (part of the Lake James chain of lakes). Every year John's mom goes to the lake for a week so we visited her for some of days. John's brother and his family also got to come up for a few days.

We took lots of pontoon rides.

Boat rides make some people very tired.

We also saw some cool birds.

And lots of swans. They even came up into the yard. Apparently the people that rented the cottage the week before liked to feed the swans.

We also did a lot of fishing.

Gabe even wanted in on the fishing.

It was so nice to get away from work and enjoy the outdoors. We had great weather and great company!

5 on Friday

2011-07-29T07:30:00.001-04:00

5 random thoughts on a Friday...

1. It's the Friday before a week of vacation! Yahoo!
2. It would be really nice if it started raining again so our yard would actually be green again.
3. We are going to get a new niece or nephew any day now. I am sure Ada would be happy if it was sooner than later with the heat.
4. Welcome back NFL! Now there will be something to watch on TV this fall.
5. Did I mention we are on vacation next week?! :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fair Time

2011-07-26T21:34:00.000-04:00

Saturday we went to the Elkhart County 4-H Fair. I have gone to the fair for at least one day every year for as long as I can remember. And I will admit that I am a fair snob in that after being in 4-H for 10 years at this fair, other fairs around are a bit "small" (to be polite). Don't believe me? Check out Wikipedia. It says the Elkhart County 4-H Fair is the second largest county fair in the country. You know if it's on Wikipedia it has to be true.

The strong man competition was going on.

Two guys racing to see who could pull these up the fastest.

Looks like fun :(

We also got to see these crazy guys.

Gretchen, chew with your mouth closed :)

Apparently they have decided that people need to wash their hands while visiting the fair.

They didn't have these fancy sinks when I was in 4-H.

And boy, was it hot! It was in the 90's but felt like it was over 100.

It's always nice to find a fan to stand in front of for awhile.

Or get ice cream from the Dairy Bar to cool off.

We had to eat it really fast though because it melted down the side of the cup.

This would have probably also been a good idea to cool off too.

But don't mess with this guy...

Because he's big!

So if you ever go, here are my recommendations -
*For food - Ham sandwiches from the Pork Producers but you might want to get one and split it because they put a ton of ham in it. Lamburgers from the Lamb Club. Ice cream from the Dairy Bar. Pretzels from what used to be called Jo Jo's pretzels but it might be called something else now. And of course there's elephant ears.
*Sundays are free but if you go be prepared to wait in a lot of traffic and there will be a lot of people. Make sure you aren't trying to get in during the parade.
*Parking is free so don't pay $4 to park in someone's yard.
*Get your tickets to get in before the fair starts and you can save a couple bucks.
*You can sit in the grandstands for the concerts for free.

You should really go!

1st Birthday

2011-07-12T21:16:00.000-04:00

We have another birthday this week.

Gabe turns 1!

He had a jungle-themed party on Sunday.

What a happy guy!

Enjoying his cake!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Camp Amigo 2011

2011-07-10T12:35:00.001-04:00

This weekend was the annual Miller get-together at Camp Amigo in Michigan. I believe 1999 was the first year so this was the 13th year but 2004 was canceled because someone got married that weekend :)

Brunch on Saturday.

Gretchen and Trevor checking out the birds at the Nature Center.

Trevor helping mom and dad with a game of checkers.

Gretchen and Grandma working on a puzzle.

Matt and Ada are expecting their first baby in August. Karen and Cherie thought they should have a shower. Matt at his 1st baby shower.

Trevor helping out with a game of Cornhole. I don't know how many times he got hit with a beanbag trying to collect them.

Grandpa going down the slide on his 83rd birthday.

Sisters with matching Camp Amigo shirts.

Celebrating Grandpa's birthday.

And now for the ice cream! The ice cream is located in the back of a gas station in Natawa, Michigan. I can only tell you that from Camp Amigo you turn left at the stop sign by the bank.

The Bellyache is 8 LARGE scoops of ice cream. John only got 4 LARGE scoops!

Until next year!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-05T20:46:00.000-04:00

Monday night we went to the TinCaps baseball game.

After the game was finally over (it seemed to take awhile and the

TinCaps ended up losing by one run) there were fireworks!

Birthday Bash

2011-07-05T20:26:00.000-04:00

Somebody is having a birthday...

Trevor turns 4 this week and had a birthday bash on Sunday

with a Spiderman cake.

Everybody knows the frosting is the best part!

Happy birthday Trevor!

Happy Anniversary to Us

2011-07-03T07:30:00.007-04:00

7 years ago today....

July 3, 2004

The Ground is Moving!

2011-06-26T20:18:00.001-04:00

John and I have been doing a lot of landscaping lately, specifically mulching. We have been trying to finish it and worked on it this afternoon. John was edging on one side of the yard while I was on the other side of the yard trimming the long grass and weeds around the mulch. I was doing this by hand so I was sitting on the ground. I was pulling some grass out on a spot and some furry stuff started coming out along with the grass. Then the ground started moving! Great, there's an animal in our yard. I didn't want another chipmunk incident. I went and got John and he brought the hose. We started spraying the spot with water and it still moved. Then something came out of the ground. It was dark gray, black and we couldn't tell what it was.

A snake? A mouse? A mole?

We couldn't tell.

Then it looked it had two heads! It was so freaky looking.

Then there were two more that came out. So whatever it was, we had four of them!

Then we saw the ears.

And knew they were baby rabbits!

So we left them alone. We checked on them later and it looked like they had gone back under ground because we could only see the top of one and another one was trying to dig under. Hopefully the poor guys make it.

YoYo

2011-06-23T19:57:00.000-04:00

After time and time again of driving by YoYo (Yogurt on Your Own) and seeing the line out the door (they just opened April 30th), we finally got in. Last Sunday John and I finally went to YoYo. And it was great!

There are 7 soft serve frozen yogurt machines with 2 flavors each in the wall.

(Picture from YoYo's Facebook)

They had Old Fashioned Peanut Butter, Cookies and Cream, California Tart, Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla and some other flavors that I am not remembering.

You go in and grab a cup (only one size) and fill it up with as much and whatever kind of yogurt you want. Then you go for the toppings.

(Picture from YoYo's Facebook)

They have fruit - blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, etc., cereal, crushed Oreos, M&M's, all kinds of candy. It is kind of funny that most of the yogurt flavors have signs that say nonfat or lowfat but then they have all these candy toppings. You can see how kids love this place.

Then you put your cup on the scale. They charge 40 cents an ounce. Cheaper than Dairy Queen and way better tasting.

Then you enjoy!

John's yogurt - Chocolate and Cookies and Cream yogurt with all kinds of chocolate toppings.

My yogurt - Strawberry yogurt with strawberries and kiwi-lime sauce.

Nelson's

2011-06-14T20:58:00.000-04:00

Mmmm...Nelson's Port-A-Pit chicken. You can smell it as you drive by. I saw them in a parking lot the other day and had to roll the window down so I could get a sniff. This was a favorite meal growing up. I recently learned that they also have a location in Fort Wayne as well as Wakarusa. If you haven't had Nelson's chicken I highly recommend the next time you see them to stop and get some. You can go here to check out where their next fundraiser location is.

What do you call them?

2011-06-09T20:43:00.000-04:00

Eggs that look at you...
Dunkin' eggs....
Sunny side up....
Fried eggs....

Whatever you call them, I had them for supper tonight.

That's Us!

2011-06-07T20:07:00.000-04:00

If you every happen to be on Manchester College's website you might just stumble on to John and I.

That's us below next to "Photo Album." Can you tell it's us? We are walking away from the PERC (gym) so we might not look our best. :) The picture is also from a few years ago...okay, maybe more like ten since it's from the summer of 2001!

Here's the link to the actual Manchester page with our picture.

Moving?

2011-06-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

I think I need to move to Austria

We Mulched

2011-05-29T20:19:00.000-04:00

Most (okay, the entire weekend except when it was raining and even then some in the rain) of this weekend was spent mulching. It started with this...

And ended with this...

Please excuse the grass. It's unusually muddy and will get mowed tomorrow.

We didn't have any mulch before this weekend. Actually putting the mulch down was easy. It was all the other stuff that took longer. There were rocks along the front of the house and on both sides of the sidewalk to the front door. We moved all of these to the right side of the sidewalk. Then we laid mulch down both sides of the house and along the front. We also planted the bushes in the front and the flowers in the flower pots. We also started laying mulch in the backyard but will have to finish that another day because right now, we are exhausted.

Wordle

2011-05-25T20:29:00.003-04:00

One of my friends at work showed me this fun little toy to create word clouds - Wordle

It's really pretty neat. You type in a bunch of words and it creates random word clouds. You can change the color, the font, the layout, etc. If you type in the word more than once it will only show the word once but it will make it bigger. For example, if you type a word in 3 times, it will make it 3 times bigger than the other words. This is my practice with random color words.

The only tricky thing is saving it. Since its a Java applet it can't save directly to a jpeg file. The default option is to save it to a public folder. I did a print screen and then saved it as a jpeg file.

Then on the Wordle blog I found Tagxedo

It's very similar except you can make your words into a specific shapes and pictures. This is supposed to be a heart.

Some of the pictures are crazy! Like this -

I did not do this one. It was an example in the Tagxedo gallery.

But I did do this one...

I am still trying to figure out how to make the gray color in the background go away but I am learning!

So if you get bored at work you should check it out!

5 on Friday

2011-05-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

5 random thoughts for a Friday...

1. The fence is up! It is so nice to walk into our backyard and not see the neighbors or have a dog running in it.
2. So glad this week is almost over. Work has been crazy this week. I had to wear a suit 4 days!
3. Has anyone seen the warm weather? It's more like fall out than spring.
4. After seeing highlights of the Royal Wedding, I've decided there's no way I would want to be a part of the Royal family.
5. Happy early Mothers Day to my mom!

We've Got a Fence!

2011-05-03T19:55:00.000-04:00

Ahhhhh, privacy!

Welcome to our new backyard!

Our secret corner to hide the garbage can.

We've Got Posts!

2011-04-27T12:00:00.001-04:00

Easter

2011-04-26T20:26:00.000-04:00

We got to spend time on Sunday with family. Here are some highlights.

The birds' nest

"These aren't sticks. They're chocolate!"

Trevor doing some push ups.

Gabe is on the move!

Uncle John's shoes are just a little too big for Olivia.

Okay, I'll try walking now.

Ranch Dressing and Lowes

2011-04-08T21:52:00.000-04:00

Look who we had dinner with tonight! Jenny and the fam were in town today for a spring break trip. So we met up with them at Cheddar's for dinner. Trevor apparently loves ranch dressing with chicken strips!

Gretchen practicing writing her name.

After dinner they had to go to Lowe's to pick something up so we tagged along. Obviously these kids have been to Lowe's more than once :) They know how to check everything out. And we have to try out the tractors. Only the green ones though!

Oops, Gretchen lost her shoe on the tractors.

It was so nice to see you guys tonight. Hopefullly the kids fell asleep on the way home!

*The pictures aren't the greatest because they were from my phone plus those kids are constantly on the move!

Go Butler!

2011-04-04T21:03:00.001-04:00

In honor of the big game tonight. The article is from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Here: Butler's Secret Weapon: Indiana Kids

It's a pretty neat article about basketball in Indiana.

Butler's secret weapon: Indiana kids

By Mark Zeigler
Originally published April 3, 2011 at 9:24 p.m., updated April 3, 2011 at 10:48 p.m.
/ AP

HOUSTON — The Astrodome, the world’s first domed stadium, once a colossal monument to sport, sits next to Reliant Stadium. It looks tiny.

Reliant Stadium is 1.9 million square feet, with 20 escalators, 11 elevators and four pedestrian ramps. It seats 75,000. The retractable roof is 500 by 385 feet, and it soars 27 stories into the Houston sky.

The basketball court for Monday night’s NCAA championship game between Butler and Connecticut is set into the middle of the Reliant Stadium floor, not pushed into one corner with a giant curtain blocking off one end of the building, which means there is ample space above and around the sidelines, which, for the players, means there is no real shooting backdrop.

Which means Garrett Butcher is shrugging.

“Everyone asks us if shooting in a big stadium bothers us,” says Butcher, Butler’s 6-foot-7 junior forward. “I’ve been shooting with 15 acres behind me all my life.”

It is what makes Butler different, what makes it special, what makes it capable of reaching an NCAA championship game from a mid-major conference and then doing it again the following year – a roster full of Garrett Butchers. Kids from Indiana towns who grew up playing on rusted driveway hoops, with basketball wired into their DNA, with the legend of Hoosiers and Milan High chiseled into their ethos.

“Growing up in Indiana, basketball is THE sport,” Butcher says. “It’s what everyone wants to do. It’s what everyone does. You grow up watching these guys play in high school or play on TV, and that becomes every kid’s dream, to do that one day. And right now, that’s what we’re living.”

Butcher is from Ellettsville, Ind., population 5,078, with a town motto of “Builders of American history” for its limestone industry. His court was a slab of concrete with a glass backboard and a three-point line next to the barn at their rural home that may or may not be a farm.
“If it has a tractor, barn and chickens,” 6-9 sophomore Emerson Kampen says, “it’s a farm.”
“We have a tractor and a barn but no chickens,” Butcher says. “We used to have chickens but we don’t any more.”
Kampen: “That’s a farm.”

Butcher: “We’ve been debating this for two years.”

Kampen grew up in Yorktown, Ind., which he says is “pretty big” and has a population of 9,405. His court was on a slanted driveway, making the rim a lot shorter on shots from the left corner than the right. Straightaway three-pointers were from the grass.

He has three brothers – one older, one younger and a twin – and they had some epic two-on-two battles. In the summer after 6th grade, they taped a sheet to the refrigerator to keep track of the games; it was Emerson and his twin Evan against their other two brothers.

He went on to play for Yorktown High in what he considers a “small” gym because it “only seats 3,000 or 4,000.”

He’s not lying. Chase Stigall and Zach Hahn went to Chrysler High in New Castle. It has an enrollment of 1,200 … and plays in fieldhouse that seats 9,325, reputedly the largest high school gymnasium in the world.

In all, 10 players are from Indiana. Alex Anglin is from Kokomo. Erik Fromm is from Bloomington. Andrew Smith and Chrishawn Hopkins are from Indianapolis.

Grant Leiendecker is from the outskirts of Fort Wayne and talks proudly about his driveway court. He built it with his father when he was 8, a bonding experience, a rite of passage of sorts – digging the hole for the pole, pouring the cement, painting the lines.

It doubled as a place to park the family cars.

“They had to be moved a lot,” Leiendecker says.

Butler coach Brad Stevens understands. He’s from Zionsville. He’s one of them.

“Best birthday present I ever got was when I was 8 years old,” he says. “I got a basketball hoop on my driveway. I think a lot of these guys share that. There is a passion for the game and a passion for a team in a lot of (Indiana) communities that goes beyond the norm.”

Star forward Matt Howard is from Connersville, a map dot in eastern Indiana not far from the Ohio border. He is the son of a mailman who raised 10 kids in a modest three-bedroom house. And who received cash and checks from people along his mail route last week so the family could attend the Final Four in Houston.

On Butler’s Senior Night, an estimated 1,400 people – or roughly one in 10 Connersville residents – drove to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to see Howard play his final home game.

"That's an example of all of our Indiana kids," Stevens says, "kind of how they've grown up."

There are four players on the roster from out of state, but they exude the same morals, the same core values, the same commitment to taking charges and blocking out and hedging ball screens and doing all the thankless little things, the same Hoosiers ethos, the same underdog mentality. Stevens makes sure of that. He won’t recruit anybody who doesn’t fit.

“The Butler Way,” they call it.

“I think it begins with selflessness, and certainly accountability is very important, and humility is very important,” Stevens says. “But the only way we address the Butler Way with our team is in this regard: People know they’ve seen and felt something special, they just can’t put their finger on it.”

Spend hours shooting around on a driveway hoop in the fading light of a summer evening, crickets buzzing, the bouncing ball echoing off the barn, and you begin to understand what he’s talking about.

Five on Friday

2011-04-01T19:42:00.001-04:00

Five random thoughts for a Friday...

1. Busy season hours are over! I am leaving work at 4:30.
2. Tomorrow is the first game of the Komets playoffs. They are at Bloomington so we will have to listen to Bob Chase call the game on the radio.
3. I am rooting for Butler tomorrow in the Final Four.
4. We watched Pawn Stars the other day for the first time. I think those people that take their stuff in get ripped off.
5. Manchester College got a bunch of money from Eli Lilly for their pharmacy program and are now going to build a School of Pharmacy on the north side of Fort Wayne.

Have a nice weekend!

Birthday Fairy

2011-03-26T15:50:00.000-04:00

My office has a birthday fairy. Or I should say fairies. Thursday when I got to work, this was on my desk.

Exhibit A - Cookie

Then later in the morning I left my office for a few minutes and when I got back this was on my desk.

Exhibit B - DeBrand's chocolate

I thought I might know who had put the cookie there but she said no and that she had in fact received a chocolate on her desk for her birthday. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that there are birthday fairies in the office.

So thank you to the birthday fairies!

Another note on my birthday...

Thursday night John and I went here.

Someone at work introduced me to Toscani's but this was John's first time. I had the Hugo sandwich. So good! John ordered a medium pepperoni pizza for himself. The waitress said "You know that has 8 slices, right?" She had no idea about his pizza eating skills.

His and Hers

2011-03-20T13:11:00.000-04:00

John and I went to Mancino's this week for lunch one day. It's right by the office so we have been there several times (the chicken ranch sandwich is so good). Plus we usually each order the same thing so they know what we want. This time we got the sandwiches to go.

The guy working didn't label our sandwiches as to what they were instead he labeled them as "his" and "hers." Too funny!

5 on Friday

2011-03-18T08:00:00.003-04:00

1. I think it might finally be done snowing! It was actually warm in my office yesterday!
2. Komets game tonight. Only 4 more regular season games after tonight.
3. Congratulations to Jackie and Josh on the birth of their little girl this week! They now have four little girlies!
4. I barely made it through the time warp this past week. Not a fan of daylight savings time.
5. I am really "like"ing this quote I saw on Facebook the other day. "Better to remain silent and be perceived a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln. So true.

Scrapbook Page

2011-03-12T19:41:00.001-05:00

Here's a page of my nephew's second birthday.

Digital Scrapbooking

2011-03-09T20:57:00.001-05:00

For Christmas John got me this.

Which is how I have spent most of my time since Christmas (excluding the busy season hours and hockey games).

My shelf with scrapbooks on them was getting too full so I decided to go digital. I am in love with this software! It's pretty easy to use and has all sorts of added things you can do with it, like add music or videos. You can also print off your albums. MyMemories has a website where you can purchase additional backgrounds and embellishments. They also offer several downloads for free.

Anyways, I was so excited to get an email from MyMemories today for a $10.00 coupon off anything at their website! This is the first time I have purchased something from them (I usually stick with the freebies).

Now, I just have to decide what to buy?

Sleeping Bags

2011-02-12T19:26:00.002-05:00

I was looking online tonight for some shoes and found these at Zappos - sleeping bags for your feet!

Under product description it said...

Combine the warmth and comfort of a sleeping bag bootie that's perfect for traveling.

I bet your feet would be warm and cozy in these but I am not sure how easy it would be to walk. These cracked me up!

Snow Day!

2011-02-02T19:41:00.000-05:00

First there was a blizzard warning

Then it snowed

and snowed some more

Then it sleeted until 1:30 in the morning

and was very windy

Then a Level 1 emergency warning (emergency vehicles only)

So it was a SNOW DAY! (we still worked from home but didn't have to go to the office)

And while shoveling the driveway today we saw this go down our street

Kindred Spirits

2011-01-06T19:03:00.000-05:00

True friends are always together in spirit. - Anne of Green Gables

Happy Birthday Miss G!

2011-01-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday to Miss Gretchen today! She had her big birthday bash over the weekend but gets to take cupcakes to school today.

Trevor needs to check on the ice cream.

Hey Jenny!

She now needs two hands to count how old she is!

the BIRTHDAY girl

Notice Trevor in the corner :)

Yumm!

2010 Recap

2010-12-31T18:06:00.000-05:00

January - Gretchen's 5th birthday. Komets games. Shrine Circus.
February - Komets games. Manchester College 101 Days to Commencement.
March - Komets games. My birthday. Matt and Ada's wedding.
April - TinCaps games. Komets games. Lunch with Jackie. Easter.
May - Komets games. Komets three-peat with Turner Cup. TinCaps games. Manchester College graduation speech. John leaves DWD.
June - John starts a new job at Parkview. TinCaps games. Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo. Lake. Toledo Zoo. Supper with the girls (Jenn, Jess, Jackie). Playdate with Gretchen and Trevor. Manchester College Alumni Days. Lunch with Sara.
July - Trevor's 3rd birthday. Our anniversary. TinCaps games. Camp Amigo. Gabe arrives. Elkhart County 4-H Fair.
August - TinCaps games. Lake.
September - John's birthday. Lucas Oil Stadium Tour. Fort Wayne Childrens Zoo.
October - Komets games. Manchester Homecoming. Colts v. Chiefs game.
November - Thanksgiving. Komets games. Olivia's 2nd birthday. Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
December - Christmas. Komets games. John leaves Parkview and returns to DWD. Colts v. Cowboys game.

Christmas Moments III

2010-12-26T22:24:00.000-05:00

Day after Christmas with John's Dad.

He's ready for the Colts game.

What a happy little guy.

Christmas Moments II

2010-12-26T22:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas day with John's mom.

"Look at the camera Gabe."

Hollywood

She wanted me to take a picture of her new toy.

Notice she still has her shades on.

Blitz!

Christmas Moments I

2010-12-26T21:38:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve with my family.

What a ham!

Trevor wanted his picture taken with Matt.

And with John.

Reading the Christmas story.

Hi.

Watch out! He's dangerous!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T08:00:00.003-05:00

Colts v. Cowboys

2010-12-06T20:40:00.000-05:00

We got to go to they Colts-Cowboys game on Sunday. We got our money's worth with the overtime - the first overtime game in the new Lucas Oil Stadium. Unfortunately, it didn't end the way we would have liked it. But it is hard to win a football game when you have four interceptions and half your starters are watching from the sidelines because they are injured. We still had fun!

It's Christmas Time

2010-11-29T19:48:00.001-05:00

Outside lights above the garage

7 Day Forecast

2010-11-27T11:48:00.001-05:00

This morning I went on to the local tv station's website to see how cold it was going to be. I was pleasantly surprised to see Sunday's temperature.

I guess I will be able to go swimming during the day but will need to put my parka on at night. You never know what the crazy Indiana weather is going to be like.

*The above graphic was on wane.com's website under the 7 day forecast on 11/27/2010. I wonder who forgot to review the temps before they were posted?

Shutterfly

2010-11-19T16:36:00.001-05:00

I have a shelf full of scrapbooks. If I keep this up, I am going to run out of room so I was looking into digital scrapbooking this week. Just the other day someone I work with told me about Shutterfly. She used it to create a photo book of her wedding. You can also create cards, stationary, calendars and other gifts with your photos. So as I was snooping on the blogs of people that I don't actually know in real life, I stumbled upon a holiday giveaway from Shutterfly. I thought this was kind of crazy since I had just been looking into Shutterfly earlier this week. Anyways, they are giving away 50 FREE holiday cards to bloggers who write about their new Christmas cards. Now, I myself have never used them (yet) but they have a ton (okay mabye only 805) of different Christmas designs to chose from. Here are some of my favorites -

I might be partial to the last one because of the name :) You can see the other 801 cards here. Okay, now I am excited to try this out!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

2010-11-09T19:06:00.000-05:00

Sunday night we went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in Fort Wayne. John really likes their Christmas songs and we've always wanted to go. I wasn't sure what the concert would be like but it was really cool. The first part told a Christmas story with a narrator and songs. Then they played some other non-Christmas songs. The light show that went along with the music was very impressive.

Apparently a prerequisite of being in the orchestra is having long hair...really long hair. Let me show you. I wonder how much shampoo they go through during a tour?

This girl was pounding on the keyboards all night long. She has to have some major arm muscles.

And I figured out the actual names to their songs -
Christmas Eve Sarajevo

If you ever get a chance to go see them, I would highly recommend it.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

2010-11-07T16:51:00.000-05:00

Happy 2nd birthday Miss Olivia!

And then there was a boxing match between her dad and uncle.

It's Hockey Season

2010-10-19T20:03:00.000-04:00

Saturday was the home opener for the Komets. This year the Komets are part of the Central Hockey League which has 18 teams instead of only the 6 that the IHL had. It should be interesting to see how they do against these new teams. They played the Rapid City Rush, last year's CHL champions.

Hoisting the championship banner from last season.

Little Komet fan.

Smile Gabe!

Unfortunately, the Komets got shut out 4-0 but it was the only the first game of the season. There will be many more games!

Go Colts!

2010-10-10T21:08:00.000-04:00

The Kansas City Chiefs are unbeaten no more. Today we got the opportunity to go the Colts Chiefs game with our friends, Drew and Sara. Unfortunately the game wasn't too exciting but the Colts did win. After 7 fieldgoals and 1 touchdown (in the fourth quarter) the final score was 19-9. Outside temperature 86 degrees, inside temperature 71 degrees so the roof was closed. I can't believe it was too hot in October in Indiana to open the roof!

We are ready for the game.

The view of the entire field from our seats.

We were in section 247 in the corner. They were pretty good seats.

Peyton warming up with a throw to Dallas.

The coin toss.

Kicking another fieldgoal.

Our view of two screens.

Thanks for thinking of us Drew and Sara. We had fun.

Happy Birthday!

2010-09-25T08:00:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday to my hubby!

Lucas Oil Stadium

2010-09-22T20:32:00.001-04:00

Today we took a tour of Lucas Oil Stadium. It was awesome! At the beginning of the tour the tour guide, Jim, asked us where we were all from. There were a two or three people that said they were from New England (we do not like the Patriots)! They said they would stay at the back of the group though. There were 23 people total.

The tour started out in the Colts Pro Shop:

Everybody's jersey was for sale along with a Colts shower curtain, Colts toaster and anything else you could think of with Colts on it.

Or you could buy a signed Manning jersey for $899 (framed).

Then we got to go out on to The Field (the best part):

Luckily we didn't do the earlier tour because a commercial was being filmed at the time and they didn't get to go on to the field. We were told to stay on the blue and white though. They get kind of funny about walking on the green. So we didn't get to run down the field for a touchdown. Did you know the field is there all of the time? There's 3 1/2 feet of sand under the field, then rubber, then the artificial turf. They put some type of floor on top of the field when there are other events there.

The view from the field looking up.

Our next stop was the Visitors' Locker Room:

This is where the Giants had been only three days earlier. We were trying to figure out which one Eli used. :) There was a dry erase board with a list of Colts inactive players on it. One of the guys on the tour from Iowa (who was very excited about the tour and celebrating his 30th birthday) was trying to figure out who wrote the list. Unfortunately they didn't let us see the Colts' locker room. They said it has wooden lockers. I'm sure it's much nicer.

Next we headed upstairs to the Press Box:

Even John made it all the way to the top. And we were way up there. The carpet on this level had "Colts" all over it.

The instant replay room is right beside the Press Box. They are pretty serious about this room. The tour guide said a guard stands right outside the door during the game.

We started back down and stopped at the Terrace Level:

We also go to see the giant window that opens and closes. What a view! Apparently Vinatieri doesn't like to have the window open because it messes up his kick.

The tour was very cool. The only thing that would have made it better is if we could have gotten to see Peyton.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

2010-09-19T12:00:00.001-04:00

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. In honor of this occasion, I'd like to share my pirate joke -

Have you heard about the new pirate movie?
It's rated AARRRRGGH!

And Trevor does an excellent pirate impression.

(He covers one eye and says "AARRRRGGH.")

Zoo

2010-09-18T20:03:00.002-04:00

Today we went to the zoo with Dan and Amy. Olivia and Gabe came along too :)

Bill and Ina came out to see us.

And all of the giraffes were out too.

Even the orangutans were out.

But Gabe missed them all.

Olivia will have to tell him about all of the monkeys and "woof-woofs" (dogs) she saw

because every animal was either a monkey or a dog.

Olivia went on the carousel with John and Dan.

She wasn't very happy at the start of the ride.

But she was much happier at the end.

I think the ride might have been a little too much for John though.

Then Olivia and I went in the "Kid's Tree House."

She needed a little encouragement to go all the way through.

We ended the night at a Minnich favorite - Pizza Hut. Thanks for coming guys.

September 9, 2010

2010-09-09T20:43:00.001-04:00

An evening in pictures...

Our new pizza cutter. A friend from work went to some type of marketing event where they had all sorts of stuff you could put your business' name on, even a pizza cutter. The packaging said it was "The world's best pizza cutter." I had my doubts. Come on it's plastic but after using it, I am impressed. The wheel pops right out to be washed too. Very nice!

Apparently our neighbor's dog has a cast on its leg. If you look really close someone wrote "Get well soon" on the cast. No wonder the dog barks all of the time. Not nice!

We went for a walk tonight and on the way back we saw a hot air balloon. It must have just been taking off because it was pretty low to the ground. By the time we got back to the house it was further away. Nice!

Tonight it's finally time for some real football. Unfortunately the Colts aren't playing. And I am not sure who to cheer for. I am tired of hearing about "Who Dat Nation" that beat the Colts but they are playing Favre. Maybe they could both lose. :) Not nice!

Nieces and Nephews

2010-08-30T19:44:00.000-04:00

An ode to nieces and nephews - We can play with them and give them back when they get grouchy.

Gretchen

She started kindergarten this year.

Trevor

Doesn't he look ornery?

Olivia

She likes to dance when she hears music.

Gabe

Once in awhile he opens his eyes.

Mindset List

2010-08-17T19:35:00.001-04:00

Every year Beloit College puts out the Mindset List for students starting college. "It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall" and "was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references. I think it's funny that faculty need a reminder of this. The list for 2014 has 75 items. Here are a few of my favorites.

Most students entering college for the first time this fall—the Class of 2014—were born in 1992.

1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
2. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
19. They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
27. Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
28. They’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.
30. “Viewer Discretion” has always been an available warning on TV shows.
31. The first computer they probably touched was an Apple II; it is now in a museum.
36. Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.
39. Pizza jockeys from Domino’s have never killed themselves to get your pizza there in under 30 minutes.
40. There have always been HIV positive athletes in the Olympics.
44. The dominance of television news by the three networks passed while they were still in their cribs.
50. Toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.
58. Beethoven has always been a dog.
63. Their parents’ favorite TV sitcoms have always been showing up as movies.
72. One way or another, “It’s the economy, stupid” and always has been.

So since that list made me feel old, I tried to find the list applicable to me - class of 2001. The earliest list I could find was the class of 2002, so it will have to do.

1. The people starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1980.
2. They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era, and did not know he had ever been shot.
3. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
4. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
5. There has only been one Pope. They can only remember one other president.
6. They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the Cold War.
7. They have never feared a nuclear war. "The Day After" is a pill to them—not a movie.
8. They are too young to remember the Space Shuttle Challenger blowing up. (I sort of remember watching this in elementary school.)
9. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
10. They never had a polio shot, and likely, do not know what it is.
11. Bottle caps have not always been screw off, but have always been plastic. They have no idea what a pull top can looks like.
12. Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums.
13. The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them.
14. They have never owned a record player.
15. They have likely never played Pac Man, and have never heard of "Pong." (I've played Pong!)
16. Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.
17. There have always been red M&Ms, and blue ones are not new. What do you mean there used to be beige ones? (There were never red ones?)
18. They may never have heard of an 8-track, and chances are they've never heard or seen one.
19. The compact disc was introduced when they were one year old.
20. As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.
21. They have always had an answering machine.
22. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black & white TV. (How about 5 channels?)
23. They have always had cable. (Nope, no cable until college.)
24. There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what Beta is. (I have a techie husband, so I know about Beta.)
25. They cannot fathom what it was like not having a remote control.
26. They were born the year Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
27. Roller-skating has always meant in-line for them.
28. "The Tonight Show" has always been with Jay Leno.
29. They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
30. Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave. (We always had popcorn in a popcorn popper, never the microwave.)
31. They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player.
32. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
33. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI and WWII or even the Civil War.
34. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
35. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are. (John had these until a few years ago.)
36. They don't know who Mork was, or where he was from. (And Mindy?)
37. They never heard the terms "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" or "De plane, de plane!"
38. They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.
39. The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was.
40. Michael Jackson has always been white. (Nope, I remember when he was darker.)
41. Kansas, Boston, Chicago, America, and Alabama are all places—not music groups.
42. McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
43. There has always been MTV, and it has always included non-musical shows.

I thought the lists were pretty interesting. What do you think? Lists for other years can be found at www.beloit.edu/mindset

Up Above

2010-08-06T10:30:00.000-04:00

How to Increase the Size of Your Trailer

2010-08-05T20:47:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went up to the lake. While we were on a boat ride, we saw this. Look closely.

Did you see it? Look again.

I guess if you put your refrigerator on the outside of your trailer, you have more room inside.

eBay

2010-07-31T17:28:00.001-04:00

Have you ever looked on eBay? I've never purchased anything from eBay but I have looked to see what kind of stuff people are trying to sell. I've decided I should have kept all of my old toys so that I could sell them on eBay.

For example, this Glo Worm, which I had one at one time, has a bid of $15.65.

This Little People Farm, which we had, has a bid of $21.50. Notice how much smaller the Little People were back then? Apparently the possibility of swallowing one wasn't an issue then.

And the Little People House is going for $26.00.

Miss Strawbery Shortcake, which by the way was made much better than the ones they make now days, is going for $31.00.

And finally, Dream Glow Barbie has a bid of $33.00. She probably wouldn't get as much if her head wouldn't stay on, like mine that my niece now plays with.

Of course there were the same items for auction that were a lot less because they didn't have the box or all of the pieces. I guess the key is to not let your kids take their toys out of the box.

Strawberry Pops

2010-07-28T19:12:00.001-04:00

If you have a hankering for a cool summer treat, you should try these.

photo by Kraft

Mine looked more like this, but they were still good, even with the crooked stick.

Triple Strawbery No-Drip Pops

2 cups boiling water

1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

18 fresh strawberries, stemmed

2/3 cup (2-qt. line) KOOL-AID Strawbery Flavor Sugar-Sweetened Soft Drink Mix, or any red flavor

1. Add boiling water to gelatin mix; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved.

2. Cut strawberries in half. Mash berries and drink mix in large bowl with fork. Stir in gelatin.

3. Pour into 8 (5 oz.) paper cups.

4. Cover cups with foil, insert wooden pop stick into center of each for handle. Freeze 2 hours or until firm.

Enjoy!

The Fair

2010-07-25T19:03:00.000-04:00

Saturday we went to the fair. As in the Elkhart County 4-H Fair. There's the Elkhart County fair and then there's all the other county fairs that try. They just don't compare to this one. Of course I might be bias in that I was a 10 year 4-H member here but, hey, it is one of the largest county fairs in the United States so it has to be one of the best.

We arrived shortly after 11:00 so that meant time to find some good fair food. We headed to the Pork Producers to get one of these...

A ham sandwich. John has to get one of these every year. I am pretty sure they put even more ham in them this year than last year. I ate almost all of mine.

We walked around for awhile and checked everything out. Saw lots of 4-H projects, animals, and even some people I hadn't see in awhile. Had to get some ice cream from the Dairy Bar but we had to eat it fast before it melted. Then we saw my brother show in the Open Sheep Show.

After Matt was done showing, Trevor had to help with the lambs. He has a few more years until he can be in 4-H :)

Checking out the lambs in the back of the trailer.

Then we went with Gretchen to see the "big horses." Gretchen would walk right up and pet them all but Trevor would only touch the smaller ones.

This horse was making a very weird face at John.

Before we left, John had to get some more food - an elephant ear. I was still stuffed from the ham sandwich!

Meet Gabe

2010-07-16T13:37:00.000-04:00

This week we got to meet our new nephew, Gabe. He's pretty cool but doesn't say too much.

The little guy kept his eyes closed the entire time we were there.

Congratulations Dan, Amy and big sis Olivia!

Happy Birthday Trevor!

2010-07-11T21:03:00.000-04:00

This week was Trevor's birthday and today he had a birthday party. I think he really enjoyed his cake!

Camp Amigo 2010

2010-07-11T20:57:00.000-04:00

Every July my dad's side of the family goes to Camp Amigo for the weekend. John and I went up on Saturday for some family bonding.

Grandpa opening his birthday present

A serious game of cornhole

Trevor going for a drive

Being bounced by John

An exilerating game of ping pong

Working hard on a puzzle during the rain

Ending the day with some "big" ice cream

Until next year Amigo...

Fourth of July

2010-07-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

Last night we went to the TinCaps game, which ended up being a little warm. We actually walked across the street to Taco Bell to get a drink during the game. Baseball games can be so long sometimes. This time we had seats four rows back from the field, just to the left of homeplate, by the opposing team's dugout. So we this was our view to the left of John.

The TinCaps were losing 1-8 at the end of the second inning. This is when we went to Taco Bell. Bowling Green scored all 8 runs in the second inning. They were still losing 7-11 after the top of the ninth inning. Then the pitcher for Bowling Green helped out the TinCaps and walked 3 straight runs in. They didn't have any other pitchers in the bullpen warming up. They must have run out. Then the catcher missed an easy foul ball that bounced out of his mitt. The TinCaps ended up winning 12-11. The Bowling Green players were really mad after they lost. Because of our good seats we got to see them throw their helmets, mitts, bats and anything else they had in the dugout. I bet that pitcher doesn't play again anytime soon.

And then they celebrated with fireworks!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2010-07-03T14:02:00.000-04:00

July 2001

I'm pretty sure this was one of, if not the first, picture taken of "us" - nine years ago!

Today we celebrate six years of marriage!

Friends

2010-06-30T18:40:00.002-04:00

I'm glad I went to college where I did because I met these awesome ladies there.

I was thinking about posting a picture of us from our freshman year of college to compare to this picture but then I looked at those pictures and there is no way those pictures are going on the internet.

Last night I got to meet up with Jess, Jenn and Jackie for some good food and company at Jackienda. It's a local place that serves excellent Mexican cuisine. :) What Mexican eatery wouldn't be complete without chips?

Jackie and Jess working hard to make the chips.

Jenn and I working hard to eat them.

It was so great to see these ladies again. With our busy lives filled with families, work and traveling the globe, it's hard to get together as often as we'd like but when we do it sure is fun. Thanks girls, can't wait until next time!

Lake

2010-06-27T17:54:00.000-04:00

Saturday we went to the lake with John's fam. It rained in the morning but was nice and hot the rest of the day.

Olivia ready for some sun.

Uncle John getting some help driving the boat.

Olivia thought the boat was a little too dirty so she had to clean it.

Dreaming......

So I just realized most of the pictures are of Olivia. There were really other people there too but she's just so cute I guess she monopoilzed the pictures. She's going to be a big sister in a few weeks so then she'll have to share camera time. :)

Playdate

2010-06-25T22:26:00.000-04:00

Today I had a playdate with this guy...

And this gal....

Don't let the cuteness fool you. They can be up to no good. Especially this one...

The activities of the afternoon included....

Swinging

Sliding

Being put in "jail"

Watching Scooby Doo

Trevor's pirate impression ("Rrrr matey" while covering his eye)

Eating "duck soup" and "cookies"

Tickling

Laughing

Unfortunately I had to leave when it was time for Ariel. Next time, Gretchen. Thanks for letting me come and play!

Toledo Zoo

2010-06-20T17:02:00.000-04:00

Saturday evening we went to John's Aunt and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party in Toledo. Earlier in the day we went to the Toledo Zoo with some of John's family. The Toledo Zoo is much more spread out than the zoo in Fort Wayne and it has a lot more buildings. A lot of the exhibits were inside, which was nice since it was so warm outside. I think it was too hot for some of the animals because some of the cages were empty.

Yes he is!

Hip-Hop Hamsters

2010-06-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

Have you seen the new Kia commercial with those crazy hamsters? I think they are so funny! Maybe it's because they have clothes on or because they are jammin' to some hip-hop song. You can see it here -Hamsters

Zoo Day

2010-06-06T21:23:00.000-04:00

First Week

2010-06-04T20:39:00.001-04:00

After 8 years in public accounting and almost 6 years of John and I working at the same company, John is moving on. He's going private. This week was his first week at his new job. It will be different not working in the same building but his new office isn't far away. Congratulations on your new job!

Showcase Showdown

2010-05-27T22:02:00.000-04:00

Tonight we went to a TinCaps game. During the game, one of the TinCaps employees asked us if we wanted to participate in one of their games. During a time out we climbed on top of the dugout and were up on the big screen. They even said our names. We had to guess the price of two items - a TinCaps t-shirt and a dollar beer (it was Thirsty Thursday) but we couldn't go over. John went first and guessed $21 so then I went. I guessed $22 but supposedly I was supposed to guess $1. The actual price of the two items was $19. So if you ever play the showcase showdown guess $1.

Graduation

2010-05-24T21:12:00.000-04:00

Sunday I went through graduation again, for the third time at Manchester. This time though I was on the other side. As President of the Alumni Board I got to welcome the graduates to becoming alumni, which meant I was part of the stage party. I had to wear the whole costume - gown, hood and cap, walk in the processional and recessional, and sit on stage the entire time.

Before commencement John and I went to a luncheon in honor of Senator Richard Lugar who received an honorary degree from Manchester. I never really understood those honorary degrees but we got to meet him.

Senator Lugar receiving his honorary degree. That's me on the far right.

The lights were really bright but I saw John taking this picture.

My speech. It was only about two minutes. Sorry, kind of blurry.

Senator Lugar leaving on his helicopter with his groupies.

They landed on the soccer field.

Komets Party

2010-05-20T21:00:00.000-04:00

Tuesday night was the Komets end of season party and jersey auction.

The 2009-2010 Komets

The "Voice of the Komets"

Bob Chase has been calling the Komets games since their second season (1953).

Komet Captain Guy Dupuis

"Wow, you're tall. You should skate." - Guy to John

Danko Mironovic

Brad MacMillan

Watch out!

Hockey season is over :(

America's Greatest

2010-05-17T19:27:00.001-04:00

Did you know that America's Greatest Women's Restroom is right here in Fort Wayne?

Yep, I've got proof.

It's at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

(Ok, America's Greatest is a food stand located in the same direction as the women's restroom)

Getting Rid of the Door

2010-05-16T19:25:00.000-04:00

Last summer/fall we replaced our front door. The old one needed a new coat of paint and we wanted a steel door. We put the new door up but didn't know what to do with the old one. So it sat behind the corner of our house. You couldn't see it from the street so it didn't look too hillbilly-ish. We called (twice) a local nonprofit that deals with remodeling homes for people to donate it to them but they never responded. We also put it out with the trash for the garbage man to pick up but apparently they wouldn't take it. So on Friday John took care of it.

It's going into the garbage can now.* Guess what our old door was made of...a piece of fiberglass on the front and back with styrofoam in the middle! I knew it wasn't a heavy duty door but I didn't think it was mostly styrofoam. It did have a thin piece of wood that ran along the edges but that's all the wood it had. I'm glad we replaced it.

*I do realize this isn't the most earth friendly way to get rid of our old door but oh well.

3 Peat!

2010-05-15T23:48:00.001-04:00

Komets win! Komets win! The Komets won their third straight Turner Cup championship tonight 3-2 against the Flint Generals. The Komets won 4 games to 1. It wasn't quite as exciting as the 3 period over time 3 years ago but it was still exciting.

And John got to meet coach Bruce Boudreau, the coach of the Washington Capitals. You know of the NHL, of the team that Alexander Ovechkin plays on. He was actually the coach of the Komets awhile back (a long while back) and was let go. His son played on Flint's team tonight. John was able to get an autograph and a picture. Pretty cool if you're a hockey fan!

Pet Service

2010-05-11T20:35:00.001-04:00

We received this in our mailbox this week.

I don't know which is my favorite part - small snakes only or no snapping turtles!

We are Family

2010-05-10T17:00:00.001-04:00

The original fam

The fam extended

The fam extended even more

Uninvited Guest

2010-05-09T19:27:00.000-04:00

Saturday night we came home from the hockey game a little after ten, parked the car in the garage and opened the garage door. As the door was going up, I thought I saw something dash into the garage. We looked around a little bit but didn't see anything plus it was dark.

Sunday morning around 8:30 I open the door to the garage to put my shoes out that I would be wearing later. I didn't turn the light on since I was just going to set my shoes right outside the door. I opened the door and set my shoes down. I thought I saw a sock laying on the mat outside the door so I reached down to pick it up, but it wasn't a sock! It was furry! It was a chipmunk and I touched it with my ring finger and pinky finger on my right hand! Yah, I screamed and slammed the door. Now I grew up in the country and we had snakes, mice, moles, etc. but that was in the country. There isn't supposed to be furry rodents in my garage in a subdivision. Obviously it was dead since it didn't move when I touched it. I proceeded to wash my hands with hot, soapy water and then anti-bacterial hand sanitzier. John was upstairs and heard me. I told him he could have the honors of getting it out of the garage. So he got a rake from the other side of the garage while I was still inside the house. I opened the door a little to see what was going on while he was getting the rake and I saw the chipmunk breathe and roll over. I shut the door. Apparently he was only 95% dead. John moved him to the end of the driveway by the street with the rake.

After our uninvited guest was removed from the premises we left to visit my parents. We came back a little after three to pick up John's mom's mothers' day card before going to her house and our little friend was gone! So either one of the dogs that runs free through the neighborhood got it, the neighbor kids across the street were playing with him (hey, I wouldn't put it past them) or he got enough strength back and ran away. :) I don't care what happened to him just as long as he isn't in my garage!

Funny Car

2010-04-21T20:45:00.001-04:00

I've seen a few of these little guys driving around Fort Wayne, particularly a little yellow one.

I think they are funny looking. I can't imagine getting into an accident in one. You would get creamed! I can't imagine driving on the highway in one either. We've determined that we would never be able to get one because John wouldn't fit. Not that we would want one but it would give us more room in the garage. You could probably park it sideways.

Have you seen the monster version? I think it kind of defeats the purpose but it is pretty funny.

Play Ball!

2010-04-10T21:26:00.000-04:00

Thursday night we went to the TinCaps home opener. The weather had been so nice all week, in the upper 70's, then Thursday came. The coldest day of the week. To say it was a little chilly would be an understatement. I am pretty sure there was snow or at least some sort of frozen precipitation falling. We had to get out the winter clothing again. I had on long underwear (top and bottoms), boots, my winter coat, hat, mittens and a blanket and was still cold. Unfortunately we couldn't get any hot chocolate since they sold out. I decided I could never be one of those crazy Bears' fans that sits outside at a game in Chicago in the middle of winter. Of course I would never root for the Bears anyways :) Go Colts! The TinCaps beat the Bowling Green Hot Rods 7-2. We only saw 6-2 because after 7 innings, it was time to go.

Rhonda, Joe and John trying to stay warm

The sun did try to come out at one point.