Wicked

For Valentines Day and Dan's Birthday I got him tickets to see Wicked. This past weekend we finally got to see the show :) We headed up Friday night to spend the evening at my parents and gave my mom her Mother's Day gift as we aren't sure yet what we will be doing that weekend. On Saturday we drove down to Kalamazoo, MI to see Wicked :) My parents went as well to celebrate their 48th Wedding Anniversary which was last Tuesday. I had talked to my dad about it so he could surprise my mom.

After the show (which everyone loved!) we went out for dinner. We picked a Hibachi place in Portage, MI which had the worst Hibachi food ever, it was awful but we were really hungry so we ate it.

Sadly I don't have any pictures from this weekend (the above pic is from when I saw it in June of 2009) because my camera, after 9 years, finally broke. The compartment that holds the batteries has given up. This is frustrating because the camera still works and the people at the camera shop were confident that electrical tape would work (I laughed when Dan told me what they said...I was very skeptical). I tried the tape and it won't even stick to the camera. We haven't decided yet what we are going to do, Dan wants to try his hand at it as well.

Birthday Weekend

This past weekend Dan and I headed to Michigan to spend time with my sister and her family. It was our nieces birthday on Sunday and we had a great weekend together. On Friday night we had fun hanging out and playing Doctor Mario on their Wii for a little while before heading to bed. On Saturday we got to relax and just enjoy the day. Dan went with Stephen to their church's Men's Breakfast and I got a chance to do play with the kids. Before lunch we went and saw some puppies that a family from their church had and Stephen's parents came and picked one out. In the afternoon we watched Tangled (which Dan had not seen yet) and after dinner we played games and watched a movie.

Sunday was Damaris's birthday, so after church my parent's and Stephen's family congregated for presents, cake, and ice cream. My sister did her first cake with fondant and I thought she did a really good job.

 Here are a couple of her presents, the first one is from my parents and then what Dan and I got for her.

Quilt made by my mom

Dress up clothes and bangles

The puppy playing with Titus's lego's

                                  

 Before we left everyone was trying to get us to get a puppy too, which is not going to happen. I have lived too long with out pet's in the house and I don't want all the pet hair on our things. Puppies are cute but I will pass! Stephen also wanted my dad to drive his new old tractor he got fixed.

We ended the weekend by driving to Grand Rapids and having dinner with my parents. We went to Carrabba's which we love but there isn't one close to us.

Pasta Sauce

In keeping with my New Years Resolution to make things instead of buying them....this time I made Pasta Sauce. It was easy to make and much cheaper than buying sauce.

We thought it was pretty good...I might check out a few other recipes before settling on one to keep.

Chicago

Last weekend Dan and I were off to the Windy City for a conference at Trinity University. We had a fun time driving through the city enjoying the lights and not too much traffic.

That night we stayed at a La Quinta Inn located on campus. It was the first time we have ever stayed at a La Quinta and we LOVE it. Our room was amazing (as you can see from the pictures)...we had a nice size bathroom, small fridge, microwave, counter for food, living room area, pool open to adults for 24 hours, everything was clean, and really nice. We also had a great morning breakfast before heading to the conference.

The conference went really well and I even had 85 people come to my session! After most of the afternoon sessions I was feeling really tired and spent from the day so we headed out early to our friends Jen and Brad.   We had fun hanging out and making dinner before going to Geneva, IL to the All Chocolate Kitchen (All Chocolate Kitchen). The guy who opened it is a professional chef and this place is worth checking out if you are in the area.

Love the sign next to the chocolate man :)

Tree of Chocolate with Sugar blown birds

Chocolate village on Chocolate tree :)

Close up of Chocolate village

We had a great time with them and were glad we could meet up with them while we were in the area.

Dan and me

Jen and Brad

Family visit Day 3

On the last day that everyone was here we went to Science Central. We had an amazing time and glad we went in the morning because it got much busier by the time we left. Everything is hands on and a fun way to learn about science.

Uncle time :)

Leaning about sea crabs

Water fight

Launching a rocket

Feeling what it is like to have no gravity

They had a bike you can ride that is weighted and goes around on a track. The kids weren't tall enough for it but Stephen, Dan and I all took turns going around. It was a little bit of a rush, even though you are strapped on and they have a net to catch you.

Stephen

Dan

 Then the guys took turns going down the slide from the top floor to the bottom floor...

After we left Science Central we went to the mall to get some lunch and so the kids could ride the Carousel.

The kids loved the eating area

Dan is tall enough to ride :)

Our final stop was Toys R Us because the kids had been asking about seeing one and they don't have any close to were Stephen and Michelle live. The kids loved all the toys and I realized it is a very overwhelming store. We drove home to give them time to get packed up and then they headed out for home and we relaxed for a while before hanging out with some friends.

Family visit Day 2

The second day Stephen and Michelle were here was fairly relaxing. Michelle and Dan had to work so in the morning we watched a movie with the kids while everyone was getting ready and then headed out for lunch to meet up with Dan. We stopped by his office first so they could get the grand tour :) and then ate at Wendy's were they have WiFi so Michelle could still be available for her job.

After lunch we headed home where the kids were kicked outside to play. They found some pods from our back fence vines and popped the "beans" out and had fun collecting and counting them. For dinner we made homemade pizza and got garlic bread sticks from Papa John's. We finished up the evening with a campfire and s'mores.

Starting the fire

Finding more "beans"

Burning our Christmas Tree

Once the branches got thrown in

Reese Cup Eggs...Amazing!

Making S'mores

Sister picture

Once the kids went to bed and the fire had burned out we had an amazing bed of coals that was fun to watch flicker and twinkle. We sat outside talking for a while before giving in to the cooler air.

Family visit Day 1

The last few weeks have gotten away from me for blogging so here is the catch up :) Last weekend Michelle and Stephen came down to visit for the weekend. The kids had Spring Break and Michelle can work from home on Friday's so they were able to come down Thursday night. It didn't take long for us to get into a Nerf Gun fight...

Thanks to Dan's brother-in-law we have two Nerf guns from Christmas 2 years ago :) Thanks Kenneth!

 After dinner we took them to the park that is behind our house. I have walked past the playground but never seen everything they had. It was three huge structures, one set up like a train, another was a boat, and the last one like a tree house. The kids had a lot of fun running around, being silly, and exploring things. Michelle and I had a chance to chat while the guys went to get some snacks.

Ready to play

Aunt time!

Titus took this picture

Once the sun started to set we loaded back up into their van and headed home. After the kids went to bed we stated up and introduced Stephen and Michelle to the movie Pitch Perfect, which is quite enjoyable.