School One last Time!

Summer has finally come to an end, This will be our last summer in Bourbonnais probably forever. This is the last time i will probably ever go back to school, and this is the last time i will ever see most of my friends from olivet. That all seems sad to say, but I almost say that with a sigh or relief. We are ready to move on into the next stage of life, becoming a "real person" with a "real job". Since i haven't blogged since our friend Dan passed ill sum up a little of our month of august. we celebrated our one year which was HOT weather just like last year, had some good cake and went out to eat. The next weekend we went to Chicago with mom and dad and saw wicked, we loved it! We had a some minor issues and laughs dealing with public transportation. But we did enjoy an amazing dinner at an Italian place. The next day I was able to see where mike spent his summer and got to meet some of the people he worked with. The next weekend we came back to Chicago for the for the Chicago Air show with VIP tickets into the Boeing tent we watched a lot of different kinds of planes do all kinds of tricks, They had a bunch of army planes and a lot of planes that were made by Boeing. At the end the Blue Angles made by Boeing did an amazing finale and everyone was going crazy. It was a really hot day that day and they kept telling everyone to drink a lot of water, and one time over the intercom they made an announcement about drinking a lot of water, and some guy walking by us yelled out "well what about drinking a lot of beer!!!" we chuckled. The next week was only one week before school so we took a couple says off and went camping up at lake Michigan. We had a blast, We had hobo dinners, hot dogs, hot chocolate by the fire, we got some sun, some bug bites and left our camping trip feeling satisfied with our two day trip. We also had an air mattress that took up the whole tent. School has now come and we are busy once again. Last year!

Dan

The hardest thing to cope with is death, sometimes it comes slowly and you prepare for it, and sometimes it comes when you least except it. either way its hard to understand the reasons. When i first came to Olivet i had a few girl friends that i could always turn too no matter what Brooke Soulia was one of those girls. Dan walker has been her boyfriend for the past couple years and so Mike and I have gotten to know both of them better. Both of these people are awesome people who love the Lord. Tuesday night in his sleep Dan passed away. He was working at an adventure camp in Colorado at the time. He went to Olivet and played football and just graduated this last may. Brooke has been working in India this summer on a missions trip and is flying back for the funeral on Saturday. They arent sure yet the cause of death, They will know by the end of the day. Dan was just 22 years old. I'm still a little in shock at the whole situation but we know he's in heaven right now praising the Lord. Please be in prayer for the Walker family along with Brooke as this is going to be a hard couple of days. God has a reason for everything so just pray that God's Glory be seen in his death. He was a really awesome guy and we are blessed to have gotten to know him.

Teeth Issues

Summer is more than half over, and we still have a lot of stuff to still get done!!!! Almost 2 weeks ago I decided to go to the dentist because i havent gone since last summer and also because we have insurance with Boeing! I knew going in that i already had a small chipped tooth but it ended up that i had three bad teeth on the same side of my mouth!!! so i got three temp crowns put on the same day! and i was in soo much pain. well for the next week i was undergoing horrible pain always waking up at night and taking a lot of pain killers. sunday night of the first week i woke up in the middle of the night and i couldnt take the pain any longer! i had taken pills an hour ago and now the pain was horrible and i was crying on our bathroom floor i woke up mike at 2:30 he tried to make me feel better but it wasnt helping we decided to go to walmart and try to find something to help ease the pain. We picked up some oragel and some stronger pain killers and got back home around 3:00am it was a long night, and we were both tired the next day, i also went back to the dentist the next day! They fixed my bite and so now two weeks later i am finally starting to feel like myself again.
This last weekend we headed down to Kansas City to spend the weekend with Aaron Lori Olivia and Owen We hung out, went to some garage sales, worked on the new house and spent some quality time together, We had a great weekend. we brought the kids back to stay at nana's house for the week and i gave owen and olivia some M&Ms and in the back seat i hear owen say "yellow, blue .... I got the primary colors! Red, Yellow and Blue!!!" It was so funny ! and they also knew the secondary colors also! Smart kids! gotta love em! Its been a busy summer so far and we still have a lot of fun stuff coming up along with our one year anniversary!

Your atypical Monday

This is Mike writing about this weeks not so normal Monday where Ali and I were suppose to meet Joe in Chicago late afternoon and go out to eat. You will soon see that due to weather/mechanical problems this day very quickly went array and our plans were completely shot. This being said we still had a great time and would do it all over again just to have dinner with joe.

5:15- Alarm goes off
5:20- Roll out of bed and shower/eat breakfast
6:00- Leave home to drive north on Interstate 57 and catch the Metra train at 6:38.
6:05- Discover Interstate 57 is closed due to heavy damage from Tornadoes.
6:06- PANIC, thinking I will miss my train.
6:07- Take a backway to the train through the country, make good time.
6:37- get on the train
6:38- train leaves
7:50- get a cup of coffee
7:55- sit at my desk and begin work for the week
11:00ish- Joe calls and says his plane is delayed
11:30- Joe says his plane is not taking off
12:00PM- we have a pow-wow and decide to meet anyway and eat later.
1:00- Joe still has not left
2:00- Joe still has not left
5:00- I get off work/meet Ali at the train station
5:02- Ali and I decide since we have a "couple" hours to burn we would just take the L (red line) up north, visit some shops and walk to the restaurant/brewery we were going to eat at.
5:15- get on the red line
5:16- decide public transportation is disgusting and overcrowded at rush hour
5:45- Ali wants to buy the entire store at Crate and Barrel
6:30- get coffee
7:00- slowly walk for about 10 blocks towards the restaurant
7:30- still no news from joe
7:45- HE LANDED
8:00- Joe gets his bags
8:15- Joe gets lost in the airport trying to find the Blue line
8:20- Joe gets on the Blue line
8:45- Blue line starts moving
9:00- Blue line breaks down
9:05- Ali and me start playing rummy on the curb of a busy Chicago street
9:06- People stare
9:10- more of the same
9:17- Ali wins
9:30- Ali wins again
9:40- Ali wins again
9:45- Joe gets off the Blue line and we UNITE!!!!!!!!!
9:50- get to the restaurant and eat pizza and enjoy the great flavors of a unique micro-brew.
10:30- remind everyone our train to get home leaves at 11:20 and there is not another one until 12:50
11:00- Full of pizza and some amazing beer we head towards the Blue line.
11:05- Joes train for O'Hare comes and he leaves
11:10- no blue line train for mike and ali
11:12- still no train
11:13- get on Blue line
11:19- realize we have missed our metra train for good.
11:22- run for the metra station to go pee
11:30- walk to subway for cookies
12:50AM- get on train
2:00- get off train, drive home on Interstate 57 as it is now open
2:30- get home
2:45- put my head on my pillow
5:15- my alarm goes off and I go to work
8:00- work starts and I am in an 8 hour long meeting on cost accounting and cost management
8:15- get a cup of coffee
10:00- get a cup of coffee
12:00- get food and a cup of coffee
2:00- get a cup of coffee
5:00- go home
7:45- WENT TO BED


This was an abnormal 48 hours but quite an adventure to say the least.

P.S. I Love You

Mike and I have been married for 9 months and 20 days! These past nine months have flown by. When Mike and I first met it was still 2005 but only for about 10 days. In the time that i have known my husband I have only seen him cry about 2 times. But I have never seen him cry hard about anything.
Ladies and gents, Last night my husband cried his eyes out. I also did as well. We watched the movie P.S. I Love You. If you do decide to watch this movie, Have about 2 Kleenex boxes on hand and a friend to lean on. 10 minutes or so into the movie I was already crying. Off and on I cried throughout the entire movie. I'm not really sure when Mike started crying but at the end of the movie I looked up and he was crying. and then after the movie we both held each other and both kept on crying. I don't think I have ever cried so much during a movie. We had to put on the office so that we could both stop crying.
I think part of the reason why we both we were crying is because the movie is about a couple that has been married for about 10 years, and then the husband dies of a brain tumor. Before he dies he leaves these letters for her that are sent at random times during the movie telling her things that she should do. it's a really moving movie because it shows a picture of almost true life dealings with a death. All throughout the movie are different flash backs of the couple together. It makes you cry and really appreciate your husband/wife. To think about something like that happening when your not ready for it. It was sad, and we cried together. and so I just wanted to say , Hey Mike, P.S. I Love You!

Spring is here

For Easter This year Mike and I decided to head out to Colorado for a few days and then spend a few days in Kansas City as well. We left on a Friday afternoon around 130pm, and we arrived in Bailey CO at 4:00AM Our time. !!!!! Wow what a drive, It really brought back memories from my freshman year of college since we drove on I-80 for about 700 miles. Needless to say we made it Colorado all in one piece! It was dark when we got there so we could not see the huge mountain that we were driving through, but after a couple hours of sleep we woke up to the most beautiful site ever!!!!! at 8,700 ft above sea level the mountains on a clear day were breath taking. :)
We were blessed to have a warm sunny day and so Annie and Pete took us to this really cool rock that had an awesome crack down the middle of it, so we climbed it! I climbed crack! well at least half of it! After we spent a great day of climbing we went to this really cool place called the buck snort really awesome place, I got a little sick while i was there, not really sure what was going on . Might have had something to do with the altitude. a couple days later i puked i think from altitude, i felt back cause i did it in this really nice pottery place, and everyone could hear me, at least we bought a mug! Day two we did some more climbing we were right on the river where Coors gets their water to make their beer. It was a little colder that day, but it was still a lot of fun! We also went to Annie's store and met all the cool people that she works with. It was a lot of fun! I got a cool water bottle. Monday, we went for a walk and Annie Pete Joe and Katie ran, it snowed a couple days that we were there, That night we bouldered at the camp which was a lot of fun, and i got a sweet bruise on my knee.
Tuesday we made Kifla, It was really good, and then we had to take Katie and Joe back to the airport so in Denver we went to this really cool place called jump street. which was really fun, Its a kids dream to play there all day. We had a lot of fun. Well Wednesday morning we headed out to Kansas city! We arrived right about 7pm and Lori and Aaron prepared a great meal for us, the kids were really excited to see us as well, they were showing me their rooms, and the cards they made for us, it took a while to get all of us to the dinner table. :) We were having too much fun! since it was nice outside when we first got there we decided to have a easter hunt before easter because the weather was so great. And also aaron and mike painted the house, or at least one side of it.
While we were there we spent an afternoon at the plaza and we had dinner down there at this really awesome Italian restaurant. and also Aaron and Lori showed us their new house which is really cool, and it will look even cooler when Aaron fixes it up!!!! I can't wait!!! they also showed us some great neighborhoods in Kansas city, and even some of the houses that Aaron worked on. and the Saturday before easter Lori and i went to target and we left the boys with the kids, while they were gone they became enthralled with a show called Horse Land, and now Mike says all the time, "Why did Aztec run away, I don't understand" We also went to this really cool place in Missouri where there were really old houses and this really cool brewery that was underground, along with this cool winery that was all wine that was made in Missouri ! We also visited some antique shops, ! on the way home we went to Dairy Queen and me olivia and owen all had star bars! good stuff!!!! Sunday we had Easter Dinner and hung around the house, On monday it was time to go home and time to get back to school :( We had so much fun on our break!!!!! I don't think we really wanted to leave, So thanks to Annie Pete Joe Katie Lori Aaron Olivia and Owen for making our break really fun and awesome!
We only have a couple more weeks of school left for this year, and then we will be seniors!

Winter At It's Best

January turned out to be a great month, After the wedding we got back to school and back to work. The past couple weeks or so have really presented a lot of great news for us. Aaron called to tell us that we are going to aunt and uncle again, although worded differently. I got new tires on my car, so now it doesn’t shake anymore. Just this week we had a record drop in weather, the day started at 54 degrees and by the end of the night it was 4 with i think with wind chill in the -12's or so along with freezing rain, and we couldn’t get our car doors open because they were frozen shut. The wind was so strong that we thought our house was going to blow over that night. and the wind was also coming through the window so we had to thumb tack a blanket on the window. Mike got sick, and is still trying to get over it. Although luckily I have not experienced sickness. Yesterday we received the best news of all, Boeing called mike and offered him the internship this summer. the pay is really great, so i think he is going to take it, the only thing is that its in down town Chicago, so we are still wondering about housing or commuting? We’ll just keep praying. last night we got hit with our second biggest snow storm this winter. And we had to once again shovel our way out. Olivet for the first time in Olivet history canceled classes today so after we shoveled the driveway with our neighbors , (which by the way is about the only time we all get together) Mike and I make some blueberry pancakes, enjoyed some starbucks French roast coffee and watched home improvement . ahhhh a snow day! a day to relax and enjoy each other. I hope that whoever else had snow today, take some time and enjoy a hot drink and sit down and read a book or relax and watch a movie. Snow days don’t come very often , so take some time and do something you like :)

Stinky Pete

STINKY PETE
Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
shouted Olivia from across the way
who got a Kit doll on Christmas day

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
said Owen who played with Mikes car
and then looked up at the evening star

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
exclaimed Joe
who stubbed his toe

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
yelled Aaron at noon
who turned 30 too soon

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
stated Lori who ate chili
and then played with Owen something silly

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
announced James by the tree
who gave Pete shorts far above the knee

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
proclaimed Ali
who used to be a Chally

Stinky Pete
had horrible feet
sang Dad
who bought a guitar and was glad

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
wrote Mom in a letter
saying that her Kifla was better

Stinky Pete
has horrible feet
whispered Mike
that Kifla he does like

Stinky Pete
had horrible feet
cried Annie who doesn't mind
for to Pete she is now legally bind

Its been a crazy beginning and end to this Holiday season, needless to say it turned out to be a great holiday, It began by spending Thanksgiving with the Heinolds and then the Kennells which turned out to be a blast, I think that my favorite story during the Thanksgiving holiday was when we were all sitting around Grandma Kennells table playing apples to apples i believe while at the same time the Bears were on TV, Dustin the youngest of the kennell kids was the only one watching the Bears while the rest of us were in the kitchen playing apples to apples well needless to say Dustin got excited when well, pretty much on every play, so every couple minutes we heard noises from the other room including things like "fumble" or "touchdown" , at the sound of these words every Kennell kid, followed by Bryant and Lisa would run into the TV room to find out what happened. well after a few times it started to get kind of funny, and then grandma kennell brought out this amazing cheese spread along with crackers everyone was into the crackers, well then Dustin yelled "TOUCHDOWN" from the other room, and everyone went running, so Mike and I decided to get in on the action and we jumped around yelling and screaming. Well little to our knowledge did we know what had just happened in the kitchen, Rebekah and Dale decided to steal the crackers and cheese first by trying to eat them as fast as they could and then just piled them into their laps. All the while Betty laughing uncontrollably needless to say the whole situation was rather funny. Well after thanksgiving Mike and I bought our fake tree from the local wal-mart and gathered all of our hallmark ornaments and decorated for Christmas, we finished our classes for the semester and before we knew it, it was time to leave for the first of the family Christmases. Our First stop was the Great Heinolds on Christmas Eve- we enjoyed some great chili and then since we were rather late getting there and everyone had already opened their presents Mike and I opened the presents we brought for ourselves and to be funny since everyone was watching we switched gifts, so that I opened a pair of men’s dress shoes and Mike opened my shirts that I had got. Everyone laughed it was kind of funny. Christmas day we had two places to go, the first stop was grandma Kennells in the morning where we had a great meal followed by some great presents followed by a circle full of things we are thankful for, and the beginning of "Lester" When it was Rebekahs turn to share what she was thankful for Rebekah said "I'm thankful for laughter, and then grandma Kennell yelled out "Who's Lester?" which was followed by much laughter. we then headed to the Heinolds in Goodfield where we enjoyed a great meal along with some more wonderful presents and some interesting present s that were given to josh, I’m not sure but I’m guessing that he had an eventful year. As dec 26 approached we enjoyed Christmas at the Heinolds in lacon where Mike and Joel got Drills, along with remote control cars which they drove off the porch, and we all got beautiful green sleeping bags. Dec 27 James came into town!!!! but not till late so really we didn’t see him until the 28th which on the 28th we had the first family Christmas with me mike and James Annie Pete, and of course mom and dad and then Mike found the pickle, Dec 29th I turned 21!!!! Eleven of us enjoyed some great times at olive garden! Dec 30 we all went to church. Dec 31 James left and it snowed so we took a lot of pictures in the snow including the ones below where I have my new bangs. Also in these days we experienced some games including telephone Pictionary, king elephant, and the new famous the Christmas tree toss, which I think Mike won in the end, not too sure on that one. We also tackled making snow covered pine cones, (Fake snow, real pine cones from Colorado) Making white chocolate covered pretzels with blue sprinkles, and then stuffing the boxes, I do not think that we did ever find out who received the lump of coal we hid in one of the 225 boxes, that may be a mystery that will hang over the Cerf center for the many years to come. New year’s night was spent with Annie Pete Rebekah and Joel good times had by all.
TIME TO BREATH! ITS NOW 2008
Jan 1st we went to Rebekah and Joels for a Heinold, Zehr, Lamborn, and Kennell get together. Where we played some great games including King Elephant and I give Ryan Kennell the award for the best improved first time player and Josh Lamborn the award for worst hand and rhythm coordination, Jan 2 was a big day because Joe, Aaron, Lori, Owen and Olivia, along with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson(Pete's parents) all arrived on this day. Later that afternoon Nadine and I went to the store where she spent 83 dollars on peanut butter M&Ms, life savors, and peanut butter. Jan 3 was Christmas Time again, at least we didn’t have a repeat of last year when Uncle Joe was jumped on at 6:45am by owen saying “Uncle Joe wake up its Christmas Time!!! So we had another Chally Christmas which involved mainly gifts for Owen and Olivia. Owen got some cool stuff including Thomas and Olivia got some really cool American girl stuff along with her very own American girl doll named Kit then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa challys house Aaron and Lori wrote this amazing play in honor of Grandma and all of her hard work putting on Christmas plays throughout the years. We gave her a certificate stating she had received a long time achievement for play writing and then we acted out a play about Christmas, Neil Diamond, and some gross green that Aaron actually tried to eat and almost threw up I think. Everyone laughed it was a great time. but us ladies had to leave somewhat early from Grandma and Grandpas because we had to get ready for annies personal shower. I won’t go into any details- all I will say is that we had a really great time! Jan 4 day before the wedding i remember being busy doing things and stuff. first picked out the flowers that she wanted us to carry for the wedding I gave her a hard time and told that we were going to be carrying tree branches because it was a lot of pine. well from all of the trees that we had stolen off the road (Christmas tree's that is stolen) and we cut them up and so the night of the rehearsal they brought us actual tree branches from the trees we had cut up to carry. My words indeed came back to haunt me. we carried real sticky pine that night. after the rehearsal we headed over to Washington where we had our rehearsal dinner we had chocolate candies that looked like rocks on the table that were really good, but they had to make an announcement that you were not supposed to eat the big rocks because they were real. When annieannie and Pete gave out gifts to everyone, I got a really cool mug (that i love) and owen got this really cool gun that makes noise. and a lot of people cried. after words we quickly tried to get out of there to head out the bachelor ette party. While all of us girls were having a great time talking and laughing i get a phone call and its joe, he says "Hey where are you ? we are coming, and don't tell the girls!" so i quickly give him directions to where i was and soon enough Pete came walking in which a paddle and a nurse outfit and on the back it said spank me I'm getting married tomorrow! well after a somewhat late and exciting night we got up the next morning and headed to the salon for hair make up and painted toes and fingernails. Before we knew it Annie had her dress on and was on her way to meet Pete. A little later we met at Mikas and then for a coffee break and some pictures. Right before the wedding started Annie and the girls sat waiting in the little nursery. Annie said her goodbyes to Zach Morris (from saved by the bell) and the rest was kind of a blur from there. We cried we laughed, and then Annie and Pete got married. Well we made it to the Cerf center I realized that i soon had to give a speech to my older now married sister. Being under presser and having about 200 people looking at you, i knew what i wanted to say and hopefully said the right thing. Although I did forget to raise my glass... sorry. well the dancing began, and I think I danced with Pete two or three times, I danced with my new father-in-law for the daddy daughter dance, then Owen my nephew wanted to have the next couple dances which was so much fun, although it was funny when my husband tried to bud in and Owen said no, so we danced some more! Aaron and I later danced and had a dance off with ray and mike; I think we won by far. Us chally's have some good moves. after we cleaned up and the newly weds headed out we came back to the chally house and engaged in a large game of telephone Pictionary, The next morning was an early and long morning, I packed up Nadine into my little car and we headed to the Chicago O hare airport she had a long day of traveling for her. Then after coming back home to Bourbonnais, Mike and I took Annie and Pete to their hotel in Chicago.
WOW so much info for just a couple weeks- to conclude what turned out to be a great holiday – Just wanted to extend a thanks out to all of our family, the Challys, Browns, Nelsons, Heinolds, Zehrs, Lamborns, Kennells, Kindreds for giving us a wonderful 2007 Christmas and a wonderful New year with a lot of love and memories. Have a great Start to the new year !!! 2008!!!!!