game night

barbara has had a bit of free time lately, and has been kind enough to spend it with her sister diana and i! recently she came over and we spent the night staying up way too late playing board games. we had an awesome time playing one of my favorites: monopoly! a couple years ago my parents got me the grand rapids edition of the game, but ive never been able to con anyone... er, um... i mean i've never been able to encourage anyone enough to play it with me- till now! it was really fun seeing all the grand rapids companies represented through out the board. the game pieces are even grand rapids stuff- i got to be the calder! it was super nerdy, but a ton of fun!

talk soup

monday night diana and i finally used the last of our christmas gift certificates and went for dinner at panera bread! it had been a long time since i had been there (i used to go there at least once a week before we got wifi at the house...). we got some yummy dinner and found a seat.
we had an amazing time! it was probably the new springtime like weather outside, but it was just so relaxing, comfortable and warm. we just sat there and talked, laughed, and ate for an hour or two! ever since diana has been done with school she has been so much more relaxed and worry-free! this is something that i really appreciate because then we are both able to enjoy our time together and just take it easy. we didnt have anywhere to go, and we didnt have any clock to race to get there. oh, and the chocolaty dessert certainly made her even happier! life is good.

plumb solver

oh, the work of a landlord is never done! diana and i live in a duplex which we own. that means that we share a wall with a renter. our current renter is a guy named john, he's a great guy who loves to chat and pays on time (that last one is the most important one!). the duplex itself is a pretty good building and doesnt usually take much to upkeep it, that makes it really easy to be a good landlord! over the weekend i got a call from john that the bathtub faucet was leaking pretty good. when ever i get calls like that i get worried because i am not what you would call a 'handy man'. papa is, but unfortunately i did not acquire that part of the DNA... i try my best, but i usually just confuse myself and have to call in someone who knows what they are doing! i try my best and can sometimes fall into a solution that works, but i have always taken my dads advice: when it comes to water stuff- call a professional! now with this leak it had me worried because whenever you have to call a professional it ends up costing hundreds of dollars! well, i went over than and john and i looked at the problem. we began tinkering around with the faucet handles looking for an answer. john called his dad and asked him to come over and take a look at it (his dad is a handy guy, thankfully!) he pulled it apart and determined that the handle just needed a new rubber washer. i ran to menards (along with diana- she used to work at home depot in the bathroom department, so she knew exactly what we were looking for!) and picked up the part. got home and replaced the old one, and voala! the leak stopped! ah, i love it when a pricey problem can actually be fixed with a 49 cent part! amazing! thanks to john's dad and my wife, we just saved ourselves some big money! oh, maybe thats where menards comes up with their slogan...

sunday dinner

sunday afternoon we all gathered around the feast mom had prepared for us. the kids were over and even got to thank their aunt-in-law barbara for the great gifts she gave them last time we were home! it was, and always is, a great time spent with the family. diana got to spend some quality time with the girls, i got to spend some quality time with papa, and barbara got to spend some quality time with my friends. ok, that last one is a bit weird- but true! leaving time came too early, but i insisted. i had to get home to watch the oscars, after all!

pub and more

that night we went out with the guys. we met up at their place and then headed over to the new hangout: chicago dr. pub. some of the guys beat us there and picked a seat, unfortunately it was a seat on the loud side of the pub right in the center of the huge blaring speakers (at least thats what it seemed like...). we sat there for about an hour staring at each other because it was too loud to actually talk even when yelling. i grew weary of it quickly, so diana and i moved over to the other side of the pub where you can actually hear each other. jill soon followed. after about twenty minutes everyone else had shuffled over to the reasonably volumed area as well. aside from the headache, we went on to have a pretty good time there! diana and barbara were able to catch up and both were enjoying the chance to talk with jill. the guys and i had a good time talking as well. as the night was winding down at the pub, we headed back to the guys house. by now it was about 2:00am, which for most was getting late, but for barbara- the night was just getting started! (she works nights, so the night was literally just getting started!) we hung out there talking with aaron for a while longer, having fun and being silly. by 4:30am diana and i finally decided to call it quits, even if barbara wasnt even remotely tired!
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girls versus boys

we recently headed up to grand rapids to see the family again. it had been quite a while since our last visit- we hadnt seen them since christmas! we arrived friday night because my mom and sister made plans to attend a women's weekend in holland and invited diana to join them! soon after we arrived i tucked diana into bed, she had an early morning with the ladies ahead. well, i didnt have an early morning ahead, so i went back out and stopped over to see the guys. i spent an hour or two with jeffry lee, aaron, keith, and freddie at the guys place just chilling out and chatting. we soon realized that we were all very hungry, so we took the show on the road and spent an hour or two at denny's chowing down! we had a great time, and nobody ended up shirtless.
the next morning diana and mom headed out to pick up jill and go to holland. papa and i got to spend the day together! we didnt really have anything planned, but knew we were up for something. we ended up going to lunch with tim and the kids at new beginnings. it was great to see the kids again- bubba is getting so old! though this picture might show otherwise, he is getting so big and mature! give him another year or two and he will be more mature than his uncle...
after lunch papa and i went back home. i had brought home a bunch of movies in case papa wanted to watch them, so we decided to put one in and have a movie afternoon! we watched the new star trek, papa and i have always enjoyed star trek together so i was eager for him to see this one. he enjoyed it and we enjoyed our time together. within a couple hours the girls were back home and we got some pizzas! barbara had the weekend off, so she joined us as well. diana said that she had a good time with mom and jill (and a couple cousins and an aunt who went along too!) and loved having the time together.
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lakeshore focus

there is a local show on here that is produced in chicago called lakeshore focus. it covers any regional news that is going on, focusing on one topic a week. recently they had an episode devoted to the holocaust due to a new exibit opening at the center for visual and performing arts. some how someone got the number of joyce, the social studies and geography teacher at my school. she was invited to be on the panel to talk about the holocaust and the importance of teaching it in schools. see, she has a passion for that subject and devotes a portion of her class to learning about it. she went and joined the discussion with a couple leaders from the jewish federation of northwest indiana. she did a great job examining the subject and even got in a few nice plugs for our school! it was really cool to see her hold her own along with these men who do this for a living. great job, joyce! i've heard that they will soon be posting the whole episode on their website. when that happens i will be sure to add a link to it!

lobster fest

diana calls me out of the blue right after she gets out of school: 'want to have some lobster?' my first thought is 'diana, we just went out for dinner two nights ago...' then she explains herself: she got a call from her mom saying that she and david wanted to meet up with us at red lobster in michigan city. oh, now that i can do!
right away when diana got home we hopped in the car and headed to michigan city (its about the halfway point between mom and us). turns out barbara was able to come too! we got there a couple minutes before them, put in our name, and soon were chowing down on cheese biscuits and delicious crawlies from the deep! it was great, as always, to see her family. diana was really excited to see her mom and sister again so unexpectedly- i think those three have some strange connection that when ever they are together they are instantly recharged and feeling great, no matter what kind of day they may have had. diana spent the rest of the week grinning ear to ear! and after eating at red lobster, my belly was doing the same...

pulling her hair out

diana had been worried about taking her final exam at school for months now. one of the last things that she has to do at cosmetology school is pass all her finals. these are timed tests where she has to do certain hair styles, cuts, sets, curlers, and all kinds of other hair related things. in preparation for the tests she even took home some of the mannequin heads she had at school to practice (those heads are very creepy, by the way...). she kept getting frustrated because she was able to do everything, and do it well, but she had a couple things she couldnt do in the twenty minute time frame they allotted her. sure, she could do it in twenty one minutes, but that wasnt going to cut it!
well, the day of her tests she got up really early so she could get to school and have the chance to practice one last time. in the afternoon i got a text from her saying that she passed most of it (she has the opportunity to take small portions of it over again if she needs to, and she did need to...)! i was really excited for her- all that stress is finally over! so, i did the good husband thing, and went out and got her some flowers to give her when she got home. a couple days later she retook the parts she missed and this time passed with time to spare! way to go, diana!

dentist

i recently chipped a tooth. ouch. well, the bigger pain was yet to come! soon after i made an appointment with my dentist to have him check out what the problem was and how to fix it. i got pretty lucky in that the tooth was chipped, but there wasnt any real pain from it. when i went in to see the dentist he took a look at it and told me i needed to have it crowned. argh. the problem is that i dont have any dental insurance (which seems to be the only insurance that i actually need...) so whatever the dentist does i will have to pay for all of it. well, i had the tooth grinded down and have a temporary one in there now. soon i have to go back so i can get the permanent one put it, and the dentist said i need at least three more. yikes! i am just going to plan on winning the lottery soon...

at a crossroads

diana and i have been churchless for a while. that doesnt mean that we didnt go to church, it just means that we were ready for a change. i had been going to first highland crc ever since i moved here. by the time my first school year wrapped up, i was a member. i enjoyed the chuch and the pastor. ken, the youth pastor, and i became good friends. we would regularly go out for breakfast on saturdays just to chat and hang out. when diana and i started dating she was able to come to church with me there every once in a while (that hour long drive made it pretty tough to do so regularly...). when we got married, the pastor who married us and gave us premarital counseling was my pastor from first highland crc. once we were married we attended there regularly and enjoyed it, but both of us were feeling like there might be something better suited for us.
that church felt like it was my church, but we wanted a place that would be our church. we began the process of looking for a new church. we spent many months going around to different churches each week, trying them out, seeing if it was a place where we could find a place to grow. eventually, based on a recommendation from one of the ladies at work, we stopped by crossroads community crc to check it out. we fell in love! she loved the lively singing, and i was thrilled by the preaching (as a bible teacher i can sometimes get a bit callus about sermons 'i know that already, i teach it every year!', so to find someone who could capture my attention week after week was very exciting!). after visiting there for about two months, the church offered membership classes and diana and i jumped at the opportunity. it was a three week class that met for a couple hours on sunday afternoons. we got the rundown of the church and what it means to be a member there.
now, we are proud to say, we are no longer churchless!

showtime

diana and i both were lucky enough to have monday off of work, so we stayed an extra day with the family. monday around noon we stopped by jill and tim's to see the kids. we brought lunch for everyone (thank you, little ceasars). when we first arrived, we walked in and no one was there! well, we followed the noise, and it turned out that we had arrived just in time to hear the kids putting on a musical number for jill and mema! they were all singing their little hearts out!
after lunch jill decided to take aves in for a doctors appointment, so diana and i played with the kids for the afternoon! mom stayed for a while, but once the kids wanted to watch a movie, we offered her the opportunity to head out, so she did. we watched 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs', which was pretty silly. as the movie was ending, jill got back with aves. turns out she didnt have anything major, so all was well.
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one last present

over christmas, barbara was so thoughtful that she got gifts for the kids! what a great aunt-in-law! (i think thats what you would call her, right?) we got the gifts from her to give to the kids over christmas, but this was our first time back in town since then. well, we gathered the kids up in the living room and asked them if they remembered barbara, 'thats aunt diana's sister!' chimed in tweets. it sure is, we told them. we explained the situation and they were quite pleased that they were still getting christmas gifts in february! they soon busted into the gifts and loved them! thanks, aunt-in-law barbara!
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sunday afternoon

Sunday we got up for church and met jill, bubba and tweets there. aves wasnt feeling so hot, so timmy stayed home with her. bubba has been busy growing up since last we saw him- he does such a great job listening at church! he sits still and listens, better than i do to be honest! i even tried poking him and being silly, but he would have none of it. he hardly even draws during the sermon either! i wasnt able to do that until i was about, oh... 23!
after church we went back to mom and papa's place for dinner. soon after, jill and tim and the kids came over. mom had made one of her world famous (i figure we know about it here in indiana, mom and papa have michigan covered, and chad has been in enough places around the world that i can safely say it is 'world famous'!) sunday dinners, so we were quickly full and happy!
the kids were happy to see us, so things quickly devolved into playtime after dinner, which diana and i are always willing to participate in.
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steak and shake

after the fiasco at chicago dr pub, we decided to fill our bellies at steak and shake! we all headed over there to recount the strange memories of the night. jill and jeffry lee were about an hour late in arriving there (for some unexplained reason). we had a fun time and washed our sorrows away with milkshakes!

shirt optional

we got to chicago dr. pub and found a seat, which is rare to find a seat big enough for all 9 of us! we didnt have any plans or expectations while we were there, so we just sat around and enjoyed each others company. it had been a while since diana and i had been able to hang out with all of these guys together, so we were having a great time! we had fun talking about anything and everything, rex talked about his new job, aaron was eager to get his new phone, freddie was just enjoying the night, and jeffry lee was on a mission. im not sure what that mission was, but i think it was to embarrass jill as best as he could. if so, mission accomplished!
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start the night

recently diana and i went to visit my family in grand rapids. we got there friday night, dropped off the dog, and met up with the guys. there wasnt any sort of real plans for the night other than hanging out. jeffry lee and his girl jill, freddie, rex, aaron, and keith were all there. we spent a little time over at their place and had a few random guests stop by. i didnt know them at all, but they were highly entertaining... when they finally left we headed over to chicago dr pub to enjoy the rest of the night.

bowl me over

every year i watch the super bowl. this may come as a surprise since i dont watch any other sporting event during the rest of the year, but for some reason i really enjoy watching the super bowl. this year ali and jeremy invited us over to enjoy the game. we got there a bit before kick off and just hung out. we werent too into the game or anything, but it was a fun time just having it on. at the beginning of the game ali said that she would like to see the colts win it. jeremy, diana, and i didnt really care one way or the other, but its no fun if a fan goes unopposed. so, doing the competition thing, i decided that i had suddenly and for no good reason become a fan of the saints. as the game wore on we both got more and more vocal about out new found affiliation, which lead to the game being much more exciting than it would have been otherwise! and somehow, the saints did win, which made me wont to go out right then and buy a saints shirt to wear the next day! in your face!

hair and a meal

at school diana is always excited when someone she knows stops by for a hair cut. well, recently barbara and nick made the long trek from south bend all the way to her school so diana could cut her hair! at the end of the day the three of them came to the house to hang out. we went out to a mexican place for dinner and had a great time! barbara's hair looked very nice, which pleased her and nick. diana got to spend some time with her sister, which pleased diana! and with everyone else pleased, that pleased me too. nice how that works, huh?
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blu ray upgrade

our dvd player went out again. it was past due, we had been using the dvd player i bought almost ten years ago when i lived in utah- back then i payed $140 bucks for it, and it was a black friday deal! i have certainly gotten more than my fair share out of it, so when it died i didnt feel too bad.
i have been tucking money away for quite a few months in anticipation of buying a new tv or blu ray player. i had saved almost enough to get a blu ray, but with the dvd dying, i had to make it work. even though we dont have a hi def tv or anything, i figured it would be a waist to buy a new dvd player, so we went out and joined the blu ray revolution!
we went to best buy and i talked to a worker or two and got the low down on what ones would be good buys. we found this top of the line samsung over in the 'open box' section where it was marked down 90 bucks! we bought it and brought it home (after i took way too long picking out a blu ray to buy so that we could try it out). i got it hooked up easily and unwrapped the blu ray we bought, grabbed the remote and clicked the button to open the disc tray. it was then that we found a special little surprise: the people who had returned it forgot to take out their movie, because when i opened it there was a blu ray copy of quentin tarantino's latest movie! score! this thing just keeps getting better and better!
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