birth-day filled weekend......

Well, Saturday morning, I received a VERY EXCITING phone call!  Patti & TJ had their tiny bundle of joy earlier that morning!! =)  I am just so excited for them.  At 7:20am, January 24, Camryn Danae Slager was born in Crown Point, IN.  She is a HUGE gift in a very small package, weighing 6lbs. and only 19 inches long.  Here are some photos of when Matt and I went to go visit them at the hospital...

I think we could handle one of these! ;-)

Right honey????

Then after the hospital it was time for some more celebrating of someone's birth-day!  Madison will be turning 5 on the 30th. It was a HANNAH MONTANA themed party!  We also got into playing with Keith & Tricia's Wii system  (Guitar Hero & Wii Fit mainly!)  It was a lot of fun!

(Matt doing the Ski Jump)

(Dad doing the Soccer game)

(Cassidy playing hula hoop!)

It was a great weekend, and I look forward to this coming weekend just as much!  I get to see my "FABULOUS 4" 3 girlfriends and we are heading down to Champaign to see our cousin's Eric & Laura!  YEAH!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!  

secret pal..... i've never done this before! eeek!

well, I'm VERY BORED here at work... (which is nothing new to me!)  So, I am trying to come up with ideas for my secret pal.   at church they started a new round of it for the new year.  so, i thought it would be a good way to get to know some more people.   at the meeting i received a piece of paper with some interests that my secret pal has, but sadly, my secret pal didn't give me enough, especially since i really don't know everyone at church that well yet.  so, it might not be enough for me to go off of..... i want to be creative and i don't want to do the typical little trinkets that I think of when i think of secret pal gifts.....

so i have been doing a little bit of research.....  there are not as many ideas as I thought there would be out there.... but i did find one good list..... but certainly came up with some of my own.... but i would love to hear from any of you if you have any ideas.  email me (thehoekstras101808@gmail.com) and let me know if you've been in this situation and had a good experience from something you gave.

but here is a little list of things that i research and thought i could twist to make my own:

1. Tin/Jar/Box with Bible verses in it  

   (One for every day of the year/a new one to put in there every so often)

2. Homemade Journal 

   (that you would give at the end) - it would have prayers/verses/poems that you want to share/tell your secret pal.

3. Worship CD's 

   (hymns/praise/christian songs)

4. Candles

5. Homemade Baked Goodies! 

    (with recipes to go with 'em!)

6. Spa Day Set 

    (Bubble Bath, Nail Polish, Pedicure/Manicure, etc)

7. Include their kids in what they like to do!

    (Cooking with Mommy, Scrapbooking for Mom & Me, etc.)

8. Flowers

    (Real or fake) 

9. Books/Magazines that go with hobbies that they like!

10. Gourmet coffee/coffee mug

11. Gift Certificate to a place they really like to shop/eat/go 

     (nothing expensive, just to help lighten their load)

12. Things to go with their interests  - little by little learn your self how to do that hobby and see what is something they would appreciate getting for that hobby!

(Cooking/Baking, Jewelry Making, Scrapbooking, Quilting, Needlework, Sketching/Drawing)

13. Themed presents  

     (to go along with Bible verses that you think might help them out, even it's just a little thing       and a bible verse attached to it)

14. Christian Book/Plaque/Saying

15. Cards every now and then to just encourage them

16. Candy & Chocolate is ALWAYS good... 

  (unless they are allergic to it!)

that's all i got..... help?

in other news.....  we have finally got a treadmill. Matt put it together last night and I am so super excited about it and can't wait to go on it tonight for the first time! (thanks again babe... you're the best!!!)  i have been feeling like a bump on a log with no energy ever since we got back from our honeymoon and really haven't had the resources to go walking/running as i would like!  So, hopefully this will boost my energy and get me back on the right track!

I guess I knew....

Goooooooood Moooooooornin'.......................

Even though I knew what I was getting myself into, marrying a pipeliner... it is all coming reality to me now! I find it harder than I thought to have nights to myself, especially unexpected nights. It is one thing to know when he'll be gone and I can mentally prepare for that.... but when it's an emergency and it could last a couple of days..... that is something I'm not good at! The reason I bring this up is because Wednesday and Thursday night, Matt was up in Rockford again, doing the same stuff he was doing the week before, and those nights, I don't enjoy, but I know that he is going to be gone. But Friday night, Matt got a call saying that the Freight Train that got derailed in Buffalo Grove was RIGHT ON TOP of the pipeline and workers needed to be there to make sure no damage was being done to the pipeline (which is quite a few feet underneath all that happened). This is a picture of the mess that needed to be cleaned up even before they could even start checking out the pipeline to see if any damage was done to the line.

I will say that I am thankful I have a man that is a hard worker and enjoys the work that he does. He cares about the work he does and he likes to do it right.

As for me, I had a wedding to shoot yesterday for THE NEW MR. & MRS. GARY ZEKVELD (Gary & Hannah "Smith"). It was a beautiful wedding. The weather could have cooperated a little bit better, but man, those girls "MAN-ed UP" and fought the cold to take pictures outside! Hannah was beautiful, Gary was handsome and I'm jealous they will be in the warm weather of Mexico today. Here is a beautiful picture of the bride & groom:

Hope everyone has a relaxing day......

Snowy Busy Couple of Days!

Painting the Living Room & the Hallway!

Snowy Days in Grant Park..... View from my back window!

Wedding Video

HEY EVERYONE!!!!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the new year! Great news! We got our wedding video back from our videographer! Thanks to Mike Neerhof (friend from college) we have a WONDERFUL wedding video! He did a wonderful job and we are very happy with how it turned out!!!! Mike also has one of these BLOGSPOT pages, so he has posted a couple of the sections from the wedding on his page! Check out:

http://mikeneerhof.blogspot.com/

Besides that, this weekend has been calm and relaxing.... quite enjoyable! Some sort of a calm before the storm of a busy upcoming week! Painting the living room and hallway, shooting a wedding on Saturday and Matt being out of town 1/2 of the week again in Rockford!

Rockin' out in Rockford

Well, since Sunday night, Matt has been in Rockford for work. Buckeye has taken over another line and Matt was in charge of going over to the Rockford location to be there for any questions.

Since I usually have Wednesdays off, I decided go up for 1.5 days to see him.... but that was with Matt putting the thought into my head that I could actually go see him and not have to be at home all by myself without him. SOOOOO... Tuesday afternoon, I drove over to Rockford and be with him for the night! And the first thing he shows me are THESE:

These are wonderful OLD SCHOOL (just out of the package) safety glasses he found at the Argo office. I just had to take a picture of him with 'em on. It's just so funny! They actually just look like really old glasses that might have been for a prescription, but they really aren't!!
We went and saw "Four Christmases" with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. I didn't hear that great of things about it, but I still really wanted to see it! And actually, I liked it. All the funny parts WEREN'T just in the commercials and I laughed quite a lot! =) After that, we went to the MACHINE SHED restuarant. It is a place that is "dedicated to the American farmer" (or something like that.. i thought that's what i read!). But it was good homecooked type meals with bread and all the fixin's. The bread was so good and my chicken just melted in my mouth! If you are ever in the Rockford area (or Iowa too I think), I think it is a good family resturant to check out! http://www.machineshed.com/. Then today, I was able to actually see Matt again, because when I called him in the morning, he was stuck at the Ford Dealership getting his truck worked on. So I got to spend just a little more time with my hubby before leaving Rockford.
I miss all of my friends. I will say that it is not as easy to get together with all of them as it used to be. Whether it's because I live a little farther away now, or because we are all just getting busier with other things that are coming into our lives. I just pray that we will always have time to see each other and keep those friendships going no matter what happens in our lives.
Matt and I are both realizing that we need to get back on the routine of working out and eating better. With both of us loosing a pretty substantial amount of weight each awhile ago, we know how important it is try to stay healthy and fit. Of course, since we both haven't worked out since the wedding, we are starting to "feel the burn" of working out again!
Hope all of you are doing well!
Jenni

A New Beginning - 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

EVERYONE!

We hope everyone had a safe & good New Years Eve night.

  

I can't believe that 2008 is gone and it's already 2009.  2008 was a great year for us (I'm assuming Matt feels the same way! haha).  We had the greatest day of our lives when we got married and we were able to go on a AMAZING honeymoon to Hawaii and plus many more things! And we just pray that 2009 will be just as exciting, hopefully with many more happy moments! Only the Lord knows what the new year will bring and we just pray that His will be done in our lives and that we will honor and glorify Him in all that we do!

---------

This past week & weekend have been very busy for us.  For New Years Eve we went to my cousin Katie's reception in Lansing.  It was a nice night and good to see all the family again!  Here are a couple photos from our evening:

About 10:30 we left the reception, we both were pretty tired and I had been/still am fighting a cold, so that just kind of drained me. But what GREAT FOOD! (I definitely want to go back to Benchwarmers to try out their menu food!) And surprise, surprise, Matt was sleeping before midnight even came around.  We got home about 11:15 and he was out by 11:32.....  so, I woke it him up to kiss him at 12:03 and I was sleeping by 12:10ish!  What a fun & memorable way to celebrate our first NEW YEARS together! Haha..... =) 

Then on Thursday we watched the Blackhawks Winter 

Classic game of course!!  Nicholas and Rachele came over to watch it with us.  It was great to watch, but sucks that the Hawks lost though.  Then in the evening we got to watch our nephew Ian for a little while while Rich and Amy went out for their anniversary! (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GUYS!!) It was great to play with Ian.  He truly is a smart kid and loves to be with his uncle Matt!  We played the game MEMORY, which I absolutely LOVE. I'm so glad we gave that to him for Christmas.  It is a game I actually like to play!   

Then Friday just continued the joy of playing kid games and also added crafts to that!  Friday, we had Cassidy & Madison come and sleep over.  We did crafts, ones that I had given to them for Christmas (Messenger Bag & Stickers) and they also decorated picture frames for not only themselves, but also Mikayla & Lydia!!!  It was the first time we had any nieces or nephews sleep over.  I will say, I was a little nervous (partly had to do with cassidy having a cold and coughing)..... but it was all good... I slept most of the night (due to the fact of not only being nervous, but also, I was coughing myself!)!

Saturday was busy too!  Keith and Trish came to pick up the girls in the morning and were able to see our house for the first time!!!!  But then later on in the afternoon, we did a lot of errands before we met Brett & Amanda for dinner! =)   We went to Sams Club first, which I still think this is funny...... as we were pulling out of Sams Club.... Matt turns to me..... and said something along the lines of "it never ceases to amaze me, we can go into Sams with a list of 4 things we need to get, but we end up coming out of there spending almost $200".... and that is SOOOOO TRUE!!  It's hard to keep a ONE TRACKED MIND in Sams Club!!!  Haha..... but we also bought paint for the living room so that when Matt is out of town next week, my mom and I are able to paint that room and check that off the list of things to decorate! haha!

Sunday we had the pleasure of going over to Nathan and Leah's house for lunch!  It is always a good time when we go over there!  Nathan and Leah together are just a very hospitable couple and their girls are just so cute and loving!  I just love playing with them (and they do love to play with me it seems!).  Then that evening Matt left for Rockford for the week.  I'll miss him, but it seems like I'm staying busy enough to not get caught up in that he is gone!!!!  And the next week, he will be gone too, so hopefully painting and other things will keep me busy next week too!

As for wedding photos... if there are any of you that know that you took a photo in the photobooth and would like to have a digital file of it... just email me.  I have a CD of all the photos and can just email 'em to you!