MI RANCHITO tomorrow night
with Nicholas & Rachele!!
YEEEEEAHHHH!!!!!
(that is for you Nicholas....
Since Matt said it to you on the phone
last night that I would put it on here)

Well, not much has been going on with Matt & I. Last week, Matt was out of town for almost the whole week... so that wasn't too much fun, but now this week, I have been enjoying him being home every night! =)

Welp, this past weekend was a busy one! But wonderful.... to be with my husband again after a long week of not seeing him at all, was great!

First we started off with a BLACKHAWKS game with Rachele and Nicholas! Aside from the annoying New Jersey fans behind us, it was good game! Although I wasn't able to tuned out the girl behind me that knew everyone by their first name on the Devil's team & talked about every single play... I still was able to enjoy the game! It was a close game until the very end.... Thankfully ended up winning right at the end of the game, but if they play a little better offense, they could have won by more than just 1 point. But it was nice to hang out with Rachele and Nicholas again!..... next time guys........ MI RANCHITO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait!

Then Saturday afternoon, it was time to head down to Layafette, IN to stay at a hotel with some couples and their kids from church. Matt and I left in the early afternoon and took our time getting down there. Matt gave me a little mini-"tour" of Layafette... showing me where Purdue is (since i have never been down there!).... showing me where he stays when he goes down there for classes/ conferences and where his bachelor party was. We then met everyone at the hotel for some swimming and some dinner! It was fun hanging out with those kids. To see their energy and fun they have in the pool is just so cute! Some kids were even in there for 3 hours straight! (as you can see from Taylor's hands below... she got VERY wrinkley from being in there so long!) It's interesting to see how different kids are. Some are scared, some are daring and some are just happy to splash their feet in the water! =) We ordered pizza, queso dip and had some other great food! Defiitely not a good weekend for dieting!

(Taylor's really wrinkley hands.... with Matt being funny in the background!)

(Just a really cute photo of Taylor with her wrinkley hands again!)

(Me "Jen Jen" & Taylor "Tay Tay")

(Some of the little kids that we were with.... and NO, it wasn't birth control really.... it actually makes me excited to have kids some day!)

(Oh... sweet baby Tessa and me!)

(2 of the DeYoung girls and me!)

(Awww......)

(Crazy girls!)

(Aaron, not looking & Tiffany being cute as usual!)

(I "learned" how to play poker... and yes, we played with Equal, Sugars, Splenda & Sweet-n-Low)

Then it was off to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis (an hour drive) for the day! I invited Taylor to ride along with us for that hour and of course when Tiffany saw that Taylor was going with us... she wanted to also! So we adopted 2 little girls for the car ride to Indy. It was nice! Two very talkative girls at the beginning turned into 1 sleeping girl and 1 zoned into her DS girl about 15 minutes into the car ride! But it was a nice change of pace for Matt and I, having some youngens in the car with us!

The Children's Museum was fun. It was pretty big and had a good variety of stuff for the kids to see! Matt and I decided to go off on our own for a little bit and just see it all in a little more faster pace than it would be with some kids with us (in hopes that we would meet up with some other people later!) But we actually only saw maybe 2 of the other families throughout our time there. So, once we were done, we left and "toured" Indianapolis a little bit. Again, I don't remember the last time I was there (I think it was when i was quite young!)... so we drove around a little bit and then we ended up driving to the Indianapolis Speedway... something that Matt wanted to see (and I guess me too a little bit!)

(Chihuli -sp?- sculpture at the Indianapolis Children's Museum)

(Matt is just a BIG KID!)

(Matt and I in the mirror section!)

(The Batmobile! Supposedly the one they used in some movies!)

And that was our weekend in a nutshell!

But the fun didn't stop when the weekend was over! Tuesday I had my day off and went shopping to Michigan City with my wonderful friend Stephanie and we had a great time... whether was good... little bit of rain, but enough to keep people away from the outlet mall! And when I was shopping I got a call from Matt with some wonderful news! His cousin Eric and his wife Laura had their baby, a boy! I just love the name! Evan Levi.... how adorable! I can't wait to go see the little guy! Congratulations you guys! And to little Lily too! =) I'm sure she's be a wonderful big sister!

Hope you all are having a good week....

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!

presents, pizza, and DORA

Well, another busy weekend has come and gone!

I can't believe how fast these weeks are just flying by! WOW.... pretty soon it will be the week before and I won't know where all the time went!

Well, we had the Derks shower on Saturday morning.... what a great time! My aunts put together a wonderful shower for Matt and I. They had black and white with a little bit of red decorations, matching the color scheme of the wedding! The cake was beautiful with our monogram on it!!!!! And we got a lot of great stuff!!! Thanks to everyone that came.... we greatly appreciate it!

(cake) (my handsome man & me)

(patti, me, & melissa)

(esther, me, & trish)

(shan, becky, me, & vicki)

(trying to figure out the white substance)

(yeah, he's weird!) (my pops!)

Then after the shower, it was time to bring all the goodies over to matts!!! As much as i love to organize stuff, I'm kinda ready to be done organizing and re-organizing the extra bedroom. I have stuff stuffed underneath the bed and stacked along the sides of the bed..... haha! But I plan on taking a day and opening everything, going through matt's old stuff and our new stuff and weeding out what we don't need of his old stuff and cleaning out the cabinets and then ORGANIZING again!!! YIPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

After organizing and resting a little bit... it was time to go out for pizza with Nicholas and Rachele. We went to Gino's East in Orland and then we went bowling. And I dont' want to GLOAT or anything, but I WON BOTH GAMES!!!!!!!!!!! Whoop Whoop!!! Haha... it was a fun night!!!

Then, Sunday (today) was our DORA b'day party for Mikayla (2) and Lydia (3).... it was nice to be with the fam again!

(I'm super excited! - Kyle)

So, that was our weekend in a nutshell..... hope everyone else had a great weekend too!