February 2010

Alec turned 10 on February 7. He wanted to go snowboarding for his birthday - so he, I, Brad and Jason went to Snow Creek on Saturday the 6th. Jay and Al snowboarded (including 1 hour of lessons), Brad skied and I took pictures. On the way home we stopped for his birthday dinner at 54th Street. It was a good day.


On Sunday we had a family party at Grandpa and Grandma's


On Feb 13 we went to our first Maverick's Hockey game at the Independence Events Center. It was scout night so several from our Cub Scout Pack were also there. It was a good time.


Sun, Feb 21 through Fri, Feb 26 - Brad and I went to Las Vegas. My parents stayed with the boys while we were gone. I have such wonderful parents!
It was snowing and icing on Sunday so we were afraid our flight might be cancelled - but luckily it wasn't. It was delayed about 1 hour and had to be de-iced - but we made it safely.

It was 60s and sunny most of the time in Vegas. It was great!
We stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. It was nice - but a bit pricey and too far away from everything. We probably won't stay there again.
Here are a few things we did:
Walked
Gambled
Walked
Ate
Walked
Shopped
Walked
Visited the Conservatory at Bellagio
Walked
Went downtown to the Freemont Street Experience

Road the bus
Walked
Went to the Outlet Mall
Walked
etc etc
One day I went to lunch with an old friend that now lives in Vegas. She picked me up and we drove down the strip to the Peppermill for lunch. It was nice to see her and catch-up.

My feet did not fair well with all the walking. One of my blisters got infected and was very painful. Had to go to urgent care on Saturday for antibiotics. Coming home Friday was not fun with a very sore foot. It was a LONG day! We did not get home until after midnight.

But anyway - we had a good time. We won't go for that long again. 3-4 days is our max. It will probably be awhile before we go back. Maybe our next trip will be somewhere tropical and relaxing.


That's about it for February. Blue and Gold banquet was Saturday night and Sunday we just stayed home. Today back to reality.

January 2010

Hard to believe 1 month of 2010 is already come and gone. We had a somewhat busy month.

Hunter, Autumn, Taryn, Brady and their 3 dogs came to visit from Dec 30-Jan 3.



Due to snow and extremely cold temperatures - school did not resume until Jan 11. It was supposed to start again on Jan 5. The boys enjoyed their extra week off.



On Jan 26 - Brad turned 50! We had a party for him on Jan 23. Taryn and Hunter came down from South Dakota for the weekend to help him celebrate.



Alec was in the Blue Springs School District Spelling Bee on Jan 26. He won his school wide spelling bee in December which made him eligible for the District Bee as well as the Eastern Jackson County Bee which will be held in March. He made it through the 3rd round. We are very proud of him. Our friend from Cub Scouts -Lane Vermillion was also in the Bee and won the whole thing. Way to go Lane!


This last weekend was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Alec did not want to do much in the way of building a car. We ended up covering the block of wood with silver shelf paper and putting on the wheels. No cutting, sanding, shaping or painting. No extra weights. Basically a 4.9oz block of wood with wheels. The sad part about all that? - He won 1st place out of 9 in his den!



Other events in January:
Jill turned 16 on Jan 7

Jacob turned 18 on Jan 14


and last but not least - our friends the Schoenbergers welcomed a new baby boy on Jan 28
Cruz Gavin Lee

So Long 2009....

Happy New Year
From our family to yours!
Here’s what’s going on with our family……

Alec will be 10 in February and is in 4th grade. He is working on his Webelo badge in scouts and recently won his school-wide spelling bee. He is now entered in the Blue Springs District and Eastern Jackson County bees.

Jason is 14 and in 9th grade at the Blue Springs Freshman Center. His grades are great and he is adjusting to high school life. He has recently started ice skating at the new Independence Events Center and seems to really enjoy it – except for the blisters :)

Hunter graduated from Beresford High School in May and just finished his first semester of college at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. He lives in the dorms and is majoring in Business.

Taryn, Brady and their 3 dogs are well and living in Sioux Falls, SD. Taryn has also gone back to school and works at Wells Fargo and Target. She is a busy, busy girl!

Michael has had quite a year and is working on turning his life around. He lived with us from February to July but is now back in South Dakota. He is also going to school, working at Applebee’s and his band (Empty Without Reason) is making a CD. Autumn is in second grade and lives with her mom in Beresford. She came and stayed with us for 6 weeks this summer.

Brad is doing well and is in his 21st year at DST. He quit playing World of Warcraft and is searching for a new hobby.

As for me, I have taken a couple of Photography classes at UCM in Warrensburg and have learned a lot. I also discovered there is much more to learn. I plan on continuing my quest for photo knowledge in 2010 – but will probably do more self-study than college courses. I found a name for my business – It’s All About the Image – now I just need to decide what type of photography I want to concentrate on and start building a business.

We went on one family trip this year. In August we met Brad’s parents and his sister Tami’s family in Gulf Shores, AL. We all stayed in a condo on the beach. We had a wonderful time!

All in all it has been a good year. Wishing the best to all of you in 2010.

Christmas 2009

Kansas City had it's first white Christmas in many years - and it was a doozy. There were blizzard conditions on Christmas Eve night. Normally we spend Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad's and then they come to our house on Christmas Day. Due to the weather - we did things a little differently. Everyone (see picture) came to our house on Christmas Eve for our traditional chili, eats, sweets and Trivial Pursuit.




Mom, Dad and Vanessa spent the night with us and were here for Christmas morning. It was great to have them here on Christmas morning and they didn't have to get out in the blizzard. (well me and Dad did for a little while - but that's another story). Anyway, Trent and family went home around 10:00pm since they were going to the Wilson's on Christmas Day. They arrived safe and sound after dropping off Jill's boyfriend Josh and then picking up Jake's friend Tim. Mom, Dad and Nan stayed until around 4:00 on Christmas Day. The roads probably weren't much better than they were the night before - but at least it was daylight and had stopped snowing. It was quite an ordeal to dig their cars out of our driveway. Brad and the boys helped. I mostly stood in the garage doorway and yelled "watch out!", "stop!" and "be careful!" to everyone. :)


All in all - I really enjoyed our Christmas this year.
I guess we aren't quite done yet. Taryn, Brady, Hunter and Autumn will be here in a couple days for their Christmas visit with us. Looking forward to seeing them!

what's been going on since last I posted....

Ryne, Seth, Alec and Jason with their Great Grandmother - Thanksgiving 2009

Nov 7 - My poor baby Alec had strep throat for the first time in his 9 years of life.
Nov 9 - my mother-in-law had a birthday - Happy Birthday Maxine!
Nov 15 - I attended a baby shower for my friend Crystal. I am so happy for her. She has wanted another baby for quite awhile and her dream finally came true (with a little help from medical science).
Nov 21 - We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my family at Mom and Dad's. It was great fun and the food was all very yummy!
Nov 24 - We drove 11 hours to Pineville, LA to spend Thanksgiving with Brad's family.
Nov 25-28 - We enjoyed the nice Fall weather in Louisiana and of course we greatly enjoyed spending time with Maxine, Charles, Mammaw Willis, Tami, Shawn, Ryne and Seth. The boys spent most of every day outside just being boys.
The night of Nov 28 - we drove the 11 1/2 hours back. It took a bit longer going home since we went through Little Rock - but it felt much safer driving on the Interstate instead of those curvy, narrow, 2-lane roads in western Arkansas. However, both coming and going we made better time than ever before because we traveled at night. The boys slept most of the time and we rarely stopped. In the past, the same trip has taken up to 13 hours.
Nov 30 - back to our normal routine and back to school for the boys
Dec 1 - Alec's 4th grade class performed Christmas songs at the Blue Springs Mayor's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. It was a fun time and the first taste of the Christmas season - old favorite Christmas songs, lights, decorations, Santa hats, red & green, chilly temperatures, hot chocolate and Santa himself.
Dec 3 - Brad's oldest son - Michael - turned 27. Happy Birthday Michael! You have made great strides in 2009. Keep it up!
Also on Dec 3 - I turned in my final portfolio for my Nature and Scenic Class. If you are interested - you can find it here. I think that will be my last class for awhile. Not that I have learned everything I need to know - I just am going to find other ways to learn more. Maybe take an online class, self study Photoshop and maybe even try to find a job with an experienced photographer. I also plan to keep taking pictures and more pictures and working to build my own business - It's All About the Image.

So that brings us up to today.... This afternoon, Alec and I are going caroling with the cub scouts at an Alzheimer's care center in Independence. Then tonight I am meeting 7 wonderful ladies for dinner at Carmen's Cafe. This will the first time our book club has gotten together in couple of years. There should be another truly wonderful friend with us tonight but breast cancer took her life much too early - at the young age of 44 - 7 weeks ago today. We are meeting tonight in her honor. I truly believe that she will be with us tonight in spirit.

My handsome nephew Jake's Senior pics

Click here to see all of them at Flickr

53 years!

53 years - that's how long my in-laws have been married today and how long my parents were married in April. Wow! Brad and I have a lot to live up to :0). Of course we will be much older than our parents by the time we are married 53 years.
Kudos to our parents for sticking together through sickness and health, richer or poorer and more!

Here are some pictures from Halloween:

the cul-de-sac kids


my family


my mother!


Sabrina, Shayna and Rachel

October

Autumn is my favorite season (and my favorite granddaughter :))

The trees are especially beautiful this year. They have really turned this past week. I was looking for spots to take some Fall pictures last week and they were few and far between. Now they are very plentiful. Tomorrow is supposed to be 61 and sunny - maybe I can get out and take some pictures. Today it is only 42 and gloomy.

Last night I attended the visitation of a friend of mine. She died much too young of breast cancer. It was heartbreaking to see the grief of her parents, brother, sister, nieces and friends. I am grateful to have known Kelly and I will miss reading her blog and facebook posts. She was such a positive, wonderful person and I sooo wish she had not had to endure all the pain and suffering the cancer caused. Last night was the mourning but tonight there is going to be a celebration of her life. I plan on attending that as well. I know she will be 'mourned' by many for years to come - but tonight she wanted us all to gather and celebrate her.

Realizing how short life can be - I want to mention birthdays. We have lots of family and friends with birthdays this month. Happy Birthday and many more to all of them!
10/11 - Hunter turned 19
10/13 - my daddy turned 73
10/17 - Brad's Mammaw turned 95
10/26 - Autumn will turn 8!
I also had 3 friends celebrate another year - Lucia (10/12), Kathy Q (10/13) and Jennifer W (10/23)

I think that's all I want to write for now. I will leave you with a couple of quotes......

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." ~Abraham Lincoln

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars." -Og Mandino

Enjoy this gorgeous Autumn!

Kelly A. Martin, 44, of Prairie Village, KS, passed away on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009 after a 10 year battle with breast cancer. A Celebration in honor of her life will be Friday, Oct. 23rd, 7:00 pm at Lenexa Conference Center - Thompson Barn, 13420 Oak, Lenexa, KS (913) 541-0209. The visitation will be held on Thursday, Oct. 22nd, 6:00-8:00pm at McGilley & Hoge Chapel, 8024 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, KS 66204. Kelly was born December 15th, 1964 in Sanford, Florida. She attended Fairview Elementary School and graduated from West Plains High School in 1982. Kelly received her B.S. in Education from Missouri State University in 1987. She was a loyal employee of American Academy of Family Physicians for 20+ years. Kelly was preceded in death by her grandparents, William & Adele Kori (Jacksonville, FL) and Al & Juanita Martin and her Aunt Alverna Martin (all of West Plains, MO). Kelly is survived by her dad and mom, Jerry & Terri Martin (Raymore, MO); her sister Tracy (Tony) Rider (Shawnee, KS); her brother Kori (Becky) Martin (Raymore, MO), her nieces Jordan, Ashton, Hayden & Izabella; her aunts, uncles and cousins; and a enormous group of loving and devoted friends. Kelly will be remembered for her love of life, strength, selflessness, graciousness, love, devotion to her family and friends, and her love of music and dancing. Kelly had a special ability to make everyone feel safe and comfortable in her presence and was able to make friends with anyone. In accordance to Kelly’s wishes her body was donated for medical research and her beautiful eyes were given to the Eye Bank. All of those who love Kelly will miss her shining eyes, wonderful smile, warm and comforting presence and amazing laugh. “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."-Ralph Waldo Emerson The family suggests that, in lieu of flowers, you make a contribution to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 501 St Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Attn. Donor Services, P.O. Box 650309, Dallas, TX 75265-0309 Arrangements: McGilley & Hoge Chapel (913)-642-3565

update

I have been bad about updating lately. It is not like I don't have time! I have plenty of it. This last weekend was busy though.....
Saturday was spent working on Jason's rocket for science class. We went to his lab partner's house for a couple of hours and worked with him and his mom. In the evening Alec and I worked the scout popcorn booth at the Fall Fun Fest. We didn't sell much :(. After our shift - Brad and Jason came up and the 4 off us walked around the festival for a bit - then we came home and watched the movie "Obsessed". The movie was a bit creepy - but we had a nice family evening anyway.
Sunday was more work on the rocket and another shift at the popcorn stand. Brad had to work all day - so that left the rocket up to Jason and me. Here's a picture of it. It didn't do too well in the launch - but it looked cool! :)

nature pics

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mom!

Our summer vacation 2009

View from our condo in Orange Beach, AL

For vacation this year, Brad, Jason, Alec and I went to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We shared a condo with Brad's sister Tami, her husband Shawn, their boys Ryne and Seth and Brad's parents. Here are some highlights of the trip.

• We flew into New Orleans on Sunday 8/9
• We rented a car and drove to the French Quarter
• We ate beignets at Cafe DuMonde. Jason had heard of them on the food channel and really wanted to go there.
• It was pouring rain in New Orleans so we did not stay long and headed toward Alabama (after we returned to the airport to retrieve Jason's cell phone he left on the plane)
  
• There are still many abandoned buildings that no one ever returned to after Hurricane Katrina
• We drove to Gulf Port, Mississippi and spent the night at a Quality Inn.
  
• On Monday we drove on to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, Alabama - stopping at Lambert's Cafe - the home of 'throwed rolls' on the way.
• We were the first to reach the condo so we checked on in.
• The condo was wonderful. 7th floor - 2500 square feet - 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths - awesome view
• The rest of the week consisted of lots of swimming (in the ocean as well as the lazy river and pools), walks on the beach, reading, relaxing and many trips to the grocery store and souvenir shops
  
• Jason and Ryne were both stung by jellyfish but recovered quickly
• Seth caught a blue crab with a fishing net
• Two laptops, our Ipods and a big screen TV kept us in touch with the world and gave us our electronic and Facebook fix
• Tami and I took the 4 boys to Pensacola, FL on Thursday. We visited Big Lagoon State Park and Pensacola Beach and the boys all parasailed.
• Shawn did all the cooking (with some help from Maxine and Charles). It was wonderful to have someone else cook for a change :) and to have the coffee already made when I got up in the mornings.
• Our five night stay ended much too quickly and on Saturday we checked out and headed back to New Orleans for our flight home.

in the lazy river


Pensacola Beach


Parasailing


Big Lagoon State Park in Florida

almost August (already?)

The scout

I sent Alec off to Webelo's camp this morning. He will be there Thursday and Friday nights and then we will pick him up Saturday evening. It is his first camp without Mom or Dad there. He will be fine. Not sure about his mom. :0)

July has been pretty quiet around here. Michael moved back to South Dakota a few weeks ago. He plans to go back to school and is currently living with friends.

Crime entered our lives a couple of nights ago when my sister was car-jacked. They approached her in her carport and demanded her keys. They slapped her once in the face but luckily she is fine. She gave them her keys and screamed. They ran when she screamed and she called 911. Unfortunately, they came back and took the car a few minutes later. It has not yet been found. The police took 1 hour to show up and will probably never catch the guys. I personally would like to catch them and beat them up side the head. Don't be messing with my sis! If you see this car - let us know



My nephew is having knee surgery tomorrow for a torn ACL and meniscus. Please keep him in your thoughts.

It's been awhile....

I looked back over my blog and realized I haven't actually 'written' anything since Hunter's graduation weekend.
Autumn was here from May 17 through July 2. We didn't do anything real exciting while she was here - but I think she had a good time. We went swimming a few times, went to Bass Pro Shop, went to Crown Center and the Liberty Memorial. Most of time we just hung out at home. She discovered Facebook and played on the computer quite a bit. Michael worked a lot so she spent most of her time here with us.
On June 6 I went to Chicago and Milwaukee with two old friends of mine. Kathy Q lives here and I have known her for 23 years. She and I went to visit Kathi Mc who lives in Chicago. We have both known her for 20 years. The 3 of us drove up to Milwaukee for one night. We stayed at the Pfister in downtown Milwaukee, went to the art museum and to the Third Ward shopping district. We took the 'scenic' route back to Chicago along Lake Michigan. It took us most of the afternoon - but was a nice drive. It was about the journey - not the destination. We didn't really get to see Chicago as we had planned - but that's okay. It will still be there next time :)
Taryn and Hunter came down for Father's Day weekend - so all Brad's kids were with him this year. Probably for the first time in years.
My summer class was canceled due to lack interest. Only 4 people signed up. So I am just spending the summer with the kids. I waste a lot of time on the computer but I have also been working on photography some. I took pictures of my Milwaukee trip and Jake's baseball team. I added the baseball team pictures to a Shutterfly share site - leishajdg.shutterfly.com. I also came up with a name for my photo biz - It's All About the Image.
Michael took Autumn back to SD on July 2. We had our cul-de-sac '4th of July' shindig on the 3rd of July - due to other commitments for the neighbors. On the 4th we went to watch Independence fireworks show with Mom, Dad, Nan, Trent, Michelle, Jake and mom's friend Debbie. It was a nice evening.

I think that is about it.

Jason on the last day of 8th grade. That means he is now a high school student!


Alec and Marissa on the last day of 3rd grade


Autumn deep in thought


Autumn at the Liberty Memorial


Autumn with a loose tooth