Vegas Trip

A few weeks ago we headed out to Las Vegas for a long weekend with the Saddlers. Here are a few pics from our trip. Unfortunately, we didn't hit it big but we had a great time.

Home Sweet Home

Well, I've been slacking a bit on the blog lately so if you haven't heard already, we moved back to Michigan at the end of October. We are really happy to be back in our own home. We were excited to be able to spend Thanksgiving here and we're really looking forward to being home for Christmas as well. The move home was a little earlier than we expected, due to GM's financial woes, but Russ, thankfully, still has his job. Hopefully, GM gets on track shortly and keeps Russ along for the ride. And, lucky me, I was able to get my old job back. My days of playing housewife are over and Russ couldn't be more excited!

Congratulations Lloyd and Kim!

Congratulations to the future Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Steed. We're so happy and excited for the two of you!

OSU vs. MSU - Tailgating Fun!

On October 18th we got together with some friends to tailgate for the Ohio State/Michigan State football game. While most of us were pretty sad and shocked to see MSU get annihilated on the field, we all had a great time tailgating in East Lansing for the game.

Kristee "Lou" and Andy

Rick and Jen

Jeb and Tabitha

Ladies Night!

On October 11th, a bunch of girlfriends and I gathered in Middlebury, Indiana, at Jen Rupps' house, for some much needed girl time. What's impressive to us is that we were all able to make it from 6 different states - Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, Alabama and Massachusetts!

From left: Kristee Dampeer, Heather Baran, Jen Rupp, me, Elizabeth Smith, Laurie Lawson, Melissa Gutgsell-Miller, and Liz Seurynck.

We also took the opportunity to celebrate the future Mrs. O'Kane's upcoming wedding. (She's the lucky lady is the white feather boa.)



I can't wait for next year, ladies!!

It's October...

...and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Here are a couple of ladies that are very special to us and they're breast cancer survivors.This is my grandma, Mary Weiderman. Just last month, at 93 years old, she rode in the Sturgis Toy Run (love the du-rag)
and she plans to do it next year, too.

And this is my Aunt Karla. She got the shocking news she had breast cancer this year. She's had surgery and is now cancer free!

We're so happy to have these special ladies in our life!

You can help women in need receive mammograms by clicking on the link on the right side of our blog that reads "Give free mammograms." It's free and it just takes a second of your time. You can click on this link everyday, all year long, to help!

Some siteseeing in KC

We got some visitors last weekend!! My mom and Mike came to visit last weekend so Russ finally took a weekend off down here and we took in some KC attractions. Our first stop was President Harry Truman's house in Independence, Missouri, which is just outside of Kansas City. President Truman's wife, Bess, grew up in this house and when the two were married, they moved into it (because Bess had to help take care of her parents) and this is where they lived until they died. Stepping into the house was like stepping back in time. The home is exactly how they left it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take any pictures of the inside of the house.

Next, we drove by the Vaile Mansion and decided to stop and take a look inside. The mansion was built by Colonel and Mrs. Harvey Vaile in 1881. The mansion has 31 rooms, but that's a little deceiving because our tour guide told us that the closets were considered a room for tax purposes since they have a door on them. That's why you don't see a lot of closets in homes this old. They used wardrobes instead. When built, the mansion also had a 6,000 gallon water tank and a 48,000 gallon wine cellar! The man liked his wine and that's also evident in some of the painting on the ceilings and some of the carvings on the marble fireplaces.
The home has 9 marble fireplaces.

Several of the rooms had ceilings that were hand painted with some kind of picture. This was Mrs. Vaile's bedroom. Word is that the woman's chest in this painting was originally exposed. Mrs. Vaile was very sick and bed-ridden but her lady friends wouldn't come visit her in her bedroom because of the painting. So Mr. Vaile had the artist come back and paint the top of the woman's dress to cover her up!


After the Vaile Mansion, we went downtown to the Liberty Memorial Tower and World War I Museum. We didn't have time to check out the museum but we did go up in the memorial tower, which is 217 feet tall. I'm not a fan of heights so I was a bit nervous but the view was worth it.

Near the top of the Memorial Tower are 4 different carvings which stand for Sacrifice, Courage, Honor and Patriotism.The Kansas City skyline from the top of the tower.
Next, we took a quick stroll through Union Station. Union Station was built in 1914 and was the second largest train station in the U.S. at that time. "Union Station made headlines on June 17, 1933, as four unarmed FBI agents were gunned down by gang members attempting to free captured fugitive Frank Nash. Nash was also killed in the gun battle." This event is referred to as the “Kansas City Massacre” and resulted in the arming of all FBI agents.
Inside Union Station.

I thought the ceiling inside was beautiful.

Kansas City is known as "The City of Fountains." This is Bloch Fountain, which is in front of Union Station.

Last stop for the day - Kaufman Stadium. We watched the Royals host the White Sox.

On Sunday we went downtown again. This time to Country Club Plaza which is a really nice shopping area. I love the Spanish architecture down there. There was a HUGE art fair going on and about a billion people down there, which was a bit overwhelming, so we didn't stay too long.
We did check out the J.C. Nichols fountain before we left though.

We had a great weekend and were really happy to have my mom and Mike come down for a visit. Now if only I could get Russ to take off another weekend so we could check out some other things in the area! Who's up for a visit to KC? :-)

Labor Day Weekend

We decided to make the long drive to Sturgis for Labor Day Weekend. We had a nice time visiting family and luckily we were able to make it up to Kalamazoo for Alex Dampeer's 1st birthday party.

The Birthday Boy was on the move the whole time!

Here's Alex with his mom.

The Rupp family was also able to make it to Alex's party so we had fun catching up with them.

JD showed me how well he could swim in the kiddie pool and then gave me a big wet hug!

Ella is getting so big. And apparently she is still completely unimpressed by me!

Of course we had to get a picture of the ladies!

Cancer Action 5K

Last weekend we ran our first 5K - The Cancer Action Grand Prix. A very special thank you to everyone that pledged money for the run. It was much appreciated and went to a very worthy cause.

And we're off.

Russ coming in strong across the finish line.

A few minutes later I finished. I made it without stoppng to walk at all so Talley burgers are on you, Lloyd!!