Weekend Update

BJ and I had a great weekend... we missed the Bright Festival and parade, opting for the Wagner Family Reunion (BJ's mother's side) instead, which was at Sharon Woods park. Despite the very warm weather, we had a nice time. BJ taught me how to throw a disk golf (I thought I knew how, but every time I tried throwing it straight, it went directly to my right), so maybe I'll join in next time he plays. :)

Last night I met up with my sister Kris in Indianapolis at Fort Harrison State Park. It was SO great to see her and get to meet my beautiful nephew Aidan for the first time. He's such a good baby! Check out that smile!



Here's a couple of me with him:





And here's when he's done with the paparazzi. :)



Looking back now I wish I had asked Aidian to take a photo of Kris and I together. I'm sure he wouldn't have minded. :)

Jessie's Ancestry tied to Orlando Bloom!

Okay, so we're not related. However, he was named in part after my great great great (yes, three greats) grandmother Rhoda's brother Jonathan Blanchard. Jonathan Blanchard was, according to Wikipedia, "a pastor, educator, social reformer, abolitionist and the first president of Wheaton College, Illinois".

Orlando Bloom's full name is Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom.

I think he owes his success in part to my family... :)

Here's more on Jon:

Wheaton Online Exhibit

I Feel...

My friend Matt at work showed me this site, and I thought I'd share. It's a real-time database of blog entries that include the words "I feel". You can see the data in all these different graphic formats, and search only for certain feelings.

Crazy Cats

Here's a photo of Annie taking a break (in the new carrier I just put together) from Sidney's crazyness - for a while now they've been running all over chacing each other, running into walls, sliding on the floors, hiding and jumping out at each other, etc. :)

New Land Photos

BJ and I went out to the land last night to see what progress was being made... they've come a long way on the roads, and there were some really pretty wild flowers growing on our lot. :) We managed to take home some wildlife too -- four ticks... eeewwwwww. We killed them.

Here's some photos of the roads... This first one is the view if you were leaving our neighborhood:



Same view, different angle:



The road curving back (the area of tall trees to the right of the road in this photo are the trees on our lot):

What an Eventful weekend!

I was on the move again this weekend, this time I headed for Illinois to visit my family. It was so nice to see everyone! We'll be getting together again for Thanksgiving, which I am really looking forward to.

Before I left my aunt Bobbie, my cousin Keith, my mother and myself went to visit the place where my Grandma Marie and Grandpa Rod lived when I was a child. We met the two women who lived there, who were kind enough to take us around and even inside their home. In a lot of ways it was different from what I remembered. Here's some of my favorite pictures:







I have been really interested in family history lately, and I was really excited to be trusted with a box full of photos to scan and other treasures such as my Grandpa Rod's mother (Lois Vance)'s memoir, which I read last night and made me wish I could have known her.

I've started a blog to learn more about some of the photos that I can't wait to learn more about!

On Saturday night I drove to Indianapolis for Kristi's shower. I can't believe her wedding is coming up so soon! Only a few more weeks! :)

In other news... BJ and I have a new orchid named Lola (her arms are spread out wide like a showgirl). Isn't she lovely (Sidney and Annie sure think so!)?



Hopefully I'll do better at keeping this one alive, thanks to advice from Chrissy and Chris! :)

Brown County Weekend

So to Kate, and whoever else might have noticed… sorry for the lack of blog entries. : ) We’ve been pretty busy! This past weekend I went with the girls in BJ’s family (Wurzelbacher side) to Brown county and had a great time! The weather was beautiful!



One of my favorite parts of the weekend was hiking in the state park. We hiked around a lake, and the water was so still it looked like we were looking up into the sky – here’s one of my pictures of the water. It’s hard to tell where the trees end and the reflection of them begins.



While I was gone BJ hung out with Dave and Blake – disk golfing and regular golfing. : ) BJ also continued to demonstrate his new found cooking prowess by baking a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake (I would never have been so brave to attept a recipe had 26 steps!). I’m so amazed at how well he cooks – I never knew!



Here’s a cute shot I took of BJ last night with Sidney…. Awww…



And here’s BJ slowly confusing Sidney’s sense of stability.