Jungle Jims

For those of you who haven't heard of it, there is this amazing international foods store just north of Cincinnati (very close to BJ's work) called Jungle Jim's - it's ENORMOUS. Anytime BJ makes a quick run there he ends up spending over an hour... and leaving with all sorts of strange fruits, olives, and veggies. Here's the colorful assortment from his last trip (my OCD side just had to put them in ROYGBIV order). :)

Making Granola

I had the week of New Years off so I made a point to work up some granola cereal (my Grandma Marie's recipe) - it takes a while but is worth it! Yummy!

BCC Website

before...

...and after. I reciently created a new website for our church (I made the old one also - but it was time for a change) and successfully created my first Podcast through iTunes! Fun times.

{Check it out}.

ps. Jess and Ryan - I borrowed you. :)

2008 Year in Review

[Click to see it larger]

Happy New Year everyone!

From the Early Days of Jessie

When home for Christmas my mom gave me a few boxes of my old things to look through - we brought them home and spent time last week reviewing my early days... and wow. Here are some of my favorite things... my third grade diary, my Cabbage Patch kid with braces (Eric's orthodintist offered this service to all Cabbage Patch adoptive parents)...
...my first grade glasses (remind anyone of Little Miss Sunshine?) and a 'I Signed the Perot Petition' pin!

Christmas Day

A few photos from the 25th. :) Hope you all had a very merry Christmas! :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Driving back from Granger

On Friday, when we left home it was 62 degrees... the next day in Granger it was -4 (-26 with the wind chill). Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! On our way back the roads were windy but beautiful. It's hard to tell in these photos, but every branch of every tree was iced!

A Very Vance Christmas!

This weekend BJ and I headed up to Granger to visit my family for Christmas. We had a great time spending time together, eating lots of yummy food, playing games and going to see "The Christmas Story" play (which was awesome and so funny)! Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful weekend!

Andrew Peterson & Friends - Behold the Lamb Tour

Thanks to J... we found out about the Behold the Lamb Tour with Andrew Peterson, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Bebo Norman and more... and it just so happened we were heading through Kokomo, Indiana at the right time to catch it. Kate and Matt made the trek down to see it with us and it was ah-mazing. We HIGHLY recommend it!

Mosaic Christmas Party

Last night BJ and I had our high school small group over (we call ourselves Mosaic) for a Christmas party and as always, we had a lot of fun! I always say this... but we love them... and when they graduate (they're juniors already!) we will cry!

If we could afford to fly...

...back up to Kenai, Alaska this week we SO would! Our great friends Karlene and Adam are starring in the play 'Insaine with Power'... Doesn't this look like the funnest thing ever?

We miss you guys! Break a leg! :)

[Read more from Adam's Blog]

Does anyone but us...

...still lay under the Christmas tree and look up at all the lights?

Please leave me alone...

...you just woke me up from the awesomest flying dream.

We Love Miss Lilly

Kate just sent this in an email to me... we love this girl!

"Mommy, I am going to BJ & Jessie's wedding today. They live in Cincinnati. And then I will play at their house in Cincinnati and it will be fun! They have froggies and octopuses and babies and strollers! They have lots of games and I will play with BJ & Jessie. You wanna come?"

This all took place in the 2 minutes immediately after she woke up and I got her out of her room. I'm thinking you two were the subject of her dreams. What a silly girl!

And I didn't know you had octopuses.

Or that Lilly knew that word. - Kate

If I were famous...

...I wouldn't post this because I'd probably have a hundred comments about my being evil... but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. We were having trouble with Layla tracking mud inside... so I tried something new.
It proved to be too much of a pain (but it DID work) so she's now doing her business in the less muddy front yard.

Pet Pilates

Sidney and Layla swear by it.

Black Tie Moose Cake

...the most difficult recipe of our lives - it took us five hours to make! We tried making this Olive Garden recipe (four seperate layers each requring seperate treatment (in the fridge for an hour on one layer, in the freezer for another, etc.))... it was very tasty... but the whole top layer melted down the sides! Let's just say we won't me making this one again. :)

More from Wright Pat

A few picts from Wright Patterson Air Force Base - from the day before Thanksgiving. BJ and I drove up to Dayton for the day to visit the museum with BJ's dad. This place was absolutely huge.

In between hangers we tried to land a plane on an air craft carrier... and then a shot of BJ and his dad inside one of the old Air Force One planes.





Very presidential. :)

Just call me 'Maverick' (or I'll also consider 'Iceman').

iBlog

Now that BJ has a new iPhone (and he actually has a way to view our blog during the day and see what I write about our lives) - he's requesting that I update this more often. Because I've been a very bad blogger.

Photos to come!!! :)