Birthday Weekend

I had a great birthday weekend...on Saturday evening, my in-laws took us out to dinner at Del Rio - a great Italian restaurant. They had the BIGGEST wine list we've ever seen and Tim decided we needed to have a bottle of 1977 Burgess in honor of my birth year. It was actually pretty good stuff for being that OLD! Thank you Tim & Teresa for the great dinner!

Sunday, Cameron surprised me with a basket of 31 gifts on my 31st birthday which included movies, books, magazines, jewelry, coffee, a rose & a cake! He thought it would help while I'm laid up for surgery this week. Then we went to the Passion Play at Christ Community Church in Zion. Cameron's grandfather used to be a part of the set design for this play and they've had it at this church for 70 years.

Amazing Story

I've posted before about Nate, Tricia and baby Gwynneth Rose but they just recently shared their story with ABC and you can watch it here. I'm not sure about you, but it gives me chills...hope you enjoy! For more information about this family or to view their blog - please click here.

Christy's Bridal Shower

This past weekend my mom, Janel & I hosted a bridal shower for Christy, my brother's future wife. They are set to wed on June 14, 2008 and we're all very excited to officially welcome Christy to the family!

Christy & Dakota (their first baby):

Happy Easter

John 11:25-26: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Thank you so much to all who have donated to my Relay for Life! I have upped my goal twice and am currently trying to hit the $1,000 mark. Thank you so much for your generosity! This is obviously a disease that has rocked my family to the core and something that is very close to my heart, I greatly appreciate all of the support & donations for this! I'm excited to participate and I think it's going to be a very emotional, wonderful night! If you're interested in seeing my webpage or donating, please click here.

Good Friends

We've been blessed to have wonderful friends, unfortunately some of them live a couple hours away and we don't get to see them as often as we would like. On Friday the Cirks came up from Schererville, IN, half of the Wrenches came down from WI (Jess & Bri - hope you feel better soon, sorry we didn't get to see you!) and the Mertens came from 5 minutes away to hang out. Thank you all for making the trip, hopefully it won't be another 6 months before we see you again!

On Saturday we celebrated St. Patty's day with Brooke & Steve & Brooke's family at Mickey Finn's brewery. They set up a big beer tent in their back parking lot and a couple different Irish bands played.

Collin, the littlest Cirks:Reese (Collin & Reese are only about a week apart & soon approaching their 2nd birthdays):Ryan & Liam, cookie eating contest:St. Patty's Celebration:

Our Boys

Many people have asked me how big Roscoe is getting...he's quickly approaching the same size as Barley and his paws are bigger. We're a bit afraid of how big he's going to get, definitely will be bigger than Barley. Anyway, I thought I should be a good dog "mom" and post more recent pictures of our babies. Never thought I would be one of those people who treated their dogs like kids, but here I am just as guilty as the next psychotic dog person!

In December:Now:

Welcome to the Club!

Our friend Nicole just had her 30th bday party on Saturday evening...
Welcome to the over 30s club, Nicole! We had a great time at her party as you can probably tell by the pictures below. An 80s cover band played at the bar where her party was held and we closed the place down!
Jen & Nicole with the guitar player:Nicole on stage with the band: