Wedding Bells

Last weekend, Mike's oldest friend, Brett, got married!  Mike was Brett's best man (Brett was Mike's in our wedding too!), so he spent all day Saturday with Brett preparing for the biggest day of Brett's life!  Some pictures from the day...

Brett hugging his mom before seating her

Waiting for his bride

Listening to the pastor's message

Getting ready to cut the cake

Mike giving his best man's speech

All dressed up!  (I think this picture is at a really wierd angle--we look funny!)

Tulip Time

Holland, MI is well known for their annual Tulip Time Festival in May.  I grew up going to this festival and my high school marching band was even in the big parade one year.  Last week, Mike and I went downtown with some friends to participate in the festivities.

Every year hundreds of thousands of tulips bloom in various gorgeous colors!

You can't go downtown and not get junk food!  We had corn dogs, French fries, and raspberry lemonade for dinner.  Then we walked a bit and saw a sign for chocolate covered bacon.  It wasn't quite what we expected, but we all really liked it.  Then we walked a bit more and got an elephant ear with Bavarian cream! I think we all had a bit of a stomach ache by the end of the night!

Perfect setting for a picture!

Wall Expressions Party

Last year I went to a make-and-take Wall Expressions party and just loved it!  I couldn't wait 'til I had my own house to decorate so I could host a party of my own.  Last Friday I was finally able to.  I had a great group of friends come over, including Mari (you can read about the party on her blog too!)  Mandy, from Mandy's Wall Expressions, came to my house and led us in a great night of fun!  She brought along a ton of samples of her work, everything for growth charts, to cute sayings on blocks, to plates, to tiles!  Pretty much if you can imagine it, she can create it!  After she explained what her business is all about and all the great items she offers, we headed out to the garage to make our own word blocks!

We were able to choose between a 12 inch or 24 inch long block and then we chose our color to paint it.  

After our painted blocks were dry, it was time to apply the vinyl letters.  Mandy had many expressions that we could choose from and there really was an expression for everyone!  I chose: "Memories" and "Friends, Food, Laughter".

Mandy then showed us how we could sand the edges of our blocks to give it a weathered look; this was an optional step, some people did it and others left their blocks completely painted.  

And of course, what's a party without food?!?!  (I'll be posting the recipes on my recipe blog soon!)

The finished products.  Don't they just look fabulous?  I had such a great time and I know the other ladies did too!  Mandy is available for parties at your house too, so if you live in the West Michigan area, be sure to check out her site!

(Thanks to Mari for letting me use some of her pictures!!!)

Cran Hill Ranch

This weekend I went up to Cran Hill Ranch with the middle school youth group from church. I wasn't sure what to expect, and it was a little strange for me to be going as a leader when I'm used to going as a student the past 7 years! But it turned out to be a great weekend! We left around 5:30 Friday evening. When we got to the ranch, we unpacked and then met for our first large group meeting. The topic for the weekend was "God made you for this". We discussed how we're all made for a purpose and what we're here on earth for. Then we did a small group response and then free time until bed time.
Saturday morning, we had a personal quiet time. This was interesting, because quiet for middle school girls is different for quiet for adults! :) Then we went to the work project. We had 3 groups. Mine was assigned to move firewood. We had to separate it, move it, stack it, carry it, etc. The other two groups did scrap metal and moving the woodshop to a new location. I didn't take any pictures of the work for fear of damaging my camera. We worked before lunch and after lunch. About 5 hours or so, which was long enough to be cold and tired and a bit sore. Then we had a long free time. Some went tubing, some slept, some played games and just hung out. I was in the latter group :) After dinner, we had another large group meeting and talked about how we are made to serve. We had a time of Servant Commissioning, washing of feet, which was a neat experience. Then we had free time until bed time. It was neat for me because some of the girls wanted me to hang out with them during free time. We painted nails, sat on Kaylyn's bunk for "girly talk" and had a great time. The highlight was getting attacked by silly string, but I'll let Tori or Anna tell you about that! Bed time was a different story though. The girls told a scary story after I had left the room. Then when they found out that the doors didn't lock, they got scared. So they asked if I would sleep in their room that night, instead of with Patty and Jennifer. I said sure. So I moved in there. We said a quick prayer and went to bed. 2 seconds after laying down, I heard "Melissa, I'm still scared" So I crawled up into her bunk, turns out she was homesick, so we talked for a while, and I went back to bed. A few minutes later another girl was scared. So she went to sleep with a friend, and I crawled up there too to comfort them. I guess we learned not to tell scary stories any more!!
Sunday morning we had our last large group time. We talked about ways to live out God's plan and ways to serve Him. We kicked off the fundraising for 30 Hour Famine (details coming another day). We also had a personal quiet time and then packed up and cleaned the cabin. That being done, we had some time before lunch so we played some games. After lunch, we headed home. It was a great weekend but it sure wore us out!!!
I let Kaylyn use my camera...but I'll spare Jennifer the embarassment by not putting most of the pictures up! :)




Drying our clothes by the fireplace











Breakfast group









Breakfast










Some of the adults






More people eating

On this date in 1988....

...another baby entered the world. That baby was me... Melissa Jane. At the time we lived in New Mexico, as my parents were missionaries on an Indian Reservation. The day was very similar to today. Right now it is snowing like crazy. When I was born, my parents had to drive through the snow up the mountains to the hospital! But I arrived safely, at 4:14 in the morning.
This morning, I received breakfast in bed. It's a tradition we've done for as long as I can remember. We get to choose the meals for the day. So I had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I expected the Pillsbury ones, but my mom made them!!! Yummy... Then I went out with my friends Alyx and Jeremy, we went to Panera Bread. Then back to Jeremy's house where we baked a cake. We got a call that a friend was stuck in the median by BK, so we drove down there, but she was stuck pretty good, we needed a tow truck. Now I'm home, supposedly cleaning my room, but actually checking blogs. :) For supper we will have Chicken and Rice casserole and yeast rolls. Alecia is coming over after dinner, and we'll probably watch a movie (hmm....Remember the Titans?) and hang out for a while. I'll try to update later with some pictures.

Together Again!!!

This afternoon my Cell group (Bible study group) got together because Andy is home and we wanted to do something with him. The plan was to go iceskating. So Cameron and Andy met at my house and then we went to get Zack and Kevin since they live on the way. I got directions from Google maps, because the site for the arena had it posted. So off we went. Well pretty soon we got to the end of the road, and had to go either left or right along Lake Michigan. Hmm...we followed the directions to a T...but the arena was no-where to be seen, and neither was the street it was on! So we turned and thought we'd go into Holland, to find the street. Of course, no cell phone service so we couldn't call for directions. Finally we got service and Zack called his dad. (Thanks Mark!!!) So off we went again. We were way on the opposite side of town. So I trusted Zack and followed his directions. And....we made it to the arena! (Note to self: do NOT use Google map directions any more!) But we made it and we had a blast skating! Zack and I both decided that we were NOT going to fall. I was a little "scared" when we started out, but once I warmed up, I could almost keep up to Zack :) We played tag most of the time, which kept things entertaining. Kevin fell enough times to make up for all of us, who by the way, never fell!



1- Andy
2- Cameron
3- Zack







1- Cameron







1- Kevin
2- Cameron
3- Zack
4- Andy




I sat down to take some pictures (and because my feet hurt!) Then of course when they saw that I was taking pictures they came over so I would...but I did anyway :)

What a weekend!

Wow! What a weekend!
My mom turned 50 on Saturday. Unknown to her, her friend and I had been planning a surprise party for her since we had my graduation open house last June!
On Friday night, the doorbell rang, and I told mom to get the door. She did, and there was her mom, dad, sister, nephew, and niece. She was so surprised! Then half an hour later, the bell rang again. I told her it was for her, and there was her brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews! She had no clue that they were coming down from Canada for the weekend! And she thought that was the whole surprise, little did she know....


Saturday morning, we had a big breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and cheesy eggs. Then I went to church for the craft sale. I had to tell a few little white lies to cover up for the party. I told mom that I had to work at 1:30. So at 1:15, I left for "work".





Instead, I went to her friend's house. I had been there for a while on Friday to prepare food, so most of it was ready. We had to make a few things and decorate on Saturday afternoon. Everyone arrived at Tracy's around 6:15. We all hid in the dining room/kitchen area.




Mom and Dad showed up at 6:45, just to pickup a fondue pot on the way out to dinner, or so Mom thought! So Tracy invited her in for a minute and they came into the living room. Mom looked into the dining room and there were about 25 people in there who shouted "Surprise!" The look on her face was absolutely priceless!!!!





Some of the food! There was a ton, and it was all amazing!!!










Opening gifts....


















Mom and Tracy

To all good things must come an end...

The stands are crowded with cheering fans. The air is electrified with excitement. People chatter in eager anticipation. Others bundle up and cuddle with eachother to stay warm. Welcome to the high school football playoffs.
We made it...to week 2 of the playoffs. Allendale Falcons vs. West Catholic Falcons. Which Falcons will come come out on top? The answer became clear early on in the game. Though Allendale has an amazing team, we were no match for WC who easily over took us in the first half. Score at halftime was 24-0. Third quarter, they scored again. 31-0. But we were not so easily dissuaded. With 4:16 left in the third quarter, Allendale scored its first touchdown. (Ok, actually it's second, but the first didn't end up counting because there was a flag on the play.) After getting the two point conversion the score was 31-8. Could Allendale pull ahead in the last 16:16 of the game? Only time would tell. Our boys played hard, they didn't hand anything over to the WC Falcons, however as the clock ran out, the score remained at 31-8. The boys played a good game, though the same could not be said of the coaches. Errors were made and poeple were put in who should not have been, but what can be done? Life will go on. So, after 12 weeks of hard work, the football season has drawn to a close for the players of Allendale. Some disappointed, some more than ready to be done, but to all, good job and congratulations on a great season!








Kaylyn trying to stay warm...
We were freezing already and the game hadn't even started!

















Libby...she was warm the entire game, no coat or anything!
















Libby and me











Kaylyn and me...I was cold so when I took the picture the camera was shaking, sorry the picture is so blurry!











Pregame team warm-ups. Go Falcons!!!