Happy 30th Birthday to MEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Yes, that's right peeps...I'm 30...and proud of it! Thank you so so so much to all of my friends and family that were able to make it- and especially thank you to Russ for being the party planner. I love you all and I had a GREAT time!

Here is a picture of a few of us at Marie Catrib's enjoying a delicious dinner. Dawn... you may now officially begin signing autographs for making it on to our famous blog ;)

After dinner, we went to Naked Plates and showed our creative sides! This is Whitney and Chase painting a...well...a something.

Here is the whole crew busy at work. I can't wait to see how my plate turned out!

Easter at our place!

Yup, this year we were blessed to have Easter "dinner" and our famous Easter egg hunt at our place. Rhianon and Heath and Whitney and Jen ...you were greatly missed!Here are a few pictures of the action.
Katie was the winner! (as you can see)

A whole new life... almost...

yes... as you all may have heard, we were surprised and excited to find out about an addition coming to our family towards the end of the summer! If not, well you're out of "the loop" and you should stay in touch with us better... :) In addition to that crazy exciting addition, my first Sunday at my new church is the day after tomorrow, our house is for sale, I have a new computer, Amy and I switched cars, I got a hair cut, gained 20 lbs., got a new pair of kicks, and drink much less coffee than ever before. I have what seems like a completely new life.... it seems like, anyway. We're really excited about all of the changes, hoping and praying we sell our condo soon because the drive to holland is terrible, especially with all of this stinkin snow... maybe if I had a better realtor... :) that's assuming there is a better one... not likely though. I am going to keep the real estate gig going to be able to help friends out and make a little side cash now and then, so if you're thinking about buying/selling, or just want some info or advice, give me a call. k... advertisement over, now, back to vain discussions about myself. :) jk... I'll spare you that train wreck (for now).
Anyway - I wanted to show you all my new church! With all of the sadness about leaving friends and family, we are almost equally excited about this place. It's great! The people have been great, co-workers great, Facility is well... they're building. But it's not about the building anyway. anyway... here's their website http://www.immanuel-church.org/ .
Enjoy... and visit sometime... k?!

gotta go -
blessings,

rm

the holidays

Hello everybody.... (last comic standing, anybody?)

anyway... just wanted to let you know we had a great Christmas. thank you all for the gifts and more warm fuzzy stuff to say.... really we had a great time though, first with my family and then with Amy's... we even got to spend some time with the Guamarino's via skype. here's a few pics from the miller's Christmas.

ok... guess i only had one pic from that, and it was of a pile of bacon. guess you can tell where our priorities are. When we see piles of bacon, we take pictures because they last longer. We did get some video from the Miller's Christmas though.... ironically it isn't of any people... just of their dog showing off her new shoes...

From there we went to the Cottrell family Christmas Celebrations.... we had a great time as Amy's mom waited on us hand and foot, which seemed like a week long thanksgiving feast. We also got some great snowshoeing in...

Update

Sorry for not posting anything lately- like all of you, we have been quite busy!

So here's what's been happening:

- As many of you already know, Russ has accepted a position with a church in Holland (Immanuel Church of Holland). He will be the Director of Worship and Music, as well as oversee some outreach and small group ministries. We have been praying about this for some time now and really feel that this is where God wants us to be. We will be looking to sell our condo (anyone interested?!?!) and hoping to find something between Holland and Wyoming (where I work). This is going to be an exciting time, yet I am beginning to feel the stress and worry come on. It is really difficult to think about leaving our church family. I think we have just been in denial about it happening- yet each day it gets more and more real. I know that for Russ, this is going to be even more difficult of a move, since he grew up going to Rockford Baptist. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this new chapter in our lives.

- Nothing new with me. Just finished up a couple more grad classes- so I am officially 1/3 of the way through! If all goes well, I will be graduating in August of 2008! I can't wait to be done! I am going to really enjoy these next 2 weeks off- no school, no grad classes!! Yesssssss!! Although, I do have to admit, I dreamt about my 2nd graders and I woke up missing them- pathetic, I know.

- Frodo's fur finally grew back...he is back to his fluffy self and wants to spend every second out in the snow. It is difficult to get him to come back inside at times.

- We will be leaving for WI Christmas Eve to spend the rest of the week with my family. I am so stinking excited to see everyone! I still can't believe that I have been doing this (traveling back and forth) for 11 years now!!! For those of you who know me, you know what a homebody I am and how much of a "mama's girl" I am- so going home to see my family and to just spend time with them is pretty much all I can think about!

Welp- that's all for now!

We hope that you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Enjoy the time with your family and friends.

Thanks for tuning in.

-am

I forgot I had muscles...

Welp, yesterday we played in the RBC co-ed flag football tourney. We didn't do very well, but we had fun trying! Today, I feel some aches and pains. It's been a while since I have done anything like that, so I am definitely feeling it today!

Holy NIGHT!

This is a video of our christmas candlelight from 2 yrs ago. I was talking to scotty about it tonight, and thought i'd get it on the web for the world to see.

Ma & Pa

For those of you who have been asking how my parents are doing, I thought I would give you a little insight into what they have been busy doing. As you know, they retired last year and have been keeping quite busy ever since. This summer, they built a workshop out back so they could do wood-working stuff.

Here is my dad busy carving a sunfish out of driftwood (I think it's driftwood....)

Pretty impressive eh?!

As for my mama- she has been busy knitting anything and everything! Last I heard, she was busy knitting mittens....for me I hope :)

It's so hard being away from them like this. I just wish that I could be sitting in the workshop with my dad or knitting mittens with my mom (while drinking our peppermint mocha coffee, and listening to Christmas music). :(

I can't wait to see you, Mom and Dad, this Christmas! I love you both so much!

-am

Jeff and Katie Winne!

First of all- congrats to the happy couple!!

Second...my apologies for not blogging in a while. Busy times.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, we did not get many pictures at all, so you'll have to deal with this one.

As for Russ and I- things are going as usual. Russ is still busy juggling his 2 jobs (and hunting season now too!), and I am busy with teaching plus I am cramming in full time grad classes (yes, I am crazy). Other than that, we filling the rest of our time with silly things like eating and sleeping :)

Well, gee, that's all the exciting news we have for you! Aren't you glad you took the time to read this today???? We'll try to come up with some juicier posts next time!

Thanks for tuning in.

-am

The Professor

the professor decided to chase a muskrat into the pond this morning around 5:45 AM, so he had his yearly bath before me today! Needless to say, he is NOT as smart as he looks... but neither am I!

-am
.... just kidding...
-rm

Jump Camping 07

Lost and Found

We dropped our dog, Frodo, off at the groomer yesterday.

We lost our dog.

We found this one.

We'd like the the fluffy Frodo back please. If you have seen him, call us. Possible reward.

Ian Patrick Wells Stevenson

Well, it's official...our college group of girls is moving on to the next stage- motherhood! Ahhhh!! Tara Stevenson (Wells) was the first one of our "college girls" to become a mommy! And since she is an only child, we all get to be Ian's Aunts! So, here is my newest "nephew": He is pretty much the cutest little boy I have ever seen! It's amazing how much you can love someone that you've only known for a few minutes.

Here are some of Ian's "Aunties" that went to see him on day 2 of his life...

Auntie Katie and Auntie Molly

Auntie Jen and Auntie Amy

Auntie Megan

This kid is going to be spoiled. :)

Bishops in town!

A couple of weeks ago, we were blessed to have the presence of Matt and Mere and Caden Bishop- along with many other fabulous friends and family! It was great to see them!!!!! Russ and Caden
D, Doug, Matt, and Caden.
And of course, it wouldn't be a get-together without a rousing game of "TIPS". Contact me for official game rules :)
Katie and Jeff

Camping 101 scary stories

cottrell campin

Here we are gettin our gear all ready to "rough it"

actually this is ours....

Gettin a little fire started the good ol fashioned way...
actually, it's kinda hard to get a fire started like the great Survivor Man on the outdoor channel.

but... where there's smoke, there's fire... right? In that case, I WAS successful. I'd like to thank my parents for putting me in cub scouts for one year... i can also do a somersault (sp?)

AND, It wouldn't be campin withe the cottrells without some fishin.... the kids love hangin out with their grampa

The nightly ritual....

Nathan and Kristy...

Mom and Flavio (Rene)

Here's ame's parentals: (not likeing the flash when it's really dark out)

oh... also here's Frodo's Dad....they're actually trying to find him a good home... he obeys well, but is kinda bossy around other dogs... let us know if you have a home for him... he's a purebread Samoyed... and obeys very well.

Can't wait to see you all again...

Wikipedia

Start of Summer Celebration in Rockford

As I think back to last year's start of summer, and last year's post on start of summer, I decided to post a similar picture. Russ didn't understand why I would choose a spot where I couldn't see the band completely, but what he didn't understand was this:

1. I found shade on a really freakin hot day.

2. I had a blanket to sit on.

3. Tradition led me to the same spot.

4. I can do what I want to do....I'm 29 (yes, it's true...the big 3-0 is near)

Overall it was a great day! Great food. Great company. Great music. Great turnout. I am proud of my husband for the concert he organized. Great husband. :)

Best Argument EVER!

I don't care what language this is in, but this has to be the BEST argument I have ever witnessed!!! It makes me wonder what this kid was arguing for. Check it out:

Oh Baby!

Our dear friend, Tara (Wells), will be expecting their first little bundle of joy soon! I can't wait to be an Auntie (T is an only child, so I get ownership of that title!). The shower was great and so was the company...
Pictured above are some of the peeps that attended the shower...Katie Mika, Katie Holden, Megan, Tara, Emilie, Me, and Tracy.
Good Friends.
Good Food.
Good Games.
Good Memories.
Good Times.