All Things Dani...

I am Free!

2009-08-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends, I am writing today after an awesome, wonderful time that I shared with my small group bible study on Friday night. We went to the Newsboys concert at DTE. There were three groups that sang... Sevenglory, Superchick and Newsboys. What an amazing concert and great, fun fellowship with friends. I was moved by the "I am Free" song. I have heard it many times and it usually touches me, but this night standing and singing it with many other Christians was indescribable. I could feel the freedom. You might be saying yeah sure, what are you talking about. Well, it was as if I had no skin or skeleton. My insides wanted to break free. I felt like I was outside of myself. It was joyful and peaceful. It is what I imagine true worship is suppose to be... a freeing experience... no holds bar. Our God is awesome and He deserves our worship. Let go, lift up and let God!

Here are some photo's of the event that was so much fun for me at least...

Karie, Dani, Dave, Jenna, Mirjam, Allison & Patrick
Allison, Dani & Karie

Dave, Jenna, Mirjam, Allison & Dani

Jeff, Michael, Jody & Duncan

Jenna, Dave, Patrick, Dani, Mijam, Karie & Allison

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

2009-03-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

Dung Cake / Mug Cake

You might think 5 minute cake sounds wonderful. If you are thinking it now, let me just tell you that if you are aiming to use the Mug Cake for any type of Science Experiment than this is the recipe and the idea for you... Sarah, Karie and I decided it would be fun to test out this fun little recipe. What we ended up with was several marketing ideas. Things like inserts for your shoes, a 5th phase of matter, or wacky ideas of how to freak people out with the substance.

The taste was tricky to decipher. It had a trace of cocoa taste, but perhaps the massive amount of oil lead to its ickiness. The texture was not something common to chewing. I cannot relate that to a substance unless you have ever tried Ethiopian Sponge bread. It had some what of the same consistency, although the cake was quite dense and solid. The smell was likened to play-dough with a hint of Cocoa.

I bet you really want that recipe now so you can go out and try your own fun 5 minute experiment...

Here it is:

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix
thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if
using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts
(high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Sarah was the most adventurous of us taste testers. She almost had us convinced that it was not horrible... Almost, but not quite!

For those who think Karie refuses to try new things... She actually tried and attempted to eat several bites of this "Mug" Cake. Affectionately renamed Dung Cake.

Lions and Tornadoe's: a lesson in life

2009-02-23T07:50:00.000-08:00

I hope and pray this story touches you the same as it touched me this last weekend. It is a great reminder to touch lives no matter who or when. Sometimes we all need a little love and encouragment. Some of us need it more than we know...

Music Legends

2009-02-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

I often think about media and the effects it has on our culture. This morning I heard a song I haven't heard in a very long time. It was Everyday by Buddy Holly. It made me smile and remember how much fun it was when we were kids to sing along with the oldies. Granted media of every generation has its ups and downs and by no stretch am I saying that the music of the 5o's and 60's was perfect or without its own flaws. I am saying though that the deeper we get into the freedom to be you and me movement, where we can say and do whatever we want, the more immoral and repulsive our lyrics are becoming.

Today fifty years ago we lost 3 major rock legends / icons. On February 3rd, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valen's and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash. In honor of these men and the music that still inspires me today I am posting the following song...

I hope the music of this generation holds fond memories for you too. In memory of two other great legends that have passed away I am adding a less serious song for your listening pleasure...

I hope you enjoyed a little Johnny Cash humor. Impersonating of course Elvis Presley. Let's all listen to some "oldies" tonight and remember these legends.

Amazing Grace my Chains are Gone!

2008-11-20T07:15:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this you tube video recently. It is such a beautiful rendition of this song. It also incorporates one of my other loves (sign language). To the best of my ability I have translated her signs:

"Hello my name is Jodi. I will try to sign the song 'Amazing Grace my Chains are Gone.' The Song is performed by Chris Rice (Tomlin). The song is about Jesus Christ. I have three dogs and apologize if they come and go. This is my first attempt at the song."

She signs at the end "sorry about the mistake." In her post she recognizes that she signed Chris Rice instead of Chris Tomlin who is the true performer of this particular rendition. I thought she did a great job for her first attempt. It makes me want to practice and learn more sign so I could do something like this.

Rat Poison

2008-11-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

I was recently reminded of a talk I had heard a few months back explaining that rat poison is coated with an agent that tastes good. Causing the rats to engorge themselves on the poison unknowingly filling their stomachs with a toxin that would kill them from the inside out. It got me to thinking. What poisons do we consume unwittingly leading us to fill our bodies with toxic substances. Perhaps it is the lack of integrity that allowed us to keep the extra dollar in change we received. Maybe we told a lie to save face. Did we say an unkind word to a colleague. Do we sensor the media we allow into our minds? What shows are we watching that are lowering our expectations of marriage and our own morals. Is the music we listen to sending us the right message or are we allowing to what we listen the ability to warp our souls. Every time we compromise on doing the right thing verses doing the easy thing we swallow a little more poison. We allow ourselves to consume so much poison on a daily basis that we unknowingly are killing ourselves from the inside out. Perhaps we know that it is poison that we ingest, but we just cannot get over the lure of the taste of what looks so good. Does this mean we are doomed to be poison filled vessels? Not at all! I believe that through God's grace we are set free... By His Wounds we are Healed. God calls us to live a life of integrity. He warns that it will not be easy and that we will be persecuted, but great is the reward of those who follow after God's heart. We are not perfect nor could we ever get it right all the time, but oh to strive for it and to attain it on occasion. I want to be a person of integrity and filled with the Character that God would say "Well done Good and Faithful servant." How about you what poisons can you eliminate from your diet that would help detoxify your relationships on earth and with Christ. What toxins need to be eliminated so that you can live a life of integrity and Character?

Up North!

2008-07-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

Over the fourth of July weekend we went up to the cabin. It was a lot of fun. We all drove together in the Impala. Some how we managed to fit Karie's and my luggage into the trunk with both of our golf clubs, a cooler a couple of small bags of moms and a couple of boat seats for dad. I was starting to think dad was Houdini with the "master" packing.

We spent the weekend just hanging out. We were able to head out onto the Lake to do some early morning fishing, some late afternoon fishing and for some relaxation time.

On Saturday we went to Uncle Ed and Aunt Michelle's for a great BBQ. It was nice to spend time with Denise as we do not get to see her much anymore now that she lives in Alabama. Mom and dad also cooked up a great grilled meal of steak and Norm potatoes for my B-day dinner. It was great. Dad also took Karie and I out to golf 9 holes on Sunday. Like I said it was a great weekend. I love spending time with the folks.

(Here is dad during our early morning fishing expedition).

Here is Karie staying protected from early morning winds.
Yep, that would be me... Mom spent this afternoon on the boat, reading talking on the phone and (don't miss this one) she also put bait on Karie's hook for her.
Here is Karie without any bait on her hook. I am not so sure, but I think if you are going to fish you should at least put your own bait on the hook. : )
Don't worry if you didn't believe me here is the photographic proof that Pooky put a leech on Karie's hook for her.
Here is dad showing us how it's done. He has a great Erie Deere method for catching Walleye and Northern Pike.Me again trying to jig a fish onto my line.
Here is Karie trying to catch the big one. She did pretty good job I think she caught two out of the three keepers on Friday morning. Sunday she also caught a few. We noticed though that a lot of the Walleye were just under the 15 inch requirement. That's okay we had fun catching them!

The waves and wind were pretty bad Sunday afternoon. Here is Karie trying to pull out the anchor. It was kind of cruel of me to stand by trying to take a picture when she was struggling, but the picture turned out pretty good and we eventually got the anchor in... I would call that win-win. : )
Here is mom reading, don't worry Karie and I sunscreened her really good this time... no burning allowed.
Here is dad enjoying some rest and relaxation!
I think we should go up north every weekend. I hope you all had a great fourth of July weekend as well.

LHWL Golf Outing

2008-06-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are the 9 over par team of Pooky, Karie, Robin and myself.

Lots of fun was had by all. We had our shirts made to say "Tee Pardi."

Here is Pooky (mom) and Karie in their golf cart. They had some serious silly moments. I think Karie's driving was a bit frightening for mom.
Here is Robin and I in our cart. We were not as wild as the other two. Although we certainly were entertained by the antics of the other cart in our foursome.
If you know Pooky, like we do, you know that the hot dog at the turn was the best part of the day...
Here's Karie! She looks like a pro with her cool hat and golf shirt, right!
Robin was the muscle and the pro that kept us to the nine over. If left to our own skills we may well still be on the course. Thanks, Rico!
Sorry, folks this is why make up should be worn at all times by some of us. I hadn't slept well in a few nights and this is the look you get when facing exhaustion. I am almost as pale as my hat... how crazy. Oh, well I had fun anyway.
Isn't Pooky so cute. I love that she went out there and gave it her all. I know, now that she has a new bag, we are going to go out and practice more. Yeah!
Here is our power house hitter who won longest drive for the women. We were an awe at how far she could send the ball.

Here is Karie with her picture perfect swing!
Yup, I know... Maybe I am swinging a little too hard! This does not look exactly right! I did however make it just in front of the green with this swing... wrong club selection, but hey if the swing works...
Awe... Karie and I at the putting contest... neither of us were able to make it in the hole this year... we will have to work on our short game for next year.
Here we are on the last hole of the day... We were a bit tired, but we were still in great spirits. We had a lot of fun and I personally look forward to doing it again next year.
All the proceeds of the event, to the best of my knowledge, went to support the Lutheran High School Westland boosters club. Karie and I are both Alumni of LHWL. Pooky was a secretary at the school and Robin is the Coach and recruiter for the Concorida University Softball team where mom is the athletic administrative secretary.

MonaVie...

2008-05-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

For our business partners, I decided to throw up some pictures of our first night trying the Active Juice. Who says us High "C" types can't be wild, crazy and a little silly...

Check out Karie's blog for info on her Biloxi trip (note: she is wearing a Biloxi shirt in these photos). http://azzo.blogspot.com/2008/03/biloxi-pictures.html We probably should have started in the morning... we both look so tired.
Sorry, I like my Nascar mug... : )
The Taste is Great!

Brenda & Trevor's Wedding...

2008-03-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

Team Stampede took Onaway by storm... to celebrate Brenda and Trevor's Wedding.

The first dance as husband and wife...
What a cute couple.
Hmm, Perhaps I need to work on giving folks some space... this picture got a little close.
Cutting the cake.
Grandma and Cheyenne
Brenda, Trevor and Tyra.
Trevor gives the guys a pep talk after a few failed attempts at catching the garter.
John politely reminds the brother of the bride that his daughter deserves a whole lot of respect.

Here are a few daddy daughter moments caught on film... John and Emily
Jon and Jessica
John and Heather.
Team Stampede had a fabulous time at the party... Here is Jon and Cari.
Celebrating their anniversary... John and Lisa.

John, Lisa, Heather, Johnny and Emily.
Mark and Sandy
Tami, Mark and their daughter
Brenda and Mando.
Dani, Trevor, Brenda and Karie.

Congratulations and God's Blessings to Brenda and Trevor.

Our St. Louis Trip...

2008-02-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe 6 months have come and gone... but they have certainly come and the certainly have passed. Karie and I drove down to St. Louis in late February for a leadership conference. We had fun going and coming as you can see below... We had the opportunity to meet up with our friends and mentors from Onaway. The trip was a blast and the speakers and information was phenomenal.

Here is a picture of Karie driving down, I believe I94. If you look closely you can see the tail lights sailing by on the other side of the highway.

Okay... My turn... Here I am (Fear Not -this was set on a timer)... I don't have three thumbs one was the drivers.
Karie and I discovered new energy drinks thanks to our up line. Here we are promoting them. By the way we are drinking "Rip it" at 9:30 at night since this is when we decided to drive down to St. Louis. We arrived at 6 AM the following day. We were a bit tired, but our excitement outweighed any exhaustion that may have been incurred.
"Mindy to Moses, come in Moses..." We had a blast following our mentors to St. Louis. We had two-way radio's. Our call sign was Mindy and theirs was Moses.
God was with us on our travels. We hit some slick and snow covered roads. Believe it or not about an inch of snow in St. Louis had several planes grounded all over the country. We were happy to be driving down the highway looking for adventure... God was with us and we made it safely to our hotel.
We did have to make a few pit stops for fuel and potty breaks. Here is a nice rest stop serenity picture. Who knew this kind of beauty resided near a rest area!
Not only did we stop at the rest area, but we saw how it got it's name... check out these big rigs... resting.
Here is Team Stampede... (Melissa, Karie and Brenda)
Al, Trevor and Bob.
Rachel, Ruth, Lamont, Wayne, Kent and Brad.
Wayne, Ruth, Lamont and Rachel
Karie, Debbie, Stan, Trevor and Melissa.

John, Trevor, Stan, Debbie, Melissa, Mark and Bob.
Lisa and Al.
Brenda says... "Because I said so!"
Sleep... Who needs sleep when you have excitement, friendship and leadership to learn.
Glowing with excitement!

Here we were ... learning and having fun at the Edward Jones Dome.
Team Stampede hanging out at the arch...
Cross line strategy session... shh, don't tell Jon and Cari...
Karie and I at the Arch...
That ended another great leadership event. We learned a lot. Dr. Rohm had some great information on personality. We love the new DISC model. If you did not know I am of the Cautious type which means I need answers and lots of them... if you can give them to be in a graph or a data sheet that would be preferred. Just kidding. The fun part is that Karie is my opposite, she is of the inspiring type. She of course has to have lots of fun. We make quite the pair. We also learned about commitment and being a person of your word... Thanks to Robert Dickie III. We do not need to worry about obstacles... we now know we can just smash 'em to smithereens with a frying pan. I'll give it a hya and ya ya, karate chop! Mentoring... wow phenomenal insights and information... I could go on and on, but that could take days. Next, time you should just go with us... Columbus here we come!

Jonas turns 2!

2008-02-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

Well, who can believe the J-man is two! It seems like I was just in Florida getting the call saying Sarah was in the hospital about to give birth to our little bundle of joy. Well, it's not too far from the truth... it does seem that January is a good month to escape to Florida.

Any who... it is true the little man is now two. I know I actually made it to this celebration this month. Let's not mention the little bit about me being in Florida for someone's 3oth.

Here is Jonas and his mom blowing out the candle on his cake. Yes, my friend is very clever... if you look closely you might see a teddy gram scuba-diving.

Here is the happy family... Sarah, Jonas and Doug.

They could be a catalog or picture frame family. They are just that cute!
Okay, so who doesn't love playing with balloons. Especially when you see someone having this much fun with one.
Jonas got a cool percussion set from Uncle Nick. We all had fun with this toy. For decorums sake I will only post the ones of Jonas playing his little instruments, but trust me the others are quite entertaining as well. Here are the cymbals

Maraca's... Everyone... Conga!
Hmmm. I wonder where the Tony Stewart Car came from... I wonder if it is a ploy to get someone to watch nascar with someone else. I think he likes it, maybe it is working.
Here is Jonas on the big exercise ball. Super Cute. You have to love him. He is so smiley and cute.
Here is Jonas and me being silly. Yeah Jonas!Well, I have to say that time sure is flying by. I cannot believe the little man is two. I can say however, that I am grateful for the moments I get to spend with him. He is a joy and a blessing. God's blessing's little J.

Naples 2008

2008-01-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

To Florida, To Florida to buy a new place...

Okay so we were not doing that on this trip, but here are some photo's from our trip to Naples. We did quite a bit of dream building on this trip.

Here is the four of us enjoying one of the nice warm days at the pool. Gotta Love tri-pods!
I like this shot of my folks. The warm weather agrees with them.
Every day Mom and Dad take walks through Old Naples. On this particular day we packed a bag and headed for the beach. Karie and I joined the folks for their daily walks every day.
Mom and Karie prepared mash potatoes for dinner one night... Hmm who gave those two knives???

Sorry Karie, I had to document your window washing day. She did a great job - no streaks!

If you know Karie and me well, than you probably know that one of our favorite things to do is photography... hence the nine million pictures I am about to post.

We went golfing one day. Wow how much fun is golf. We are both working on our attitudes and not getting too upset with ourselves when we make a poor shot, but as we get better so will our attitudes. Take a look at Karie's beautiful swing above. Now look at mine just below...

Need I say more? Please note I did not miss the ball on my swing this was actually a practice swing shot.

We took several pictures of the condo and the neighboring condo complex called BayFront. It is so nice where the folks have their place. We love it and cannot wait to be down their for part of the winter on a regular basis.

Here is a night shot. This turned into an obsession for me. I kept trying to get shots of stars, cars and who knows what else. My family was patient thankfully and allowed me some room and time to take these shots.
You would not believe it, but I saw Jesus in Old Naples...
Karie was seen flying with these long necked birds.

See here is yet another night shot of the condos. This one might be my favorite. I like the way the light refracts in the water.
Here is a night shot of mom and dad's condo. This photo was taken from the parking lot at Joe's Crab Shack.
Here is some dream building... Just imagine me sitting on my modest boat or lounging under the awning of my beautiful Naples home. Sounds lovely.

Here is a shot of Karie enjoying some sight seeing and photography on Uncle Walt's fishing boat. What a beautiful day for dream building. I am sure Karie will put up a shot of her dream home... check her sight for that!

Here are our folks enjoying the day. Please note mom is wearing a life jacket. She is so cute. Mom tends to be a little phobic about boats, water and drowning. Karie and I share a passion for germ awareness, but whatever floats your boat... mom was happy that Uncle Walt's boat stayed afloat.
Look its twins. Karie sure does look like our dad. Well, except for the fact that dad is about 50 shades darker and of course Karie has no facial hair.

Here is Karie with her future corvette.
Oh boy, yet another night shot. This one though is cute because it's the two of us. Please note we are wearing our "del sol" shirts that in the sunlight they turn a different color. We loved that store for sure.

On one of our night walks (to go to the "del sol" store) we took this shot of the three of us.
I actually got up early one morning to take Sunrise shots. This is one of my favorites. I will not bore you with the 35 or so other shots.

No, Iris did not go to Florida with us, but the day we got back Nanna called Angel in the shuttle on the way to our vehicle to see if it would be okay if we stopped by for a visit. Thankfully, it was! We got to see Iris and boy is she learning lots... including clapping and high-fiving. She is adorable. So that concludes the mini tour of our 2008 Naples Vacation.

BFF hits the big 3-0!

2008-01-15T14:15:00.000-08:00

My best friend Sarah hit a milestone this past week. I am so happy that for the last twenty some years that we have been able to celebrate these milestones with each other. This year however, I the not so thoughtful friend, booked my vacation over friends birthday. Bad Friend!
Karie and I ended up taking friend out to dinner a little over a week before the actual celebration and date. I hope friend had a great time at her party. It sounds like it was very fun. I hope to see pictures soon. Here is the pre-celebration pictures from Brann's...

Here is friend looking ever so cute.
Friend took this picture of me - I am impressed - I usually don't like photo's of myself.
I can't remember what was so good or bad... hmmm. It couldn't have been the dessert. Mmmm.
See the Brownie sundaes were excellent.
It was friends birthday - I have to put up all the cute pictures of her and her new scarf Mommy W. made.
I think Karie was just checking the consistency... or counting who had more brownie bites.
What - someone ate all her dessert!
Brann's on 6 Mile... Free advertisement. These two would make great advertisement models.
Yippee. Friend got Season one of Growing Pains. This means a weekend marathon is just around the corner. I have to throw in one more.... Yippee.
Here is friend and me smiling for one more picture. I believe Karie also has some pictures including one with our Waiter who was very funny. Maybe she will post some... I believe we talked him into majoring in Physical Education, for his bachelors in Elementary Education. This is starting to sound like the redneck Tours... "I believe..." I better end this before it gets out of hand. Happy Birthday Friend. I love you lots!

Christmas with Jonas...

2007-12-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

It seems so hard to believe that my god boy Jonas is almost two. It is amazing how much fun it is being around kids. They say hilarious things and pretty much however it is they tell it. I am so blessed to be able to have such wonderful godchildren. For those who may not know Jonas is my best friends son. On Thursday, we did our annual gift exchange and boy was it fun. First, I was able to spend some time playing cars with Jonas. He was a little sleepy and I think maybe that is why he might have been a little more "clingy." It's not exactly the right word, but he would just come up and sit on my lap for no reason at all and say, "Aunt Dani play." How can you refuse such a cute child!

Jonas did a great job opening his gifts. It was so fun to watch the difference a year makes. He was able to pull the paper off all by himself. Next year Aunt Dani is going to try to remember not to be so tape happy, the poor boy.

The last time Jonas came over to Aunt Dani's house he loved playing with my small vacuum. It was the perfect Jonas sized vacuum. So naturally, I thought Jonas needed one of his own. Wow, I think I may buy him a vacuum every year. He was so excited, I could not get it out of the box soon enough. When Doug tried putting the batteries in for Jonas I realized next year I need to be more prepared. I think if I buy the kids toys that require batteries I might just take them out of the box and put the batteries in it before wrapping. These are all little tricks I assume you learn as a parent. I am learning slowly, but surely.

We were able to take a few snapshots of Jonas and me with his vacuum. Between takes though he was making sure the kitchen floor was immaculate. This is one of my favorite pictures. Doug (Jonas' dad) was in the background throwing stuff at himself to make Jonas laugh. In some of the other takes you can see me watery eyed from laughing so hard at Doug's antics.

Little man is so adorable. Up until he went to bed he was busy cleaning the floors. Not that there was anything to clean. His vacuum really picks up by the way. I think Sarah will be able to give Jonas a chore... vacuuming the house! Of course is it really a chore if you enjoy it... Hmmm. I will have to ponder that one. Just before Jonas' bed time he would vacuum a few spots and than turn and say "Dani, I lu you." Talk about melting your insides. The boy is going to be heart a breaker for sure.
After Jonas went to sleep Sarah and I had our own gift exchange where we watched "A Tanner Family Christmas" (Full House) between gifts. Let me tell you I got the best gifts! My friend knows me so well. Today, at work I am using my stress relieving dodge ball set. (Sarah - it is so fun). I just have to be careful not to throw the ball too hard, otherwise I have to go look for it as it bounces off my desk. I also got Some '80 story books that Jonas and Iris are of course going to have to sit through at some point. One of the most thoughtful gifts was the book, "The Dark Crystal." When we were younger my Nanna use to put it on for us. While the movie is a little scarier it holds great memories for me. Dad's family will get to see the sweater Jonas got me on the 23rd and my cute new barrettes. He did a great job picking it out and I can't wait to wear it. When Karie and I are in Florida I plan to read my knew book "Knit Together." I am so excited! Of course friends tree bark that she makes is delicious and I had half the can eaten on the drive home. He he. After the gift opening which was so fun since friend knows me so well, we went to the kitchen to make chocolate covered red vines. Mmmm. Bet you wish you were there - they were delicious. Unfortunately the clock struck midnight and our fun had to end. Why do all good fairy tales have a midnight clause or a similar plot stopper? Oh well, I had to go home to bed sometime. It really was so much fun. I can't wait until our next get together. Merry Christmas!

EMP Christmas Party

2007-12-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been another great year at Electro-Matic. I will be celebrating my nine year anniversary in March. It seems impossible that I am almost a decade older than when I first began working for this company. We had a great time at the company Christmas lunch. Here are some of my table mates and co-workers. Adeeb was pretty funny. It was his mission to try every cocktail that Jeremy prescribed. (Dan, Dani, Damien & Adeeb)

Some of my table mates... (Damien, Sami, Joey and Dan). A side note here: Dan is also 50 % Maltese. We had a very Mediterranean themed table... minus Alan from China and Damien. Here are our big drinkers... (Jeremy, Andy and Adeeb). If you haven't noticed yet, yes I was the only gal at my table. I loved it. My peeps.Here are two more of my co-workers from the Warehouse. (Kris, Mike & Dani)Here is a photo of my boss, Steve, with Jeni and myself. We have the honor of assisting Steve in our respective buildings daily. I can honestly say that having a boss you respect and enjoy working for makes all the difference.
Here is a fun shot of Colleen (Steve's wife & my co-worker) and me having some laughs.
Last year the company hired a hypnotist that we all thought was pretty lame. This year however, we had a magician and he was pretty good. We enjoyed his antics and Witt. (Matt and the magician, Nathan the Great).

Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T09:17:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year as usual. It was extra special because it was Iris' first Thanksgiving... to see photo's go to Karie's blog at http://azzo.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-day.html

and also because it was the first Thanksgiving we have spent with Uncle Robert in several years. Thanks to an Angel, my mom truely believes it was the hand of God that brought Robert and the family back together. The gal that called and got the ball rolling is an unknown person to everyone involved. Therefore, mom believes "Jeanette" to be an Angel sent by God.

Here is a great picture of my mom and some of her siblings:

(from Left to Right: Christine, Robert, Bob, Janet and Paula).

Here is a family shot that includes my Grandparents. There are two siblings that were unable to make the trip for Thanksgiving this year. (Not pictured Karen and Art).
Here is a family tradition: We all gather around the dinner table and review the "Black Friday" sale ads. This was Robert's first Thanksgiving with us in over ten years.

It is great to see him in these photos.

Here is a great photo of Robert, Karie and myself. Uncle Robert is deaf and Karie and I were thrilled to be able to practice our sign language skills or lack there of. I have to admit there were a few occasions where I had tried to make up a sign for something. Thankfully, Uncle Robert showed me the correct signs. Here is a picture of my grand folks with Robert. I think it is so touching that my Grandpa was holding Robert's hand.
Grandma was a little more interested earlier in the day of getting her kisses from Wrecks and Tiki. (This one is Tiki).

Here are the boy cousins doing their thing. They were very well behaved and wanted to get their picture taken with Tiki as well. Well, technically they wanted to get their picture taken with Wrecks, but he wouldn't stay or come.

Of course tradition also states that we must watch the Lions vs. the Packers game too. We had Packers and Lions fans as usual. Makes for an interesting day.

Thankfully, there were no big disputes.

Some of us ate a little too much turkey and that sleepy enzyme/hormone took over.

Last, but not least... I was able to obtain a video confession. Aunt Janet if you are wondering why your pan lids may no longer fit your pans you may want to watch the following...

The Boyfriend - the musical

2007-11-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, Amy and I went to see her brother, David, in a musical called the Boyfriend. I have not heard of this musical before, but it was quite funny. David did a great job. Here is a video of one of David's numbers. Beware at the end of this video the gal in it gets dropped from the lift. She ends up having to get stitches in her chin after the play that night. The play is a spoof on life in the twenties and the need for a boyfriend...

Here are a couple other pictures, just in case the video does not load properly. Here is David in one of the musical numbers (He is on the right side wearing a purple shirt).

Here is Amy and Rinka during the first intermission...

Here is Pastor Paul holding Rinka... She made it through Act I and Act II, but by Act III she was getting a little too sleepy.

Jennifer's Wedding

2007-11-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Jennifer and her new husband Kevin. Congratulations, cousin!

Mom and Dad had a great time at the reception. I love this picture of my folks.

Jennifer's first cousins and my third cousins seemed to have a great time on the dance floor. These three were a riot. Okay, the whole Hoch clan was a crack-up.
This is a rare, but sweet picture of my grandpa and his brother.
And here they are with their wives. (Lee, Janna, Ted and Ruth)
Here is a lovely picture of my mom and her youngest sister Janet. They look so innocent, right. I guarantee they are plotting something hilarious.

I suppose the same could be said for me and my sister, Karie. We sisters sure do like to have some fun.

Our Kentucky Trip...

2007-10-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

We recently went down to Kentucky for a leadership conference. Which by the way was phenomenal. I decided to photograph some of our trip, mostly car ride antics and the like... I hope you get a kick out of some of these shots.

These are some scenery pictures that I thought were kind of interesting, but wait when you head south you get some really interesting stuff. For example, what would prompt two young adults to ride in the back of a pick-up on a busy expressway at 70 miles per hour... I am not sure either, but here is the proof...

And of course just for fun we decided to take pictures of us on our adventure. Here is one of many pictures we took. Yes, we were using a flash at 9:30 at night. Not our brightest moment. We were sleep deprived from an exciting weekend of learning and this was the result.

Action shots of the M.A.G.O.

2007-10-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a great shot of Dad Teeing off.
Dan did a great job - I was greatly impressed with his drives.
Well, I actually think we used this shot.

Here is a shot of Uncle Tony teeing off.Here is a great thing about playing a scramble. You have several eyes reading the lie of the ball. One of us has to have the right lie, right?

The Maltese American Golf Outing "Shots"

2007-10-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I think these two yahoo's were having fun. If it weren't for Uncle Tony laughing in the car behind them you might actually think they were going really fast. Too funny!

Uncle Tony and I had fun too. As you can see there was no crazy antics aboard our cart.

Golfing with our Daddy

2007-10-12T13:51:00.001-07:00

Karie and I were able to go golfing with dad not too long ago. Here is a picture of our fun day out... I thought I had grabbed a pair of running socks, but instead it appears I grabbed a pair of knee highs. Oh well some golfers do wear high socks, right?

M.A.G.O. Teams

2007-10-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

The Maltese American Golf Outing... was a lot of fun. Thank you, Tony. I think there will be a bidding war to have Vince on our teams next year. Here are a few pictures of the teams. If I get a chance later I will update some more pictures to this site.

Just for the record our team may have finished third, but we sure did have a lot of fun. We also got a lot of exercise chasing down, or searching depending on how you view it, my golf balls. He he. I will get better for next year.

Thanks to Dad and Dan for carrying our team this year we only ended up +3 (I think). I thought that was pretty admirable.

I certainly look forward to next years event.