Youth Conference

So I work with the youth in my church, and this weekend we held a conference for them. They performed service, did some workshops, played games, and socialized with each other. We had a great turn out for both the girls and boys, and I'm pretty sure they had a blast, at least that is what the pictures show! So here are some of my girls (and boys).

Annika, Corrine, Maddie, Alisa and Kimmy. (There was one more girl, Keri but she was camera shy).

Silly pictures... very important

We thought this looked like an album cover.

The whole gang.

Tyson, every pose I could get he hammed it up.

Keri, and she is actually smiling! (proof)

Kimmy on the zip line.

Dallin, (who asked me to trim him up in photo shop... I didn't) but this kid has quite the personality.

Aaron, I'm not sure if he was pointing or waving at me.

Carlos, another one with character.

Alisa, Annika and Corrine.

Maddie and a friend.

All in all I think they had a wonderful time, and so did I!

Good News!

Soon enough I will be able to enjoy the beautiful green scenery, sitting on a porch, smelling the air, watching the fire flies, hearing the cicadas chorus, and enjoying the taste of a Rita's Italian Ice.

We're coming home!!

One of the many perks of Brad's job! Last week Brad asked me where West Chester PA is located, before I could tell him, because of my excitement, I had to ask, "why, do you have a trip there?!?" Well, he does and West Chester is about 20 miles from my parents house. The dates are still not definite but it should be sometime next week, so we should be there for the 4th woo-hoo!!

We are hoping to go to "The Country". The Country is a place off the Perkiomen river that has been in the Leitz family since my dad was young. The Country is some beautfiul woodland land off of the river. My family built two cabins on the land. One was called "Uncle Ernie's" and the other was known as the "nice one". At least, that is how we knew them when we were kids. We always joked that Uncle Ernie would haunt his cabin if my Pop did something to it that he knew Uncle Ernie would hate, such as fixing it up (which Pop did and looks beautiful). The place got the name "The Country" because that is where my family would go to get out of the city, and the name stuck. I don't know the full history of The Country, but I'm sure my Nanny does.

The Country is the place for all family gatherings and picnics. It is where I learned how to swim and canoe and many memories were made there. One particular memory was the neighbor dog "Rusty" who lived up the road that always visited our family gatherings, he was very much apart of gatherings as we were!

Here is one of the cabins at The Country, this is Uncle Ernie's cabin (after being fixed up).

Here is the dock that leads to the river.

Allergies, oh how I loath thee...

These past three months I have suffered from the worst allergies I have ever experienced, and I finally got so desperate I went to an allergist and did the allergy tests. Once the nurse began the tests she said they wait 20 minutes to see the results. Half way through she came in to check on me and asked me how I was doing, I told her I needed a back scratcher. She took a peek at my back and in a matter-a-factly tone said, "That is because you are allergic to every tree, grass, weed, pollen, dust, and animal". Because I have such a high volume of allergies, the doctor recommended allergy shots. So I checked with the insurance, and starting in 12 days I will be taking allergy shots! I will keep you posted.

Fam Reunion

Okay, I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long, I was running low on blog material. But after this weekend I now have some entries. This weekend we spent it at Brad's family's annual camping trip.

Here are the girls relaxing

Sydney hated being on the tether, can you blame her?

Chris and his fan club

Brad and Chris playing

Relaxation

This is the safe haven Sydney found after she started hearing gun shots

Opposites Attract

So as Brad and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary, it made me look at our relationship. When Brad and I were dating Brad made me a CD that had the Paula Abdul song, "Opposites Attract" I don't know of any other cliche that describes our relationship better. When I look at us I can't help but think of the story, "The Ant and the Grasshopper".

Yes, I am the Grasshopper and Brad is the Ant. Now, don't get me wrong I know the importance of work ethic, and the feeling of accomplishment after a hard working day my father taught me this well, BUT I just prefer to play. I could be perfectly content with playing all day, where Brad feels time is wasted if he is not accomplishing something. Now, in Brad's defence he does know how to play, and does not put work before the important things in his life (which I appreciate).

So this brings me to some of our opposite ways...

For fun, Brad reads the encyclopedia, I read Harry Potter.

Brad is studying engineering, I study society.

He is cool, calm and collected, I am a drama queen.

He is logical, and well I am not.

He likes math, give me anything other than numbers!

Brad prefers to stay to himself, I am social butterfly.

However, we do have the important things in common, so we are not complete opposites. But it just gives me a case of the giggles when I realize how opposite we are, and also how grateful I am for it!

How We Celebrated Our Anniversary

Sorry it took me so long to post this, but it has been busy. So Brad and I celebrated our anniversary visiting St. George and Las Vegas. We had a wonderful time, enjoying each other's company, the lights, the red rock, and the shows. Also this was the weekend before Brad started his new job, which he is enjoying immensely. Unfortunately, he has to be in training in Boulder, CO for three weeks, but last weekend I visited him (details of the trip are coming) and he will be home this weekend.

Here we are in the beautiful scenery of the Red Rock in St. George.

Here is a view of St. George

I just had to take this picture. We were in a grocery story parking lot when the Fire Engine sirens were going off and these two dogs started howling, I mean actually howling, needless to say it was hilarious.

This is the drive from St. George to Vegas.

The famous cow boy sign. When I first came to Vegas I wanted to find this sign, but it is not on the strip.

While we were visiting Freemont St.to see the above Cowboy sign, this guy was spray painting this amazing pictures. Yes, that was spray painted!

Me posing in front of the House of Blues.

We were able to stay in the Venetian for a night, and the room was beautiful, as well as the canals throughout the hotel. The only thing I didn't like, and it will probably keep me from going there again, is the clientele, and the parties that lasted until 4 in the morning, that Brad and I could hear perfectly well in our room. Not cool.

Here is a picture of our room, pretty fabulous!

The Venetian had, "The Phantom of the Opera" playing. It was a shortened version, which I actually liked, but with all the songs. Andrew Lloyd Weber and Hal Prince did the condensing, so it was not butchered. Also the theatre was made just for the musical, so it was decorated just as the opera house would be with the chandeliers and all. Also we paid a lot of money for pretty terrible seats, but one of the ushers asked us if we would like to change our seats, our new seats were 11 rows back, center, and we were right under where the chandelier falls, it was awesome! I can actually say we got lucky in Vegas!

These are pictures from one of Brad's and mine favorite things to see in Vegas, the Bellagio Garden.

3 Years Ago...