Fall!!!!!

I love fall!!!! I love pumpkins, apple cider, orange leaves and i love the how hte lakes look this time of year. It is so nice goig home to spend quality time with family :) Last weekend we did our traditional pumpkin carving at Momma Gennies. lol. We also went to the orchard to get our pumpkins and cider. I just love Indiana this time of year. Pittsburgh isnt bad either. The fall leaves are so pretty withh all of the different colors. And i love the smell of bonfires after a friday night football game. Luckily i have been able to make it to a few of the New Haven games. The bulldogs seem to be doing great this year! The next few months is the season for gatherings, my favorite thing to do :) Andrew and i are both very busy, he works lol, and my cheer squads keep me plenty busy. The girls look great so far this year too. Fall just relaxes me. I love sitting on our porch at home talking and laughing with our friends and family. We most definately are a crazy bunch. This coming weekend most of the guys from back home are coming to visit andrew and i know he is looking forward to it as well. Me,,,,,,well i know im gonna have a messy house with 6 guys in it lol. none the less, its a great time of year for a visit. :)

Ok Im Back, for real this time!

Haha soooo i have really taken a long time to get back in to the swing of things here on this blog lol. But you can now expect regular updates. I will do my best :) Just a quick recap,,,summer was crazy! Between getting things going for the season with the cheer program at the gym and traveling, im exhausted. BUT on a happier note, fall is here and they leaves are changing, bonfires are blazing, and the boys of fall have taken to the field. :) Its nice this time of year. Especially in Pittsburgh. The foliage is amazing. I always think back to those fall weekend to antwerp at grandpa;s raking piles and piles of leaves and then enjoying the smell in the burn pile. I miss those days. This month Randall will celebrate his 18th birthday as most of you know. Thats scary! My baby brother is growing up and before i know it he will be out of high school! well lets not think about that right now. expect to hear from me soon!
Charity

Ahh...the smell of summer :)

Well I can definately tell that summer is almost here. Kids are out of school, pools are opening, and carnivals are happening all around. I love summer. But this year...it might be a little crazy. Between trips to Florida, choreography for cheerleading, and going back and forth between IN and PA for a ton of events, there will be no time for relaxation lol. I think we are going to need a vacation from summer vacation lol. The nice part is that lately we have been taking the dogs to the dog park, walking outside, and getting ice cream. All perfect things to do in summer :) I just hope we dont stretch ourselves too thin........

Wow....Time flys.....

Yes the back to blonde was a huge mistake lol

Well today i was downloading some old photos from my computer to have printed off. I happened to run across some old photos of Jeremy and Randall that DO NOT seem that old to me. But boy do they look different! I actually started to cry at some of the photos i came across. They will always be our little brothers but they sure arent so little anymore. They both are looking so much more mature and its scary lol. I miss the little brats we used to haul around sometimes. Randall will be graduating next year and Jeremy will be a junior.

I think he was around 13 or 14 in this pic.

Its hard to think about. I look at all of the family photos of both sides of the family and think about everything that has happened in the past two years. It makes me sad at some of the memories but there are so many good ones too. Even Rachel looks older! Its amazing what can chagne in such a short period of time. It makes me wish that i could get some of those memories back and it really makes me want to cherish these times that we have now. Andrew and I like to oke about getting older but its really hitting us that we are getting older (even though we are still young lol) beacuse we see it in them.

Looks like Andrew in this pic

This past weekend I was in Amandas wedding and her reception was at the Scottish Rite. Where we had our Junior prom lol! It made me think back to that year and 5 years later here we are agian at the same place with the same people but for a different occassion. I guess what im getting at is cherish the time that you do have with your family. Because they are amazing. And you cant get those moments back. I love laughing with our family and having creating those great memories everytime we get together. God has truely blessed us. :)

(notice the bushy hair is gone lol)

Spring!

Well its been awhile since i last updated. Lets see whats new...first i just finished the 09-10 cheer season with one last competition at Hershey Pa! The girls did great and i am so proud of them! Andrew and I have also decided to take our brothers to Disney this year in July and head down to Daytona for the week as well so we are looking forward to that very much! Steph, andrew and i have something up our sleeve for mothers day.....not saying! lol but it will be so much fun! I am also looking forward to getting my new camera in the upcoming weeks. I cannot wait to snaping photos everywhere i go agian.
Amandas wedding is fast approaching. WE are both so excited for that day to be here for our dear friend. We still cannot believe the we have been married for almst 5 months already! time flies :) The family back home is doing well. We got a chance to attend a few baseball games to watch our brothers play. I miss being able to just go and watch their games whenever we wanted to. (sigh) Other than that nothing new lately. Hope to post in a week agian :) and here are a few pics!

Blizzards and Birthdays

Well it looks like have should have updeated this blog sooner lol. since my last post...Pittsburgh recieved 3 1/2 feet of snow! yes we were snowed in for 4 days! I will post some pics later. That was weveral weeks ago and now it is all almost melted :)
We also just celebrated Momma Gennie's Birthday!!! Myself, steph, tuttle, andrew, amie, jeremy, and aunt fran all went to dinner and had a party at the house afterward. it turned out to be so much fun! We laughed so hard!
In other news, Brit and Josh are currently visiting us on their spring break touring the city! hope to have pics of that soon! Until then...

Love is Patient, Love is Kind, Love Never Fails...But God wants us to work at it!!!

This past Sunday in church, our Pastor was speaking about this well known verse. He stated that 70% of the weddings he has done, couples choose this as one of their scripture readings, but if they were to continue reading, Paul begins to explain that we do not do those things and that we are not trying to do them enough. The verse is as follows :

<< 1 Corinthians 13 >>
New International Version

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1If I speak in the tonguesa of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,b but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love

I thought alot about what this meant to me. As many of you know, Andrews parents recently have decided to divorce. i have to admit that i am suprised that i am taking it harder than i expected. I began to have tears in my eyes during service and had to fight to hold back my pertruding tears. I kept thinking that i dont want to loose someone i love and commmitted to after 25 years of marriage. I began to drive home and just couldnt shake the concerns and fears i had for the people around me as well as andrews and myself. so i went to the book store and began looking in the Christian section.

I looked and looked and couldnt figure out what i was doing there or looking for for that matter. then i ran across it. the book was titled "Couples Who Pray". I picked it up and began to flip through the papes. The more i read, the more i found in common with the book. Right then and there i made a decision. Andrew and i needed to pray more together.

We have prayed in the past but not often together. I picked up a daily devotional book as well. As i began to drive back to Andrews parets house i slowly began to feelm ore confident about my decision. I noticed the Steve was home by himself so i sat and told him about my feelings. I must admit what came next shocked me. He told me that maybe if he had brought religion into his home more often that maybe they would be in a different place. I truly looked into his eyes and saw that he said every word with true meaning. He was opening up to me.

Andrew and i attend church and have taken a bible study class before. I ssee that so many of my friends around are getting married as well but i get the feeling that they are forgeting that marriage is more than "certificate" you get from the county clerks office as easy as you get a drivers lisence. its about a committment and contract that you share with God. And honor it as well.

With that being said Andrew and I have decided to do a 1 year challenge, where we do a daily devotional everyday together and pray as a couple. We want to start our new marriage off on the right foot and be confident about our religion. Statistics prove that praying as a couple leads to better, marriages and a more fullfilling life in other areas as well. So i am happy to report that last night, Andrew and I did our first devotional. Together. and instantly we felt a sense of peace and togetherness. We know that it is going to be challenging to do everyday but we are committed to it. If one is away, then we still do it over the phone. Mornings are not ideal to us so everynight before we lay to sleep, we do our devotional and we pray. I hope that some of you that read this will begin to feel as strongly as i do. It is VERY important to practice your faith. And you MUST practice it together. Because like the verse says, Love is Patient, Love is Kind, Love NEVER fails.