Salt Lake City!!!

We made it safely to Salt Lake City!!!! We left early yesterday morning, drove 13 hours, stayed at a really beautiful church in Wyoming, and then drove the other 4 hours this morning!! No breakdowns....praise the Lord!! :) Continue to pray for us...we had an INCREDIBLE session tonight. I can't wait for the rest of the week!!

Challenge 2008

On Saturday, we will be taking our youth group to the E-Free Church of America's youth convention called Challenge in Salt Lake City, UT. It is a week long event with incredible speakers, praise and worship, service projects, and lots of fun! We have 12 of us going in all and are going to attempt to fit into a 15 passenger van and drive for 16 hours one way! I am so excited!! If I get a chance, I'll update on our trip next week! If you think about it, please pray for this trip...safety, lives changed, patience, unity, etc.....

The Salt Palace Convention Center...where most of the convention will be held

Wii Fit

Last year, when we invested in a Wii, I never knew it would become my new exercise program. But, alas, with my fun money last month, I invested in Wii Fit. It is amazing to say the least! It's 100% better than exercise videos because they tell you what you're doing wrong or right with the technology of the balance board. So, needless to say, I'm a big fan and find myself boxing, doing aerobics, strengthening my muscles, and toning my body every morning. I would highly recommend it :)

Tornadoes, Floods, and the Zoo :)

I've been waiting to write until I could show the video of when we drove through a "Road Under Water"...however, for some reason the clarity of the video is really bad when we open it up in our movie editing program, SO, I will just have to tell you about it even though it won't have the same effect!



Tornadoes: The Wednesday before Lindsay's wedding, we were trying to get to Forest City for the night. On our way, the weather looked pretty bad, but we decided to just try to get there as soon as possible. We drove through gray clouds the entire way and when we got to a town an hour from our house, all of a sudden the tornado sirens went off!! Instead of stopping and waiting it out, we decided to drive as fast as we could and beat it...well, we beat that one but we were in the middle of two-three storms our entire way. It was scary but we finally made it there safely



Floods: People have been asking us if we're experiencing flooding. The answer is "no" of which we are very thankful! However, on Thursday as we were driving the rest of the way to get to the wedding, we saw a sign that said, "Road Under Water". Assuming they would detour us off, we continued on the road. Suddenly, we came to a completely submerged road and were forced to drive through it. We had our video camera along, so we videoed the whole thing.....I cannot even begin to explain the scariness and extent of this flooding. It was the longest 3 minutes of my life, that's for sure! We came through though, and have some crazy video footage of this awful flood! Note to self for next time: Never, EVER continue on a road when it says, "Road Under Water"!!

Zoo!!: Yesterday we enjoyed a day at the Omaha Zoo. It was soooo fun!!

We started out in the desert!

Then we headed over to the giant aquarium...wow! It was cool.

Then we took a little train and fed some birds.

And headed to their new butterfly exhibit.

And ended the day walking through the jungle! What a fun day!

All About The Wedding

As I mentioned in my last entry, Aaron's sister got married last weekend! It was quite the journey to get there, but the day went incredibly well!! In my next post, I'll tell you all about the weather we drove through, including a road under water, to get to the wedding...we got it all on video and it was incredibly dangerous and scary! BUT, the wedding... :)

We all went to a salon and got our hair done!

Her hair turned out exactly how she wanted it to! It was beautiful!!!

We drove to the church and got all ready...she was a BEAUTIFUL bride!

Another one of the bridesmaids and I decided to wear our hair down...even though all the pictures were outside and it was extremely windy that day!

I'm the one on the right.

We took our pictures at a historical center...WAY fun!

Groomsmen...I especially like the one on the far left :)

The beautiful bouquets...they were gorgeous!

They're finally married!!! :)

Since we were both in the wedding, it was impossible to get pictures during the ceremony and reception...but the ceremony was beautiful and short! The reception was really fun...appetizers and tasty cake! And now, I have a sister-in-law married and a new brother-in-law. I love weddings!! Anywho, that is all about our weekend!!

Sisters!

Well, we're not quite technically sisters, but pretty close! She's a sister-in-law that is as close as a sister! We had soooo much fun at Aaron's sister's wedding...it was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony! More pictures to come!

An International Hello

It's a small world. I just got off the phone with a friend from college who recently went to the Ukraine (where I went on a choir tour 2 years ago). He said he saw some of the translators we met and that one of them sent a message through him to say "hello" to me. It gave me the goosebumps as I thought Ukraine and the amazing people we met there. It also caused my heart to stir with a yearning to go back. It reminded me to never underestimate the influence we may have in other people's lives! Both the influence the translators had on my life and perhaps the influence I had on their lives. A few pictures to help me remember the wonderful European experience.

Bach's church in Liepzig, Germany

Frauenkirche church in Dresden, Germany.

A little piece of heaven.

Courtyard area in Dresden, Germany

A beautiful church in Kiev, Ukraine.

One of my translator friends got married in this church! Wow!

The Wedding Video

In 4 short days, Aaron's sister is getting married. I have been thinking alot about my own wedding and today I decided to watch our wedding video...I haven't done that in a long time! I was brought to tears as I relived the day....all of our friends, family joining in the day, the pictures, the ceremony, and the reception. As I was watching, I listened to our wedding vows once again and was so touched by them. I was humbled and challenged. I was also in awe as I thought about how God brings two people together. Almost 2 years ago when we got married, Aaron and I knew alot about each other, but it was only the beginning for us. We have grown in our love and devotion to each other and it has been one of the most exciting things of my life. I love my husband. :)

Professor and Dr. Willey

This is what we've been busy with this week...VBS! It's a science theme, so we are Professor and Dr. Willey. Aaron's the professor, and I'm the doctor. Wow, it has been such a fun week!

Rodeo!

Cherokee is known for its rodeo, so we joined in the fun last Saturday night!

The Softball League

We have had quite the adventures already this summer! Aaron and I have been trying to stay very active outside since the weather is finally nice!! We've done alot of disc golfing and have gone to the driving range a few times. Yesterday we were at church and we found out about our church softball league. The first game was yesterday and they needed a few more players. We signed up quickly and at 1:30, we walked down to our game (the baseball field is practically in our backyard). It was honestly such a blast! And, we won 31-2. Wow! I was impressed...we have alot of really good people on our team! *Not including myself, however :) It was also an answer to prayer because I had been praying for other opportunities to meet people in our church and God certainly answered that prayer through our softball league! Yea! Now I have to practice though...hmm :)