On the Good Ship Lollipop

For a couple of years Becca has been looking forward to dancing on the "big stage" at her dance studio's annual recital. This is the first year that she has gotten to dance in the recital and it was very exciting for her.

Grandma Judy arrived early to sit with Isak while I went backstage with Becca and helped her get into costume.





Here is Becca in costume with her teacher, Miss Julie, and the other girls in her class.





My niece, Angela, and her husband, Nick, also came to watch the recital. Angela and I both got flowers for Becca for her special day. Becca felt like a star!



The girls danced to On the Good Ship Lollipop and did an excellent job. Becca was delighted with whole experience and can't wait to do it again. I love that I can share my love of dancing with her.

Becca was also recognized for outstanding attendance for the year. I was very proud of her, but I have to say that I think attendace awards should be given to the parents!

City of Beautiful

The last weekend in May, Becca, Isak and I visited the City of Beautiful, Nauvoo, with my family. We camped at the state park across the street from Historic Nauvoo for two nights. The timing was perfect because it was early enough in the summer that the weather was nice and Nauvoo was uncrowded, but late enough that the summer schedule had just started.

We enjoyed the shows. This one was Just Plain Anna Amanda, the children's show.




In the evening they did a variety show on the outdoor stage. Before the show began children were invited to arrive early and make hats to wear in a parade. The performers were all there to interact with the children and help them decorate their hats.






When the parade began Isak suddenly decided that he wasn't interested in participating.


Instead he sat on my lap and watched the parade. Within minutes he was asleep in my lap. Poor guy was exhausted! Here are Becca and her cousin, Emma right at the front of the parade.


We hit the hightlights in Historic Nauvoo - the places that would be most interesting for our little ones. Here are Becca, Isak and Emma at the well behind the bakery and some of us enjoying the rope making demonstration.














And here is my brother, Joe, putting our rope to good use. There was a pretty steep hill up to our campsite. None of us were able to manage riding up the hill on our bikes. Joe had the clever idea to have us tow him up the hill.



On our last day we packed up camp and headed to the temple to take some pictures.










At the risk of making this post too long and losing my audience, I want to share a story from our weekend. It is a cute, and kind of silly story of a child's faith.

Early in the weekend the kids were playing around the campsite, and for whatever reason Isak took off one of his shoes. Yes, just one. He walked around for a couple of hours with one shoe on and the other off. As we were preparing to leave the campsite that day I asked Isak to put on his other shoe. He couldn't find it. In the interest of time, I pulled out his other pair of shoes and decided that we would find the missing shoe later.

Over the course of the weekend the missing shoe never appeared. I was particularly frustrated because we had just purchased the pair of shoes a week or so earlier. So as we were packing up to leave on the last day I gave Isak, Becca and Emma the task of finding Isak's shoe.

After I got some of my things packed up I went to take a shower. When I returned from showering the shoe had been found, but not without a prayer and a bit of a surprise.

My sister-in-law, Claire had taken the kids into "the forest" (the trees surrounding our camp site) to look for the shoe. After looking for a while the kids were a little distraught that they hadn't found the shoe, so Becca suggested that they say a prayer (that's my girl!). Becca said the prayer and they all went back to the tent area to continue the search for the shoe. At about that time my sister's family was taking down their tent. As they folded it up they discovered, smack dab in the middle of where their tent had been pitched, Isak's shoe!

Becca was thrilled that her prayer had worked and I too was grateful to Heavenly Father for answering her sweet prayer in such a simple way. I know that Becca felt her Heavenly Father's love for her that day and it was a lesson on faith that she will not soon forget.

I was, of course, happy that the shoe had been found. But, most of all, we were all a little confused as to how the shoe ended up so far underneath the Schroering's tent and found it a little curious that none of the Schroering family were bothered by the big lump under their tent as they slept!

It was a fun weekend, but it wasn't without it's problems. Isak, who got a little over-tired and who struggles a little bit with using public restrooms, had several potty accidents. Because he has been potty trained for...well, a long time, he was quite frustrated over the situation, and each time he had an accident he screamed and cried and completely stressed his mommy out! By the end of the trip he was out of clean clothes and had to ride home in underwear that we stopped and bought at WalMart and one of Emma's shirts, sitting atop garbage bags and paper towels that we aquired from a kind and helpful gas station attendant. It took a while to recover from that trip as I had a lot of laundry to do, including taking the urine-soaked sleeping bags to the laundromat. Not fun!

But, we survived, and for the most part had a very enjoyable weekend. We missed Jeremy, who was unable to go with us because he left that same weekend to meet his dad in Hong Kong. I will invite him to share his travel experiences. He was gone for about 10 days and visited Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. I remind him frequently that he owes me big time for letting him take that trip!

Kindergarten Program

Tonight we went to Becca's kindergarten program. The class worked so hard to prepare for their show and they did a great job! They have been learning the last few weeks about the ocean, so most of the songs they sang were about ocean related things. They even had t-shirts that they had designed themselves. So cute!






Becca has been so excited about her program and it was great to have a lot of people that she loves there to see her. Grandma Matis, Grandma & Grandpa Ferguson and Uncle Joe & Aunt Claire...thanks for being there and making it a special experience for Becca!

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Today was a free family day at the track, so we decided to take the kids to see what the noise at our house is all about (we can hear the cars at our house). We got there just in time to see the last few minutes of a practice. It was just enough for the kids to be thrilled by the speed of the cars without getting too bent out of shape over the noise.



Some drivers were posing with their cars for a photo shoot. We have no idea who they are, but the cars are cool.



Jeremy hopes to one day take the kids to a monster truck rally. They thought this truck was pretty amazing, so I guess his wish will come true. But not before we purchase some good noise reduction ear plugs!



This is our tribute to Uncle Rich, who works for Indiana Oxygen.



Jeremy thought he rocked at "driving" this Indy Car simulator.



Bumblebee, a favorite of Jeremy and Isak (in fact, he happens to be on the underwear that Isak has on today).



This is the only picture that I made it into, and I don't think you can even tell that it is me. But it is, with my kiddos!



The Official 2009 Pace Car



Jeremy's dream car (keep dreaming!)

Becca Loses a Tooth

Becca lost her first tooth! It has been loose for a couple of weeks, but we have been hesitant to pull it because Becca has a very low tolerance for pain. Tonight she came out of the bathroom after brushing her teeth and very nonchalantly told me that her tooth had come out. No big deal! Now we can't wait to see what a visit from the tooth fairy will bring!

Easter Sunday

Ten Wonderful Years

On March 5th Jeremy and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary. To celebrate we compiled a list of the Top Ten places in Indianapolis that have special significance to us and visited each location on the list. It was a lot of fun to share our memories of each place. Ready for the countdown?

NUMBER 10 - St. Maur Monastary



This monastary on the north side of Indy has (or had) a lodge that they rented out. This is where we had our wedding reception. We were married in the St. Louis temple on March 5th, stayed overnight in St. Louis, and then drove back to Indianapolis on the 6th for our reception. Many wonderful family and friends helped decorate, prepare food, provide music, etc. to make our reception the fun event that we had envisioned.

NUMBER 9 - Mariners Village Apartments



I lived in an apartment in this complex with my friends Christine and Monica. It was when I lived here that Jeremy and I first really became friends. We, along with many other great friends spent a lot of time together in that apartment.

Now, at this point I am a little unsure of the order. I had written down our TOP TEN list, but lost the notebook that I had written it in. I will do the best I can, but I'm sure I will get some of them mixed up.

NUMBER 8 - Oaknoll Drive



My parents lived in this house on Oaknoll Drive when Jeremy and I got to be good friends, when we dated and when we got married. We spent a lot of time hanging out here with my mom and dad and this is where he met with my parents, unbeknownst to me, to tell them that he was going to propose to me. My mom had never seen Jeremy act so serious and laughed out loud when he told her that he was going to propose to me.

NUMBER 7 - Creekwood Estates



This is Jeremy's parents' home in Brownsburg. Jeremy lived here until we got married. We spent a lot of time together here, but most importantly, this is where he proposed to me. He had invited me over after the performance of a play that I was in. He had prepared dinner (chinese take-out on his mom's nice china) and set the table with roses and candles. We sat down and before we started eating he gave me a phone and told me to call my house. He had recorded his proposal as an outgoing message on my answering machine. As I listened he came around the table and knelt beside me and held out the engagement ring. I was quite surprised, and, well...said YES!

NUMBER 6 - Capitol Street Building



This building was the home of the LDS Institute and also the Indianpolis 4th Branch (singles branch) that Jeremy and I attended. Our first memories of each other are at this building and we spent a great deal of time here. For a while I was the IRC (Institue of Religion Coucil) President and Jeremy was the LDSSA (Latter-Day Saint Student Association) President, positions in which we spent a lot of time working together.

NUMBER 5 - Marian College



When Jeremy and I first became friends we both attended IUPUI, which at the time did not have any choirs. Jeremy had signed up, through an inter-college agreement, to sing in the choirs at Marian College. I joined the Marian Choirs as well, and after we got married, I transferred to Marian, started studying full-time and finished my degree in Vocal Performance shortly after Becca was born. We were associated with Marian College (now University) for a big portion of our life together and enjoyed performing in plays, musicals and choral events together.

NUMBER 4 - Bertha Street



After I moved from the apartment in Mariners Village, Christine and I moved into this house. By this time Jeremy and I were very good friends and he practically lived here with us! We continued to live here (Jeremy and I, not Christine) for about 3 years after we got married.

NUMBER 3 - St. Vincent Hospital



NUMBER 2 - Women's Hospital




Number 3 and Number 2 are kind of interchangeable, as they are where our children were born. Isak was born at St. Vincent and Becca was born at Women's. I can't even begin to describe the tender feelings that I have about my experiences with pregnancy, giving birth and becoming a mom. If this physical body of mine would let me, I would do it over and over again!



NUMBER 1 - Rotterdam Drive

I don't know why we didn't take a picture of this one. Maybe it was because we were tired after a long evening of driving and were just happy to be home. Rotterdam Drive is the location of our current house. We moved here almost 7 years ago. The changes that have come about in our lives while we have lived here are so significant that I don't even know where to begin. Children, loss of jobs, graduation from school, returning to school, etc. It will be difficult to leave this place when our time here is up. It is our home.

I am amazed at the experiences that Jeremy and I have had togther. We have certainly had our ups and downs, but all have shaped us into the family that we are today, and I would not trade that for anything.