Police Academy Graduate

Nathaniel stuck it out for 6 long months of non-stop school! He is now an official Sinclair Community College Police Academy graduate! He graduated last Wednesday and the Dayton Chief of Police was the keynote speaker. We were very proud parents. Nathaniel has accomplished a lot these last two years and this was definitely a reason to celebrate.

You may recognize Travis, Nathaniel's best man at his wedding. Nathaniel and Travis will be working together as police officers in Lebanon, Ohio. Travis was the representative of Lebanon at his graduation. They've come a long way from being mall security (where, incidentally, their boss told them that they would never amount to anything - especially being policemen.) I think they had a little too much fun on the job! They are considering paying her a visit in their uniforms just to prove their point.
Kim, a very supportive wife is standing by her man.
Kim's parents came down for the celebration. Merritt especially made the sacrifice because he is very busy now and we appreciate him taking the time to come.
It's hard to believe that he went from playing policeman to being one!
This is Dustin, a former Marine, who became a very good friend during the academy. They used their military skills to try and kill each other during their physical fitness tests! They both won the physical fitness gold medals! Nathaniel also won the President's Physical Fitness tests in the 1st and 3rd grades - needless to say he likes to exercise.

Happy Birthday, Micah

As of 8:47am, Micah is 15! We are very thankful that we decided to have one more baby and not get a dog! Micah has been a great kid who is very talented, smart, funny, and handsome. God has gifted him with a wonderful voice and he uses it all the time (and I don't just mean that he talks a lot!) He has been in three major productions this year where he has sung and acted. I can't believe he can sing a solo like he did in "Grease" and not be afraid. His song stole the show! We are just thankful that Micah has a relationship with God, he serves in the kid's ministry at church (leading worship of course!), he is a dedicated student, and a good brother and son. We love you, Micah, and are very proud of you.
Micah was John in the Muse production of Peter Pan.
He got to fly which was a highlight for him.

He practiced long hours, but he loved every minute of it.

Micah was a greaser, one of the rough guys, in Grease.

"Greased Lightning"was my favorite song they did besides Micah's solo.

Dancing at the prom



Micah and his main woman in the play, Katie = aka "Petunia Pig"

New Blogs!

I have added three new links that I think you may be interested in seeing. Jennifer (Greg's niece) has started one and now we get to see a lot more of Ben and Anna Kate - aka- ring bearer and flower girl at the Trout wedding. Beverly has also joined the ranks and now we can keep up with the other five kids! Mitch and Shelley (our friends from Florida) have a daughter, Rebecca, and we have enjoyed watching her two children grow up. Rebecca worked for Greg one summer and we love keeping in touch via pictures. I thought you might want to see them - they are really cute. Anyway, I have more wedding pictures to post this weekend plus pictures from Micah's spring musical, GREASE. My burner quit working so I can't view pictures from a CD on my computer. I have to use Lauren's laptop and she usually has it with her. As soon as I get a chance, I'll add pictures. Anyway, happy viewing. Now all we need to do is convince Darlene and Kelli to join the club. What are our chances?

A Sad Day

This was truly a sad day at the Trout house. Greg and I decided to plant a garden this year and in order to do that, the fort needed to come down. It's not like anyone plays on it anymore and it was rotting so it wasn't safe, but it was a very special play place. There will be no more secret meetings, no more eating popsicles with the neighbors under the canopy, no more playing in the sand, no more hooking up the hose to the slide, and no more pictures of our beloved fort. Of course, I had to take pictures of the process, but I must admit that I teared up as I watched Greg do the dreaded task. (I'm actually crying now as I write this:) Those of you with little ones, take lots of pictures and enjoy the simple things. Before you know it they will be married and no one will want to be pushed on the swing anymore!

Micah was sooo excited when we bought this house because of the fort. His only question about our new house was, "Do we get to keep the fort?" He could hardly wait to get moved so he could play in it and being the youngest, I think he played in it the most. Of course, we got his permission before we began the demolition.
Greg did get to use power tools which made him feel manly even though I saw tears in his eyes too!
It's going..........
It's going.........
It's gone!

Nathaniel and Kim Tie the Knot

The happy couple - this is one of my favorite pictures. We have tons more to come but I wanted to post a few pics for now. Thanks to everyone who traveled to come to the wedding. We really appreciate your encouragement and support. We had a great time and we realize how much we miss getting together as a family. We really need to plan a family reunion soon. It meant a lot to us that you were there and we love you all. Enjoy these pictures and watch for more to come.

Ohio's Newest Police Officer

Nathaniel had his final interview this morning with the Lebanon Police Department (a town about 40 minutes from Beavercreek) and he got the phone call about 3 hours later that he got the job! He has been in the interview process with them since December. It is a BIG answer to prayer. They hired 3 out of about 150 applicants. Now he can support his soon to be wife, Kim.

He actually let me take line up photos of him! Thank goodness he will be on the other side of the mirror and when we visit him at the jail, he will be the one putting criminals behind bars!

Congratulations, Nathaniel. We are very proud of you! Kiera, I guess we can call him a Copper like the policemen we saw in Florida!

Check out the bottom two pictures. (If you click on the picture, it will zoom in and you can see it better) Nathaniel lived in his police helmet. He had a battery operated radio that he hooked on to his big wheel and he wore his police helmet and his boots. Who would have known that 18 years later he would trade those in for the real uniform.

Happy Birthday, Marlene

Happy birthday, Marlene. I pulled this picture from Kiera's wedding. Maybe we can
get a better one of Allen at Nathaniel's wedding - ha! Thanks for being a good example
of what a grandmother does. Your blog is always full of what they are
doing and I appreciate that. Have a great day. See you soon.
P.S. I'll post Greg's birthday pictures later.
He had a very uneventful day.