The Wedding Singer

Micah sang in his first wedding this July. Greg did the ceremony and Micah was the special music. He sang Matthew West's song, "You Are Everything" and he did an amazing job. Becky Sheers got married. Those of you from Huntington probably remember Charles and Cathy Sheers, missionaries to Columbia. Becky is their granddaughter. We have been friends with them for years and it is really neat that Matt and Sandy have lived everywhere but we reconnected with them about 12 years ago. They are members of our church. How cool is that. They are very dear friends and we all had a part in Becky's wedding. Becky's brother, Sam, and Micah are really close friends and Sandy is my friend that walked the marathon with me last year.
The wedding singer in action!
Micah and Becky dancing at the reception. This was the dollar dance but instead of keeping the money, they made a donation to the Alzheimer's Foundation in honor of their grandparents. Charlie is not doing so well these days.
Micah's first day of school as a high school sophomore. This is literally the hardest part of his day. He did get up today, but I'm sure as the weeks go on, it won't be that easy.
He's worse than Nathaniel!
Here he is packing his backpack. Ready or not, here he comes.
He is a very hot sophomore! We went clothes shopping on Friday and got him all set.
You can tell he has grown up with a camera in his face because
he really doesn't mind having his picture taken.

By the way, I'm truly sorry that it has taken me so long to add a new post. My camera broke and I had to use Lauren's and then transfer pictures to her computer. Her computer is not always available so that's why you have been forced to see the garden pictures for so long. I PROMISE to add a new post every week. Now that we are back into a fall schedule, I have made Tuesday my day to add a new post. Hopefully our lives will be exciting enough to take pictures that are worthy of a blog! I still don't have a camera. After paying school fees, buying school clothes and school supplies, I probably won't be getting one in the near future.

How does our garden grow?!

God has supplied just enough rain, sun, and great soil this season to help us raise what appears to be a bumper crop of everything we planted. I'm sure you aren't as excited as we are so bear with me with these pictures. This is the first year we have ever planted a garden and I already can't wait to expand next year. If you come to see us, you can have a home grown meal! We planted corn, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, peppers, beets, chives, and brussels sprouts. I have discovered that I would rather spend an hour in the garden than 15 minutes in the grocery store. I hate going to the store!
Greg planted the corn and we are going to have tons!
These pictures just don't do it justice and they were taken a week ago. This week everything grew by feet instead of inches. Here you can see beans by the corn, cucumbers, beets (story to follow), and tomatoes.
On the right side of the picture are brussels sprouts and some peppers.

Greg trimmed our trees and used the branches for bean poles. How's that for being resourceful!
This morning I checked on the garden and my beautiful beets had been eaten by a deer. I still have about 2/3's of a row left. I used to think deer were so cute, but not anymore. At Christmastime, we will NOT be celebrating with any reindeer! We had to put up fishing line to keep them out and it worked until last night. It apparently stuck it's head through and had a little feast. Nathaniel said that fishing line would keep the fish out but we needed deer line to keep them out - HA - he is so funny! Anyway, come in about 6 weeks to help us enjoy the fruits and vegetables of our labor.

"Sweet" Vacation

After leaving Morgantown Tuesday morning, we headed for Hershey, PA. Micah had done the roller coaster research and wanted to ride all of them at Hersheypark. We had great weather. We first went to Hershey's Chocolate World where they have every product made at Hershey and they have a simulated tour of the factory. It was really interesting. Greg and I loved the history - Micah loved the candy!
On Chocolate Avenue, all the street lights are covered with a giant Hershey Kiss. We rolled our windows down while driving because the town smells like chocolate. It is a very clean place and the factory, Chocolate World, Hersheypark, and Hotel Hershey are all right together.
At Hersheypark, we went up in the kissing tower and of course, we kissed at the top much to Micah's dismay! It isn't easy taking a vacation without siblings. Micah was outnumbered.
Greg and Micah are in the cars going up extremely high. I can't take the loops - they make me dizzy so I just took the pictures.
Here they are getting ready to head straight down!
Greg finally got his chocolate milkshake at the end of the day.
Micah is standing by the statue of Milton Hershey. If you ever get a chance to read his biography, it is really fascinating. I read one before we left and then shared the info with the fam on the trip. I think they might have gotten tired of all of my explanations.
On Wednesday, we headed to Gettysburg. WOW! This was a great place to visit. We were there on July 3rd, the 145th anniversary of the final battle in Gettysburg. There were tons of re-enactors everywhere getting ready for all the battles. This is the station where Abraham Lincoln came to give his Gettysburg Address.
This is the church where he went to pray before giving his speech.
We went to a parade in the town where a lot of Confederate troops were taking over the town. Again, you need to read the history. It was really amazing. As we were watching the parade, Micah said, "That kid goes to my school!" He was in a wagon in the parade as one of the re-enactors. We can't go anywhere away from people we know!
Ladies of the soldiers - they were watching the parade.
This is a Union General we saw at the sight of Pickett's Charge.
This is the view from the top of the hill where Pickett's Charge took place. We were there about one hour before the actual battle took place 145 years ago. It was an incredible sight.
This marking is in the Cemetery where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. They had the soldiers buried by state.
All the Ohio soldiers had an Ohio flag by their grave. It was a memorable place to go and visit. So many soldiers gave their lives. Having a soldier in our family, it really made me proud of our country and thankful to God for our freedom and for Nathaniel's safety while he was in Iraq.

Super Nanny Lauren

In the last ten days, Lauren has spent quality time with 18 kids! She has gone to baseball games, the pool, played "castle", "hotel", given kids baths, painted nails, made shrinky dinks, done crafts, taught them about Jesus, made lots of snacks, and put kids to bed. She has broken up fights, comforted the "out-of-sorts", and has even taken Micah shopping, to a party, home from church and youth group, and has even taken care of Dan's dog - and even Dan! As you can see, Lauren loves kids, has a heart to nurture, and the kids follow her like the Pied Piper! It's too bad we live so far away from everyone. Lauren would be a great babysitter for you.
Four of our favorite PK's - the Deal kids. Lauren even gave them tattoos which they proudly showed me at church on Sunday.
Lauren and Stacie teach the two year olds for the first service on Sundays. This week they had 5 girls and 3 boys - all so cute!!!
This is the oldest of the girls Lauren is watching this summer - Kayla.
Abbi is the youngest.
This was her first dive during swimming lessons.
Lauren and Josh at a ball game. Notice the gap in his smile.
Jacob, Josh's brother, is getting ready to bat. Lauren even takes great pictures of the kids. I guess she has learned something from me!

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?