[June 23, 2012] Thankful for...the Grand Haven Art Show!  We typically go every year, and it was such a nice day today.  I went with my mom, dad, and Aunt Joan - most of us found a little something to come home with. :)  The art there is really neat - a lot of different types, but some of it can cost upwards of $2000...needless to say, none of us spent even close to that. :)

[June 22, 2012] Thankful for...new sandals!  I've seen these at DSW by Woodland Mall the past few times I've been there, and had a coupon, so decided to get them today. :)

[June 21, 2012] Thankful for...getting out the old vehicles.  My dad got our Mustang out a day or two ago, and today he got out his little pickup...which hasn't been out/started for the past 2 years.  As you can see, we pushed it out of the garage and it needed a jump to start - it was really smoking too... :)  It doesn't get driven very often, so I guess that should be expected!

[June 20, 2012] Thankful for...my friend Kelly's new house.  She bought a house in Grand Rapids a little while ago and is in the process of getting it ready to move into later this summer. :)

[June 19, 2012] Thankful for...my pictures!  I loaded all my Washington DC pictures onto my computer (all 714 of them - yikes!).  Now I'll start going through them to delete the bad ones and pick out the ones we want to print.

[June 18, 2012] Thankful for...the Flight 93 Memorial.  On the way home from DC, we stopped in Shanksville, PA to visit the Flight 93 Memorial, where passengers fought to take control of the plane from terrorists on September 11.  The rock was placed in the general location of where the plane went down.  The park is a work in progress right now, so in a couple of years, it will probably look very different.  The architect of the park is trying to bring the area back to its natural state, meaning letting the flowers/grass grow naturally and turning it back into a peaceful place.

[June 17, 2012] Thankful for...the Police Officer's Memorial.  We stopped at this place on our way to see my friend Becca.  We were able to find some officers from West Michigan who have been killed in the line of duty (Eric Zapata, Robert Kozminski, and Trevor Slot).

[June 16, 2012] Thankful for...the White House!  We were able to go on a tour inside the White House, which was pretty cool.  We saw a few different rooms, including the State Dining Room, where dinners are sometimes hosted by the President and First Lady. 

[June 15, 2012] Thankful for...the Library of Congress.  My friend Becca who lives just outside DC said that this was a beautiful building, and it definitely is! :)  We went on a tour around the building and saw just a few of the 3.5 million books that are a part of their collection.  I didn't realize it, but people can actually use the books that they have, and we were able to look into the room where they use the books. 

[June 14, 2012] Thankful for...a nice hotel room!  Today was a long day of traveling, so it was super nice to finally get to our hotel.  We're about 5 or 6 miles outside of DC, and there is a shuttle from our hotel to the Metro station about a 1/2 mile away.  Can't wait to see DC tomorrow!

[June 13, 2012] Thankful for...our Zuni fundraiser.  Tonight our Zuni Mission Team had a burger and brat cookout to raise money for our trip in August.  We had an awesome turnout and had to run to the store to get more food after a while - it was great!

[June 12, 2012] Thankful for...maps! :)  Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not very good with directions at all, but a map with pictures is helpful!  Our family is leaving for Washington DC on Thursday, so we started mapping out which buildings and monuments we wanted to visit each day. 

[June 11, 2012] Thankful for...golfing!  Joel and I went to the Driving Range this morning to practice our golf swings. :)

[June 10, 2012] Thankful for...the pool!  Today was the first time we all got in the pool - it was 78 degrees...so nice. :)

[June 9, 2012] Thankful for...Art in the Park.  Hudsonville had an art fair at Hughes park today - it was fun to look at all the different arts people had made.

[June 8, 2012] Thankful for...lots of new materials. :) I finished moving almost all the rest of the stuff today.  This is just half of the room - the other half is full too...I'll go back in a couple of weeks in order to organize and sort through everything!

[June 7, 2012] Thankful for...being able to move into my new classroom.  Next year I am teaching 3-year-old Special Ed, and the teacher who is retiring from that position is leaving all of her materials.  I am moving everything from her room and my materials from my room into this new place - it will be a lot, but after it's all organized, it will be great!

[June 6, 2012] Thankful for...corn!  A few weeks ago, corn was planted right behind our house, and it has come up really quickly!

[June 5, 2012] Thankful for...my assignment letter!  Today, most all of the teachers got their assignments for next year - the most exciting part of mine is the "1", meaning full time next year!!  It's an answer to many, many prayers. :)

[June 4, 2012] Thankful for...my mom!  It was her birthday today - it was a busy day today so we couldn't go out for a nice supper, so she chose Taco Bell. :)  Because of other things going on, we didn't get there until 8:45pm, so it was a late supper, but fun. :)

[June 3, 2012] Thankful for...my church.  Tonight we had a special service called "Simply Worship" - there is no sermon, but just worshiping, praying, singing, and reflecting on our relationship with God.  This was the second "Simply Worship" our church has had, and it was just as amazing as the first one! :)  Can't wait for the next one...

[June 2, 2012] Thankful for...rain.  If you look closely, you can see the rain falling from the  clouds - it wasn't raining at our house, but it was raining to the south...kind of cool.

[June 1, 2012] Thankful for...great stories.  I'm just a little bit behind in my Sports Illustrated magazines, so I just read the story about an Pro-Bowl player, Junior Seau, who committed suicide not that long ago.  The entire story was about his life and about the effects of concussions on athletes.  It was a really, really interesting story on concussions and football.  I thought this picture was pretty cool - several hundred people paddled out into the ocean to pay tribute to Seau after he had passed away - it's kind of amazing to see.

[May 31, 2012] Thankful for...card games.  Scott and I were bored this afternoon, so we played Egyptian Ratscrew - yes, we were super bored... :)