Saturday, July 6, 2013

Montana Trip #3


  Everything Else We Did In Montana

We were in Montana for parts of 11 days in May and we were able to see a lot of people and do a lot of things.  Here is a snapshot of some of the things we did.

We made a trip to Glacier. 
We are completely surrounded by water :)

Jon, Chelsea, Dad, Ashlea, and Heidea were even
able to hike up to Avalanche Trail. 
We made it to the lake!  What a beautiful place!
We watched cousin Amber play soccer.  Gooooo Amber!
We had a fire... and of course we had s'mores 
And of course we had lots of opportunities to play games!
Thanks Brent for coming to play pinochle.
Some dominoes with the Reiner family.
And 8 handed Pinochle.  What is the Vaudt family game?
Pinochle!
We were able to worship at The Church of Creston
where we were married and where Grandpa is
the pastor.  
Mom Vaudt and her lovely sister Dena.
 
Jon thought it was hilarious that Chaco
loved drinking out of the bathtub facet. 

Some People We Saw...
Grandma and Grandpa Jan were able to make
it for Kailea's Graduation from Iowa.  
Grandpa Reiner's sister Norma came for a visit.  She lives in
North Dakota and Chelsea had not seen her in years.
It was a nice visit and Jon was happy to meet her for the first time.
Of course we were able spend some time with Meghan!
Chelsea and her good friend Ashley Harriot went on a hike up Lone Pine. 
It was also so fun to be able to see Katie Stewart and her son Logan!
They were also visiting from Oklahoma.

One last family shot.  We had such a great visit!






Montana Trip #2

Kailea's Graduation 

The second weekend that we spent in Montana was for another very important reason.  Kailea graduated from High School!  It was so fun to watch her cross the stage and get her diploma.  

The night before Kailea's graduation, Aunt Melanie made some
signs that we hung up outside her window after she had
gone to bed.  So fun! 
Kailea, Jon, and Chelsea after the Baccalaureate service. 
Picture with the graduate. 
Graduate of Glacier High School
Kailea and her boyfriend Colton
Picture with the girls and Tristan! 
Happy Graduation Kailea

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Montana Trip Part 1: Grandma and Grandpa Reiner 50th Anniversary

Grandma and Grandpa Reiner's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Jon and Chelsea left Lincoln on May 24 to fly to Kalispell, MT for 11 days.  The first thing we did was celebrate Chelsea's grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary.  

Chelsea's family van packed and ready to go!
Chelsea's entire family spent Memorial Day
weekend at a Guard Station cabin on
Thompson River about an hour from Kalispell.
The grandkids gave our very special grandparents
a wooden cross with a 50 inside.  We put it in a
frame and signed our names around the cross.  
One of the special things we did over the weekend was watch
old slides.  Grandpa brought his old slide projector and we saw
pictures of Grandma and Grandpa's wedding through
Chelsea's uncle Nathan being born.  It was pretty sweet!
The crew eating one of the great meals.
Grandpa and Grandma.  Don't they look great?
Cousins Elizabeth and Nathan made a fort with the tablecloth
from the picnic table outside.  Elizabeth and Nathan are two
of our Godchildren.
Part of the celebration was having family pictures taken.
The grandchildren with the grandparents.

50 roses for 50 years! 

Sister picture
Chelsea, Kailea, and Heidea just relaxing.
One of the breakfasts we shared was ziplock omelets.  You
crack the eggs in a ziplock, add your toppings, zip it up and
put the bag in boiling water for about 8 minutes, and you
get a delicious omelet.
Look at that swing!

Jon got to shoot a rifle thanks to Game Warden Uncle Nathan.
Grandpa and Chelsea getting ready for our
Harlem Shake dance.  Notice the sweatshirt
says, "Chelsea made me a Grandma" :)
Leaders of our family.  Don't they look tough?
Lindsea orchestrated and directed our family in dancing
to the Harlem Shake.  Each family dressed up in crazy
outfits for this production.  It was entertaining and pretty hilarious. 


Thursday, May 30, 2013

Biggest Catch Up Post Ever: Most of May! :)

GPAC Tennis Tourney/Ashlea Visiting NE

Ashlea came down after teaching on Friday to watch the last two tennis matches of Lindsea's career with Chelsea the first weekend in May.  It was nice for Ashlea to be able to see several friends from her college days in Seward as well as in Lincoln that weekend.

Ashlea, Lindsea and Chelsea at Lindsea's match.
Lindsea hitting a backhand.
Nice forehand approach Linds!
Ashlea and Chels cheering Lindsea on through the glass.
Lindsea's team ended up losing in the semifinals of the conference tournament, but Lindsea closed her college career with a great senior season and earned All-Conference for her doubles play as well as her singles play.  It has been great for Jon to watch and see how much Lindsea has grown as an all-around tennis player. We are proud of you Linds!

Playing some cards.
Nicole, Chelsea, Ashlea and Valerie

Aaron Runs Half Marathon

One of Jon's college roommates, Aaron, completed the Lincoln
Half Marathon on May 5.  On our way to church, we went to
the finish line to watch Aaron.  Way to go Ron!
His official time was 1:40:39.


Kyle K.'s Birthday Celebration

On Friday, May 10, we hosted several people to celebrate Kyle's birthday.  People brought their own meats to grill out and then our plan was to go bowling because Kyle had several free games coupons and it is one of his favorite past times.  However, since the bowling alley didn't accept the coupons that late in the evening, we had to change our plans.  We ended up going to watch the Nebraska Huskers Softball team (who are currently in the College World Series).

The group: Angela, Kyle, Aaron, Ian, Ben, Melissa and Chels
The birthday boy and his cake Angela made for him.
Jeremy and Aaron waiting to enter the game.
L to R: Chelsea, Jon, Jeremy, Ian, Aaron, Angela and Kyle

Kyle, Aaron, Jeremy and Ian at the game.
Happy birthday Kyle and thanks for celebrating with us!

Sarah W. Visit to NE

The second weekend of May, one of Chelsea's college roommates, Sarah, came to visit since her younger sister was graduating from Concordia.  We made breakfast on Saturday morning before Jon and Aaron had to leave for St. Louis to go to the Cardinals game on Sunday.  Then, on Saturday night, Chelsea hosted some of Sarah's friends and family at our house for a grill out.  Thanks for coming to visit Sarah and for staying with us, Ace loved it!  Sorry the visit was short but we were happy to see you!

Sarah, Chelsea and Aaron eating breakfast.

Cards Game w/ Aaron

When Jon was in St. Louis at the end of April for work, he won two box seats for a Cardinals game on Mother's Day.  Jon and Aaron left on Saturday after lunch to drive to St. Louis.

The tickets.
On Saturday night, Jon and Aaron went to the Seminary to meet up with a few friends.  They went out to dinner with Tim, one of Jon's other college roommates, at Duffy's Pub and Grill close to the sem.  Following dinner, we headed back to the sem to watch the movie The Avengers.


Aaron, Jon and Tim
Thank you to Al and Joan Koepke for letting us stay at their
beautiful home while we were in St. Louis.  The breakfast
was awesome as well!


The four other starting pitchers for the Cards who weren't
pitching that game.
Aaron and Jon in their seats just behind the Cards dugout.
First pitch and not a bad view at all!
The third batter of the game for the Rockies flew his bat
into the stands after swinging and missing.  The crazy thing
was that the bat landed 5 seats away!
One of the Cards assistant coaches giving hitting lessons to
2nd baseman Matt Carpenter.
Some big name players right in front of us.
The side view of the dugout.
Aaron during batting practice.  Jon had the best chance at
catching a homer during BP but was afraid of jumping on
the little boy next to him... 
The line to get into the game when the gates opened.
The Cards ended up losing the game but it was still a great experience and might need to become a yearly tradition!  Thanks for going Aaron.


Nate M.'s Sendoff to China

One of our good friends from Bible Study, Nate, spent two weeks in China with a group from our church on a mission trip.  Nate went last year as well and we are proud of him for his ministry he is able to do over in China and back in Nebraska.  Glad you made it back safely Nate!

From L to R: Benjy, Chelsea, Lynn (Nate's Mom), Brent (Dad),
Nate and Josh

Dinner w/ Drew & M'Leigh and Adelyn

On Friday May 17, we headed into Seward to have dinner and play games with our friends Drew and M'Leigh and their 1 year old daughter Adelyn.  Sorry we didn't take more photos of dinner or games but we for sure got some with the cutie.  :)

Chelsea holding Adelyn.
Jon making Adelyn laugh like normal.

Benjy's New Smoker 

On Saturday, May 18, we headed into Seward again and had dinner at our friend Benjy's house.  Benjy had just bought a new smoker from Scheels and it was a great purchase!  :)  Brats and burgers were on the menu and we absolutely loved the taste of smoked burgers and brats better than the typical grill taste.


The smoker could have up to 8 racks of meat!
Aaron, Benjy, Val and Chels

Young Roads Serves at People's City Mission

Our Bible study served on Saturday morning at the People's City Mission for the second time this year. We had a smaller group again but it was still a great experience.

Chelsea and her salad dressings.
Breanna helping get the fruit ready.
The ladies of the group.
From L to R: Val, Chelsea, Gretchen, Ashley and Breanna
The guys.  Jon, Zach and Aaron.

Young Roads End of the Year Party at Goulds

Our Bible study had been meeting every Tuesday night during the school year and we had been growing the last few months where we had been averaging about 20 people per Tuesday.  Our friendships have grown and we were sad to be taking a summer break but it will be nice to be able to get together over the summer as things come up.  

Our buddy Zach's parents live on a lake and they invited the whole group to come over and use their water toys.  However, the weather didn't pan out so we couldn't get out on the boat and go tubing, but some of us were able to go out kayaking and on the canoe.  Thanks again for the hospitality and your wonderful home Goulds!

Part of our Bible Study.  Missing at least 8 people from this
photo and we are not going to go through and name everyone.
The Wills brought stuff for s'mores and they were great!
Michelle holding all the chocolate.
Lisa, Michelle and Val enjoying the fire and the mallows.