A couple weddings, some friends, and many memories

You know, summers have always been great.  The warm sun, lots of time to do nothing...
This summer has been awesome because we have been able to hang out with many friends and we were able to celebrate with many of them at their weddings.

Some of us from our bible study, Young Roads, put together a church league softball team.

We have endured sun, rain, and mud this season, but it sure has been a great time!

Benjy Heins, Jon and Chelsea went to a College World Series baseball game on June 22.  Omaha is host to the NCAA College World Series every year at TD Ameritrade Park.  It was a great night for baseball and about a day before the awful heat wave!

On June 23, Katie Wollman came to visit several of her friends in Lincoln.  She went to Concordia with us and also sang in our wedding with Sarah Wilkinson.  Katie currently lives in Baltimore and so it was crazy to think that the last time we had seen her was exactly a year earlier at our wedding!

From left to right:  Danny Jansen, Katie Wollman, Jon and Jeremy Jank

Danny Jansen, Katie Wollman, Jeremy Jank and Chelsea

On June 28, Mark Donkersloot stopped by for a visit.  He is a close friend from Holland, MI, and his older brother, John, was Jon's best man at our wedding.  Mark is interning with an accounting company that was doing an audit for a company in Lincoln, so he was able to come along.  On Thursday, he had time to stop by for dinner and some games.  He was interested in learning one of Nebraska's famous card game, Pitch.

Yes, Mark is quite tall.  6'8" in case you were wondering...  :)

Valerie Schick, Jon and Mark playing a hand of Euchre. 

After teaching Val how to play Euchre, we taught Mark how to play Pitch.

Jon loved Mark's bear hug :)

We have also been blessed to be able to attend 8 weddings since April 28!  Here are a few of them...


Wedding #5: Michael and Holly Saalfeld.  Sorry we don't have a picture of both of them together, but Holly looked beautiful walking down the isle.

Jon was the waiter for Michael and Holly on their first date in the summer of 2008 at the Seward Country Club.

From left to right:  Joel Sattgast, Nick Suing and Jon
Joel and Jon became good friends during Jon and Chelsea's freshman year at Concordia.  The summer after freshman year, Jon lived with Nick and Michael in Seward.  The four have remained friends and it was great to see them!

From left to right:  Joel and Laura Sattgast, Nick Suing, Katie Blacketer, Jon and Chelsea

Wedding #6: Kyle and Lisa Winter
Kyle Winter was one of Jon's tennis teammates and Kyle and Lisa are both messengers of Christ with whoever they meet.  Their wedding was at Mahoney State Park between Lincoln and Omaha.  The ceremony was at 10 a.m. with a brunch following it.  The rest of the day was for enjoying God's creation and the activities at the park.  It was very unique and just perfect for Kyle and Lisa.

Kyle Kaldahl, Jon and Jeremy Jank

Nolan and Amy Harms.  Amy was the tennis coach at Concordia.

Kyle and Jon with the bride and groom.

Chelsea and Jon with the bride and groom. Kyle and Lisa are moving to St. Louis this Fall as Kyle will be starting the Seminary preparing to be a Pastor.

Tennis Picture!

And one more :)

Our Anniversary!!!

It is amazing that we have been married for an entire year!  We clearly remember the details leading up to our wedding day, the many people who journeyed to Montana to celebrate with us, and the wedding itself where we said our vows in front of God and many witnesses.  Our year has been one of many changes and decisions but throughout the year we have grown even closer together.  Thank you all for your love, friendship, and prayers.  We love you!

This year for our anniversary, we were able to take a trip to Indianapolis, IN.  Chelsea had never been there before and Jon was anxious to show her some of his favorite spots he had found.  Since February, Jon had been coming to Indy for classes at Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy about every two months or so.

We flew to Indy on Sunday, June 24 and arrived in time to change and walk to dinner.  Jon took Chelsea to an old steakhouse called, St. Elmo.  It is the oldest steakhouse in downtown Indy and has won many awards for its service and dishes.  It was a VERY nice restaurant and on the wall opposite from where we were seated was pictures of many famous people who had also dined there.  The food was delicious!  Chelsea's portion of chicken and green beans was huge and so we were also able to give a man on the street a nice dinner as well.

After dinner, we walked around downtown to an old Civil War monument.  It is built in the middle of the road so it makes a natural roundabout.  The monument has a small museum inside and you can climb to the top and look out.  Outside there are inscriptions of the number of men from Indiana who served and died in the Civil War, along with scenes of men leaving their families.  Chelsea thought this monument was one of the coolest things she saw on the trip :)

On Monday morning, Jon started his next class.  While he was in class learning all about developing major gifts, Chelsea spent the morning enjoying a book.  What a great amount of time to freely read undisturbed!  She also enjoyed walking around downtown Indy.  The university is about a ten minute walk from downtown, so Chelsea walked the streets of the old city.  She revisited the war monument, found a WWII monument, an old train station, and many very cool old churches.
On Tuesday, we were invited to lunch with one of the other members of Jon's class.  He and his co-worker work for the Wounded Warrior Project.  They help veterans who come back from combat with whatever they may need to get readjusted to life.  He was wounded in Afghanistan so he has a guide dog to help him with stability, crowds, and a million other tasks if he needed to.  The dog decided that he really enjoyed Chelsea's head rubs.

Chelsea's friend, Sarah Wilkinson, came up to Indianapolis to visit us on Tuesday afternoon.  Sarah was Chelsea's roommate for a year and sang in our wedding last summer.  She is living in Columbus, IN which is about an hour away from Indy.

It was so fun to see her and catch up a little bit.  We obviously also enjoyed some good pizza and being a little silly.

After dinner, we took a walk along the "Canal Walk" in downtown Indy.    The canal was built in the 1800's but was not used for very long because the railroad tracks were built about a mile away from the canal.  However, today the canal is an extremely popular spot for walks, runs, and bike rides.  You can also rent paddle boats or take a ride in a gondola.  We simply walked but it was a beautiful place to visit.

Jon finished up his class Wednesday afternoon and we flew home that evening.  It was such a wonderful, relaxing trip that will have a special place in our hearts.

Our first anniversary will also be remembered for one more reason...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

On Sunday after we landed in Indianapolis, (after having time to think and pray about the decision to buy our first house while on the plane) we called our realtor and told her that we wanted to make an offer.  The next day, Monday, after class, we signed the papers and faxed them back to Nebraska!

It is a split level home with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a double garage.  We are so excited to move in on July 30.  More pictures to follow, after we get moved in and situated of course.  :)

A trip to Minnesota

We have been so blessed this summer.  One of the major ways God has blessed us has been through our travels.  We have been given the opportunity to travel and visit so many people who are important in our lives.  The weekend of June 14-17 was one of those trips when we traveled up to the Twin Cities and Rochester, MN.
Jon flew to St. Paul on June 14, to attend the MN South LCMS District Convention.  He was representing the Lutheran Hour Ministries booth at the convention.  While he was there he was able to connect with many people who know his dad or even his grandpa while they served in congregations in that district.
Jon was also able to meet up with his buddy Bruce Kraay.  Bruce was a groomsman in our wedding and is from Holland, MI.  Bruce happened to be in the Cities for a wedding, so Jon and Bruce met up for lunch and played a couple games of cribbage just like old times.  (In high school, Jon and Bruce would often meet for breakfast at the Zeeland bakery and play cribbage)

Bruce and Jon at Pizza Luce downtown St. Paul, MN

While Jon was at the convention, Chelsea stayed at home and helped with our church's VBS.  Christ Lutheran's VBS had over 500 children attend this year!  It was amazing to watch God work in the children's lives. Chelsea helped with the 6th grade, who instead of participating completely in VBS, they participated in servant events in the neighborhood.
On Friday, after the conclusion of VBS, Chelsea drove to Minneapolis to meet Jon and her good friend, Margaret.  Our goal was to scalp tickets to go to a Twins baseball game.  However, the tickets were still too spendy for our tastes so we made our own fun.

Margaret and Jon sitting in a huge glove!

Target Field!  We were excited to see it up close.  Although we didn't get to go inside the stadium, we did see/hear a Twins home run!

Margaret is one of Chelsea's oldest friends.  They went to Trinity (elementary school) and high school together in Kailspell, MT.  She is currently in the Physical Therapy School at the Mayo Clinic.  This summer, her first clinical is in Minneapolis.  

As we were walking by a restaurant, we were distracted by the GIGANTIC chocolate cake some nice ladies were eating for dessert.

Margaret and Chelsea outside the Shout House; Chelsea is holding a souvenir glass she got to keep for the drink she ordered.

For a late dinner and some entertainment, we went to the "Shout House," a dueling piano bar.  Jon had been there once before and Chelsea had heard that dueling piano bars were pretty fun.  We were not disappointed!  In the front of the restaurant are two pianos facing each other.  The wall behind them was a huge ceiling to floor mirror so the audience can watch both pianists play and sing at the same time.  You can request and pay for your song to be played.  The pianists were awesome and Chelsea was amazed at how many songs they had to know; not only how to play them but also SING them!

The fun didn't stop there...On Saturday, we picked Margaret up again and went to the Mall of America where we met Bruce's parents, Kevin and Patricia Kraay for lunch.  We went to the famous Rainforest Cafe.  It was so nice to visit with the Kraay's who since high school have been an extended family for Jon.

After lunch, we visited a few stores in the mall and then hit up one roller coaster!!!

After that, we made our way to Rochester, MN where we saw and stayed with Beth and Andy Hanson (Jon's sister and brother-in-law).  We also spent some time with our friends, the Maragos family.  Every year, we help out with the Maragos family's Gyro (yee-row, NOT ji-row) stand at the Rochester, MN Greek Festival in late August.  We are excited to come back to Rochester in about a month and a half!

The Maragos' were so kind to take us out to dinner.  Starting from the right side and going around the table:  Mariya, John and Connie.

We went to a restaurant called Twigs.  Josh Rohde (Mariya's boyfriend) was our waiter.  He gave us tips on the best food to order.  Good job Josh!  The food was delicious!

Mariya works at Disney as a character performer in Florida.  So cool :)

John was an usher in our wedding and recently moved back to Rochester, MN so Jon and John will get to see each other more often!  :)

On Sunday, we went to church at Redeemer, where Beth and Andy attend and where Jon's dad was a pastor for many years.  We were able to connect again with some good friends.

Bryce and April Beckman with baby Adelaide.

After church we headed to Austin, MN to visit Jon's grandma.  We enjoyed spending some quality time with Grandma Schleicher at Pizza Ranch.  She LOVES going to Pizza Ranch because of the wide variety and she always makes sure to get a piece of fried chicken!  As you can see she is doing very well!  Jon asked her many questions about her parents and sisters.  She also had 4 sisters, just like Chelsea does!

Andy, Beth, Grandma, Chelsea, and Jon

Grandma and Chelsea

After our visit, we traveled back to Lincoln and to the heat that seems to be constant every single day.  We also celebrated our friend, Valerie Schick's birthday with a cake and our make shift candle :)  Happy Birthday Val!

Jon holding Very Berry Delight that Chelsea made.  Chelsea is holding an automatic lighter that Val had to blow out.  :)