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.

JAJC Visit to NE

The last week in April, Jon's brother and sister-in-law and their twin boys came to visit Nebraska.  Jason and Amy both also graduated from Concordia and this was Amy's first time back to see Concordia after their $26 million athletic complex was completed.  It was also nice for them to visit Concordia as two of Jason's youth kids from their church are freshman there this year.

It was fun seeing how the twins, Jaden and Cody, have grown so much and are confident walkers.  We loved hanging out with them and getting a glimpse into how their daily routine works.  It was truly a team effort that Jason and Amy have mastered to keep up and keep track of both of these little boys.

Jaden (left) and Cody were very interested in Ace the whole time.

Jason taking some time to get Jaden down for a nap.

A family dinner on our new table.  This was really the only
meal where we all were able to eat together before we all
got sick.  :(

Before people got sick, Jason and Amy wanted to take lunch to Chelsea at school on a day while she was teaching.  It was nice for them to see Chelsea's school and her classroom. 

Chelsea with Jaden and Cody in her classroom.

Following seeing Chelsea's school, Jon took Jason and Amy to show them our church.  

Jason is patiently waiting with Cody before touring the church.

Both twins were the first ones to get sick as they started with the flu and then developed diarrhea. 

We experienced a unique form of family bonding by all six of us having the flu and being sick.  

Jon resting with one of the twins while recovering.

Amy is comforting Cody while Jaden buries
his head trying to feel better... :(

Jon chilling with Cody. 

Family photo in front of our house. 

Thanks for coming to visit JAJC!  We are sorry you got sick at our place but happy we were able to see you for a few nights!  We love you.

Jon's Work Trip to STL

At the end of April, Jon had to go to St. Louis for four days for the semi-annual major gift officers meeting at Lutheran Hour Ministries' Headquarters.  Jon decided to actually fly out a day early so he could watch and cheer on the Concordia Men's Tennis Team as they competed in the annual CIT (Concordia Invitational Tournament) against Concordia Wisconsin, Concordia Seminary and Greenville.  Jon was not only able to cheer on the guys from Concordia Nebraska who he hits with sometimes still, but one of his former college roommates and tennis teammate, Tim, who is a 2nd year seminary student playing on the sem's tennis team.  Tim actually ended up winning his singles flight at #3 and earned a tough victory on Saturday.  Way to go Tim!

Tim and Jon. 

Jon, Tim, Hannah and Coach Harms.  Tennis reunion!
Hannah played #1 for the girls some of the years while Jon
played and Coach Harms was Jon's coach for 4 years.

Tim's parents were able to make the trip down to STL from
Fort Wayne, Ind. where Tim's father is a pastor. They were
happy to see Tim play but they were surprised when Jon
ran into them at the Subway close to the sem.  :)

On Saturday night after tennis, Tim and Jon went out for some BWW's and then went to go see the new Sci-Fi thriller, Oblivion at a dinner theatre.  The movie theatre had reclining chairs which were super comfortable!

One of the nicest theatres Jon's ever been too.  

Tim relaxing before the movie started.  Don't those chairs
look comfortable?

Tim and Jon enjoying watching baseball and basketball
at Buffalo Wild Wings, some great wings and a beer.

Then, on Sunday, Jon went to church with one of his mentors, Al, and his wife Joan.  After church, they went out for brunch at a restaurant called The Egg and I.  Jon will be able to see them again this upcoming weekend when he goes back to St. Louis, but more on that later.

Monday-Wednesday, Jon spent time at the office in several long meetings but the highlight came on Tuesday morning when Lutheran Hour Ministries' Family Campaign party happened.  The purpose of the Family Campaign is to get employees of LHM to be donors to LHM as well.  There were a total of 41 prizes available for drawing to those that have given a gift to LHM and in those 41, were 7 sets of Cardinals tickets.  After 5 Cardinals packages had been drawn, Jon decided he wasn't going to win so he went up to take a photo of his co-worker, Carla playing Vanna White.  As Carla was modeling two box Cardinals tickets, Jon's name was called!  It was a surprise but super exciting as Jon will be able to go back to St. Louis this weekend with his good friend Aaron who is a HUGE Cards fan.  More pictures to come.  :)

Carla modeling the tickets.  This is the actual photo Jon took
while Brad read his name!  Crazy.

Diamond Box Seats.  Super Excited!

Finally, on Tuesday night, Jon was able to go to a St. Louis Blues Hockey game with a friend from college, Emily, who works at CPH and her boyfriend, Ryan.  Ryan works for the Blues so our seats were amazing!  We were in the 7th row and got to see several goals scored as the Blues clinched their playoff spot.  Thanks for the great tickets Ryan!

Jon, Emily and Ryan.

With the win, the Blues clinched a playoff spot.

It was a great but long trip to St. Louis and Jon felt blessed to be able to do so much and see so many people.  It will be quite the month for sports in St. Louis for Jon as he will have amazing seats for the upcoming Cards game.

Babysitting Miss Kylie

On the Friday after the conclusion of tax season, we had the pleasure of babysitting our friend's Ryan and Lisa's little 6 month old girl, Kylie.  They let us bring Ace and he was so curious as to why we were in a new place but he enjoyed a bone.  Every time Kylie started crying, Ace would come find one of us and howl.  It was pretty cute.  :)  We played, tried giving her some dinner, read some books and rocked before falling asleep.  We had a blast and hope to do it again soon!

Chelsea playing with Kylie. 

We had to tag team putting on jammies.  :)

Baby Shower for 1st Mom in Young Roads

The first Saturday in April, Chelsea hosted a baby shower for our friend Nicole, who's baby is due the beginning of June.  It was a fun day for the ladies as Jon was in Columbus all day for work so they had the house to themselves.  Some of the activities included opening gifts, decorating onesies for the little guy, an obstacle course in the driveway while pushing a stroller and enjoying some brunch.  It was a great day and all the girls enjoyed themselves.  Thanks Nicole for letting us spoil you!

Here the ladies are decorating their onesies. Ace was keeping
an eye on the action by being under the table.
From L to R: Jen, Nicole, Bre, Val, Angela and Melissa

The ladies with their finished products. Very creative!

Chelsea and Nicole.