Happy 83rd Birthday Grandma!

Yesterday was Kurt's mom's 83rd birthday. A portion of the family gathered tonight at the Trivet Restaurant to celebrate. Had the entire family been able to be there, we would have needed a much bigger table and several more pictures to get all 32 of us in the pics :) There was only 12 of us tonight!

The waitresses, as you can see, were dressed in costume for Hallowe'en. They brought her a piece of apple pie with a candle in it and we all sang Happy Birthday to her!

Chris and Fiona (Chris is Kurt's younger brother) with their four children from left to right: Conor, Kieran, Kievah and Colm

From left to right: Miget and Lyle (Kurt's brother), Kurt's mom, Donnalee (Kurt's sister) and us :)

Anniversary Dinner

We learned many years ago that our friends, Bill and Kathy, from church, were married the same exact day we were. It all began with a discussion about what the weather was like on our wedding days. As they described their day, it was sounding very much like the weather the day we got married (cloudy and raining in the morning, but by afternoon, it had cleared up and was a beautiful fall day). Turned out we were both married on October 20, 1984....us at 3 pm....them at 4 pm!

We've tried to go out for dinner each year to celebrate. Tonight we went to the Stone Bar Inn in Snydersville and had a lovely meal!

Go State!

Sarah and Alyssa at the Michigan game :)

4th Annual Trek to Penn State :)

It has become tradition to visit Alyssa in October at Penn State. This, of course, was our last annual visit to see Alyssa, but we are excited to be able to continue the tradition the next three years with Adam. Kurt and I spent the night at a hotel, while Adam stayed with Alyssa in her townhouse. This year was a bit different, in that, after we hung out on campus for a while on Saturday, we left Adam in State College to visit some of his friends who are there, while we drove the 40 miles to see where Alyssa is doing her pre student teaching.

We have always allowed Adam to choose where we eat when we get there on Friday night, as this is his belated birthday dinner. He has always wanted to wait til the four of us could be together. Again this year, he chose Texas Roadhouse:

I was hoping to use one of these pictures at the lion for our Christmas card, but with the way the sun was shining through the trees, I wasn't so excited with them. They're nice pics, but there's too much shadowing :(

You can see these huge paws outside the Palmer Museum of Art:

Alyssa pointed out the shadowing in this picture :)

Looking eye to eye with JoePa:

She, on the other hand, fits nicely in JoePa's armpit :)

Various pictures taken at Old Main:

One of the many squirrels on campus. These guys are not shy....Alyssa said they walk right up to you as you're walking through campus:

Here's the school that Alyssa is currently at:

And no trip to State College is complete until we stop by and visit Matt, Karlyn and the kids:

It's hard to believe that Alyssa's time here at Penn State is coming to a close. When we got home from State College on Saturday, there was a letter waiting for her welcoming her to the school she will be doing her student teaching at this coming Spring. She will be teaching in a high school that is 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. She and two other girls are currently looking for housing some where in the vicinity of the three different schools they will be teaching at. Unfortunately, they only need an apartment for a little over three months. We're hoping they can find something that has month to month leases, as they certainly don't need a year's lease. There are 20 students in the math major, and apparently quite a few of them live in the Pittsburgh area, thus can live at home. Her last day of student teaching is 4.22.10 and then she's done. I'm not sure where we go after that :) We'll keep you posted!

Our 26th Anniversary 10.20.10

Jen & Nate's Wedding.....10.16.10

Moms lighting the candles:

Jen and her dad:

Yes, they are the happy couple, despite Jen's face :)

Beautiful ice sculpture:

Our two kiddos:

Rachel with Alyssa and Adam:

Several relatives of the groom made over 300 dozen cookies...this was one of the more unique looking ones:

Me with Sheri and Lynne:

Jan, Sheri and Jim:

Mom and Sheri:

Sheri with Pastors Barry and Elizabeth:

The Bride and Groom:

In the middle of a huge conga line:

Jen and Nate with David:

David in heaven :)

The cake:

Dancin' the night away:

Me and Kurt:

Alyssa with Lynne:

Lynne and Dave:

Linda and Dave. Linda is our organist at church:

From left to right: Cait & Bobby, Bob & Kathy:

Nope, she didn't have too much to drink! Love Rachel's smile!

Beautiful centerpieces...and we got to bring one home!

Alyssa and Jen: