Music Man

The Music Man is one of my favorite musicals and last night Kristin and I got to see it live at at Indian Hill High School. It was an amazing production and they did a fabulous job. They obviously have quite a bit of $$$ at that high school because the props, costumes, and auditorium were all very nice.

The Library scene was so funny.

The front porch.

Meeting at the foot bridge.
(I loved the shadows and the moon here.)

The Mayor's wife with all her "fine acting" at the social.

And now the "band" . . . finally being directed by Prof. Harold Hill.

Teddy Bear Owner

It's true. I am now the proud owner of a Vermont Teddy Bear. Never thought I would be since they are outrageously expensive, but getting one for free sure is nice.

I love entering contests and you can't win if you don't play, right?

During the week of Valentines, a local radio station had an online contest where you had to describe how you met your spouse. The requirement was 50 words or less - which isn't much at all. I told them how Aaron and I met at third base playing softball, started dating, and then 3 years later he proposed while standing on third base at the very place where we had first met. My story must have been a "hit" as my little engineer bear arrived today. :-)

I am so hooked!

OK. I've been doing this now for 3 weeks and since I'm now really hooked, I thought I'd share with everyone else. If you enjoy saving money - read on.

I love buying groceries on sale, but I don't like not knowing if the sale items are "good" or if it's just a gimmick to get you to buy. I also like using coupons, but dislike paying more with the coupon then the "everyday low price at Wal-Mart." Well, this website has solved all that for me: www.thegrocerygame.com.

Basically, the list tells you items on sale at "rock bottom" prices AND they match up these items with coupons from the paper, which obviously means you get some really good deals. Yesterday my bill at Kroger was $71.30 BEFORE I handed the cashier my stack of coupons (and yes it was quite a stack). After he rang all the coupons, my bill came down to $46.70. Now that's saving money! This is the 3rd week I've done this, and every week I've saved over $20.

In fact some items are completely free - really! For instance, this week at Kroger, 8 oz of Daisy sour cream was on sale for $1 AND I had a coupon for $1 off any Daisy product. Ta da = I got my sour cream for free. Of course the free items are the best, but I've only had 2-3 free items per week.

And yes, you do have to pay for the grocery list, but it's completely worth it to me. Right now I'm still in the "trial period" which is only $1 for 4 weeks. After that, it's $10 for 8 weeks (or more depending on how many stores you select).


It does take a while to cut out all the coupons, organize, and file them. But, if I can save this much money on our grocery bills, I'll happily keep clippin'.

The Big One-Five

Happy 15th Birthday, Cameron!

The restaurant of choice for him this year was Maggianos - YUM!!
Even the desserts were to die for!

We got him this frame w/picture along with a Reds hat for his bday gift.

Do Dogs Smile?

Do dogs smile? Who can say, but it sure looks like Cocoa is smiling here! Especially when you compare it with the second one.

I snapped a few pictures of Matt & Erika's dog when I was taking Hannah's newborn pictures.

How Would You Be Described?

We have the greatest group of young adults at our church (Kenwood Bible Methodist) and I love it when we have parties. We met at Jeremy and Emilie's last Friday night and had a great time eating pizza and playing the Bowl Game. Aaron is sure the game has a "real name" - but everyone I know calls it the Bowl Game. So, that's what it is.

Emilie started it off by explaining how the game works. The first round you describe the person you draw out of the bowl by using only words. Second round you only act, and the third round you can only say one word.

I see that hand, Jennee. Did you have a question?

The acting round is always the funniest part to me. I can't remember who Jeremy is trying to act like, but it sure was funny.

A very perplexed Ron.

Aaron and Josh sure thought something was funny.

It's really hard to describe someone you don't even know, which is what happened to Jenn. We got real creative with some names. :-)

Brent - a ready-made actor.

If we could get Holley to stop laughing long enough to act, she did really well. :-)

I absolutely love this game. We had all kinds of people: presidents and other famous people, church people, Strawberry Shortcake, Winnie the Pooh, bible characters, Paul Harvey, GBS people, and many more. We laughed at how people were described and the actions people chose to describe them. Later on that night I was thinking and wondered what would people say to describe me or how people would describe Aaron. Hmm. . . food for thought.

How Cute!

Last week I took pictures of the Frederick children. They are always willing to let me try something new on them and we have so much fun in the process.

I love taking pictures of siblings - especially when they are as cute as the Frederick's!

Pretty in pink!

I just loved Christi's boots and socks - so of course I wanted them to show in the picture.

Sled Time

The latest addition to my collection of photography props . . .


No, I really didn't need 4 - I actually only wanted 1. However, the cool thing about auctions is you sometimes have to bid on a "lot" when you may only want one thing. So, here are my 4 sleds. It's probably a good thing they came all together, because I'm not sure which one I like the best. I'm anxious to try these out on some kids for Christmas pictures this next winter. . . if I can wait that long.

Together we will What??

Newport on the Levee is a fun place to go. We hadn't been for while and after we got there wondered why in the world we don't go there more often.

They had a mime out in the common area that was extremely entertaining. I could have stood there forever and just watched him. He was acting like an electronic mannequin and was moving in very real jerks. It was fascinating, but kind of a little unnerving at the same time. :-)

We ate at Dewey's Pizza and wanted to try their dessert, but didn't want to order individual portions. So, we decided to get one piece of Bon Bonerie cake and just split it. It didn't seem weird at all when Kristin and I ate are portions. However, we died laughing when it was time for Aaron and Mark to finish off their halves. You don't typically see two guys sharing cake. :-)


After we were full of pizza and delicious chocolate cake, we walked right by this fitness center. We had just been talking about exercising and this sign clinched it (you have to click on it to enlarge the picture so you can read the sign). Of course, the picture was not complete without the pizza box. After this picture, we promptly marched into Cold Stone Creamery and ordered ice cream. What a way to top off the evening!

2007 - Year in Review

Wow! What a year 2007 was. I was thinking about some goals for the new year and decided to review a few highlights from last year.

January: We skied for the first time ever and loved it!

February: Aaron’s beloved Colts won the Super Bowl!

March: I saw the ocean for the very first time in my life while on a mission trip to South Africa!

April: it snowed in April!
(I know – not the first time this has ever happened, but it is unusual.)

May: my brother-in-law (Cameron) graduated from 8^th grade and my sister-in-law (Leanna) graduated from Nursing School.

June: I missed 3 weeks of work and had to be hospitalized with my ulcerative colitis.

July: We had a ton of fun in the Cayman Islands with Mark & Kristin!

August: Aaron tore his ACL, had knee surgery, and was off work for 4 weeks.

September: GBS had a great report from the HCL Accrediting Team Visit.

October: my sister, Dana, married Phil Vernon.

November: Good friends, Erika and Matt, welcomed baby girl, Hannah, into the world (and I got to take her 2-week old pictures!)

December: I finished my master’s degree!
(no pictures yet from this grand event - graduation is in May).

Christmas Memories. . . how they linger

Christmas this year was spent in Indiana and we had such a great time!

On Saturday before Christmas, we went to Muncie, IN and had Christmas with Grandpa Young at the nursing home.

Then we went to Grandma Young's house and opened presents there.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Upland, IN and had Christmas at Grandma Herring's house. Melissa (Aaron's cousin) was opening an "interesting" gift and all eyes were on her.

All the cousins always play games after we do gifts. This year the favorite was Catch Phrase.

And then on Christmas Day we stayed home (at Aaron's parents house) and had our Christmas there. We always start with stockings filled and overflowing with really cool things (De-Icer, Butterfingers, Dark Chocolate Doves, LipSmackers chapstick, socks, etc.).

Cameron is now 14, which is the year he officially starts his toolbox. He got this nice metal Craftsman toolbox and a nice screwdriver set to start it off. From now until he's married, he'll get a new tool each year. Aaron loved having all these tools when we got married. After all, you typically don't get stuff like this for wedding gifts. :-) .


This gift really made him smile - a cell phone of his very own!
(with very strict instructions of no texting, no sending pictures, and if possible, only talk to "Verizon" customers to benefit from the free mobile-to-mobile) :-)


Cameron got a remote controlled helicopter from Uncle Hugh and Aunt Cindy and absolutely loved this thing! All we heard from Christmas Eve night on was the whrr whrr whrr of this thing. It was really neat - and actually very hard to fly.

After finally getting the hang of it, Cameron successfully landed the helicopter on the fan blade . It took several hours (or was it a couple of days?) for him to learn how to do this. Maybe the $5 challenge from his dad had something to do with it.