February is almost gone

Hi all.  It's been crazy busy here in West Michigan, at least as far as I'm concerned at work.  We've had a good snowstorm or two, the boys are finally starting to think that Minnesota is sharing it's wealth in snow days.

I've missed some important events and need to shout out to the following:

Nephew Bryce celebrated his birthday on January 28th.  He's my oldest nephew, a really cool cat and well loved by his Michigan cousins.  He's got some other news, but that's gonna wait a minute.

Cousin Nancy, Jim's lovely wife had a birthday on February 18th.   Very cool, she's settling into a slower pace and I'm hopeful it's a great pace to do what she wants.

To be clear, Nancy is the cute one on the right.

Big news, Bryce and Kelli had their baby, Evangeline Joy.  11 pounds.  Born at about 8:PM, 2/20.  Not without some challenges, but family and friends have been praying for all three of them.  Here is a photo of the youngest Young, Eva.  I think she's looking alert and she's saying; "Hey Mom and Dad, not sure what's up, but I am glad that you've got my back."



Holly and the boys are doing well.  We've been doing our scouting and did a camp out this month.  It was supposed to be a "Polar Bear" and we were going to dig snow caves and sleep in them.  The blizzard in the early part of the month was neutralized with warm weather and rain.  By the time we were camping, it was in tents on dirt.  Funny thing was, we had to rush to get home ahead of the 2nd largest snow storm of the season.

Spencer still hasn't heard if he made the cut for the State Geography Bee, we're hopeful, but not sure.

Ian was at the State contest in Lansing and did pretty well, 6th place.  He learned a lot about his new area of interest and I learned that he's really a pretty talented kid.  I should have known, but I think I'm too close to appreciate his fine arts skills.

Have an awesome end of the month and I hope to write again soon.
Pat

January 22nd? Really? Wow, time really flies!

Happy New Year!  As the title says, wow, time really flies.

We had a great Christmas this year with Tom and Reen coming up with all three of their dogs.  Without a fenced in yard it was a challenge, but a really nice time.

 Here's Spencer and Ian and Altai.  Keeping an eye on this puppy was more than a one person job.  Before dinner the pup had discovered the Christmas Stockings had stuff to eat and had helped himself a few times. 

 I took this shot and was pretty pleased with the angle, the trees and of course the beautiful ladies. 

 This was taken during the Great Potato Gun War of 2010!  We located some potato guns and Ian and Tom were the lucky recipients.  Once armed with a pistol and a red skin potato for each, the battle ensued.  Needless to say, the photo journalist was not given immunity and became a prime target.  The dogs all thought the game was pretty tasty!




I missed a few Shout Outs since Christmas Eve and so, without further ado, I'd like to announce the following:


Tom's Birthday is New Year's Eve and so we got him a gift to celebrate his 30th anniversary of his 21st birthday.  Ian really got into it when assigned the task of wrapping a Red Green book for Uncle Tom.  Ian was able to blend hunting and duct tape into the wrapping job.  Tom loved it and was really a good sport about the tape hermetically sealed gift.

Taylor had a birthday in January, on the 4th to be precise.  Here he is with his fiance Yvonne.  Aren't they a cute couple!

Cindy rang the bell on another year and marked it big time by moving to Northport!  Happy new home and I hope this is your year!  God's grace to you and yours.  This shot is a bit older of her and Thom, you guys look pretty good for old folks!







 

Another Nephew rolled another year, and that would be Jake and he's a cool kid that's learning life and autobody and I think he will excel at both! Here he's seen showing Ian how to catch some air on a tube.










And there you have it, we're caught up!  Now for the bonus shots;

My lovely bride is so cool and so hip that you just know that she's alright in a hat like this.

The boys at our favorite alleyway in downtown Grand Rapids.












Ian and I have fun at this spot playing with the camera and the light.











That's if for tonight.  Have an awesome 2011!

Pat