THE LUEPKES

October 2009: BLOCK PARTY

2010-02-27T17:26:00.000-05:00

Our small group Bible-study (called CABLE group) at church collaborated in mid-October in putting together a block party on our street. Mike and I made fliers and hand-delivered them to each house on our street (about 50!) a few weeks before the big day. Though it was a bit out of my comfort zone to go and meet a ton of strangers, it is right up Mike’s alley. I love that about him! He really pushes me to be more outgoing and his friendliness is contagious. You should have seen people’s reactions when we knocked on their door and introduced ourselves; nearly everyone looked at us like “what….are you trying to sell something?” or “did you hit my dog?” Nope, just meeting our neighbors! :) It made me realize how little people actually talk to their neighbors – some lived on our street for 20 years and had never met the people who lived just a few houses down.

They loved the idea of a block party – and we were pumped that, despite the cold fall air, we had over 40 people come to our house! We played yard games, but mostly stayed inside and enjoyed hot cider, hamburger and hotdogs and great conversation. I hope it’s something we can make a tradition for many years! (but maybe during the summer months instead).

September 2009: WYATT ALAN KEELER

2010-02-27T17:12:00.002-05:00

BABY WYATT

My twin sister, Brooke, her husband Tim, and lil’ girl, Teagan, welcomed a baby boy on September 4th. Wyatt Alan Keeler is a doll and we are enjoying him so much. He is becoming such a gentle, sweet soul. We love his little smiles!

September 2009: TRASH THE DRESS, part 2

2009-12-29T19:44:00.008-05:00

After camp, we headed to my parent’s house on Spring Lake for the Trash the Dress session, part duex…Take a look at what we did – I LOVE boating and slalom waterskiing – who knew I’d ever do it in my wedding dress?!

After a few tries of starting off the edge of the dock, and face-planting into the water, we decided to go back to basics and get up the way I always do, in the water. No problem! Got up and zoomed around the lake, with the gorgeous sunset in the background. It was a riot and I think I caught a few other boaters that happened to pass by looking at me like “is that girl REALLY in a wedding dress???!” It was awesome – we had some good laughs and now have a memory captured forever on film!

Mike was all done with his picture-duty...time for a brewsky!

Gettin' ready w/ my dad (the faithful captain) and his neighbor

Don't let the amazing lifejacket intimidate you....

Ready...set...go!

GORGEOUS sunset!!!

Hey, this is actually working...!

FUN!!
My glorious landing, with mickymouse hands (didn't realize I grabbed the extra-large gloves!) :)

Love these shots on the dock w/ the ski and off my parent's front deck, with their boat in the background~

September 2009: TRASH THE DRESS, part 1

2009-12-29T13:08:00.011-05:00

Since the winds howled and rain poured on our wedding day, we didn’t get the chance to take many pictures outside. Our photographers, Steve and Jessica Fox, were gracious enough to meet us a few weeks after our honeymoon to take some more beach photos and do a "Trash the Dress" session. You typically don’t ‘trash’ the dress, but just take a lot more riskier photos than you ever would the day of the wedding (and I was getting my dress cleaned and preserved, anyway...it was muddy from the farm!)

It was so exciting re-creating our wedding day – what bride doesn’t love getting dressed up in her dress again?! We headed back to Camp Geneva and took some of these pictures. These are some of my favorites!

Mike doing his "Zoolander" face behind me. Niiiiiiice ;)

My two favorite places - the woods and the beach!!!

Let's see how that ended..... :)

I know there has been a "Mike-Jess Picture" overload on our blog lately...I guess that's the case when you get married. I'm finally sorting through all our pictures; hope you don't get too sick of these!! :)

August 2009: OUR HONEYMOON!

2009-12-27T21:17:00.007-05:00

We postponed our honeymoon a few days, and left after Grandpa Elmer's funeral for a week in Riveria Maya, Mexico! We stayed at a brand-new resort – the first ‘green’ resort in the area. It sat on 300 acres of natural preserve, contained 10 cenotes (lagoons) and hosted many endangered trees and plants. We had an awesome time kayaking to the cenotes, swimming in the ocean, zip-lining through the jungle (our favorite!) and (mostly) relaxing and sipping on fruity drinks by the pool or on the cabana on the beach! It was definitely a special time to be away just the two of us!

I could get used to this! :)

Enjoying a spicey margarita; our 'welcome' drink!

Zip-lining into a cenote after zooming through the jungle!

My love!

A night a the resort

Taking an impromptu jump into a cenote after mountain biking!

Look at that view!

Walking down 5th Ave in Playa del Carmen our last night

Thanks for the "Welcome Home" sign, Reg!

August 2009: REMEMBERING GRANDPA ELMER

2009-12-27T20:57:00.003-05:00

After our wedding, we left for Wisconsin for a few days for Grandpa Elmer (Luepke)’s funeral. He passed away 4 days before our wedding. Mike looked up to him so much, and it was one of his greatest wishes to have Grandpa at our wedding. We were filled with sadness, but also great joy knowing that he was up in Heaven celebrating with a host of angels! Our reception was a blast, but we can only imagine how much better THAT party must’ve been!

Talk about a man who left a legacy– from his faith, to his story-telling, to his song-singing and his hard-working hands and sensitive spirit, Grandpa Elmer will always have a special place in our hearts.

A SNAPSHOT :)

2009-11-13T19:38:00.016-05:00

"We all have moments in our past when life, if only for a moment, was coming together in the way we knew in our hearts it was always meant to be. There is a beauty, an innocence, an excitement to those days..." ~ John Eldridge Journey of Desire

(*I wrote this quote in my journal a few years ago during my singlehood with the deep desire to find the one the Lord had for me to marry. How special is was to use it on my wedding invitation all these years later. God answers. :))

OUR WEDDING PARTY

2009-08-31T17:39:00.028-04:00

For those that weren't able to make it to the wedding and/or for those who didn't get a chance to thorough read the program (which was a cute 5-page dye-cut FAN tied with raffia - courtesy of my mom's creativity!), here is a list of our wedding party attendants and a little somethin' about them. Our friends and family are amazing and we had so much fun with them!!

FLOWER GIRL

Teagan Alise Keeler (niece of bride)

RINGBEARER

Myles Jacob Foreman (nephew of bride)

JUNIOR BRIDESMAIDS

Miss Elena and Miss Grace Warble (honorary little sisters of groom)

GUESTBOOK

Amanda "the Guestbook Gal" Pomp (friend of bride)

Good Earth. Guber. Deep Heart. Humility.

BRIDE'S PERSONAL ASSISTANT

Regan "It's not Reeeee-gan" Luepke (sister of groom)

Generosity of Service. Hugs. Kiddo-magnet. Seester-friend.

THE USHERS

Greg "The Deacon-ator" Boyer (friend and mentor of groom)

Service. Leadership. Wisdom. Accountability.

Matt "Hey Buddy" Metzger (friend of groom)

The No-Camping Camping Trip. "You Mummifyin..." Forest. Worship.

Mark "I'm not that kind of doctor, but I'll take a look anyway" Foreman (brother-in-law)

Is that Grant? Commuter Bike. Kindness. Strength.

THE GROOMSMEN AND BRIDESMAIDS

Mike "Pineapple is beer" Dolislager (friend of bride and groom)

Saab story. Magic Hat #9. Renaissance Man. West Palm Beach Comedy Club.

Meredith "Primetime" Schrotenboer (friend of bride)

College Roomie. Sunshine. "I'll Never Tell." Sincerity.

Jason "the beach master" Umlauf (friend of groom)

Red Hat/Gray Tee. "...That Business." Summer '05. Bigorexia.

Andrea "I've read Harry Potter 26 times" Oosting (little sister of bride)

Summer Ski. Music. Adventure-blended-Reservation. Funny Cards.

Zach "There's always room for the best" Eikenberry (friend of groom)

Sincerity. Service. Self-Improvement. Coffee shop.

Tara "Pastor and Mama-Master" Foreman (big sister of bride)

Leadership. Wisdom. Story-Telling. Coffee & Jazz.

Tim "Hear no evil" Keeler (brother-in-law)

Big Brother. Wise Counsel. Bailey. Good Push.

Allison "Pass the skittles" Alles (friend of bride)

Other "sister". Faith Encouragement. Cancun. Authentic.

Andrew "Bent-Over" Boehm (friend of groom)

Helping Hand. Jump Squat. Whafro. Drive It Like You Stole It.

Tiffany "I'd rather be wearing Yoga pants" Andre (friend of bride)

Post-college roomie. Creativity. Girls-night-brownies & "Friends". Faithful.

Best Man: Grant "Hollywood" Cheney (best friend of groom)

Brother-from-another-mother. Nickelodeon. Tombstone Pizza. Roaring Lamb.

Matron of Honor: Brooke "I'm reeeeeeally reeeeeealllly ridiculously good-looking" Keeler (twin sister of bride)

Wombmate. GYTT. Laughter. Selflessness.

In Reverse Chronological Order: THE REHEARSAL

2009-08-31T17:08:00.003-04:00

The Rehearsal Friday night began at the New Holland Brewing Co, downtown Holland. Mike's parents did an awesome job of organizing and setting up the evening, complete with appetizers, brewskies, salads and a delicious array of pizza to fill our tummies. It was a fun time for Mike and I to recognize so many of the people who have gone above and beyond to help make our wedding day so special. We are so thankful for everyone there!

After dinner, we headed to Camp Geneva for the rehearsal on the beach...we couldn't have asked for a more GORGEOUS night. The breeze was soft, the water calm, the sun a blazing orange as it set on the horizon. Standing there with our closest family and friends was such an intimate experience (we asked Pastor Brian if we could just go ahead and do the ceremony right then and there!). It was an evening I'll never forget - the feelings we felt 'satisfied' our hearts desire for a beach wedding, which made us more at peace the next day when things didn't go exactly as rehearsed. :)

Did you know that my sister, Tara, is an up-n'-coming professional Photographer? And she's pretty darn good at it, too (check out http://www.frenchpressphotography.com/)! She (along w/ Mike's best man, Grant) captured some of the moments of that beautiful night.

The set-up, complete with bamboo poles with shells and flowers hanging from the top, and our awesome wedding party surrounding us.

Lake Michigan

The mason jar 'cups' to be used the next day!

Walking down the stairs with Dad

Giving away of the bride :)

Can I kiss her yet?! No, Michael.

Ok, now you can!!

With Pastor Brian

The BEST wedding coordinator in the world, my Mama!

Some of our wedding party, enjoying the night!

Oh yea, the PAR-TAY BUS!

2009-08-31T16:42:00.005-04:00

My sis, Tara, reminded me that I forgot to mention the party bus...whoops! How could I forget?! After the ceremony, this 35-passenger beast picked up the wedding party. Our photographer joined in on the fun and snapped some shots that promise to reveal a side of some people they don't normally express (can't wait to get those ones back!). Let's just say a little Usher, champagne, and 22+ ready-to-rock passengers makes for a hilarious and groovin' good time.

If anyone is looking for an affordable (best rate in town for any transportation we found!) way to cart your wedding party to the reception, we REALLY recommend THIS sweet-cheeks of a ride.

A HEAVENLY DAY

2009-08-18T11:42:00.012-04:00

~We feel so loved and blessed!~

Here are some pics captured by our family and friends

We are T-PLUS 18 days in from being married, can you believe it?! August 1st goes down in the record books as the best day of our lives. We can't wait to share our wedding photos with you when we get them back!

Even though the rain kept us from having our beach wedding beside Lake Michigan, we had a beautiful and peaceful time inside the chapel at Camp Geneva. It was a last-minute decision, as the winds howled and rain came and went, but since guest were arriving and there was nothing comfortable about being outside, we decided to move everything into the chapel. Our Master and Mistress of Ceremony, Nathan and Elizabeth Bocks were AMAZING - from their immaculate preparation, to raking the beach, to not overlooking a single detail, they saved the day. Most importantly, their calm and encouraging attitudes helped set the pace for the unexpected turn of events - which helped keep me calm and centered as well. I knew our dream of a beach wedding wasn't going to happen, but I had prayed for months for a CALM SPIRIT if anything came up like this, and the Lord answered. I felt complete peace and focused on the most important aspects of the day - our friends and family were there, we were going to get married, and the scenery would just have been a bonus.

Within less than 10 minutes, all the bamboo poles were set up, music equipment was moved from the sand to the chapel and the worship compilation began to play overhead as people took their seats. The transformation was speedy and simply gorgeous! Thank you to everyone who went above and beyond to make that happen!

The atmosphere in the chapel was so serene and calm, and the breeze coming through the open windows brought the roar of Lake Michigan's waves - it was as if you were sitting along side the shore. Everything felt so spontaneous, which was kinda fun!

Mike walked our parents and grandparents down to the song "How Great Is Our God" - it's been a song that I've loved for years - I went to an outdoor Chris Tomlin concert under the stars in West Palm Beach when I lived in Florida and ever since, that song has had a special place in my heart. I play it on my iPod nearly every time I go for a run, and I dreamed someday of using it in my wedding; and we did!!

The wedding party walked down to Bart Millard's (lead singer for Mercy Me) version of "Brethren, We Have Come To Worship"...it's a'capella for the first 30 seconds, which is when Mike and Pastor Brian walked down the aisle together. Then the music suddenly picks up into a bluegrass/country fiddle that makes you want to do a little 2-steppin' - which is exactly what Mikey D, our first attendant did. I absolutely LOVED that most of 'em did a little groovin' as they walked down the aisle; it was perfect! The guys even wore their aviator shades and took them off when it was my turn to walk down. Cute.

My dad and I walked down to Patti Griffin's "Heavenly Day" - my lil' sister, Andrea, is the queen of emerging music and introduced me to Patti Griffin awhile back. It also plays often at my parent's house at the lake, and whenever my mom would listen to it, she said she thought of me and Mike. It seemed the perfect song to capture the essence of the day, and will now always be one of the songs that means the most to me as I reminisce about walking with my dad toward Mike, my heart filling up with more joy and emotion that I ever imagined.

HEAVENLY DAY

Oh heavenly day, all the clouds blew away

Got no trouble today with anyone

The smile on your face, I live only to see

It's enough for me, baby, it's enough for me

oh heavenly day, heavenly day, heavenly day

Tomorrow may rain with sorrow

Here's a little time we can borrow

Forget all our troubles in these moments so few

All we've got right now, the only thing that

All we've really got to do

Is have ourselves a heavenly day

Lay here and watch the trees sway

Oh, can't see no other way, no way, no way

Heavenly day, heavenly day, heavenly day

No one at my shoulder bringing me fear

No clouds up above bringing me tears

Got nothing to tell you, I've got nothing much to do

Only I'm glad to be here with you

On this heavenly, heavenly, heavenly, heavenly

Heavenly day, all the trouble's gone away

Oh, for awhile anyway, for awhile anyway

Heavenly day, heavenly day, heavenly day

The attendants formed a semi-circle behind us, with my Matron of Honor, twin sister Brooke, and Mike's Best Man, best friend Grant, standing in the center. So many people have told us to soak in every moment and be present during your wedding - and Mike and I both feel like we did just that. It was important for us to include our family history somewhere in the program, so we decided to take sand from the Lake Michigan beach in Racine, WI (where Mike's family roots are) and sand from the east shore of Lake Michigan (where my family roots are) and blend it together to symbolize our unity. Everything in the ceremony meant a lot to us, from my dad giving me away, to the communion, to the unity sand, to the time spent up on the stage with Pastor Brian speaking to us that felt so cozy and special; we loved it. We are blessed to have a Pastor whose heart is so real and so relatable and speaks the powerful truth of God into our lives. Thank you, Brian!

The announcement of husband and wife has to be one of the biggest Wow/Yikes! moments in a couple's lives, and it was that way for us, too. How fun! Our recessional was to Reliant K's "The Best Thing" - this was Mike's second choice, in actuality. He was set on Green Day's ""Pop Rocks and Soda" but I wasn't fully on board with that one. :) But, either way, we were husband and wife!!

Our reception was pure joy - under the pavilion at Post Family Farm. We had the tent walls up, which made things even cozier (!) but some people did get to enjoy the yard games and visit the animals outside the tent. There were lights and paper lanterns hanging from the rafters, which created a little glow to our country-themed reception. The favorites of the night, from what I'm told, were the bluegrass/folk rock band "The Last Call Band" who rocked it out, the yummy food, the incredible cupcakes and phenomenal homemade brewskies (the Vanilla Porter was my fav!) and overall, all the people who danced and celebrated with us and just had FUN!! Thank you to Steve and Charly Nienhuis, who were our Master and Mistress of Reception and kept the night rollin', and to Grant and Brookie, who gave the best toasts anyone could imagine. We love you guys!

All in all, what an incredible day for us. Thank you to all who helped us celebrate, especially our PARENTS who truly made this day one we will never forget!!!

THE REST OF 'EM

2009-07-22T23:42:00.001-04:00

Here's a link to our engagement pic album...
Let us know your favorite!!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=106672&id=506511296

ENGAGEMENT PICS!!

2009-07-16T21:38:00.004-04:00

T-minus 17 days! (WOW!)

We strolled through downtown and then headed to the beach with Steve and Jessica Fox to get some quick engagement shots before the big day. Here is one - and you can take a sneak peek at a few more @ http://stevenffox.wordpress.com/.

More to come soon!

Thanks, Steve and Jess, we love these pics!!

CEREMONY

2009-06-16T07:33:00.003-04:00

T-Minus 45 days!!

Our ceremony will be at CAMP GENEVA, a summer youth camp whose aim is to expose youth to the vitality of the Christian faith. I (Jess) spent a week of my summer here from 3rd - 5th grade. Who knew that the very beach I went polar-bearing in every morning at 7am (I have the blue badge of honor to prove it!) :) would be the place I got married! Pretty cool.

The beach here is serene - a beautiful place to commit our marriage to the Lord in the midst of his creation.

Please dress to sit outside - while the temperature does drop a bit near the water, it's best to be prepared with layers and sun protection!

RECEPTION

2009-06-16T07:18:00.002-04:00

We're headed over to POST FAMILY FARM after the ceremony to celebrate! The outdoor pavillion is attached to a beautiful white barn; we'll play yard games, sit around a bonfire, have a pigroast and listen to The Last Call Band jammin' out with some folk rock tunes!

Address:

5081 Bauer Road

Hudsonville, MI 49426

HOTEL INFO

2009-06-16T06:57:00.006-04:00

For those coming from out-of-town needing a place to crash, we've been hooked up with a huge deal. A block of rooms has been reserved at VALUE PLACE for a DISCOUNTED RATE ($45/night, $210/week) under "Luepke Wedding". (thanks, Andrew!). Value Place is simple but practical, includes a kitchen, and was voted the Cleanest Hotel in Holland!

PHONE:
(616) 738-8200
ADDRESS:
2630 Van Ommen Dr
Holland, MI

Contact 'em asap - The rate is only reserved until July 6th!

Other more-traditional hotel options (at the regular rates) in town include:
COUNTRY INN
HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS
HAMPTON INN
*It is Coast-Guard Festival the week of the wedding, so reserve your spot today! :)

REGISTRY INFO

2009-06-16T06:42:00.004-04:00

It's been exciting being able to register - we feel so blessed already by the thought of moving into our house and making it home!

~ online and in-store, nationwide~

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/

~ in-store only, nationwide~

LIFE LATELY

2009-06-03T11:26:00.003-04:00

T-MINUS 59 DAYS!!

This blog has been fun to keep in touch with people all over the country...some friends or family or Mike's that I have never met and some of my friends or family he hasn't met. Hopefully we can keep this updated enough so you feel like you know us both! Here's what life has looked like lately - things that we're involved in and passionate about.

* Engedi Church - our church family are some of the coolest, selfless, fun people we know. Sunday mornings happen to be one of our favorite times of the week - and getting involved in various service projects during the week extends the notion of 'community' even further.

* CABLE group - we have a group of young couples from our church, headed by our fearless (and awesome) leaders, the Lalos. We've really enjoyed hanging out with them and especially eating Chef Gil's yummy food. :)

* Workin' Out - apart from being our JOB, our downtime is often filled with putting our preaching into practice (most of the time, it's fun, but believe me, it's also takes effort to keep at it each week!). You can find Mike at the gym lifting every morning at 6:30am and cycling his heart out all over town and Jess running, swimming, cycling and lifting. A regular routine of ours is hitting the trails or stairs to spice things up a bit. We have some races this summer (triathlons and running and, for Mike, CycloCross in the fall) - and we are planning on doing an Adventure Race (check out THE RAGE) in late September.

* Monday Night Rides (MNR) - Monday evenings are occasional 35-mile group bike rides, zooming through Holland, Saugatuck, Fennville and back.

* Tuesday Night Rides (TNR) - Tuesday evenings, we join up with other Velo City Cycles groupies for a 27-ish mile ride. It usually consists of me watching Mike take the lead helping pull the group and me using all my power trying to keep up whilst having girl-talk with my friend and fellow-rider, Kelly Slagh. I think the guys sometimes wished we'd be a little more focused, haha!

* Kids Hope - this past year, I've joined up (through Engedi Church) with Waukazoo Elementary and spend an hour every Wednesday with my buddy, Noah. Noah is in 3rd grade and I've gotten to know him and his friends pretty well. Who knew playing Football, Star Wars, Guess Who, and MatchBox Cars would be such a highlight of my week?!
* Memberships and Committees - Mike is working hard on his National Strength and Conditioning Association certification and I'm involved in Hope College's H-Club Board and continuing education for my NSCA certification.

* Marriage, Wedding and Housing Prep - holy cow, this takes up every spare moment we might have. It sure if fun, though! We have both been intentional about enjoying this stage and inviting the Lord into the process. Whether it's from house searches, to closing on the house (yay!) to filling out insurance forms, meeting with our accountant, getting quotes for flooring to designing invitations to totaling 10 hrs in Bed Bath and Beyond registering (another story for another time!), we're trying to soak up this engagement thing as much as possible. It's been an interesting change of the vibe of our daily life, but has brought us closer and I love that!

*Oh yea, the WORK thing. ;) This has certainly taken up the most of our time - Valeo/Personal Training, LLC is going great and Mike has recently joined me full-time with the business! Go Team Luepke! :) My schedule is currently near-booked and I'm able to give more and more referrals to him to get his schedule filled up. He's already gained 4 more clients in the past couple weeks, has another consult tomorrow and we're already working on what it looks like in the future to continue cultivating Valeo. We are also pursuing our Juice Plus selling, a product we are passionate about for both performance and general health. We are praying and trusting that the Lord will continue to provide as we are faithful to him!

*Family! Where would we be without Mom and Dad Luepke, Regan, Mom and Dad Oo, Brookie, Tim, Teagan, Skeeter, Andrea, Tara, Mark, Myles and Ezra?! We love our family so much; our best times are those spent with them.

Did I forget anything?! (Probably) But that's the scoop of a typical week in a nutshell!

*More posts coming soon (with fun pics!) about the house project! :) Stay tuned!

MORE PICS FROM THIS WEEKEND

2009-05-25T19:45:00.006-04:00

Our sweet niece, Teagan, and her shinanigens! :)
Enjoying the sunshine and day off!
Playing Baggo ("Cornhole") in the backyard w/ Grandpa. He was the best one of us all! :)

My Stud Muffin

Bonfire and watching the Fruitport Fireworks

Mom, Dad, Tim and Brooke around the campfire

WEEKEND AT THE LAKE!

2009-05-24T21:35:00.003-04:00

T-minus 69 days!

Happy Memorial Day! We're spending these next couple days in Spring Lake and lovin' every minute of it. We had a fantastic lunch of chicken, veggies and salmon (caught by my [Jess's] Pa) on the grill, then ventured out on a relaxing boat ride to Grand Haven. It was a balnket-covered ride, but we arrived back sun-kissed and freshly windblown - felt like summer!

The big project in the evening was putting together 200 mini-bags of popcorn (those good 'ol Foremost bindery days were coming back - speedy, repetitive assembly!). My mom and dad are walking in the Standale Memorial Day Parade tomorrow with a bunch of people from our home church (Remembrance Church, where I grew up) and handing out bags of popcorn closed with chip clips that had our church info on it. Nice! Mike and I are headed out in the morning to watch 'em - I'm sure it will bring back memories of the 'ol Standale stomping grounds!

Here's a pic of the efficient and extremely effective Popcorn Club:

Mom, Andee, Mike, Jess = Scoopers and Clippers

Tim = Bag Opener

Brooke = Arranger/Organizer

Dad = Manager

And here's a pic standing on Mom and Dad Oo's deck! WOW! Dad's building a campfire, then Fruitport Fireworks in a little bit!

KILLER GRAVEL ROAD RACE

2009-04-27T12:47:00.004-04:00

On Saturday, March 28th, Mike participated, with about 300 other riders, in the Barry-Roubaix Killer Gravel Road Race. The course was a grueling 31 miles of HILLY gravel roads wrapping around Gun Lake in Yankee Springs - perfect conditions for Mike's Specialized TriCross bike. These types of races always seem to bring out the most interesting crowd, mostly the laid-back 'burly' type; gotta love it! The morning was gorgeous and scenery breathtaking, too - I was able to go for a run while he was on his bike and explore the trails and woods - it was awesome!

Mike finished 2nd in his age group with a time of 1:57:51 hr. I'm SO proud of him! We celebrated in the lodge afterwards with a fine post-race cuisine of Chili and Founders Beer. Yummmm!

OUR NEW NEPHEW :)

2009-03-19T12:26:00.006-04:00

T-minus 135 days, 14 hours, 52 minutes and 32 seconds

Introducing our newest favorite lil' baby boy!

My (Jess's) sister, Tara and brother-in-law, Mark and 2 1/2 yr-old nephew, Myles, added a cute lil' addition to their fam.

Ezra Alexander Foreman

born March 12, 2009

9 lbs, 7 oz

22 in

Big-brown eyes! :)

We had a fun roadtrip to Cincinnati last weekend to meet him - the two of us + Andrea (Jess' younger sister), Brooke (Jess's twin sister) + Tim (Brooke's hubby) + Teagan (Tim and Brooke's 1-yr old) all piled in Brooke and Tim's minivan. (haha, yes, they have a minivan; it's sweet!) and made the 6-hr drive. We had a blast playing with Teagan the whole way down and seemed to keep her distracted and entertained most of the time (minus the last 2 1/2 hrs of screaming). She even showed off her stellar dance moves everytime music would come on and she loved imitating Mike; it was hilarious. It's also fun to watch my sisters and brother-in-laws as mommies and daddies - the way they nuture and adore their little ones makes me happy. :)

ENGAGEMENT STORY

2009-02-19T19:02:00.000-05:00

For those of you who may not have heard our engagement story, click HERE!

WHEN and WHERE and WHAT

2009-02-14T17:07:00.000-05:00

T-minus 167 days, 10 hours, 7 minutes and 41 seconds

We've got some details already in place - here's the scoop!

DATE: Saturday, August 1st, 2009
TIME: about 3:30pm
CEREMONY: Grab your sundresses, linen pants and flip flops - we're getting married on the beachy shores of Lake Michigan at Camp Geneva! The camp chapel, overlooking the lake, will be used as a backup in case of not-so-great weather.
RECEPTION: Some of the best times we have with you, our family and friends, are mingling at a summer cookout, listening to good music and laughter and feeling the grass under our feet. So, let's do it! Reception will be at the Post Family Farm in Hudsonville under a wooden pavillion that's attached to a beautiful white barn.
MUSIC: Live folk rock/bluegrass music from The Last Call Band!
PHOTOGRAPHY: The talented duo of Steve and Jessica Fox will be capturing the memories on camera. Check them out at www.stevenffox.com!

UNO

2009-02-14T15:02:00.000-05:00

T-Minus 167 Days 23 Hours 48 Minutes...

Hey, all!

Mike and Jess here- EXCITED to be married and invite you into the process! It is our wish to use this blog to keep you informed, updated and in-the-know about our big day! Stay tuned for times and places, directions, hotel accomodations, tourist info for the lovely West Michigan coastal town of Holland, gift ideas, weather, and more!

Love you all! More soon>
Mike and Jess