Adventures on Third

Been a long time....

2009-09-17T23:01:00.002-05:00

Sorry its been forever since I have updated my blog. Things have been crazy busy as we prepare for our wedding. Joe moved to Kalona in June and started working for Goodwill of the Heartland as a Retail manager. The job keeps him very busy and he does a lot of traveling between the 5 different stores in Iowa City, Coralville, and Cedar Rapids. We have enjoyed being together more and he has enjoyed getting to know my family a little better. He is staying in Mom and Dad's basement until the wedding so its a good way to get to know them and spend time of them. Things have been a little slower in the NICU for me at work and there has been a lot of vacation time given out. I'm saving my vacation for the wedding so I have been working my normal 100% all summer. I'm definitely ready for a break. Wedding stuff is coming a long pretty well. We had a few bumps in the road but things always seem to work out. We are very excited to finally be married and start our lives together....5 more weeks! We also have several bridal showers over the next few weeks so that is something to look forward to and also something to keep us busy! There is a quick update for now....hopefully some new pictures soon!

The end of March

2009-03-30T01:12:00.008-05:00

Today was such a nice day and we were able to go for a long walk with Tucker, even though it snowed last night. We are all definitely ready for warmer weather. Tucker often sits by the door and whines to go outside but its just too cold sometimes. Today was the first time trying out his blue coat for our walk and I think he liked it. He looks pretty cute in it! It was still a little chilly out and we needed our stocking hats and gloves but it was so nice to get out and go for a walk.

My birthday

2009-03-30T00:56:00.004-05:00

Joe came down to Kalona to help celebrate my birthday. We started the day out by heading to the church for a quick driving lesson. Some of you may be wondering what I mean by this......I have always driven an automatic car and Joe has a stick shift and I wanted to learn to drive it. So he was brave enough to teach me but there is only so much you can do in the church parking lot. I think we got it into 2nd gear once and I only stalled it 4 times :)
After that we headed to Iowa City to spend the day together. We ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Old Chicago, then headed to Renee's Ceramic Cafe to paint some pottery. I was first introduced to this while visiting Ryan and Sarah a couple of years ago with my cousin Ilona. We all went there one afternoon not sure what to expect but had a lot of fun and I was very excited to see there were a couple of shops in Iowa City. Here's what you do: you go and pick out your piece of pottery and pick out your glaze. They have all kinds of colors and stensils to use to make different designs or you can free hand it if you want. Then you sit and paint. Then they will fire it for you and they are ready in a week. They are all dishwasher and microwave safe. Joe wasn't so sure about it at first but he found his creative side and we had a great time together. I can't wait to go pick them up in a few days! After pottery we headed back to mom and dad's for my birthday dinner: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and snickers ice cream cake.

I picked a large serving bowl and painted it red with white flowers.

Joe chose a cereal bowl and painted it black and blue with several items that reminded him of us including a baseball, football, a rose and baby footprints with our names on the outside. He did a great job!

The almost finished projects.

Late January/February

2009-03-30T00:42:00.007-05:00

Hey everyone, I know its been a long time but I have not fallen off the face of the earth, I promise! Things have been really busy with work and wedding planning. Joe and I continue to travel back and forth every weekend to see each other. It get harder and harder to leave on Sunday nights and we are so ready to just be living in the same area. We have our countdown going for the wedding and can't wait for the day to come. Wedding plans are coming along very well. We have the major things done and over the next couple of months we will be working on doing the invitations ourselves and getting them sent out. Our colors are red, black and white so we are coming up with some fun ideas to incorporate those colors into the day!

Here are a few pictures from January and February. Hope you enjoy them!

Me and Joe at the Airliner for our first Valentines celebration. We are having our rehersal dinner at the Airliner and we are very excited about it!

On Valentines day we met Joe's mom and dad, Marie and Matt, and Joe's sister Michelle with her 3 kids, Megan, Emma, and Tye at Coral Ridge Mall and had some fun shopping. Joe and I finished the day by taking Megan and Emma ice skating.

As part of my Christmas gift Joe got tickets for the Chris Tomlin concert in Cedar Rapids. We had a great time together and enjoyed the music!

Tori was entertaining us on night at dinner....she looked a lot like little red riding hood and couldn't stop saying CHEESE for the camera! In the middle of January, Joe and I headed to Dubuque for the Special Olympics winter games. This picture was taken at the banquet the last night. I had a lot of fun watching Joe while he was working and volunteering with the snow shoeing event.

The love of my life

2009-01-07T04:35:00.008-06:00

After our small family christmas, Joe decided to surprise me with one more gift. He pulled a small box wrapped in christmas paper out of his coat pocket. My family was busy cleaning up the remaining paper when he announced another gift. Right away mom grabbed her camera and April grabbed the video camera. Joe came and sat by me on the couch and told me I could unwrap the box. I started unwrapping the gift as we told our first date story. By the time we got to the end of our story I unwrapped the box 4 times. It was a ring box from Helzberg Jewelers. I opened the box and it was empty. Joe had a huge smile on his face and I was a little shocked the ring wasn't in the box. Right at that time Joe got on one knee, pulled the ring out of his jeans pocket and asked me to marry him. I said yes! We will be married October 24, 2009 and we are very excited, happy and in love!

Go Hawks!

2009-01-07T04:25:00.011-06:00

On January 1, 2009, the Iowa Hawkeyes played South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. The Big Schrock family christmas was that afternoon at my parents house and they invited the whole family to watch the game. Almost everyone wore Hawkeye gear for the day and we had a lot of fun watching the game together and again, eating some great food!

The Norman Schrock kids.

Joe and me

Ryan and Sarah

Joe and I have matching Hawkeye slippers

We had our own personal cheerleader

Ryan and Tori

Go Hawks!

The Schrock crew!

Me and Ilona~

Home for the Holidays

2009-01-07T04:15:00.007-06:00

Ryan and Sarah came to Iowa for the week of New years this year. We had a great time together and did a lot of stuff throughout the week. Not only did we have our small family Christmas but we also had the big Schrock family Christmas and the big Leichty family Christmas. We also played a lot of Wii, watched some movies, and did a lot of eating Mom's good food!
Spending time with Tori was one of the highlights for everyone this year. She had so much fun opening gifts and liked to help everyone open theirs. She got lots of new toys this year and some very cute clothes and jammies!
With the Schrock and Leichty families we do a grab bag gift and this year we did men and women. The women bring a gift for a woman and the men bring one for the men and we put them in a pile in the middle of the room and draw numbers or go in order of our birthdays and pick a gift. Then the next person can pick a new gift or steal from the other person. Its a fun time and people really get into it.

Tim and Kim's wedding

2008-11-07T00:50:00.008-06:00

On October 31, the Schrock's from Iowa and the Schrock's from Pennsylvania headed to Goshen, Indiana for cousin Tim's wedding. Tim and Kim were married on November 1st at an old theater in Goshen with a dinner reception following at Shalom Mennonite church. The theater was beautiful. Kim's colors were Truffle and Baby blue which looked amazing. We all had a great time together and got many fun family pictures.....can anyone say "schrock family christmas card?" Congratulations Tim and Kim!

The cutest spider web ever...

2008-11-07T00:42:00.005-06:00

Tori was a spider web for Halloween! She came walking into mom and dad's house so proud of her costume. she was the cutest spider web ever!

Wimbledon and Chelsea Football Stadium

2008-10-11T10:35:00.002-05:00

Today we had a little bit of a lazy day. We slept in and took our time getting ready this morning. After breakfast we headed to Wimbledon and had a tour of the grounds and saw the 20 open tennis courts. I didn't realize that they played on grass and all the extensive work it took to keep up the grass and making it look so good. It was interesting to see. We then headed to the Chelsea football stadium and had a tour of the stadium. We were able to see the lockrooms and go out to the field. It was great to see! Tonight we are just hanging around the hotel and getting stuff packed because we leave for paris tomorrow morning by train. this will probably be the last post unless we can find a cheap place in paris to use the internet. Thank you all for all of your thoughts and prayers over the last week. It has meant a lot and is greatly appreciated! We return to the US on wednesday afternoon. Its hard to believe our trip is almost over.

Westminster, the London Eye, and the Prime Meridian

2008-10-10T13:41:00.003-05:00

Wow, yesterday and today were both very busy days! We started out Thursday by going to Westminster Abbey but it wasn't open for visitors yet so we headed down to the horse guards close to Buckingham palace. We were just in time to see them placing the horse guards in their spots so we watched that and then got some pictures. We then headed to the London eye which is a huge ferris wheel on the Thames River. It is 457 feet high and you are riding in glass pod all the way around. You get a gorgeous view of the city if its a clear day and fortunately we had the best day of the week! We were able to see for miles and got a great view of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, and Buckingham palace. We then walked to the Florence Nightingale museum a few blocks away. Florence Nightingale was famous for her work in Nursing and starting the first nursing school and writing the first nursing textbook. You can bet how excited 2 nurses were to see this museum! It was full of history and cool things from the 1800's. We went back to Westminster and toured the amazing, elaborate Abbey. We also toured the Jewel tour which is the oldest standing building in the Westminster area and it goes back to the times of the Westminster Castle. Next was the Royal mews where the Queen keeps her horses and her different coaches and cars-mainly Bentley's. They train all the horses there and the go through very extensive training. We also saw the glass coach which Princess Diana rode in on the way to her wedding and the golden coach which is used for only special occasions and weighs several tons and has to be pulled by 8 horses and can only go 1 mph. Pictures to come at a later date!
Today we spent the day on the Thames River. We boarded the City Cruises and headed up river to Greenwich to see the Maritime Museum and the Prime Meridian. We each got our picture taken with one foot on each side of the prime meridian. we spent most of the day in Greenwich before heading back to London where we ate at the very first Hard Rock Cafe ever. We stuffed ourselves full of food only to lounge around the hotel tonight. One more day in London but then on to Paris!

Rain drops on Roses and the Tower of London

2008-10-08T13:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday and today were very big days for us in London. We started out Tuesday with a tour of Kensington Palace where we were able to see a display of Princess Diana's dresses. They were gorgeous. We also saw lots of footage of her over the years. Outside we walked through Kensington Gardens and saw memorials to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. We then crossed into Hyde Park and spent quite a lot of time at the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It is a circular structure with many different fountains surrounded by many beautiful rose bushes. Then we tour Royal Albert Hall which is a big famous concert hall. Its used for many things such as music, theater and also tennis matches. We then spent the afternoon resting in the hotel due to our night out on the town that night. We had tickets to see The Sound of Music at the London Pallidium on Oxford Street. We rushed to the tube station and headed downtown not really thinking about rush hour traffic. Then we had a few problems finding the restaurant that we had reservations at and by the time we found it we had about 15 mins to eat. So we hurried and looked over the selected menu (which consisted of chicken or duck liver, needless to say we both chose the chicken) quickly ate, and ran down the streets of London to the theater. You may thinking im joking when i say this but trust me, I'm not. We literally ran down the street, making it within 2 mins of the show opening. We had an amazing time at the show and may save up our money for another one before we leave. Today we headed down to the Tower of London and had a wonderful tour by a very friendly beefeater, got to see the crown jewels, and saw the torture chambers in the pit of the tower. We then headed to Tower Bridge and walked across the top and took many amazing pictures of the London skyline since there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We stopped at a restaurant along the way to St. Paul's Cathedral and had fish and chips ( or in my case Chicken and chips) :) We walked across Millenium Bridge straight into St. Paul's Cathedral and made our way around the ground floor. Then headed up the 530 stairs to the top of the dome where we could walk out and around the top of the dome for a beautiful view of London. These 530 stairs, all of the winding stair cases, ranged from stairs about 5 inches high and a foot wide to about a foot high and six inches wide and very steep and narrow spaces. The last 197 were all made of metal and were very narrow and were wide open on both sides. If any of you know me very well, you know that I don't do well with heights. This was quite a challenge for me especially with my legs and hands shaking. But I made it and have some amazing pictures to show for it. After our long journey up and back we headed back across the Millenium bridge to the Globe theater which is an outdoor theater that was built to look like a shakesperian(sp) theater. (any of you who know me well knows that i don't spell well either:))
After all that walking and climbing of stairs we were wiped out so we decided to take it easy in the hotel tonight.
Until next time.......have a lovely night!

Queens for a Day

2008-10-06T15:05:00.002-05:00

Today Alison and I woke up to a beautiful, sunny day. We headed down to Trafalgars Square and walked along The Mall which is the road leading up to Buckingham Palace. We got there just in time to see the changing of the guard. Then we walked back to Trafalgars Square and picked up our broadway show tickets for tomorrow night. We were meeting a friend of Alison's from Mercy Ships in the afternoon so we hopped on the Tube and headed to the train station to catch a train to Slough, about 15 mins by train out of London. From there we met Jo, Alison's friend and got the ride of a lifetime to Windsor Castle. We took the tour of Windsor, an amazing castle that is still in use today. Its one of the queens castles that she stays in occasionally. We were greeted but many guards and had a chance to take our pictures with them and of course we really wanted to see if we could get them to answer a question for us so we asked but of course no response. I don't know how they can do it to have no reaction. After making our rounds outside the castle we were able to tour the state rooms inside....beautiful and amazing but sorry, not able to take pictures inside, but i got some amazing pictures outside! After the tour of the castle we found a cute little place for afternoon tea and scones. We said goodbye to Jo and headed back into London. We walked back to Buckingham to see in at night and then walked down to Westminster Bridge and got some good pictures of the London Eye, The House of Parliament, Big Ben, and The River Thames. What an amazing day!

First couple of days in London

2008-10-05T14:25:00.003-05:00

So we arrived in London on Saturday morning (october 4) around 9:45 which would be 3:45 am in Iowa. It was a long flight with little sleep but we made it. We got our train tickets from Gatwick airport to central london and were off. We were very excited to get there. We figured out the tubes (subways) on our way to the hotel and got settled. After a much needed nap we went out and walked around the neighborhood of our hotel. Its a very cute neighborhood but also a very busy one. Today (october 5) we headed down towards the London Eye which is the biggest ferris wheel in the world and found our tour guide, The London Duck Tours, to show us around the city. They made some old military vehicles that travel on land and on water into tour vehicles. We were introduced to the city by a wonderful tour guide and gained a lot of knowledge about the city. After the land part of the tour we headed into the Thames River for a river tour which took us past Big Ben and other beautiful London sights. After that we walked around the city (in the rain) :( until we found the national museum and the british museum. They were full of beautiful paintings and museum type of stuff. We also took a quick photo shoot in Trafalgars square inbetween rain showers. The day cleared off around 5pm but by that time we were getting hungry and were tired and still wet from walking around in the rain so we headed back to Earl's court to our hotel. we found a nice quiet hamburger shop to eat at. the rest of the night was spent planning our next couple of days and praying that it won't rain every day :) Until next time.
Useful phrases we have learned while in London: Mind the gap-this is something we hear everytime we step on and off the tube.....don't want to step in the gap between the platform or the tube car :)

Traveling to London

2008-09-29T20:54:00.004-05:00

As many of you know I will be heading to London this week! I'm very excited but also a little nervous about the flights and being in a different country. I am traveling with my friend Alison from nursing school. We have been planning this trip for the last 8 months and are very excited about it. We are leaving Friday Oct 3 at 5 pm from Cedar Rapids, flying to Detroit and then leaving Detroit around 9:30 pm and arriving in London at 10 am on saturday morning. From there we will have to catch a bus to central London and take the subway to our hotel. We don't have any plans that first day so im sure we will be spending time getting settled in and taking in the fact that we are actually in London! We will be in London for 8 days, doing all the major site seeing stuff and then heading to Paris for 2 days and then back to London for 1 night. We will return to the US on Oct 15. We would really appreciate your prayers while we are gone. We have had few bumps in the road as far as flights being cancelled and changed and not be notified so its a little bit of a concern for me. Thanks for you prayers and support and check out the blog periodically for updates! 4 DAYS!!!!!

Football, Homemade pizza and Bowling

2008-09-22T05:31:00.009-05:00

This entry is long overdue....These pictures are from a few weeks ago. Dad was able to join me at the Iowa/Florida International game in Iowa City. We started the morning out by doing a little tailgaiting with Allen, Kathy, Vanessa, Chris, Aleasha and Aleksyia right off of Melrose Ave. After a few burgers and some yummy ribs that Allen cooked up on the grill we headed to Kinnick Stadium to watch Iowa beat Florida International and enjoyed a day of daddy/daughter time. After the game I hopped in my car and fought the traffic to Ankeny to visit Joe. Joe decided earlier in the week that he wanted to make homemade pizza for me. We enjoyed a delicious all meat and cheese pizza at his apartment and then headed to the Ankeny Bowling alley for some Cosmic bowling. We both won a game of bowling (He says he let me win but we all know that I have been brushing up on my bowling skills with the Wii). :)

Football and Family

2008-09-02T22:22:00.007-05:00

We had a very busy weekend over Labor day. Joe was here from Ankeny for the weekend. On Friday night we went to mom and dad's for dinner with Aaron, April, Tori, Grandma, and Aunt Brenda. We had a great time sitting out on the deck talking and hanging out. On Saturday Joe and I headed to Iowa City for the first Iowa Football game of the season. I decided to get season tickets this year and I was so happy to have Joe go with me for the first game. We got to IC around 8:30 and met up with Allen, Kathy, Vanessa, and Chris to do a little tailgaiting before the game. The headed to Kinnick around 10:30 for the 11:00 kickoff. My seats on in the south end zone about half way up right behind the band. On saturday night we went to Dallas and Rose's for Elizabeth's going away party. She left today for LA to meet up with the continental singers group for a few months. Feel free to check out her blog at www.elizabeth-schrock.blogspot.com. This night was filled with family, playing bags, and watching Joe help Tori climb up and down the slide :) On sunday after church Tori came home with me and Joe so we had a little photo shoot before heading to Wayland to Grandma's for lunch. On monday Joe and I went to Waterloo to meet his family and spend the day with them. It was a great weekend but very busy.

More of Tori

2008-08-27T14:16:00.006-05:00

Birthday Bowling party

2008-08-27T14:08:00.002-05:00

Last week was my friend Lindsey's birthday. For her birthday we met for bowling and dinner. There were a few of us from work that were there. We had a great time and there is even some talk of starting a NICU bowling team for winter leagues! Just kidding.

Tiger

2008-08-11T14:19:00.003-05:00

This last week Tiger had not been feeling well and ended up having an eye infection that was making his eye cloudy. I took him the vet a week ago and they gave me some antibiotic ointment to put in his eye to see if that would help. It didn't seem to be helping and his eye was becoming more and more cloudy as the week went by. He also was not tolerating his food anymore and just stopped eating. On Saturday dad took him to the vet and had him put to sleep. It was a very hard decision to make but I didn't want him to be in pain or feeling uncomfortable. Tiger has been with out family for the last 12+ years and he has been with with me for the last 4 years. He was a very special cat and was always so friendly with everyone. He would often go and visit everyone that was in the room before he would find his box to sleep in. I will miss him.

Biking

2008-08-07T04:53:00.004-05:00

On Sunday afternoon I had a few friends over to play wii. I called mom and dad and had them come and join us for dinner. Aaron and April rode their bikes up to my house. Dad took Tori out for a long bike ride before dinner. She loves being outside and riding behind the bike.....I mean, who wouldn't love riding back there. Lean back, put your feet up, grab your juice cup, and hold on for the ride....she has it made!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2008-08-07T04:47:00.004-05:00

Grandma Leichty's birthday was July 29. She came up to Kalona and spent the morning with Tori and me at my house. Then we met mom and went to Fireside Grill for Lunch. Tori and I had been playing outside most of the morning and she was so tired. She fell asleep before we got to the restaurant and slept about 45 minutes while we were there. We had a great time spending time together and celebrating Grandma's birthday!

Tori asleep on the bench at Fireside Grill :)

Ryan, Sarah and Tori

2008-07-28T20:15:00.008-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our reunion weekend of Ryan, Sarah and Tori. Tori had so much fun playing with Ry and Sarah. Its sad we don't get to spend much time with them but the time we do spend together is always a good time.

Lake house

2008-07-24T14:18:00.005-05:00

The Schrock's were fortunate enough to be able to all stay together while we were in Indiana. Barb's friend Cindy and her family own a house along the lake and we were able to stay there for the weekend. It was a beautiful place to stay and it was fun to be able to stay together since we are the biggest part the Leichty family. We didn't spend much time there but the time we did spend there was great.

Leichty Family Reunion

2008-07-24T13:04:00.012-05:00

Last Friday the Schrock's from Kalona climbed into the van and headed for Middlebury, Indiana. In order for all of us-Aaron, April, Tori, Me, Mom and Dad to ride together we borrowed Dallas and Roses van. Tori was ready to go with her binky and sunglasses. After only stopping once for a bathroom break, diaper change, and lunch we were back on our way. We arrived at Barb and Ron's house around 4 that afternoon. Ryan and Sarah were already there, as well and Janice and Lynn. Grandma and Lorans, and Ed, Amy and Jessica, and Lynn's kids were on their way. The weekend was full of lots of fun things. Most of the time was spent playing with Tori and Katie using sidewalk chalk or throwing a ball around or picking up the rocks that Tori loved to carry around.

On Friday night after everyone got there we had a big campfire in the Jones' back yard. Bard got out her smores board and made smores and pudgie pies for everone. We had a good time laughing and enjoying each others company.

On saturday our plans got changed a little bit. We were supposed to have family pictures in the morning but due to rain we postponed them. Most of the women, plus dad went to Shipshewana to do a little shopping. We were also able to visit JB and Carla and the kids who just got home from Iowa Bible memory camp the night before. They recently bought a house and remodeled the whole thing. It is beautiful and it was fun to see them for a little bit. For dinner on Saturday night Ron made his special BBQ chicken which was so good. We had a Birthday party for those that were born in July and spent several hours decorating the Jones' driveway with tic-tac-toe games, body outlines and tractors with sidewalk chalk. We also played a few games that Barb had planned and worked of a few Leichty word games and Trivia questions. The rest of Saturday was spent hanging out and playing lawn games such as Bocce ball. We are a very competitive group and the stakes were high for Leichty Olympics but the Schrock's took the Gold! Overall we had a great time and it was so fun to spend time with everyone!

Summer days with Tori!

2008-07-24T12:52:00.006-05:00

April's mother Donna Blick passed away July 5th. She had been battling cancer for 4 years. Aaron, April, and Tori had been spending time in Atalissa with her family during that week. They brought Tori back to Mom and Dad's on Saturday night to spend a few days with us while they figured out all the arrangements. On Sunday night we decided to get Tori into her swimsuit and get out the sprinkler. At first she was more concerned with her juice cup and the bucket of water Dad got for her. Then she finally found her way over to the sprinkler and had a great time playing in the water.

Busy on Third

2008-07-22T23:38:00.003-05:00

First off, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not posting anything for a very long time. Things have been very busy. I have been putting in a lot of overtime hours in the NICU. We always seem to be busy with never enough nurses to go around. I often get calls from my managers and supervisors asking if I can pick up some hours. There are some days I just have to say no and take time for myself. In the next 2 weeks I only have 2 days off. Crazy!!! Also this weekend my family met in Middlebury, IN for a Leichty family reunion. We had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures so I promise there will be another entry soon. It was fun to spend time with Ryan and Sarah and also all of our extended family that we only see a few times a year. I promise a new post in the next couple of days with some pictures!

First birthdays

2008-06-30T00:31:00.029-05:00

On June 19 we celebrated Tori's first birthday. Mom and Dad hosted the big event at their home on 2nd street. Tori enjoyed a nice meal of grilled chicken, corn, roasted potatoes, and cheese. Grandma Schrock made yummy cupcakes with pink frosting for Tori's birthday. After dinner Tori played catch with Grandma's new strawberry shortcake ball with her mommy and daddy, aunt carmen and grandma and grandpa schrock!

How big is Tori???

SOOOOOOO BIG!!!!!!

mmmm yummy cupcakes made by grandma schrock

Cheese!

Gotta love the cake in the hair!

Playing catch with Daddy and Tucker

Tori then helped grandma schrock water her flowers

Family photo time!

Lots of kisses from mommy and daddy!

Checking out Grandpa schrock's garden

Grandma Schrock got out the bubbles.....a fun time had by all!

More bubbles grandma.....hurry!

On saturday June 21 was Kalona days. Tori enjoyed the parade!

Tori also got some great books from Great Aunt Brenda and Great Uncle Tom in Nebraska!

waiting for the parade to start

ooooh the big fire trucks

On sunday June 22 we got together with the aaron's extended family and April's extended family for a big birthday celebration for our princess Tori!

april made a Teddy bear cake for tori!

Gotta love the red frosting!

Ohhh what is in there?

A sock monkey from Grandma Schrock!

What's in here?

Daddy's Girl!

Flood of 2008

2008-06-18T00:35:00.018-05:00

Flood of 2008-Last saturday I was able to go to Iowa City and meet a few friends at the Hawkeye commuter lot to help sand bag along Riverside Drive. We met at the commuter lot and was taken to the parking lot of Fin and Feather on Hwy 1. We could either stay there and sand bag, go to the IC airport and sand bag, or go down to Hungry Hobo and Kum and Go and help sand bag there. We chose to go to Hungry Hobo. Here are a few pictures from the day.

When we got there, it was just the 5 of us plus the owner, with these two very large piles of sand. We never thought we would be able to get to the bottom of these piles. It was around 30 tons of sand just at the Hungry Hobo location.

Here is a picture of the Iowa River from Riverside Drive. Across the river you can see the court house and many people filling sand bags on that side of the river.

I'm standing at the beginning of a bike/running path that goes along Riverside Drive that is now under water.

Here is Beth and Allison working hard, trying to get through the huge piles of sand. Many people would walk by and start helping and by the end of our 4.5 hours there were around 30 people helping.

Lots of shoveling, tying and throwing sand bags.

At the end of our 4.5 hours the sand pile was gone!

This is Riverside Drive, facing south towards Benton street. Notice the sand bag laying in the road by the light pole at the right of the picture. When we got there at 8 am, that sand bag was on dry land. Now at noon its almost completely covered.

The Iowa River and the Burlington Street bridge

Domino's Pizza on Riverside Drive, down the street from Hungry Hobo

Riverside Drive facing North towards Burlington street.

Our finished project.

This is the side street beside Paul's on Hwy 1. When we left at 8 am the orange cone was on dry land. At 1:00 the water was half way up the cone.

This is the corner of Riverside Drive and Hwy 6 facing East.

Riverside Drive facing North

Village Inn on the corner of Riverside Drive and Hwy 6. They had no sand bags around the building and there were ducks swimming in the parking lot.

Corner of Riverside Drive and Hwy 6

Trip to Phoenix

2008-06-18T00:25:00.007-05:00

I recently took a trip to Phoenix to visit my friend from college, Alison. She is doing travel nursing in Phoenix and it was a great time to hang out and catch up with each other. She lives in a nice apartment that was already furnished before she got there, she at the hospital a few blocks from her apartment so she can walk, and she has a pretty set schedule so planning her days off are easy for her. While there we spent many hours by the pool chatting about a trip to London in the fall. We also went hiking in the evening on saturday and also got up early before church on sunday to go hiking before it got too hot.

The flowers along the side of the roads were beautiful. I kept commenting on how pretty they were and I think Alison was getting tired of it :)

This was my first time seeing a big cactus like this one in the picture. I also learned that a cactus like this has to be at least 80 years old before it grows arms. Crazy

This was from our first hiking trip on saturday night. Phoenix is surrounded by beautiful mountains. We started off at south mountain which was pretty simple and then hiked north mountain on sunday morning which was a little more of a challenge. Much different then hiking the hills of Iowa!

Here is the view of the city from the top of North mountian.

Alison and Me on top the North mountain. It was a challenge but felt good when we got to the top.

Burken/Miller wedding

2008-06-03T23:33:00.008-05:00

One of my best friends from work got married on Saturday May 31. The wedding was in Cedar Rapids and the reception was in North Liberty. Michele made a very beautiful bride and Jerrod was a very handsome groom. The night was filled with fun, laughter and some good dancing.....Becky's son Jonah was my dancing partner :) I was also lucky enough to catch the bouquet.....thanks Michele;) Over all, it was a lovely wedding, a great reception and a fun time to hang out with friends outside of work.

NICU reunion

2008-06-03T23:19:00.007-05:00

This year I was able to go to the NICU reunion which is where our NICU graduates from the last few years come back and visit. This year it was held at the courtyard outside of Kinnick stadium. Its fun to see the parents and especially the babies now that they are off of oxygen, walking or crawling, and talking. I was able to visit with the Yates family-triplets Addison, Ellie and Solon-and mom and dad Linda and Joel. The triplets were in a our unit for a few weeks and I became pretty attached to the kids as well as Linda and Joel. We have kept in contact with each other throughout the last year and it was great seeing them. I took Tori with me and she had tons of fun playing in the ducky pool, eaching snow cones and cupcakes and hanging out in Kinnick Stadium. After the reunion, Tori and I headed home for a birthday get together for Aaron. We spent time playing in Tori's new play house.

Friday in PA

2008-05-26T03:21:00.017-05:00

Friday morning we slept in a little and then headed over to Ryan and Sarah's for brunch. Before and after brunch we spent time playing with Brutus, Ryan and Sarah's dog. He is adjusting well to life in the city. He loves to look out the window and loves playing ball with Grandpa Schrock. Then we headed down to central market. I'm kind of jealous of Ryan and Sarah since they have the luxury of going to market every week and getting fresh fruits and veggies all year round. I would be nice to be able to get fresh things on a regular basis for a reasonable price. After market we headed to Intercourse, PA to a place call Kitchen Kettle. We found several fun things there....Mom, Grandma, Sarah and I pretended to be Rhubarb and we were getting ready for the Rhubarb festival, we found some nice pottery and several other things. After that we headed over to Imergut for the best soft pretzels ever. After we left Intercourse we headed over to Sarah's parents house for a while. There Ryan, Sarah and I took some awesome pictures of our shoes....matching Puma tennys.....and we were back on the road...off to find some covered bridges. In the evening we headed down the street from Ryan and Sarah house to see the Lancaster Barnstormers game. It was our first time to see the Barnstormers and Grandma's first baseball game ever. After the game we enjoyed fireworks at the ballpark. It was a quick but fun trip to PA!

Thursday in PA

2008-05-26T02:58:00.010-05:00

Last Wednesday, after working 12 hours in the NICU, I headed from Cedar Rapids to Baltimore to visit Ryan and Sarah. Sarah was graduating from Temple University with her masters in social work and my family was there to help her celebrate. My flights went well and everything was on time. Dad came to Baltimore to pick me up and we enjoyed a nice evening at Ryan and Sarah's house in Lancaster. On Thursday morning we got up early to catch the 7:06 traing to Philidelphia for graduation. We were all a little tired but also pretty excited to ride the train. For Mom, Dad, and me it was the first train ride. Once we got to Philly Mom, Dad, Grandma and me climbed in a cab for the ride of our lives. Ryan, Sarah and Sarah's parents took the subway. We got to the campus of Temple University and headed for the basketball arena where the graduation was taking place. Thanks to the use of cell phones Sarah was able to call us to find out where we were sitting. As the 7500 students filed into the arena, there was quite a commotion coming from the main stage. One of the guest speakers, a former Temple grad, was there.....Bill Cosby. It was fun to hear him speak. After the main graduation we grabbed a quick bite of lunch at a small sandwich shop down the street and then headed over to another building for the social work ceromony. After the social work ceromony there was a reception for the social work students and their families. Then we headed back to the train station and had dinner before we got back on the train to head to Lancaster. It was a busy but fun day!

the many faces of Tori Jo

2008-05-20T03:53:00.017-05:00

So anyone that has ever talked to me or spent time with me knows that my pride and joy right now is my niece Tori. She is the light of my life and can always bring a smile to my face. From her happy ie-yi-yi-yi to her whining ma-ma-ma or the times when she is tired and just wants to cuddle, every little aspect of her warms my heart and makes me smile. I love the times where she dances to the theme music of "Dancing with the Stars", or when she is chasing tucker around trying to pet him and then gets frustrated and throws her hands down and lets out a huge sigh when she can't catch him, or when she runs over to Tiger and lets out a huge scream to get his attention and gets mad when he doesn't even look at her, or when she waves bye-bye or gives a good-bye high five, or when she teases you with kisses, or when she gets to excited to see Mommy or Daddy or Grandpa or Grandma, or when she tries to mimick everything we do from coughing to burping to clapping or banging our fists on the table. She is so full of energy and is very strong willed. I just can't seem to get enough of her. Here are a few pictures of her.....hope you enjoy them!

Tori's Dedication

2008-05-20T01:04:00.007-05:00

On Mother's day Tori Jo was dedicated at church. Dressed in her pretty blue shirt and jean skirt, she was facinated by the many faces of the East Union church family smiling back at her. Pastor Jay said a few words and asked Aaron and April and the church to help Aaron and April raise Tori to know and follow Christ. Then Aaron shared a life verse for Tori and Jay prayed over them. Then Jay and Tori walked down the the center aisle as Jay said a blessing for Tori. Then Tori walked back to her seat with Aaron and April following. It was a very special day for Tori, Aaron and April! After church Grandma Leichty, Chris and Loran and Katie came for lunch.

Trip to Indiana

2008-05-19T00:36:00.007-05:00

I just got back from a weekend get away to Indiana to visit some family. I met up with Aunt Barb and Uncle Ron and my cousin Spencer for dinner and then went to see Ross and Andrew play soccer at Goshen College. Its great to catch up and also see a game. I stayed with JB and Carla in their new house. I'm totally impressed by the work that JB has done and also by the decorating that Carla has done. Noah loves the guitar and was playing a few songs for me. I think we may have a guitar player in the family. Ilona and I went out to eat with a few of her friends and then headed to Tim's house to watch a movie with him and Kim. We all stayed up late talking and watching movies. On saturday Carla, Ilona and I took Noah and Greta to Shipshewana to do a little shopping. We started the day by getting Jo-Jo's pretzels which were awesome and then taking a ride on the "merry-go-round" according to Noah. Then we started shopping. I found lots of things for Tori and also a few things for myself. On saturday night Ilona, Laurel and I met up with a few guys from their church and went spear fishing. This was quite new to us girls but the guys were pros at it. After 20 minutes on the lake it started raining so we decided to just grab pizza and head to the guys house for a movie. It was a fun and new thing to do but I don't know if I will be trying it very often. After church I headed home, making a few shopping stops before reaching Kalona. When I got home I went to mom and dad's to pick up Tucker and realized that Ryan and Sarah's new dog was also their so I played with Brutis for a while. We will have to wait for pictures until Ryan and Sarah get to see him first :)

April Birthdays

2008-05-15T03:45:00.005-05:00

The Leichty family got together to celebrate April and Erica's birthdays at Mom and Dad's house. The day was spent eating a great lunch, Aunt Janice reading to all of us about "The Little People Visiting the Farm", a fun photo session with Tori and Katie who love to ham it up for camera, and then finishing the afternoon off with some yummy birthday cake.

Fun at the mall

2008-05-15T03:07:00.004-05:00

Tori and I met our friends Becky and Elijah, and Emily and Caitlynn at the mall one morning. We had fun playing in the childrens play area and doing some shopping. I got a new stroller for Tori and it was our first time trying it out and I think she loved it. She was able to sit up and see where we were going. Several people stopped us to tell us how cute she was and she showed off that beautiful smile of hers!

Something new

2008-05-15T02:28:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,
I have created this blog as a way of communicating my thoughts and feelings to those who are close to me. I'm excited about starting this with the hope of blogging on a regular basis.