Hanging out with the Pingel family

Because of Jacob's wedding, pretty much everyone converged on Utah at the same time. Jaclyn and Steve arrived about a week before the wedding. My mom arrived early in the week, followed by Benjamin and Jess and then my dad. It was fun to see everyone, and to show off my house. We really didn't do too much while everyone was here. But here are some of the photo highlights.

Mark, Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Benjamin,

Jess, Jaclyn and Steve

Matthew and Mark

Dad, Mark, Matthew and Mom

My little soccer player

Mom and Matthew

Matthew and I

Matthew ate the bread we brought for the ducks.

Matthew loved the swing, though he had to hold on as high up as possible.

Dad teaching Matthew to say "Dude."

Jacob's Wedding

So I haven't posted in a while, but late is better than never, or so they say. The big event in August was Jacob's wedding. We arrived in Grand Junction Friday night, and just missed the rehearsal dinner, which was probably for the best. One year olds don't do well in restaurants. Friday night was fun. It was Jacob's "bachelor party" so we all played Train game. On Saturday we had I nice relaxing swim in the pool. Then Diana, Chad and Cameron Corder arrived at the same hotel. I hadn't seen her since last October, so it was fun to see how big Cameron has gotten. Her little boy was so cute, but not really that little.

 Matthew had been sick earlier in the week, but had seemed fine for a few days. Unfortunatey, we made the mistake of assuming that meant he was ready for real food again. We quickly learned our mistake when we arrived at the wedding early, and Matthew threw up all over Mark. Poor guy. The lady that owned the house was really sweet and was able to wash Matthew's little suit before the wedding started. We cleaned Mark up as best we could. Luckily, Matthew felt much better and lasted through the wedding ceremony and a good chunk of the reception. The wedding itself was wonderful. Jacob and Serene did a good job planning it. Serene was as gorgeous as a bride can be. It was nice to see my brother so happily married. I wish we could have stayed longer to visit with Diana and Chad or with my Uncle Mark and Aunt Blanca who came out from California. But Matthew eventually started throwing up again, so we left and decided to drive all night to get him back home.

Matthew's latest obssesion is shoes.

Mark and Ayden

Mr. Cool Matthew

Melissa and Ayden

Mark, Matthew, Ayden and Melanie (Ayden's grandma)

Diana and Cameron

Me, Matthew, Diana and Cameron

Chad, Steve and Mark

Diana, Jaclyn and I

Jacob and I

Jacob and Serene

Airplane Nursery

Before I post about Jacob's wedding and my family's visit, I want to show off Matthew's room. I've been working hard on it for the last few weeks, and it's most of the way finished. I have a few more touches I want to add, but that will probably always be true.  And if I could decide if I was keeping the purple shelf in his room, I would paint it white. But until then it shall remain conspicuously purple.

Happy Birthday, Anna and Michael

All about Bobs

A few Saturdays ago was a day full of bobs. To start the day, I bought a jogging stroller at a yard sale. It was a BOB Revolution double jogging stroller, which in case you know nothing about jogging stroller is the best of the best. It's really nice. Apparently the previous owner didn't jog much, because it was in perfect condition. I got home and read through the instruction manual that the owner gave me. Since it's a double, it's rather large and takes up the entire trunk. Thankfully, the wheels are really easy to take off and on. I decided to take it for a spin and went down to a jogging path near my house. The path goes up around the resevoir, but I accidentally took the wrong fork and went up a extremely steep hill to the neighborhood  above the Parkway. By the time I got back down, I was low on water so I only ended up running about three-quarters of a mile. But the stroller worked great.

Then in the evening, I finally couldn't take it anymore, and I went a chopped off my hair. I've been wanting to for a while, especially after I saw the pictures of me at the wedding. I decided my hair had just gotten too long. And it has been so hot that I really just wanted to cut it short. So to continue my day of bobs, I got a chin-length bob. It looks cute. I don't think it's going to be my favorite haircut, but it is sure nice having short hair on a hot day. Plus, it's cut so I don't have to style it, which is always a bonus.

Oh, I have one more exciting thing to tell, though it has nothing to do with bobs. Apparently, the church is getting rid of new.familysearch.org, which I have never liked, and I got chosen to beta test the new website! Pretty cool. I have to say, the new program is a hundred times better. Now, I spend all my free time of this new website. If you are related to me on my mother's side, you'll thank me once you see all that I've done.

Matthew in the jogging stroller

Before

After

Vacation Part 6: New York City

On the last day of our vacation, Mark, Michael, Anna and I went into New York City. This was my third visit, but Mark and his siblings had never been. I didn't want to overwhelm us trying to see everything, and we wanted to make sure we got home in time to see his grandparents again, so I planned a manageable route near Times Square. So we saw Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Saks Fifth Avenue, Grand Central Station, Chrysler Building, New York Public Library and Bryant Park. Right next to Bryant Park the road was closed for a street fair. It was like being able to go shopping in Chinatown without actually going all the way down to Chinatown. I got a super cute purse, which is a knockoff of something, but I can't for the life of me figure out what. I really wanted something that was big enough to double as a diaper bag, but stylish enough to be a nice purse. Also, we bought a nice picture for our living room. It wasn't until we got back to Princeton that Mark's dad pointed out that the picture is of San Francisco. Haha. I still love the picture though. I just won't tell everyone I bought it in New York.

We also got to go to a play on Broadway. Michael and Anna went to Newsies, which they said was really good. Apparently the choreography is amazing, which it even won a Tony for. Mark and I decided to go see Mary Poppins. I'll be honest, it was good, but not great. They changed the story line, which was fine, but they changed the lyrics in the songs, but it wasn't always easy to understand what they were singing. The children needed to enunciate better. Oh well. Afterwards we met up with Anna, Michael and Michael's friend for dinner. Michael's friend was doing an internship in the city, but had accidentally reserved us dinner at a restaraunt across town. So we randomly chose a place, Daniela Trattoria, and it was not only delicious but also suprisingly affordable. All in all, it made for a good end for our trip.

Times Square

That's us in the top left corner

Mark, Anna and I at Rockefeller Center

New York Public Library

Awesome Italian restaraunt

Vacation Part 5: Statue of Liberty

While we were in Princeton, we took advantage of our proximity to New York City. We spent one day visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We took the ferry from the New Jersey side, which ended being really nice because not as many people visit from New Jersey. Our ferry was no where near as packed as the New York ferries. We got mixed up trying to find the departure point - we accidentally mixed up locations and followed the signs for a different ferry dock. We had already purchased our ferry tickets which specified that they were only valid for that specific ferry. So when we finally arrived at the right place, we ran to make sure we didn't miss the ferry. Afterwards, we realized that running was very unnecessary. The lady who scanned our tickets barely glanced at them. The 10 am ferry didn't end up departing until 10:40. The New Jersey ferry takes off from an old train station. The terminal was built with the ferry docks on one side and all the trains coming out the other side. The terminal is still used to sell tickets and for security. But the loading platforms for all the trains is fenced and is completely overgrown. It was like being in the movie "I Am Legend."

Our ferry first landed at Ellis Island. I'm so glad they restored the building there. It is gorgeous. The museum was interesting. You can get free audiotours, but I didn't feel like it. It was really interesting to learn about the history of immigration in the United States. I was particularly interested in our discrimination of Chinese immigrants and the evolution of our immigration laws. I don't have any ancestors who came through Ellis Island. My most recent immigrant ancestors were Anton Meissner and his wife Barbara Donhauser. The did come from Germany to New York, but in 1888, a few years before Ellis Island was created. Next we went to Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty was closed for renovations, so we couldn't go inside. But it was fun just walking around it. And we took some good pictures with the Manhattan skyline in the distance. You can see the new World Trade Center building in the background - it's the tallest one and is still under consruction.

Ellis Island

The Hospital Wing at Ellis Island

The Great Hall

Statue of Liberty

Mark and I

Mark and I                                       Michael and Anna

Mark

Me

Michael

Anna