for Memorial day...

We had the Hill family, Grandpa and Grandma S. as well as the other Strands over for fun and food. -little Benjamin
-Grant...I'm not exactly sure what he is doing though lol
what more could you ask for...perfect weather an interesting game (you almost could say amusing:)
and having your shoulders rubbed.

fun

after they where done eating, some of the younger kids played fox in the barnyard.
while the rest of us either talked or played games

food

the cowboy who did the honors of grilling our meal
Grant- fainting away with hunger, while he was waiting for the food to be served. lol

-the guys, Daniel and Grant


For more pics you can check out Wendy or Daniel's blog

my car

i wish (only i think i might pant it another color :)

fight

if you thought that the last two martial arts clips where kinda slow and needed a little more action, this one is just for you. (and NO i don't ever plan on doing this)

Taikyoku Shodan Shotokan

ok so the kendo movie was kinda slow for those of you who don't do kendo (lol even Grant said it was loooonnnnggg:) So here is one of a kata that we do (set of combined steps) in class.

Kendo

lots of people have asked me what kendo is ...so here is a movie of some warm ups....and no the are not wearing skirts.

peoria

This past Wed. we went down to Peoria along with the Erber family for the Presbytery meeting and ordination tests of both my Father and Mr. Erber which we are glad to announce they passed. Here are some of the pictures we took but for more pic.s and info about our long weekend go to our family blogThursday morning we all went to the mall. -notice- Grant is standing a little apart from the group... he had a real bad cold/flu thing and spent most of the time up in the hotel room.
we went out for ice cream Saturday after the last meeting and before we left for home.
the kids had a great time swimming in the pool at the hotel.
Sisters~ this picture was taken in the lobby of the hotel.
on Friday we went to a park that had a bunch of animals that where native to Illinois. The weather was perfect.

Stuart is 13!!!!

Happy Birthday Buddy

To all Mothers...

Happy Mother's Day and God Bless you for all the things you do.

And May your children rise up and call you blessed.

Happy 16 Birthday little brother...

(who is not so little any more lol:)

mmmm interesting......

"I didn't even dream it would be so good. But I would never let my

children come close to the thing."
Vladimir Zworykin, said on his 92 birthday. talking about the TV.

last sat.

I took my karate test for orange belt , and passed. YIIPPEEE no more white belt.

Here are some of the pictures that are on the dojo website... we where unable to take any cuz we didn't have our camera. :-/ Sorry they are kinda small. But you can go to the dojo website and click on the pictures there and they will be bigger.

group shot



Zack breaking a board


i'm the person in the front