More Pics from Brunch

Nathan is even cute when he cries. :)





Alissa and her kids. Our attempts to get them to smile failed. :)

Welcoming Anna (Brunch with the Girls)

Anna Kay Toonstra was born July 15.

The whole gang - turned out pretty good, huh?

Miss Ella with her big blue eyes.

Ben, Trenton, and Luke being silly. They were supposed to be "buddies" with their arms around each other, but instead chose to keep falling over.

Ben and Ella see eye-to-eye.

One year ago today . . .

. . .I was on my way to Europe for nine short days. In some ways it feels like yesterday and in other ways it feels like a long time ago. The memories are still fresh though, and I hope and pray that someday I'll return for more adventures. Anyone wanna go? :)

Enjoy these pictures!

Family, Friends, Fireworks, and a Fender-Bender

Wow. . . where do I start in summing up the past six days? Thanks to Brian and Larissa's wedding we had a big family get-together and a ton of fun. I'll give you a play by play of each day. . .



Thursday:

• Family started arriving. I spent the morning hanging out at the hotel just catching up with everyone. Some uncles, aunts, and cousins I hadn't seen in five years (which is really a shame because we have an absolute blast when we get together).


• In the afternoon, Josh, Malinda, Gina and Lovey came to see my place. Then we headed to the splash pad at Lamar Park. The girls loved it and us adults wished that we could have had something like that when we were kids.


• On my way back to the hotel that evening I was rear-ended on 28th St. over 131. It was actually just a tap, but did scrape some paint off. It could have been a whole lot worse.


• That evening the cousins and I headed for the bachelor/bachelorette party. It was a rather tame event, except for a certain book that was floating around that people were adding comments to ('nuf said :) ). We had a good time as Kamps cousins just talking and laughing.

Friday:

• In the morning we had a couples' shower for Brian and Larissa at the Christian Reformed Rec. Center. The brunch was delicious. The presents were plentiful. And the game . . . well, let's just say Larissa will probably never chew cotton candy flavored gum ever again.


• Then 20 of us played in the first annual Kamps' Family Golf Scramble. First annual is wishful thinking because more than likely this was the first and the last. It was a blast though. Somehow I got a little lucky and won closest to the pin and the longest putt for the women. My brother Brad won the drawing for a car which was donated by Uncle Gil. OK, it was a matchbox, but it was a car nonetheless. :)


• That afternoon, Malinda (and family) and I headed out to Heidi's house in Wayland for a mini Dordt roommate reunion. We missed Angie who just had a baby a month ago, but Amy and Kristin and their families were there and we had a great time. Chad grilled some dogs and brats, the kids played, us girls talked. It was a blessing to see each other again.


• Josh, Malinda, Gina, Lovey, Amy, Adam, Isaac, and I then headed downtown for the fireworks. What a show! It was amazing. Lovey was so cute. She wanted to know if the fireworks were going to kill God. How sweet is that. . .

Saturday:

• Just the Dordt girls met for breakfast. It was good to have more time to spend together. The pressure is on me to get married, because we figure that will be our next opportunity to all see each other. :)


• The wedding was in the afternoon. The weather was perfect, the wedding was beautiful, good times were had by all. FYI - not everything that's wrapped in bacon is a waterchestnut. Sometimes it's scallops. (I learned the hard way.) :) All kidding aside, it was wonderful to watch Brian and Larissa get married. They are great together and we are thrilled to welcome Larissa into the family.

Sunday:

• After church we all hung out on the patio at the hotel. We had leftover wedding food for lunch. The kids swam and swam and swam some more. It was fun to watch all the kids interact with each other. They were all good friends by the end of the weekend.


• At various points in the day, family started leaving. It's always sad to say goodbye, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that we cherished the time we had together and feel like it's just a glimpse of what heaven is going to be like when we're all together forever. :)

As you can tell it was a busy, but fun-filled weekend. I'm still exhausted from all the late nights and running around, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat. It was fun. To all those who traveled long distances, thank you. It was awesome spending time with you. Love you all. . .