MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

James and I enjoyed our Christmas celebrations with both the Lewis family & Moseley family- below are some pics...

We celebrated with my Mom, Dad, Grandma Hembree, Bryan, Lisa, Abby, Marissa, Steve, April, Audra, Sklar and Clayton (and Audra's boyfriend Jake). We ate lots of food and open TONS of gifts!! We all had a great time.

James and I drove up to Wisconsin Dells to enjoy Christmas with the Moseley family the weekend before Christmas. We made cookies and enjoyed lots of sled riding. Above is a picture of James, me, Sophie, Ellie (mom), Ben, Bill, Julia and Harry (dad)- and of course Lacey!!

We enjoy the Holidays and love traveling to spend time with everyone- but we are also happy to be home!! Merry Christmas (a little late) and Happy New Year!!

ALL THE BEST IN 2008

THANKSGIVING

This year James and I hosted the Family Thanksgiving Dinner- which included 16 people (James and I, his parents, my parents, Grandma Hembree, Steve, April & kids and Bryan, Lisa & kids- also there was Sieben and Lacy... the dogs)- it was a full house!!

Here is a picture of James' dad (Harry) taking the turkey out of the oven. Notice how close Lacy is to the turkey... she was very interested!

Next is a picture of the dining room table set (we had to use two tables this year). We used James' Grandpa's china and I bought new tablecloths and napkins.

James' parents stayed with us the entire weekend. Ellie and I went shopping and made cookies and got to catch up on all the family stories. James and his dad spent time building a new work bench in the basement... here are a few pictures.

James and I both enjoyed having family over and being able to have Thanksgiving Dinner in our House!

SCUBA Accident

I've never written a blog like this- and quite honestly, I don't know where to start...

This past week James and five of his SCUBA buddies traveled to Ginnie Springs, Florida for their annual Cave Diving Trip. This year was different...

On Thursday afternoon one of the guys, Jeff Thompson, had an embolism during one of their dives and died. I know that James and the others guys have many questions about what happened, what caused it and why... It's so scary because it hit so close to home- it could have happened to any one of them. It makes me realize how short and precious life is (below is Jeff's obituary)

Jeffrey D. Thompson, age 46, a life resident of Lockport, New York, died suddenly on Thursday, November 8, 2007 in Ginnie Springs, FL. Born on April 25, 1961 in Lockport, NY, he was the son of Richard Thompson and Constance Wynes. Jeffrey graduated from Lockport High School. Jeff was an enthusiastic technical diver. He dove the Andrea Doria as well as caves in Florida and Mexico. He enjoyed hunting and maintained a healthy active life. Above all of these, Jeff loved his family. Jeff was on the executive board of IBEW 966 and also served as a steward. Jeff worked at the AES plant from the time it was built. He is survived by his wife, Lori J. Blackley; daughter, Nicole Thompson; son, Joseph Thompson; brothers Richard Thompson and Steven Thompson.

Even though I didn't know Jeff personally, I know that James has a great deal of love and respect for him. Our prayers are with Jeff's family at this difficult time.

My thoughts are also with James and all the SCUBA Divers that witnessed the event and are dealing with so many difficult emotions. I wish that I could say or write sometime to make Jeff's death easier to deal with... but I don't know what to say. I just hope that you all continue your passion for SCUBA Diving and honor Jeff's memory.

I added a picture of the Cave Diving Group taken last week- James is on the left and Jeff (who passed away) is second from the right in the light blue shirt.

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet

This past week has been packed full of Halloween fun.

Below are pictures of me painting pumpkins with Abby and Marissa...

Here is a picture of me and James dressed up at Chuck and Andrea's Halloween party...

Below are various family pictures from Aunt Eileen's Halloween party last weekend...

The costumes were great- I believe Bryan dressed up like a woman!!!!

The last picture is of Abby and Marissa right before starting Trick-or-Treat...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

THE KIDS

I just realized today that I haven't posted many pictures (if any at all) of my nieces and nephew on the "Lewis side" of the family... I have some fairly recent pics- so they are included below.

The first picture is of Skylar, Abby and Clayton. Clayton and Skylar turned 12 and 11 years old this week- and Abby is five (remember I posted her Birthday party?) I can't believe how grown up all three of them are!

Here is a picture of Audra this past summer... she has grown up really fast too (she's 15, has a job at McDonalds and is getting ready to start driving). The picture below shows her sporting her "fashionable cast" which she had to get this summer after a minor wrestling match with one of her friends.

Next are the pictures that I took of Abby and Marissa this past weekend with the family of scarecrows that made and have displayed at their house for Halloween this year. Bryan & Lisa went all out this year with decorating- and their place looks great!

I will try to post more pics of THE KIDS when I can. I'm sure that you will all be amazed to see how quickly they are maturing... They are all growing up to be so beautiful and smart (must run in the family- hehe) I love them all sooooo much!!!!!

Hot Air Balloon Ride

James and I just did the coolest thing ever!! We went up in a Hot Air Balloon...

For our 1st Anniversary- I wanted to go along with the "paper theme" and I bought James a gift certificate to go up in a Hot Air Balloon. Because of bad weather (the conditions have to be perfect)- we weren't able to go on the Hot Air Balloon ride until now... it was the coolest thing that we have ever done! One of the guys we work with has a Hot Air Balloon- and he took us for a ride.

First they fill the balloon with air using a large fan- the picture below shows them filling it.

I was able to climb into the balloon while it was still on its side, and they were still blowing it up, and take a picture of the top of the balloon from the inside.

After the balloon was blown up, James and I climbed in the basket and flew over Minerva. We started at the old Jr. High (that was recently torn down), flew Northwest and landed in a yard over by Kiko Meats.

Below is a picture of is flying by PCC Airfoils (where James and I both work) and a picture that Kyle took of the two of us riding in the Hot Air Balloon about 500 feet in the air.

We had a great time- though I think I had butterflies the whole time. It was a little scary- but well worth it! We landed fairly smoothly- hitting a tree in the process (oops!) But besides that- everything was great!!! We finished the ride with a champagne toast (one of Kyle's traditions).

The Greene Twins

James and I were in Portland, Oregon this past week at a conference for work. Luckily we were able to visit my friend Denise (from Milligan College), her husband Andrew and their two baby twin boys (Drew & Gavin) while in the area- they recently moved to Richland, Washington.

We had a fabulous time- though we were only able to spend a little over a day with them.

Here is a picture of Drew (left- sleeping) and Gavin- three months old.

We also took a trip with Denise and the boys to a local winery- Bookwalter Winery. Here is James standing in front of some of the grape vines- with a newly purchased bottle of red wine.

Denise and Andrew just recently moved to Richland, Washington- because Andrew moved to a new job with the same company. They have been really busy and haven't had a lot of time to unpack all of their boxes.
Friday afternoon, James, Denise, the twins and I were sitting downstairs talking- and all of a sudden we heard some rustling. We thought maybe a mouse was in one of the boxes, so we sent James to investigate (as we ran upstairs). He discovered that a SNAKE had gotten stuck on the packing tape of one of the boxes. We found out later from the neighbors that it was a "good snake" (eats rattler snakes)- but we didn't want it around. I was brave enough to take a picture of it- after James put it out on the back deck (our hero).



Friday and Saturday were wonderful- spending the weekend with Denise, Andrew, Drew & Gavin. We had a wonderful time, and even enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the way back to the Portland Airport (here's a picture I took from the car- almost losing the camera in the process....hehe)

I'll leave you all with one last picture of James and I holding Drew & Gavin.

The weekend was wonderful- and it was cool seeing Denise (I miss you so much!!) HUGS

Visiting Minnesota

This past weekend James and I flew to St. Paul, Minnesota to visit Bill (James' brother), Julia, Ben and Sophie.


Luckily we were able to visit the family the weekend after Sophie's 5TH Birthday- so we were able to attend the birthday party!!



The one thing that Julia suggested that I do for Sophie's birthday is paint her finger nails- here is a picture after I finished... she was so excited!!



Because James and I arrived on Friday night, we were able to help with the shopping, decorating and other necessary preparations for the party- which, to me, was really fun!



The birthday party theme was bugs and butterflies- and Sophie wore her best outfit which included wings and her own dilly bopper (I'm not sure that I'm spelling that correctly).



Sophie's friends also made dilly bopper's at the party along with their very own self-painter t-shirt. Because it was VERY hot that day (in the 90's)- Bill and Julia filled a pool for the kids to play in after their crafts.



Below are some pictures of the kids doing crafts and swimming/playing in the pool... what a blast!


















Bill, Julia, James and I went out to dinner after the party- and the adults enjoyed spending time catching up! Even though the weekend was brief, we had a great time visiting with the family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE!!

Are you for SCUBA?

I thought that our blog wouldn't be complete without a post about SCUBA Diving...


James biggest passion right now (besides his wife of course)- is SCUBA Diving. He was interested in Diving before we started dating and went SCUBA Diving occasionally.

Now James has gotten more involved because he is a Certified Technical Diver- which means that he breathes a special tri-mix of gases and can dive 300 plus feet deep (crazy- I know).

The best dives in our area are in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan where he can dive Ship Wrecks. He goes diving at least two weekends a month and has been included on SCUBA dives helping to locate many newly discovered Ship Wrecks within the last year (here is a picture of James on Lake Erie in his dry suit).

Because it's too cold to SCUBA Dive in Ohio in the winter, James learned how to Cave Dive.

Here is a picture of a Cave in Mexico where he went SCUBA Diving. I wasn't able to go on this trip to see the caves- but it looks incredible. Cave Diving is very dangerous- and probably the most scary for me. James actually SCUBA Dives through tunnels in the cave under the water.



Even though he is very careful- there are many things that can wrong and there is no easy way to surface.

Because I love spending time with James, I also learned how to SCUBA Dive and got Certified in November 2005. Here is a picture of us SCUBA Diving together in Curaco (South America).

I enjoy spending time with James under water- seeing fish, coral, crabs and eels in their natural environment. James and his friends call me a 3/80 SCUBA Diver- which means that I like to Dive in 80 degree temperature, 80 feet of visibility, carrying an aluminum 80 tank... sounds good to me!

Even though I don't have the passion to dive as deep as James (300 plus feet) or SCUBA Dive in caves, I love that we have a hobby that we can share and something exciting that we can do together when we go on vacation.

ABBY IS FIVE

It's hard for me to believe- but my niece Abby turned FIVE!!!

Her birthday was actually on June 15th- but because she had her tonsils removed, Lisa decided to delay the Birthday Party a few weeks... which ended up being a great idea.

James and I bought Abby the "Chair-a-go Round" which was a big hit. Here is a picture of James and Abby riding it.

The cool thing was that it went up and down like a teeter-totter, but it also flipped around like a merry-go-round... quite the dangerous toy!! All the kids played on it for a while- and no one got hurt... yet!

Here is a picture of Abby blowing out all of her Birthday candles after we sang to her. She had all of her friends surrounding her.

Every time she wants to do something (dangerous or otherwise)- she says now "But I can do it because now I'm FIVE"

Here is a close-up picture of the cake... I had to include the detail because Lisa did such an incredible job!

As you can tell- Abby's Birthday theme was "Candy Land"

Lisa made the game board on the cake using Starburst Candy, she used suckers, peppermint candies and chocolate to create all of the different little candy lands along the board.

It was the coolest kids cake that I've ever seen.

She also did a great job with the decorations- by using Candy Land Boards all around, suckers and she found Candy Land beach towels to use as tablecloths.

Lisa always has everyone pose for a Group Picture too. We each had to hold a sucker and smile big!!

James and I are right in the middle- near the back.

Abby is in the front row- a little to the right.

The weather was perfect and the day was a great time!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY ABBY!!

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

It's amazing to think that it has already been one year since our wedding!! This year has gone so fast and has been so wonderful for both James and I.

We decided to celebrate our One Year Wedding Anniversary by visiting Niagara Falls.

Here are a few pictures of our visit- including our ride on Maid of the Mist, our ride to the top of the Skylon Tower, the Butterfly Exhibit, the Botanical Gardens and the Walk behind the Falls.

Some of the pictures of Niagara Falls are from our goreous hotel room.

We had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed celebrating our Anniversary!!