Our Wedding Weekend August 16-18

The wedding pictures should be arriving in the mail this week. We will post more of them as soon as they arrive. We didn't use our camera much during the weekend, but did capture a few pictures and have included some below that were sent to us by family and friends:

Saturday, the day before the wedding, at the Iowa State Fair. Mom, Thea, and I presenting the trophy for the Champion Ram in Dad's memory to Toby Bender and family from Wisconsin. I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else the day before my wedding. It was probably my shortest visit ever to the fair. We left late afternoon to head to the rehearsal dinner.

Rehersal went smoothly, and we had a great meal together at Greenbriar

Grandpa Van Arkel walked down the isle with me.

We had beautiful weather for the ceremony.

I think everyone was very pleased with how everything went..."Anybody have a lighter?"....we did forget to light the unity candles ahead of time, but it was a nice break to laugh and a good story to tell. Thank you to Jonathan's cousin David who came to our rescue.

Cutting the cake: Angelfood with strawberries on top

Mr. and Mrs. Klein enjoying breakfast with everyone the next morning at the hotel.

On the way back to Illinois, Jonathan and I stopped at Dad's grave to leave the flowers from the the wedding. We had enjoyed them throughout all festivities during weekend and it seemed like a fitting way to enjoy them once more.

Feeling at Home in Ogle County

We made it safely to Illinois and settled into our new house on Lorado Taft Campus near Oregon, Illinois.... still happily engaged and looking forward to our wedding in August.

We moved in just in time to go to the Ogle County Fair and get a feel for the local lifestyle.

Looking at tractors and machinery has become one of Jonathan's favorite things.

This tractor had a sign that made us both laugh:

After six years of expensive plane tickets and weeks of logistical planning just to come home for a visit.... it almost didn't seem real (to Emily) that "home in Iowa" was just a 3 hour car ride away. We took advantage of this a couple times this summer and drove over to Iowa to follow up on wedding plans in person instead of over the phone. Of course we squeezed in some visits with family and friends too.

One of those stops was at Grandma and Grandpa Van Arkel's. Grandpa told us some good stories and Grandma sent us home with a bowl of freshly picked and pitted cherries. I quickly found my recipe for cherry crisp...boy, was it good!

Bob says Illinois is "God's Country" and I have to say that I agree!

On the Road Again in July

Upon our return from Mom and Bob's wedding weekend in Indiana, we packed up all our belongings for the second time this year to make the move to Oregon, Illinois. Fortunately, we remembered just where everything fit and had the opportunity to make improvements from the last time around.

Here we are in the parking lot across from our apartment saying our last goodbyes to Houston, with Emily very thankful to be headed to a better job and greener pastures.

Mom and Bob's Wedding June 28th

We headed to Carmel, Indiana the last weekend in June to celebrate Mom and Bob's wedding. Here are some pictures from Bob's farm and the wedding day.

The guys (Jonathan, Toby, and Bob's son Ryan) decided to improve their view by climbing the silo to the top of the barn.

We played bean bag toss in the front yard.

Jonathan and Toby teamed up for a few rounds.

Bob's granddaughter, Anne Louise (fondly "Weezie") took it all in.

Mom and Bob, just married, during the ceremony at the church.

A photo with all the kids: (L to R) Rachel, Thea, Emily, Debbie, Bob, Ryan, and Jennifer

The whole family, significant others included: Ryan and Rachel, Toby and Thea, Jonathan and Emily, Debbie and Bob, Rob and Jennifer with Anne Louise, and Ryan and Vanessa

Last Weekend in Texas in June

I'm doing some catching up on the blog tonight. It has been a crazy busy summer.

Below are some pictures from our last weekend in Texas.

We decided to go for one last paddle down the San Jacinto River. This is Banana Bend Beach in full summer swing. It was one of our favorite places just east of Houston.

We found a quiet spot to soak in the river and have a little picnic.

The quiet was quickly disturbed by the speed boats racing each other back and forth and back and forth. They have installed car engines on these tiny boats. It is a wonder that they don't tip over and that people are willing to spend that much money on fuel just to go fast for a few seconds.

We ended the weekend hanging out on the riverbank back by the Jeep. Good memories.

One of the highlights of our short time living in Houston.

David Klein's wedding

Jonathan's cousin, David Klein, got married on June 1st near Columbus, Ohio. All the Klein's got together to celebrate the occasion and spend some time together.

Thank you to George who shared his photos from the wedding. Sorry, some of them are so small! This is a picture of David, the groom, on the move just after the ceremony.



The ceremony was in a beautiful, remote location over the river and through the woods down some of the back roads of Ohio.

We had the place all to ourselves with lots of room to run around! Jonathan's nephews, Andrew and Will, burned off some wedding cake energy on the boardwalk :-)

The two of us all dressed up with a fun place to go.

Jonathan's brother Pete, Sarah, and the boys.

Jonathan's parents George and Pam.

We all stayed at Fort Rapids....a Holiday Inn with a huge, indoor water park.

Andrew and cousin Nate take a break from the action.



Nate and I tried out one of the double tubes on the big slides. It was fun to be a kid again!

Riding this slide was kind of like being flushed down the drain in a giant sink.

Pete and Sarah gave it try.


Will enjoyed the fountains.


Andrew turned 5 on May 31st. We took advantage of the opportunity to celebrate with him and all the other people with birthdays in April and May.


I'll end with a picture of Uncle Jon and Will with his red bag of birthday marbles.

Memorial Day at the Ranch

I'm not sure if you can read the sign or not.....it says:

"Blue Mountain Ranch

John P. McCarthy

Rebecca McCarthy"

This is a great view of the Blue Mountains from the property.

On a clear day you can see 60 miles from the deck of their house.

This a picture of El Hefe himself, Toby's dad, John McCarthy. John doesn't normally look like this....he was just being silly for the camera. He was a lot of fun sharing the history of the area and giving us a personal tour of the properties and the new house they are building up on the mountain.

(Sorry for the tiny pictures. They are from Toby's camera and his online picasa album. This is a big as I can make them)

It was just a few days after Jonathan's birthday and before my golden birthday on 29th. Thea gave us "his and hers" paddling shirts as birthday gifts.

We drove the Jeep and kayaks down to the Llano River, which flows through one of the ranch properties, and spent most of the weekend on the water.

Most of the river crew is pictured above: (L to R) Colin, Thea, Tobias, Jonathan, Emily, and Veronica. Not pictured are Toby's little brother J.P., Kayla, Jesse, and Cody.

Thea is a professional when it comes to lounging on the river -- complete with floppy hat, shades, and her own floating lounger with built in cup holders.

Jonathan caught on quickly, floating with Toby on the giant inflatable fun center.

Jonathan and one of the guys went for a short paddle on the river. We had beautiful weather conditions for being outside all weekend.

Toby wanted a kayak lesson. He watched from the water as I demonstrated all the strokes. He did a great job and even performed a successful self rescue before the day was over. We only came away with a few bruises.



Around one of the bends in the river was an old quarry with really deep water perfect for cliff diving. Of course, we were safe and jumped feet first just in case.

Jonathan is pictured above demonstrating a classic "iron cross" jump.

Tobias and Jonathan use the ladder to climb back up for round two.

Thea jumps in!




The photographer strikes a pose and....




....finally puts down the camera and hat to take the plunge as well.
It was so fun I ended up jumping at least two more times!


It was a great weekend making new friends, seeing more of Texas and where Tobias grew up, and spending time with my sis.

We stopped in San Antonio on the way home and spent an hour walking around downtown so Jonathan could have his own "Remember the Alamo" experience.