last week the German Class of 08 went on a trip to the far away land of kansas city. (actually it only took us about 4 hours to get there but i have to make it sound as adventuresome as possible) we got there around 3 pm and checked into our motel rooms and then everyone got ready to go to the german restaurant. we had carefully planned and even gone on a shopping trip and we all had matching clothes. that is the guys all had matching shirts and the girls all had matching dresses. (or as close to matching as possible) since it was still quite early in the afternoon we visited the Arabian Steamboat museum before we went to eat. we had a jolly time walking around in the museum and looking at all the stuff (and believe me there was a LOT) that had been on the ship when it disappeared into the "mighty Mo" over a hundred years before it was once again discovered. we spent over an hour in there an i think the workers were relieved to see us leave because once we left they left too. funny how that works. ;)  next on the agenda was to go eat the Rheinland Restaurant (i think that was the name) we drove for what seemed like a long time but it actually wasn't all that far. The food was great and I don't think anyone suffered to much from trying any of the new food which really most of the food wasn't so different from what we are used to. The smoked salmon was prob the most different and there were various opinions on whether it was edible. as for myself i thought it was delicious!!
here are some random pictures from the restaurant:







 



 
(i'm not sure what's with all the straws but.....it looks cool so who cares!)
 

something must have been funny!!

much better!! :) from left to right-Sheila Graber, Kenneth Shenk, Jared Shetler, Frieda Kuepfer, Tim Yoder, Ida Yutzy, Ryan Nisly, and Sheila Ropp. (Our teacher Mr. Schrock(Wesely Schrock) and his wife, Jeanann, were also along. )

that evening we went downtown and walked around at some shopping center. it was way cool seeing all the lights and all the interesting people who were also walking around.

 





 

we spent some time at barns and nobles and then ate ice cream at the coldstone creamery but since my camera batteries died i don't have any more pictures of that night. the next morning we went to union station and walked around there for a while. i had an absolutely amazing truffle!! so yeah it was like really really good. for some reason i don't really have any good group pictures from when we were there....maybe its cause we didn't take any good group pictures....well here are just a few other cool pictures
 
 




we also stopped in at the WW1 museum but since we didn't have very much time we only went to the tower part of the museum. the tower was really cool. we could like see the whole city!!




















as u can imagine, things got pretty wild on the way home!!! but hey at least we had fun!!! and we didn't really talk about much except for......cars......lol


here are a few more random pictures from the trip (like i don't have enuf pictures already)

ryan and his beloved toenail clippers!!!











awwwww!!! (puke)

German class of 08 is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***credit for the pictures goes to a few different people in the class

hey just thot id let everyone know that im on padre island, TX hangin' out at the beach! :) spring break rocks! ok now that ive made u all jealous....ittyl

The month of January is almost over and yet no real post has appeared. well i guess thats about to change. or i'm not sure about the real part but definitely the post part.  the main reason for this post is to in form u that just in case i did NOT write the previous post. some of my very dear (??) friends:

 

happen to be the authors of the post. so if u wanna compliment someone on the good story, now u know who to compliment. :)
in other news...things are fairly normal around here. the boring days of winter....except for yesterday it was like extremely warm which was really nice. but it snowed this morning so u never can tell whats gonna happen next. :)
ok a few things that happened the last while or actually a while ago but...
everyone was here for christmas and we had a jolly time!!
for new years a bunch of us cousin's from kansas and one from MO went  to to Kokamo IN  to visit my cousin and his girlfriend. it was definately well wroth it even if it was cold! i wish i would have pictures to post but unfortunately i have not yet been able to get them.
then it was basically back to school work....and thats how its been for the past 3 1/2 weeks. how exciting.
my brother's dear girlfriend is working at hillcrest for three months. we all miss her like crazy!!


ill leave u with a few random pictures of the little preciousess! ;)

5 nights ago we were hit with an ice storm.our electricity went out soon after it started sleeting.  thats like 96 hours ago!!!! btw it is still out at the time. we have everything running on generator power. it works but its really unhandy. looking a half mile down the road i can see 5 big huge(but weak??)  electric poles snapped in half. the trees look like a tornado went thru here. tonite it started snowing and its supposed to snow up to 8 in.......... (wow cant u just hear my enthusiasm)  there are a LOT of people without power and not very much hope of having it restored within in the near future. so yeah all of your prayers are appreciated. thank you in and advance. ok well i should go. just letting everyone know that the kansas people are still surviving for the most part.
p.s. i might post some pictures later

about two weeks ago my little sister turned 15. yeah that really hard to believe. i still remember when we celebrated her 2nd birthday....time flies......
here are a few pictures that we took at her party and some pictures of my niece and nephews


she might be two inches taller than me but she is still my little sister! ;)


happy birthday emily!! hope ur 15th year is great!


"babycakes"

no she isnt actually picking her nose....lol
 

caleb when people say "go eat dirt" they arnt serious!


lots of dreaming to do about big bucks, dogs and popcicles


this is the boy blue eyes were made for....;)


ok enough pictures for one post. retreat was great!! the first eight weeks of my junior year of highschool are now over.  we have three days off from school next week so im really looking forward to that!! yaaay! sorry bout the the random post. well i must go now. bye bye

ive been tagged so here are 7 random things about me
1. this should be really easy since some of my friends say im the 'queen of randomness'
2. my family likes traveling a lot especially during the summer
3. i love chocolate almost as much as i love coffee
4. im not a morning person
5. i have on of the best classes ever!!
6. i have never been to the ocean
7. castles are cool!

ok since im writing a post newaz i mite as well write some stuff worth reading.(??)  we just got home from pa. we had lots of fun!! eating bluberries whenever, taking walks, eating outside all the time, chasing the little amish boys out of the pool , rescueing a lady that was yelling "help", going shopping, getting smothies and lattes at baskin robinsons, acting like tourists by going to the little amish theater and watching 'jacobs choice', and the list could go on!! i must say that i really did get tired of all the driving and hopefully i wont have to drive that far for a long time! flying is def a much better option! at the time we are getting ready for rudys. they are coming this weekend which is really cool!! cant wait! o about a month ago we went to mt to visit my relatives out there. we were gone about a week. that was also a blast but there again lots of driving involved!newaz i gtg.

P.S. our school starts in two weeks from monday.....where did the summer go too?? aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

heres a pic of my little cousin justin and me. he was my little buddy while we were in montana

I wanna start it over
I wanna start again
I want a new a new beginning
One without any end
I feel it inside
Calling out to me

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Singing love will take us where
Something's beautiful
I've heard it in the silence

Seen it on a face
I've felt it in a long hour
Like a sweet embrace
I know this is true
It's calling out to me

It's the child on her wedding day
It's the daddy that gives her away--Father
Something beautiful
When we laugh so hard we cry
It's the love between you and I
Something beautiful