40 years --- yee-haw!

Last Thursday evening, we celebrated Orlan & Carol's 40th wedding anniversary in true cowboy style! Earl & Dixie, along with David & Kate, were our gracious, western hosts with a wonderful "chuckwagon" meal, great stories, and songs. Enjoy the pictures...

The food was so yummy...if you've ever experienced a Dixie meal, you can definitely relate! Beef brisket, smoked ribs, potatoes, dips and several kinds of dessert all left us very full.

Our wonderful hosts & hostesses

The little buckaroos had great fun playing!

Perhaps the more amazing event was the whole family was together!

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom & Dad Miller...we love you!

Milwaukago at Christmas time

Last weekend Arlan and I had the pleasure of traveling to both Milwaukee & Chicago for kind of a Christmas get-a-way weekend. While we love the holidays with family & friends, it was great to just spend time with each other - no students, no grading papers, no real responsiblities...just enjoy the cold weather, pretty lights, beautiful decorations, and lovely Christmas music.
It was a truly magical weekend! Read on for more details...

Our motivating factor for our Christmas weekend was to visit a friend of ours, Richelle. Originally from Phoenix, Richelle landed an intern position with Milwaukee theater and was in A Christmas Carol (very holiday appropriate). It was so fun to catch up with her at lunch before her aftenoon performance. Here she is with Arlan before the show...

...and here she is after the show. It was a great performance!

One of the funniest things one can see during Christmas time - while in downtown Milwaukee we saw all these Santa Clauses on bikes! Not just a few, but several dozen...it was so fun to watch the pedestrians light up with a smile as they passed each street corner waving and shouting "Merry Christmas"...and yes, there was definitely lots of snow in Milwaukee they maneuvered around!



"The Fonz" and I in downtown Milwaukee :)


From Milwaukee Saturday afternoon, we then headed to the crazy hectic city traffic of Chicago...it literally was some of the worst traffic I've/we've experienced. Here are the beautiful decorations and window fronts of Macy's on State St.

Next up ice skating at Milennium Park...Arlan has always wanted to take me here and although neither of us are the best skaters, it was super fun!

After ice skating, we ate brunch at the lovely Grand Luxe Cafe where their hot chocolate is pretty amazing (thanks to a Ms. H.P. for introducing us to it)...they melt real Godiva chocolate into their cocoa! Arlan couldn't hardly drink it without getting his nose frothy :)

fall football

As the sports lover I am, it has been fun to spend the past several weekends traveling and attending football games! The first two pictures are from the Illini v. Ohio St. game Arlan and I attended with Brandon & Sonia-thanks for the wonderful treat & great catch-up time. We had a great time, even if the Illini didn't :(

The second game we attended was the weekend before Thanksgiving as my cousin Cody Doorneweerd led my good ole West Lyon Wildcats alma mater to the state final game. Cody, their quarterback, led them to the runner-up trophy. The game ended 3-0 in favor of the opposing team...it was a heartbreaking loss, but nevertheless, Cody was my hero of the day and I was proud to be his cousin! We love you Cody!

Wildcats (in blue) get ready to kick-off...Cody is #17

2nd half warm-ups


The Doorneweerd clan to cheer on Cody!
(my nephew Levi, brother-in-law Mike, my sister Emily, and in back my brother Adam & his finance Erika)

beautiful, beautiful Boston

Arlan and I enjoyed a quick weekend get-a-way (very quick...like Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) to Boston, Massachusetts. While the weather here in the Midwest had turned quite chilly, the East coast was still balmy & had retained its beautiful fall colors. We enjoyed the history of Boston, its unique buildings, old churches, cemeteries (Arlan loves photographing them...kinda bizarre, but surreal), Freedom Trail, the parks, the harbor, some wonderful seafood, and just good relaxing, travel time away from school and commitments. Below are some pictures (bear with me, I posted quite a few)...enjoy!

beautiful Boston Common

Arlan's first lobster

this old church was found near Commonwealth Ave. and had the most interesting ivy & foilage growing up it's sides

ya know how you've never visited a place, but have envisioned "what it should look like"?...the picture below is what we envisioned Boston to be :)

Mr. G. Washington overseeing Boston Common

These tour guides were fairly common; here is Mr. Ben Franklin...if only, if only women could do this...I'd sign up in a heartbeat!

This was fasinating to see...I've read books but being the visual learner I am, it was amazing to see exactly how they build huge ships, navy vessels, etc. This was found at Charleston Harbor where Old Ironsides is located.

Arlan's uh, "Boston Tea/Coffee Party"....ah, so historic!

Boston Long Wharf Harbor

Below is Old State House...here was where Boston citizens first heard our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

So behind...

at one point this past week, I actually thought "I'm SO far behind in posts, SO much has happened, and our lives are SO chaotic, should I even try & catch up?"...

yes, we don't have any kids, our families live a bit of distance away & yet our jobs and commitments have seemed to engulf our lives. Here is my attempt to update:

Oct. 24-25: we spent the weekend at East Bay Camp for Jr. High Boys & Girls' Camp. The theme was Praise and it was a great time; however, Arlo and I aren't quite the young punks we used to be and last Sat. night found us catching up on our sleep by going to bed early!

Oct. 31-Nov. 2: we hosted a Halloween/Fall/Lindsay party weekend! Costumes, games, food, and laughs were great!

Costumes included:
our biker & farmer boy (aka Tony & Eric)

Holly as "leftovers"

Tricia as "old lady" and Josh as "Methuselah"

Taryn as "I-Pod" guy

Games included: the "sign game"...quite the hysterical game!

speed Scrabble

Mancala

and last but certainly not least...the noun game featuring Lindsay with a great charade of Arlan's noun, the great Native American Sitting Bull...enjoy!