Mason & Colton Balder

Below are pictures of our nephews, Mason and Colton Balder. Mason looks like his dad, Brad and Colton looks like his mom, Holly. Check out his curls :-)

Mason Balder

Colton Balder

A Special Gift

My sister, Amber, surprised Sarah and I with a special gift tonight. A picture of the three of us many years ago in a cute "Sister" picture frame. The bottom of the frame says - Sisters and over the word Sisters it says.....family first and friends forever....

THANK YOU SO MUCH AMBER FOR THE GREAT GIFT!!!

It was a total surprise. I am so blessed to have a great family!

David & Sarah's Birthday Celebration

Tonight we celebrated two more birthdays....David and Sarah's. David's birthday is the 23rd and Sarah's is the 28th. Scot and I gave David rolled up coins and gave Sarah a sweater. We had a great dinner followed by cake and ice cream.

Check out the cake....Yes, that is a baby stork on the cake. Amber thought since we were celebrating birthdays there should be a stork on the cake. Weirdo......

Afterwards we played a few rounds of LRC. Sarah one the first round and I won the next three!!! We all had a great evening!

Tristan's 10th Birthday

Our nephew, Tristan, turned 10 today. His birthday party was this afternoon and we celebrated have having cake and ice cream. His mom made him a cake which was a Nike golf ball on the green. Scot and I gave Tristan a saw, hammer, nails, tape measure, and a big box of scrap wood. Tristan received a lot of great gifts and I think he really enjoyed his birthday!!!

Derby Car

Today Scot was reliving his childhood by helping out our nephew Tristan with his derby car for Cadets. Eric, Braden & Tristan came over this afternoon to work on Tristan derby car. I think Scot had more fun making his own derby car and reliving the past!

Jay's Send Off

My cousin, Jay Hoekstra, has signed up for the Army to serve our country. He leaves this coming Monday for boot camp in Missouri. The same place our grandfather, Jay Hoekstra, had his training when he was in the army. Jay is excited and nervous for this new adventure in his life. Tonight our family had dinner at Rio Grand in Grandville to say goodbye to Jay and wish him good luck!

Our prayers and thoughts will be with him!

(Thanks Grandpa & Grandma for dinner. We missed you!!!)

Question for your weekend ---

If God owned a wallet, would your picture be inside??

Night with Friends

This past Saturday night I had my highschool friends over for dinner with their spouses. It was great to catch up with on another. We all live so close, yet with our busy lives it is hard to find time to get together. Thankfully our husbands have hunting in common ;-)

(Not sure what happened w/my camera....)

Bob that Head Tour - Rascal Flatts

This past Thursday Scot and I were able to go to see Rascal Flatts in concert at the Van Andel (Yes...my third Thursday in a row at the Van Andel) We had incredible seats, 10th row up - thanks Dad Van Dam for finding us the great seats last minute!! Jessica Simpson was the opening act - and yes, she was just as bad as everyone was talking about. I can not believe how terrible she was, you could not help but feel bad for her. She did have a mental break down on stage and stated at one point that she wanted to start crying and walk off stage but she was going to try her hardest to stick it out.

Jessica Simpson

After that painful, 45 minutes they took a intermission and changed the stage for Rascal Flatts. Rascal Flatts were SPECTACULAR!!! Their stage was in the middle of the Van Andel so we had great seats and were very close to the band! Rascal Flatts played for two hours and put on an EXCELLENT show. It was very interesting b/c when they were introducing their band all the band member where from Michigan. Jackson, Mackinaw Island, & Three Rivers. I am not sure if they get a new band in every state they perform in or if their band is in fact all from Michigan. Either way I thought that was pretty cool!! I also like the fact that the Rascal Flatts took the time to take pictures and sign autographs for the fans during the show. They seem like down to earth guys. They have great songs - "Bob that Head", "My Wish", "Praying for Daylight", & "What Hurts the Most".

Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney

Chris Tomlin Concert

Thursday, January 29, Scot and I went to the Chris Tomlin concert with Brad & Holly at the Van Andel in Grand Rapids. The four us had a nice dinner downtown first and then we enjoyed a fabulous concert! The opening act for Chris Tomlin was Israel & New Breed. That band had so much energy and had great up beat songs. Chris Tomlin was excellent even though he stated his voice was giving him some trouble. It is such an awesome feeling to be in a room with thousands of people who have the same beliefs and excitement for the Lord as you do. Thanks Brad & Holly for asking us to go!!

Israel & New Breed

Chris Tomlin