....and More Family!

As my mom stayed home and recovered from surgery,

my dad flew down to spend Thanksgiving with us too!

It was great to be able to go out to dinner with him, and

to be able to spend some time with him!

My dad, me, and his granddaughter Laney

Nate, Dad, and Laney

My dad and his grandkids!

It was great having you down here dad!

We are looking forward to spending some more time together

next week for Christmas!

Thankful for Family

Thanksgiving week!

We had some very special visitors come!

Ben's parents took the long drive down to Texas to be

with us for Thanksgiving!

It was so great to be able to celebrate a holiday in our home with our family!

It was a busy week! With of course a lot of food!

Ben's parents near Galveston Bay

Ben's mom thinking of maybe getting on that cruise ship!

Like Father, Like Son!

Ben's dad strolling the beach!

What a wonderful photo!

I (Emily) wasn't able to make it as I was working on some school

work.

We spent a lot of the week running errands together, showing Ben's

parents where we go to church, relaxing, cooking, and visiting.

It was great to have you down here! We can't wait to see you

next week!

Hanging Out With Hudson

A while ago Ben and I went to Nate and Brooke's house for dinner.

Well, Hudson wanted Uncle Ben and Aunt Emmy to

come and play with him in his room.

He wanted us to sit on both sides of him as he picked out

different books for us to read.

He didn't want us to go back into the living room, just wanted

us to stay and hang out with him.

Too cute!

Grandma Holtvluwer was in town!

My mom was able to come down for a week in October to come and

visit and see her new granddaughter!

We had a great visit! My mom and I were able to go out

for a few lunches as well as have some dinners together!

Grandma Holtvluwer with her two precious grandkids!

Such a great picture!

My mom and Laney

My mom, Brooke, and I and Laney went out for a ladies tea!

Always fun hanging out with the girls!

It was great to have you come visit mom!...as always!!

Love you and miss you!

Zip-lining!!

On our last full day in Austin, we spent the morning on a zip-line tour!

We had such a great time!

Our group that we went with! We had two great guides,

and we also went with another couple, Jo and Joe!

We all got along so well and we had such a great time!

At the end of the tour getting a golf cart ride back!

I think that this is Ben!

Our group before we went down our last zip line!

Swinging in the Cypress trees!

Awww!

Way to go Stac!

Larry making it across one of the suspension bridges!

Before we started the tour! Anxious to get started!

More fun times for Ben's birthday celebration!

The next day after our evening at Hondo's, we

spent the day walking around downtown doing

some window shopping!

Stacy and I waiting for Ben and Larry!

This was the view from the condo we stayed at in Austin!

It was so beautiful!

We were on our way out to eat and had to take some

pics by this amazing sunset!

Stacy and Larry

Ben and I

Ben's 30th birthday celebration!!

So about a month ago I took Ben away for his 30th birthday!

I didn't tell him anything, I just told him he had to take 2 days off of school!

Finally before we left, I told him we were driving somewhere.

We drove 3 hours west to Austin, TX!

At a pit stop at a Starbucks, we ran into some suprise visitors!

Stacy and Larry Wibbeler!!

Everyone was in on the suprise, except for Ben!

He was pretty suprised!

We spent that night at Ben's favorite restaurant Hondo's!

We had such a great night!

Larry and Stacy!

Stacy pointing out the sweet table we sat at!

I wanted to take it home!

Ben and Larry pointing at the Hondo's sign before dinner!

Suprise visit!

More than a month ago, we were so lucky to be able to spend the

evening with Craig!

He had a week long training in Dallas, got done early, changed his

plane ticket to fly out of Houston!

After Craig drove 4-5 hours...we met up with him!

We went out for some great Mexican food and watched a movie!

He flew out early the next morning!

It was a crazy fast visit, but it was so great to be able to see him!

Craig and Ben at dinner!

Thanks for making that terrible drive from Dallas to see us!

And just like the movie we saw... "I love you man!"

Elaina Catharine "Laney" born October 1st

My brother Nate and his wife Brooke welcomed into the world

Elaina Catharine!

A beautiful healthy baby girl!

I am so happy for them!

Nate, Brooke, and Elaina- on her birthday!

Precious sweet baby girl!

Proud daddy!

Aunt Emmy and Uncle Ben

So sweet! I think she looks a lot like Hudson when she was born!

More girly of course!

Pics from this summer!!

Well, it's been awhile since my last post...been busy and getting a new computer and figuring this blogging out on the new computer has been a challenge as well!

While looking on what to blog on, I forgot about these pictures from this summer!

Ben's brother Josh drove down to TX with Ben!

We tried to give Josh a whirlwind tour of Houston while he was here!

It was so great to have him see where we live!

We went to the Johnson Space Center! This is one of 5 fuel thingys

on the back of this rocket! It was crazy huge!

Josh and Ben on the trolly ride through the space center in the 110 degree heat!

The boys looking muscular standing near the windy Gulf of Mexico!

We ate ice cream outside...but with the hot breeze, it melted pretty quick!

"Brothers don't shake hands...brothers gotta hug!"

Ben and Josh near Galveston Bay!

It was so great to have you down here Josh! The only thing that

would've made it better would be if Tamara came with you next time!

Grandpa Hertel's Farm

While we were in Ohio spending time with Ben's family,

we spent a lot of time at Ben's grandpa's farm.

Ben's grandfather had sold his farm and we had the privalege to

help him tie up the loose ends!

Although I didn't grow up on the farm, I heard many stories; and I

could definatly see how it was a great place to grow up and a great place

to make memories!

Ben, getting the birds eye view of the farm

Stuck's Cottage Weekend!

We were able to spend a great weekend with friends while up north!

We had great food, great friends, and not so great weather!

But we made the most of it!

Chai enjoying the lake too!

The guys focused in on "wake surfing"

they were pros by the end of the weekend!

Us ladies, well, we layed out in our sweatshirts and snacked!

Erin and Michelle

Stacy, Larry, Craig, and Michelle!

More "wake surfing"!

It was a great weekend! And hard to say goodbye to everyone!