Look what's growing around the house!

Both of these rose bushes were given to us last year at one of my wedding showers from Jonathan's family. His Uncle Don and Aunt Janet along with there whole family went in together to get us these roses. The yellow one grew pretty good last year and the red was a bit slow and worrisome. After the hack job we did on them last fall, they managed to bounce back like champs. The red roses are growing even bigger this year!!!

We have life!! Yes, I feel I am over coming the Swigart curse. Swigarts aren't exactly known for green thumbs (except for my Aunt Sandy who is president of the flower club). A Swigart yard usually isn't the prettiest on the block. But, I think I am having some luck with my garden. This picture is about 2 weeks old. So, the plants are actually a little bigger now. I think my corn will be knee high buy the 4th of July!! My tomatoes had me worried for a few weeks while it was cool. All the leaves had fallen off the plants and they only looked like sticks in the ground. But now they are bushy with leaves. In about another 2 weeks, we should be ready to tie them up. My cucumber seeds had some issues though. I planted 2 hills of seeds like I was supposed to. With the cool weather we had, they just didn't want to come up. So, I went to Walley World and found some cucumber plants. I planted 2 in the garden and they began to take off right away. Wouldn't ya know it, when we came back from Pennsylvania, 3 of my cucumber seeds sprouted through. That was a VERY hot weekend and apparently just what the seeds needed to start growing. We now have 5 cucumber plants growing. So, I think we will be up to our ears in cucumbers this year (Hopefully). If anyone needs cucumbers around about August, just give us a call!

Abe S. Yoder Jr. 4/9/1915 - 6/3/2008

This past Sunday Jonathan and I along with his brother Steve made the long journey once again back to Big Valley. A glorious stretch of Gods Country located in the Kishacoquillas Mountains of Pennsylvania. The small Amish town of Belleville was our destination.
This trip was different then any other time that I have gone with Jonathan and his family. This trip was to celebrate the life of Abe Yoder, Jonathans grandfather. Grandpa Yoder passed away in the evening on Tuesday, June 3, 2008.
To say that Abe was a well liked man in Big Valley is a bit of an under statement. In his 93 years, Abe had the pleasure of touching many lives, mine included. His undying love of The Lord was reflected in everything he did and to everyone he talked to. The last few months of his life were spent in the hospital or in the nursing home in Big Valley. Many people have said that they went to visit him hoping to cheer him up. When really, Abe was usually the one cheering up the visitor buy the time they left.
Jonathan and I both expected this funeral to be a big event in Big Valley. They weren't able to have the funeral at there own church because they knew there wouldn't be enough room. So they moved the viewing and funeral down to the Locust Grove Mennonite Church, which is also right around the corner from where he would be burried. We believe there were 500 to 600 people who showed for the 2 viewings on Sunday and about 200-250 that came for the funeral service on Monday.
The funeral service was absolutely beathtaking to say the least. Abe had purposefully chosen some of the songs we sang that day. With each song reminding everyone of how much he loved Jesus. I can honesty say that I have never heard singin the way I heard that day. The first song we sang was "The Love of God" and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the room. All 3 of Abes sons got up and also sang for the crowd, one of the songs being a song that Abe had requested. For those that came to our wedding last July, you were fortunate to see Abe singing with his sons for one of the last times.

The picture above really means a lot to both Jonathan and I. We weren't for sure if either one would be able to make the long hot trip from Pennsylvania to come to our wedding last summer. Somehow, they both made it and we were able to get some priceless pictures that will aways be cherished.

On the back of the funeral service program, they printed some quotes that were noted and written in Grandpa Yoder's Bible. One of the quotes written that I felt I related to the most was:

"Knowing about God interests us. But knowing God changes us."

Indianapolis 500

Last Sunday, we did one of the awsomest (yes I said awsomest) things ever. We went to the Indianapolis 500. I got the tickets in September and it seemed to take forever for the day to arrive.
The day started early. We were out the door about 7:15am because we knew we would have to fight the traffic. We exited off the highway in Indianapolis at exactly 9:00am and got about 2 miles down the road and there we sat in traffic. It took us 2 hours to get from where we were stopped, to our parking spot. We bought a prepaid parking pass, but we were very tempted to just part in someones yard, like everyone else. People were making a killing buy charging people to park in there front yard. But we carried on and waited for our parking lot to appear. Once we made it to our parking spot we headed out on foot. After shuffling through the crowd, we were sitting in our seats at 11:50 am. We then watched what was left and what we could see of the preshow.
Our seats weren't really the best, but they were covered and they had seat backs. We were sitting directly in front of the very last pit. The only great thing about our seats were that we could see everyone coming into the pit and we could see all the starts. The pace car would exit and the cars would step on it just to our left. Other then that, we had to watch the race up on the jumbo tron screen. If you have ever been to this track, you know there is no good seat. It is impossible to see the whole track at once.
When the race finally started, I was completely star-struck. I couldn't believe I was actually there. This has always been on my "to do" list. I have watched these guys and gals race for a while now, and now i was actually there. Even though I couldn't see there face, I was still star-struck. I spent most of the race trying to get pictures of Danica Patrick (only the coolest chic ever). I would definitely advise taking a fast camera. Our camera is pretty slow and became very hard to get the shots I wanted. Most of them were a blur and had to be deleted.
I would say that I am a pretty big fan of Danica now. When she got bumped on pit road and was taken out of the race, the crowd was on there feet booing and I had an upset stomach. I think a lot of people, like me, thought this could have been her year. I think Danica has really done a lot for this sport and will hopefully bring more women as racers and as fans. I plan on ordering my T-shirt soon.
Anyway, it became a long race with quite a few wrecks happening in turn 4 along with one right in front of us as his car slid sideways into the pits sending everyone scrambling over the wall. The race was finally over about 4:45pm'ish. We stuck around for a bit to let the rushed crowd out. We then started our shuffle back to the car, and sat there for another half hour. We finally got on the road and was still sitting in traffic for an hour. We got to my mothers house at about 7:30pm in Indianapolis, where she had a hot meal waiting for us. After the long day, a hot meal and a bed was just what we needed. Thanks Mom!!
I would definitely recommend this experience for everyone. I felt like a I was a piece of history that day, even though no records were broken. We plan on doing this again sometime. But for now, my nerves are still shot from all the traffic. So maybe this can be a once every five year thing instead of every year.
I can now add another CHECK to my list.


Danica Patricks "Go Daddy.com" car
Pit for John Andretti. One of the few names we recognized around us.
Buddy Lazier pit. directly in front of us. The very last pit.
That's us!!!!!!!!

Tony Kanaan (TK) being hauled back to the pit via wrecker. The crowd really

wanted him to win. Maybe next year Tony.

Sarah Fisher heading into her pit.
Buddy Lazier's first pit for the day. Wow look at these guys go!
This is the big start. Sorry, this is a bit out of order. The pace car just got out
of the way and the crowd was on there feet.

Another one out of order. They had a preshow. They had movie stars riding

in corvettes and all parts of the military marching in.

Milka Duno. Female racer from Brazil.
Pit rush hour. I couldn't believe how intense this was just watching.
Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves heading into the pits.
Ryan Hunter-Rae rookie year at Indy.

View from windshield on the way out. Gridlock.

A Little Late. I Know.

Well, we finally did it. After weeks of Jonathan being on the road and all the rainy Saturdays, we finally have our garden done. I came home from work on Friday and Jonathan already had the garden plowed and tilled. He tilled about 4 times on Friday and Saturday. We didn't take the grass off before we plowed, so the dirt needed extra tilling. Our garden is about 12' x 16'. Just big enough to give us 3 rows of corn, 3 tomato plants and 2 cucumber hills. I wanted to start small this year and wanted to see if I could actually grow something. I am a little worried about all the grass that was left. We pulled out as much as we could before we planted, but I'm sure some will still grow back. I'll have to be out there weeding as much as possible. Hopefuly, after a couple of years of compost and just working the dirt, the grass won't be as much of an issue
I'm really excited about our garden. The first for this city kid. If all goes well, I should have more than enough to share. I will keep you all updated.

And Then There Was One

Well, it appears our eggs have been relocated. However, there is still one remaining. It"s been about a week now that the nest has only had one egg. I'm assuming this is the one we named Alejandro. He's such a good boy.

Sadly I fear this nest has been abandoned. For whatever reason, this egg was left behind. I've been hoping another mommy bird would come along, but I think it's been too long. I guess I'll give it another week before we take the nest down. :(

We Have Company

It looks like we have company. The weekend before we left for Arizona, Jonathan walked out our front door to notice a bird flying away from our front porch light. He looked up to notice the beginnings of a birds nest. He went to get the broom and didn't hesitate to knock it down. The very next day, the bird was back and attempting to build the nest. It got knocked down again. So finally after the third attempt from the bird, we decided to just let it be. The bird was obviously determined to keep that spot.
When we returned from Arizona, we were curious if there were any eggs. The only way to tell was by holding the camera over our head and snap a shot. Look what we found!!! Definitely more then what I was expecting. Since this is the closest thing to a pet that we will have for a while (though temporary), I feel the need to look after them. They are now welcome to camp out on our front porch. Hopefully we won't regret our choice. Does anyone know how long it takes these things to hatch??
So now, we need names. What are good names for a four-some like this?
We will keep you posted on the progress of our new temporary guests.

Weekend in Arizona

On Saturday we were off to see my sister Wendy in Arizona. As soon as she and my 3 year old nephew Colton picked us up from the Phoenix Airport, we were off.
As we headed south, our first stop was in Tempe. We stopped for lunch and headed off to the Tempe Lake. They had a big local event going on on the lake/river. The best was the Cardboard Boat Race. Kids who had built there boats at school out of cardboard, and brought them to the lake to race. The results were based on who could finish the fastest with out sinking. Some of the contraptions were quite interesting and pretty funny.
After the scenic ride, we ended up finally at my sisters house in Florence. Approximately 1 hour between Phoenix and Tucson. Right in the middle of the dessert. Since Jonathan and I were so tired, we decided to cook out at her house that night.
The next day, we awoke refreshed and ready for a full day. On a whim, we decided to head about 2 1/2 hours south to the Mexican border town of Nogales. The town straddles the border of Mexico and US. We weren't sure if we could get in, but thought we would try. Once got there, we got out and walked. We didn't know where we were going, so we just followed the crowd. We finally reached the walk through border entrance. We could see the border patrol letting people in on our side, but we didn't see anyone on the Mexican side monitoring who was coming in. So, before we walked through the turnstile, we decided to ask the US Border Patrol what we need to get in to Mexico. He Responded "Nothing. But you will need a Passport or ID with Birth Certificate to get back in to the US side." UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. We were so glad we asked before we walked on through, because we didn't have either on us. Just our drivers license. So, we just spent our time walking around on the US side. There was plenty of cheap shopping. Before Jonathan and I left on this trip, we decided we wanted some good Mexican Food. So while we were wondering around Nogales, we were looking for Mexican food. Wouldn't ya know it, we were in a border town and not a single Mexican Restaurant. So we settled for the Baskin Robbins.
After a couple of hours of walking around Nogales, we decided to head back north. We ended up at a restaurant called The Cow Palace. This was definitely a themed restaurant, with everything you could imagine on the menu. Across the road was another place called the Longhorn Grille (in the pics below). Even though we didn't eat there, we had to get a picture.
We hopped back into the car and our next stop was in Tuscon. We stopped at a place called Old Tuscon. This is still an active movie lot. A place where they film old west movies. Unfortunately we got there an hour before closing time, so we didn't get to see all the shows for the day. But we did get to see one show that was a wild west bank robbery. After that we had to hustle through there to see everything. We rode a train through the park, rode some antique cars, and took lots of pics. At closing time, we just happened to be at the horse stable. They have HUGE horses that they were doing trail rides. There had to of been at least 20-30 horses in this stable. But at the end of the day, the employees hop on horses and prepair to guide the other horses to the barn for the night. It ended up being a running stampede through the town with all the horses following the guides. That was definitely my favorite part! We only managed to get pics of the horses before they left. We had already put the camera away, when the stampede started. We then headed farther north back to Florence.
This, unfortunately, is where our story comes to a screeching halt. Monday, was supposed to be our last full day there and we had a full day planned. But, at about 330am on Monday, I woke up out of bed to see Jonathan with his head hung over the toilette. At about 12 noon, that is the same place where I ended up. We both managed to catch a stomach virus. (no we didn't drink the water at the border) We were both miserably ill and on vacation. That brought all the plans we had for Monday to a stand still.
On Tuesday, we were headed back to the airport and only feeling a little better. Going home is the only thing we wanted to do but we were dreading the flight back. Our first flight was delayed so much that we wouldn't have made our connection. So the Airline sent us through Chicago to get home. With all the mishaps for the day, we still managed to make it home by midnight, within 3 hours of our original time. However, when the alarm went off at 530am, that is when the pain was felt. Jonathan had to drive 3 hours to work out of town and I managed to drag myself into the office.








especially beautiful view through the windshield

Border wall in Nogales
Border wall. Notice the people just watching through the wall on the other

side.
Walk through border entrance. Luckily we didn't go any further.
Santa Cruz County Historical Courthouse in Nogales
Even though we didn't eat here, we couldn't resist this shot.

Old Tuscon. An old movie studio where many western movies have been

filmed.
Old Tucson horses. Just before the stampede
Sorry, we had to have this shot.
View of the state park that Old Tuscon was located
View from Old Tuscon

FDIC "The Big Show"

He had to try it out!
Have ya ever seen a fire truck in the air??
He had to try the jumpseat too.
Jonathan with one of the Lion Apparel dummies
Isn't he handsome? I think the helmet suits him.
Anyone in the market f0r a $400,000 vehicle? Hey, they'll
even deliver it. Sounds like a bargain to me!!
The old Chiefs car

Sorry..........I couldn't resist this shot.

This past Saturday, Jonathan and I got to attend our first FDIC show. It's the world largest Firefighter and EMT training show. Lion Apparel had an exhibit set up which allowed Jonathan and I free entry. I was strongly encouraged to go to the show since this has been my first year with the company. I didn't have to work the exhibit. We just got to walk around and see everything. I was completely blown away buy how big it was. I think Jonathan was pretty impressed too. He especially loved the fire truck. The show was at the Indianapolis Convention Center and RCA Dome.

The show had everything a Firefighter and EMT could possibly need. They had all the latest and greatest in fire trucks (even custom built), ambulances, radios, uniforms, tools, tires, CPR even the jaws of life. They had demonstrations along with a fire truck simulator. I got to meet some people that I talk too everyday but have never met and even got to check out some of the competition .

We definitely had a great time. I can't wait to go back again next year. Except next year we will be at the new Lucas Oil Stadium. SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

On the Road Again

Well, all alone again. Jonathan is back on the road again with his job. Looks like this could be a while. All is well so far. This is the first week. Ask me again next week how I'm doing, I might have different story. I guess we will just have to make the best of our weekends.
We have 2 big weekends coming up. This week is "The Big Show" in Indianapolis. Next week we are off to Arizona to see my big sis, big nephew and my pint size nephew. oh yeah and my big brother-in-law.
I hope to have many pictures to share. Stay tuned.....
For now I guess I will keep this short and go busy myself. TTFN

B&B in Holmes County, Ohio

I realize I'm a bit late with this blog entry, but this past week I was being lazy with my entry.
So, last weekend we decided to take a quick trip to Holmes County, Ohio. For those that aren't familiar, it's the largest area of Amish in the country. We decided to stay at a bed and breakfast called The Barn Inn, which was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, that area wasn't exactly scenic last weekend. With all the fog we drove through to get there, and then all the flooding from the previous snow melting, there wasn't much to take pictures of. I think we may go mid to late summer next time, when there is more to see.
I was good about my shopping. the only thing we came home with was cheese from the Guggisburg Cheese Factory and a basket that I bought from an Amish girl alongside the road. Other then that, we had some great food at a couple of restaurants and just enjoyed the beautiful B&B.
This was my first experience at a B&B, and I was completely amazed. From the pictures, you can see that it is an old barn that has been completely redone into a B&B. There were 11 rooms all decorated differently along with a beautiful sitting room and dinning room. Paul and Loretta are the resident Inn Keepers and they are both very welcoming. They also made our breakfast on Sunday morning which included, stuffed french toast, a quiche-like dish, local sausage, homemade bread and cinnamon rolls. OH MY GOODNESS!! IT WAS AWESOME! I have posted some pictures of the inside and out. You can also go to www.thebarninn.com and see pictures of all the rooms to choose from. If you are looking for a few days away, this is the place to go. When we go back to Holmes County, I won't even think twice as to where we will stay.