The Month of August

Well, August went by so fast. We started out the month by taking a little road trip to escape for a couple days. It was our 2 year anniversary on August 1st, so we wanted to just get away and relax. Byron found a drive-thru safari park called The Wilds, near Zanesville. So we enjoyed a day riding around seeing all the beautiful animals and country scenery. The camels came right up to our bus, and the giraffes, cheetahs and zebras were breathtaking. We had a great time taking LOTS of pictures...



We found a wonderful Bed & Breakfast called Whispering Hills in Dresden, Ohio. Dresden is the home of the Longaberger basket factory. The town is overflowing with baskets... but that's not why we went there. When we found the B&B online, it was perfect because it was a private cabin by a pond. It was also on a farm filled with exotic animals- that we took lots more pictures of. For breakfast, we just went to the main house and the hostess served us in her "Breakfast Nook."It was really nice because we were able to catch up on some resting & reading. We sat on the rocking chairs on the porch of the cabin each night to read. It was romantical. We did venture into Dresden to check out what all the hype is about those expensive baskets. There were shrines to baskets everywhere, including the World's Largest Basket and a Disneyworld-like area(complete with a giant basket of apples) beside the factory where people come from all over to buy... baskets. It wasn't the most exciting trip, but it was definitely relaxing. Plus, we learned about basket weaving!




When we returned from our little vacation, we jumped right into the 24 Hour Theatre. For 3 years now, Byron and I along with our friends Ben and Sonja, have organized the event. To sum it up- we create a complete show within 24 hours. Everyone meets on Friday night, determine what actors, directors and writers are on which team... then the writers stay all night to write 10 minute plays- actors and directors come in the morning, rehearse all day- then the curtain goes up at 8 that evening. It's so much fun!! We enjoy planning and organizing it, and this year it went really well. We had a lot more actors show up to participate. Byron was one of the directors. Hollie was on a writing team. It turned out that Byron ended up directing the play that Hollie's team wrote. All of the teams did a great job this year in performing and writing. It was close competition, but our play won People's Choice for the best play. Ben's play usually wins, so it was nice to beat him for once. We still love you Ben!!



Byron has decided to work for Flixster full-time for now. It is nice to work from home and make his own schedule. Plus, it is great since gas is so expensive. The best part is that we see each other every evening for dinner now. He quit Regal, so no more late nights at the movie theater- unless we go to see a movie! Yay! He also wants to get involved in community theatre, so he auditioned for a play. He wasn't chosen for the part, but he's made some contacts.

Check out www.flixster.com



We've also decided to start working out and joined our local recreation center. It's a Natatorium including a gymnasium, weight room, cardio circuit, running track, racquetball courts, 3 swimming pools, water slide (indoor), spa, saunas, kids workout center, and best of all a Subway restaurant inside. Byron just wanted to have unlimited access to the water slide. Hollie actually exercises... or tries to. Ha Ha!

80's Party

Our friends Ben and Sonja had an 80's Party the other night. Everyone went all out to dress up in their favorite fashions of the decade. Hollie was ecstatic that she found a pair of stone-washed jeans in her size at the Goodwill. Then remembering the good ole days of puffy paints, she created a New Kids on the Block t-shirt for her outfit, complete with bright makeup and huge hair.

Byron was a little more creative with his costume and decided to be a Rubik's cube. So, armed with a cardboard box, poster board, and construction paper, he made a hilarious costume. It took him a week to make it. He won a Chia Head at the party for the Most Unique costume.

Ben and Sonja threw a great party! It was a barbecue in their back yard and there was lots of tasty food. They also had an 80's trivia game and we played name that tune from the 80s. We had a lot of fun traveling back to the generation of our childhood/teen years. The evening ended with going inside to sing karaoke and channel George Micheal, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Queen, Aerosmith, Richard Marx, Micheal Jackson and all our favorite 80's pop stars. We had a great time!

Consultant Job at Flixster

I've had a profile on Flixster.com for a few months now to rate and review movies I've seen. It's like myspace specifically for movie fans. I had sent in lots of requests to add classic award winning movies to Flixster's database, and started trying to contact the people running it about a job. It's run by a small group of people and up until a month ago I was told they were not looking to hire more people in the customer service department. I kept on letting them know I was interested and tried to explain how my librarian skills could help their site. Finally, they offered me a part-time consultant job. Now, I'm a movie profile management consultant. To begin with, I was given the project of replying to the massive amount of messages sent by one Flixster user. I can correct or add details to movie profiles, add new movie profiles, or merge duplicate movie profiles. I can make my own schedule and work from my home computer. Plus I know I'll have fun exploring and researching movies all the time!

Byron

Geauga Lake

After Kristina's wedding, we decided to go to Geauga Lake with them. Hollie's other sister, Leanna and her fiance John were home for the week from Louisiana. Kristina's friends from Nebraska also came with us. We had a great time riding rides and chilling out in the sunshine. In the afternoon, we went to the water park to enjoy the Lazy River... where you just lounge on an inner tube and float along. Henry had a great time riding all the roller coasters and he loved the bumper cars. Little Henry really enjoyed the day there between the Kiddie Park rides and the water playground. He was exhausted by the end of the day. Leanna and John got a video from one of the roller coasters showing their reactions as they rode. It was pretty funny. Henry joked around that he was going to vomit on Hollie right as they got on the coaster... good thing he was just joking. That evening, we realized we had bright red sunburns. What a great souvenir from such a fun day! It was worth it.

What we did in June

Hollie's friend Kristin with husband Jeremiah and kids Gavin and Elia moved back to Ohio from Kansas. After they moved in, Byron had his first experience babysitting all by himself. Elia slept the whole time, so all he had to do was play Wii with Gavin. Byron totally forgot about the laundry because the Wii was so fun.

Hollie attended her friend Anne's baby shower. They don't want to know if it's a boy or a girl (they call it baby burrito), all the baby stuff has a frog theme. Hollie can't wait to have another baby to spoil, hopefully it's a little girl.

Weddings- Our friends Paige and Eric got married. Hollie was a Bridesmaid. They had a fun outdoor reception with great food and lots of music.






Hollie's sister Kristina also got married at the end of the month. Hollie was the Matron of Honor and Byron was the Best Man. She married Henry, a guy she met in Honduras. He has a son, Little Henry, who is six years old and full of energy. This is a picture of Hollie with Henrito at ChuckECheese.

We've tried to learn a little Spanish and Henry and Henrito are still learning English. They make a great addition to our family.

Kristina and Henry got married in a court back in February to get the paperwork moving. They had a wedding and reception in Honduras for Henry's family and friends in April. And so the wedding and reception here in Ohio in June was their third.

When they came up to Ohio before the wedding and stayed at our apartment for a couple days we went fishing. Byron had only been fishing one other time in his life, but he got the hang of casting out the line and relaxing in the breeze with the new fishing pole Hollie bought him. Henry caught a small fish that he wanted to cook for dinner, but we had to explain that our lake has a catch and release policy.

The month of June was so crazy busy, but all-in-all, we had a blast with family and friends. Celebrating these big moments in each other's lives bring us all closer. We are so grateful for all the people in our lives!

Hi, I'm Izzy. My parents say I'm crazy, but I just love attention. I like to play with balls on strings and pounce on inanimate objects. Most of the time I lay comfortable in this chair you see me in. When I watch TV with Hollie and Byron, I sit with my paws crossed. Hollie says that I'm "metrosexual" when I do this, but it's comfy. They're always laughing at me for some reason. Like the time Hollie woke up in the morning and found what I had done all night... I found this brand new ball of yarn and took it into their bedroom and played with it. It ended up all over the carpet and under the bed. This has become a habit for me because every time they roll the yarn up and put it away, I get it back out and play with it. I hardly ever drink the water in my dish. I rather enjoy drinking running water from the bath tub faucet. It's also fun to swat at the drops as they fall from the faucet. The most recent time Byron and Hollie were laughing at me, was when I found a straw from their cup and pulled it out to play with. Well, it got static and stuck to my fuzzy tail, so I ran around in circles trying to get it off. They hate finding things that I have chewed on, like Hollie's shoes or the dining room chairs or a clean pair of socks from the laundry. Plus, I love to lay on my back and chill out with my legs up in the air. I wonder why they say I act like a dog?

Oh well... Our days are full of love and laughs.

Countdown to Graduation

Okay, so Byron graduates from Kent with a Masters in Library and Information Science on May 12th. He's looking for his career to take off and who knows where we'll end up. I'm really proud of him for working so hard to meet his goals. This is another new step for us, as we are going into the black hole of searching for his new job. He is still working at the movie theater part time, which is nice since we get to see free movies!! But he really wants to be an archivist, so hopefully a spot is waiting just for him.