Labor Day Weekend in Estes Park

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend with the Overtons, Plattes, Sharifis, & Tops in Estes Park! Dave lived with Joel, Kenny, & Platte at Taylor, and then all of them also lived together after graduation in Colorado Springs. Sarah went to TU, too, and then moved to Colorado Springs....I stayed with her when I went to visit Dave out in Colorado Springs back when we were dating...needless to say, our roots with these friends run deep from Taylor to Colorado Springs! Kenny & his wife, Carla, are headed to Mozambique soon as missionaries with SIM, so this weekend was an official last hurrah for everyone to be together before they head out of the country!

Between the 5 families, we rented 3 cabins that were near each other at the YMCA of the Rockies. If you've never been there before, the YMCA is an awesome facility....great cabins, gorgeous views, and lots of activities to do! The guys spent time playing basketball & volleyball in the longhouse, & we also went for a great hike on Sunday morning...at least until it started raining! Our evenings were filled with huge meals and lots of board games...Yahtzee, Catan, & Last Word.


Best of all, though, was just spending time with all these sweet friends.... lots of good conversations. Since we're the only ones of the group who don't live in Colorado anymore, we especially enjoyed catching up with everyone.

After saying our good-byes to everybody on Monday afternoon, Dave & I were able to visit Grandpa Rinn in Loveland, where he spends his summers at an RV park owned by his sister & brother-in-law. Since we hadn't seen him since Jon & Kristy's wedding last March, we were so glad that we could visit him! We went to Perkin's for dinner, and then he & Dave spent several hours discussing woodworking projects...speaking of woodworking projects, have you seen our ticker at the top of the blog? Baby Boy Rinn was officially 33 weeks as of yesterday, & Dave's big woodworking project for his nursery is nearly finished!

Emily's Graduation Weekend!

We had a great weekend at Taylor celebrating Emily's graduation! We always love going back to visit Taylor, but this time was especially fun since my whole family was with us! I was able to have coffee with my dear friend Loralee, and Dave & I both had a great chat at Ivanhoe's with 2 of our music professors, Dr. Patty & Dr. Rediger.

The graduation was in the new Kesler Student Activities Center, and though it was long, we survived by eating the Ritz crackers Mom conveniently "found" in her purse.
We had a lot of fun laughing about other graduations...how my dad "ended up" meeting Dave at his graduation 8 years ago long before we were dating...how hot my outdoor graduation was (thank goodness Emily's was inside)...and, in addition to Mom's crackers, Emily kept us amused during the ceremony by texting updates from her seat across the arena. The Sounds (which is the vocal group Dave sang in & I accompanied for) performed during the ceremony, and we loved hearing them again!

After graduation, all of Emily's housemates & their families had a party at "the Mansion" (the house where Emily lived with her friends this past year). The weather was gorgeous, and we had a great time!!

Mom proudly kept referring to "her" three Taylor grads all weekend...'01, '04, and '09






Last meals at Cracker Barrel and Ivanhoes....what a great weekend full of lots of great memories!

Homecoming 08!

I am so glad that I was able to make a quick trip to Indiana for Homecoming! I flew in on Wednesday night, and Emily picked me up. We tried, unsuccessfully, to find the only Caribou Coffee in Indy, and after 45 minutes, we gave up and just headed to our hotel. We spent the next day shopping at Castleton (what's better than a day of shopping with Em?) and finally headed back to Taylor late in the afternoon...just in time for Airband!

Loralee and I went to Airband together. It brought back so many funny memories of Taylor! My sister's group, "Daft Punk," won 3rd place!

I met Dr. Rediger for coffee the next morning. We had a wonderful time catching up, and our hour together went much too quickly. I am always so thankful for what an amazing encouragement & mentor Dr. Rediger has been to me over the years.

On Saturday afternoon, Em & I made our first trip (of 3 for the weekend) to Ivanhoes...yes, I completely blew my no sugar/no grain diet for a mint chocolate chip cookie shake!

I drove to Ft. Wayne on Friday night to meet Michelle. After a great time catching up over dinner at FlatTop Grille, we went to visit her parents. I spent many, many weekends at their house during my time at Taylor, and I feel that they are my second set of parents.

Michelle and her husband, Jeremy, ran the Chicago Marathon this morning, & they were featured in an article in the Saturday edition of the Ft. Wayne Gazette. We read their great article while sipping coffee on Saturday morning!


I hadn't seen Stephen & Joy since their wedding 3 years ago, so, of course, we had an amazing time catching up over lunch at Cracker Barrel. How I miss these friends!

I also had a great time catching up with my freshmen year roommate, Sarah! We hadn't seen each other since graduation, which was much too long!


Saturday afternoon & evening was consumed with music major reunions...we had so much fun reminiscing our days in the music building together!
(left to right: Drew, Becca, me, Loralee, Stephen, Cat)


(left to right: Dr. Rediger, Dr. Robertson, Stephen, me, & Joy)


And, my trip ended with a very late night (only 2 hours of sleep for me!) of setting up a Facebook account after much persuasion--mostly from Stephen & Em!
I had so much fun staying at "The Mansion," the house where my sister lives this year! As always, the time flew by much too quickly, but I am so thankful that I got to spend these past few days with these friends (and Em!) who mean so much to me!

Countdown to Five Years~#1

This is the first picture of David and me together! At this point, we weren't dating, but we had spent some time together during his senior year at Taylor, which was my freshman year. This photo is from the annual pre-graduation banquet at Taylor. Several of my friends & I were hosts/hostesses for the banquet, and during one of my breaks, I went down to Dave's table to say "hi" and meet his parents...little did I know that they would someday be my in-laws! :)

Trip to Indiana

Last Wednesday night we left for a wonderful, though whirlwind, trip to Indiana! We went for Dave's brother's wedding; but in the midst of all the wedding festivities, we also managed to see a lot of friends!

On Thursday morning, we met my friend Becca at Cracker Barrel for breakfast in Indy. Becca and I were piano majors together at Taylor, and we haven't seen each other for 2 1/2 years. It was great to catch up and hear about her recent wedding! Even though Dave had to endure a lot of girl talk, he was pacified with his favorite meal at CB--the Uncle Herschel's special!

From Indianapolis we headed to Upland to visit our dear college choral professor, Dr. Rediger. Dr. Rediger is very special to both of us, and, if it weren't for her, we may have never even met! We had a delicious lunch with her at Ivanhoes, an Upland tradition.
We spent the afternoon walking down memory lane at Taylor, visiting with other faculty, and then going to Sounds rehearsal. We had planned to just listen in on rehearsal, but Dr. Rediger insisted that we participate in rehearsal. So, just like old times, I accompanied the Sounds and Dave sang with the bass section!

That evening we drove to Fort Wayne to visit my best friend from Taylor, Michelle, and her new husband, Jeremy! Dave and Jeremy had only met one time several years ago, so it was a lot of fun to spend time all together! Jeremy and Michelle treated us to a delicious Italian dinner at Casa Mare, and then we spent the night at their house.

On Friday morning, Dave went pheasant hunting with the guys. Even though it was cold (especially to us!), they all had a great time, and Dave bagged two birds!


In the meantime, I went back to Ft. Wayne to go out to coffee with Michelle, who had the wonderful surprise of a snow delay for her school! (Something we only dream about in Texas...)

Since Emily was spending the weekend with us in Bluffton for all the wedding events, I went back to Taylor to pick her up. I had quite an interesting lunch with all of Emily's friends in the DC. :) While she went to her last class, I was able to have coffee with my friend Loralee, who is now teaching voice at Taylor. We also hadn't seen each other in nearly 2 years, so it was great to catch up. Of course, our hour together went much too fast!


The wedding events officially started on Friday night with the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Grandpa Rinn came from Arizona for the wedding, and it was great to be able to spend time with him at the dinner!

Dave and his grandpa




me with my sweet sis


the newly enlarged Rinn family

Emily did my hair and makeup for the wedding on Saturday, and she and Dave also had the all-important job of feeding the bridesmaids lunch. :) The wedding was beautiful, and it was fun for Dave and me to be in a wedding party together! I also played the piano, so I spent a lot of time running from my spot in the row of bridesmaids back and forth to the piano. :)



Rinn brothers goofing off as usual


Kristy's parent's surprised her by renting a Hummer limo for us all to ride in to the reception!



The reception was a lot of fun, and Emily finally proved in person to be the dance maniac that she's always claimed to be! :) It was a ton of fun, but by the time we left at midnight, we were exhausted!

Jon and Kristy's cake was decorated with all their family and friends' names.


Dave and Mike giving their co-best man toast!


It was wonderful to spend time with Mom & Dad Rinn...we hope to see them again soon!

Here's Emily and me showing our fantastic moves on the dance floor!

What a fun weekend! We are so blessed with SUCH wonderful friends and family!

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

Since we won't be together on Valentine's Day (I'm about to leave for San Antonio for TMEA, and Dave is working out west), I thought it would be fun to pull out an old Valentine's Day picture. This is from Valentine's Day 2004, my senior year at Taylor.


We were still newlyweds, and my parents came out for the Taylor Sounds' annual Valentine Banquet. Of course, memories of the Sounds are dear to our hearts (no pun intended!), since that is where we first met!

Happy Valentine's Day!