Elise's First Laugh!

Today Heather went to a group of other mothers and Elise laughed for the first time. The shocking part was it wasn't a little giggle like you'd expect. She flat out belly laughed! So later on in the evening when I was home, our friend Jeffrey came over to pick something up and he asked to hold her for a minute. While he was holding her she just started laughing like crazy. Heather busted out the video camera and this is what we got:

3 Months Old!!

Woo hoo! Two posts in one day! Today is Elise's three month birthday. We celebrated by having a little photo-shoot with mainly her and mommy. Here it is!



Here's Elise with Daddy all slicked up heading to a job interview!



Here's Elise and Mommy on Mommy's birthday





One of Elise's favorite things to do is talk on the webcam with her relatives. Here she is webcamming with Grandma Ellen and Grandpa Dave




Elise says "Thanks auntie Maureen and Uncle Danny for the cool chair!"

WE HAVENT DISAPPEARED!!

I realize we've been draggin on doing posts. We have had a lot going on. The big news is that God provided a job for me right here in Grand Rapids. I have been looking for a job as a flight instructor to build flying experience before applying with Mission Aviation Fellowship. I had applied to every school I could find in Kansas City and in Phoenix. We really wanted to be closer to family while I worked as a flight instructor. About a month ago we set out to Kansas City (when Heather began to feel comfortable traveling with Elise) and I visited every school in the area personally. It seemed to be going so well making contacts in person that I decided to go out to Phoenix for a week and do the same thing while Heather stayed with her family in Kansas City. I visited just about every single school in phoenix (over twenty of them). After all that, it was clear that nobody was hiring because of the economy. I got a phone call from the one place in Grand Rapids I applied to (the only school I know of here besides S.M.A.T. where I did my training), and they interviewed me and hired me. It is a very nice company called Paramount Aviation and they hired me as a flight instructor to replace one who is leaving. The major blessings is that it is enough pay for us to live off of (which is actually hard to find at times in aviation) and it will be very good experience as I train up private pilots! And not to mention I get to fly very new and modern aircraft, called "Diamond" aircraft. I'll put a picture of a DA20 below (the kind I will be flying mainly:









So we are going to be around Grand Rapids a little longer than we thought. We are partly sad because we thought we were going to get to live near family for a little while. At the same time though we are thankful to get to stay here in Grand Rapids a little longer around the people we have gotten to know and to get to enjoy the awesome Michigan summer after enduring that long winter!!



Heather made a slideshow of some recent pictures of Elise and I will put them below.

Camera Phone Moments

Do you ever have one of those "shoot I wish I had my camera!" moments? Recently I've had to use my camera phone for lack of better camera, and while the quality isn't the best, you gotta work with what you've got! So here's a few of those:

A really funny pin I saw in my mom's car, you can't really read it but it says "DRINK COFFE do stupid things faster with more energy

Out in Phoenix last week I could hardly miss a sunrise or a sunset.  And I was just bummed that I didn't have my camera because they were so amazing.  Much more "sweeping" than Michigan sunsets.  Almost every morning I woke up early to go jogging and enjoy the sunrise, and went on a walk to enjoy the sunset.  Here's a couple shots I took with the phone.





When my sister Kelly showed me her new truck, I almost fell over when I saw her trying to get into it.  Such a little girl and such a big truck!


I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a picture with Zach from High School Musical.  I didn't really know who he was, but Holly (I think it was) said Madison would be jealous if I got my picture taken with him, so I went ahead and did it.  I meant to email it to Madison but never did.  Oh well.  Maybe she will check the blog!

When we visited our friends the Reimersmas last fall we went on a beautiful boat ride on the lake they live on.  I really wish I had a camera because the scenery was like something out of a magazine!  And the third picture is little Anna waving at me.

When Heather and I visited my mom and step-dad in Carlsbad, California last September, we saw one very amazing sunset while walking along the beach.  This was definitely one of those where pictures don't do it justice.