We're no exception

School has started for almost everyone now, & we are no exception. Every day at 7:00 I take Leah to Pat Thompson's who then drops her off at McDaniel on her way to work. What a blessing that is! Thank you Pat!!



McDaniel College in Westminster, MD




I have always taken Leah's picture the first day of school!















Leah was so excited with her new "school stuff"! Boy, the cost of paper & pens has increased DRAMATICALLY especially when it's a LAPTOP!








Dad has to see how this thing works. He always thought we should have one, but now I'm not so sure.





Josh's school day starts at 9 o'clock. We head off to the "school room" & get to work. You can't hear the phone or the doorbell back in that room. It's like soundproof or something. Weird.












Here's Josh with all his school books! What a load this year!




We have rules just like school.



























We start out the day saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. It hangs right behind Josh's desk.














Then it's time for a prayer & to practice our Articles of Faith. We keep them posted on the wall right beside Josh's desk.














Josh's school supplies- Every year he gets so excited to see what comes in all the boxes. It's like Christmas! It's so nice to see him excited about school!







This old white table that Josh sits at every day has a million memories. It was my mom's kitchen table since before I was born, then my sister's kitchen table, & now Josh's school table. It's hard to believe I used to sit at this same table & do my homework. Oh my, if this table could talk the stories it would tell.......











The art wall- I teach Josh everything but art, music & gym. Leah is his art teacher (she's an awesome artist), Pat Heiland is his music & piano teacher, & his gym class is at the Y with Miss GIna.









Miss Pat, Josh's piano teacher














Josh playing the piano at his piano concert.








Like everyone else, Josh gets tired come afternoon. He always keeps a big glass of water with him. The only breaks he gets are his lunch break & 3 minutes between each subject. Those three minutes he spends playing darts.


















He just won this dart board at the beach! What a great incentive it is.
Almost a bulls-eye, but not quite. Today he made three of them!!







And, this is ol' Mr. Reliable: the train clock. Josh received this from his Grammy & Pappy for Christmas. Every hour it "runs" & whistles. It helps to keep us on track.







The teacher, the one who learns the most just by spending her day with her children. Of all the things I do in my life, this is one that always helps me to feel the Spirit the most. Thank you to friends like Tina Pullen & Cynthia Mutchler for inspiring me to do it.

Appearances can be deceiving

Wow! We are back! Our family has always made it a habit to say a prayer before long trips no matter where we are going. This has served us well in the past, but not nearly as well as this trip. Yesterday morning Lonnie had a blowout in the left rear tire of the car. The previous night when we had gotten home from the beach he said the tire was losing air, & it looked like someone had sliced our tire!!! We had not realized that until we got home though & thankfully the blowout waited till he was driving slowly through town. What would have happened to us had we had that blowout going down 695 in Baltimore at 7o mph in 3 lanes of traffic?? Thank you Lord.

Sadly, our family is not very disciplined in reading our scriptures together like we should. But one place we ALWAYS do it is on vacation. We never even make it through the whole vacation, but we always start out our stay by reading the scriptures as a family. This might only last 3-4 days, but it has always brought the Spirit to wherever we were staying. For some reason I do not know, we didn't do it this year. We loved our condo so much & thought it was so lovely & clean that we overlooked the most important thing. Appearances are not everything. After just a few days I realized that "something was missing", but I just couldn't put my finger on it. When I realized what was missing it seemed too late to start or we were too busy or ................... No excuse is good enough. We had a wonderful vacation, decent weather, & hilarious family times, but something was definitely different for me. I don't even know if anyone else realized it. Enough cannot be said for the power of the scriptures & the Spirit they bring.

We're on our way!

Well, by the time you all read this we will probably be AT THE BEACH!! I am so EXCITED I can't even tell you. Well, I am telling you, but can YOU tell???

The first thing I look for every year is MY LIGHTHOUSE (okay, it's not really MINE). It's near 28th Street, & it's where Lonnie & I spent our honeymoon! It's beautiful & is so special to us! It was also way too expensive for our little budget, but we enjoyed it so much!















This is me at the lighthouse for our honeymoon. I'm taking a hair poll. Who likes my hair long & who likes my hair short? (I realize my hair wasn't LONG, but it was long for me.) LET ME KNOW!

















This is our wedding picture from the bandshell at Codorus. "Wind Beneath my Wings" (if that's what's playing now) was our family song. The three of us all danced to it at the wedding.

One day to go..........

I'm so excited for my friend Maren to see these pictures. She loves to take pictures of nature & of all God's wonders. Every year at the beach Josh & I go on the last morning to watch the sunrise. We started it the first year he ever went. It was probably his idea knowing Josh even though he was very little at the time. He & I take a walk on the beach collecting shells, running from the waves, watching the sea gulls & their babies, & enjoying the beautiful sunrise. Some years it is more spectacular than others of course. But these pics from 2005 were breathtaking. Afterwards, Josh & I always find a donut shop & enjoy our last moments at the beach. Watching the sunrise with him is honestly one of my favorite things to do. Every year as we walk I tell Josh, "Someday Josh, you will think this is silly & won't want to go with Mommy to watch the sunrise." His reply is always the same, "Mom, I'll always do this with you." I really hope that is true.

2 days to go & lots of memories of my dad

Playing in the ocean: The best free entertainment in the WORLD!! Life for Lori & her children would not be the same without the ocean. Lonnie could live without it, but not the rest of the family.

The ocean is truly in our blood. The first time I went to the ocean that I actually remember was with my sister, Amy, & my parents when I was young. I was completely mesmerized by it. My fondest memories were of my dad picking me up & holding me into the waves as they came in. I LOVED IT!!

During that visit, we stayed with my step-grandmother, Hilda, who was this amazing German woman. She & my grandfather owned this huge three-story beach house in Ocean City, NJ. They lived on one floor & rented out the other two floors all summer long. Even after my grandfather passed away she continued to keep it up herself. From what I am told, she was an opera singer in her younger years & even had to sing for Hitler!

My grandparents came here from Germany. But sadly after 4 children, my grandmother, Alfreida, died of cancer when my father was only 3 years old. From what I am told, many years after her death my grandfather returned to Germany where he saw Hilda (my step-grandma) performing when she was an opera singer & knew he wanted to marry her. Both of my grandmothers were amazing women. Alfreida was a very spiritual woman who used to read tarot cards. From stories that have been passed down through the family, it is said that she even knew she was going to die as a young mother & would not be alive to see her children grow up. How sad that must have been.

Later when I was a teenager I went with my cousins & my aunt to New Jersey again. I came home & told my mom I was hooked. My mom agreed to let me move to the beach the day after I graduated from high school. My friends & I all worked & lived at Phillips in Ocean City, MD. It was a short but great summer! This explains my fondness for not only the beach, but for Ocean City! (I know you have all been dying to know why I love the beach so much! giggle!)

3 days to go & Lori's WIPE OUT!.......

(Please click on all the pics to fully appreciate them!) Going to the beach every year tends to get me exploring for other things to do than just play in the sand. In 2003 we found this neat place called Frontier Town. This is a great place to take your children at the beach ESPECIALLY if you have BOYS!! It's set up like an old western town with a gunfight, a train ride, pony ride, can-can show & much more. Totally fun!




This is Lonnie & Josh on the train.







This is Angelia with one of the cast members of the many gunfights. As usual, Miss Cutie gets the attention of the boys.





Josh loved guns even then! He was told to SHOOT! I don't really advocate his shooting total strangers, just people we know. giggle!





Josh on a pony ride!







The cowboys had to pick some pathetic bystander to be a part of their gunfight. Wouldn't you know, it had to be me? This is me getting my "license to kill". Ready, aim, shoot! This is my "Wipe Out" at the beach!

4 days to go............

This was our crew last year at the beach: Brent, Leah, Lori, Grammy, Josh, Lonnie & Pappy! We had just gotten off of the Sea Rocket which is like a giant speed boat. It's a great way to spot lots of dolphins up close!!

5 days till the BEACH!!!

Every evening at the beach we go to the boardwalk. One of the highlights of the walk are the pics below.

Jesus on the Beach
It's unbelievable that someone created this from sand.. The man creates new ones each day, as the ocean washes away his work every day. His work gets better every year. It almost brings tears to your eyes as you think of the time he takes each day to do this, & the wonderful spirit he must have as he is doing it. It will be a sad day when this man is no longer here to do this. So many people truly appreciate what he does & look forward to his work each year.

Brent's first car!

Brent has his first car out on the road people! He & Angelia went to Delaware for a family gathering over the weekend. This was their first road trip in "Betsy". (That's the name I give to everyone's first car -giggle.) She was great! The kids managed to get there & back without getting lost, breaking down or running out of gas. All of which I have personally done. Not in the same trip thankfully, but I still have done. Thanks for taking good care of my daughter Brent!!

This is the other JOSH that I LOVE.....Josh Groban

Leah's girlfriend Sam, who she met at EFY, is here visiting. We discovered we both love Josh Groban. She just went to see him in concert. I am sooooooooooooo jealous!! ANYWAY, check out his video called "Lullaby". He wrote this after his trip to Africa. You must go to the music player at the bottom of my site & turn it off before playing Josh's video. ENJOY!! His voice is amazing. He is also the first song listed on my player. Click on that to hear it as well if that's not what's playing when you get on my blog.

You all have Dottie to thank!

I have wanted music on my blog for soooooooo long. (Well, only as long as I've had my blog - giggle!) It's probably the reason why I love those remixes so much. Anyway, my AWESOME friend Dottie (who introduced me to the church), and who is always doing something new to her blog, added music to her blog. I HAD to figure it out & tahdah.......I did!! Woohoo!! I'm so excited. Some of the songs are old & have a special meaning to our family or they are just songs I love!! If you don't like the music or need quiet you can turn off the player. Just scroll down to the bottom & push the stop button. I love music & it makes me happy, so happy listening. Thanks Dottie!!

Dottie & her family

Less than a month to go!!!

Well, we are counting down the days now till we go to the beach. It's getting so close I can smell the ocean. Ahhhhhh....

Check out this cool family at the beach a few years back. giggle. I miss that little boy.

More excitement for Leah!

Just wanted to shout out that Leah was accepted at McDaniel College!! I haven't posted about Leah in a little bit & didn't want this exciting announcement to go UNSHOUTED!! We are so proud of her. She is majoring in Biology/PreMed.


She has also decided to go back to dance & hopes to be on the college dance team next year. Her heart has always been in dance, & she is so excited about getting back into it. She had to go back to the studio & dance for the owner so they could see where she was at in her dancing. Even though she hasn't been dancing for over a year now her teacher put her into their Advanced competitive dance company!! I guess she didn't lose her "stuff". She will be a busy girl with being a full-time college student, dancing a ton of hours a week, working two jobs, substituting in Primary at church every week, & then still have time for that dear BRENT!! Oh my.......