Monday, August 29, 2011

An Ohio Wedding

It's official - all the Yoder children are married off. We spent this past weekend celebrating the wedding of my brother Ben and his new wife, Heidi, at her home in central Ohio. Everything went off so beautifully and it was a special time. Considering that a large part of the country was in the midst of a hurricane, we were very fortunate to have perfect weather. In fact, in the evening, it was actually chilly at the reception! But we would take that any day over a hurricane.

I know my cousins Dave & Heidi, the official photographers, will have some gorgeous photos, but here are some of mine from the weekend.

The reception was a tent in an open space surrounded by corn fields.

Ben worked hard to use hundreds of mason jars around the reception. These were hanging on shepherd's hooks while others had flowers and some were strung up in the trees with candles.

My parents worked so hard with Ben and Heidi to make the tent look beautiful. All their work paid off because it was!

Logan and I were very happy to get a new sister

My stylish parents next to the getaway car

Next to the bride and groom, these two were the stars of the show. Liam and Heidi's niece Bailey were the official ring bearer and flower girl. The wagon had a little sign on the back that said "Here comes the bride." Thankfully neither baby cried down the aisle!

Again, we look washed out, but here's our happy little family

Away they go!

Waiting for pictures to start, we snagged this one with two of three daughters

What a happy, handsome baby! He did a great job all weekend.

Cupcakes!

Wedding details Ben came up with - the chalkboard menu and mason jars in the trees.

Ben and Heidi love games so the whole evening had a game theme. The table numbers were various playing cards which matched up to this seating chart. They also used Scrabble tiles in little stands to spell out words like "cupcakes" and "drinks". So cute!

Love this setting and the shot

Just like Luke and Logan's wedding, we couldn't have made it through the day without Mimi and Boppy to help take care of Liam. They were my heroes of the day!

A perfect evening in Amish country.

A classic brothers shot

The bride and groom were beaming all day. We love you guys! Thanks for letting us be part of your special day!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

One of our final hurrah's of summer was to go to an Indianapolis Indians (Triple A baseball) game on Monday night. It was an alumni event through Taylor which made it even more fun because they treated us to dinner beforehand and we made some new friends. The tickets were cheap and Victory Field is a cool stadium so we decided to make a family event out of it.

I'm so glad we did because we had such a fun time. Liam did pretty well, although we felt like we were back on the airplane once we sat in our seats because we had to contain him in a very small space while trying to keep him from touching other people around us. Eventually we got up and walked around and he was fascinated by everything. It was a perfect evening for a baseball game and for visiting with other alums. We even met a couple who had lived in the same house in Upland we did when they got married. It was a very surreal moment where we reminisced about the sloping floors and drafts through the windows...

It was a good way to end our summer and welcome the new semester that is upon us. Rob and I had our "here-we-go-with-a-new-semester" date tonight and we both said how great it was, but how fast this summer went. We're ready to get started though so I think it will be good.

It was the perfect summer evening for a baseball game

This photo looked a lot better right off my camera...we both look orange here!

That's better - my favorite boys.

On our way home

These next two have nothing to do with baseball. They are bonus. :)

Being silly with papa

Anyone who remembers when the New Orleans Saints beat the Colts in the Superbowl (boo!) may think that Liam looks like Drew Brees' son when he came out on the field with headphones on. So cute.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Liam the orchestra conductor


It appears Liam is an aspiring orchestra conductor. He does it with such gusto! He gets a little distracted from his job at this age, but he seems to have a handle on it.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

At the Fair

Rob was invited to play drums with his friend and fellow Taylor graduate, Joe Paulson, at the Indiana state fair Friday night. Last summer, Rob and Joe and some other guys recorded an album, and since then, Joe has been getting more local publicity. He was invited to play at the free stage (no, not the one that had the tragic collapse last weekend) and was kind enough to invite Rob to play too.

We decided to make a longer day of it since Rob had to practice with the band before the evening concert. I spent the afternoon with my friend Adrienne and her kids since they live just a few blocks from the fair. It was nice for Liam to nap there and we got to stay out of the heat too. Later, we went over to the fair and met Rob's parents who had made the trip over for the evening.

Since we'd never been to the Indiana state fair I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but a friend told me I would get to see "Indiana in all its glory." And that was pretty true. All kinds of people, costumes and of course, deep fried everything. Deep fried Kool-Aid seriously? We did not sample that thankfully. I did however have a delicious tenderloin sandwich and Rob had a fried Twinkie. My friend Jessie who came for the concert, also had the "doughnut burger" which as one would imagine, was a bacon cheeseburger stuck between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts. She said it was really good actually, sweet and salty together.

Fried food aside, the concert was great and the guys sounded good together. Liam was unusually quiet for him, but I think he was taking everything in. Once we got in the car later he "talked" a lot and had a hard time sitting still in his seat. I think he was processing everything he'd seen to us. He enjoyed some good time with Boppy and Mimi and even got to eat part of a fruit smoothie, a highlight for the kid who loves to eat. Unfortunately we didn't have time to see the animals, but I think he would have liked that. I would say for our first fair experience it was a good one!

We skipped this part of the fair. It looks very crowded and overwhelming!

The Joe Paulson band gets ready to rock

Liam is not sure what to think about everything

"Helping" papa sound check his drums

It was a treat that Chrissie and the Duncan family and Jessie came out to see us

Yea, we're with the best drummer ever!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

"I want more!"

I'm so glad I got out the video camera today to capture this moment. Since we taught Liam the sign language for "more" he uses is very well, especially when Cheerios, yogurt, and oh, yea, every other kind of food is nearby! Enjoy.


Monday, August 15, 2011

Liam | 10 Months

Clearly it is several days past Liam's ten month birthday, but we're committed now to taking these photos through one year so I thought I'd still post them. Even though it is a major chore to get him to sit still and get a decent photo!

Before the sign was spotted...

Spotted... "How fast can I get to that?"

"I want it papa!"

"I'm almost there!"

"Got it!"

After Liam was distracted with things that are not toys, we got this photo too. You can see the sign damage from earlier.

Sorry to all the Philly fans, this kid is half from Cincinnati too! Liam loves his drum too, just like his papa.

We are having so much fun these days with Liam. He is almost walking, but he still hasn't quite figured out how to get every body part in coordination with the others to move forward without holding on to anything. He is fast though at crawling and cruising on everything so he doesn't have any trouble getting around.

He is starting to communicate a lot more with us and "talk" to us. Often, he gives us looks that seem to say, "I'm talking to you, why can't you understand what I want?" He doesn't get frustrated though and most of the time it is just baby babble. He has learning to sign "more" and "all done" which he uses fairly well. He also understands very well the sign for "eat". The kid l o v e s to eat! He eats almost anything I put on his tray and would much rather feed himself than be fed, especially if baby food is on the other end of the spoon. Today he picked all the green beans out of a pile of white beans and avoided the white beans. He definitely knows what he likes! Fortunately for us that is almost everything.

He also understands many words and loves to listen to music and play his drum. It is fun to watch him learn new things every day.

He is growing up so much and really becoming a little boy before our eyes. We've enjoyed having the summer to spend together as a family and going on vacations with our extended families too. For the most part Liam has been a traveling champ, but he is definitely more like his mama than his papa and he does better at home with his own schedule, sleeping his own bed.

Our lives are about to change again with Rob going back to school in a few weeks so we will see how things go. We will miss him of course during the day, but maybe it will be good for us to get on a schedule of our own at home too. Before we know it Liam will be turning one!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Cabin Life

We were home from Colorado for enough time to do laundry and repack before heading east again to one of the best places on earth - Slate Run, Pennsylvania. We make the exodus every year to spend time at our family cabin with arguably the best family on earth too. It was special this year too because it was Liam's first time to the cabin. We were also particularly thankful to see the cabin still standing this year after a tornado went through in the spring. A lot of trees around the cabin were down or damaged, but the little cabin hung on, probably anchored by love and lots of memories.

The weather was not in our favor this year -- a lot of rain and humidity. But thankfully for us we were inside the cabin in a tiny bedroom because of Liam so we missed getting soaked in our tent. (Sorry Luke and Logan for giving you our leaky tent this year!) We still were able to do most of our usual activities - eating, playing games, biking, eating, going to Wolfes (the general store nearby), eating, reading, playing in the creek, eating and having fun together. In total, there were 47 of us coming and going throughout the weekend so it was a packed house, but fun to see everyone. Liam loved all the attention too.

Hamming it up for the camera

The gang descends on breakfast

View downstream Pine Creek. The creek was very low this year.

A typical scene - reading on the back deck

Liam and Elizabeth were good pals all weekend

More pals on Liam's first trip to Wolfes

It was a memorable occasion.

In a few years he will be saving his pennies to go buy candy at Wolfes. It's a right of passage at the cabin. For now, I'm thankful he doesn't understand!

More friends

Such a big boy!

All the big boys gathering for a wiffle ball game

When the sun came out we went swimming. Liam had little water shoes so he could walk on the rocks inside his tube. As usual, he enjoyed the water.

The usual Sunday hymn sing

"I miss my bathtub!" There are only showers at the cabin so bathtime was in the kitchen sink. Liam was not really a fan of this.

Liam discovered he could push a plastic chair across the deck and walk behind it. I think it's time for a push toy for him!

Liam and grammy spent time dropping rocks in the water.

A big boy riding in the row boat with mama

Family photo in the row boat too

A peaceful, beautiful place