Somerville Update

Hello my beautiful family! I haven't posted in a while so I figured I would provide an update on the happenings of the Somervilles here in Chicago. But before I get to that, I wanted to mark Grandma's birthday (a day late) with a baseball story. Summertime always makes people think of baseball and this summer I couldn't help but laugh as I remembered Grandma. She always made it to a number of the Wingerter boys' baseball games. I grew up thinking, "Man, she must really like baseball." When I was older I finally asked her if she liked going to the games. Her response? "No, I hate baseball." I just had to laugh. But it also made me realize the lengths she would take to support her grandchildren. I continue to be in awe of that great woman.

And now on to our update...

In May, Shane graduated from Dominican University with his Master's in Library and Information Science. His parents, my parents, and Jen were able to come to Chicago to celebrate. It was a great time and fell over Mother's Day, so we were able to celebrate that as well. Shane has been job hunting since March but hasn't had much luck. We continue to keep our fingers crossed that something will work out, but extra "good vibes" and prayers are always appreciated.

In June we had the pleasure of traveling to Port Gamble for Mike and Melissa's wedding. It was great to see the family that was able to attend and so wonderful to have the whole Buyske family together, even with Harrison being born just days before. It was a great celebration and I'm so excited to have another sister.

I spent a week in Pittsburgh in July. The association I work for hold's an annual convention every July and I help coordinate the event and the educational offerings. I always enjoy seeing the successful outcome. And I was pleasantly surprised by Pittsburgh! It's a cool little city. We were able to take in a Pirates game as well.

August brought a quick trip home to Montana for Harrison's baptism and to pick up our car. We flew into Great Falls, had lunch with Shane's parents and aunt and uncle, got the car and drove to Bozeman for the night where we stayed with his sister, and then hit the road to Billings the next morning. We spent the weekend with Joey, Erin, Henry, Harrison, Mom and Dad. We were even able to visit with Tom and Jeanine. It was a great weekend and Harrison was a champ with the baptism - didn't even flinch when he was dipped into the font or had the holy water poured over him. We then had the "pleasure" of taking yet another road trip across the great state of South Dakota as we drove back to Chicago.

September will bring more adventures. We're heading to St. Louis to visit Matt, Kelly, & Co. for Labor Day. We're very excited to have them so close (5 hour drive)! Mike and Melissa are coming to Chicago and we'll head to the Notre Dame v. Duke football game. We're really looking forward to that. I'm taking a few training classes for work and we'll continue to job hunt for Shane. He is still working part time for the same company as me, so it's nice seeing him every morning. 

This summer also marked the beginning of our 5th year (!!) in Chicago, 5 years of Shane and I being together, and we will celebrate our second anniversary in a few days. Time sure does fly!

I hope the summer has treated you all well and good luck to those of you heading back to school, whether student, teacher, or administrator! I love you all and I hope we are able to see some of you during Christmas. 

Love,

Molly (& Shane)

State Parks, continued

Yesterday, Ann and I set out on another adventurous jaunt. We managed to visit three state parks. First, Tower Rock at Hardy Creek, then First Peoples Buffalo Jump near Ulm. We took a time-out for lunch in Great Falls with Connie, Mary, Jim, and Maddie. We then drove east to Ackley Lake near Hobson. It was a grand day with great scenery. We took a few back roads that we'd never been on, then headed home over Kings Hill and through White Sulphur Springs. We've now visited 33 of the 55 state parks. Onward!

Jake and Dee's wedding

It's been a week since we left Michigan and I finally have a few minutes to get a post on here about the wedding.  Our journey began on Monday August 8 from Billings.  We rented a 12 passenger van and loaded up Miranda, Ben, Sam, Maddie, Emma, Isaac, McKinley, Jim and I along with enough of our stuff for 10 days.  Vans are great for the room they have but the cargo space isn't huge.  Jim got pretty good at packing and unpacking since we had to do that every evening!
We attended a Twins game on Tuesday night.  It was a great night and it's kind of fun to go to a game when you don't really care who wins!  We met John and Jule Poirier for dinner at Notre Dame on Wednesday, toured the campus on Thursday and headed into Michigan and met up with Jake, Dee and Nick.  Nate and Chris (Jake's best bud) were also there.  We spent the night at Higgins Lake in Dee's family cottage then headed to the wedding venue on Friday.  Connie, Jan and Marc, and John and Ann also were in attendance.  The wedding Friday night was great, the wedding dinner perfect and the weather a bit rainy.  Saturday we loaded up a party bus and went to Lake Michigan for some photos then to a winery.  That was a fun adventure.  Saturday's reception was also a good time with some fun folks and good food.
We began our journey back home on Sunday and drove to Chicago.  We attended a Cubs-Cardinals game at Wrigley which was a great way for Isaac to spend his 7th birthday!  And the Cardinals won which was a bonus.  Monday we drove to Council Bluffs, Tuesday to Rapid City and the home on Wednesday.  Coming from Great Falls we tallied over 4100 miles in 10 days, hitting 11 states.  What a wonderful adventure for all of us.  I think Jake and Nick missed out for sure.
Here are a few photos from the weekend.
Congratulations Jake and Dee we love you and loved your special weekend!!

My car was voted best Corvette at the Kuna Days car show.  Somewhat of a proud moment.

All quiet?

Not much posting on the blog these days, so I'll update a bit. Ann is out east visiting her mom. A couple days in Akron, then out to the condo in western New York. Today, they went to Chataqua for a day of edification. A couple more days at the condo – maybe Saturday again at Chataqua – then they head back to Akron. We'll meet in Grand Rapids to drive up to Jake and Deanne's wedding – looking forward to seeing y'all there. Meanwhile, I'm batching it, taking care of some much-needed chores around the house. Music tomorrow at Benny's and on Saturday in Lincoln. Hope you all are well. Chime in with your own updates if you feel like it. Here are a couple photos – one of the siblings at the Family Picnic, and one of Abe in Refrigerator Canyon, where we hiked the day after.