dave huizinga + jennifer buist

school for me ended on june 12 so we quickly headed out to grand rapids, mi for dave and jen's wedding on the 14th. connie (a teacher friend from school) was nice enough to bring us to the airport late thursday night so that we could make it to michigan on a red eye flight. we were able to sleep on the plane which was good because that's the only sleep we got that night. friday afternoon i was able to have lunch with jen and sheri at brandywine which was so great! then later that night i headed to the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner which was very nice. i would highly recommend mangiamo! for those of you of you who live in grand rapids.

now onto the details and pictures from the wedding. it was a beautiful day for a wedding on the golf course-nice and sunny, but not humid or hot. michelle did our hair for us and we got ready in the ladies locker room at blythefield cc. the ceremony was held right outside the clubhouse and the setting was beautiful. it was a great ceremony and jen looked beautiful as always. dave and jen were so relaxed and i was so happy we could be there to celebrate with them.
here are some pictures for you to enjoy-there are many more on facebook as well, but here are some of my favorites.

michelle doing mrs. buist's hair
string players with shades

waiting for the ceremony to begin

walking with jen's brother, eric

waiting for jen to walk down the aisle

vows

mr. & mrs.

with sheri-my co-MOH

appetizers and bellinis

giving the speech/toast

they're next!

the bride's proud parents

three down, one to go :)

beckwith babes

my mom and dad looking so cute

they bottled their own wine...it was very good :)

my old roomie, mal and her boyfriend dan

Mrs. DenOuden's Class of 07-08

i had a very busy end of the school year, but it was tons of fun and my kids were so good. here are a few pictures to share in the fun that we had. i can't believe my first class is headed to 3rd grade! i'm enjoying the start of summer vacation and enjoying having a first name :)

memorial day weekend of 2008

this past memorial day we headed out to livermore to camp at lake del valle with other families from san jose crc. we tried out our tent that we got as a wedding gift and it worked very nicely. it includes a pet den off of one of the sides, something we don't plan on using for a pet, but it works nicely as a place to store shoes.
the ground was too hard to put stakes in...jeremy hauled the rock over from the river.

we shared a site with brad, karen and hayden and we had a great time. we even enjoyed a huge breakfast with brad, karen, jacob, and suzie on sunday which was so good.
hayden in her snowy day jacket


it was a bit rainy and cold over the weekend, so on sunday after pastor al's sermon we went with jacob and suzie to check out some of the local wineries. we had a good time and picked up a few bottles to add to our collection.



i loved the inside of this place...so classy
we look forward to heading back again next year!

may and june whirlwind

I know I haven't been posting lately, but now that school is over and we've returned from the wedding extravaganza of 2008 I hope to be a much more frequent blogger. I plan on posting about Memorial Day weekend camping, the end of the school year, Dave and Jen's Wedding, our 1st Anniversary, and Dan and Jennifer's Wedding. There might be a few more posts in there...maybe I'll even tell you about the pine cone of death...you'll just have to keep your eyes open. :)

watch out for the silverback

about a month ago my class went to the san francisco zoo. i have yet to do a post about it, so here it is. we had a fun time touring the zoo with our docent and really enjoyed the many things we were able to do and see. you can get closer to any animal than i ever have before at a zoo. it was very cool. here are some of the pictures from our field trip.

listening to the docent as well as telling her about the tiger attack that happened at the zoo over christmas. she was very aware of it and very sorry it happened.

checking out the giraffes and a few other animals

my what a long tongue you have there!

let me introduce you to the silverback...a very protective male gorilla. don't mess with him.

this is his "i'm going to come and lunge my body at the protective window and scare all the children" pose. let's just say the kids were a bit nervous after that. have no fear, all my students were safe and remained quite calm. i on the other hand was hysterical and worried that the kids would be freaking out.

getting closer to the flamingos than i ever have before. this is the only bird that i like. all other birds disgust me to no end and freak me out. just ask the parents on the trip about my love of seagulls.

oh yes-this is a grizzly bear. it was very cool to see behind the glass.

some of my munchins-they are looking into the sun a bit which is why they are so squinty.
a polar bear in california. this guy has quite the life :)more of my students at the exit.