CWAV - Spirit Lake, Iowa

Smiles - Smiles - Smiles

FUN - FUN - FUN

camping

hi everyone,
so vonda thanks so much for inviting us to camp this weekend! i had a ton of fun. it was so good to see all the cousins again. and i'm super excited for next year. i'm going to mark it on my calendar already!:) and i'm also getting excited to be at dordt next year so i can finally be close to all the vander woudes again! so i hope you can all come to some games so i can see all of you. and hopefully i can make some trips up to chandler for sunday lunches! hope you're all having a good week! love, jana

CWAV - Spirit Lake, Iowa

FUN, FUN, FUN - that is my opinion of the weekend. For those of you who weren't there the memories included an ice cream truck, whiz -bang- bounce, boating, good night hymn sing, gigantic marshmellows, getting rained on during a weird 10 minute down pour, Jess's Sunday morning sermon, boating, swimming, and according to Jason and Jeremy "getting lost" but I say "we took the scenic route and were never lost as we always knew where we were at just not how to get to the campground, and many many more fond memories. I will update nightly with a couple of videos and pictures from the trips - so stay tuned.

This is a picture of a "stepping stone" Jason, Heather and I made the weekend before in Adrian. We had to have a camping scene so of course we "Jason" drew a tree, camper and bonfire. We plan on making another one that has different memories from all out camping trips on it. We wrote down a whole bunch of memories on the way to Spirit Lake and it was amazine the memories that came back.

PLAYING "PIG OUT"

Jana and Scott thanks for driving the extra hours and joining us. It was great to have you on a camping trip with us. Jess, thanks for the use of the boat and I think it was obvious we had fun.

Also, going forward it was decided that the official CWAV weekend will be held the last weekend of June every year. I will obviously be camping more often then that and anyone is welcome to join me but it was so much fun having most of the cousins together that we decided to do it every year "just like Christmas". This weekend will not change and will always be the last weekend in June and whoever can make it can make it but that will be the one weekend everyone will shoot to be there.

More pictures tomorrow...

Vonda

CWAV --- Camping With Aunt Vonda

http://www.okobojicamping.com/index.htm

This is where we will be camping at and I have site 5 reserved for my camper and Jess and Darci will be taking their tent along and will arrive about 7pm Friday night.

The sleeping arrangements will be: Jess, Darci, Jana and Deidra in the tent. Scott and Jeremy will share the queen size bed in the camper, Heather and I will sleep on the full size bed, and Jason will have the table bed. Jana and Deidra you might want to take an air mattress for yourself to sleep on.

Also whoever has life jackets please take them along as Jess will be taking his parents boat to the campground for us to use. THANKS JESS!

Jason, Heather and Jeremy Grandma will be driving you to Adrian on Friday early afternoon where I will pick you up and we will travel on to Spirit Lake. Please take minimal stuff with you as I won't have a ton of room. (swimsuits, towels, ball gloves, basketballs, snacks etc...) things to keep you busy when we get to the campground. All other stuff such as clothes, coats, and food should be brought to Arvin and Delaine and Deidra will take it along with her. Deidra will be meeting Jess and Darci and traveling with them to the campsite.

Jason, Heather and Jeremy - Do not take lawn chairs as I will take all of mine and have them in the camper so no use having double. Other then lawn chairs ---- take your normal items.

I talked with Darci and they will take hamburgers/hotdogs and buns for everyone for Saturday dinner/supper (whenever we decide to eat) So Jason, Heather and Jeremy if you want tonka pie stuff you will have to take that along otherwise your items to bring are snacks for everyone: chips, elicorice, seeds, etc.... I will bring all items to make the icecream and I have stuff for smores. Scott and Jana could you bring 2 watermellons and some other fresh fruit.

Thanks everyone, should be fun --- if you have any questions just shoot me an email. Campgound info, directions etc... can be found on the link.

Oh yeah, everyone is responsible for their own beverages.

Love ya all, Vonda

Africa Trip

Hello everyone,

Our trip to Uganda, Africa was amazing. What an experience! I'm really glad I was able to go with Jana, but I will say after being gone almost 3 weeks, it does feel good to be back in the USA! Hard to believe the way people live down there. We are so blessed here in the US.

We got home Tuesday night at 10:00 pm and Den had to take off for a business trip to CA on Wednesday. He should be back any minute(Friday night at 8:30) It will be nice to finally spend some time together this weekend. Jody and Shane are coming in later tonight as well, so we are really looking forward to that too! We'll have all the kids home for Father's Day so that will be really nice!

Jana is going to be giving a short presentation Sunday night in Church about our trip.

Scott and Mike keep pretty busy umpiring games and doing odd jobs around the yard. It's nice having them around for the summer. It will be really quiet when they all leave for college and all their friends no longer show up. Oh well.....we'll be up in Sioux Center all the time any way right?! :)

Sounds like Vander Woude's and Schynder"s are keeping the Dooyma hotel busy. :) That's really nice you guys take the time to stop in and spend time with them.

Take care,
Arla

Special days for some of you.

Happy birthday Vonda--love you --- and a happy anniversary to Tony and Danielle --love you guys. May you all have a great day!!!!Dad and Mom/grandpa and grandma

test results

I went to the Oncologist today and got the results of my bone scand and Cat scan that I had done a week ago. The bone marrow and bones show no change which is good news and he said I will not have to have this followed up on again.

They have me scheduled for a 6month followup mammogram next month.

The tests did indicate that I have gall stones. He said I could live with them the rest of my life or they could flare up in a week. You just never know. So that answers the reasons in have thrown up in the past and had the sharp pains on my right side. He said just to be aware of it if the pains come back it is most likely the stones.

The other news is about the spots on my lung(s). I think it is on only one lung but I guess I never really asked that question. The spots have grown but are still to small to biopsy so I will have a follow up scan on this in 6 months. With my history he just wants to keep an eye on it till it is big enough to biopsy or stops growing.

So that is all from here... Vonda

hey everyone

Well there is not a whole lot going on here in chandler. my dad, mom, me and tessa hulstien are going to chelsea huenink and kent schaaps wedding in wisconsin so we have quite the drive. were leaving chandler about 5 tomorrow morning :(. im not really looking forward to this, but it will be worth it! im really excited that this wedding is here already. and for an awesome side-note to this little trip were staying in an amazing "hotel" known as Hotel Dooyema. lol its going to be a great weekend! thanks you guys for letting us stay!! i cant wait to see the house!!

I guess something else that happened today that is kind of exciting, tho kind of scary for some of you, i am done with drivers education! i have 30 hrs of classroom done and 6 hrs of driving done! today i went to sioux falls for 8 hrs with 3 other girls :( (very long day) and got to do a little shopping in between and it was alot of fun and not NEAR as bad as i thought it was going to be :). however i am still going to be plenty busy with 2 leagues and alot of camps that are still to come. along with working 15 hrs a week at the chandler grocery store. its quite an exciting job (kinda) :S lol.

My mom and i just can NOT wait for Zoe, Tony and Danielle to come back to chandler on monday! we all miss the little girl so much! my poor cat gabe doesnt get any attention when shes here so we're spoiling him now with extra treats and such bc next week all eyes will be on Zoe! haha

Well i hope everyone is doing really good! i cant wait to see you guys, whenever that may be. God bless and have a great day!!

Deidra

p.s- thanks den, scott, and vonda for stopping by last weekend for a day or 2!!

more camping memories

More camping memories.....

What happens while camping with Aunt Vonda

stay's camping with Aunt Vonda!

( until she puts it on the blog :) )

Precision driving...never a wipe out

I'll let the video speak for itself........ :)

Thanks for driving to Chandler this weekend Den and Scott. That was a nice surprise for everyone. Great to see ya again.

Arla and Jana - I don't know if you will get a chance to see this or not but hope you are both feeling better. Den has been keeping us informed as to how it is going. We will continue to keep you both in our prayers.

Vonda

camping hairstyles

This is what happens, when you are looking for something to do.

ROCK'IN THE 50's STYLE

I had fun with Heathers hair. We were trying to see how high we could get it but that wasn't working. So the result you see is done with one hair scrunchie and about a half of a can of hairspray.

It held up very well all afternoon and into the evening. She showered that night and shampoed it 5 times and conditioned it 5 times.

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!

more camping....

We (Jason and Jeremy) went fishing in the river while Heather and I watched and cheered them on. We got creative since we didn't have fishing rods or reels so we used a reynolds tin foil pan and literally "scooped" the fish out of the river. He got the name "Squirmy"

SQUIRMY FISH

Camping pictures - more to come tomorrow