Tobogganing!

In our couples Bible Study (aka community group), I (Sondra) am in charge of planning our social events. For February, we went tobogganing. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what tobogganing is, which I was before I experienced it, I would compare it to a roller coaster on ice. You manually haul your toboggan up about a mile of stairs (slight exaggeration), squeeze 4 or so people on, hang on for dear life to the tiny little handles that you see on the sides of the sled, and experience the ride of your life as you fly (screaming hysterically is a given) down an ice shoot. The picture below of the shoot does not do it justice. It looks much more steep in person and you feel like you are going down at a 90 degree angle. It's awesome!

And Most Recently...

Last week I took a quick trip to Kansas to visit our newest nephew while Chad held down the fort up here. Jonathan Henry was born Feb. 4. I had a fun time staying with Tanya and Keith, visiting family, and being Auntie for Andrew and Jonathan.

We also visited Grandpa and Grandma Nisly. Grandpa was having a good day and seemed to kind of know who we were and tried to talk to us. (For those of you who don't know him, he is suffering from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's). He had his 89th birthday last week!

If you are interested in seeing more pictures of this trip, just click on the Ayotte Family link on the right.

Catch Up Time

Here are some of the highlights of our married life thus far. Sporting events, camping, family visits, half marathons are just the beginning...

Our very first Thanksgiving was spent right here in our humble abode. Chad's parents and sister Cherise came to stay with us and I prepared my first Thanksgiving feast ever on my own (although Chad was a good helper and did make the sweet potatoes and pie crust).

Shanna (Chad's sister) and Kayla came to visit us the first fall that we lived here. Look how little Kayla looks! We were playing at the park behind our apartment complex in these pictures.

This is our community group from church. It's hard to believe we've been with them 1 1/2 years already! We also have another couple that joined us since then that is not in this picture. Our group has been great for us to build friendships and grow in our walk with the Lord.

This was Chad's birthday present (a year ago). We went to a Browns v. KC Chiefs game. It was FREEZING! And of course it went into overtime. The Browns ended up winning, and fun was had by all.

Last May, Chad ran the Cleveland Half-Marathon, which was a huge accomplishment! Mike, our Bible study leader, also ran this race. Jen (Mike's wife) and I preferred to observe instead of run, naturally.

Later that same May, we met Matt and Sarah in West Virginia for Memorial Day weekend. We had an adventurous weekend of white water rafting and hiking. It was beautiful there!

Mom and Dad Eigsti came to visit last June. This is us at the Ohio "beach" on the shore of Lake Erie. We loved having them visit!

I won a couple of Indians tickets at work last summer, and have gone to several more games since then. I must admit, Chad and I have become converted Indians fans! Go Tribe!

Last summer, we met Mom and Dad Nisly in Indiana for Conference and Chad got to meet mom's brothers and sisters who live there. Chad enjoyed riding Uncle Lavern's bike (or as Chad refers to it a "Menno Harley"), and of course we had to visit Goshen College to see the Eigsti Track and Field Complex, named after Chad's great great uncle who invented the seedless watermelon.

We have taken advantage of Ohio's many metroparks in our area. They are especially pretty to walk through in the fall. We also tested out our tent (thanks Shanna, Micah, and Cherise for giving this to us as a wedding present) in the great outdoors. Unfortunately, we didn't think to get out our camera until after our camping buddies Joel and Helen had already left to go home, so we didn't get a picture of our crew!

Mom and Dad Nisly were in Holmes County (a relatively short drive from us) in November for church meetings, and we got to stay in a lovely bed 'n breakfast with them. We also visited the Amish flea market of course!

And last but not least, this year's birthday present for Chad was going to see the Cleveland Cavaliers play. (I'm out of sporting events...what will I get him for his next birthday??)


Whew! So that was the quick rundown of our married life events so far. There are many more pictures I just don't have the energy to post, but I'm sure you get the idea. Hopefully this will help all of our long distance family and friends keep up on our busy little lives!

Welcome Blogosphere

Well, after enjoying other family's blogs to help stay up on their daily lives, we have decided to join the blogging world to give you a peak at our own highlights. Today we are in a blizzard, so no time like the present to get this started!