Hitting the trail...

Today we decided to hit the trail...the bike trail that is.  A couple miles from the house is one of the parking lots for the Great Allegheny Passage rails to trails system.  This system not runs from Pittsburgh, Pa to Cumberland, Md and connects with the C&O Canal Towpath and continues to run all the way to D.C.  The part of the trail running from Confluence, Pa to Ohiopyle, Pa was the first section installed to be tested.  It was completed when I was a little kid. Today I got to take my wife and kids on it.  We loaded up the treks and strapped on our helmets and off we went. It was a great day to go to.  The temp was only 96 degrees today.  Not near the 100 that it was the last couple of days.  :o)  We started at the parking lot, went down about 3 miles then turned around, went back the other way, past the car and to the tasty freeze to get some lunch, then back to the car.  We didn't about 10 miles all said and done.

Emily and Ben enjoyed getting towed around....

The kids and me posing for a picture by some white water. While we were there some rafter went by.  The little ones loved it and waved to everyone as they went by.  They got the biggest kick out of the boat that kept going in circles.

Laura and Aron enjoying the cool breeze that almost always blows down the valley.

Congratulations Kristen and Jose

My sister-in-law and her boyfriend Jose recently got engaged (2/2/08) and Charlie, Emily and I were able to be a part of the exciting evening. Kristen said she knew something was up when she walked in the door of her apartment and saw her friends and also Charlie holding a video camera. Here are her reactions in sequence and then a picture of the ring. Thanks Jose for allowing us to be a part of the evening.

Fall Fun

A couple of weeks ago we had a Sunday School class fellowship over at our friends the Canode's and our friend Shelli took these pictures. Emily loved playing in the leaves.

To PA for PumpkinFest

This past weekend was Emily's 2nd annual PumpkinFest in Confluence, PA. I didn't take any pictures during the festival, but I did get some shots with Emily with family. Here she is with Aunt Dawn and Uncle Wally who is now dubbed "Uncle Ice Cream" because when we went to PA in May he was giving Emily part of a beloved DQ Dilly Bar.


Emily had just woken up from a nap, that's why she looks like she's zoning while sitting on Gommy's lap.

A trip to Innis Woods

A couple of weeks ago we all went to Innis Woods to see the bug display at the suggestion of our friends Meredith and Brian Snyder. Fun was had by all despite the look on Emily's face in the last picture.

My Mom

I have so many different words to describe my amazing Mom. One of the many qualities that I admire is her ability to create ANYTHING! If she has an idea or even a notion of a project, she always puts 150% into it and finds a way to complete the task with outstanding results. She recently whipped out the design and pattern for a "window" covering for our playground set and had it finished in a couple of days. Not only does the covering add to look of the playground, but also serves as a witnessing tool for our neighbors.

I am truly blessed and inspired by my Mom!!!

Cold Cold Cleveland

This past weekend we traveled up north to visit my cousin Becky and her 5 year old daughter Nhya. We all had a really great him. Nhya had a great time holding and playing with Emily. The temperature in Cleveland that weekend was about the same is here in Columbus but the wind chill was much worse.


Here is a picture of Emily, Nhya and Becky

As you can see below, Emily can now sit up by herself....most of the time.

I took along my fishing pole in hopes of having some time to go steelhead fishing while I was there. As my luck would have it, everything was frozen solid. Things can change fast in the cold and windy climate of the Great Lakes area. Two days before we left all the fishing reports said how great the fishing was, and by the time I got there the rivers where frozen over about 95%.. I well, I will try again later! Can’t wait till we get to go up again.

While we where there me and Emily got to relax and watch a little TV. We where watching Futhure Weapons on the Discovery Channel.

Memorial Day Weekend in PA

Wow, what a great weekend. Laura and I spent our Memorial Day weekend with some friends. Friday night we left our place with Brian, Meredith and Jack Snyder and headed for the Snyder’s camp in the upper Appalachian Mountains in northern Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful weekend. It felt so go the get out into the country again and do some fishing. The trout where biting pretty well. Most of them had some good size to them. Between everyone that was fishing our count was in the 60's.



Our Friend Brian looking happy to be in the streams again. We fished in the South Branch of Tionesta Creek.





We caught a new breed of fish called a tiger trout. They are not only pretty neat looking but excellent fighters. I heard that they are supposed to be a cross between a Brooke and a Brown Trout.






The cabin was nice and cozy. Me and Jack had a great time together. Look at his face as he realizes that my watch is a Penn State watch.





Laura on the bank of one of the rivers with Brian's mom Beth.

This is where it all started

Charlie and I met at Reynoldsburg Baptist Church in February 2003. With the help of a good friend confirming what we had both been thinking, we had our first date May 30, 2003.

As time passed we both knew this was no ordinary friendship and found ourselves wanting to spend a lot more time together. After much prayer about how the Lord was leading, we were engaged on December 28, 2003.

We were so excited and of course I couldn't wait to start planning. The wedding was June 19, 2004 at the church where it all started. What an awesome day spent with family and friends and of course becoming Mrs. Laura Groff.

The Beginning

Well hello everyone and welcome to our blog. Sorry that I was so slow at getting one of these up and running! Everyone has been asking about when we were going to get a blog up? Well, its up. No promises on how well we are going to do with keeping it up to date for the first couple months. Its going to take some time getting into the swing of using a computer all the time again but me and Laura will do our best.