Christmas Photo Finish

Here are a few more photos from this years Christmas Extravaganza....

Afternoon at the Lake

Lynette's twisted-maple- jaked-full-of-carb-goodness

Bowling with the Adams, Watsons, and Drummonds

Mark celebrates getting yet another strike ->

<- Matt picks up the spare and some serious creative bowling points.

Mindy didn't do so well on this bowl because the flash from the camera was a bit of a distraction Whoops, my bad->

Makenzy (below) showing her bowlin' skilz and letting us know about it with her little strike dance

The Port Huron Flags Hokey Game

Guys night out but Lynette and I got to go as well. Great seats, right behind the boards. A wild puck about hit my Uncle Tom right between the eyes.

Joe and the Flag's Mascot Slapshot

Merry Christmas Cracker

December 25, 2006

As you might have already figured out, I have a thing for traditions. I think traditions make all the wild and crazy things that happened throughout the year melt away. The familiar always has a way of being so comforting.

This Christmas was no different in the ritual sense. I got the whole house up before the sun even thought of rising (actually it was a little later than normal this year due to the guests in the house). We opened gifts one by one. And then headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house for the Studaker Christmas.

A few new traditions have been added since Mark was added to the family. He had to bring a few of his English traditions along with him. One of those traditions is the Christmas Cracker. A cracker consists of a piece of cardboard wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversize sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people. The split is accompanied by a small bang produced by the effect of friction on a chemically impregnated card strip. Inside the cracker is always a paper crown, a toy or trinket, and a joke.

This year Hilary and Mark brought with them the luxury Christmas Crackers. What makes a luxury Christmas Cracker different from the ordinary Christmas Cracker? Well instead of a thin, colored paper crown, you get a nice shinny, gold paper crown. Instead of a bad joke on a scrap piece of paper, you get a bad joke that has a border around it. And finally, instead of a useless toy like a fake plastic finger tip complete with a long red finger nail; you get the ever coveted, strong, durable, red shoe horn. Every girls dream, let me tell you!














Family Introductions~
From L to R: My cousin Kaitlin, Aunt Debbie (mom's sister), Uncle Tom, Aunt Lynda, Uncle Tim (mom's brother), Hilary, Mark, and me.









Nathan (my cousin) and his wife Olivia

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2006

Christmas Eve day we headed to my hometown church in the morning to see our church family. It was great to see all of those wonderful, familiar faces, but there were a few faces that took me a minute to recognize. The main reason: the last time I interacted with them was when I was babysitting them. Now most of them are in high school on the verge of graduating. For others I can recall the day they were born or remember changing their diaper and now they are in grade school.














Prime example. The Budde kids, Alyssa and Aaron (pictured here with Hilary and Mark). Hilary and I were at the hospital the day Alyssa was born. She is now in the 4th grade.

Christmas Eve service was no different. I saw many others that I didn't see in the morning. Extended family members that are my age and are now married and have children. So that whole experience made me feel old, but all the warm hugs made the experience well worth it.

The Regular Suspects

The Case of the Smashed Flowers:

Crime: Along the driveway of the Westbrook residence, a beautiful bed of flowers that Mrs. Westbrook put so much time and effort into was smashed.

Evidence: Tire tracks on either side of the flowers matching the vehicle rented to aid in the transport of these 5 suspects over their Christmas Holiday. The crime was most likely committed after sundown.

Motive: Yet to be determined

The Line up:













Suspect #1 (the girl in Pink): 5'3" Born and raised in the United States. Lived in the Westbrook residence for 18 years; coming and going for the past 7 years. Valid US drivers license.

Suspect #2 (the other girl): 4'11 9/16" Born and raised in the United States. Lived in the Westbrook residence for 19 years; coming and going for the past 8 years although less frequently than suspect #1. Has lived in the UK for the past 3 and half years. Valid US drivers license. Hasn't driven since the last time is the US. Sister of Suspect #1

Suspect #3 (the guy in the middle) 5'10" Born and raised in England. Has been to the Westbrook residence a grand total of 6-7 times. Has a valid UK drivers licence but is accustom to driving on the other side of the road. Has driven in the US before. Husband to Suspect #2

Suspect #4 (the next in line) 5'5" From England. First time to the US and the Westbrook residence. Has a valid UK licence but like suspect #3 is accustom to driving on the other side of the road. Claims "They always make me sit in the back because they think I fit better in small spaces". Good friends with Suspect #3

Suspect #5 (the guy in white) 5'8"From England. First time to the US and the Westbrook residence. Has a valid UK licence but like suspect #3 and # 4 is accustom to driving on the other side of the road. Unlike his brother (suspect #4) he was not always made to sit in the back. Admits to calling Shotgun several times but claims to have never driven the vehicle.

More Evidence: After reading the rental car agreement, it was discovered that suspects #1, #2, and #3 all received permission to drive the vehicle. Also, upon further questioning of suspects #4 and #5 it was discovered that suspect #3 had a previous incident where in efforts to back out of the Westbrook residence driveway he manage to maneuver onto the grass for a major portion of the driveway.

Conclusion

After going through the evidence and looking at this case from every angle, I believe I know which one is the guilty party. Most guilty suspects have a tendency of displaying angelic type qualities during a line up. (i.e. the innocent look on his/her face, a halo like ring of light around the head, etc.) Fortunately for this case, those tendencies rang loud and clear.

Luckly, the guilty suspect faced no charges on the grounds of being the wonderful son-in-law

Things You Do in a Small Town

Croswell, MI is a town of just over 2000 people, so when it comes to entertainment you have to be pretty creative. Within this small town is a swinging bridge that is over the river that runs through town. The boys (Mark, by brother-in-law; Joe and Matt, his two friends from England; and my Dad) decided to have a little fun on the bridge. Here is a little video clip of what they did. Now if you don't have sound the video really isn't all that great. Mark laughing in the background is the best thing about it.



Also in Croswell, MI is the Pioneer Sugar Factory. Instead of being made from sugar cane, this sugar is made from sugar beets. So we went on a tour of the sugar factory. It is amazing how something so sweet and tasty can come out of place that smells so horrible.


















Pictured L to R: Lynette, Joe, me, my dad, and Matt standing in front of a pile of sugar beets.

Why I Love Coming Home

December 17, 2006

#5. The things that make a small town a small town never change. I can walk into Ben Franklins knowing that I will have same experience that I had when I was a kid. The same store layout; the same thick, old wood floors that creek when you walk on them; and the same ladies that have work there for as long as I can remember.

#4. It always feels like I have never left. I have seen people that I haven’t seen since the last time I was home. The minute I reunite with them, we just pick up where we left off. The time away from them has just made me appreciate the way they are even more every time I see them.

#3. I get to cuddle. My family is full of people that love to cuddle. When my brother-in-law joined our family, he became the leader of the pack. Not a day goes by when we all haven’t had a time to cuddle.

#2. Cuddling with my sister brings me to my next reason: whenever I see her she always tells me how small I am. She is so used to hugging a bigger person that she always comments how she can fit her arms around me.

And the #1 reason I love coming home is…..I feel so tall! It is a great accomplishment for me, at 5 ft. 3 inches, to be around adults and feel tall. It never fails, the minute I walk in to my house I feel tall. Both my older sister and my mom are shorter than me and a few of the rooms in our house have lower ceilings. It was like a beautiful melody hitting my ears when were decorating the tree and my mom said, “Heather, could you put the tree topper on? I can’t quite reach it.”

Oh how beautiful it is to come home!

Boys Night Out, Ladies Night In

December 17, 2006

Boys night out: A Detroit Pistons game. From what the guys told me when they returned, it was a real nail bighter. The Pistons being slightly behind for most of the game only to come back and win it is the 4th quarter.















Ladies night in: putting up the Christmas tree. A Westbrook ladies tradition. Usually what ends up happening is Hilary and I sit on the couch and watch my mom decorate the tree. Of course we always offer words of affirmation and praise when she starts to notice that we aren't helping. This year we did our best to try and follow tradition but my mom found ways to get us to assist.

Christmas Surprises

The Christmas party. At the festive time of year it is custom for a company, similar to the one I work in, to have a Christmas party. Well, the Soderquist Center is a little different than most companies due to the fact that we have two Christmas parties; one for the whole team and one for each individual business unit.

As is tradition, the Christmas party for the whole team met at Andy’s (the CEO) house. The food was good. We had some fun fellowship, but this year was a little different.

Surprise #1:

Let me introduce you to Frank. Frank works on the lovely grounds at Greystone with Rex. Frank is a very outgoing guy that loves to joke around with people. A while back, Frank lost his work keys. He searched high and low for those keys checking all of his pockets. But they were not to be found….. or were they?

After dinner on that afternoon at the team Christmas party, Andy had a special announcement. Frank’s keys were found, but where they were found was the interesting. Upstairs in the Greystone Estate, there is a sitting room that has a couch that you just sink into. A cushion of that couch was lift and Frank’s keys magically appeared.

When Rex handed Frank his keys, Andy stated an interesting observation. “Nothing really falls out of your pocket when you sit down, it usually only happens when you lay down. So Frank, what exactly were you doing?”

Surprise #2:

Lynette, my roommate from college who currently has my boss’ old job, sent me a picture that she found in her file of Gary when he first started working at Indiana Wesleyan University. The pictures are so priceless that it was important to reveal them at the right time and in the perfect way.
Well that perfect way came this Christmas. I rounded up a few accomplices to help with the special project. Each had the assignment to get a picture of the rest of the directors that had the same priceless quality that the picture of Gary possessed.
I must say that I picked the right people to do the job because they came through with flying colors.
The final product was a Christmas card that had all of their pictures on the inside top of the card so when the card was opened it had the element of surprise that would only produce a great reaction.
After all of the staff signed a card for their head director, the cards were presented to the directors as the lined up in the front of the room. All the effort was worth it as they opened the card and a wave of expressions swept over their faces. It was so great!










Surprise # 3:

Showguns Japanese Restaurant was were the Experiential Learning team and the Leadership Development team went for our business unit Christmas party. Our chefs did a fine job of entertaining us but the highlight was the awards ceremony. Many of the staff didn’t know about this portion of our event so it was a great surprise.
Some of the best awards:
Bob received the #1 OCD (#1 obsessive compulsive driller) award. When you put a drill in that boy’s hands that has a 36 in bit on it, he just starts drilling holes in things that don’t need a hole drilled in it.
Dusty was awarded the Chick Magnet award included a little black book which is the prefect place to write all of the numbers from his adoring young, female fans.

Winter Found Arkansas

December 1, 2006

















Winter finally arrived in Arkansas. Although it seems that it wants to leave as quickly as it came. Wednesday, all was well. A little windy but a nice 68 degrees. By Wednesday evening, the temperature dropped 30 degrees and the rains came. Through the night the temperature continued to drop causing a wintry mix for most of Thursday. Thursday night all that precipitation turned to ice and snow began to fall. Naturally this southern town shutdown. Many schools were closed today. I walked to work enjoying the inch and a half of snow that was on the ground. Here are some shots of what I saw this morning on my way to work. I took advantage of the opportunity because as I look out my window, there isn't much snow left. Hopefully this won't be the last I see of winter.

Holiday Sale

November 10, 2006
























*This coupon is no longer valid
(It isn't authentic either. Matt (the Media guy at work) did a fine job making it believable. He also took the picture.)

New Chapter

November 3, 2006

Once apon a time, a baby’s cry rang as Mark Sephton was born in the country of England. A few years earlier, Hilary Westbrook was born in a small American town of no consequence except for those fortunate enough to have lived near it.

Time passed, and each grew up encountering many joys and challenges that life has a tendency of bringing.

One summer evening, Mark met Hilary while visiting many of his friends in the States. That meeting was the first of many, and soon their relationship blossomed.

Late that following spring, Mark and Hilary were joined together in marriage. Many came to share their joy.

The decision was made that they would share their life together in England.

The first years of marriage passed quickly; each adjusting to one another, job changes, and becoming home owners.

Over three years has passed since their marriage, and now a new chapter in their life is starting to take shape. One that has caused much joy, as they take their extended family into territories that they have never experienced.

Mark and Hilary will soon be known as parents. My parents will move up to the level of Grand. And I will be called Auntie Heather by a child with an adorable English accent! I get so excited just thinking about it!

Congratulations Mark and Hilary!

Autumn in Arkansas

October 29, 2006
Lincoln Lake, AR

365 and Counting...

October 13, 2006



















366 days ago, I moved to Arkansas. 365 days ago I started my job at John Brown University. To many of you who have been working at the same job year after year this might not seem like a big deal. But for someone like me, this is HUGE!. Since college I have had a hard time staying in one spot. Let me give you a time line...

Dec. 2003 - Graduate College. Moved Home to Michigan
April 2004 - Had no luck finding a job. Went to England
Mid May 2004 - Landed a job in Sandusky, OH. Moved.
Late August 2004 - Flew to LA for an 8 week Photo. Internship. Ended up staying 14 weeks.
Dec. 2004 - Flew back home. Went to England.
Jan. 2005 - Moved to Newport Coast, CA to be an Au Pair
June 2005 - Found a job in Wisconsin.
June 2005 - Never made it to Wisconsin (job feel through) Stayed with friends in Denver.
July 4th, 2005 - Got hooked up with a one time Job that paid pretty well
Mid. July 2005 - Left Denver for Indiana to visit friends
August 2005 - Moved Home
Mid August 2005 - Moved to Indiana in hopes to find a job.
October 12, 2005 - Moved to Arkansas
October 13, 2005 - Started working at the Soderquist Center at John Brown University

So as you can see, I have quite the history of moving around from job to job. I have had to fight the urge to leave on several occasions. The above timeline is a testament to why being here a year is such a great accomplishment. I still like my job, don't get me wrong. But there is still that little part of me that wants to start the learning process all over again; that wants to see new places and adjust to new environments. Life is an adventure! That little part of me won't just go away when I tell it because of two reasons: 1. I am still young and 2. I am unattached.

Do I see myself staying in Arkansas forever? No, not really. Until one or both of the above reasons change, I will still keep going and waiting to see where I end up next!

Westbrook Manor

October 12, 2006

As an employee of JBU, I am allowed to take 3 credit hours per semester tuition free. I would consider myself somewhat of an idiot not to at least try and take advantage of my situation. So, this semester I signed up for a graphic design class that takes place every Monday night. The first program that the class focused on was Adobe Illustrator. Most of the time we just copy other peoples work to figure out how to use the program. Well, the last assignment allowed me to use some of my creative juices. The Assignment: design a business logo that incorporates your name in some fashion (either your first name and/or you last).

So I imagined Westbrook Manor. A wonderful bed and breakfast that has a few secret passage ways and a laundry shoot in every bedroom making it easy for the staff to dispose of dirty linens. If I were to open a real Bed and Breakfast, I wouldn't name it Westbrook Manor. I would call it Nobody's Inn. That has a much nicer ring to it, don't you think?

Nut Shell

August 31- September 4, 2006

My trip to Florida in a nut shell:
Starting top left:

Went to visit my Aunt Crystal and Uncle Erv in Venice, FL. Went for a walk on the beach and saw two dead blow fish. One was all puffed up and one wasn't. Pretty bizarre

Went to a place called Wonder Works. Got to lay on a bed of nails among other things.

Went to visit my buddy Bret in Orlando. Went to Walt Disney World with Bret and Rebecca (who got us in for free. She is the best!)

In Disney World (MGM), went to Turtle Talk with Crush from the moving Finding Nemo. Pretty amazing how an animation had conversations with the kids at sublevel. It "totally rocked Dude!"

Went to downtown Orlando for lunch. Had my first taste of gelato.

Overall the trip was too much fun. I had trouble returning to the land of Arkansas were there aren't as many fun attractions all in one area!

Would you like an aisle or window seat?

August 26, 2006

So here is the big news as of lately. I would love to say that it is something so exciting and earth shattering, but that would bring about disappointment on your end. But in my small Arkansas world, I am happy to report, that I am moving up the Soderquist Center desk space ladder. No longer am I in the middle of the high traffic area. No longer am I the center of what I like to call the fish bowl (meaning at least 50 people can see what I am doing at my desk at any given time).

So instead of listing all of the things that are different, I thought I would show you. But first you need a reference point. So click here to see the desk I started with. Then come back.


Now that you are back, I will go into a little more detail of what is different.

Please direct your attention to item #1. Before I only had one cabinet to store all of my work toys and books. Now I have even more space to store all of my legos, sidewalk chalk, carabineers, tangrams, and other useful tools to help build teams.

Now take a look at beautiful #2, the New Computer. Not only did I get a new computer, but I also got more desk space because my other monitor was bigger than me curled up in a ball. Seriously.

Now #3 really isn’t a great improvement in respects to my desk area, but it something that I had to point out because it has improved the status of my resume. I am now certified to run a forklift. A condor lift to be more specific. If you aren’t quite impressed because you lack the knowledge of what a condor lift is, let me enlighten you. Check it out.

Now direct your attention to our last exhibit, #4. "Where is #4?", you ask. Well, it wouldn’t fit in the picture above so I changed my angle slightly in the next photo to reveal the best part about my new desk…..A Window!! Hard to believe that I haven’t even been here a year and I get upgraded to a window seat. So now every morning, I sit down at my desk that is completely lit by the rising sun.

One more picture I would like to add as a tribute to the changes going on in our office. This past month there was a turn over in the graduate students (aka Soda Fellows) that work in our office. Six wonderful people have moved on and four new folks (names in bold) have moved in to take their place.
Pictured Left to Right:
Seth, Bob, Leah, Dusty, Ray, Amy, Christine.

Pull Back the Curtain

August 1, 2006

Important Notice! Please Read Before Continuing!

Many of you know that in college I was a photography major. What is not as commonly known is that part of the core curriculum with that major I had to also take a painting class. Oil painting to be more precise. Well, sense graduation I have picked up the paint brush a few times and have produced some works of "art". Now I put art in quotes because, as we know, art is completely subjective. Some say that an over size canvas paint in blue is art, others might have a different opinion on that matter. So as you look at my work just keep in mind that I am no Van Gogh, De Vinci, Picasso, or Monet. I also struggle with drawing and painting anything from my head, so I will also show the original painting that I essentially copied. I like to refer to it as a study because the best way to learn is to imitate those that know what they are doing. That is why they are referred to as Masters. I must also warn you that the photo quality is not the best so please bear with me on that score. So are you ready? Okay here we go...Pull back the curtain... Or you could just scroll down....








Keep Going......






Just a little more....






TA-DA















Now I will also show the painting by Christina Kieltyka-Ehl titled "Stained-Glass Trees". I wanted to do a painting that looked like stained glass. When I was doing my research this one really caught my eye.

On the Road Again

July 2-9, 2006
Well it is about that time again. Although I am still fully employed, the time came for me to leave Arkansas (including its humid weather) and head north for a little road trip. My first stop: Nashville, Tennessee. If you are thinking that Nashville isn’t really that far north, well you are right. And it did end up being more hot and humid than Arkansas, but like I said this was my first stop.

Why go to Nashville? Well, I’ll tell you. Nashville was the location for the 28th annual Wing Ding rally. My parents joined the Goldwing motorcycle club a few years ago. So really I just went to see them. But let me tell you, I saw a whole lot more that is really hard to express in words. But whenever you bring a large group of people together because of a common love for something you are bound to see things that you never imagined. The human race never ceases to amaze me!

Need an example? Okay, not only do these people spend all this time and energy making there bikes look good, but many of the husband and wife duos try to go all out in the matching outfit department. I know this picture is kind of small but you get the idea…

Another thing that amazed me was the Gaylord Opryland Hotel that the convention was in. If you ever go to Nashville just go in and look around. It is like a small city under one big roof! Plus there was this Di-vine Lady that walked around on stilts and would finagle her body into these positions against the wall to make herself look like ivy growing up the wall. She was pretty sweat!

Even though my parents don’t own a Goldwing any more, my Dad entered his trailer into a competition. He designed and built the trailer in about a years time. In Nashville he walked away with first prize. Nice job Dad!
Of course I couldn't leave Nashville without taking the Harley out for a spin. Too bad I don't know how to drive one, but I like to look like I do.

After Nashville, I headed up to Marion, IN to meet Lynette and Ginger. Last year the three of us decided that every year we would go on vacation together at one of our living locations. Last year they came to visit me in California, and this year it was Lynette’s turn.

To start the vacation off right, we went down to Indy to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory for my birthday. I went there last year for my birthday in Denver and thought I would try to make it a tradition. The rest of our time was spent doing what most people do on vacations in the summer: go swimming, get some sun, go shopping, eat an elephant ear, go to a movie, have a lot of laughs, eat, have some more laughs, eat again….you get the idea.

Because the location of this vacation was were we went to college, the whole trip revolved around eating. We had to go to all the places that we loved going to back then like Ivanhoe’s for ice cream and J&L’s for 2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 eggs for $2.76 (every college students dream!). Lynette loves to cook so she cooked on the grill and baked up a storm (pumpkin muffins, homemade wheat bread, and strawberry pie). For those of you that know her, you know she’s got skill.

Before my drive back to Arkansas, I stayed with my friend Sheena in Indy. With Sheen there is never a dull moment and that is what I love about her. We had some great fun with some other IWU graduates that live in the area. But all good things must come to an end, or at least be put on pause until we meet again.