What this Blog is All About - Our Life

We have started a blog. Why? To share our lives with the many family and friends who don't live near us. Seems over the years everyone has scattered. (Or rather, we have scattered) Shane's Family in Idaho and Ginger's Family in Wisconsin. There are also the wide range of friends, all over the country, we have made through TurningLeaf seminars. We thought this would be a nice place to keep the world informed of our lives. (Those who dare, anyway!)

Vacation!!! Oh how I love VACATION!!!!

Ginger writes "Vacation! Oh how I love it… I didn’t even know how much I needed it until I got back to work today and felt AMAZING! I am a believer in vacations, more than ever. It needs to be a priority in every person’s life. Vacations allow people to be more productive in all areas because it’s an opportunity to let go and relieve the mind of the stress that builds over time. A happy individual is a more productive individual and Vacations make me very happy.

So, with that said let me share a little of my vacation with all of you that wish to hear about it. Shane and I took a Thursday to a Monday off of work, not a full week, just 3 working days and I suppose since I didn’t make it into the office until 1ish today that it would make it 3 and a half days. But that is beside the point. We spent most of Thursday traveling and arrived in Orlando, FL that evening. We shared a condo with My Mom, Step Dad, Grandma, Brother, Sister (in law) and my adorable niece and nephew. I am officially sold on the idea of getting a condo for vacation. It was so nice to have a common area to visit with everyone and to relax.


I could give you all the play by play but instead I am going to share my feelings about it all. First, I cannot get enough of my nephew Elijah and his silliness. He says the cutest things that only a 3 year old (Soon to be 4 year old) would say. Every time I spend time with him I am reminded that life is too short to take anything too seriously. I am not sure I can count how many times he fell down or bumped his head and then quickly said.. “I’m Okay”… just in case anyone needed to know. Of course there were the times he was not Okay and needed a Kiss to make it all better. Then there is my Niece Emmie, who has picked up from her big brother, that a kiss can make any boo boo better. She is at that cute stage where she runs a little faster than her feet can keep up and finds herself diving head first when she is not paying attention. Her Daddy or Mommy run to her rescue and she immediately needs a kiss. It’s like magic and she is smiling away! Oh, how I love those kids!!!! And the best news, there is another one on the way in April! Being an Auntie is the best! I could go on and on of all the cute stories…

My Bro, his wife and kids all went to the Animal Kingdom with Shane and me on Friday. It was cold at first but then warmed up enough to make it enjoyable. I was somewhat grateful for the mild weather since it kept the crowds down significantly.

I am always hearing from family and friends who have gone in the past that it is the most crowded of all the Disney Parks. This day, it wasn’t so. I think the pictures I post on Facebook will tell the story of our adventures at the park. But to say the least, we LOVED IT!!! Got a lot of great video of the kiddos to treasure forever!


Saturday was our last day together with the family since everyone (But us) needed to head home on Sunday. So we left the kiddos with Mom, Don and Grandma to enjoy and went to downtown Disney to stroll the area. I just loved hanging out with my Brother Josh and his wife India. Reminded me of old times when I saw them more. I sure do miss them and enjoyed every second of it. We got the chance to talk a little bit about the half marathon we will be running in September. I should probably clarify... India and I will be running in September. We haven’t gotten the boys to fully commit but we’ll see what happens. I will be coming back to Wisconsin to run it and I don’t think Shane will be able to pull it off with his work schedule. But he has committed to run a few 5K’s with me to get warmed up for it.

Sunday we said goodbye. I found myself tearing up because I see my Grandma’s the least of all my family. It was so wonderful to see my Grandma Lucy and it made me miss my Grandma Marian. I finally told my Grandma of my plans to name my first Girl Lucy Ella. It has been my plan since I was a young girl so if it’s in the cards I still plan it to be that way. My nick name on my Mom’s side of the family has been Ella and it just flows so nicely when it’s put with my Grandma’s name. You never know though… there may be no kids, there may be 5 kids, all boys, all girls… we shall see.

So anyway, Sunday after we checked out of the Condo, Shane and I headed to Cocoa Beach to visit an old dear friend of mine (Drey) from Oshkosh. She moved down to FL in the last few years with her 4 kids and I was so excited to see them all. She gave us a very nice tour of the city and we were able to eat dinner at a restaurant on the pier. So awesome! It was during this time I got to know her kids a little better. It has been a very, very long time since I have met children under the age of 11 who had such amazing manners and social skills.


They were so sweet and learning what they have all been through in the last few years made me want to just sweep them up and hug them. God keeps trying to tell me something by crossing my path with such amazing kids. OR maybe my clock is just starting to tick on me. Hahahaha. Who knows… I just know I enjoyed being with them all and was reminded once again that it is possible to go years without seeing or talking to someone and then to be reunited as if no time has passed. Drey, thanks for being such an amazing soul in my life, no matter when our paths cross. It is always so great to have friends who are nonjudgmental people and who are just loving and accepting of all things.

So Sunday was our last night in Orlando, we ended up getting a hotel near the airport and I was able to enjoy some alone time with Shane. I know I get sappy about him… maybe more than most care to read about… but this trip was again a reminder of why I am going to marry him. I am so in love with him and enjoy every minute I get to spend with him. I find myself being more at ease with him than with any other person in my life. I have shared every sin and every achievement in my life with him, some no others know about and yet he still just loves me because I am “Me”. He doesn’t want anything about me to change, nor do I of him. We are each individuals yet we flow together so nicely. So, before anyone starts heaving, I will just add once last thing… HE IS MINE, ALL MINE!

Monday was another travel day. We didn’t land in Vegas until 7:30 which is 10:30 Florida time. We were very tired. BUT I was excited to get to the hotel we booked there because Monday was my Sisters Birthday and she so happens to live in Vegas. We met up at the Excalibur and had dinner with her and her husband and spent some time together after. It was really awesome to see them. We don’t see them enough considering they only live a few hours away. It was a nice reminder that Shane and I need to get down there more and visit.

Monday was also somewhat of an anniversary for Shane and I. (and of course Valentine’s Day). You see Shane and I met and started dating on January 9th, 2009 but we didn’t officially consider ourselves an item until that following February 14th. It was that day that Shane finally got the nerve to kiss me after many dates and well… the rest is history, we have been together ever since. (By the way, it was him waiting those many, many dates to kiss me that made me fall for him… it’s rare to be courted these days and he is always such a gentlemen)

So that brings me to the end… so till next time, thank you to everyone who takes the time to be a part of our lives, we don’t take it for granted and are very thankful for all of you! "


A Story about Shane and Ronald Reagan.

Ginger Writes "Today I am going to share a story about Shane. (Aaron, I don’t think this is the type of story you are looking for, so I will warn ya now so you are not disappointed, this is not an embarrassing one. I will share something embarrassing soon, I promise)

Today while I was at Wal-Mart I was checking out and noticed the special edition of Life Magazine featuring Ronald Reagan. Now, anyone that knows Shane knows that he is Shane’s hero. So, I got him a copy. While I was in the car driving I thought of our 3rdish date or so where we started talking about politics. And well, anyone who knows me knows I can’t hardly stand the topic. Sure I have opinions and what not, but I find I get frustrated very easily with people’s intolerance of each other’s opinions and politics is a sure way to learn about people’s judgmental side. It doesn’t matter what your views are, if you can’t respect others opinions, it drives me nuts! I have many friends on both sides of the fence who I respect dearly so if someone is degrading or dehumanizing a person based on a political view, it makes me ill.

So, here came the scary, yet necessary date where we learned about each other’s political views. A sure deal breaker for either of us if we found that we could not tolerate the way the other viewed this sensitive subject. I wish I could remember the EXACT conversation, but at some point I tried to crack a joke about actors running for office. (Everyone should know this does not bother me, I was just trying to lighten the conversation) and almost immediately I saw a look of sadness in Shane’s eyes. I thought, well that’s weird, I was just kidding. But he then went on to tell me that he really liked Ronald Reagan and didn’t see the issue with actors running for office. I quickly shifted the subject to something else (Cause that’s what I do regarding political discussions) and we carried on with our date. I found out sometime later that this little 2 minute discussion about Ronald Reagan ALMOST was a deal breaker for him. (He denies this, but I know otherwise) Thank goodness we had many other discussions on politics later and he then knew exactly how I felt. But what SOLD me on his Love for Ronald Reagan was what he told me later in the evening. When I asked him why he liked him so much Shane said “Because he genuinely loved his wife”. Here I was waiting for him to go on some conservative rampage about all the great things Regan did, but instead it was simply because he loved his wife. It made my heart melt and he probably didn’t realize at the time, but he scored major points on my “I am going to hang onto this guy” meter.

Since then, I have found I can talk to Shane about anything political even when we disagree and I NEVER get frustrated with him. He is the most respectful person when it comes to politics yet he is never, not once, afraid to share how he is feeling or his personal views on a subject. I have learned a lot from his ability to have an opinion without getting worked up (Except you Devin… haha, jk) But really, even when he has a heated debate with someone it is just that, a debate and then everyone moves on. No hard feelings, no lost respect, no words later about what an idiot that person was for having a different opinion than him… just a couple of people sharing their thoughts on the world. I hope over time I can become a little more like him. Share my thoughts and feelings on the subject, but for now.. I will just say… Shane you are my hero."