Butterfly Gardens

Today Dan, Elyse, Zachary, and I went to the Fredrick Meijer Butterfly Gardens. Here is Elyse and I trying to be butterflies...aren't we beautiful?!?



Zachary being a butterfly...


This is the only picture that proves Dan was there. So here we are about to enter the Butterfly Gardens.



This was Elyse's favorite butterfly, the Morpho Butterfly. The underside of the wings are brown with eye spots, but the other side is a brilliant blue and black. Unfortunately it was very difficult for Zach to capture a picture when it briefly flapped it's wings, so no picture of the pretty colors! :(



These are Elyse's favorite flowers. She likes the brilliant red color.



This is the biggest moth I have ever seen in the whole wide world!!! It was sunning it's wings after emerging from the cocoon. However, since it is a moth, it wasn't flying around. I think I would have been very much afraid of this huge moth flying around...can you imagine????



This poor little butterfly was hurt and flopping around on the ground. This lady was trying to help it out. I think it lost an antenna though because it couldn't figure out how to move. It just flopping from laying on its "back" to its "stomach." Poor lil fella...

Thanks to Elyse for helping me with this blog!

My Birthday!!!

So my birthday hasn't even arrived yet, but I've already celebrated it three times! Yay! What a great year! My friends got together for a girls night out - dinner, coffee, and manicures. Megan got a torch for Christmas, so she made us creme brulee (sp) for dessert. This is Megan and me about to dig in...

Oma and Dave came over on Sunday to celebrate Oma and my birthdays. We went out for dinner (Oma's birthday present), and I got an ipod. Woohoo! I'm running in a race on May 10, so I've been wanting an ipod to help my running...hehe, we'll see if it helps!

Dan gave me my birthday present from him a week ago. It was a set of golf clubs!!! I've been wanting to learn how to play, and since Dan loves to play, he got me a set so we could play together this summer. The best part about the golf clubs - they're pink!!!

So I busy trying to set my ipod up before my work-out today...not sure if it's gonna happen or not. My computer is not as fast as it once was...

Tobin and Erin's Wedding

Here are some of the girls at the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was really fun. It was held at a local brewery with authentic, rustic decor. Caleb was a little scared to head up the dark stairs to the banquet room, but the older folk thought it was really cool!

The beautiful Bride!!! This is after her hair and make-up are done the day of the wedding. Isn't she gorgeous!?!

A close-up of her hair...looks pretty amazing if you ask me! I'm not patting myself on the back either. That's not my work that makes her hair beautiful and curly!!!

The lovely couple cutting the cake. It did get a little messy a few seconds after this photo was taken, but I didn't catch that mess on camera.

It was a busy, fun, fantastic weekend. We are definitely exhausted but it was worth it.

Congrats, Tobin and Erin!

St. Louis continued....

This is the first good picture we took of the arch. This is the state house (I think that's what it's called) on the right. We are on foot at this point going to our first visit to the arch.

Isn't this the coolest picture??? Dan took it. He does really nice "artsy" pictures.

The dedication plaque for the arch. We learned all kinds of cool things about the architecture and design of the arch on our tour and in the museum.


Whoa...does that make you dizzy?!? It sure did make me dizzy! This is from the ground looking up at the arch.

The way up to the top of the arch was by way of elevator "pods." I am standing by the door to one of the pods which holds 5 people sitting down. Notice the size proportion. It was a tiny door.

The inside of the pod was even worse. It was a sphericalish shape with five chairs. I could sit straight up, but none of the men in the pods could. We were knee to knee in this tiny structure, and THEN...they close the door. Clautrophopia, hysteria, etc. set in at this point. (I thought I wasn't going to make it to the top...I didn't really cause a scene, but I've never been so scared in all my life.)

Awww...what a nice welcome! This is what you see as you climb the last few stairs into the viewing room.


Another one of Dan's pictures from the viewing room. He's pretty talented isn't he???

So this blog post is getting really long, but we also went to an authentic BBQ joint while we were there. We ate WAY too much food, but it was the best pulled pork I have ever eaten. J and Dan really like the ribs and brisket they had too. We also toured the Anhueser-Busch factory which was really neat. I like factories. It is amazing I think to see how something is made. It's such a shame that they spend all that time and money to make a nasty drink though. :)

The two hockey games were the reason for the trip, but we got a lot of sight-seeing in too which made the trip really busy but very fun. We also went to Grand Central Station which is now a mall, but in my humble opinion, it is a sorry excuse for a mall. It's more of a tourist trap with a food court and a couple good stores thrown in here and there.

I think Dan would appreciate it if I described the games a bit. The first was incredible. It was a no score game and the Blues won in a shoot-out. Wow, it was really crazy! I enjoyed it too. The second game was very high scoring, and the Blues were very close to winning. They were down by one point with 1 minute to go. So they pulled their goalie to have 6 men on the ice, but a member of the other team had a "fast break" (basketball term, I don't know the hockey term) and of course scored on an open net.

Dan, J, and I had a great time in St. Louis. We would highly recommend it if anyone is looking to take a trip!

St. Louis!!!

This past weekend (or two weekends ago maybe) Dan and I made a trip to St. Louis. The main purpose was to see the Blues...

Here you can see Dan's favorite player, Keith Tkachuk #7, warming up. Does it appear we are close to the ice??? Well we were! The second game on Saturday we were in the 3rd row off the ice! It was incredible to watch a game from that close. The first game we were about 20 rows off the ice, and that view was still amazing!

More pictures to come...must get my beauty sleep now!

the latest addition to the Stauch family...

don't get your hopes up...we're not pregnant!

This is danny's new baby....


As I understand it, it's a 61" HD DLP Projection TV...plus or minus a few acronyms

what the stauch's are up to....

This posting is to catch you all up on the exciting life of the stauch's. My family (immediate and extended) have reminded me that I have not done enough posting lately.
This is a picture of me and most of my former roommates from college. Kind of random...I'd post a picture of dan and myself, but I'd bet we haven't taken a picture together since Christmas. Wait...I don't need to bet. I'm sure of it...hmmm, what did we do for my birthday or Valentine's Day....I don't know....but we didn't take a picture of it!!!

(oh! the above picture is from meg's birthday in July, so it's recent!)Another picture of your's truly at Cristy's going away party. *Sniff* She has left the good times in GR!!!!

Dan and I are still gainfully employed. I just started a new job in July; so I'm getting used to that still. We are seeing some of the fam on Labor Day. I have a weekend trip with the girls this weekend. Dan is leaving soon for another business trip....other than that, there's nothing new to report!

I tell ya, what a great blog...pictures, words, pictures and more words! That aught to keep you all satisfied for a while! (aught or ought??? is ought a word? it's not misspelled according to google!)