This & That

Hey Y'all,
This is combination blog entry about lots of stuff...

Did you see the movie FIREPROOF? We did and it was great! If you have a chance to watch it, go for it! We think you will like it....it is very intense at times, but shows the amazing things that can happen with a lot of love, commitment and hard work! It is cool!

So it is definitely Fall in mid-Michigan! I must admit the leaf colors are beautiful, but the bad news is that Fall means Winter is coming!!!! Brrr!!! I just hate Winter!


Here is Avy helping clean up the table after dinner tonight! Mash potatoes, his favorite! Can you believe this dog!?!?
Just so you know we do not allow this type of behavior, but we caught him sneaking before we got the table wiped! He so funny!!!


So what you you think about SARAH PALIN? I think I love her and that her glasses rock! LOL!

We had a small garden in our back yard this Summer, in which we mostly grew ingredients for an awesome Salsa recipe. This year Andrew wanted to try to grow Okra too, so we did and it & the Jalapeno peppers are pretty much the only produce we harvested. We didn't get much from anything else, but it was still fun to try. Good thing Meijer is close, LOL!
Here is a photo of an Okra bloom, isn't is lovely? We had no idea Okra flowers are so pretty, but were pleasantly surprised.
And here is a big bowl full of our Salsa! Oh, it is so good, it burns just a little...exactly the way we like it!
Please let us know if you want the recipe! And if you have any good recipes to use Okra in, please send them our way...we have lots of Okra to use! Tee-Hee!


These are some of the only flowers I still have blooming in my flower bed & I am glad to have them! Flowers just make me smile!

Have a wonderful day!! Thanks for looking at our Blog! And please post us a comment, we love to hear from you! We have several blog entries for this month, last month and 1 in February too.

Testing the blogger Video feature

A few pics I found a while ago (wish I could climb this hard!). I set them to music to hone my computer savvy, hope you enjoy! -Andrew-

International Friends

Our family has been involved with the International Friends (IF) Program since 10/05. Each Fall we are matched with 1 or 2 International Students who are attending Northwood University in Midland, Michigan.
We have enjoyed our student matches & learning about our students and their home lands & cultures immensely!
We also have great fun helping them experience the "American" culture while visiting our home & doing a variety of activities together.
This is an AMAZING program & opportunity! We encourage you to do something similar if you ever have the chance! It is super fun & you learn so much!
So far all of our past students have stayed in contact w/us after they graduated from NU. It is wonderful to hear from them & we think it is cool to have people we know all over this world/where ever they end up going.
This is a real positive experience for everyone! And know we have been blessed to have been matched with the amazing people we will be telling you about below.

Photo 1: Chris, Laurens & Andrew-at the Rock Climbing wall. 4/25/08
Photo 2: Chris & Laurens in our home. 12/8/07

In the school year 2007-2008, we were matched with Chris (Christiaan) and Laurens from The Netherlands! What fun we had with them! We went shooting, rock climbing, walking in the City Forest, Geo-caching, out to dinner, had them here for dinner, they joined us for church one Sunday, and we spent lots of time chatting around the kitchen table while playing games while nibbling on snacks!
From them we learned a lot about the Netherlands, the Dutch version of Santa Claus, tulips, Queen's Day & we even wore orange clothes on Queen's Day to celebrate along with them & more! They are amazing people!
Photo 1: Thomas, Stephanie & Shannon @ Los Cuatros Amigos. 11/11/06
Photo 2: Thomas, Andrew, Emily & Steven (Thomas' friend) at the IF Graduation Party. 5/18/07

In 2006-2007, we were matched with Thomas from China and Stephanie from Canada. We enjoyed getting to know the both of them greatly! We had fun bowling, going out for dinner, playing board games, & having them spend time with us in our home.
Stephanie graduated in December of 2006, so we didn't get to spend as much time w/her as she moved back to Sarina in Dec. We really had fun talking w/her about the different ways Canadians & Americans say the same "English" words like: "about", "sorry", "out" & more. We laughed our heads off!
Thomas is very pleasant & joined us for church, loved having dinner w/us, attended a basketball game w/us as Emily was Cheering there, invited us to a special Chinese event that took place in Midland, and even invited us over to his apartment where his friends & he made us an delicious authentic Chinese dinner! It was terrific & very thoughtful!!
Photo 1: Yves & Emily in our home. 9/24/06
Photo 2: Yves & Shannon at Graduation. 5/13/06

In the 2005/2006 school year, we were match with Yves from Malaysia. She was our very 1st IF student-family match & we had a fabulous time getting to know her & w/her. Yves was game for everything! We went shopping, to a pumpkin patch, colored Easter eggs, carved pumpkins, rock climbed, went to church w/us several times, she made us traditional dinners several times (Yum, she is a wonderful chef!), went to a Christian concert w/us, joined us for dinner at our home & at restaurants, spent holidays w/us, went on trips w/us to the cites of Muskegon & Ludington, and more! It was a blast!

As you can tell we love our past IF Students & the IF student-family friend matching program! We are looking forward to being matched & meeting our IF student for this school year soon! We'll keep you posted.
-The Banks Family

So to Pick a Peck of Pickles...

Well we've done it, we made pickles!!!
Andrew recently found a recipe for homemade pickles on-line and we started a batch last Sunday.

We were able to try the smallest ones on Thursday, when Emily & I decided we needed more dill.
We tried them again today and YUMMERS!!!! They are great! It was really quite easy & fun! Ta-dah!

Please let us know if you would like the recipe, we'd be glad to share.
That's all for now.

Lighthouses the Banks Family Visted in 2008

Anyone who knows us, knows we LOVE lighthouses!
We have heard it said that "Lighthouses to Americans are like Castles are to Europeans", and we think that might be true. When you visit a lighthouse there does seem to be a special feel to it. It amazes us how different each lighthouse is and how they each seem to have a unique character of there own. It's so cool!
Though we didn't make it to many lighthouses this year, we sure enjoyed the ones we did see. Hope you do as well.
If you are interested in viewing/learning about other lighthouses we have 2 great links on the right, under "Shannon's Favorites".
You can click on any of the photos to get a better/larger view.
Thanks for looking! -The Banks Family



This is the lovely Kilauea Lighthouse from Secret Beach in Kauai, Hawaii & then again with us in front of it, family photo!





Here is the Muskegon Lighthouse, in Muskegon, Michigan, and then again with a huge ship called "American Integrity" passing by! What a thrill!







This is the White River Lighthouse, in Whitehall, Michigan, with a variety of shots to go along with it. This is the only one we could actually go into and climb up to the tower of! Super fun!!!

Shannon's Favorite Photos of Avy!!!

Hey there!
I was just looking through some photos and found a whole bunch of our Avalanche! What a cutie!! I enjoyed looking at them so much that I decided to share them with all of you. It is hard to believe all the joy & fun this crazy boy has brought to our family! I am so glad he is ours (or we are his depending on who you ask), LOL! Anyway here is just a handful of fun that we caught on film!
Have a great day! Love, Shannon (proud mom of Avalanche)