When I, Andrew, started our family blog in February it was with a tribute to Havazik, our female Kuvasz. Now Avalanche is gone too, it's hard to believe 10 years went by so fast. With Avalanche around things were never boring, he made sure of that! How do you say goodbye to such a loyal and loving friend? He will always be part of our lives.

Rest in peace good friend, and thanks for all the memorable times. You were truly one of a kind, and you won't be forgotten. Love, us.

Sad Update

It is with unbearable grief I write. Tears are streaming down my face as I type. As we mentioned in our Christmas Letter, Avalanche has been having some health problems and his health took a big turn for the worse and we had to have him put to sleep today (12/30/08). Our hearts are aching, but we know it was the right choice to make for him.

Our home seems so empty without him. He was such a big part of our lives & home for the past 9&1/2 years, in addition to being a big dog, with a wonderfully, big & silly personality!

I recall the day we 1st picked him up from the Detroit Airport, it was June 20, 1999. We had him flown to us from Colorado, and when we 1st laid eyes on our little, puppy Kuvasz, we were so excited!! He was just 3 months old and weighed 34 pounds already!
He was all the way pushed back in his travel carrier. We opened the door and the 1st thing we saw were those HUGE, fuzzy white paws. I remember thinking, "Wow, he is going to grow into those!" We got him out of the carrier and gave him lots of pets & hugs, which he seemed indifferent about. He was much more curious about everything going on around us. So then we decided to walk him around a little and he thought that was great fun, until he looked back (it was so funny-we could actually see that he realized he was on a leash) and saw that he was attached to us. Well that wasn't okay, he started bucking and jumping like a rodeo bull, we were shocked! Now we laugh & laugh about our crazy boy, but then, it was just pure shock at his behavior. We couldn't believe this puppy who flew across the country all by himself would be so upset to be on a leash connected to the only people he'd seen in hours that he'd throw a giant fit!

We knew right then and there our new puppy Kuvasz was determined, stubborn and strong-willed, but it was too late...we were in love with our little, white, puff-ball, bucking fits and all!

Thinking about it "stubborn", "determined" and "strong-willed", no wonder Avy fit in so well with Andrew & me, for better or worse we both have strong doses of each of those traits.

I could go on & on about the fun and joy Avalanche has brought to our family & into our home.

Like the time he had a grass stain on his nose and forehead! Now seriously how does that happen? Only Avy knows, but is sure made us smile!

And then there was the time we went to the park in Clare, MI where Andrew & Avy took a walk along the stream. Avy always loved discovering new things, it very exciting for him. During this walk Avy found a turtle and he carefully picked it up in his mouth & ran all the way back to me to put it at my feet and proudly show me his new treasure! Andrew said he could barely keep up as Avy was running back to me so fast! Avy was so proud to show me that turtle (and I just hate turtles-so gross, but I praised him good!) and he was so happy! We were delighted at how silly & fun he was and how proud he was to show me what he had found. Isn't that just so cute!?!? We sure think so.

Oh, I just have 1 more story that is a "must" tell. When Avy was a puppy he loved it when we chased him. He would get running so fast we called it "the zooms" and he particularly loved zooming around a chair we had in the corner of the living room. One day shortly after "the zooms" started we were cleaning & discovered Avy's paw prints on the baseboard and the wall just above it, behind the chair that he loved to zoom around!!!! We thought he ran really fast, but to realize he was zooming so fast that he actually ran on the edge of the wall and baseboard (not the floor) when he zoomed around that corner, oh my goodness, Andrew & I laughed & laughed, in fact it still makes us laugh! Now you see why we think Avy is more like a super canine hero, than a mere mortal! LOL!

Like I said, I could go on forever about the countless funny stories and all the joy & love Avalanche brought into our lives and home.

I am sure you can tell what an intelligent, silly, crazy and hilarious dog Avalanche was & how he captured our hearts in the enormous way that he did. He was just such a sweet, lovey, silly boy. He loved us and every one that came to visit him/us. We know that we have been greatly blessed to have him in our family for all the years that we did.

He is greatly missed already and always will be, but his legend will live on in our hearts and memories forever.

Please pray for us, our hearts are broken. Thank you. -Shannon

Happy 16th Birthday Emily!

Today is Emily's 16th Birthday & what a fun day it has been!
She's been shopping at the mall with friends, Allie & Emily D, eating pizza & crazy bread for dinner, hanging out, sledding at the City Forest Hill, eating cake & ice cream and opening her presents!!! She also received a few cards & phone calls with Birthday Greetings!
Left to Right is Emily T (i.e. Birthday girl!!), Emily D, & Allie on their way to the sled hill.



Here is Emily opening her big present! A heart shaped Amethyst Ring. She seems to love it, as you can see in this picture with us, and we are tickled to commemorate her special day with this gift!
Happy Sweet 16th Birthday Emily!!
With MUCH Love,
Shannon & Andrew

Banks Family Christmas Letter 2008

Hello! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you & yours! While each year has it’s wonderful & difficult times, as we reflect on 2008 we realize we have been especially blessed this year.

Andrew & Shannon are still working for The Dow Chemical Company, Emily is a sophomore at Dow High School, & we are very glad to report we still have our beloved, Kuvasz, Avalanche.
We have spent lots of time with dear friends & family (too many to list by name) who are both near & far in distance to us and new & old in the length of time we’ve known each other.

Starting the year off on a fun note, in February Andrew & Shannon went on an Ultimate Date Night that was put on by “Celebrate Your Marriage”. It was very crazy & they had a great time!
In May, we took our family vacation to the lovely Hawaiian island of Kauai! The place is truly paradise! We had a fabulous time there beach bumming, snorkeling, hiking, body boarding, taking a bout tour to view the lovely Na Pali Coast, going to waterfalls, shopping at the Coconut Market, going to a Luau, jumping off the top of the Kipu Waterfall into the pool below, viewing the Waimea Canyon, seeing the famous Bethany Hamilton, touring a Coffee Plantation, visiting the Kilauea Lighthouse & just exploring the many aspects of that gorgeous island. We saw a huge Sea Turtle while snorkeling one morning, & Spinner Dolphins on our boat tour, both were amazing! Here is our family photo this year. We are at the awesome Waimea Canyon.

In July, Andrew went to his favorite place in the world, yup you guessed it, Alaska! He went with his friend Vince & they explored, fished for Halibut & Salmon, sight-saw, hiked, camped, viewed the amazing Denali & had a terrific time! They saw tons of wildlife including: Grizzly Bears, Eagles, Whales, Moose, Walruses, Caribou, Puffins, Seals & much more! Here is 1 of Andrew’s favorite photos from that trip.

In August, Emily & Shannon took a long weekend to travel to the Muskegon area where they had a fun day at Michigan Adventures Amusement Park, swam in Lake Michigan & explored 2 lighthouses (1 in Muskegon & 1 in White River). Here is a photo of them at the top of the White River Lighthouse with Lake Michigan in the background!
We decided to paint Emily’s room this summer too. She chose Berry Pink & Sunshine Yellow. It took all 3 of us about 4 days to complete. It looks awesome now, but ½ way through we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. Painting turns out to be one of those things we do not think is fun after all. LOL!

Some other family events we enjoyed this year were packing picnics & taking 2 separate day trips to Higgins Lake & Lake Huron to relax at the beach, attending a Rodeo, going to a handful of Loons Baseball Games, Kayaking and Geo-caching.

Emily was delighted to join the Dow High Jr. Varsity Cheer Squad this year! She did a great job & showed lots of team spirit. Here is a photo of her and her friend Megan. We are very proud of her & enjoyed watching her cheer at her games. Go Dow High!
In addition to Cheer, Emily is involved with her Youth Group, is in a Discipleship Group, baby-sits & is thinking about joining the Key Club at school. It is hard to believe, but our Emily will be 16 on 12/26, time sure flies! Can you believe it? We barely can.

Shannon went to her 1st ever Women’s Conference in October. It was a lot of fun, she learned a lot & got to go horseback riding too!
In addition to working full-time, she takes Spanish lessons that she loves, participates in Bible Studies, & enjoys being home with her family & e-mailing friends.
Another exciting thing Andrew decided to do this year is to head back to school. He is currently attending Northwood University in pursuit of his Accounting degree & we could not be prouder of him!

In addition to working, going to school, a little rock climbing, & hanging out at home & with friends, Andrew got a new show removal tool this year. Check it out! Shannon & Emily are thrilled to never have to lift a shovel again, as you can imagine! Andrew has already hit the trails with his Quad & is the only one in our family who is eagerly awaiting for more snow to fall, LOL!

Now to Avalanche. As you know our dog Avalanche has been an important & spoiled member of this family for over 9 years. He is such a hilarious & silly dog, we love him to pieces! He has been having some health problems lately. The Vet says it is kind of like “MS” for dogs & we were told our Avy has months verses years to live which we are extremely sad about, but are also thankful for each additional day we get with him. We are also very thankful that the Vet says he is not in any pain. Here is a photo that was taken this Summer of our special Kuvasz. Isn’t he adorable!!!

In November, the Ballet came to town! Emily really wanted to go so Shannon went along. The dancers, of Ballet Magnificat, were fantastic as they performed “The Scarlet Cord”! Emily & Shannon were thrilled they had decided to attend. What a great evening they had!
We are participating in the International Friends Program again this year. In this program an American family is matched with an International Student who is attending Northwood University and they get together once a month. This year we are excited to be matched with a sweet young lady, from China, named Crystal. We look forward to spending time with her and learning more about her & her culture & country in the remainder of this year & in 2009 as well.
So those are the highlights of our 2008. As you can see we have much to be grateful for, including
each of you & what you mean to us.
We encourage you to, along with us, enjoy this blessed Holiday Season & the real importance of it.
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave his One and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”, which is the true reason for this wonderful season.
If you would like to read the Christmas story, you can find it in the Bible, in the book of Luke, Chapter 2. Merry CHRISTmas!

Merry Christmas to you & Happy 2009! We look forward to hearing from you soon & spending
time with you in 2009.
With much Love,
Andrew, Shannon, Emily & Avalanche Banks

Crazy lady nearly run over by innocent plow guy!

Mid-Michigan BLIZZARD!

Yeah, I would definitely call it a blizzard & we just had one here in the very snowy Midland area. Today we are plowing/shoveling out. Andrew is absolutely thrilled to have his Quad & have so much snow to move with it!! Woo-hoo!

The kids have had 2 Snow Days! Lucky Emily!!! She is very happy about that, of course!

From my measurement & photo below I believe we got approximately 11 inches of snow from Monday night - the early hours of this morning!!! YUCK, is all I have to say about it!

Avalanche is having trouble with his back legs & last night the snow was so high he couldn't walk in it. When Andrew saw that he lovingly hopped onto his Quad to plow Avy a huge circle trail with lots of zigzag paths for him to get around on. Avy was so excited he went zooming up & down those trails & refused to come back into the house! He was just having way too much fun, lol! Finally a treat lured him in about 1 hour later!
I think it is so funny & amazing that Avalanche knew Andrew made those paths for him & was so happy about them! Avy hasn't dared go off those trails either, he surely does not want to get stuck again, silly boy!

It is definitely going to be a White Christmas around here, lol! Check it out, here are a few photos of our backyard & Avy eating snow, yummers!

Catching up-from 11/7/08-Ballet

The Ballet was coming to town & Emily really wanted to go, so I went with her and what a fantastic time we had!! The Ballet Magnificat dancers (from Mississippi) performed The Scarlet Cord and it was amazing! Here are a few photos, some are kind of blurry (sorry, they move fast!), but we both enjoyed it greatly! Terrific idea Emmy!!!

Christmas Trees & Thanksgiving

As Andrew & I were driving home from our friend's house last night we counted 8 Christmas Trees with lights aglow! WOW, I feel so behind. How about you, is your Christmas Tree up yet?
We normally put ours up the Saturday after Thanksgiving; however we've had to put it up a little earlier a few years, but we didn't light it up until after Thanksgiving. I don't know why we wait, but I guess we like to celebrate each Holiday and sometimes feel that Christmas overshadows the awesome Thanksgiving Holiday. I for one am super excited about Christmas this year, maybe the people in those 8 homes are too. In fact, Emily & I have already started watching Christmas Movies, 1/weekend! Fun!

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
Our activities start on Wednesday, after work when we clean our house for the long weekend & usually makes some Pumpkin Pie.
On Thursday, we always watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, enjoy our Thanksgiving meal & plans (whatever the the plan is for each year), and Emily & I strategically plan our shopping for Friday, oh so fun!!!
Friday we are usually up & shopping by 4/4:30am (ouch!), but it is so fun and so worth the pain of waking up that early! Friday afternoon is nap time, LOL!
Saturday our Christmas Tree goes up and we decorate our home for the Holidays.
Then Sunday is Church and our recovery day! We usually watch a Christmas Movie on Sunday too.
Well whatever you do, please know we are thankful for you & all that you mean to us.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Gobble, Gobble!

Snow Shovel?

Check out Andrew's new "snow shovel". Pretty cool, huh! He is excited to have it and is putting a snow plow on so he can do our shoveling quick and easy this year! We are all thrilled!


Andrew is already doing tricks too! Impressive! He actually was a lot farther off the ground, but when I snapped the photo this is where he was.

He took his quad up to Gladwin with his good friend Vince and they went riding for several hours on Thursday! They had a great time and came home with lots of fun stories to tell us.

Catching Up-from 10/10-12-Women's Retreat!

So I went to my very 1st Women's Retreat in October! It was at Spring Hill, in Evart, Michigan and it was AMAZING!!!!
My friend Emily invited me to go along with her & a few other people she knew and we had a blast! I ended up knowing quite a few people there too.
The weather turned out to be a perfect low to mid 70's each day! We didn't sleep a lot, but we learned, giggled, and ate a ton! It was super fun!
Spring Hill is a fabulous facility! They have everything organized and set up extremely well, I was very impressed and had the best time.
Below are some photos I want to share with you!

This was our welcome in the eating area! Isn't that nice!?!

Here was Emily, Susan, Mary & my room (Virgina), in Freedom Hall. Man, top bunks are not as fun as I use to think they were! LOL!

Here is my adorable friend Emily with our AWESOME speaker, Liz Curtis-Higgs! She is SO amazing and SO real/down to earth, I totally love her and I really learned a lot from Liz. Ta-dah!

Here is Jennifer (Erin's friend), Erin (who I actually went to high school with!) and me.

This is Susan (Emily's friend), Emily, and Heidi (Erin's friend).

Spring Hill has a plethora of activities you can participate in (in addition to the learning and praise times). Here is a really high Rock Climbing Wall and you can be sure I was certainly not anywhere near that thing! Yikes, way too scary for me!

Just some of the other activities that are offered at Spring Hill are: swimming, game room, nature hikes, bon-fires, zip lines, shopping, horse back riding, shooting, kayaking, archery, etc.

Emily and I went horseback riding together and here she is on Red! Aren't they adorable together!?!?!? I think so!

Here is me with Bold and his name fit too! I had a super fun time, but I am really glad I know how to handle horses (at least a little), as he was stubborn and did not want to follow the trail, but I still love him!

This is Jennifer Stanley and she led our praise & worship time for the entire weekend! She did a great job & is such a sweetie!

I took a walk around just 1 small area of Spring Hill called, Copper Country, and came across a pond with these gorgeous colors on the trees and reflecting in the water. It was breathtaking. I spent quite a while here just enjoying the warm sun and beautiful view. I also called Andrew & our Emily while I was relaxing here and they were just on their way back from eating at Famous Dave's! They love that place, and were having a fun weekend of their own.

The Spring Hill staff performed a few pretty powerful skits prior to our learning times. This one was set to that song by Leona Lewis called "Bleeding Love". They did such a fantastic job, I have never seen such a powerful skit ever! WOW!

Well that wraps up my conference weekend! What a fun and terrific time! If you ever have the chance to go to Spring Hill or to see Liz Curtis-Higgs in person, I strongly recommend both! You will love them!

By the way Liz writes that series on "Bad Girls of the Bible". I have not read any of them yet, but I want to. If you have, please let me know what you think/thought?

Thank you for viewing my photos! Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Catching Up-from 8/24/08-Family Get Together

Hi, I have some major catching up to do. Here are some photos of a small family get together we had when our cousin Tallen and Aunt Lori from Arizona came to visit in August.

From Left to Right, is Tallen, me, Aunt Lori, and Emily.

Here are our Aunts: Julie, Lori and Cathy.

This is a "cousins" photo and there I am again, with Breeann, Tallen and Emily in the back row. And in the front row are our cousin Jennifer's boys Brenden and Tharyn.

This is only the 3rd time I have ever seen Tallen. We all had a real fun visit and are glad they came!

My Friend's Kids

Hi! I thought I would put a blog entry in on all my friends kids, since so many of my friends have kids now and they are all so cute!!! I just need to brag a little! Tee-hee!
For the record, if your kid(s) isn't below, then you haven't sent me a recent photo. Send me one and I will happily update this entry right away!
This is Linden (with me), who will be 16 months old later this month. She is the adorable daughter of my friend Erin! (We were watching my Emily Cheer! What fun!)

Here is my lovely friend Sandra, with her husband Mike, and their newborn (Oct 2008) son, Jonathon. Isn't he precious!! And what a happy family they are!

Here is Andrew's cousin, Marianne, who I love to pieces so she totally belongs on the "My Friend's Kids" blog entry, and her beautiful son, Grant. Grant is 19 months old, this month! What a cutie!

Here am I with my friend Amy's sweet daughter, Gloria, who is just 1 month old now. Amy also has a 3 year old son, Michael, but I don't have a recent photo of him. Gloria is so cute!

Here is my dear friend Fanny with her newborn (Oct 2008) son, Justin. What a handsome boy! And what a proud Momma!

And finally, here are my friend Shannon's gorgeous children, Erin and Evan! Erin is 4 (this month) and Evan will be turning 2 in January! Shannon has another son, Blake, but I don't have an updated photo of him at this time. Aren't they absolutely adorable!!!

So now you see why I needed to brag a little! These kids are all terrific!!! And what cuties, they all are so adorable!! I love them all lots! I also want to say Thanks to all my friends for having such amazing and adorable children for me enjoy along with them!

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Shannon

P.S. I hope you had the chance to vote today! If not, I believe there is still time, the polls are open until 8pm. Go Sarah Palin!