CHRISTMAS!

Well today has been such a great and wonderful day!

I was not able to get a lot of photos today but I will try to paint the scene for you.

Last night my Aunt Shirley, Uncle David, cousin Mercedes, my dad, and I all opened our Christmas presents because we wouldn't have had the time today. Santa was nice enough to come by and drop off our few presents we asked from him super early. So last night held a lots of excitement as Mercedes and I opened gifts of things we really wanted.

I received Kate Spade's book Places to Go People to See, Banksy's newest book You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat, a whole bunch of clothes, several gift cards, a external mobile battery, and a soda stream! I had a feeling I would get a lot of the items because those were things I constantly asked for but the soda stream was a complete surprise. My dad did really well and he was so happy to see my excitement.

Today was a loooonngg day. Family started coming over around 12:30pm and everyone finally started taking off around 8pm. Holy cow it was exhausting but fun! For Christmas we have a little ham but we celebrate with several different homemade soups. Soup is a big comfort food for everyone in the Hoover family so when Christmas comes around everyone is more then excited.

My Grandpa was a Christmas baby and this year he turned 90 years old! We are throwing a big party with all of the family and his friends tomorrow so we kept it low key today for him so he wouldn't be super tired tomorrow. We spent the night looking through old photos of him when he was young and it is incredible to see everything that he has been through. My aunts, uncles, and dad were army brats so they were always moving around the world. We have photos of my Grandpa and Grandma in all different parts of the world.

I am constantly surprised by things my Grandpa did. He survived both World War II and the Vietnam war. He raced formula 500 cars and he was a woodworker. Grandpa Hoover has always been active and into things and old age is just staring to hit him. He is slowly starting to get really slow and forgetting things but it's all okay because he was able to do so much with his life.

Overall today was an amazing Christmas and I couldn't ask for a better one.

XOXO

ZMH 

There was to much excitement today that Grandpa and I had to take a break. We bond over naps.

Travels

Merry Christmas eve!

I hope every one's holiday season has been wonderful so far and filled with love and joy.

Since my mom passed my dad and I generally travel down to Kokomo, IN on Christmas eve to be with family. It is always a busy time of year for the Hoover's because not only do we have a huge family dinner but Christmas is also my Grandpa's birthday!

What a lucky guy to be a Christmas baby.

This year he is turning 90 years old and all of his children have worked together to throw a big party for him with all of his friends and family.

So today my dad and I drive down to Indiana and get right to work helping my aunts cook and get ready for the party. Wishes us to have not too many stress meltdowns, light traffic, and good weather!

Happy holidays everyone!

XOXO

ZMH 

Time Keeps Passing

This past week has been a whirl wind. I have no idea where the week went. It is currently early Saturday morning and I could swear it was just Sunday yesterday.

I feel this week went by so quickly because I had it broken up. Last week Saturday at about this time my Aunt Shirley sent out an email to the family that my Uncle Mike, Aunt Sharron's husband, passed away. Now this wasn't a big shock to the family because he had a very serious fall three years ago that led to a lot of brain damage, paralysis, and just a steady decline in health. 

My Aunt Sharron has been through a lot these passing years because she always had Mike to rely on and do everything for her. She had to learn to be independent very quickly at a really late time in life. I saw her struggle but I also saw her grow to an even more amazing woman then she already is.

My Aunt is someone who inspires me. I saw all the hardship she went through and she made me realize that I have to stop doubting my abilities. I have to push through everything and go for every opportunity even if I know I will fail. I will still learn from that experience. 

So this week when my dad and I drove down to Indiana for the service on Wednesday I wasn't sure what to expect. I have been to my fair share of funerals for people close to me and also people not so close. There was something different about this one. We all had been expecting this to happen but we all were there for Sharron. We were there to show her that her family will come together when needed and won't ever leave her. 

This week wasn't so much sad but a happy occasion. We celebrated Uncle Mike's life and Aunt Sharron's strength. There was family in town from Washington D.C., St. Louis MO, and Michigan. We all came from hours away because family is THE most important thing to us. It doesn't matter what you have done in the past, we are family and we will be there.

I have to say I am pretty lucky to have such a big and supportive family. My family is awesome and I appreciate everything everyone has done from far away and near by. I could not have asked for a better life and so many great role models. 

Here are a few random photos of some of my family members.

My dad and grandpa

My dad and I 

Two of my cousins and my Aunt

My cousins and I

My cousins

XOXO

ZMH

Four Beautiful Years

Happy belated Memorial Day everyone! I hope everyone had a great long weekend and also a safe one!

This past Memorial Day weekend for me was relaxing and a lot of fun. On Saturday it was mine and R's 4 year anniversary. We have been dating since the end of sophomore year in high school. Needless to say I wouldn't trade these last 4 years with him for anything else. We have had our ups and downs like any other couple but it has all been worth it. We didn't do much which I was completely fine with. He got me a few presents that I can use while I'm camp this summer (only a couple more weeks until I leave!). My present for him is currently being made and is not finished yet but I'll be sure to keep you posted once that is all finished. After the present giving we went out and took a little walk out at the Saugatuck Dunes State park with Lilly the dog.

R is a guy who LOVES to walk. He will just walk and walk and walk for hours. For me it is the opposite. I do enjoy a nice walk in a city or downtown but going on a super ling, 3 mile, hike is not usually my idea of fun. I toughed it out though and had a lot of fun exploring the dunes. Once we finished our little hike we went over to his parents house and celebrated his mother's birthday. 

My dad came and our friend D stopped by for a little while which was great. I helped out R's dad in the kitchen and we had delicious homemade stir fry and a huge campfire. We ended the night with a delicious cake made by R's little sister and with some ice cream sandwiches. After all of that I went back home and went straight to bed. All of the fresh air and hiking really tuckered me out!

The rest of the weekend was spent with R and my dad and many more campfires. 

Memorial day was a nice relaxing day for me as well. I got up super early and went to the parade and boy am I glad I got up early. It was so much fun and I loved seeing all of the local Hollanders there supporting our veterans and deployed. 

Other then that my weekend was perfect! I am so glad to have such a loving and supporting boyfriend who accepts me for me. I will be sure to cherish all these last few weekends with him, his family, and my dad before we both head off to different camps for the summer.

How was every one's Memorial day weekend?

XOXO
ZMH

Tulip Time

So college is over for the summer and I can finally relax a bit before I have to pack up and move up to camp.

I really enjoy when the semester ends because here in Holland the following week is Tulip Time! It's like Holland is just waiting for all of us college students to be done with school and then Holland throws a week long celebration to help us kick off summer vacation.

Tulip Time for native Hollanders, like myself, can either be a bunch of fun and you love it or you absolutley hate this time of year. I know many people from Holland who always plan their vacations during this week so that they miss the whole ordeal.

Now Tulip Time has been going on for quiet a while. It is a week long celebration of our beautiful Tulips all around the city and to also celebrate our Dutch influences in the city. There are three different parades: the Volksparade (the people's parade), the Kinderparade (the children's parade), and the Muzeikparade (the music parade). The parades are probably my favorite part of the whole week, besides the carnival food! The parades consist of a lot of floats, beauty queens, school children in dutch costumes, and lots of really cool local and national marching bands. Everyone comes out to see the parades, rain or shine, and really show their support of the walkers by cheering and screaming at people they know or their favorite floats.

There are so many other things that make up Tulip Time it is so crazy. There is a Tulip Time 5k run, fireworks, two carnival locations, dutch dancing showcases, a quilt show, and an arts and crafts show. Those are only a few things. We also have many different theater shows through the week as well as a special guest each year who is also our grand marshall for the last parade. This year our special guest was Bill Cosby! It was so neat to see everyone really excited about this because we haven't had someone so famous before here just for Tulip Time.

I love Tulip Time and enjoy everything about it! Growing up I didn't like it so much but growing up around it I realize that I love the aspect of community that comes out. Sure I do get annoyed by the traffic and tourists but I just have to remember it's only for a week. Tulip Time is a great time to visit Holland if your planning a visit, just make sure to make reservations for a hotel at least a month in advance! Haha!

Here is the link to the Tulip Time official website:

http://www.tuliptime.com/ 

Here are some photos I took from this year, Enjoy!

We always have our local hero's from past and present in the parades. It's great to see how much pride and honor our community has for those brave men and women.

There are always a few very interesting and eye catching group.

Holland High school is the biggest high school in the area and they take their Dutch pride very seriously. 

Holland High School marching band

Holland Christian baton team, I always wanted to be one...let's be honest I still want to be one.

I love seeing all of the colorful flags that the color guard teams carry. Their so pretty!

We have beauty queens from all over come to be in our parades. This is the Bavarian queen and her court from Frankenmouth, MI

Of course no parade is complete without Sinter Claus

My friend Rachel, she was super excited for the parade...the picture doesn't really capture her excitement.

There are always really nice old cars in the parades too.

Zeeland High School marching band

Zeeland High School marching band

Oh hello Ronald McDonald!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 creating chaos at Tulip Time.

The lovely Salvation Army ladies of Holland in dutch costume.

 Zeeland Christian marching band

 The local old folks from Evergreen Commons

Holland Christian marching band

Well I hope you enjoyed this post! I am sorry I didn't get many photos of the dutch dancers and their costumes but if you follow the link I posted above you will see many photos of the dancers.

XOXO
ZMH