Living. and Loving.

Weekend Fun

2010-03-16T09:41:00.001-04:00

This weekend we traveled to Indiana and then down to Ohio to celebrate 3 Birthdays and an engagement! It was a lot of driving but worth the fun, and such a busy day!

The newly engaged couple, Marideth and Jesse!

Nataleigh is such a good girl and getting so big so quickly. She did great on the long car drive down, and only fussed for a while on the way home on Sunday.

Cousins Samuel and Nataleigh were so cute playing together. He kept calling her baby, baby! It was so cute.

They are adorable!! And Nataleigh is getting so strong, she can stand on her own now leaning up against things for a long time.

Nataleigh trying on some of her new Easter goodies, love the ears and new flower headband.

Sam was pretty excited about opening his Birthday presents. He turned 3 this month. We got him an outfit and the movie UP. He got some of the cutest outfits and little shoes too!! It is so fun watching kids open presents.

Jesse and Sam

It was a fun trip but I have been exhausted! I have slept so hard the past two nights that I have not been waking up to my alarm (Chris either!) and I have been running late getting ready and to work for the past two days, haha.

Some Of My Fav Pics from Christmas

2010-01-06T10:47:00.004-05:00

2009 in Pictures

2010-01-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

January- "Celebrating for what we thought would be the last time as we started TTC."

February- "Birthday celebration for my brother Jesse and I, with our family."

March- "Chris at Six One Six, celebrating our 3rd Anniversary."

April- "Maegan and I at her Bridal Shower (she is my BF from HS)."

May- "Casey and Maegan get married!"

June- "Megan, me and Emileigh at Em's baby shower."

July- "A joyful month as niece Nataleigh is born."

"A sorrowful month as nephew baby Liam is born still."

Liam Charles KELLY
07/23/2009

August- "Chris' 29th Birthday!"

September- "My first race!"

October- "My in-laws 30th anniversary."

"Our 3rd anniversary of our wedding."

"EUROPE!!!!"

November- "Em and Mom celebrating more Birthdays!"

December- "Christmas"

My Christmas Surprise

2009-12-31T14:35:00.000-05:00

This year I guess my husband wanted to get me something extra special for Christmas. Back in November he asked me which weekend we had free in December and I told him the weekend of the 5th, so he told me to keep it free and that I would have to deal with getting my present early this year (fine by me!) So I figured that we were probably going somewhere or going to some sort of show or something. He told me he would let me know what was going on the night before so I could be prepared if I needed to be. Well on that Friday night when he got home from work at 1 am, he woke me up and gave me a card. First of all, it was seriously a REALLY pretty card. On the inside he had wrote "I didn't get you perfume, but I still wanted to get you Romance. Love, Chris" (One of the things I wanted this year was some RL Romance perfume.) Anyhoo, and then folded up was a printed off online reservation to stay at the Amway Grand downtown. I was like YESS!!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to stay there, and seriously, how freakin sweet is that?! And not only that, but he booked us the "romance plus package." We got to check in early and check out late, access to the pool/hot tub/exercise center, a $50 voucher to any restaurant in the hotel, which there are a ton to pick from, and they brought champagne and truffles to our room that night. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. And he already had it all worked out for our dogs to be taken care of (we only live like 3 miles from downtown.)

It was a romantic snowy afternoon! This was one of the views from our room!

After we checked in, we walked over to Hop Cat and grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch. They have really great food there and some awesome beers *they were rated 3rd best beer bar in the world!!*

Me by one of the really pretty trees at the Amway.

After that we changed, went back out, and went ice skating in the rink that is seriously like 100 ft. from the hotel. I wanted to bring the camera and take pictures, but it was my first time ice skating ever! I was nervous one of us would fall and the camera would break or something. It was SO fun though. I was nervous I would fall, but I didn't, and Chris actually ended up falling a couple times.

We were cold after that so we went back and used the pool and hot tub, and then got ready for dinner. We ended up choosing to eat at The Grill at the 1913 Room. The food was amazing, the chef there is really talented.

And then last but not least, our dessert. It was a really unique presentation.

After dinner we chilled in the room for the rest of the evening. It was fun watching the Food Network and just hanging out, sleeping in the next day, and having breakfast in bed.

Oh, and he also gave me some diamond earrings.

How did I almost forget that?!?

It was a really great weekend. I am a lucky girl. <3

Christmas Card Pics

2009-12-31T13:45:00.001-05:00

It was a trip trying to get the dogs to cooperate for these. Some of them are seriously hilarious.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

The Ostranders

Bridge Run and such....

2009-09-21T15:54:00.000-04:00

My race yesterday went great. I beat my time from last week, and came in 7th place in my division with a time of 26.28 minutes. (37th out of 286 females, 114th out of 391 overall.)
Pictures soon to come.

Also, only 23 more days until we are in Paris.
;)
Things are going great, how could I not be happy about life right now?

Fun weekend and my first race!

2009-09-15T16:03:00.005-04:00

This past weekend was a lot of fun. It actually started out on Friday evening (cause the weekend ALWAYS starts when you get out of work on Friday!!) when my coworkers and friends, Jessica, Dave and I all went to the Galley restaurant for dinner. They were holding an all you could eat spaghetti dinner for donations towards the Wiersma Family. We were also able to pick up our race packets that night.

Rachelle, me, Jessica and Dave

Saturday morning came and went in a hurry. I had looked forward to this morning but had been somewhat nervous all week long. For being my first 5K I thought I did pretty well. I came in 4th for the women (it was a small race, so not that big of a deal) and I ran it in 26.53 minutes. I was pretty happy with my accomplishment. My goal was to run it in under 30 minutes. We all had a lot of fun, but most importantly a lot of money was raised for this family. It was an honor to be able to participate in this event for them!

Us before the race started.

Us at the finish line, all nice and sweaty, haha.

A couple hours later the family came and the afternoon was spent doing some work for our side business, going to some bike shops, and walking the dogs in East GR. For dinner we went to Peppino's for pizza and then went to the GVSU vs. SVSU game. It was a lot of fun! I could not believe how many Grand Valley students were there, it was packed. I wasn't really rooting for either team to win since I feel impartial to both of them. SVSU is back where I am from, but I never went to school there. And GVSU is the University in the city where I live. I like them both. Unfortunately SVSU didn't just lose, they got beat bad. It was such a fun game though!

Sunday just consisted of getting things done around the house and ready for the week to come. The highlight of my day was probably getting new tires and an alignment done on our car. It has been over two years and the tires were bald in some spots. And it is SO nice to drive it now, especially since it isn't shaking and pulling one way or another, haha. And let's face it, I live in Michigan people. Sometimes the snow here gets a little crazy and trying to get out of our driveway in a little low to the ground Corolla can be quite a task. So yes, me=happy about the new tires. Just in time for Winter to come!

This week is going good for far. I cannot believe we are half way through September already. One month from yesterday Chris and I will be in Paris!!! We are so excited, it is going to be awesome! Also, I will be adding some new running events to my list on my sidebar soon. It is going to be a busy Fall season, and I am super excited about it. So far I have ran 36 miles in 24 days. I think I am doing pretty good so far!

Widget

2009-09-14T16:49:00.001-04:00

Lots of stuff going on.

2009-09-09T11:08:00.002-04:00

Things are super busy as always. Right now I love it though.
We are coming into our favorite time of year: The Fall and the Holiday Seasons.
I am trying to cherish every minute of every. single. day. I love the weather, the atmosphere, the smells....I bought a bag of apples at the store the other day and they seriously just smell SO good. Every time I go into the kitchen I cannot help but to smell them. Chris and I keep discussing how sometime soon we cannot wait to get some apple cider and sugar-covered or pumpkin donuts. We always heat it up in a saucepan on the stove and Chris always "spices" it up. Literally. Cinnamon...nutmeg...and topped off with just a little brandy. We are going to wait until it gets a little bit cooler outside for that though. I think it probably won't be too long...we got a nice glimpse of that cool weather last week. I think it will return the beginning of October, just a guess.

Chris is doing his internship right now and so far it seems to be going really well. I am happy that he loves it and is passionate about helping people. I know he will do really great at it. Besides the long hours and lack of sleep, he is handling it well and so far not seeing each other much has not been too much of a strain on our relationship. In March we will have been married for 4 years. As time goes on I notice that we have better communication, and work more as a team, which in turn makes getting things done around the house and coordinating our schedules much much easier. I am thankful for him, he is such a great husband.

Since it seems I have a lot more free time during the week while Chris is gone I have been doing a lot to keep myself busy. I have a few 5K's and bike events coming up soon that I have been training for. I am pretty proud of myself, I have never been able to run 3-4 miles without stopping and now it is almost effortless. Of course some days are harder than others, but it is going great. I am also trying to bike to work every morning that I can, as long as it is not raining. I love it! I have gotten an opportunity to spend evenings with friends and catch up. I am much more willing to clean, prepare meals and keep up the laundry while Chris is at work. I blame on the fact that handsome face and charm are not there to distract me. I am also looking forward to all of the new season shows that start this week for the Fall line-up.

I am looking forward to this weekend!! Saturday morning is my first 5K. I am doing the Quest for the Cure...and I am pretty excited and nervous at the same time. That afternoon we are setting a monument, and then in the evening go to the football at Grand Valley because they play SVSU. I think it is going to be a lot of fun, and I always love it when we get to hang out with friends and family.
All in all I am really looking forward to this season, and feel so thankful and blessed.

Touching Story

2009-08-27T11:11:00.005-04:00

If you have a minute, please check out this blog: http://mkwiersma.blogspot.com/

This poor family has been through so much. And talk about a small world. I initially heard about them through a coworker a couple weeks ago. Then today I was talking with another coworker about running and she told me how there is a 5K that I should do in a couple weeks as a fundraiser for this family, and it turned out to be the same one! I was looking through the brochure and decided to look at their blog and realized that I had read it before. A bunch of us in the office decided that we were going to do this 5K and then the word got out. It turns out a bunch of other people in the office know the family as well, but didn't know about the others who knew them. Such a small world.....

Anyways, back to the Wiersma family. Kate ended up going into labor sometime between 21-22 weeks. The doctors tried to stop it but after being on the meds for a while I guess she got very ill and then they didn't know if she would even make it. They ended up delivering the babies after 23 weeks. Maxwell and Wesley have several medical issues, and are still in the NICU at Spectrum Health. Three weeks after they were born Kate's mother passed away. I do not know many details but she had some sort of cancer. Shortly after that, Kate's father lost his job, and now Kate and Mark are possibly losing their house. It is such a sad story, I guess it just really gets to me. All they wanted was to have children and become a family. Twins...what a joy! And now all of this has happened, my heart just really goes out to them. It just goes to show that you never know what will happen with a pregnancy, and now they are going to have so many doctors bills (especially since there are two babies.) I just could not imagine. They pretty much need any sort of financial help that they can get.

To help them out, we are running in the 2nd Annual Quest for the Cure. It is on Saturday, September 12, 2009. If anyone would like to make a donation, or pledge for my run, that would be amazing! You can also donate online at: www.quest4cure.org. I know that my small contribution will probably not make that huge of an impact on their lives, but every little bit helps.

Babies Galore!

2009-08-18T11:25:00.002-04:00

Congratulations Todd and Shauna! (Chris's sister)

Rowan Julia Johnson

Rowan Julia was born at 4:18 am on August 9th, 2009. She was 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20-3/4 inches long. Another new niece! They live in Maine. Hopefully we will get to visit there next year, Chris and I have always wanted to see Maine.

Ayden was born August 10th at 10:32 pm (11:32 pm our time) weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 19.5 inches long. He is my new little nephew born to my little brother Joe and fiance Tiffany.

He is a cutie, no?
The problem is that they live in Kansas, and I have no vaca time left this year. It would probably be about a 12 hour drive from Michigan to there. I am trying to figure out how I could utilize a 3-day weekend coming up here soon over Labor Day so I could go and visit. We will see I guess! I really want to meet my nephew, it kills me that I couldn't be there at the hospital. Hopefully I will get to see him soon!

Liam Charles Kelly

2009-08-07T14:47:00.001-04:00

Liam Charles Kelly, infant son of Patrick and Megan went to be in the arms of Jesus on July 23, 2009.

I have been wanting to post about this for a while now. It is just such a heavy topic, that I wanted to wait. I wanted to think about everything that has happened in the past couple weeks, the past couple months. It is been indescribably saddening, and emotionally draining.

I cannot even begin to understand what it would be like to lose a child, and I am sure that my words here will not remotely come close to the pain and heartache that my sister and husband have had to deal with over the past two weeks, since Liam was born still. Liam was a fighter, and his precious little heart remained beating for quite some time up until the birth. Megan had gone into the hospital two days before, because her placenta was starting to tear away. Ironic considering that it had absolutely nothing to do with Liam's heart condition and his hydrops. When they got to the hospital, they were surprised to learn that Liam was still alive, and everyone was so thankful and continued to pray. She kept having contractions until Thursday when she finally gave birth at 29 weeks. The doctors from Ann Arbor had told the doctor in Saginaw that they believed that there was a 100% chance that there was no way that he was going to make it. It was the worst news possible. There are so many questions here. It just doesn't make sense. Why would God let this happen? Has he not heard our prays for the last several months? Why Liam, just a small, precious innocent baby? Also, Liam was born a short seven days after Nataleigh. It is best said when asked, how do you feel so much sorrow, and so much joy in your heart, all at the same time? We will never really understand why all of this happened. But God is glorified in all things, and everything happens according to his will and purpose. His timing is perfect. Sometimes it is hard to remember those things, especially in the middle of our angst and confusion.

On Monday, July 27th 2009, a memorial was held. The service was beautiful. Some friends sang a couple of songs and touched everyone's hearts deeply. I believe it truly was a day that friends and family will never forget.

Hopefully time will heal the hurt, the pain, and the suffering. Liam Charles will always be loved, and hold a place in our hearts forever.

In loving memory of Liam Charles Kelly, who entered into eternal life with our Savior on July 23, 2009. May he never be forgotten.

Introducing the adorable Nataleigh Grace.

2009-07-20T16:16:00.000-04:00

Isn't she lovely?

Thursday late morning we got the call that it was official, my sister-in-law Emileigh's water had broke. I could barely wait to get out of work at 4 pm to get home, pack my bag and make the drive down to the hospital.
Emileigh's labor was relatively quick it seemed. Her water had broke around 8 am. They went to the hospital and had the pitocin started around 4ish. When I got there around 7 pm she seemed to be doing OK, she was having some contractions and they hadn't checked her yet so she had no idea how far she was dilated. Within like half an hour the contractions got a lot worse and she was in a lot of pain. Soon after that my brother Nathan and her decided that she would try some Demerol to help take the edge off the pain, so they gave her that mixed with Phenergan. Their original birth plan was that they were going to try to do the labor as natural as possible. I think it was around like 8:45 pm when she decided that she really wanted to have the epidural. The anesthesiologist was called, but a couple minutes later we were all standing around and all of a sudden Emileigh was like "I feel like I need to push!" I remember for a moment it was like we all just sort of looked at eachother like oh my gosh, this could be it! Sure enough, when the nurses came running in and checked her she was at 1o cm, and there was no time for the epi. I was proud of her, she gave birth with out the epidural! I know that it was probably not very easy, and afterward she said that it was the worst pain that she has ever experienced. She also had a 3rd degree tear down to the muscle.
It was a pretty exciting and eventful evening. Even though I wasn't able to be in the delivery room when she was born, it was special enough just to be outside the door. It was definitely an experience that I will never forget.

Nataleigh was born at 9:37 pm, weighing in at 5 lbs. 13 oz. and 18 inches long. She was 3 weeks and 2 days early.

Nathan, Emileigh, and baby girl Nataleigh Grace (Notice how it's a combo of their names? Kinda cool, huh?) I also thought that Emileigh looked pretty darn good afterward, she doesn't even look like she just had a baby, haha!

Group Photo

We finally got to hold her the next day!

Niece Nataleigh and Nephew Samuel...what a difference 3 years can make in size!

And last but not least, another picture of precious Nataleigh sleeping. She is so cute and so little....such a little peanut!

10 things I am thankful for today-in no random order.

2009-06-21T22:51:00.002-04:00

1. Our amazing, hope giving, gracious Father.
2. My incredible husband. He truly is incredible.
3. My family. I would be nowhere without them.
4. Having transportation.
5. Being able to have money to bless others.
6. Air conditioning.
7. My ability to be active.
8. Our church family.
9. Our pups who love us unconditionally.
10. Popsicles.

I know some of those are random. But those are the things I am truly thankful for at the moment.

Megan and Pat's Baby

2009-06-18T14:09:00.003-04:00

I have not had a chance to update on this blog about my sister Megan and her husband Pat's baby. They found out a couple weeks ago that he may possibly have a heart defect and then it was confirmed when they found out that he had something rare called Hypo-Plastic Right Heart Syndrome, or as they recently found out more in depth, Tricuspid Atresia. They are two of the strongest people I know. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. You can read more of their story here: http://patmegkelly.blogspot.com/

Busy busy and a BIG announcement.

2009-06-04T16:22:00.002-04:00

So like I am always saying, things have been super busy. Memorial Day weekend we had a get together or BBQ every day. The housework, the yard work, the laundry...it never seems to be done. Work has been busy, and then this past weekend my friend got married and I was in her wedding! It was a really great, fun weekend but we were all over the place. And this always includes a lot of driving. Hopefully I will get some time to post some pictures. I often wonder with our busy lives...how would we be able to ever throw a child into this mix? I guess that is just how it is and you work it out when the time comes.

But anyways....the real reason I wanted to post...

We are going to Europe!!
Chris is so excited. I have never seen him get so excited...it was hilarious, when we were booking the trip that is. He loves to travel, and he is constantly talking about going to Europe. So we found a great deal and figured why not?? We might as well do it now, while we can, and while it's cheap! So in October we are flying to Paris ( I have a slight obsession with the Eiffel Tower so I'm pretty stoked about this myself). We are staying there for 3 nights, and then flying to London, and staying there for 3 nights. It will be an 8 day vacation all together, and we cannot wait! I have also had a little obsession with England ever since I saw the movie "The Holiday". After that I always told Chris that if he ever wanted to move there I TOTALLY would, haha. I guess I will make a more educated opinion about that after I've actually been there. Either way we are super excited and cannot wait. And now I am off to google and amazon to see if I can find "used" Rosetta Stone for cheap. To learn some French of course. :o)

Another Awesome Verse

2009-06-02T14:49:00.002-04:00

I know it probably seems like I am posting these a lot lately, but I can't help it! They are so great!

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? ... I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35,38-39 (New Living Translation)

ahhh!

2009-05-27T16:32:00.001-04:00

I know, it seems like I have dropped off the face of the earth. My house looks like it as well, haha. Things are super busy! Post coming soon...

Awesome Verse

2009-05-22T09:13:00.000-04:00

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:16-19 (New Living Translation)

I am super stoked.

2009-05-01T15:13:00.003-04:00

I just spent like 400 of my coke rewards points on magazines.

(Yes I know, I'm a nerd, I do coke reward points.)
The funny thing is, we don't even drink soda.
A couple of years ago my friend and her husband thought it would be funny to start collecting them for me as well after I started collecting them at my old job. Now I have bags of them in a closet at home. It's ridiculous really.

Well today I had some free time at work and put in 120 points worth (that is all they will allow in a week time period.) And then I spent them all.

Sometime within 4-6 weeks we will start receiving our one-year subscriptions to:

Better Homes and Gardens
and
Entertainment Weekly

Woo hoo! I can't wait!

Our Family Is Growing

2009-04-23T16:59:00.001-04:00

Yep it is true.

Many who know us already know this, but we love animals, dogs in particular. Especially my husband, I have never seen someone who loves animals so much. So naturally, after we bought our house we invested in our first furbaby, Niles. (Yes, it is after the show Frasier, Chris LOVES that show.)

I know...cutest puppy ever, right? We got him at 6 weeks old, he was so tiny!

He has not been what I call a cheap investment, but is has been worth it. I have never seen an animal love two people more unconditionally. Even if we are mad at him, he forgets about it and still loves us the same. But yeah, the first couple years are rough. Between the vet visits for vaccines, and the neutering, and the heart worm meds and food and toys...wowza.

Totally worth it though. Not to mention he listens very well, and we can trust him. He is a great dog. Boxers are great dogs in genenal as they are incredibly smart, and good with children, which was a MUST for me. I love the fact that I can put my hand in his mouth, play with his face and do whatever else...and know that he would never bite me.

Well a couple weeks ago an aquaintence of mine casually asked me if we knew anyone who would want a boxer, or if we would want another. I was like uhh...maybe? We had toyed around the idea of getting another so that Niles would have a little friend to play with. We decided we would go and have a look at him and see if him and Niles would get along. Of course they played like crazy and we thought he was a really nice dog. We agreed that that weekend he could come and stay with us and we would see how it would go. Needless to say, he has been with us ever since. I felt bad for the family that had to give him away, but all they cared about was that he went to a great home. And the best part was that they gave us everything... EVERYTHING for FREE! They gave us the dog, his huge crate, his bed and toys, food, rawhides, bones...everything. We just couldn't pass this us, and we felt bad for him.

So...introducing...Siggy! (Chris wanted to change his name to Frasier..haha...I'm like seriously? We cannot do that to a two year old dog. That is just mean.) And yes, he is giving you the side-eye.

If I thought Niles was lovable...I was sooo incredibly wrong. Niles is more the type of dog that wants to play 24/7. Siggy on the other hang...he just wants your lovin. He would be totally content to just sit by you and let you pet him all day long. He is such a sweetheart.

And the best part is, him and Niles are best buds. It is hilarious. They are so cute!

Yeah, I even caught them snuggling on Nile's bed together. It's official, they are cuddle buddies.

Sooo cute. I love it.

Blog Slacker

2009-04-01T09:42:00.003-04:00

That is me.

I have wanted to post but things have been busy, and I usually try to post at work sometimes when I am slow, but we have been super busy here as well!

A lot has been going on. Let's see. Regarding my doctor's appointment...my ultrasound came back completely normal. Then they wanted to do blood work. That also came back completely normal. Both good news for sure, but still doesn't pinpoint what was wrong with me. They put me on a 24 hour clear liquid diet. That was a lot of fun. Let's face it, I love to eat, and drinking liquids for an entire day just isn't my style. But I sucked it up and once it was over had a yummy dinner. Anyways ever since then I have been on Prilosec and Zantac. They seem to help I guess, I haven't had any issues ever since, so that is terrific. I am just wondering if this is something that I will have to take forever? Who knows...once my script runs out I will def. by calling and asking some more questions. We will see how it goes I guess.

What else...OH! This is sorta big. :)
Saturday was our 3 year anniversary. I love my husband. He is amazing, and I am so lucky to have him! Friday night we just hung out and relaxed. When I had gotten home from working out he had gone to the Gourmet Food store that we love and got a couple different dips and some crackers, and also some beverages. I bought him a cute little card. Saturday we slept in. I got up and went to the gym, he worked on the upstairs and took Niles rollerblading. After I came home I cleaned up the house for a bit. That evening we had a dinner reservation at Six One Six in the JW Marriott for dinner. It was pretty good. Not my favorite restaurant for food, but our appetizer was this Spicy Tuna Tempura Roll and that was amazing. Our dessert was really good as well. They make these homemade little donut rolls with pineapple bits in them, covered in sugar. They serve them warm with this cream cheese sauce to dip them in. Delish, I know. After dinner we went to Fridays in the mall and had a drink while waiting for our movie time to come. The March Madness basketball games were on so that was kind of cool. I had a coffee drink because at that point I was starting to get a little sleepy! I swear that is the only time I can drink caffeine. Otherwise I am a nervous wreck. We went and saw Slumdog Millionaire. Talk about an interesting movie. It was pretty good but there were definitely some parts that were really disturbing. I would reccommend seeing it.

Sunday was a busy day as usual. We got up, went to church, drove straight to Muskegon to have lunch with Chris's parents and grandparents. We celebrated his Grandma Billie's birthday and our anniversary. Afterward we went to my in laws to hang out and watch a movie and eat some ice cream cake (my new favorite!) Then we went to house church for the evening and by the time we got home it was almost time for bed. Sigh. The weekend always goes by way too quickly.

So I have also been training to run my first marathon. Exciting! It will be the Fifth/Third River Bank Run in May. I am still debating whether or not it will happen depending on certain circumstances but it has been something that I have been looking forward to. I am only doing the 5K so the training isn't too vigorous. I hate running. But this has been forcing me to do it, and I always feel so good afterward. The training schedule even allows day where you are either off, or just walking for like 25-35 minutes. So easy, I can do that! Usually on those days I will try to do a spin class though.

We also may be adding to our little family of 3 this weekend. More to come on that later! ;)

Doctor Appointment

2009-03-13T14:40:00.000-04:00

So I have an appointment today at 4 pm. I am pretty sure that I am having gallbladder attacks. It has been happening for almost a year now, but recently they have been getting worse and more frequent. The final straw was last week when I had one at work after eating something that wasn't even that bad (half a sandwich and a salad), I cannot deal with that at work!! I am the first person people see when the walk in, and I have to answer the phone constantly. And that is really hard to do with terrible pain and discomfort. After a couple days I thought about canceling my appointment and trying to suck it up but then I had two more at home last week, so nope, I decided to definitely go today. Hopefully we find something out tonight.

Valentine's Day

2009-03-05T21:34:00.005-05:00

I know this post is a little late but we had such a good day, I want to remember it.

We started off V-Day by sleeping in. After we finally got up and around we went to run some errands, pick up some stuff for our dinner, and rent some movies. After we got back home we just relaxed and I even got to take a nap. I love days when I get to take naps!

Finally we started to make dinner. On the menu this year was Salmon, with a spicy-sweet or mustard dill sauce. Shrimp scampi and aspargus, with gouda mashed potatoes, and also gouda cheese with crackers. And to top it off, some white wine. My favorite was the shrimp scampi and aspargus, it was buttery and garlicy and so good!

After dinner we decided to watch "Nights in Rodanthe". I thought it was going to be more of a romantic comedy, but not so much, it was more of a romantic drama.

WRONG movie to be watching on Valentine's Day. The ending is incredibly sad, and I ended up sitting there just crying and crying, it was awful. Seriously, the movie ended and Chris just looked at me and was like, "Well that sucked!!!" And me blubbering was like "I know...I know..." Uhh it was terrible, don't rent it if you are trying to have a romantic evening!!! The best part about the movie was our dessert that we ate while watching it, haha. We had got a couple different flavors of truffles from this gourmet food store. Chris has surprised me with them in the past because he knows how much I love them. I love chocolate!

After the movie I was so mentally distraught that I ended up trying to distract myself by trying once again to find our engagement pictures. I have been looking for them for a while, I know they are somewhere in this house!! Well I found just the opposite. I found a box with stuff that Chris and I have given eachother throughout our relationship. We ended up sitting on the bed, and reading through cards from the past couple years. I was already so emotional from that stupid movie that I just ended up sitting there crying some more. It just made me realize even more how much I love my husband and how awful it would be to ever lose him. We just sat there and talked, and laughed, and just talked about how much we value eachother and are thankful for our relationship. And also how much some things have changed. It was a really great way to end the evening. I love my husband so much!

And finally....Part Three.

2009-02-09T20:22:00.004-05:00

The weekend right after my Birthday we were finally able to spend some time with Chris' family and celebrate. They came to GR to visit and we went out to eat at Kobe Steak and Seafood. It is a hibachi grill, we love that restaurant!

Bob and I on the ride there

Chris and I at the restaurant

Aunt Barb, Jeanne and Bob

After dinner we headed on over to Cold Stone Creamery. Mmmm I love ice cream. And we discovered that they have the most absolutely amazing ice cream cakes. I must say, these may need to become a tradition for me. I may demand it (yes they are that good!)
So picked up a little of this:

"A Cheesecake Named Desire"

and a little of that....!

"Chocolate Chipper"

And they were both incredible, and we had yummy leftovers for a good week.

AND I got an awesome present!!!
One thing that I really really wanted for my Birthday was a Heart Rate Monitor, and preferably one that also told how many calories you burned when you were done working out. Low and behold my in-laws got me this:

It is sweet! I have used it several times so far, and I really like it. You can set it so that it knows that you want to be within a certain range, and if you are either below or over the range it beeps at you. There is function when you are done to not only see the calories burned, but to see how far you went/worked out for, and how long. Not only that but it has some sort of special sensor that blocks out other heart rate monitors from interfering with yours, therefore no getting a mixed signal from someone else. I really love it!

Well folks, that is all for the Birthday posts. It was a really great week.

My Birthday-Part Two

2009-02-09T20:12:00.006-05:00

So my birthday was on a Thursday this year, and typically I would take the day off a work but I decided I would suck it up since I wouldn't get to spend the day with Chris anyways. It ending up being a really great day. Not only did I get tons of birthday wishes on myspace and facebook, but also text messages, emails, and phone calls etc. Also, some of my coworkers made it really special, when I got to work there were some presents on my desk, and my boss also took a group of us out to lunch. It was really nice.

After work I went home and relaxed for a little while and when Lauren came home from class we went to The Bob and had dinners at Gill's.

My celebratory drink

On your birthday you may choose to have a lobster dinner for free. I LOVE seafood obviously, but have never eaten a whole lobster by myself. It was really good. Poor lobster, little did he know he was going to be devoured that evening, haha!

Lauren and I

And what is a birthday dinner without some dessert, and chocolate at that? Not only was the set-up creative and pretty, but it tasted great too.

Chris missed a great dinner, I wish he could have came with us (he had to be at class that night, but met up with us later.) Thank you Lauren for being a great friend and spending the evening with me!

My Birthday-Part One

2009-02-09T19:52:00.005-05:00

So like I said in my previous post, my Birthday week was like a week long celebration. It was seriously amazing! And my best birthday to date that I can recall. It started off the weekend before. Chris and I met my family in Lansing and had a late lunch at a place call Jimmy's Pub. We also celebrated Jesse's too, since our birthdays are only two days apart. It is fun to have someone to celebrate with and they even surprised us with a cake from Zehnders (one of my favs!)

Jesse and I opening some presents

Opening Anne of Green Gables, one of my favorite presents this year! I must have been shocked or something, haha...

Sam opening his Valentine's day present from his Grandma and Grandpa, he is so cute!

Chris and I

Patrick and Megan

Jesse and Trisha

Emileigh, Nate and *baby!*

It was a short time that we were able to be together, as we all had to drive our seperate ways (including Ohio and Indiana, we hate living so far apart!) but it was very special none the less, and we always have a great time.

My Birthday

2009-02-07T11:29:00.002-05:00

Thursday was my birthday, and I turned 24. It freaks me out because I know that it is one year closer to me turning 30. Everyone keeps telling me ohhh you ware such a baby blah blah blah but seriously, that doesn't make me feel any better. It is still another year come and gone, it is crazy...I cannot believe how fast time flies. I cannot believe how long Chris and I have been together, it is awesome!! And as much as I don't want to be anxious or rush things I am so excited for our future.

This past week has been awesome! I feel like I've been celebrating the the entire week, and every day has brought something fun. I will definitely be posting some pictures soon, probably tomorrow. As for now, I need to get busy. My in-laws will be here soon and this place is a mess and I still need to get ready. I will end on this note: sleeping in this morning was AMAZING!!! For once Chris was heading off to work early and I got to stay all snuggled in our warm bed...ahhh complete and absolute bliss.

TGI February.

2009-02-02T14:27:00.007-05:00

I am soooooooo ready for Spring.
I am tired of every square inch of my body being unnecessarily dry and un-moisturizable. Yes, I realize that is not a word, but in this case it is pertinent to explain the monstrosity of this situation. I can no longer go to bed with vaseline-type feeling lotion and socks covering my hands. It isn't working.

The sun decided to peak out a couple times within the past couple days. Yes you think I would be ecstatic except I was practically blinded. I mean, it was like my eyes hadn't been objected to any sort of natural light in years. I see this as being somewhat of a problem. I can feel the seasonal depression starting to set it, but I didn't think about how I work 8-5 and I'm in an office ALL DAY LONG. I am going to have to make an effort to get outside on my lunch breaks, and take Niles for walks right after work so I can enjoy the day light (once it becomes warmer that is). Otherwise I very well may just turn into a crazy person.

Speaking of becoming a crazy person, I am currently studying to take my Life, Accident and Health Exam, which if I pass I then acquire a license to be able to sell Life Insurance in Michigan. Not something that I ever intend to do, but alas, when I get this license it means another raise. This is seriously some of the most boring stuff I have ever tried to read, which is definitely causing me some trouble getting motivated to actually read it. But I must suck it up and just get it over with. I take a 3 day 8-5 class in a couple weeks and have to complete a 80 question test before I go. Tis going to be great fun.

This weekend was awesome. I will be posting with some pics soon.

Despite eating healthy...

2009-01-22T21:00:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I totally gave into my cookie craving that I've been having for a couple days. Like I say, I refuse to deprive myself, and everything in moderation. So as I was discussing this with one of my coworkers, she proceeded to ask me if I have ever made "Monster Cookies" ummm...no...., but now I have, and they are THE DEVIL THEMSELF!!!!

Ugh, so good. And I have eaten one too many.

I mean seriously, what is better than Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chips and M&Ms?

NOTHING!!
Absolutely nothing. That is the problem.
If anyone wants the recipe, this is the one I used: Monster Cookies

You can thank me later =)

Valued Time

2009-01-16T11:09:00.003-05:00

Last night I hung out with my good friend Stephanie. We used to work together at Tanaz, and we both went to the Douglas J Aveda Institute but she did the night class so I did not know of her back then. After I left Tanaz we remained friends and we hang out from time to time and she also does my hair for me. I took her out to dinner last night for doing my hair for me last week. We went to the Macaroni Grill which is an Italian restaurant. I really like it there.

I've only been two times, once after Chris and I got married the first time ;) and then another time when his parents came into town for dinner, but I really enjoy it. I guess Steph frequents the place quite often... For an appetizer we had the Calamari Fritti
And for the main course we both had the Chicken Cannelloni. It was amazing....amazingly cheesy...and totally hit the spot.
And then for dessert...yes we were getting a little full but come on...two girls going out to eat..we had to get dessert. That is the best part of the meal anyways! We got the Amaretto Apple Crispetti. It was carmely, apply, creamy....the perfect way to end the meal.I know you are probably hungry now, I know I am...sorry!

After that we went to Burlington Coat Factory and walked around for a while and looked at stuff. It was fun just to hang out and talk about all the things that is going on in our lives. We had a really great evening despite the freezing cold weather we are getting here right now.

Lately I have just been thinking about how much I value the time I spend with people. The time I get to be with Chris, just him and I...those weekends that we just curl up inside and hang out...the time that I spend with my family since I don't see them often, even if it's a conversation on the phone for an hour and half, and the time I spend with my friends. I know as we get older and our lives change even more that we will become busier and busier, and probably not get to spend as much time with the people we care about.
I value these times.

Weekend Fun

2009-01-11T21:17:00.004-05:00

This weekend was pretty good. Chris had to work, so I just kept myself busy. Saturday consisted on cleaning the house and getting some stuff done. I knew I had plans that night with some friends but I could not get motivated to get in the shower and get ready. The snow was falling and our house was all cozy and warm. I ended up falling asleep on the couch for a couple of hours and it was awesome. I love naps. Chris wasn't there to keep me warm but Niles cuddled with me, haha. Finally my friend Julie called me sometime after 5 I finally got up and got ready. I went to the Rivertown mall and saw Bride Wars with her, her sister Katherine and friend Becca. It was a cute movie, definitely a chick flick and was pretty funny at times. Not one of those movies that I came out of it going "Oh I loved that I want to see it again, or I want to buy it!" and probably wouldn't really rent it to watch with Chris because I know that he would be less than interested! I am happy though because I finally found someone who will go and see those movies with me! I am happy that I met my friend Julie at work because she is really nice. After the movie we went and ate dinner at On the Border...I have never been there before. It was pretty good I guess, kind of your typical Mexican/Americanized restaurant; they had a good variety of food to pick from. I love girls night out!

Once I left I went home and picked up Chris and Lauren and we went downtown to Bar Divani and met up with Lauren's bf Joshua. We hung out that for a couple hours..it was fun to be downtown, it wasn't too busy which I am assuming is because of the crappy weather we have been getting. I love their Molten Lava Chocolate cake. We get it every time we go.

Cute!

Love him... :)

New Years Eve

2009-01-11T20:40:00.006-05:00

For the last couple years we have been going to our friends Adam and Amanda's house for New Years. They always throw a great little party with amazing food and friends. This year was no different. I only had to work a half day so I headed home, packed our bags, Niles and his things and some goodies I had made and headed over to Norton Shores once again. Chris met me at his parents around 10 after he got out of work and we headed over to the Montambo's.

Here is a nice little glance at all the great food we had to pick from....chilled shrimp, brie, hot crab dip, carmel brownie, pumpkin rolls...yuumm...

Chris and Adam eating food in the kitchen

Amanda and I, love this girl!

Adam and Amanda....can you believe that they have three kids? She looks amazing!

Chris and I

Amanda and friend Nicole from their church

Chris opening our celebratory champagne....

....and me pouring it!!
Happy New Year everyone! May 2009 be absolutely amazingly incredible...

One last girls picture by the tree...

We did not get to bed until after 3 am that night. Niles whined all night long and I slept terrible. I remember waking up in an awful mood. Not the greatest way to start the first day of the New Year! We went out to lunch to a quaint little place called Toast 'N Jams...we have wanted to go there before but never really had the opportunity. Turns out we really loved it and can't wait to go back....once we headed home Chris had to go to work. And I crashed on the couch, haha. Way to spend my day off of work! As much fun as we had, we both remember thinking how great it would have been to just have stayed home in our PJs, curled up on the couch eating good food and celebrating together just the two of us. Wow we sound like old people... =) But that was exactly what we did for the rest of the weekend and it was amazing!

Christmas with the Buchingers

2009-01-11T20:31:00.004-05:00

Christmas morning started off very interesting. I was incredibly happy because it had not snowed that night, thank goodness because seriously we have had so much of it up to that point and I was sick and tired of getting stuck in our street every time I was coming to and from our house. We got up early, got the car running and everything in it and then I looked out to the street......they had plowed and there was a ton of snow at least one foot high and like two feet wide blocking the end of our driveway. Chris ran out there to shovel it out of the way quickly because the car was running and there was absolutely no way our little almost to ground Corolla was going to plow through it. That was when he discovered that it was literally rock hard. I have no idea how we got out of the driveway but eventually we did.....then we had to stop at the gas station because we needed gas and we were low on oil (weird?) and then we couldn't get the hood closed...finally we were on our way. We got to the fam's house, unloaded everything and then headed of to Gma Cummings for Christmas dinner and the annual white elephant exchange which was a good time as always. Every year we take our family picture there, and every year it seems to get bigger...can't wait to see how many people are in it next year *hint* there is an unexpected person in it that you will read about a little ways down...!!

Here is everyone:

Afterward we headed back to the house and all sat around and opened presents, one by one..it always takes a couple hours but is so much fun.

Here is a picture of my nephew Samuel, he is getting so big! He will be 2 in March. He is running around all over the place now and really has a personality.

Trisha opening one of her birthday presents....this quilt was made by my sister Meg and Mom, such a great gift, she was so happy!

Chris looooves his Starbucks coffee. Can't get enough of it.

Sam opening one of his presents from us...Trish was making him laugh so hard, it was cute.

Jesse, Megan and Pat...they got a lot of Lowes gift cards I think. Great for their new house!

We got them a mirror for Christmas to hang in the house, it was a really cool mirror! Sam seems intrigued by himself, haha.

And one of the best surprises of all....Nate and Emileigh are going to have a baby! They are due on August 8th, their anniversary! What a present, a baby! Congrats you two!

Sam looking cute as ever in his little Christmas pajamas.

Chris and I at the end of the evening. So happy and in love. I love him!

The Holidays always go by so fast. They always remind me though of how lucky and blessed I am for my family and friends. I am so thankful.

Christmas with the Ostranders

2009-01-11T19:40:00.006-05:00

This year we celebrated with Chris' side of the family on the Saturday before Christmas. As much as I loooove Christmas with my big family, I always look forward to this time as well because it's just Chris and I, his parents and his Aunt Barb, always being a little more intimate affair.

Me on the way there...you can notice in the background that we are seriously consumed in a real Winter Wonderland this year. Although the weather has not been quite as romantic as it sounds....
We packed up Niles with us since we planned on spending the whole evening there and drove out to Norton Shores sometime in the early afternoon. It was so fun because we ended up getting some amazing presents that were completely unexpected, and those are sometimes the best. This was one of them and we absolutely love it. We needed a Garmin and are so lucky that we got one...awesome surprise!

Jeanne and Bob with their new pan set.

Family pic by the fire place. Niles' eyes make him look evil haha!

After opening up presents we went out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurant there called The Hearthstone. Great food...yumm.. We are cute. :)

So after dinner Chris wanted to watch a movie with his Dad so I took a little nap for a while and then afterward we met up with his cousin Derek and his girlfriend Amber at Chilis. We have been wanting to meet her for a while. The plan was to drive home that night but the snow started to fall...that should have been our cue to leave but we wanted to spend time with his family and not rush our evening! Well by the time we were driving back to his parents to pick up Niles we realized there was just absolutely no way we were going to be able to make the 45 minute trek back to GR in the dark with the snow coming down the way it was....we ended up getting stuck there. It was fun though, we stopped at Meijer on the way back and I bought some sweat pants, which are now like my fav. thing to wear around the house...we pulled out the futon, scrounged up some toiletries and cuddled up watching the snow come down out the window. Sometimes those spur of the moment change of plans are the best. The next morning we slept in, had lunch, packed up and finally admitted that we needed to get going...we had no idea how long our drive would take.

Bindi and Niles...they only sat nice like that for about a second...

Jeanne and Bindi

And last but not least, here is a time lapse video of our hellish drive home. Gotta love living in the freezing cold tundra we know as MI...

Christmas Eve Chris's parents always host their family party at their house. Chris has not been able to go for a couple years now because he always has to work, so I end up going to represent. It's fun but not the same without him. We had so much food this year! Here are some shots from the night...

His little cousin Brian showing me some of his presents...
Brian and I
Erica and I, love this girl!

And now we wait for next year...only 353 more days...haha.

Seriously. People.

2009-01-05T16:32:00.002-05:00

It has been like the Monday from hell.
Ok so I'm over-exaggerating a little. Haha...but come on. The phone, literally, has been ringing non-freakin-stop alllll day long. I am used to it, it's what I do, I'm the receptionist. But today has been exceptionally bad. I think it's because not only is it Monday but the Holidays are officially over and not only that but tax season is almost here, yippeee.
But I cannot wait for this day to be over! I get to leave in 25 minutes.
Then I am off to the Y.
And then I am going home to watch the two-hour season premiere of The Bachelor. I am super excited because it's with the cute/sweet single dad Jason Mesnick. I know it is going to be a good one. Can't wait to see all the women those chose for him...ha.

p.s. More updating to come with a bunch of pics from Christmas....

Merry Christmas Northwestern Mutual

2009-01-02T22:42:00.003-05:00

I was so excited for our work Christmas party. For one, it was my first Christmas party there, and I wasn't sure what to expect, I just assumed it was going to be tons of fun. Plus all day long all I could think about was how I hadn't eaten anything bad in a while and I knew that night we were having chicken wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. I also knew they were going to provide us beer and wine. That week I had been helping my friend/coworker Dave do some app input for this thing we do called Operation Issue where all the reps try to get in all their last minute apps to count towards their end of the year goals. Well that afternoon for some reason we were crazy busy. I am not gonna lie, it sucked and I was pissed. We were stuck downstairs until 5:45 while everyone was upstairs at the party. By the time we got out I was all the more motivated that this night was going to be a blast. Needless to say we had a pretty good time.

Me, Natasha and Alisha

Alisha, me, Julie, Dave and Chris

Julie and meWe ended up heading over to Z's for a drink afterward and hung out there for a while. We had more fun there than we did at the party.

me and our roommate Lauren (she is also one of my best friends and works at Z's)

me and Dave-finally done working and having some fun!!

When Chris got out of work he met up with me there. The night ended with me having a flat tire but luckily Dave and some tire inflator thing in his car that got me home. I think it's safe to say that we were all a little tired in the morning...haha. Merry Christmas NMFN.

The Christmas Season

2009-01-02T22:16:00.007-05:00

Here are a couple random pictures that I wanted to throw in a post somewhere.

I think it was the first Saturday in December, I drove to Lansing to visit my old roommate Kate. We get together every so often when she needs to get her hair done. She is still a very good friend of mine and I miss her dearly. After I did her hair I went to Riverview Church with her. I used to go there back in the day when I went to MSU and Douglas J. It looks absolutely nothing like it did back then. I was good to visit though. She is so cute! I think this may have been taken the next day, I am not sure. Chris and I were in the car going somewhere...and I was messing around with the camera.
Niles and I cuddling on the couch staying warm. He is so cute!
I got him to lay by the tree for just a minute one morning......didn't last long.

More Bowling Fun

2009-01-02T22:05:00.005-05:00

Well my bowling league is done for the season. I am a little sad because I will miss hanging out with my friends every Tuesday night, but at the same time, it is good to have that night back.
Here is a cool time lapse video we took one night:

And after this picture you may officially think I am crazy. But we were just having some good 'ol fun. What movie does this make you think of? =) I look so ridiculous, haha.

And last but not least, here is a picture of my team from our last night bowling. It was right before Christmas and we ate tons of food and exchanged little presents. My favorite was this little ornament that Alisha made me. It was a little bowling pin with a little green ball glued to it and she wrote Lincoln Lanes 2008 on it. It was the cheapest looking ornament ever and I absolutely love it!! I put it on our tree right when I got home that night.

Dave, me, Jeff and Alisha
Team JAAD #25 Foreva

2008-12-30T09:34:00.004-05:00

2008

1. What did you do in 2008 that you had never done before?
We went to Niagara Falls, Washington D.C., I started a new job as a receptionist and also joined the YMCA.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't even remember if I made any last year?? I guess I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions. If you want to change something about yourself or do something imparticular, why wait?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my friend Natasha at work. A healthy baby boy named Roman, he is so cute.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully not. And hopefully not this year either.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just Canada when we went to Niagara. We didn't go over to the US side.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
That I "lacked"? I cannot really think of anything...I love my husband..my job...my life =)

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 8th when my brother Nate and wife Emileigh got married. 08/08/08 cool date...

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting my new job at Northwestern Mutual

9. What was your biggest failure?
Chris and I not following a budget

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Oh my gosh no...this year has been really great, I don't think I've hardly been sick which is a first. I contribute it to trying to live a healthier life style and eater better.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Probably the camera, our new Canon, it's pretty sweet, I love it!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My husband for sure. He has been really great with helping me out around the house more and he is busy with working and school so I give him a lot of credit even though I don't always tell him enough. Thank you honey, I love you.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I would say certain people that I worked with at my old job...

14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, insurance, food, bills ughhhhhhhh

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The trips that we went on, the Holidays as always, and the coming of 2009

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Decode by Paramore

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? definitely happier!!
b) thinner or fatter? a little thinner
c) richer or poorer? more wealthy (just a little though)

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Pray, go to church, spend time with friends and family, work out

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
working!! which is impossible though....and spending money

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas day we were at my families in Vassar, but the saturday before we spent the weekend with my in-laws in Norton Shores.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I was already in love. I am lucky.

23. What concerts did you attend this year?
I do not think that we went to any this year...sad.. =(

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Oh I always have a few, but mostly Days, The Biggest Loser, The Bachelor/ette, The Office

25. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
I suppose there are always people that you meet that you might not necessarily get along with....

26. What was the best book you read?
Hmm I read some good ones...the Twilight series, also Marley and Me. Right now I'm reading The Shack. It is so sad so far...

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Joshua Radin, Paramore

28. What did you want and get?
a new job!!! a food processor, an external hard drive....gift cards...

29. What did you want and not get?
to win the lottery hahaha

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Hmm I can't really think of a favorite off the top of my head. I love going to the movies though.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 23. I remember crying a lot about some family drama, it was very silly actually. I think we went to Muskegon and went out to dinner with my in-laws. I can't even remember where we went....hmm...

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Paying off our debt...

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Haha...this is funny. Well it turned from wearing scrubs to office attire...so I would have to say that my concept was ...progressive? haha

34. What kept you sane?
my husband

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
hmm I guess I try not to fancy public figures..

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
probably stuff involving the election. It was interesting...

37. Who did you miss?
my family, they live too far away.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
some of my work friends

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
My life is not my in my control, it's in Gods.
I can try to be a control freak but that might not change a thing....

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I cannot think of one right now....oh well!

I tag:
My husband Chris, Erica, Angela, and Dave =)

It's blizzarding outside!!!

2008-12-19T09:40:00.003-05:00

Oh my gosh it is snowing like 3 inches an hour right now. It's awesome......haha. I can't believe our office is even open right now. Our home office in Milwaukee closed....I mean come on!! If they are shut down we should be too!! I have a feeling it is going to be somewhat of a slow day...and then Monday we are going to get our butts kicked with work making up for it. Should be interesting....
I know people hate this weather but I love it. I don't mind driving in the snow, especially if it's just around GR. My trek into work was real fun today...thankfully my amazing husband gets out of bed for me just to start my car and brush it off, what a sweetie. When I woke up at 6 I jumped out of bed because I was excited to see how much had fallen but at that point it wasn't too bad..by 7:20 when Chris came in from cleaning off my car he was like yeah...it's pretty bad out there....well I was like, whatever, it's only been over an hour, but dang!!!! Yeah it was way worse. I started driving and wow, not the right time to own a little corolla, they are way too close to the ground. The plows can't even keep up with it all. I almost got to work when the Amtrak train was stuck in the tracks. I'm like, are you freakin serious right now...haha. So I called my boss and told him I was going to be a little late but I was definitely on my...I pretty much had to drive all the way back home and turn around to get to the highway to get over the train tracks...fun fun!!! I was only like ten or fifteen minutes late, they didn't care though. At least I am here!!!
I sorta had some plans tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to drive a little ways to have Christmas with Chris's family. We will see what happens I guess!!

A not-so-restful weekend...

2008-12-14T23:45:00.002-05:00

I always look forward to the weekend, because it means not being at work, but this week was different....thurs. night after work, I did someones hair. Friday night I did two peoples hair...on a friday night!! It was fun though because I got to hang out with my friend/coworker Karen and she is one of the coolest people I have ever met. Chris even came over to hang out with us when he got out of work, she is that cool. Not to mention she always lavishes us with food and beverage.

Saturday I had all these plans to get up early and work out and then go do some shopping and blah blah blah...I ended up thinking forget it. We stayed up too late anyways, and I wanted to sleep in with my husband, something we never get to do anymore....I know I say this alot but I am incredibly thankful for my job ...but seriously, every morning...I am so jealous when I am getting up and Chris gets to stay all nice and warm and curled up in our amazingly comfortable bed. So we slept in, and it was awesome...just waking up whenever, not be woken by an alarm. Loved it.
Well, I got up waaay too late, hurried up and got ready and left for Lansing. I miss it there sometimes. I went to the Eastwood Towne Centre and did some quick shopping, I love that mall. They had some new stores there that I might have to make a special trip there for sometime. After that I met up with my friend Kate and did three peoples hair. Work work work....it was worth it though. Kate is my old roommate that I lived with while I went to Douglas J and before I married Chris. I miss her and we always have fun catching up. Afterwards I went to church with her to Riverview's Saturday night service. I used to go there when I went to MSU and continued on until I moved to GR. The place has changed so much, I couldn't believe it. They expanded on to their building to accomodate their growing chuch, so I didn't even recognize the place. I was sad to leave.

The drive home sucked, it rained the whole way and I kept praying that I would have a safe drive and not slide off into the ditch. It's december...why the heck is it raining? Anyways, on the way home I picked us up some Sushi from OMI, it is one of our fav. sushi places. We have debated driving there just for the sushi before but never have. I met up with Chris after 10 pm and surprised him with the food and he finally got to take his lunch break.

This morning was the same thing...we slept in. Then I realized I had so much to do today. We got up and made some french toast for breakfast and then went grocery shopping. After we got home the laundry began....I washed everything today, and didn't get done folding until right before I wrote this. If it was in our house, and remotely dirty, I washed....clothes, towels, sheets, Niles dog beds, everything......I think I did atleast 5 loads. While that was happening I did another persons hair. That being numero seven in the past four days. When she left I cleaned the house, continued the laundry, finally took and shower and ate some food. Now here we are, it's after midnight and I gotta get up in like 6 hours. Seriously where does the time go???

Well I have an important meeting in the morning for work that I am nervous about. It's an all staff meeting and no one is sure what exactly it's about...so I need to get some sleep. Should be interesting.....g'night all.

Welcome to "The Office"

2008-12-10T21:27:00.003-05:00

Here's a little sneak peak into my place of employment...welcome to Northwestern Mutual =)

Cool new glass sign that we just got for the wall:

This is the lobby/waiting area where people sit, it is across from the sign above. Oh and I get to stare at it all day long.

And this is my desk. Sort of one of the first things you see when you walk in. Yeah, I pretty much love it.

This is where I sit alllll day. It's not always that messy. Just when I get busy.

View from the side

Every Monday I get a new arrangement of flowers for the desk. This is what we got this week, they are awesome. I love the colors, it is so Christmasy!

This is my friend and coworker Chris....what the heck is he doing under there?? I think he was getting coffee out of the cupboard, haha.

That's all I got for now. The office is way bigger than what it seems, all you really see in these pictures is the area when you first walk in.
I love our new camera.
More random pictures to come...

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-10T21:07:00.006-05:00

Saturday we got sooo much snow. Chris and I went Christmas shopping all day; we left at 11:30 am and didn't get home until 9:15 pm. And it snowed the entire time, the roads were crappy. And I loved it!!! It was gorgeous out. It was that nice fluffy snow, the kind where each snow flake is so huge that you can see it's individual pattern as it's falling down. It made walking to and from stores sort of a pain and there was a lot of water on the floor mats by the time we got home, but I still loved it. The snow made it seem like it was actually "The Holidays", besides the crazy amount of shoppers out and about. We haven't gotten to go Christmas shopping together in like a couple years so it was really fun. And I feel like we are always so busy, it's hard to really "feel" like it's Christmastime which stinks because this is our favorite time of year and it flies by too fast. One of our favorite things that we did saturday besides eat sushi was when we got Starbucks and walked around the mall, taking in all the decorations and shoppers bustling around...just being together. It was so nice.
This is a picture from when we were driving....well we were at a stop light when I actually took it, not driving:

We ended up eating at Toyko Grill and the sushi was great as always, like I predicted it to be. We wish we could eat it everyday. I should have taken a picture of it, it was so pretty...haha. These are from in the restaurant:

And this is me being stupid......haha

I also took some pictures around the house...the ones with the snow in them are from a couple days ago so we actually have a lot more now. We also have some cool icicles hanging all over, it's funny how they even formed themselves all around the Christmas lights. I know a lot of people would think I am crazy if they read this but I hope it keeps snowing. I don't mind it anymore, I love it!!! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....... =)

So thankful the weekend is here....

2008-12-05T23:20:00.002-05:00

My mouth is still killing. The muscles in my jaws are just aching, pretty sure it's from all the anesthesia shots they gave me. I still can't chew very well because it hurts my teeth to bite down. They are also pretty sensitive to hot and cold now. I can't wait until I get my real crowns on in two weeks. Hopefully everything will feel normal by Christmastime so I can actually enjoy eating food.

Well anyone who lives in West Michigan knows we have got a pretty good amount of snow over the last 24 or so hours. I don't mind it, it is so beautiful outside. I took some pictures tonight when I got home from the Y, I will post them sometime this weekend, since I'll probably end up taking some more.

Tomorrow is going to be great. Chris has the weekend off so we get to spend the day together and try to get most of our Christmas shopping done. We are going to have sushi for dinner, I cannot wait. We will probably indulge and it will be amazing. I probably won't be able to eat that much longer anyways... Hopefully we will find most of our stuff tomorrow that way I can stop thinking about shopping. Christmas is coming so fast, only 20 more days!!! Once again my favorite time of year is flying by before I can even get a chance to enjoy it.
Sunday all we have to do is go to church. Maybe I will come home and take a nap...probably not but the thought is nice. I need to get on sending out Christmas cards asap. Alright well I am exhausted. And Chris is passed out with Niles on the couch by me and he just sat down...I think that it is time for bed.

Saturday at Riverside Park

2008-12-04T22:55:00.004-05:00

Saturday early afternoon I decided to take Niles to Riverside Park for a walk/run.
It was absolutely gorgeous outside. The sun was shining, and it wasn't too breezy; it was a perfect brisk early winter day. Niles had been whining all morning because he was bored. It was an even greater reason for me to get out and get some exercise and also enjoy the weather. Here are some pictures that I took from the park with the new camera. The colors are great!

There are always tons of ducks and geese along the river.

Walking along the way...

Some pictures of one of the ponds

Niles playing and grabbing at his leash while I'm trying to take a picture of him.

And last but not least, here is a video I took of me playing fetch with Niles

Niles is so cute.

2008-12-03T22:56:00.004-05:00

Some pics from our new Canon

2008-12-03T20:58:00.003-05:00

My sister in law Emileigh, brother Nate, and brother in law Patrick.
Three of the best people I know.

My baby Niles.

Niles cuddling with me on the couch.

He looks like he is posing. His coat is so beautiful.

Our gorgeous tree!!

I officially hate going to the dentist.

2008-12-02T16:19:00.002-05:00

I had to go yesterday afternoon. I needed to get a bunch of work done on two teeth and then have them crowned. I was there for over 3 hours, my mouth hurts like heck, and it cost us a whole lot of money, like a small, old used car.
But...
I do not want my complaining to be the main point in this post..
because..I do not want to complain.
I am thankful. Because I am lucky.
We at least have dental insurance. And jobs that provide us with that dental insurance. And if we didn't have that insurance....then that dollar amount would FOR SURE be something to be complaining about. Because it would be more like a nice used car. Like our Corolla for example. Not to mention I have a really great dentist.
I never got to go to the dentist as a child, and that combined with some bad genes make for the mess that my mouth is.
I am thankful that when we have kids, we will be able to provide them that need. It's an awesome feeling.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T21:27:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving was fun this year. Every year I swear I feel more thankful than the last. We are so lucky and blessed. Chris and I both have good jobs, which I am especially thankful for since we live in Michigan and the economy is rough right now. We are so thankful for our family, friends, our House Church, and Mars Hill. We are so very lucky.
Like the past three years, Chris had to work. I hate that, but that is what happens when you work at a hospital. We thought for sure he would have it off since he's worked the past two but we are not complaining because that means he has Christmas off!! Anyways, he didn't have to work until 4 so we went over to his aunt and uncle's like we usually do. The food was amazing as always. Soooo good,I wish we had Thanksgiving like once a month. There is just something about green bean casserole and turkey and potatoes and gravy and pumpkin pie and pumpkin roll of course.....yum. Anyways, so we hung out with his fam. for a while and when he left for work I left for Indiana. My family was going down to Mishawaka to stay with my brother Nate and his new wife Emileigh. They had eaten earlier in the day and by the time I got there around 6 we all snacked on leftovers. We also played a new card game called 81, it was a lot of fun!! That night we looked at the adds and sat around and talked, it was fun. I love getting to see my family and catch up, we always end up staying up late and talking, especially me and Megan. We planned to get up early the next morning and go shopping!!! We always talk about going but never do.
Friday we got up around 5:30. We went to Wal-Mart first. That place was a mad house!!! I got hit in the back end with a cart by some lady, and also when we left I almost got hit by a car. We ended up shopping for like 6 hours. I got some good deals. My favorite buy was our new camera. I wasn't planning on buying one but they had such good deals that day. I ended up getting a Canon PowerShot SD 790 IS....it is AMAZING. I will be posting some new pictures and video that I have taken with it. I promise that compared to my last couple posts you will most definately be able to tell the difference between the pictures.
We also went out to breakfast at this little diner. After we were done shopping everyone came back to the apartment and ate leftovers for lunch. Then we all packed up and headed back to our homes. Driving two hours isn't fun on like 4 hours of sleep. When I got home I unloaded everything and took a loooong nap, and it was great.
More to come on my great 4 day Thanksgiving weekend!

My New Job

2008-11-30T21:03:00.002-05:00

Well...it was new, three months ago anyways.

Back in the beginning of August our friend Joe called me one morning and told me about a job opening where he works. He knew how unhappy I was at Crystal Springs and that I was looking for something new. Anything would have been an improvement as long as I made at least the same amount of money. He told me that it was for the receptionist position, and that he thought that I would be good at it. Praise God...this may be the answer to our prayers!!! I was so excited.....I couldn't wait to call the Office Manager named John. I gave him a call and he wanted me to fax and email him my resume. When I got home from work that night I started working on it right away. I send it to him at 1 am in the morning. I wanted to hear back from him asap, I was so anxious!! I couldn't believe this opportunity had come along.

A couple weeks later John finally called me for an interview. My sister Megan and I were driving to the church the day of my brother's wedding, I was ecstatic! I was driving, and literally dancing in my seat. I remember Meg was so excited and happy with me! My interview would me on Monday morning. I couldn't wait to tell Chris about the call.

Monday morning finally came. I was so nervous. I wanted him to know that I could this job for them, which I had no doubt in my mind. I like being around people and I knew that I could be professional. He told me that he would call me by the end of the week either way, when he made his decision. It was all I could think about all week long.

Friday finally came. I kept thinking....why isn't he calling me?? I cannot take the suspense anymore!!! I remember that I cleaned like the entire house that morning. I don't think I could sit still. I was vacuuming in the bedroom right around 2 pm and thought hmm...if the phone rings I won't be able to hear it. I turned off the vacuum and went and picked up my cell. Sure enough, one missed call. Crap!! It was him!!! I dialed my voicemail so fast.....my heart was seriously racing. He left a message asking me to call him back and asking that if I could, please call before the day was over as he was going on vacation the next week, and that he looked forward to speaking with me. He looked forward to speaking with me?? What??? Did I get this job? Would he look forward to talking with me if he was telling me that I didn't get the position?!! I was freaking out. Oh my gosh I needed to calm down.

Then I called him back. He was very friendly. Then he asked me, "So do you still want to work with us?" He must have thought I was crazy,I practically screamed YES!!! into the phone. He was offering me the job. He also told me that I was his number one choice. Wow!!! Thank you Lord!!! Our prayers had been answered. That week I had seriously struggled with the fact that this was NOT in my control. I was constantly praying that God would bless me with this job and have mercy on me....I did not want to work at Crystal any longer. But what if that was not God's plan for me? What if He wanted me there, what if I was meant to be there, whether I liked it or not? I would have to accept that when the time came, but the thought was killing me. And finally I got my answer.

I remember when I hung up the phone I started bawling. I hadn't cried so hard in a while.....I called Chris so fast, and when he got on the phone I was like Chris!! I got the job!!! He was like oh my gosh are you serious.......it was such an awesome moment. Then I had to call his mom. By the time this was all over it was 2:30. OH my gosh I have to leave for work in ten minutes. I never showered so fast in my life. On the way to work I called Megan to tell her the good news as well.

So there's my story of how I got the job.

I have been working at Northwestern Mutual Financial Network for three monthes now. I started on Sept. 2, the day after Labor Day. It has been really great so far. I have a nice big desk. I answer the phones and transfer calls. I have to do a lot of policy reporting and put info into the computer. I validate parking, and get people coffee. Recently two of the girls I work with had babies so they are on maternity leave. I have been helping my friend Dave do some application input. It might not seem like much but seriously, my job rocks. I am comfortable there now, and I love it. I love my coworkers (well almost all of them...they are always a few....haha) and have made some really great friends.

Every day I wake up, and I am still so thankful.
I remember a couple weeks after I started I came home one night and Chris was like, "So how was your day??" and I was like really good!! And then he said...You know it is so nice, you come home at night and I can tell that you are happy. It's nice that you aren't worry about work...or wanting to cry, every night. It was cool to hear him say that.

And that was the awesome transition that took place in our life three months ago.
And like I said, I am still so happy and thankful.
Thank you God. And thank you Joe!!!

The Biggest Bar Night of the Year

2008-11-30T20:28:00.004-05:00

We decided to go out and hang out with some friends on the night before Thanksgiving this year. We have never done that before, I figured it would be absolutely crazy, from my years of prior serving experience. Chris really wanted to go back to Graydon's Crossing in East GR. We went there a couple monthes back for our anniversary dinner and really liked it. Their food is awesome, and Chris loves their extensive beer menu. We only stayed for a couple hours but it was fun, we had some good food and good conversation. And it actually wasn't too crazy there at all. I was happy that we stayed away from downtown. Here are some pics from the night; Enjoy!

Our good friend Paul and his girlfriend Naomi

My coworker Dave and I

Watch out Dave!! I'm coming after your beer!!

My coworker Julie and I

Tour Behind the Falls

2008-11-30T18:53:00.003-05:00

Here is a cool video from when we went to Niagara Falls. We were on the observation deck right next to the Falls, it is an awesome view!!

Washington, D.C.

2008-11-30T17:35:00.010-05:00

So for our anniversary this year we decided that we would go and take a trip to D.C. I had never been there before, and Chris hadn't been since he was little so we were both really looking forward to it. My good friend Kevin and his fiance Lisa live in Arlington, VA so we stayed with them, which was awesome because hotels are sooo expensive. We learned that on our honeymoon. But anyways, it was really great because they knew exactly how to get everywhere and how to use their subway system which is amazing I might add. It was clean and inviting for the most part. The worst part about the trip is that we drove there and back which seemed like it took forever, especially the drive home. We wasted a day driving all together but it was worth it.

We left early friday morning and arrived there around dinnertime. We hung out for a little while and had some drinks and then went off to dinner as we were all starving. We ended up going to the Chart House which was this really nice seafood restaurant.

Lisa and I at their apartment

After that we went bar-hopping for a while, and walked around The Mall to see some of the monuments at night. That was a short night and we were pretty tired.

I have to note their cat, Bianca. This cat was hilarious....it was pretty cute, it's not very young but still the size of a large kitten. You think its nice until you try to pet it and she hisses at you and attacks you. She scared the crap out of us several times (thankfully she is declawed.) I wanted to take a picture of her, I could tell she was annoyed. Apparently I was bothering the crap out of her and when I took it she lunged at me....haha.

Saturday morning we tried to get a Capitol tour but got there too late. I took some really great pictures though.

Since we had some time to spare we walked over to the Library of Congress. OH. MY. Goodness. What an imazingly incredible beautiful building. Seriously, I loved it. I could not stop taking pictures of it. The painted ceiling was so beautifully detailed...it was one of my favorite things that we saw on our trip.

Here is a video from inside, I loved this building!!

Another thing that was very cool was that they had all if not most of Thomas Jefferson's library there. We weren't really supposed to be taking pictures of this area so I took some video.

After that we headed on over to the Holocoaust Museum. This was something that both Chris and I really wanted to see. I must say, it is very....well, words do not describe. Sad. Unbelievable. Disgusting. How in the world...did that happen?? How is it still happening now in Darfur?? I do not understand. You were not allowed to take any pictures at all in the museum, not that we necesarily wanted to. Although I have no desire to ever go back, it is something that I will never forget.

Then we headed back to the apartment to watch the U of M/MSU game. Kevin went to MSU law school so we were all pretty big State fans. We ate in for dinner and just kind of relaxed after all the walking we had been doing. Later on we went back into D.C. and walked the whole Mall to see all of the monuments at night.

The Washington Monument with the reflection of the Mall in the pool

These were at the World War II Memorial. One of my favorites; the fountains are really cool and make for some great pictures.

The Lincoln Memorial. Abe was HUGE!

I can't remember what memorial this was but we thought this was pretty funny.

This is the Jefferson Memorial, it was really pretty reflecting off of the water.

Last but not least we visited the White House. It seemed a lot smaller than I thought it would have been.

Sunday morning we went back to the Capitol to try to get a tour again but it turned out that it was closed, which they thought it would be open. We were bummed that we didn't get to see the inside but once again I got a lot of great pictures from the outside.

All of the colors there were still gorgeous. We love fall!

Once we realized the Capitol was closed we decided to spent the rest of the day at Mount Vernon and go see George Washington's house. We also toured where he made his flour, cornmeal and whiskey. It was pretty interesting.

Kevin turned the water in the cask to make the alcohol

Yep. That is George Washington's tomb.

After all the walking we did we were pretty tired again that night. Monday morning we got up with Kevin and Lisa and as they went off to work, we left to drive back to Michigan. I am thankful that we had to opportunity to visit someplace new. We are blessed that my friends let us stay with them for free. We are very greatful! Thank you Kevin and Lisa.

Time to play catch-up!!

2008-11-29T19:58:00.025-05:00

I promised this entry a long while ago, and now I am going to make good on that promise. This is a long awaited summer update. Do I regret waiting until now? Yes. But..this is the first time I could actually sit down and do this without feeling guilty about it, and that makes me feel good. So here goes....

My Review of Summer 2008

--One of the things that I had decided to do for myself this summer was play on a softball league. It ended up being a lot of fun, even though we only ended up winning two games. I blame it on the fact that we were the only team on a men's league that had 3 girls on it, me being one of them of course. The fact of the matter is that we were just not as good as all those guys. Here are some pictures from the season:

--I believe these pictures were from a BBQ on Father's Day weekend =) / family reunion. Alot of Chris's family was there and we had a lot of great food.

That is Chris's cousin Erica and her husband Joe, she was one of our bridesmaids in our wedding and one of my very good friends.

This was from a quick trip home to see my family. Love my sister!!
--On the weekend of the 4th of July my cousin (through my adopted fam.) got married and we were lucky enough to be invited to her beautiful wedding in Lansing. Not only was the day gorgeous but so was she!

Chris, me, Jesse, Trisha, Patrick and Megan

I took this great picture of Meg and Pat!!

The guys.

Us girls

--One of our huge highlights of the summer was our trip to Niagara Falls (we stayed on the Canadian side.) Chris and I went with his mom Jeanne and her sister Barb. We owe them a huge thank you, without them our trip would not have been possible. Thankfully they knew their way around and helped us out, but also let us go off on our own when we wanted to do stuff. It was a quick trip but a lot of fun!!

View of the Falls from up in the Skylon Tower

Cool pictures from the street

These were from the Tour Behind the Falls. Yeah...we got soaked!!! Awesome view though!!

That night we had an amazing dinner at a Steakhouse near our hotel....the view out our window at our table was the Falls all lit up at night. It was incredible!

These pictures are of the rapids in the Niagara River. Once again, amazing! You can't really tell from the pictures but they are so intense close up.

--Our good friends Adam and Amanda had baby #3 around the end of July. They are really great parents and have super cute kids. These are from when I went to visit Amanda in the hospital, they named her Olivia. She is such a beautiful baby!

--For one week Chris's sister Shauna, husband Todd and their 3 boys Brennan, Aiden and Ciaren came to stay with Chris's parents. They moved all the way from New Mexico to Maine, drove, and stayed for a while on the way. It was fun getting to hang out with them for a while, since I did not know them too well at the time.

Ciaren and Brennan

Me and my buddy Aiden

Duck tour in Saugatuck!

The Johnson Family

--The biggest event of the summer: Nate and Emileigh's wedding!!

Chris and I both had the honor and the pleasure of being in my brother Nate's wedding in August. Once again, another beautiful wedding on a beautiful day. I was so happy for them!

Nephew Sam at the rehearsal,he is getting so big!! And me walking down the aisle alone...Chris had school the night of the rehearsal and couldn't come until the morning of the wedding.

Emileigh and Nate at the rehearsal

Me and Meg at the Bachelorette Party

All of the bridal party girls

Meg and I before the wedding; I did both of our hair.

The beautiful bride and I.

Chris and I at the rehearsal, so cute!

--Here are a couple pictures from a little walk we took to Lake Michigan with Niles. I think he was sneezing in that 2nd one...haha!

Awww he's so cute!!

--Chris's 28th Birthday-August 16-I can't believe I have been with Chris through 4 birthdays so far. This year to celebrate his family came over and we went out to eat at the Chop House down town. Their food was amazing as usual.

Chris and I at dinner. It was fun getting all dressed up.

Aunt Barb and Mom Jeanne

Jeanne and I

Walking back to the car...being cute. =)

Later that night Chris wanted to see a movie so we decided to go to the cheap Celebration movie theatre at the Woodland Mall and see Iron Man.

--And finally....our last summer ShaBang. Labor Day weekend we went to Chicago with Chris's parents. I am really happy that we went, it was also right before I started my new job, it couldn't have been better timing, especially to do some shopping!

Pictures from Millenium Park

Jeanne and I at Buckingham Fountain, one of my favorite things to see in Chicago! I think it's so beautiful.

We tried a new restaurant our last night there that we hadn't been to before. It was the Weber Grill Restaurant. Their food was great. This was from the walk home.

Well that concludes our summer!! I am sure other little things happened here and there, I just probably forgot about them if I didn't have pictures of it. I love pictures. Thank goodness for them.

I don't plan on letting this much time go by again without posting. It's too hard and time consuming. I have been working on this post for about almost 4 hours now. Ridiculous.....more to come tomorrow!!

I love the Holidays

2008-11-24T15:48:00.004-05:00

It was a pretty crazy busy weekend, but isn't it always? I think I have excepted the fact that I just do not get to sleep in anymore, whether I like it or not. I miss it, but it's nice to get up early and get a lot done in the day. It makes you feel so accomplished and ambitious, haha.

Friday night after work I finally got to go and see Twilight. I was disappointed. I am not sure exactly what I expected, but the point of the matter is that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie. They are long books. There is no way they can fit that many details into a good movie. It was a little cheesier than I expected. And there were lots of tweens and teens screaming a lot, it was funny. I still liked it though, just because it was Twilight. I can't lie, if they make a second movie, I will see it. How can I not? I am too much of a fan and too curious.
I went with my friend Julie from work and her sister Katherine. It was fun, I went over to their apartment and they had made enchiladas and sangria. It was nice, just some girl time. And then we went and saw the movie. They also have the cutest little pug dog named Stoli, he is so cute!!

Saturday morning Chris and I had a monument appointment in Muskegon which went well, and then we met up with his parents and went out to lunch at Red Lobster. I always want to get their Alfredo Pasta with the crab and lobster in it. Sooo good but sooo incredibly bad for you. Needless to say I was good and got the grilled salmon with rice and veggies. When we came back home in the afternoon we switched vehicles and went to Romence Gardens and got our Christmas tree. This year we decided to upgrade and get the Fraser Fir instead of the Douglas. It looks awesome!! And the needles won't fall off so much, it's also a lot stronger and holds the ornaments better.
Once we got home we decorated.... the tree, the house; all the while listening to Christmas music. Creme de Mint Hot Chocolate and Egg-Nog filled rum...Christmas cookie candles...mmmm.. What could be better? It makes me so nostalgic. I love that we decorate and are creating our own Christmas traditions. It will be so fun one day when we have kids. Of course movie favorites are always thrown in the mix as well. White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, Elf....this year Chris wanted to watch Airplanes, Trains and Automobiles since it was almost Thanksgiving. He loves it, it is so ironic the things the characters go through. The 80's music is awesome too, it's pretty funny. We watched that, then between that night and Sunday after church I managed to whip up 6 pumpkin rolls. It's easier to just make them all that one time and freeze them. I would be needing them for various occasions in the up and coming week ahead. Sunday morning we went to church, did a little grocery shopping, came home and finished the pumpkin rolls. Chris decided to make green bean casserole for our dish to pass (along with a pumpkin roll) and we headed off to Lowell for our House Church Thanksgiving dinner.
It was pretty fun, everyone brought food and we all sat around and talked and laughed...just spent some time together. Afterward we played poker for a while and then the weekend came to end, just like always. It always goes by so quick!

This week at work has been good so far. I only have to work 3 days this week and I get a four day weekend. Chris is jealous. I feel bad for him having to work and everything. Tonight I have my bowling and tomorrow we are going to venture out into the craziness of the biggest bar night of the year. We will see how that goes I guess! Chris's friend Paul and his girlfriend Naomi are going to meet up with us which I'm looking forward to because they are really fun to hang out with and we just do not get to see them all that much. Thursday we are having our Thanksgiving meal with Chris's family before he has to work at 4, and then I'm heading down to South Bend to meet up with my family for the evening, and I believe we are going shopping on friday. That should be interesting, I have never ventured out to do that before!!

Well that is all for now...I should get to work!

Election Day

2008-11-04T08:47:00.003-05:00

I made an effort to get up earlier today that way I could go and vote before I went to work. So off Chris and I went at around 7:20 am this morning...the line wasn't too bad. There was a couple people out the door but we got in and out quickly. This is a big election and I know the outcome will go down in history. Either way something big is going happen. We are either going to have the first African American President, or a woman for Vice President. Big stuff. I love my husband, he is funny. He took today off from work months ago. I know that he is sitting on the couch right now watching the news with the laptop on his lap sipping his coffee and eating some oatmeal, and Nile is lying there on the couch next to him.
On a down note....this is so incredibly sad:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/US-Elections-2008/US-Election-Barack-Obamas-Grandmother-Dies-As-He-And-John-McCain-Make-Final-Appeals-To-Voters/Article/200811115141189?lpos=US_Elections_2008_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15141189_US_Election%3A_Barack_Obamas_Grandmother_Dies_As_He_And_John_McCain_Make_Final_Appeals_To_Voters

I can't believe his Grandmother passed away right before this election. Obviously it is bitter sweet especially if he wins, but if he does it is sad that she didn't get to see that happen before she passed.

On a lighter more fun note...Tonight I am skipping bowling and we are going to be attending a little "election get together". Chris is going to make his amazing Enchiladas and I'm sure that some good beer and wine will be involved. Our friend has promised to make some sort of dessert which I am already looking forward to. Should be a fun time had by all.

On an ending note..: This election makes me a little nervous, for whoever wins. But deep down I know that God is in control. And everything is going to work out in the end.

Great Verse

2008-11-04T08:46:00.000-05:00

Amazing Song

2008-11-03T21:39:00.002-05:00

This song is called Decode by a band named Paramore, which I am actually really growing to like a lot. Paramore wrote this song specifically for the Twilight movie which naturally makes me love it even more. I think the video is decent, flashing some scenes from the movie. Part of me thinks it's a little boring because they are just singing in the woods, but then the other part of me absolutely loves it because it's simple, and some of the shots of Hayley Williams (lead singer) are very clean. Then again, I may just be bias. Check it out

Paramore - New Music - More Music Videos

Twilight The Movie

2008-11-01T17:48:00.003-04:00

I can't wait!!!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T16:38:00.002-04:00

I am so excited. Despite the fact that I have felt completely and utterly miserable since Monday night, I am excited.

I get to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters tonight!! I have not gotten to do that before!!

Last year when we were in our house we had to work.
And the best part is that the weather outside is amazingly beautiful today!
Those little kids are getting lucky. And so am I, I was almost dreading the freezing cold weather. And I am not a fan of the thought of letting all of the heat out of the house by opening the door constantly. But anyways.....it should be a fun night!

Finally the video we've all been waiting for!!!

2008-10-22T22:07:00.000-04:00

Thanks Dave!!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-22T16:16:00.004-04:00

I really like one of my coworkers, Karen. Everyday she is in like the best mood ever, always smiling and always being insanely funny. She can always put a smile on your face. She is always making me laugh! Well today I got back from one of my breaks (she happened to be covering the desk for me today, as the office staff has to take turns) and she had left these for me:

They are my little Q-Tip buddies now.
=)
And it's really ironic that she made me those, considering that I am reading Twilight right now.

I haven't forgotten....

2008-10-21T14:05:00.002-04:00

I know that I still need to update about this past summer, and I plan on posting some pictures. It just hasn't happened yet because that involves actually sitting down at our desktop computer and will take some time....and I just can't get myself to do it. There is always something else that seems more important, but I am still planning on getting that done.

Well the past week has been really great. I am no longer sore from working out and last night was my 3rd Spin class. I am really starting to like it and it is getting easier each time. Also last week I was going to try to do a Step Class but the teacher had a death in her family so this guy was subbing for her. Well he didn't know how to do step, so he decided that we were all going to do the "Boot Camp" class instead, since that was what he used to teach. I was like OK, no big deal, I mean who can't do some jumping jacks among other random things? That class kicked my butt, probably more than any other to this point. He even had us doing suicide runs. I mean, come on, people still do those??? Haha...I haven't did those since I played softball in my Junior year of high school. That was 6 years ago....haha...it was a good workout though. I am sure I'll try it again sometime when I am getting bored with other things. Tonight I have a session with a Wellness Coach to teach me how to use some of the equipment there, I think they call it the free range equipment or something. It's like lifting weights but without having to have a spotter. Then after that I am off to my usual Tuesday night bowling league. Hopefully I will bowl well tonight, I wasn't doing so well last week. Buy my friend and coworker Dave took a cool video of me so when he puts that on You Tube I will post it on here. Something for you all to look forward to...haha...just kidding.

Anyways, the week seems to be going to by too fast. I have too much to do and not enough time to do it all. Ever since I started at the YMCA and have this new job it seems to be taking up all of my time. I am NOT complaining by any means, I love my new job, I love my new schedule. The only downfall is that I don't get to see Chris a lot. But otherwise things are going great. Back to what I was talking about before....Friday morning Chris and I are taking a little road trip to celebrate our anniversary. We are going to Washington D.C. to stay with some friends of ours. I have never been there before so we are looking forward to it! That will be another picture blog I am sure. Well I have some work to do now.

I am so sore!!!

2008-10-15T21:14:00.003-04:00

Yep. My legs hurt so bad. I knew that that was probably going to happen. Tonight when I went to the Y after work I did the Zumba! class. It is like a cardio/latin dance aerobic routine. It was interesting. I guarantee if you walked up to the window and watched us all you would have laughed. I thought that I would feel stupid, which I did somewhat, but the class was so packed, and everyone was pretty looking about the same as me that it didn't even matter. It was pretty funny and everyone seemed to be having fun, plus I really worked up a sweat. Spinning is still WAAAY harder though. Tomorrow will be different again, I am going to try a step class, then an abs class and then some other class maybe...it's called M&M and I have no idea what that stands for so I still need to find out what that is about. Next week I have an hour set up with a wellness coach to teach me how to use the free-motion weightlifting equipment, since I don't really want to use free weights by myself. The best part is that it is free. Everyone is pretty helpful there. Sometime soon Lauren (one of my good friends and our roomie) is going to come with me and we're gonna spend the evening in the pool with her teaching me some stuff. She used to be a swimmer in high school and really misses it I guess. I also want to look into joining a volleyball team there. Anyways, basically my free time in the evening now consists of going to the Y coming home, and getting my stuff ready for the next day and eating and going to bed. It's definitely a complete change in schedule but it is totally going to pay off. Tonight has been nice because Chris worked the same shift as me today and we get to hang out for a while. Speaking of that, it's time for bed.

spinning, bowling..burning and such...

2008-10-13T22:38:00.003-04:00

I am officially a member of the YMCA. It's really nice because it is only like 4 blocks from my work so it is really easy to just go there right afterward. It is so huge, it has 3 floors, and it is still fairly new, only a couple years old. It is very clean and has a lot of different things that you can do there. They have two huge pools, a lap pool and a pool with a water slide and lazy river. Tonight I did my first spin class ever. I was so nervous!! I hate feeling like I do not know what I am doing. It was just as hard as I thought that it would be. You feel like you are going to go flying off the bike, and your legs are burning so bad you just think that you cannot stand up and pedal any longer. Not to mention that my bottom is feeling a little sore from sitting on a bike seat for almost 45 minutes, haha.....When I first got off to stretch with the class I swear my legs almost gave out. After that I went and walked on an incline on a treadmill for a while to cool down. Their equipment all have TVs.....I didn't bring any headphones though, I forgot about that. I am really excited about this, it is definitely going to help me meet my goals of getting healthier and in shape for the coming year. =)
Something else that is new is that I am on a bowling league on Tuesday nights with some of my coworkers from my new job! I know I still need to update about that but it will have to be another day. Anyways, I love to bowl and I like my coworkers a lot so it works out well. I have bowled in two weeks though because I hurt my back and then last week it was Chris and I's anniversary so I skipped. I am looking forward to tomorrow night to get back into the swing of things except tonight I was boiling some water in the teapot and was dumping it out into the sink and the top of the pot fell off and the water and steam and top all fell onto my hand so I got a bit of a burn. I am still not sure how bad it is, I put some Vaseline on it right way which really seemed to have helped. Hopefully the bowling ball does not irritate it tomorrow. Well I need to get to bed, otherwise I will be tired tomorrow!!

That's what she said.....

2008-10-01T14:03:00.001-04:00

It's an ongoing joke in my "Office". I guess you'd have to be there. Some days I laugh so hard I cry. It's a great feeling.

We found some pretty funny stuff at Target in the $1 bins when you first walk in though. I got this sweet dry erase board and some post-it notes that say: "Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam." It's awesome.

to my Dearest Readers....

2008-09-24T16:51:00.001-04:00

A summer update...coming soon.
***with pictures!!!***

I promise!!

Moving On.

2008-08-16T14:15:00.002-04:00

I am about to make my next transition in life!! And I am so incredibly and extremely excited.

Our friend Joe let me know about this job opening at his work downtown.

I got all excited and decided to go for it, but didn't want to get my hopes up.
But low and behold, friday I got the call and I got the job.

I start the day after Labor Day; more details to come!

My Love

2008-08-16T14:13:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Christopher Robert!
You mean the world to me.
And I hope you have a wonderful day.
The past four years have been great.
Love you. <3

crazy busy

2008-07-16T23:15:00.002-04:00

Since I can only even remember half of last week.....

Thursday through Sunday....work

Monday-- Get up, work on the business stuff for 5 hours, get ready, try to eat quick, drive the Lansing, do 3 peoples hair, see my friend Jared for like a min. and drive home, see my husband for like a minute, go to bed

Tuesday--wake up early, get ready, meetings and work from 9 am to 11:30 pm

Wednesday (today)--wake up early, do Erica's hair, do Chris's coworkers hair, try to eat a banana, get ready as fast as I can, go a work meeting from 1-3 pm, go see my friend at the hospital, drive home, eat with Megan, Derek, Mendy and Abigail, go straight to my game, come home.....try to relax in this darn hot heat and no central air....

Tomorrow--Wake up early, get ready, go to Holland for a monument appt. come home, eat lunch quick, go to work

Friday--Wake up, tie up loose ends with business stuff, get my bags packed, go to work

Saturday--wake up really early, leave at 7 AM stat for Niagra Falls....and come home Sunday evening...

I have the urge to write a long blog post updating about the past amazing two monthes of summer that have crazily flown by as usual, and also have some great pictures to post. But I cannot seem to find the time.....obviously....ha.....now I am off to bed!!!! I'm so stinkin tired!

one of my fav. new songs

2008-07-09T16:25:00.002-04:00

Natasha Bedingfield is amazing. I would love to see her in concert.

wowwww

2008-06-17T02:24:00.001-04:00

So I totally need to apologize to anyone offended by my letter post. Oh man....
Chris just pointed out to me how "dirty" the S picture is...oh my gosh..
I seriously had no idea, to me...all it was was a funny shaped S. hahaha....

So I ran across this amazing verse....

2008-06-11T01:18:00.003-04:00

and I could not help but post it.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:16-19 (New Living Translation)

There is just so much truth in that verse. I just want to continue reading it over and over.

So I guess that this is the new cool thing to do lately.

2008-05-21T00:21:00.012-04:00

I guess this is like all over the place right now. People have taken really cool looking artsy pictures of things that create letters of the alphabet and then you place them in a frame in such a way that it spells out your last name or whatever and then hang it in your house sometwhere. So I thought it would be fun to do it on here....since Ostrander is too long I doubt you will ever see this in our house althought I do think it is a cute idea.

I just want to say that in no way did I do the object of this justice, haha. The pictures that you buy in the mall, well not only are they like $8 per letter, but plus the frame...they end up being like $70-$100! It is somewhat outrageous, I know. The letter are actually just different miscellaneous objects that "look" like letters...I don't know if I am making sense...check out this link: https://www.nameframes.net/

2008-05-20T22:52:00.008-04:00

Wow. So yeah, it's been a while. I know anyone who reads this (if anyone at all, haha) has probably given up on seeing a post again for a while, I know I had given up on myself!! I just have not felt like blogging lately at all. For anyone who reads this, here is a forwarning, I am not meaning to complain. I am very blessed. I will just be rambling about how I feel and what's going on in my life lately. For one thing, I feel like I have been working 4 jobs and sometimes that sucks. Besides working full time at Crystal Springs, I am still doing peoples hair and selling Mary Kay AND we are still getting our business going which is getting busier, slowly but surely. It's impossible to keep up with all of the people we should be sending info to, sometimes we just need to make the decision to be selfish, and let's say...eat...or sleep...haha. And therefore the business lacks. I was feeling really bitter and guilty about it for a while but I have finally realized that we can only do so much and we are doing what we can, so things are coming along OK. I have also realized that people wait a couple monthes to call you. It's called procrastination, something that most of us are all guilty of now and then. But anyways. I think I would be feeling better about life right now if I could just focus on one thing....say like our business. That would be awesome. But it just isn't gonna happen. I will always do hair. I will always sell Mary Kay. It's just like way too much to remember sometimes, I mean I am a woman, my head is going 24/7 and trying to remember everything I have to to everyday, well I just feel like my brain is in overload constantly, which brings on stress and anxiety for me. And then when I do things I need to do, like laundry...or clean...I know I am getting behind on work.

But whatever, so I decided a while back that this summer I wanted to do something for myself, so that one night a week I would have a little break and get to do something fun that I wanted to do. So I am playing on a summer softball league. My coach is the son of this woman that I used to take care of at my work. He had been asking me for a while if I wanted to play, one time we had struck up a conversation and I had talked about I missed playing softball and HS sports and all that and he was saying how he coached a summer league and that I should play. I kept telling him no because I thought I'd be too busy worrying about other things this summer but since those plans have been pushed back to next year now I finally gave in and said yes. So all I really knew was that the husband's of two of my bosses played on the team. I was obviously completely under the impression that this was a co-ed team which just recently before we started to practice my boss told me that it was a men's league, something my coach failed to mention to me!!! I was like ahhhh!!! I guess that women can move up to the men's league if they want, men just can't move down, which is understandable. But I was like are you kidding me....I cannot be the only girl! So I ended up getting two of my coworkers Mendy and Renea to play with me as well. Last week was our first game. I actually did pretty good! They had me catching, which was interesting since I never had before but it is sooo easy for slow pitch. Oh yeah, it is slow pitch...I am used to fast pitch softball!!!!! Slow pitch is so much easier though. But I got to bat 3 times as we went through the batting order, and I had 3 base hits. The first time I actually scored a run, when I hit they made an error and I made it to 2nd and then someone hit me home. My second time up to bat they made another error. I was pretty stoked because if you know me well you know that I cannot run fast AT ALL! I mean, seriously.....when I was in High School, sometimes my team would yell: "ANNE!!! Unhook the trailor!!" I know, embarrassing, haha! But whatever, so I made it to first and then when the next batter was up to bat I started to lead off which helloooooooo you always lead off in fast pitch but noo not in slow pitch, someone failed to mention that to me, so I was automatically out, and of course the 3rd out. Everyone had a pretty good laugh about that. I kinda felt/still feel a little bit of pressure, it is hard to play sports on a guys team because they are all naturally really good and way better than us girls are, it's hard to keep up with them and they are competitive which is fine because I am super competitive too. But yeah it is a lot of fun, tomorrow night is our second game which I am really looking forward too. Each week I hope to show them that I am a pretty good player and get some more playing time! Hopeflly the weather will be nice tomorrow.

There have been a lot of good TV shows lately. I am no longer in denial about the fact that I love reality TV, which I know some people give a lot of crap about that. But I think I find it so interesting because it is happening to real people and not a made up story like sitcoms or whatever. I have been looking forward to this week for a while now, sad but true!!! This is another reason I have not been posting, when I finally come home from work, I don't want to think about things, I just want a little brain vaca, which consists of watching some TIVO! and curling up on the couch with my hubby and Niles, the last thing I want to do is get online and type up a post, haha. But anyways, last week the Bachelor ended and yesterday the Bachelorette started. They haven't did a season of the Bachelorette since I was in high school so it was about darn time!! This week is also the finale of American Idol, I haven't voted all season but tonight I voted for David Cook. I really want him to win, I think that he is actually original, I think it is funny how all these women think that David Archuletta is so "cute". He will probably end up winning but oh well. And with that finale comes the premiere of "So You Think You Can Dance", this will be my 3rd season watching this show now, it is something I look forward to the summer for! And last year I even got Chris somewhat interested in it. And of course Hell's Kitchen, which is something Chris and I always love to watch together. I do know one thing..I seriously need to stop watching so much TV and try to work out some more.

Some other stuff that has been going on lately is that there is a lot of wedding talk right now. My brother Nate is getting married to his fiance Emileigh on 8-8-08. Chris and I are both in the wedding, so we are looking forward to that. My best friend from High school Maegan also got engaged a couple monthes ago. She is not getting married until next May but she came to visit me two weekends ago to go "dress browsing" and she ended up finding her dress with me!!! I was pretty excited about that and I love the dresses that she picked out for us. My friend Mendy is getting married the last saturday of this month. I am doing her hair and makeup for her and also putting extensions in her hair. We also have a wedding to go to Lansing July 4th weekend. Wedding fever!!!!!!!!

Chris's family is have a big graduation party/fam. reunion at the their house the first weekend in June and I am really looking forward to that.
I know that the summer will be over before I know it and then it will be Christmas again. I know no one wants to hear that but it is true!!!!!! And in July Chris and I will have lived in our house and had Niles for one year.

Speaking of Niles, June 1st is his little baby birthday. One year old! I want to do something for him...haha. We spoil our dog I know, but he is out little baby!

And he is so cute, how could you resist that face???

OKkkkk that is all for now. I'll try to frequent here more often. =)

This is so cute.

2008-04-27T15:39:00.000-04:00

2008-03-09T14:14:00.002-04:00

I haven't dropped of the face of the earth. Just trying to adjust to some changes.
Be back soon.
Oh yeah, and the Lord totally provides!!!!

Funnn

2008-02-08T13:26:00.000-05:00

So my birthday was a pretty great day. It started out at Midnight with Chris and Lauren giving me the rest of my presents. Chris bought me the DVD Hairspray because he remembered a long time ago I said that I really wanted to see it. I was very surprised that he remembered that and it was incredibly thoughtful. Lauren gave me a gift card to Hop Cat downtown since that is one of our new fav. places to go! She also decided to bake some awesome cupcakes for us and then we all watched Catch and Release with Jennifer Garner. It was a pretty cute movie. We ended up sleeping in from staying up so late. Chris had planned on taking me out to lunch, I knew we were going out but not where, I wanted it to be a surprise. We ended up going to the Tokyo Grill for sushi which was AMAZING as always! After that we went and saw Juno which was really cute. There were a lot of parts where Chris and I just sat there and laughed. I thought sometimes their vocab was a bit overdone and almost too witty but it was still cute. I was also very happy with how it ended. When the movie was over we drove straight to Muskegon and picked Niles up from Chris's Aunt Barb's house. We hadn't seen him in four days! It was nice to have a break but I definately missed him a lot!!! He is so sweet and cuddly besides his mischievous ways. =) We met up with Chris's parents and went to a restaurant in Spring Lake that we hadn't been to before called Arboreal Inn. The atmosphere was quiet and relaxing and the food was terrific. Chris's parents were so giving as they always are and one the my presents from them was......a Passport!!!!! All I have to do is fill out the paperwork. Such a huge blessing! Hopefully we will be able to go and see Niagra Falls this summer. I have never been there and I know that it is probably so beautiful from what I have seen on TV. I know Chris definately wants me to get one of these as well since he wants to travel to Europe sometime within the next couple of years.
All in all my birthday was a great day, that went quick as always. It is crazy to me that I am already 23 years old! I know that this is going to be a really great year!

My Birthday weekend always gets ruined....

2008-02-04T19:52:00.000-05:00

But not this year!!!

Ever since I was little, I hated the fact that my birthday was in February. It is always so cold, and there was always so much snow....I used to envy the fact that my brother Joe would get a barbeque and we could run around outside in the hot summer air. His birthday is in May, it was always so warm outside.
The day I turned 21 we were planning on going downtown to go out since I could finally legally order a drink, but then it started to snow. Not that this is uncommon but up to that point for like the two weeks prior the weather had been great, and no snow was on the ground. Why snow on my birthday when we were going out?

Last year Chris's parents and our good friends were coming over from Muskegon and we were all going out to eat at a restaurent we had been wanting to try for a while called The Chop House. I was so looking forward to it! That was the day the Blizzard of 07 decided to hit. We got a couple feet of snow within a couple hours. Chris and I still ventured downtown with our Montero in four-wheel drive (it was actually kinda fun!) but our family and friends couldn't come which was disappointing.

This year we had plans to go down to Ohio. My brother Jesse's birthday was on sunday and I hadn't been down there yet to see their new place. We all planned to go down there to celebrate. I hadn't heard anything about the weather being bad until my sister called me thursday morning. Heavy snow warning for thursday and friday night. How aggravating!!! And to think for a second that we almost didn't go......

We ended up leaving Friday night around 11 pm instead of having to leave really early the next morning. We met the rest of the group like 3/4 of the way there and rode together the rest of the way. We didn't get to Ohio until 4 am!!! Needless to say we didn't get much sleep the two nights we were there!

Saturday we hung out and played with Sam. He is getting so big and cuter by the day! We drove around the area they live and saw some really amazing, huge, beautiful houses. We also did a little shopping. We went into a pet store and looked at the puppies. We held a little pug that was 8 weeks old and a boston that was about the same. They were so cute. It made me feel the urge to want to buy another dog, but I know that it wouldn't be wise right now. Between being able to be with Sam the whole weekend, taking him everywhere with us, always holding him and playing with him, feeding him and changing his diapers and then see the little puppies, it makes me excited about having a baby eventually even more. Anyways! They also have this really cool outdoor mall there, they had a Delia's store there which me and Meg decided we had to go in to. I ended up getting a really cute sweater that was on clearance for $10. We ate dinner at a British Pub. Chris and I shared the Fish and Chips and a Shepherds pie. The food was pretty dang good but not as good as the Claddagh's!! After that we went to the famous Graeter's on the way home, I love their ice cream. Especially the Buckeye flavor (what's better than chocolate and peanut butter??!) When we got home Jess and I opened presents. I got Friends Season 6 and a pumpkin spice yankee candle and a gift card and some money which is always good, I'm saving up for a glider chair. Jesse got so many tshirts, it was funny. Sunday we hung out a while in the morning, went and had lunch and Panera and started on our way home. It was really fun just being with everyone for a couple days and getting to hang out. I hate that I hardly ever get to see my family.

We got to Mike and Julia's last night kinda late but everyone was still there for a while for the SuperBowl. I did not follow any teams this year and really could have cared less who won, it is just fun hanging out with everyone talking and eating food. The best part was at the end when we discovered that they have Guitar Hero and I got to play it for the first time ever!! I have been hearing so much about it and everyone is always talking about it, it looked so fun and I finally got to play it. All I gotta say is... OH MY GOSH. Whoever thought of that seriously must be making some major bucks. It is SOOOO fun and addicting. We ended up staying over there until like 2 am hahaha.....and then when we finally opened the door to leave it had snowed like another 5 inches since we got there. I was definately missin Ohio's beautiful sunny weather in the 40's with no snow to be seen.

Well today was supposed to be a day of just being lazy and hanging out but I never seen to be able to do that, I'm always thinking about everything that needs to get done. The laundry is now caught up, the kitchen is clean, Comcast finally came and hooked our phone up, I just need to make the bed and I think I'm gonna go buy some groceries.....

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am definately not doing anything work related!!!!

Since I was the first person Erica tagged.... =)

2008-01-31T00:47:00.000-05:00

Seven random facts about me
I was tagged by Erica Martino to participate in the following exercise in self-disclosure.
1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

1. I love my birthday and opening presents and all that funnn, also my bday is in 5 days!!

2. I have a really amazing husband. He is really really good to me. I love him.

3. I am really looking forward to becoming a mom and enjoying every little thing about it from the second I find out I'm pregnant to being pregnant, to giving birth and nursing and EVERYTHING!!! I know I'm crazy =P

4. I have a lot of little moles and freckles all over me. I like them.

5. I want to move to England and am trying to convince Chris to do it but it's not working so far.

6. I LOVE going to the movies. One of my ideas of a great date is going out to dinner and then to the movies. Especially romantic comedies =)

7. I Tivo and watch Days of Our Lives everyday. There I confessed it!!!! haha

OK I tag:

My hubby Mike Lamson Angela Corbin Cadie Rae Daniel Rudd David Rudd Kelly Corbin (don't know your new last name??)
And you guys are like my only seven friends so that worked out..... =)

fun little survey

2008-01-30T10:46:00.001-05:00

1. Answer the questions below.2. Take each answer and type it into Photobucket.3. Take a picture from the page of results and copy the html code.4. You cant copy the persons answers who posted this before you.
1. The age you will be on your next birthday:
2. A place you’d like to travel:
3. Your favorite place:
4. Your favorite class:
5. Your favorite food:
6. Your favorite animal:
7. Your favorite color:
8. The town in which you were born:
9. Where you're going next:
10. The name of your pet:
11. The name of your love:
12. Your nickname/screen name:
13. Your middle name:
14. Your last name:

yay I'm back!

2008-01-29T20:09:00.000-05:00

I know what you are thinking, finally this girl is updating, haha. Finally!
Ok, I think I left off with Christmas with my family. I got so many cute pictures of Sam, it was awesome watching him open his presents. It was like after he did a couple he totally got it. Well, sometimes he was a little more interested in the paper...and he is getting so big, sitting up on his own and all.

We always wake up early and open presents. This year it took like over 3 hours, it was awesome, haha. Everyone opens one at a time. And with Samuel here now, and then Nate's girlfriend Emileigh, there was 11 of us!!

Merry Christmas and Good Morning!!!

Opening some presents....

At Grandma's for Christmas Dinner

My Amazing Family!!!

Shortly after we drove home. The rest of the night consisted of relaxing, watching a movie and cuddling with my baby. =)

We were really looking forward to New Year's. Our good friends Adam and Amanda were going to have a little formal cocktail party at their house. We missed out on it last year so we were excited to be able to go this year. It's always fun to get all dressed up and socialize.
On the way there...

At Finley's before the party...

We're bringin Sexy Back---

Amanda and I...

Well not a whole lot has happened since New Years. One of my best friends Lauren has moved in with us and she works with me now, so that is cool. It's like the best of both worlds, I get to live with a best friend and my husband. And we get to hang out at work AND car pool and save gas, yeahhhh!

I have officially watched Seasons 1-5 of Friends. I love that show. I love the characters and the story lines. I am excited because I will probably atleast get Season 6 for my birthday. This is really what has been preventing me from not blogging lately. Not that that is all I have been doing but yeah....I starting collecting the seasons like a year or two ago and now I am completely hooked.

We discovered an amazing new bar downtown called HopCat with a huge variety of beers on tap (thanks to our friend Joe) Check out their site: http://www.hopcatgr.com/ We don't go out very much but it is one of our new favorite places, and they completely gutted the place out and remodeled, it's really beautiful inside.

We will be starting up our business soon so that is exciting. Our landline is getting set up on monday so that our fax machine will work.

This weekend Chris and I along with the fam. are going to Ohio to visit Jess, Trish and Sam. Sunday is Jesse's bday and mine is tuesday so we are gonna celebrate. I haven't seen their new place yet so it should be fun!

Then tuesday is my birthday obviously. Only one more week and I will be 23!! I know people are like ohhh that is so young. But I cannot believe it. Only two more years and I'll be 25. It feels like just yesterday I was graduating high school. But I am so grateful and blessed for what each new year of getting older has brought---meeting my husband, getting married, having what feels like "a real job", buying a house and a dog, and someday being a parents! It is awesome.

By the way...I love my husband. Have I mentioned that lately? He is amazing!!! And such a sweetheart. Love you Chris!!!

Anyways, that is definately all for now. I am gonna go watch The Biggest Loser Couples, love that show! Hope everyone enjoyed the update.

my silence

2008-01-20T13:39:00.000-05:00

I know that it is no excuse.
My sleep schedule has been very messed up lately. I have been staying up way too late, which has caused me to be sleeping in incredibly late. Then I wake up and get ready and go to work. It's been an awful cycle which I hope to break this week, not sure what has gotten into me.

Ok people seriously.....

2008-01-08T23:14:00.000-05:00

I know that there are those of you out that read my blog and I have no idea who you are. Come on now.....esp. if you are Joe and Erica's friends, haha...I know that you are linking to me!!!
But seriously, leave a comment or something. I want to know who you are..or get to know you! I am friendly I promise.
=)

P.S. More posts about Christmas and New Years coming soon....sorry it's been a long two weeks, haha.

Sprinkle Spangles

2007-12-26T14:03:00.000-05:00

So once and a while when I am reminiscing about certain parts of my childhood I always remember this cereal that I used to LOVE. I remember it especially around Christmastime, because the first time I had ever eaten it I was on this retreat with some girls from my church and there was snow on the ground. Also because the cereal is in the shape of stars and they are covered in multi-colored sprinkles. Everytime I drive by a house with multi-colored Christmas lights on them it makes me think of that cereal, every single time. I started to talk to Chris last night about them and we decided to try to figure out what they were called; after searching the internet for a while and looking up some discontinued cereals (thank you wikipedia) we finally figured it out. They were called Sprinkle Spangles. I know it probably seems silly, but it is crazy how things like that can bring back memories. Check out this old commercial that we found: http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/476/

Movies and Christmastime

2007-12-24T13:35:00.000-05:00

Going to see a movie on Christmas Day always seems to be a popular thing to do. We had never done this before, but last night after we celebrated Christmas with Chris's family we decided to go. Spectrum always sends us free tickets in the mail, I love that, it's kind of one of their ways of showing their staff they appreciate them. It was so fun though, it was snowing and blowing so much, we pretty much had a blizzard!! The theatre is really close to our house which was nice, so we didn't have to drive too far. We decided to go and see "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". It is based off of a musical, so of coure there was a lot of singing. Definately an interesting movie with a different story line...you will have to see it and judge for yourself. Here is the trailer:

Great movie or not, Johnny Depp does an amazing as always.

This week has been a blur!

2007-12-24T01:42:00.000-05:00

I hate that I look forward to Christmas year round, seriously, I love it. And then it comes sneaking up on you so fast and it's always over so quickly...I hate it!

Well I finally finished all the Christmas shopping this past week, whew. It was a crazy one. I spent a lot of my two days off shopping, doing hair, and cleaning to prepare for this weekend. Not getting much sleep and wrapping presents. Oh yeah and baking. I made these little carmel, chocolate and pecan covered fudge balls...

I always look forward to my weekends off but I was looking forward to this one especially. Saturday my parents came into town. We had lunch at our house and then walked around downtown. Chris's parents came into town for dinner and we ate out at Kobe. Chris's dad Bob loves that place. It's like a steak and seafood restaurant where they cook the food on a grill in front of you. We had a lot of fun hanging out. I miss them!!!

We did a little tour of the Amway Grand

Sunday morning we went to Mars and the message was awesome as always. Ed Dobson spoke, the guy amazes me. He has Lou Gehrig's disease and I swear you would never know it. After church we came straight back here and started to prepare our meal for our Christmas dinner with Chris's family. They came here this year since we have our new house, it was also our first time cooking for them. Some of the highlights from our evening for me was when Chris's dad opened his T-shirt up that we got him...it says "I'm BOB, Deal with it!" It's hilarious, I guess you would have to see it. Also when his mom opened up her little Lighthouses that I got her for her collection. I don't think she was expecting those. I love to surprise people. Well it will definately be another memorable Christmas. Here are some pictures opening presents and also of Chris and I in front of our first Christmas tree in our new house together.

Today is Christmas Eve. I have to work tonight from 3-11 pm and then we have to drive straight home. I am hoping and praying that I will somehow be able to get out of work early. Chris gets out at 8:30, I am hoping to get out soon after that way we will make it home before midnight. I do not want to be tired Christmas Day, I swear that always happens. It's so hard to go to sleep when you get home though because everyone wants to visit. I cannot wait to see everyone! Especially Jess and Trish and Sam, I haven't seen them in forever!! Anyways, I better get off to bed!!

I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. I love you all!!!

Playing in the snow.

2007-12-16T12:10:00.000-05:00

Over the past couple years, I have pondered a question quite often, always during the wintertime.

Why in the world do little kids like to play outside in the snow? It is so cold!!! So miserably cold. How are they having a good time at all?

And then today it came to me.
It was like I completely forgot or something.

They are so busy playing and running around like little crazy people that they don't even notice how cold it is because they are all bundled up and sweating their bum off.
That is what happened to me today anyways. One minutes I was scraping the good 6 inches of snow off of our car wondering how in the world I was going to get it out of the driveway to make it to work and thinking oh my gosh my fingers are going to fall off because of frostbite!!!.........and then the next minute I was playing with Niles in the backyard and realized....I'm not going to lose my fingers afterall! My hands are warm and they feel fine. In fact I was quite toasty as soon I got into the house.

My bum is still a little frozen but all is well.

Getting our groove on.

2007-12-16T01:22:00.000-05:00

We really get into the "Christmas Spirit" around our house.

Thanks Joe and the Today Show.

Also, check this out...Santa knows if you are being naughty or nice!!
I thinks it is funny. But kinda weirds me out at the same time...haha.

Oh Christmas Tree!

2007-12-16T01:12:00.000-05:00

I've been doing it again. Saving up all kinds of stories and pictures and putting off posting because I know it will take a while. Well Christmas is almost here so I figured I had better hurry up and do it already!

The last couple weeks have been great. We love Christmas time, it is always so much fun, it just always comes and goes so fast!!

Our house looks so cute, I love it! After hours of work putting up the lights and figuring out the right cords to buy and having to get someone to drill a hole into our morter to hang the wreath, well it was all worth it. The roof ended up being a lot higher than I thought it was too. We are the only house on our street that put up Christmas lights. I wonder why? They all probably think we are crazy. Every night I come home from work and there is our house, shining bright, haha.

We finished putting up the lights the saturday morning after Thanksgiving. That was the day that I had planned for us to decorate. It was such a fun day! After finishing up outside we got ready, went to Home Depot to buy a tree stand (we had a gift card) and then went to Red Lobster for a quick bite to eat (we had a gift card). I ended up running into a bunch of people that I used to work with/be friends with so that was kinda cool. After that we went to Romence Gardens and bought our Christmas tree. Our friend Andrea works there and she was telling us about how to get a coupon out of the paper and that they were nice trees and reasonably priced. This probably sounds so cheesy but, we came home and drank some cocoa, in Chris's case, eggnog, and decorated the tree. It's so pretty!! Last year after Christmas was over we bought a lot of decorations on clearance, and also got a lot for Christmas that said like "First Christmas in our New Home" etc, so I was pretty excited to use them all this year and see how it would look. I had also bought a lot of decorations at Hobby Lobby when their stuff was 50% off and got some great deals. It was good fun. =)

I bought Niles some sweet reindeer antlers but he won't leave them on for two long...it's kinda funny watching him try to get these off, it's a miracle I got him to sit still for a minute to take this picture....

Since then we've been doing the usual...getting some Christmas shopping done, working...I was going to send out Christmas cards but I think that now it is too late. I wanted to sent out a picture of us and we just didn't get it taken in time. Next year we will for sure!!

Last weekend our friends Adam and Amanda came over to see the house since they hadn't yet. I had been planning for a couple weeks and Chris and I finally decided on what food we were going to cook. It was really fun, we made steaks, twice baked crab stuffed potatoes and green beans. I also made a salad that had feta cheese, apples, dried cranberries and pecans in it, those are so good. Dessert was the kicker. I had seen this awesome looking cake on Martha Stewart monthes ago and it just looked SO pretty I thought that I would try it. It was a crepe cake...it had like 26 layers, supposed to have 32 but it started getting so high I quit early... NEVER AGAIN!!!!!! I kid you not people, between friday night and saturday morning I literally spent like 7 hours of my life on this thing, and if you don't believe me, ask Chris. It was so ridiculous!!! It looked great when I was done, but seriously, never again.

The stupid part, was later on in the evening Chris and Adam had gone to rent a movie and when they got back for some reason my stomach was like what did you do to me?? and I got sick. I ended up in the bathroom the entire time, and I could hear them out in the living room laughing at the movie and raving about how great the cake was. I was so disappointed!!! I ended up being sick all night long and into sunday. So much for having a great three days off of work!! I spent all day sunday trying to rehydrate myself and just resting. If there are three things that I hate it's throwing up, bloody noses, and getting hit in the head. So ridiculous.

So anyways, only 9 more days until Christmas now. I cannot wait. I love being with all of our families. And I haven't seen my nephew Samuel since like September since they live in Ohio and before that since like March when he was born I think? I hate that they live so far away. It will be awesome watching him open presents this year. He is so cute!
This weekend my parents are coming into town to spend the day with us on Saturday and I know Chris's parents will come hang out as well. We might go to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens depending what is going on there. Sunday we will be having our family Christmas with Chris's side of the family at our house this year! And then Christmas Eve after I get out of work we will be driving straight to my familie's house. God has been so good to our families, we are so blessed!!

I love Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday wishes are in order.

2007-12-15T14:13:00.000-05:00

It is my mother-in-law, Jeanne's Birthday today! And also my sister-in-law Trisha's as well!!!

MyHotComments / HotFreeLayouts

Happy Birthday you guys! You are both amazing people and I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

oh my

2007-12-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

11 more days until Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot wait!!!
I seriously gotta finish shopping.

And I promise I will update soon!!!

birthday wishes to my best friend

2007-12-12T01:31:00.000-05:00

Today is my sister Megan's birthday.
I wish I could spend the day with her.

I miss that girl.

So I came home from work tonight and....

2007-12-01T00:16:00.000-05:00

Yep.

On being a Christian.

2007-11-29T12:41:00.000-05:00

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'"

I'm whispering "I was lost, Now
I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.

I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak and
need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.

I'm admitting I have failed and
need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,

My flaws are far too visible
but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain..

I have my share of heartaches,
so I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,

I'm just a simple sinner Who
received God's good grace, somehow!

I know, I am slacking this month.

2007-11-19T11:52:00.001-05:00

But, truth be told, I have had good reason. Last week consisted of getting things done around the house and a lot of cleaning.

Not to mention that I just worked the weekend from hell. Two 16 hour days, 7 am to 11pm, both days........it was awful. I couldn't wait to go to bed last night and sleep in this morning.
And going to work, always revolves around having to deal with drama. And lately the drama and stress is causing me to have anxiety, therefore I always feel like I have to vomit. Yeah, it's not fun.

Our laptop has also been on the blitz lately. Stupid computers, haha. Seriously though, next time, we should get a Mac. =)

Well I have today and tomorrow off so I'm pretty happy about that. Tonight Chris and I are driving home for the night to see my family. And then tomorrow hopefully we will be able to work on putting up the Christmas lights. Exciting!!! Saturday we are going to buy our Christmas tree and decorate. And friday morning we are actually goin go try and go shopping, wooo! I have never done that before. Shopping on Black Friday that is.

Oh yeah, I made my first pumpkin pie ever the other day and it turned out amazing!! Thank you Martha Stewart,haha!!!

Ok for real, I got tons of stuff I gotta do, hope everyone had a good weekend, I'm sure it was better than mine anyways. =)

This is awesome.

2007-11-09T21:12:00.001-05:00

hahahaha

Assertiveness

2007-11-07T00:22:00.000-05:00

If you know me well at all, you know that I hate confrontation. I will avoid it at all costs. And the second I am in a compromising position, where I am uncomfortable talking with someone, I cry at the drop of a hat. I hate that I am so sensitive sometimes and that I cannot stand up for myself more often. Well, you could say that I am working on that. Tonight at work, something happened with my second shift manager that pushed me over the edge. I was so angry, I knew that this would the night I would finally stand up and say something to her, not only for me, but for everyone else that works with me on my shift. I was so mad, my mind was just reeling with things that I wanted to say to her. My adrenaline was pumping so hard, I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack, and I couldn't focus on what I was doing at all. I just kept praying to God that He would help me stay calm, and have the wisdom to say the right things. I finally got a chance to get her alone in our break room with me, and we ended up talking for over an hour and a half. I won't get into detail about the situation but hopefully a lot of good will end up coming out of it. I believe that when we both left the room, no animosity was between us, thankfully. It just really needed to be done. I was sick and tired of constantly hearing people complain about her and other situations, but no one was willing to do anything about it. No one wants to stir up the pot anymore than it already is, or get on her bad side, even though they all dislike her, it just doesn't make sense. But anyways, I guess the point is that I am proud of myself! And I feel so much better now, and everything is out in the open. If people would just go straight to other people and be open and honest with them, and handle the situation directly instead of gossiping, the world would be such a better place! If only that could be a reality.

2007-11-06T01:09:00.001-05:00

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Thanks Joe.