Welcome Back!

Welcome back!  Holy cow...I think I forgot I even had a blog.  I won't go into too much detail as to how we've spent the past few months because I don't want to cause the site to crash by posting a gazillion pages.  So, here's a quick and simple overview of some fun we've had:

November:  Thanksgiving and the beginning of basketball season.

First bball game of the 2013-2014 season.

Cute little peanut butter pumpkins I made for Thanksgiving dinner with the families...and got left behind at our house.  I think Matt finally finished eating them last week.  ;-)
 

December:  More basketball, Christmas, shoveling snow, & pinball.

We enjoyed Christmas day in our jammies and didn't feel like getting dressed, so we ordered Chinese food for dinner and watched Christmas movies.  It was AWESOME!

 

Matt added two more pinball machines to his collection:  Dr. Who & Demolition Man.
They're now spilling out into the family room.

 

January:  Even more basketball, even more snow to shovel, and a trip to the E.R.



The pile of snow along our driveway was up over Matt's head at nearly 7 feet back in January.  I stopped measuring after it was at 12 feet.  That's a lot of snow we've shoveled...and by 'we' I mean I've personally shoveled 80% of it, including the neighbor's driveway. Whew!



No, Matt didn't dislocate and fracture his pinky shoveling as most would suspect with all our snowfall so far. His trip to the E.R. was a result of playing basketball.

February:  More shoveling of (insert expletive of your choice here) snow, and the last days of basketball.



Keaton received a Senior Leadership Award from his college.



Senior Day



First basket of the game!



They had big heads of the three seniors on the team that the student section waved during the game.
We put them in his bedroom windows when we got home. ;-)



Pre-game dunking at the final game.

 

 

 

March:  Snowshoeing, basketball banquet, and more shoveling of snow.  If I have to do any shoveling in April or May, I'm moving to the southern hemisphere...or Matt will have to buy a snow blower to keep me in Michigan.  Our seasonal total (so far) is over 112" at this point, so I'm seriously done shoveling for the rest of the year!

South Haven, MI



We visited Lake Michigan via the Saugatuck State Park with some friends.
The beach looks much different in the winter than it does in the summer!
 

So, we ended our last days of basketball with a banquet on Sunday.  I made: 3 jersey frames and 3 scrapbooks for the seniors, 1 photo book for the coach's son, 23 photo collages and 23 slide show DVDs for the players and coaches, 9 centerpieces, and 2 balloon bouquets (well, Matt made them).   

I'm going to miss basketball and taking all my pictures of the team.  I'm even going to miss making protein bars.  I made 896 of them this year.  That's a lot of mixing, pressing into the pans, and cutting.  You should see my right bicep!



About 45 jars of peanut butter + 45 canisters of oatmeal + 68 bags of chocolate chips + 16 jars of honey + 12 protein powder canisters + 6 bags of flax seed = 896 protein bars!!



Happy Birthday, Matt!

Pinball. 
PF Chang's. 
$200 profit at the casino. 
Happy Halfway-to-90 Birthday, Matt!

Merry Christmas to Me!

Merry Christmas!  I guess it's time to get in the Christmas spirit since it seems every time I turn on the TV, there's a Christmas movie playing.  Don't get me wrong - I love Christmas, but I love celebrating Christmas AFTER celebrating Thanksgiving.  So, I guess I'll just have to get into the Christmas spirit early with an early Christmas present for myself:  a new camera and a new zoom lens!  Merry Christmas to me!! 

It's definitely quite an upgrade from my old Canon Rebel.  It's faster, sharper, has a flip-out LCD monitor, and even has wi-fi!  Now I just have to figure out how to use it!  Oh, just imagine how many Christmas pictures I'll be taking this year!  (My bit of advice:  you may want to wear sunglasses if you're in the frame of my camera lens this Christmas.  I'll be doing a lot of practicing and you'll probably feel like the paparazzi is stalking you!)

October's Blur

 

Either life gets too hectic at times...or I'm becoming a huge procrastinator.  Honestly, it's probably both.  October flew by and here are some highs and lows of the last month:

 

We went camping with friends the first weekend of October.  It was a chilly and wet weekend...but it could have been much worse.  It could have snowed.

 





 



 

The second week of October, my sisters and I headed down to Nashville to visit my dad in the hospital. He's totally into drama and giving us gray hair. I got a phone call during their trip out east that he was having trouble breathing and they flew into Nashville so he could be admitted to the hospital. He arrived with heart failure, lung failure, and kidney failure.  I arrived with six bags full of food and snacks and two-fully packed suitcases.  As much as my sisters teased me about over packing they were happy with all the food and extra clothes since we ended up spending six days in the ICU. Thankfully my dad improved enough to be released after two long weeks in a germ-infested hospital. He's still on the road to recovery, but hopefully he continues to get a little better each day.





We had to wear masks while they tested my dad for TB.
I gladly wore mine so I wouldn't get the plague anywhere else in the hospital. (Did I ever admit to being a total germaphobe?)
 





 

We got our first snowfall on Oct. 24th.  Luckily it didn't last for long because I hadn't switched my closets around yet and didn't have any long underwear or flannel pajamas upstairs.



This is after most of the snow had already melted.  I was too comfy wrapped up in a blanket on the couch to wander outside to take a picture of the snow on the grass earlier.

 

 

 On October 27th, Keaton turned 22...and I remained 29.
 

 

 

 



Matt & I went on a little fall color tour last Sunday.  We stopped by the lake that we're thinking of moving to in the near future.  Matt propped the camera on the back of the car to get a picture of us...and forgot that he also put his cell phone on the back of the car.  He remembered when he tried to use it a few minutes later...after we drove away.  Luckily, someone found it down the road...a little more beat up and missing the back, but surprisingly still working.

 

 

 

We dressed as Cinderella and Prince Charming for our Halloween party at home (Cyrus was a king and Keaton was a gladiator) and again to pass out candy on Halloween night.  Matt dressed as a short scientist on stilts at work for Halloween and earned 'The Wackiest Costume' award.  I think he should have earned the most creative...or 'The Best Mad Scientist' award!





 

     



 

 

 

Basketball season is upon us again for our last trip around the college basketball circuit.  Holy cow, it sure doesn't seem like it's been four years since Keaton started college.  We're hoping he's able to play more this season and doesn't have to battle health issues like last season.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that his last year is his best year!  Go Hornets!!



K @ WMU
 



 



 

Tennessee Trip and Twelve Years for Cyrus!

Our annual trip to Tennessee involved the usual:  golf, shopping, and visiting family.  This year, we all got new golf bags and came home with a packed car full of five golf bags, four shopping bags, three pillows, two sets of clubs, and one dog.  It was another good trip...especially for me since I finally got my pink golf bag!  

 

The guys on Hole #5 behind my dad's house.
(It sure helps to make picture-taking convenient!)



The new bags. Mine is definitely the prettiest!



Keaton told me that I can't get anything else for golf until I play a round. Then, for every round of golf I play, I get $10 to put toward golf accessories. I think pretty, sparkly jewelry with a golf charm will count as an accessory.



We found a fabulous radio station in TN. Thankfully, it wasn't country!



Sir Cyrus Pembroke celebrated his 12th birthday with a ten-hour car ride back to Michigan.  Don't feel too sorry for him, though...he had part of a chicken sandwich and some french fries to celebrate his milestone.

 

 

 

 

Jello + Alcohol = YUM!

Jello + alcohol = YUM!  We went to a friend's annual rib cook-off over the weekend.  I made a highly-requested tray of jello shots.  This is the only way I'll make them anymore...right in fruit rinds.  No stupid plastic cups to feel guilty about not being able to recycle...plus, the fruit rinds ground up in the garbage disposal make the kitchen smell nice.  This year's varieties included:

Raspberry Lemonade (raspberry jello w/ pink lemonade vodka) in lemon wedges
Pina Colada (pineapple jello w/ coconut rum) in lime wedges
Tropical Punch (tropical punch jello w/ mango/blood orange/passion fruit vodka) in orange & mango wedges

My favorite was the tropical punch.  Matt's too...the couple he was able to snag before they disappeared.

The Next-to-Last College Move

Keaton has made his next-to-last college move.  Wow...the time has flown by since we moved him into his dorm room for his freshman year three years ago.  We (and a nice friend who volunteered and wasn't blackmailed into helping) helped him move into a house that he'll be sharing with six other guys.  He took his bed and about half of his clothes from our house. His uncle was nice and donated some furniture and kitchen odds and ends from his bachelor days.  The house is awesome and has two kitchens, three bathrooms, and seven bedrooms. It's located across the street from campus (appropriately on Academy St.) and will be an easy commute to class.  I spent about seven hours cleaning the upstairs areas that Keaton will be occupying most of his time to ensure he doesn't contract any strange diseases.  (He said the house had been cleaned, but let's face it, nobody will ever clean it to my strict standards.) It was pretty gross...even Matt agreed...but is now smelling and looking much better after our thorough scrubbing and sanitizing.  We used an entire extra-large economy-sized bottle of antibacterial wipes on the kitchen, his bedroom, and one bathroom alone.  I steam-cleaned his bedroom carpet three times and the water was black and absolutely disgusting.  I won't even talk about the other upstairs bathroom because I'm going to need serious therapy to revisit those memories.  For now, they're safely tucked away in the back of my mind and I'm hoping I can one day forget how absolutely horrible, disgusting, awful, terrible and frightening it was. (I just shuddered while thinking about it.)  Happy thoughts.  Happy thoughts.  Happy thoughts.   

Now Keaton is happily living in his house and is currently responsible for all of his meals.  He made his first dinner and sent us pictures of spaghetti, garlic toast, and green beans.  (Yay! He remembered to have a vegetable with dinner!  Oh and I could see his desk in the background of the picture, so I know he wasn't really eating at a restaurant!)  I've spent the past week picking up odds and ends so he'll be self-sufficient and nicely decorated.  (Sorry, although he thought the towel and blanket he hung on his bedroom windows worked, I had to veto that decorating decision and picked up some curtains to hang.)  Matt and I stopped by on Friday night to bring him more goodies and get his curtains ironed and hung...and I totally forgot to bring the camera for pictures.  I guess I'll just have to stop by this week for a visit.  I'll just be sure to bring lots of food so he doesn't think I'm a stalker...even more than he already thinks I am.   

He took all of his electronics in his vehicle.

Matt & I got to take the rest of his stuff.

His top priorities were getting his computer set up and connected...

...and his TV connected to cable.

Home Sweet Home

Bees: 21, Me: 0

Matt has a lot of making up to do with me and it better involve something pretty and sparkly...or something really good to eat.  While helping him do some mowing for someone he worked with, I was attacked by bees and got stung 21 times.  (We think it was 21, but it was probably more.  It was hard to count with all the red splotchiness and welts all over my body).  

Sunday, Matt hopped on the tractor and I got stuck with the push mower.  As I mowed a little bit, I felt some stinging on my legs and thought I must have mowed over a stick and was getting hit by splinters.  As I looked down, I saw bees around my legs.  Then, when I cut the engine on the mower, I heard even more buzzing around my head and that's when I took off running and yelling for Matt to spray me with the hose.  I don't think I've ever asked to be sprayed by a hose ever in my life.  Ever.  He was on the tractor and didn't know what was happening as I was frantically running around and flailing my arms around me screaming at him.  His first thought was that I just lost my foot mowing, but then realized that wasn't the case since I was running.  Then, he saw the bees all around me and on me.  He kept yelling at me to hold still so he could swat them off me and I kept running around like a crazy person yelling at him to get the hose.  We ran to the spigot and there was NO FREAKING HOSE!  Matt finally got the bees off me, I sucked down some Benadryl and off we went to the nearest medical facility so I could get a shot of epinephrine.   

After returning to the scene of the crime, Matt found two holes near some rocks that must have been hiding the little buggers.  I must have mowed over the holes with the push mower and they obviously didn't like it and came out angry and seeking revenge.  Yay, me.  I'm glad it didn't happen to Matt while he was alone...or it didn't happen to the little boy that lives at that house.  I have been fogged out on Benadryl and have spent the last couple of days napping and just taking it easy, waiting for my hives to go away.  I think some pretty jewelry would help them go away more quickly.    

Small Town Sojourns

Matt and I have embarked on a journey of visiting small towns every couple of weeks.  Our first visit was to the small towns of Saugatuck and Douglas along the gorgeous west Michigan shoreline.  We wandered through the towns, did some window shopping and then stopped at a local brewery for lunch.  We ordered a flight of six different homemade beers.  I'm not a beer drinker.  I dutifully tried them all (even one with a promising title of 'Neopolitan')...and decided that I'd much rather drink my pretty, fruity cocktails.

We picked all different beers:  some with chocolate, some with caramel.
Matt keeps telling me that beer is an acquired taste...but I still haven't acquired any I like.

Our latest trip was to Shipshewana, IN to visit the huge flea market and to enjoy some Amish culture and food.  Matt was in all his glory at the flea market and probably could have spent a week digging through the, ahem, treasures.  I didn't get my hands dirty like he did, but I did find a Coach purse for $40, beads to decorate another patio table, and some awesome license plate letters to make a project for the RV.  After two trips to the car with our loot, we headed over to the popular Das Dutchman Essenhaus for a chicken dinner. Yum!

I know the Amish don't want to be photographed, but I didn't think they'd mind the back of the buggy being photographed. 
I just thought this was funny as they passed the speed limit sign.  It's the little things in life that make me laugh!

The Thornapple River

Last weekend, we went camping and kayaking with our good friends.  Our adventure involved a 5.5 mile trip down the Thornapple River...and a LOT of rain.  We started with a partly cloudy morning and ended with a very rainy afternoon.  We still had a good time...even though I was soaked.  But it's always definitely better to getting soaked by falling rain rather than getting soaked by tipping in the river!

Before.

After.  It's a good thing I did my hair that morning.

"New" Table

Yesterday's little craft project brought some new fun and colorful life into an old patio table:

 

YIKES!

Yikes!  Yesterday morning, while outside, Matt noticed the fountain in the pond was not running.  Upon further inspection, he checked the outlet that the pond pump was plugged into and discovered yet another household project he'll have to tackle.  Well, make that two...he'll have to replace the outlet box and erase the scorch marks on the siding.  No, make that three...he'll have to find a new house because I'm ready to move.

Festive Fourth

On Wednesday, we packed up the RV, loaded the kayaks in the trailer, and headed over to Ionia to enjoy a long weekend with good friends.  We ate lots of good food, played a lot of cards, swatted a lot of mosquitoes, and enjoyed some kayaking in the Grand River.  Keaton came over on Friday and was our kayaking chauffeur and saved some time before/after kayaking.  (And to get us girls to a bathroom...not a pit toilet, but a real bathroom with running water and soap!)  Cyrus was pretty good with all the festivities.  He was a little freaked out by the nearby fireworks, but running the AC in the motor home and watching TV helped to muffle the noise.  Poor puppy.  We wore him out with all the fresh air and all the walks.  He spent all day yesterday recuperating.  As a matter of fact, it looks like he's planning to spend today recuperating as well.

 

Aren't the paddles pretty with their new flower stickers?
(I'm still on the lookout for pink paddles though.)



The Grand River was slow but still grand.
(It's always grand when I don't get stuck.)

Poor puppy.  He can't escape me.

Proud Parents!

paid internship + first paycheck = PROUD PARENTS!