I was looking...

...at the pictures from earlier and decided that I really needed to play with the one of Emily...

That's better don't you think?

Picture Posting Mood

I may be boring everyone with my pictures but here are a few more from my trip to the camp earlier this summer.

It was Bryan's birthday yesterday!


So beautiful

Happy BIrthday Aaron!!!

He received a fly-fishing rod and reel for his day, so this will be how we spend the afternoon!

As Promised

Here are some pictures from the reunion in no order whatsoever! Luke
Levi
Em, Addy, Lia
Jenna

Aaron and T
Playing the knots game
Spectators
Tom and Aaron
Morgan, Steve, Robert

Cari and Rachel
Kelli and Emily
Eli
Laura and Jean
(Un) Happy campers

Whoops, are they going to be mad at me for posting that last one? Let me know and I'll take it off!

Just One

Picture of the girls from our trip to the fort...

The Island and More

Here are a few pictures from the weekend... Aaron and I drove to Mackinac Island for the day on Sunday. It was our one year anniversary.

Had to have the fudge!

Not my fav picture of us, but the best one for taking it ourselves!

It was a beautiful day. We really enjoyed it. We were going to take a horse and carriage ride until the guy told us it us $100 an hour... So we walked around instead...

And I finally have my pictures from the reunion. I'll try post those tomorrow.

AND... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!

Little Bit of Fun

* What is your occupation? Retail Sales Associate
* What are you listening to right now? My computer
* What was the last thing you ate? Strawberry Smoothie
* Do you wish on stars? Of course
* If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Pastel Yellow
* How is the weather right now? Cool, looks like rain
* Last person you spoke to on the phone? Karen
* Favorite drink? Water with lemon
* Favorite sport to watch? Basketball, baseball
* Do you wear contacts or glasses? both, I prefer contacts and want surgery
* Pets? none for me. I've been thinking about purchasing a fish
* Favorite month? September
* Favorite food? Too hard to pick that.
* Favorite day of the year? That's something that I can't decide either
* What do you do to vent anger? Write in my journal
* Fall or Spring? Fall
* Cherry or Blueberry? Blueberry
* When was the last time you cried? Saturday
* What is on the floor of your closet? Boxes of stuff that probably should be thrown away
*What did you do last night? Hung out with Aaron
* Favorite smell? Burning leaves
* What inspires you? competition
* What are you afraid of? failing
* Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheese
* Favorite car? Jeep Liberty (technically not a car, I suppose)
* Favorite dog breed? Alaskan Malamute, husky
* Number of keys on your key ring? 3 key rings, one has 1, the next 2 and the last 1
* How many years at your current job? 5 months
* Favorite day of the week? Saturday
* How many states have you lived in? 3 if you count AK
* How many cities have you lived in? 7

An exercise in rambling

First a note to those wanting pictures... I reverted to film for the reunion. I love my Canon. So... it'll be a bit before those are posted seeing as my four rolls of film are looking at me as I type. In the meantime, Anne posted quite a few nice pictures.

Dad and Mom ended up coming here after the reunion so I got to spend a bit of time with them and the kids. I took Janelle, Jodi and Emily to the Harbor one day. We visited the fort, talked to the actors there and played on the playground. (Em wanted to know why we had to go into every building before we could get to the playground.) Treated the girls to ice cream after. Those pictures are on film also.

The lot has the beginnings of a driveway now. Quite the change from this spring when I would go for walks and try to figure out where exactly our lot was.

It was really windy one night so Janelle and I had a ton of fun going for sauna swim. Didn't have my camera then.

Ever wonder what exactly are "sauna clothes"?

Been feeling sad and helpless after this weekend. I wish there was something I could do. I am extremely grateful for our faith. It is absolutely comforting when a young christian is taken. I always remember my Dad's words from years ago... He told me that sometimes the young ones are taken to remind us of our faith. Isn't that the truth?

The girls, Jodi, Annie (Kristin's) and Laura put on a play for us last night. I wish I could have video-taped it. They could hardly act for laughing so hard. And the motions they made when they took their bows... One of those things that I would love to have the ability to describe.

Tommy, Aaron and I went for dinner tonight. Tommy will be coming to school up here in a year. That's the plan as of right now. Hard to imagine. I don't feel old enough for T to be a senior this year...

The weather is cooling down and the leaves have been changing for weeks. I'm not ready for fall. It is my favorite season but I want to enjoy summer for awhile longer.

Sigh. Here's to another week that'll fly by! Funny how the older you get, the faster time goes.

Back Home Again

This weekend was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed getting to see most of the cousins again. It's crazy how fast the family has grown in the past few years.
Some highlights:

*Rollerblading with Emily, she had a bit of a time trying to learn but eventually figured it out! And was always wanting to go again... Tough girl!

*There was a "bulldozer" type contraption in the sand box that Laura was using to dig a pile of dirt. When I told her that is what Aaron sometimes drives for work she responded (after a pause to think about it) "that's weird."

*Danny took me for a walk and was talking about the star show that night. I asked him what he thought the guys would tell them. Dan's response "If you want to learn more go to www.star.com or www.star.org"

*The park rangers where walking around the camp ground, keeping a pretty close eye on things. When they spotted kids playing nicely they would give an "I've been caught" sticker. The first time this happened Noelle had tripped and fallen and Jodi stopped to ask if she was okay. The girls then went down to the camp office and received a piece of candy.
Billy told us later that he, Paul and Robert thought they saw a ranger so Paul purposely tripped and Robert and Bill rushed to see if he was okay. Alas, it wasn't a ranger so no candy for the boys...

I wonder how

My mother does it... She spends most of the summer traveling between the camp and home, with five + kids...
I'm leaving tomorrow to work at another location and go to the reunion from there and I feel extremely frazzled. I know that I'm going to forget something. Probably an important something, like a book to read. Or batteries. Or camera. Can't forget the camera.
But she does it all the time. And manages quite nicely... I need to be more organized.

Can't wait to get to the campground though. It should be a really good time seeing all of the cousins and aunts and uncles again. Megan and I were talking about the last family reunion. I think we spent most of the time trying to avoid everyone else. Maybe I have grown up a little 'cause now I'm looking forward to spending time with everyone...

???

My crazy sisters! I miss these girls! (Stole this picture from facebook, thanks Janelle!)

Family oriented weekend

Michelle and Chad are up for the weekend as I mentioned earlier. So Michelle, Cari, Annette and I all went for breakfast yesterday morning. It was nice to get to spend a little bit of time with Michelle. With so much of Chad's family up here, I know it is/was a busy weekend for them.

Aaron's sister also got married yesterday. It was a nice wedding. Beautiful and simple.

Groom with his bride. (Bonnie is Aaron's twin.)

Doesn't Aaron look nice in his tux?

All in all, it was a good Saturday.

I took the Plunge

I did it... I've always thought about donating my hair and I finally did... I went from this:

To this:

That doesn't give you the greatest idea of how drastic the change is but I can't seem to find a recent picture of myself with long hair. By the time it was over I figure I had 12 inches or more taken off...

Still not sure how I feel about it. I can cross that off my list of things to do and wait for my hair to grow back I suppose! I like the haircut, I'm not always sure I like me in the haircut!

(And note for Leigh, my hair grows fast enough that we'll be able to do something with it for your wedding, don't worry!)

Morning Musings

Today is my last day of work on a ten day stretch! YAY!

Aaron's sister Bonnie gets married tomorrow. That means my schedule is packed today, hence getting up early to read the normal blogs now.

I was thinking about the bridge that collapsed in MN. And about the deaths of people there. It's all very sad and I feel for everyone affected.

That said, I am not posting the following to offend anyone. The tragedy also made me think of the times that deaths happen and family's of the deceased sue everyone they can. That doesn't make any sense to me. I understand the need to place blame, to an extent. As I see it, that's a natural stage of grieving. But in the long run it seems to me that suing for cause of death is only going to cause more grief. Maybe this steams from my personal belief that everyone has a time to go. Nothing we do here on earth can change that. It was a horrible and tragic event. Is blaming someone else and gaining money from that really going to help? Is it really what the deceased would have wanted? I don't understand.

And that also makes me think about how people need to take responsibility for their actions. But I suppose that's a thought for another post.

Have a wonderful weekend