Father's Day weekend

The last week has flown by!!  I have every intention of posting after big events in our lives but it never happens!  I at least am getting better at taking pictures of our own lives!  :)

 Father's Day was wonderful!!  We actually spent all weekend celebrating Ryan and how wonderful of a Daddy he is!  Friday night we went and bought a bike for me, ok so it wasn't all about him!!  Then got ice cream!

 Abe LOVES ice cream!!!

 Saturday we were very busy!  I have an engagement/reception party that I took pictures at.  You can view their preview here!  Ry ended up getting called to work, luckily it was local so he took the boys with him and got the farmer up and running the best they could!  Then we met up at my nephew's open house (pictures coming soon!)! 

Sunday, I made a nice breakfast for all of us and then we headed to church.  We ate lunch at my G'parents house and visited with my Aunt, Uncle, parents and G'parents.  The picture above is Abe with my Dad!

 Me and my Dad!

 The best picture I could get with Abe and Ry!  :)

 Then we headed to Ry's parents house.  Ry's been working hard to get the rhino reading for the trails, so we took it around the field and the boys loved every minute!!! 

 

 These pictures are actually from Friday night!  I couldn't wait to give Ry his canvas'!!!  Isn't Abe a cutie?!?!?!

 Here they are!!!  Aren't they beautiful!!!  These are 11X14's, love them!!!

  We had a fabulous Father's Day weekend and we hope you did too!!!

 

 

Maddie's First Trip to the Zoo

We took Maddie to the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek for the first time on Tuesday.  We have been down to the lake since last Wednesday, and we decided to come home for a few days to do laundry and go to the zoo.  You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for it--wasn't too hot or cold.  It has been years since Ive been there, and I have to say I was impressed with how much it has changed. I know being just over a year old she wouldn't have acknowledge much, but every time she seen an animal it was so cute.........she pointed at everything and says "tiddy tiddy".  It is so funny because she thinks everything is a kitty, lol.

We went super early to miss the rush and let's just say we were the first to feed the giraffes :-). It was so cute they let the gate open and they came running to us to eat. The lady that works there says there is a baby but the momma wont let it come out.

We took a bus ride to the African Safari.  Can you tell she was excited for it?

 Check out this huge turtle!!

And the ride home, one happy girl for sure with her new stuff baby

 
Make sure all you mommas take your kids to the zoo this summer - - so glad I did!  Now back to the lake we go..... Have a great weekend!

 

 

Sneek-Peek

Ok, so my one year old now daughter can't stand her crib.  I don't know if it's because we co-sleep {yes, I know bad momma} or what.  So, I decided to take her crib down and put a queen size mattress {from our spare bedroom} on the floor--she loves it!  She even goes in her room by herself for naps; how cute!  Now with that.......... it has given me an excuse to re-do her room into a "big" girl room now.  So looking into the next few months I will be posting on what next project I will be doing in there :-).  Most of our summer is spent outside, but I was able to do start with one of them.  Remember the tissue pom poms from her birthday party??  Yup, you can't really save them, so I kept a few and made it into a small chandelier in the corner above her bed.  I used the christmas light command strips to put them up.  She loves looking up and pointing at them; its cute.  Her room colors obviously are going to be purple and pink.  Stay tuned!

 

Water Babies

I know I talk about my girls Kylie and Alivia a lot, but they are my babies and mean the world to me.  I can't explain how much they mean to me and how much I love them.  Last weekend was soo much fun as we spent the weekend together as a family and pretty much spent the whole time in the water at the pool and Lake Michigan.  We got a membership to MVP- a fitness club that has an amazing pool with water park..I don't know why we didn't join last year it is that good.  My girls LOVE the water and are such a joy to watch having them chase after each other for hours!  Kylie wakes up and wants to put her swimsuit on as she wants to "blow bubbles".  I'm looking forward to next weekend as it is supposed to be VERY hot and I plan on spending the whole weekend swimming again.


Below is a picture of Kylie with her Papa at Lake Michigan.

 

 

~The difference one day makes!!~

Since Summer has officially started, I can say it is already going by too quickly!  Our 4 year old son recently learned how to ride his two wheeler and he is doing excellent!!  

We have already had our first of many camping trips and already have several booked for later this summer!

Our house is not had much interest for awhile but that's okay because we still don't know what we are going to do!  

My photography is VERY busy but I'm loving it and my clients are awesome!!!  I recently had the opportunity to capture an engagement party and just blogged it!

Click on over to check it out!

Sorry so short...but lots more editing to do!!!

Enjoy today!! 

 

Embrace Grace

God's grace is endless. 

Having God's grace, to me, means being forgiven. 

How can we expect God to forgive us, when we cannot forgive others. 

God doesn't bring up your past, so you shouldn't bring up others. 

Pointing fingers at other people and reminding them of their mistakes only upsets them.

While listening to Kim Bolton, along with her husband Tony Bolton sang and spoke along with the featured speaker Liz Curtis Higgs at a conference at Gull Lake Ministries, I was reminded that God forgives us, all of us!  He love us just the way we are, why wouldn't He...

He is our creator!!  

Amazing thought, huh?!

Liz asked us to stand in front of a mirror, raise our hands to the sky and say "Ta-da!"

Wowie, was she ever right...as I stood in front of the mirror and saw exactly what God created, I smiled and really noticed all of the flaws that only I see.  We are all unique and we are all loved.

We are all loved by the One and Only!!

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

 

 

Great Grandma's Banana Bread

Despite the horrible weekend our family had, I can at least talk about how good my great grandma's banana bread is!  This recipe has been in my family for a very long day.  I make it a lot in the winter for the holidays and in the summer when we are camping.  Dusty's grandpa loves it so much so I make a lot for him :-).  I never throw away bananas at my house; I make and freeze loafs of bread.  I had a few in the freezer from last month, so we took it with us this past weekend.

Makes One Loaf:

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
4 ripe bananas, smashed
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp orange juice
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease loaf pan.  Add baking soda and orange juice in a small bowl, letting it fizz together.  In large mixing bowl, add sugar and butter until smooth.  Add bananas.  Add orange juice and soda.  Add the beaten eggs.  Lastly add the flour.  Don't over mix.  Bake for approx 1 hour checking in between. 

When cooling , I add about a half stick of butter on the top letting it melt over top.  If you are going to freeze, I usually put a piece of folded paper towel inside a freezer bag putting the loaf in there hot so it stays moist.

 

 

It was a horrible........

Weekend!  Yep, that doesn't come out of my mouth that often!  Our first camping experience of the year, and it couldn't have been any worse then it was.  First of all, my husband surprising had to get the NH3 on the rest of the crops, so that cut into our weekend.  We generally park our camper down to the lake, but we had some conflicts at the beginning of the spring that lead us to make different arrangements for Fathers Day Weekend.  We wanted to use the camper so bad we just decided to stay close to home and camp at the Ionia State Park.  I booked it a long time ago, and my dad {who came with us} had a site next to us.  Dusty took us and the camper up to the campground around noon because we knew he had to leave.  But as soon as we got there, we forgot that last year we had a small fire which burnt our electrical cord.  We did get a new cord but we forgot to purchase a new breaker.  So we pile in the vehicle to drive around to 3 stores in Ionia to find one. Finally Dusty was off to the farm leaving us with some nice air conditioning {remember how hot it was}........When I thought it was going ok, Maddie becomes fussy.  I thought it was because of the heat {she loves playing outside and loves camping}, nope.  I had forgotten  that she had her 1 year shots on Monday.  The Dr. had said that she could get a fever with the chicken pox vaccine, but not until 4 - 7 days later. I completely forgotten about it but that is what she had, a fever!  So we spent the entire day sitting inside the camper with a/c, poor Maddie.

Saturday didn't start out any better.  Dusty got up and left, saying he was supposed to be back by noon......4 pm later.  I was preparing dinner when our fridge was beeping a weird noise.  Needless to say, two hours later we found our the converter box went bad.  We had no power, nothing.  In the meantime, my dad was trying to help when he discovered 2 mice in our camper......YUCK.  They were down below were they couldn't actually get into our camper but still I was in total disgust.  We had nothing else to do but to pack up and leave.  So I got everything ready when we discovered something else bad.  We had no power to get our slide-out in!!!!  Oh no is right.  I had to pile everything from the fridge, our clothes, dirty dishes in my car to take home because I had no idea when I would see my camper again, lol.  We got home about 10 pm Saturday night.  My dad had called a bit later to tell us a nice man stopped and told my dad that he had a lot of experience with campers and that he would come back in the a.m. to help.  So Fathers Day morning, instead of making my hubby a nice breakfast, he was up and gone by 7 a.m. to help save the day.  I spent the morning on the phone canceling our week camping trip up north to the bridge {we were supposed to leave this Sunday} :-(.  I had no idea when, how much or how long it would take for our camper to be fixed--I had no choice but to cancel it in order for me to get our full refund.

Monday comes along, my hubby takes it in, it's fixed in 2 hours!  Bummed we are not going to the UP camping,  but now the family lake conflict has been resolved so I guess we are taking it down there for next week {or the rest of the summer}.

Phewwww, glad that is over!  This girl can't take another one of those weekends soon.

 

Sadness at the Wheel

 
 Sadness is part of being human and it is only natural to feel sad at times...right? For those who know me know that I do not show a lot of emotion in my life and I am usually even tempered. My friends that are reading this are probably shocked that I would even talk about sadness on a blog, but today I am feeling like blogging about what is real.   For the last few months I have felt a lot of sadness and it has finally taken a toll on me and my emotions are starting to become visible.  I'm not writing this to tell everyone why I have sadness, but rather what I discovered today as I was driving and thinking about my feelings.  I shouldn't be ashamed that I am showing emotion and I should talk to others about it as that is what is going to help me feel better.  Since I keep my emotions inside if something happens I never really let go of it and years later I am still dwelling on something from the past.  I now know what I need to do when I get back home tomorrow night to help overcome the obstacles and work towards happiness.  As I was thinking about my blog it brought light to a quote that I think says it all from Helen Keller "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." 
 

Triple-layer Chocolate Pie

I enjoy a new recipe but sometimes do not enjoy the complexity of it.  Usually desserts are not too difficult to make.  So, I made a cheesecake and Triple-layer Chocolate Pie for Father's Day.  Ry loves cheesecake and I love chocolate!!

The Triple-layer pie was a success!!  The cheesecake was also but I prefer chocolate!

I bought chocolate cookies, 1 tub of cool whip, 2 small packages of chocolate instant pudding.

You crush the cookies and place in bottom of dish.  Then place whole cookies around the outside.

Mix the two packages of pudding with 2 cups of cold milk with a wire whisk for 2 minutes.

Layer 1 1/2 cups of pudding on top of the crushed cookies.

Mix together the cool whip and the rest of the pudding then layer that on top!

I made it before church and it was ready to go for lunch!  

I would love to show you the end result, however it's all gone!!  Don't worry, I'll be experimenting with this one again!!!

What new dessert recipes do you enjoy?!

 

 

What a Magical Place

  I know I told you I would post pictures of the Disney trip with my girls last week, but it has been so crazy I just got them uploaded.  Disney was soo much fun, BUT it was a lot of work.  The girls really are too young and it was hot and VERY crowded.  The girls had the most fun during the parades at Magic Kingdom, riding the bus, and swimming in the pools.  The characters they only liked from a distance..we waited in line several times over 30 minutes and when it was our turn the girls wanted nothing to do with them. I learned our lesson very quick on that one.  I have told my family and friends to not let me go again for another couple years when it will be much easier :)



                                                               Kylie loved the Bus!

 

                               
                           As you can see they were not fans of Pluto!
                                                 

Also not a fan of Mickey!

But Kylie loves them if they aren't "real"- Kermie!

                                Again..they love them if they are made from flowers!

Happy Father's Day!

Ryan is an amazing friend, husband and Daddy!  He is so loving, forgiving, patient and kind!  He is always there for us and we are so thankful for him!!!  

He's an amazing leader of our house and I know he will do a great job teaching our boys how to someday, way down the road, be the kind of man God anticipated them to be!

With Father's Day approaching, I am so happy to share this offer with all of you!  Ry is so good at getting me the perfect gifts that I always try to remember throughout the year what he talks about so I can get him the perfect gift!  

Well, his gifts are usually more expensive and involve a lot choices.  For instance, he is always wanting something for our rhino...which I cannot just run out and get.  He usually has to order it and then I say "Happy Birthday" or "Merry Christmas!"  I hardly ever can sneak anything by him!  

This year, I got him good!!  I ordered two 11X14 canvas prints and I LOVE them!!!  

Every time I think of them, I get teary eyed!!! 
Canvas People rock!  Go check them out!

I cannot wait for him to open them!!!  I did wrap them and hide them, so hopefully with them out of sight, I can wait til Sunday! 

For those of you that do not follow my personal/business blog, I posted a few pictures there!!  I've ordered through this company a few times and have been satisfied every time!

We are doing whatever Ry wants to do tonight, since Sunday we'll spend with our Dad's.  :)

Happy Father's Day to all of you Dad's!

And thank you to my Daddy for always being there for me, even in those "rough" years!  You are a fabulous Dad and an even better Grandpa!!!

  

This was last summer, Del LOVES being outside with his Daddy!

 The boys with their Daddy...Abe was just a lil peanut then!!

 Look at my boys now!!  Growing up way too fast!!  This was in April!

 

Fathers Day

I love Fathers Day weekend because it's always spent together as a family.  I also love it because I'm a daddy's little girl, and now that Maddie is a daddy's little girl it makes it even better.  It is a special day to spend with the DADS and to let them know how much we appreciate them!  This weekend we will be spending it camping with my dad at a state park.  It's our first time using our camper this year since we've been so busy until now and we are so ready and excited!  And here on out we will be spending a lot of time in our camper the rest of the summer.  So stay tuned to lots of pictures soon!  Happy Fathers Day to all!!

 

 

Here and Gone

So it was Here and now Done!  :-(  I can officially say I have a one year old.........really??? Can't be!  And the party went as planned {gosh do I love that}.  Thank you to all who came; I am glad everyone enjoyed the Birthday party.  It was extremely hot but I didn't think it was as humid as I thought it was; needless to say my cupcakes did not melt!!! 

Thanks to the wonderful Stacy from Remember When Photography she was able to capture the entire day for us. Thank GOD because the only picture I got on my own camera was Maddie's birthday cake. When you have to entertain for 50 + people you kind of forget about the camera so Thank You Stacy! She gave me a sneek peek on FB today so I thought I would share a recap:





Here was the cupcake decorating table. It was fun but you should have seen it afterwards....ha ha.

Cupcake decorating table

Table Favors......

Maddie's Birthday cake

Birthday Banner I made

And last of all, I had my MIL take a picture of us three girls (Jenn, Heidi and Myself)