Birthday Wishes for my Mom!

Saturday was my mom's birthday, and we all wanted to wish her a happy birthday, including Joshua, who hasn't mastered the art of talking on the phone yet :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM, WE LOVE YOU!!!

Out of Context

"Say my name!"

"He has nice shoes."
"He smells bad and he's hairy."
"Admit it, you love the shoes"

"Religion is like a balm for the soul. It stings, and sometimes it causes a nasty rash, but it's good too."
"The sting goes away if you blow on it."

"Eventually you will have to put it down, and that's when I will attack."

"I need to ask for your advice in the love department. I figure, you're married, you'll know what to do. Not that your relationship with your husband in any way reflects a lesbian relationship, but I've heard that the same principles apply."

"$500! You've got to be kidding me! You paid $500 for 2 kids and one meal?"
"Uh, the kids came with sleeping bags, and desert was included."

"We would get along. You are more of a whistler kind of girl, while I am more of a name that tune kind of girl. It's like we're friends already!"

"You can be my reflection if you want to."

"You wanna do lunch?"
"Sure, where are we going?"
"Hell, but that's not important."

"That's why we have homeless people working for the Boy Scouts, it's good for business."

"What? They needed a purpose, so I gave them one."

"Are you going to go?"
"No, I have to wash my hair."
"It's not dirty."
"But it could be."

"I could just stop right now."
"You really don't want to leave me with partial knowledge. That makes me dangerous."

"Do you want to go with me on Saturday?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't like you and the thought of being in a car with you for 6 hours makes me nauseous."
"Yeah, that's fair."

"I don't have any money because my husband is sleeping."

"Do you think it's fair to say that all men have ramen noodles for brains?"
"Are the ramen noodles cooked or raw?"
"raw"
"yeah, that's fair"

"The Pastor was doing Jager Bombs."
"Before or after the ceremony?"
"Hard to tell."

"My pants are see-through and I'm wearing half a tu-tu. It's a great day."

Like Mother, Like Daughter

A Continent away...and still the same fashion sense...

SUPRISE!!!!!!

Ha! Had you thinking for a minute didn't I? I would like to introduce you to my nephews.....we like to call them Baby A, and Baby B. I'm hoping that Brad and Amy have different names picked out for after they are born....however, I would just like to remind them that the fact that the twins are boys should not discourage them from naming one of them Jenny.

Welcome Baby A and Baby B! I can't wait for January when I get to see you both!

Oh you Rascals!

I LOVE RASCAL FLATTS!!!!

Kelli and I went to see them and they were GREAT!!!

We HAD to get cowboy hats.

Yup, that's a picture of a man on a bottle...I didn't get it either.

Was there ever a question of how cute we are? Photographic proof!

We were happy to accomodate his request for us to sing along.

Cute AND talented! Could you ask for more?!?

Sisterly Love.

Kelli Hearts Rascal Flatts.

This is Kelli's "The concert is over" face.

Boogity Boogity Boogity, Let's go racing boys!!!

This last weekend, Pat and I went down to Indianapolis for our annual Brickyard 400 outing (I think Natalie would refer to it as BY07) and had a BLAST, as usual. Good times seem to follow us around :)

We almost got to fly down in our friend Stone's private plane, but the weather wouldn't cooperate. We have had nothing but heat and cloudless sunny skies for weeks, and Saturday dawned windy and cloudy...

This is Stone....isn't he cute?

Pat had to work on Saturday morning, so I bummed around the house, pretending to clean until he came home, and then we headed out. We made it all the way to Angola....a whole hour (ok, maybe an hour and a half) from our house before Pat decided that instead of driving, he needed to pass out in the back seat. So I ended up driving the other two hours...and I couldn't even sing to the radio because Pat was sleeping....it sucked.

So we got to Jill's parent's house and hung out with our second family for the rest of the night.

The really cool part of this race is that Jill's uncle hooks us up with a really great set-up. We park under an overpass in downtown Indy and then get on a schoolbus. Then we get a police escort to the racetrack, get there with about an hour before race time, without having to battle traffic, or get up at 4:00 in the morning to avoid battling traffic. And then after the race, we just get back on the bus and off we go! By the time everyone else is getting on the highway, we are back at Jill's parents' house enjoying a nice dinner before heading back to Michigan. Like I said....he's got the sweet hook-ups.

Jill was happy to be on the bus!

Jill says that Carrie is "cute as a button". Which, of course, sparked a conversation about whether or not it is flattering to be as cute as a button, and whether any of us had actually seen a cute button, and if so, what it looked like...

While we were waiting on the bus, we had a couples photo shoot:

Pat and I

(yes, that is a John Deere Hat. Yes, I'm a hick. I was going to a NASCAR race...was there any doubt?)

Jill and Kevin...and beer makes three....

Jill's brother Mark and his girlfriend Amy...we LOVE Amy....still not sold on Mark though...:)

Jill's brother Mike (Mark's twin) and his wife Carrie...once again...LOVE Carrie...Mike.....:)

Jill's parents, Big Mike and Cathy. Can't deny it, love 'em both.

Our Esteemed Escort

This is me with the winning car....BEFORE the race...I'm a premonitinist...just ask Natalie!

(OK, so Tony Stewart is my favorite driver and I get my picture taken with his car every year...but that's beside the point!)

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway holds half a million people. (this is only half, we couldn't see the other side of the track) It's amazing.

The whole day was a BLAST. It was hot, but not TOO hot, and the race got pretty long, and kind of boring, but the company was great. I can't wait for next year!

Just a note about today's title: If you've ever watched a race on TV, Darell Waltrip is a former driver and now an announcer. At the beginning of the race, when the cars cross the start/finish line for the first time, he always yells "Boogity Boogity Boogity, Let's go racing boys!"

Ha! Told you I would post!

Ok, so you know what they say about good intentions (ok, so I don't really remember the phrase, but I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with hell, and that's a zip code that I want no part of.), and when I started this blog, I had nothing but. This was going to be my life as a web page, allowing friends near and far to live vicariously through daily updates of my perfect existance. Yeah. So that didn't really happen.

BUT, if you don't mind the abbrevated version, I would be more than happy to catch you up:


The Bachelorette Party:
Yes, it did eventually end, and it was a blast.

"The Gang" (Minus the bride...she was taking the picture) plus a

random mad that we (literally) grabbed to be in the picture.

Kelli and I said the forbidden

word, "married" (about 30 seconds after making up the rule...).

We had to take a shot to redeem ourselves.

This guy was awesome!

This is Natalie's "I'm excited for the wedding!" face

One of the things on the scavanger hunt list was "kiss a bald man on his head".

This guy was a really good sport because we couldn't get

any of the cameras to work, so we stood (just like that) for about five minutes.

The wedding:


Even better than the Bachelorette Party (sorry Kel). I know that the first couple of pictures are a little dark, but don't worry, these were family snapped pics, not the ones taken by the photographer (hence the fact that I am not looking at the camera.).

Before the big moment

Running Away.....just kidding :)

We had the Post-marriage-giggles

(not quite sure what is behind my head though...)

FISH FACE!

Strike a Pose!

The sickingly happy couple.

Alright, back to the real world, I have to get some work done before the end of the day....I will TRY to keep posting regularly.... wish me luck!

Yeah...I know

I suck at this blogging thing. I WILL POST!!! I WILL!!! I PROMISE!!!

BACHELORETTE PARTY!

I have some of the very best friends in the entire WORLD! This weekend, my best friend and maid of honor, Kelli, threw me a bachelorette party.

The party had been in the works for a couple of weeks, and I absolutely could not wait. We decided to have it in Grand Rapids because there are more bars there, and they are all within walking distance of each other. So I told everyone from my area to meet me at my house at 3:00pm on Saturday. Once everyone FINALLY got there (*cough* Natalie! *cough*) we headed out.

Pulling up to Kelli's townhouse, my friend Amy said "ooohh! I bet I can guess which house is hers!" I had no clue what she was talking about. I like to think this is because I was so focused on my driving skills that I couldn't possibly look up from parking my car....right.

Once I looked up, I saw that there was a banner over the door of her townhouse that said "Bachelorette Party" with balloons attached, sidewalk chalk covering the walkway declaring that we were, in fact, entering the correct place, and that there was going to be a HUGE party, and Kelli, standing in the doorway, camera in hand, grinning like a fool.

Kelli and her roommates had spent HOURS putting the house together, and it looked AMAZING! There were banners all over the place, tablecloths, mardi gras beads, a specially decorated Beer Pong table just for me, and FOOD! LOTS AND LOTS OF FOOD!

After dragging all of our stuff inside (you would have thought that we were staying for a month, but really, it was just overnight) Kelli busted out the T-shirts that we had made, and brings out a garter (for outside the pants!), a sash, and a sparkly tiara for me to wear. I felt like a princess!

Then came the jello shots....dun-dun-dun. Strawberry on Strawberry and Fuzzy Navels! YUMMY! These were followed by a few rowdy games of Beer Pong (Natalie and Jamie are the BEST Beer Pong Cheerleaders EVER! They didn't play favorites, they just cheered for whomever was loosing!) There was cheering, dancing, singing, bawdy jokes and lots of giggling. It was SO much fun! And that was just the beginning!

We went out to the bar afterwards, but I will tell you about that tomorrow :)

Games

Anyone who has ever had a dog knows that they all have thier own personality, and their own favorite games. Sarge, is no exception. His favorite game, if you are biger than he is, is to "help" you put on your shoes. Every morning, I sit on the edge of my bed to put my shoes on, and he proceeds to chase both my hands, and my shoelaces. It usually takes me about three tries to tie my shoes because as soon as I get them tied, he unties them. If you are smaller than he is, he likes to wait until you sit down, and then sit on your chest and lick your feet. This is especially popular with all of the kids that seem to inhabit my house.

MY favorite games to play with Sarge always seem to involve torturing him. I love to eat standing up, over the sink (OK, so I don't really love it, but it's what I do.) and let him watch me intently for any dropped crumbs. I, of course, am leaning far enough over the sink that he can't possibly get anything that I drop, but he doesn't seem to understand that.

I also love (hate) to fold socks. Sarge sits in front of the laundry basket and watches me take each pair out, fold them and put them back in. His eyes never leave my hands, as though he is using all of his brain power to coerce me into giving him a pair of socks. He then follows me into the bedroom and we repeat the process while I put the socks away.

The other day he was "helping" me put clothes away and when I finished and went to put the laundry basket away, I noticed that he wasn't following me. I looked everywhere. In the bathroom (he likes to see if we left any water in the tub), on the couch (he always lays on the remote control), in the bedroom (he likes to lay on my pillows and gets offended when I want to use them), I even looked outside (I realize that he has no thumbs and therefore it would be especially difficult for him to unlock the sliding door, let alone open it, but I was desperate!). Finally I heard whimpering coming from the bedroom. I hadn't noticed that he had followed me into Pat's closet and had shut the door on him. He must have thought that we were playing some kind of game where I put him in there and then come back and act suprised because once I got him out, he went right upstairs the guest bedroom and sat in front of THAT closet and looked at me like "OK mom, I'm ready!" Now, every time Pat opens his closet, Sarge runs in and sits under the clothes rack and refuses to come out until Pat shuts the door and opens it again.

I've created a monster.

The remote control is under there.....

Effervescence

Another Previous Post:

There is a feeling in the pit of my stomach today. It's the perfect blend of the champaign bubbles of excitment, and the warm vanilla of contentment.

I got engaged last night.

I can hardly believe it. It feels as thought I am in the middle of my favorite dream, and I never want to wake up.

Everyone has been asking me if he did it in an amazingly romantic way, and I tell them no. The way he did it was perfect. He's not an extremely romantic person in the first place, and he doesn't put a lot of weight on words. Actions mean more to him than anything.

I keep looking at my finger. Just staring, lost in the light and sparkle of the diamonds that now reside there. The ring is beautiful, more than I ever would have expected, but that's not why I stare. I am caught up in thoughts of what this means for my future.....our future. I would have stared with as much rapture had he tied a piece of string to my finger.

I've had to marvel though, at how the delicate beauty of the ring is infused with such strength. I have a solid band of metal and stone that binds myself to another, nearly unbreakable, yet beautiful in it's strength. I think that is where the warm vanilla feeling comes from. That inpenitrable loop that indicates both desire and commitment.

I know that the giddy excitment of champaign bubbles comes from being a girl. I get to plan a wedding! I get to be the beautiful bride! Yea me! I get to play with my hair and pick out flowers! I get to become stressed out, and over-tired! I simply cannot restrain myself from indulging in this giddy pleasure.

I know that there will be times when we wonder what made us get together, and times that we want to run away, but I hope that this heady excitement follows me throughout our life together, that we can always come back to this bubbling joy.

This effervescence.

Six o'clock quiet time

Previous post from my other blog:

For some reason when Pat got up this morning, I couldn't go back to sleep. Usually this isn't a big deal for me. I snuggle down into the now-warm bed, surrounded by the scents of sleep and boy, and drift off while I listen to him getting ready for work.

I'm usually in a rush when I get up. I like to sleep in until the last possible second. I guess it's not really sleeping though. I lay there and listen for my alarm clock, concentrating on watching the minutes so that it won't startle me when it goes off. It usually doesn't work and I am startled anyway. But this morning was different. I didn't feel the need to snuggle back into bed. I was ready for the day.

I got out of bed and walked upstairs, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and thinking about making a cup of coffee in my brand new coffee maker.

I was greeted with:

Pat: "Go back to bed. You don't need to be up for another hour."

Me: "Nope, I think I'm done sleeping for the day."

Pat: "But you don't need to be up yet, you could go back to bed."

Me: "I don't want to go back to bed. I'm going to make myself some coffee and take my book out onto the deck."

Pat: "So does that mean that you aren't going to go back to bed?"

He's not at his brightest in the morning. I walked up to him and, stretching onto my toes, gave him a kiss and told him he was cute.

The rest of the morning was very productive. After helping Pat make his lunch, seeing him off to work, and putting my coffee on, I emptied the dishwasher, put away some other random kitchen stuff, made my lunch, took a shower, made the bed and got dressed. Then I spent about a half an hour out on the deck with a cup of coffee and a book.
I thought I would be tired all day, but it's the exact opposite. I have more energy today than I have had in a long time.

I think I'll have to have six o'clock quiet time more often.

Oblivious

The outdoor cafe where two lovers sit, unmindful of the hundreds of pedestrians that surround them. The young mother so engrossed in her child's new found vocabulary, that the ringing of the telephone goes unnoticed. The lone shopper, lost in thought, wandering the aisles with an empty basket.

For those blissful moments, you are alone in the soft cocoon of your conscious, your thoughts intertwining with your memories, your life played back in tandem with your plans for the future.

Slowly, carefully, the world intrudes. Like the sound of rain falling on fine china, you are shaken from your reverie. Life moves into fast forward as you pay your bill, rush to your appointment, answer the telephone. You become caught in the web of life, weaving from one place to the next, never knowing when you will next come in contact, with yourself.