Something a bit different for me - Friday Fill-In's

1. Where are my KEYS - I HAVE LOST THEM TWICE TODAY ALREADY?
2. If wishes were horses THEN I'D BE VERY CONFUSED - JUST LIKE I AM NOW.
3. I'd like to see BOWERSOX WIN AMERICAN IDOL THIS YEAR. I LOVE HER PERSONALITY & VOICE. SHE TOTALLY DESERVES IT.
4. When I was a teen, I thought I COULD DO NO WRONG BUT WHAT I KNOW NOW IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT :~)
5. One of my mother's favorite sayings was YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND UNTIL YOU ARE A PARENT YOURSELF - HMMM...I'M THINKING SHE WAS RIGHT. DO YOU SEE A PATTERN HERE?
6. I'd have a hard time doing without my HUSBAND - YOU DON'T REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL IT'S NOT RIGHT THERE WHEN YOU NEED IT/HIM. HE'S DEFINATELY SOMEONE I COULD NOT DO WITH OUT.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to HELPING MY YING OUT AT HER HOUSE, tomorrow my plans include STAYING HOME WITH MY HUBBY & KIDS (HOPEFULLY GETTING SOME MUCH NEEDED CLEANING DONE AS A FAMILY) and Sunday, I want to SNUGGLE WITH MY KIDDO'S! I'M STILL IN SHOCK THAT I DON'T HAVE ANY PLANS - NO PLANS AT ALL FOR US. I ALMOST DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF.

It's been a pretty crazy week around here. I thought I would do some of Jenn's friday fill in's. In a way it was kinda relaxing. For a moment it took my mind of the craziness in my life right now.

Have a great weekend ALL!

Bungee Jumping in Vegas!

So we are heading to Vegas in July for a short trip. I wanted to do something FUN & EXCITING to remember the trip. I thought of Bungee Jumping. What do you think? I was searching online and found out that the Stratosphere just mastered a new Bungee Jump system off the top of their hotel. I'm thinking of making reservations to do this. BUT, I want it to be a surprise for Jason. (Jason not sure if you read this or not but if you DO please pretend like you did not see this). Check out this video and let me know what you think! http://www.facebook.com/SkyJumpLasVegas#!/SkyJumpLasVegas?v=app_2392950137 I am in the mood to be ~CRAZY~ ~ WILD~ & ~CAREFREE~ I think this might be what I need.

I keep dreaming I am back in this gorgeous place!

I know that not everyone wants to read about the winter blues. But boy do I ever have them this year. I can't seem to get the picture of beautiful Maui out of my head. Is it horrible that it's all I think about. The sun, the beach, the sand, the palm trees. I can't get it out of my head. It's driving me crazy. What do I do?? I am so not myself lately. This snow and cold is really bringing me down. I think I will try tanning. But, if it's not a Maui or somewhere peaceful, beautiful and warm I don't know what I'm going to do.

How do you enjoy winter? It is definately very difficult for me to do.

Blah

HAWAII - Long Time Coming : )

I know alot of you have been waiting to hear all about my Hawaiian Vacation. Well, I am going to have to try my hardest to blog about this vacation every night this week - one thing at a time. So much to share and tell that just one post will not do it. So, I am going to start this one with my favorite part of my vacation. I decided about a two weeks before we left Michigan that I wanted to do something "special" for Jason. I wanted to make his feel loved and appreciated. With that said I found the perfect thing. We were going to spend the night in Maui (which was the 1st island we stopped at - we rented a room at the Westin Resort). As I was thumbing through the website I came across this private breakfast deal. Well, it was far from a deal - it was very expensive. But, it will definately be a memory that will last a lifetime. This is one of those breakfasts that you see on the bachelor and bachelorette. We were wined and dined to it's fullest. I loved every minute of it and Jason well he was in awe that I had kept this private breakfast a secret from everyone!!
We woke up and in the morning and got ourselves ready. I had butterflies in my stomach I was so excited. We met our waiter down in the lobby of the hotel. He took us to this beautiful private table away from all the other traffic. It was a place where him and I could just be. This is the table that we walked up on. There was fresh squeezed orange juice and pineapple juice along with the amazing kona coffee waiting at the table. The site was beautiful. And he was very surprised.

Our waiter brought out this amazing fruit plate. It was full of mango, pineapple, strawberries, etc. It was the best fruit ever - not to mention the presentation of it was amazing. There was also a plate full of tons of pastries. It was delicious. We also had a fabulous bottle of sparkling wine. It truely was wonderful. The view was spectacular. The only thing missing was the cameras to feel like we were stars. : )

I truely felt like we were on vacation here. This does not ever happen in every day life. : )

This was the best part. Champange and Strawberries. OMG was this ever so good. We dipped them in the sugar and then the cream. It was so so good. I loved all the flowers that were all over the table and all the food plates that were brought out.

After all the yummy goodness - they brought out the main course. We had like 3 courses before the breakfast plates were brought out. Rediculous I know....

Jason had roasted potatoes, sword fish, & a spinich breakfast burrito. Delish is all I can say.

I had the BEST crab cake I have EVER had in my life. It truely was devine. That white thing on top of my crab cake was a poached egg. I love how they add all these fun touches to this food. Again I love all the flowers everywhere. We were treated like royality. And it was only the beginning of our vacation. It was a perfect start to a perfect day (at least that day was a perfect one). You will soon learn that lots happend on our vacation that most people probably do not encounter when on a once in a life time vacation.

These next 2 pictures are a few shots I took from our table. Maui was simply beautiful. And to be able to spend it with my hubby that morning was a moment I will cherish and remember forever.

I would give ANYTHING to go back to this very moment and this very day. It was PERFECT. Sunshine, palm trees, warmth, love, & beauty all in the same place at the same time. I miss it & think about it often.

More of this wonderful vacation to come.....stay tuned.

Definately NOT my favorite HOLIDAY

So this year Halloween was a bit different for me. Actually if I was being honest it was HORRIBLE. I did not like anything about it. Now, I thought for sure that I it would have been PERFECT because it actually fell on a saturday. I figured things would run smoothly and we wouldn't have to rush etc. Boy was I ever wrong. Halloween is always a busy for us. We try to please everyone. That would be all the grandparents. I don't mind - it just tends to be a bit much for the kiddo's. Well, for me and Jay too! BUT, every year we have the same routine. We get the kids ready. We take pictures and head to my dad's parents. Then to my mom's parents. My mom and dad meet us over there so that we don't have to run to their house too. That is a bonus. After that we head over to Jason's mom's house. Then to Jason's dad's mom's. We try to spend 25 - 30 minutes at each place. So only giving that much time it definately makes for a lot of rush - rush - rush. This year was a bit different. We didn't make it to our 1st stop. The kids REFUSED to get ready this year. They were all cranky and would not cooperate. Brendan didn't want anything to do with dressing up. Colby was not feeling well. And Chaley well she was just being Chaley. And for those of you that know me and my family well - you know exactly what I am talking about. Bye the time I got them dressed (which really was not much this year - no make up or anything - simply just putting a costume on) I was the crankiest of all crankiest. I took them outside to try to take some pictures. NOPE they were NOT going to cooperate. Brendan was complaining about not being able to walk with his friend across Apple Ave (hello he's only 11 - not OK) but he didn't want to see that. He wanted to do it anyways. Chaley was ready for bed and poor Colby was running a mild fever. Can you see where this is going?? We went to my Grandma's house. My mom was there - we litteraly walked in said hello and left. I felt bad but I could handle the way my kids were acting. We got into the car and headed to Jason's mom's. When we got there to our surprise she was not there. She ended up going to the Oakridge football game that was scheduled last minute that day. So her and her hubby stopped in at Jay's grandma's house for a quick second on their way home. That was nice of them for sure. Anyhow, we ended up at Jay's grandma's house for the night. It was freezing, the kids noses were running, and they were cold. It was NOT my idea of a good time. Hardly anyone was handing out candy. And actually there were not many people out trick or treating. I personally think Halloween is WAAAYYYYY over rated. Can you understand why I think that way after reading this horrible post??!!

I hope you all' had way more fun at halloween this year then I did. I leave you with a few pictures. Nothing fancy for sure.

Bat Man & Bat Girl! Chaley wanted to be just like her brother. The costume was really cute until I Had to dress it up for her to be warm.

He definaltely made the BEST batman around! I love him for wanting to make this picture perfect for me. Even if he was not feeling well and ended up having the flu after this was all said and done. Poor little man.

We were at the end of the street getting ready to head in for the night and all these little girl attacked my Brendan! They were lovin on him. So me the crazy photographer had to steal a shot of them - and you can bet your sweet butt I will have this out at graduation. All the girlies love my boy!! That makes my heart smile for sure.

The things 2nd graders say!

This dear sweet boy of mine - Mr. Colby Wall says to me last night....

COLBY - Mom I think all the teachers think I'm the cutest boy. ME -Oh really, why do you think that. COLBY - Because they always smile at me - they did that when I was in 1st grade too. MOM - (I'm laughing at this point thinking that was absolutely adorable and that I was for sure going to put that on a scrapbook page) Colby you are the cutest boy EVER - I love you buddy. You really do make my world a better place.

Kinda.....Sorta

I'm kinda sorta starting to feel the need to blog.

Stay tuned -----------

Where O Where Did the SUNSHINE GO??

SERIOUSLY - I thought it was suppose to be SUMMER here! Last week we spent 4 days at the beach and this week NONE. I need my SUNSHINE and LAUGHTER of the kids enjoying their summer by the water. WHERE O WHERE did it GO?? ONLY in MICHIGAN would crazy weather like this happen. I believe the high today is going to be 61. It's July 1st for crying out loud. But, think about it what does this mean? Does it have something to do with the earth coming to an end.....? I guess we will never know - at least now in our time.

Father's Day

This is my dad! This a guy who I love with my whole heart. He is ALWAYS there for me no matter what. Each and everyday I find a whole new respect for him. I love my dad and I am very greatful that he's my daddy!! For father's day (and any other holiday) I always ask him what could I get him. I never know what to buy him because he has everything he needs. His answer always is a hug & a kiss is all I EVER want. I laugh and say I know dad and you always get that but there has to be something I can get you - something you have wanted for awhile or something you need. He looks at me with a grin on his face and says the same thing again - a hug & a kiss is all I want. He is awesome. So, this year I asked my sister what can we do for dad on father's day. Her response we I don't know. I said how about we take him for breakfast or something. Or a walk in the woods..she was like WHAT? I said it's something he would enjoy. We laughed a little and then I said what about breakfast, some mini golf, and go carts. She said YES. So it was on. I told my dad to be ready at 9am on father's day. I said make sure your hungry and ready for some competition.


I picked him and my sister up and we went to Steak N Egger. The wait was not too long considering it was a special day for all the daddies out there. We waited less than 10 minutes and then we were seated. We sit down and my dad pulls down his sun glasses. I said Dad what are you doing? It's not sunny in here - he laughed and said they are reading sun glasses. I then laughed and thought oh wow - didn't know they made those kind of glasses. Anyhow, we had a great breakfast, good conversation, and lots of laughs and smiles. Afterwards we headed to Craigs Cruisers.

Mini golf it was! Dad went first, then Miranda, and Me. It was hot (but of course I loved it). Dad won, I took 2nd, and my dear sweet sister came in last.

After a great game of Mini Golf & some Go Cart Riding I asked the lady beind the counter to take a picture of us! She did and managed to get half the celing in the picture as well. I am thankful for her though. With out her expertise I would not have a picture of the 3 of us at craigs cruisers on father's day 2009. The only thing missing from the mix was my brother. He lives in Georgia and I thought about him alot that morning. I REALLY wish he could have been with us that morning. It would have made for an extra special PERFECT day with OUR dad. I miss him alot.

I am very lucky to have such a special person in my life. I hope he enjoyed spending some quality time together. I know I did and I will cherish the memories and pictures forever.

Happy Father's Day Daddy-o!!!! I love you.

Beach Day BABY!!!!

Well we FINALLY made it to the beach! I can not believe it actually happend. I have been waiting for this day for months. It was perfect (with the exception my hubby and oldest son was not with us). I was originaly going to stay home and get stuff done around here. But, after I woke up this morning I thought there is no way I am going to sit home in this hot sticky house and WORK. So, I packed the kids up and we were out faster than nothing. We went to Lake Michigan. It was just beautiful. There were NO waves or wind. It was so quiet. You could hear everything around you. It was definately strange to see the big lake so calm. But, yet it was surprisingly beautiful. Colby & Chaley had a blast. They played in the water & sand. We took a walk along the shore line and bathed in the sun. After about an hour and a half we packed up and went over to Muskegon lake to meet Autumn & her gang. It was so nice and relaxing. Exactly what the doctor ordered. I look forward to many more summer days like today with my family and friends.

He's so sweet....I just love this little boy to pieces. He's perfect.

So is this little girl. She was so excited to get into that water. I love the tounge shot!

And this has got to be the CUTEST PICTURE EVER! This is Colby & Kemper. I can't wait to scrapbook this page. They are going to hate me when they get older. Hahaha.

Here is to many many more lazy beach days!!

Something about this picture.......

Something about this picture makes me SMILE!! It brings PEACE to my soul & HAPPINESS to my heart. It makes me appreciate what a beautiful place I am able to call my home. I HATE the winters here but I LOVE the summers! You couldn't find a better place to be in the summer then some where along the lake shore of Michigan!!!!

IT"S ALMOST TIME

I have totally fallen off the blog loop completely. For those of you that know me well, know that while school is in session my life is completly total choas. I however, would not have it any other way. So with that said I want you to all know I am on my way back into this lovely little world. Tomorrow is the last day of school for my kiddo's. Which also means I am finished with work for the summer. YAY. Beach dates, play dates, and lots of R & R. I can't wait to hang out with all my friends and their children. I can't wait to get my house in order so that when people come over I am not so imbarresed. I am ready to pull out my camera and take lots of photos! I am just ready for a BREAK from the craziness. So stay tuned to the crazy beautiful life of ME. With that said I leave you with a fun photo of me and my wonderful hubby (who by the way is amazing) and of course a fun family one!!! They are a little dark but I still like them.

Perma Ink

So the story begins.......
A few weeks back Leslie, Jay & I met up to get a tattoo. To make a very long story short we were not able to get them done that day. We were bummed but so glad that we waited. We ended up getting a hold of Lonnie. He is a guy that has done work on Jason before and had went to school with him as well. We made and appointment and went with it. So this past Saturday we met up again and got inked. What an experience!! I was torn as to what I wanted to get. I knew I wanted my kids names and that was it. I had also decided that I had to have a butterfly somewhere. I am a butterfly girl. A butterfly to me signifies, beauty, good luck, & peace. So why not have something meaningful with my kids names. I literally decided what I wanted when I said down in the driver seat of my car that morning. It was the oddest thing but at that moment it all came to me. So off we went. I told Lonnie what I wanted he drew it up and bam - it was time to put that on the top of my foot. It hurt like who done it! I screamed, tensed up, and managed to say a few other choice words. However, I really like it! I hope you do too. Below I added some photo's of our experience.

"Me holding Leslie's hand (we love each other) when she has hers done. I do believe hers only took about 3 minutes."
The final product - very meaningful I might add. It says "live in the moment" in Hebrew.

Thanks to Jay and Les for my support. I could not have done this alone. I pry would have back out after the first butterfly. But because of them I was able to continue. Leslie held my leg down for me and Jason held my hand. They switched spots too - my tattoo took about an hour and 45 minutes.

At one point I thought for sure I was going to leave bruise marks on Leslie from gripping her so hard. Thanks for being my support Lester!!!

The finished product!!!! Do you like?? It's a little red. Day 2 & 3 hurt the worst.

This is one from yesterday. It's still a little red by the top of the toe area but it feels so much better and the swelling has went down tremendously. The tops of my toes and the front part of the ankle area has managed to bruise. Weird as that may seem.

Here is Jason getting worked on. He is a HUGE trooper. He has Lonnie add Colby & Chaley's names to him. He also added some inside tribal lines to go around the barbed wire he already had. You can see where he did the "new" work because it's a much bolder black. Lonnie is planning to touch up the barbed wire and skull head thing later. But, all in all I think it looks good.

This is what it looked like after he was finished. OUCH all the red is where he was bleeding. The picture underneath this one is what it was suppose to look like. It's still healing and every day looks better and better.

This one it looks much better.

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!! I will cherish this for the rest of my life - literally.

Valentines Day

My valentines day was pretty special this year. Jason lined up a babysitter and took me out for dinner on Thursday. He wanted to beat the rush of people out and about on Friday & Saturday. That was really nice not to have to deal with all of that. We had a wonderful dinner and a few drinks. Afterwards he took me to Kohls so that he could buy me an outfit. Well, I got more than just an outfit. I found 2 dresses on clearance for our cruise. One was 4 dollars and one will be worn on one of our two formal nights on the cruse. It's so pretty and even better yet I got it for 11.20 cents. You SERIOUSLY can not beat that. He got some shoes, a new swimsuit, and an outfit also. It was nice hanging out and shopping together. We had a great time.

Well, on Saturday I left to head out to Kohls again to hit the clearance racks with my mom and aunt. To my surprise when I came home he had another gift waiting for me on the table. It was seriously the most beautiful arrangement of flowers. It made me smile from ear to ear. He said that he walked into Ray & Sharron's and all they had made up were Red Rose boquets. He told the lady he didn't want a whole boquet of red roses because his wife was not all one color. He told them that I was VIBRANT (I know so sweet) and that he wanted to have lots of color. He wanted to know if they would add some red roses into a boquet that he made up himself. They told him they couldn't. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT! They said that what they had made up is what they were selling and that they could not seprate any of them. If I would have been Jason I would have walked out of the store then....but he didn't. He continued to talk to them. He ended up picking out 12 roses all VIBRANT colors and added some Lilly's and puprle babies breath (I think). Anyhow, the arrangement was stunning and smelled so beautiful. He made it very SPECIAL for me because he picked it out. It was not pre-arranged. He put it all together with his OWN thought in mind.

I THANK YOU SO MUCH JASON FOR MAKING MY DAY SO SPECIAL. It really meant alot to me. I truely LOVE you with all my heart.

Miss Chaley recieve a single pink rose from her daddy too. Of course it was not real (she can keep it forever this way) but she loved it. He made her feel loved and special too. She adores the flowers & her daddy just as much as I do. I took a few pictures of her the other night smelling them. She is so sweet - I love watching her eyes light up. ENJOY the pictures.

New Things Happening Around Here

Hello to all my blogging buddies & readers.

I am excited to tell you all about my new job!! Yup you did read that right...my new job. I am still driving the big yellow limo and working at the middle school. But, with everything I want to do this summer with the kids and my husband I had to take on yet another role in my life. (most of you are thinking like she has time for that) - I often tell myself that same thing. But,I also need lots more cash for our hawaii trip in September. So, I have chosen to go down the path of direct sales. I have set my goals high and I plan to achieve them. I am going to become a Lia Sophia Advisior. Which means, I will be selling jewelry. It is really great stuff. Very trendy and lots to choose from. I think you will all love it. I would love nothing more if you guys would allow me to come into your home and have a show for you. I will even throw in some little EXTRA perks for you if you chose to help me out. Just an FYI when I held my jewelry show I ended up with 445 dollars worth of free jewerly. So if you are interesed in checking out what I have to offer please let me know. Until then.......just keep smiling. Spring is around the corner and we all know what that means....SUMMER is just after that.

It's been a long while.....

So this picture that is above is suppose to be at the bottom of this post. I can't figure this thing out. But this goes at the end - so when you read the last few sentences you will understand. :)

I have been EXTREMLY busy with my sweet little puppies. I would have never imagined that caring for 7 four legged babies would have taken up so much of my time. Bye the end of it all I was mentally exhaused & an emotional mess. I love each and every one of them to pieces. They are all gone now. I let them all go to thier new homes over the past 5 days. I think I found good homes for all of them. I question one family I let one go too - but I have come to terms with the fact that I can't protect them forever. Now given I had the space I would have kept them all and never let any of them go. It still amazes me how small they were just seven weeks ago. They couldn't see or hear. They were fully taken care of their sweet mamma. With in two weeks of them being born their eyes started to open and they were trying to move. Over the next 2 weeks they became more vocal and a lot more moble. They started playing with each other too. It was so cute. As the days the days went bye we all (me, Jay, Brendan, Colby, & Chaley) became more and more attached to them. It was fun to watch them develop into their own little personality. At week 4 things started to become quite a challenge. Mamma started to not want to be with the pups as much. She was not wanting to feed as often anymore. So it was time for this mamma to intervine. I had to start blending up puppy chow into a powder and adding warm water to it at least 5 times a day. They would plop their little feet in there and slide around, fall in it, etc. They made a huge mess. It was not fun cleaning up, not to mention cleaning the puppies up. We had to start cleaning up their potty mess as well. Each day became harder and harder to keep up with. It was mentally and physically exhausting to keep up with along with every day life. I think I was starting to go just a little crazy. BUT in the end I have decided that I would do it again. I posted some pictures of them from a few days ago. They loved it outside. They loved to play together and they loved to let me take pictures of them. I will miss them all dearly. Here are a few pictures of them before they all went to their new homes.


Below we have the momma and daddy playing outside with their pups.

We have Brendan & Bella

This is Sage - too too cute.

This is one of my favorite pictures yet. She is stunning....this is chica.

Another favorite picture - this is Nova isnt' he gorgeous.

And here is Meika with Meme. This was the last pup to go home. I sensed she was sad that she only had one left. It made my heart break in two. But, I know it will all be okay.
I have enjoyed this journey. I have had so many emotions through it all....but I am thinking I would definately do it ONE more time.