Celebrations all around...

Wow! I haven't posted in a while! I wanted to reflect on this past month. On November 17th my Dad got remarried to a woman named Mary Beth. They have been together for a few years and it is quite a blessing. My parents got divorced right as I was graduating high school and my Dad dated for a while before he met her. She is super sweet and she has two kids, Phillip and LeeAnn. They are a few years younger than me and still in college. I can't tell you what a relief it is to get along with everyone and for it to not be awkward. Here are a few pics from the wedding!

For all those Holiday parties coming up...

For the chocolate lovers...

Kahlua Brownies

Family Size Box (9x13) of brownies (regular flavor)

1/3 cup Kahlua

3 tbsp. Kahlua

2 cups Powdered Sugar

1 soft stick of Butter or Margarine

60z. Chocolate Chips

1 tbsp. Vegetable Oil

1). Bake the box of brownies as directed

2). After brownies are baked, poke holes all over the pan of brownies with a toothpick.

3). Pour the 1/3 cup of Kahlua all over the pan of brownies.

4). Set aside to cool completely

5). Frosting: Mix together powdered sugar, butter or margarine, and the 3 tbsp. of Kahlua. When mixed together spread all over the pan of cooled brownies

6). Chocolate: Melt the chocolate chips and vegetable oil together in a pan over low heat. Once the chocolate chips are completely melted drizzle over the pan of brownies.

Note: I always under cook the brownies to make them really gooey!!

Please enjoy!!

Vegas!!!

I just found out last week that I get to go to Vegas with my husband and his company! I have never been there before but I am very excited!! What are some things I have to do while I'm there, for those of you who have already had this experience? It was pretty funny, I asked this question on Facebook and the first response I got back was I need to get one of those 3 foot tall tower Margarita's!!! That sounds like a gooood time:)

Maybe I'll get lucky with the slot machines....(yeah right!)

The Common Cold...

This past weekend was awful! I started getting a cold Friday, you know, runny nose, congested, achy, the works! I went to work Friday night and it just got worse. I was so tired by the end of the shift, which is not like me at all. When I got home Saturday morning, I said to Dan that I was so sick. We had plans this past weekend to go to Chicago with Dan's whole family. We were going out there to see Dan's brother and to watch the Tigers play the Whitesox. We have had this weekend planned for probably two months, I felt sooo bad! Not only because we had already bought the baseball tickets but also because it is not too often that his whole family gets together! I was lying in bed crying saying I don't think I can make it all weekend, but I really really want to go! Dan agreed that it would not be a good idea for me to come. So I stayed home with my dog and basically spent the whole weekend in bed. Then to top it all off, Sunday afternoon, I ended up getting a horrible migraine! I didn't eat all day and then I ended up getting sick in the evening. I had to call in sick for work which made me feel even worse because we have a lot of kids on the unit right now and I we need all the staff we can get! I was also really bummed because Dan left for L.A. today and I didn't get to see him much before he left. He won't be back until October 10. So if any wants to hang out I am free!

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

~Ginny Owens~


What an amazing song! I was watching the movie, "Love Comes Softly," and they sang it in the movie. It always warms my heart when I hear this song:) Oh and I highly recommend watching the movie "Love Comes Softly," it made me cry! Any movie that makes me cry you know is good:)

Car for Sale!!

1999 Chevrolet Tahoe

Black, tan interior, 118,000 miles, towing package, new tires, dual exhaust, power windows, locks, mirrors, seats, cruise, tilt, 4 door, 4x4, leather seats.

It has been taken care of very well since we have owned it. Oil change every 3,000 miles, washed and waxed a few times a month.

Please spread the word to anyone who is looking for a used SUV/Truck!

$7,400 or best offer

Surprise!!

So I had the night off last night and this morning I decide to tune into the Rachael Ray show. (I love this show!) Today her topic was all about surprises! The first segment of the show was a story about a surprise wedding! Now most of you have heard of the bride and groom planning a surprise wedding for their family and friends. The kind where they say everyone should come over for a family BBQ and then it ends up being the actual ceremony right there.

On Rachael Ray she had a guy on the show that surprised his own bride to be with a wedding! Luckily she had a twin sister that he could bounce ideas off of and to get the wedding dress. Her twin not only knew her very well but was her same size too! He planned the wedding for 9 months and basically told her they were going to take a family vacation in Maui! Then he said he wanted to have a family picture inside of this church. So she walks into the church and all of their family was there and her twin sister was standing there holding her dress! She did not know what was going on at first but then she got it! She was completely thrilled and loved everything that they had planned for her. I could not believe it when I was watching this story! (I was tearing up a little bit, who wouldn't!) He is seriously the most romantic guy ever! It was so adorable!

Another great chick flick!

My sister and I decided to go see a movie tonight and we both really wanted to see No Reservations, it looked pretty good. I was somewhat hesitant at first because chick flicks can be cheesy when you least expect it! You watch the preview, you think, "Oh that looks good!", then you go see it and it just drags on and on for 2 hours and you think I spent money on this! This one was a winner in our book! We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it! We actually decided tonight that we should do movie night just the two of us every month because we both said we hadn't been to the theatre in sooo long! Oh side note...when did Cinemark at Woodland Mall decide to turn into a discount theatre? All the shows there are a few months old and it only costs $3.50 a person. I was kind of annoyed to find that out tonight because that is the only theatre where we could meet in the middle! But on the other hand, now we can see cheaper movies! Maybe now we can make it twice a month for movie night instead of just one!

Happy Birthday Cooper!!

Cooper our little rascal, turned 1 (or 7 in dog years) yesterday! I can't believe we have had him for almost a year. When we got him he was about 7 weeks old. He was such a cute puppy! Here are a few pics from this past year!

This is a picture of him the first night we got him, he is sitting on my stomach! I can't believe how little he looks in this picture!




Bathtime! He definitely cannot fit in the sink anymore!


Christmas time! I think Cooper thinks he is getting a lot of presents:)

We have given Cooper several haircuts over the past year, here is a before and after! I laugh so much when I see how long we let his hair grow!

This past winter, Dan and I would have fire almost everynight. Cooper's favorite thing to do would be to sit as close to the fire as possible. Can you see the light from the fire on the right side of his face!

Another favorite thing that Cooper LOVES is going for walks! When it is warm enough out we don't miss a day for going for a walk! There are some days we will even go for 2. Just recently we got Cooper a harness, it works a lot better for him because it doesn't strain his neck so much, instead it pulls on his whole body. He seems to want to pull even harder now!

(I took these last two pictures yesterday morning) Happy Birthday Coop! You are loved by so many!

Blizzard Warning!!

So Dan and I are heading up north to Traverse City Thursday morning to celebrate my birthday (which is today yay!) and I keep watching the weather and now they are telling us there is a blizzard warning through Thursday! I read there is a possibility of 10 inches to be on the ground in the Traverse City area by Thursday! I cannot believe it! I have been watching the weather for the past week and I just can't believe that we go from gorgeous 70 degree weather to cold, windy, bundle up weather within a week!

Here is a preview of Dan and I in Traverse City(haha!)

Please pray for us, I hope we have safe travels! I was hoping to do some hiking while we were up there but I guess that's out, so I guess that means more shopping (sorry Dan!)

Some of my favorite memories from 2006

My sister and I at my bachelorette party:)

(This is one of my favorite pics from that night)

All my beautiful girls!!!



Yay! We did it!!!





Oh Benny! You make me laugh!!


"Come on ride the train..."

Our new addition! Cooper!

"What's that face for Cooper?!"
(When he was a puppy, he would stick his tongue out

like that and make faces at us! I think he was just being sassy!)

Camping over Labor Day weekend

Dan and I had quite an amazing year! There were so many wonderful memories! I am looking forward to our future ahead and to making more of our own memories and traditions in 2007.

A New Year

I can't believe it is February already! Dan and I have been married now for almost 7 months. Time has flown by, but we love being together. It is such a blessing to be able to see one another everyday instead of just weekends. I am so happy I am done with school and that I am living in Grand Rapids again. It is so wonderful to be able to see my friends and family more often now. Dan and I have been keeping busy with work, but we still have time for fun too! This past weekend we had tickets to go see the Pistons in Detroit, it was a blast! We sat in the upper deck, but you can still see pretty good from up there. We have been to a few of their games in the past, and we always seem to have a great time. We always stay with Dan's friend from Calvin, Jonny, when we go to Detroit. Jonny recently bought a house this past summer and we were very eager to see it. Also, he just got that gaming system called the Wii so I got to see Dan and Jonny play that all afternoon on Saturday. Let me tell you it is a riot to watch people play that! I haven't played myself yet, but it looks really fun! We had to cut our afternoon short though because we got word that there was a terrible storm in Grand Rapids and along the lake shore so we had to start heading back in case it took us all night to get back. We got several phone calls advising us to not drive but we thought we could make it. We really appreciated everyone caring about us so much! (Thanks Tiece!) We got to Lansing and that's when the roads and the visibility were getting worse. It took us a little while longer than normal to get back into town but we made it safe and sound. We are very thankful we didn't end up in the ditch!
This next weekend should be pretty fun too! Dan and I both made plans with our friends to get out of town for the weekend. Dan and Rob are going ice fishing up north near the bridge and I planned a girls weekend to Schaumburg, IL to go shopping! I hope it isn't too cold for the boys! More to come later....