Yes, I do Camp with my Computer

My sister got married on 9-5-11 and I was her Maid of Honor!  Now her husband is off to Afghanistan with the Army.  Crazy, huh!?! 

And I, along with my husband and baby, are living in our camper at an off-road park until we close on our new house.  Here's a picture I took at the park.

And, yes, my desktop computer is set up on the dining room table in the camper. 

I've been having fun being, uh...creative.  For instance, my clothesline is a rachet strap. 

Last time I posted, I completely forgot to mention that my sister had a baby, too!  Lydia Hope Taylor.  And she was 2 months early!  Here's a more current picture:

And here's a current picture of Colten.  It's his 5-month birthday today.  At his last Dr. appointment, he was 20 pounds and 27 inches long.  That means he's off the charts for a boy his age.  Waaaay BIG!

He dropped his toy and it landed on his foot.  Haha!  This picture was at our old campsite.

We stuck Colten's feet in the sand at the Manistee Beach.  He liked it!

One other fun thing we did lately was visit the 6th Street Garden House in Traverse City.  It was very pretty!!

We're scheduled to close on our house sometime this month.  Hopefully soon!

It's almost been a year since I've been on Xanga!

A year ago, I got really busy. 

My baby sister got married.  I got pregnant.  I sold my car and bought a "Mommy-mobile." 

Bear started getting really vicious when strangers came around.  I got 3 bunnies.  Or maybe I had those before I left Xanga.  I can't remember.

We built a wall in our basement and turned the old office into a baby room. 

My husband got a job "up north."  We found someone to buy our house.  I resigned from my job with the legislature. 

And that is where we are today. 

I'm really sorry that I just "disappeared."  I couldn't do work and life and facebook and Xanga all at the same time.  And, since all my family is on Facebook (and not Xanga), this was the one thing I dropped.  But I will try to stop by more often now that I'm a little less busy.

Before the baby wakes up, here are some pictures of the last year (or, of the baby, anyway):

...maybe I'll upload more later. 

It Was Summertime in Northern Michigan (and Southern MI, too!)

It is very hard to update Xanga in the summer.  Making and drinking root beer floats takes up most of my free time.    Okay, not really.  But I do enjoy them.  Cream sodas, too!

We've been having mini pool parties.  I say mini because we usually just invite a couple or a family over at once; not a whole big group of people.  That way we actually get to spend time with each of them and can play cards without having to pick and choose who can play and who can't.

It's nice having a pool in the summer.  Bear fell in twice when we first got him, so now he's scared of water.  But he really is a good swimmer.  We take him out in the pool a couple times a week to get him used to the water.  His favorite part is getting dried off with a towel in the sunshine after his "swimming lesson" is over.

"Mom...why do you make me swim?"

We've been using our new grill a bunch.  Mainly because we threw a 4th of July part and had a lot of hot dogs left over to eat up. 

Matthew pulled the church float in the Portland parade again this year.  Bear and I rode in the truck for awhile...then decided to get out and walk.  Everyone along the parade route wanted to pet him.

The parade and our pool party were on the 3rd.  Matthew and I took the boat up to Traverse City for the 4th and spent the night up there.  My family came out on the boat for the air show...which was a lot of fun.  Even though the waves were way too big out there for our little boat.

A week later, we sold the boat.  Goodbye boat!

We decided that we don't need the boat and a pool.

Plus, we'd rather have a pontoon (once we move up to Traverse City) and maybe a jet ski again.

By the way, here is Bear.  He's goofy.  Or, more accurately, I take goofy pictures of him.

Matthew has been farming all year and I finally got to go out an ride along last night.

Of course, I took some pictures, too.

(I love how the sun looks like a star in this picture!)

Oh yes...and my garden has been keeping me very busy, too.  Probably due to lack of planning earlier in the year.

There are so many flowers I like, I couldn't decide which to get..and then didn't plan a garden design;

I just threw random things in the ground.  But its all fun!

So, we HAD these weeds…

We had these weeds, I suppose you could call them, growing along our flower garden.  I thought they were very pretty weeds and insisted on calling them "flowers."  Even so, my husband went out and bought a weed whip…and knocked them all down! 

Having a puppy is a lot of work.  Having a puppy and a pool is even more work.  He fell in twice in one week!  Now he's quite afraid of the pool and won't get near it.  Although, he does fine out on the boat…go figure!

"Mom, I fell in the pool again!  Quit taking pictures and dry me off!" 

He can be a goofy dog.  Goofy looking, that is.

Ps - look how much he has grow in ONLY TWO WEEKS!

We had our first pool party last weekend.  We had two sets of couples come over - each with a baby girl (well, under 2 years old, anyway).  Todd and his wife brought over KFC to share with Matthew and I…so we moved the dining room table out onto the deck so we could eat outside for the evening.  I suppose that's a good indicator that it's time to get some outdoor furniture - or at least a picnic table. 

(I didn't take any pictures of the pool party.  (GASP, I know)  I don't think it's quite appropriate to take pictures of people in their swimsuits.)

My sister had her first bridal shower.  Yes, first.  She is having two.  Her first one was in Parma and was given by her in-laws to-be.  My wonderful sister is putting on the second one up in Traverse City. 

For the Parma shower, I planned to pick her present up on the way to the shower, but my Mom called at the last second and said that I could ride with them.  So I didn't have a chance to get her gift.  Matthew had to go to work, so he couldn't pick one up for me…but I now have it all wrapped and ready for her.

I am currently planning a 4^th of July Pool Party at our house.  I got some really cute craft stuff from Hobby Lobby yesterday and made some supercute invitations that I plan to send out tonight.  I hope people actually show up!!

Do you think 7pm is too late to have a 4^th of July pool party?  We have outdoor lights and a pool light, so it won't be a problem if it gets dark out.  Plus, fireworks aren't until 10pm, so people will be up anyway, right!?!  We're having it at 7pm because that is when the 4^th of July parade gets over.

It'll be fun!

My Dog Fell in the Pool (and my Phone in the Toilet) - Pictures Added

Last week Matthew got to play on a men's softball team because they needed an extra player.  It's fun to watch him play.  The guys team is so much more entertaining than the co-ed teams, in my opinion.  (I can say that since I’m on the co-ed team.)

This weekend Matthew and I drove up to TC to do some boating. 

We brought our pup.  His name is Bear.  I know that we've changed his name like 10 times, but this is the one we're sticking with.  (My brother, Tim, actually chose the name.)

We called my Mom to let her know that we would be coming up, but she didn't answer her phone.  We later discovered that it had fallen in the toilet.  J  My dad stayed home from church to rescue it.  He had to remove the entire toilet to get it out.

We stopped at my parent's house for dinner and introduced my old dog, Noel, to Bear.  They got along just fine!  (Everybody did!!)

Then Matthew and I took Steph, Nate, and Tim out boating.  It was too cold to go swimming or tubing, so we just drove around.

That night, Steph and I stayed up late and came up with funny nicknames for everyone in our family.  They were:

Dad was "Bean Picker"

     because he has an amazing veggie garden.

Mom was "QuestionAIRRE"

     because she asks a lot of questions.

Matthew was "Captain Pufh Pfhu"

     because he's captain of my boat and farts.

I was "Aquacannon"

     because I love the beach and my Cannon camera.

Nate was "Sleep Intellect"

     because he's smart and was sleeping while we were talking.

Steph was "Grazerbeth"

     because she likes to eat all the time and her middle name is Elizabeth.

Dan was "Ball DoKnow"

     because he plays baseball and never knows what to do

Justine was "Trouble Bubble"

     because we're sure she used the broken toilet last night, though she disagrees

Noel was "Foot Licker"

     because she loves to lick feet.

Bear was "Snippyour"

     because he likes to snap (bit) and we wanted it to sound like it was French.

That was Saturday.  Sunday morning we went to church then out for Father's Day dinner at Applebees.  It took an hour to get our food, so the manager gave us each a free dessert.  

Steph and I gave Dad the cards we got him..  And guess what…we got him the same card!!

Then we went boating.  Matthew and I, Steph and Nate, Tim, and Brian.  Nate, Tim, and Brian went tubing.  Steph and I decided that the water was still too cold, so we just stick our feet in.

We had to cut our boating short because a guy called and asked if he could stop by our house (in Portland) to look at the boat around 8:30.  Since we had a 3 hour drive and it was already 5:00, we had to hit the road.  As it ended up, he called us when we were halfway home and re-scheduled to look at the boat tonight.  Maybe he'll buy it.  J

We've had 4 calls on the boat in the last week, which is excellent.  We tried to sell it last year and nobody even called! 

It's nice to have a boat, but kind of a waste of money when you live in Michigan and can only use it on weekends in the summer.  Plus, we would prefer a pontoon or jet skis…so we can always get one of those in the future.

On the way home, Matthew was filling up the truck with gas.  He walked Bear over to the other side of the truck to stretch and when he looked back at the truck, gas was spilling out all over the ground.  The pump didn't stop like it was suppose to!! 

When we got home that night, Bear was so thirst, he ran into the back yard and tried to get a drink of water out of the pool…the deep end. 

When we left, the pool was full of water.  But when we returned home, the water level was about a foot lower.  We're not sure if someone was being troublesome and turned our backwash on and let the water out or if, somehow, our pool miraculously sprung a leak and leaked a foot while we were gone.  Who knows. 

Anyway, Bear didn't realize that the water level was lower and tried reaching down to get a drink…and fell in!  Good thing I was right there…I grabbed his arms and pulled him out…he was pretty shivery after that.  But we got him cleaned up, got him some water, and he was alright.

I hope your Father's Day weekend was as good as mine!!