More Michigan Mischief

9. We played hide and seek.

10. We helped with the chores. My attempt to help anyway.

11. Tyler's first driving experience. One word. AHHHHHH! The teenage years are gonna be fun.

12. We played outside A LOT. I don't think there could be a cuter picture. Can you say postcard?

13. We went to the beach without hitting 70 degrees. I was in love.

13. We smiled and laughed a lot.

14. We ate a lot. But man, we enjoyed it. Check out that satisfaction!

15. We cut hair. This pic needs to be in a pediatric office. Not sure why, but it does.

16. We camped in the backyard.

17. We wore out our hosts.

18. We did some "slipin' and slidin"

19. We went to the pier. Gorgeous.

21. We saw a lighthouse.

22. We celebrated mine and Cami's birthday TOGETHER for the first time in probably over 10 years.

23. We laughed a lot.

Ok, I know, I look like a dork in this picture. In fact Andy has always called me a pirate because I always kiss him with one eye opened...I guess it's just natural :)

Anyway, I included this because it captures the moment perfectly.

Thanks to the wonderful Ford family for enduring through the 3 weeks we took over their home. It was SO much fun, despite the strep throat and various viruses we all shared; they will be memories of a lifetime. LOVE YOU!

Impromptu Michigan

So. We decided at 4pm on Thursday evening to take a very last minute, spontaneous trip to Michigan. The very next morning. I think it may be the most spontaneous thing I've done since my single days! It would be 3.5 long days of driving, but would create long lasting memories with our long lost family in Alpena. So we deemed it totally worth it. So the journey began.

We are standing in front of Andy's mother's house that she grew up in, Lafayette, IN. We just HAPPENED to drive right by it. Awesome to see those kinds of things and surely not coincidental.

BTW I LOVE this picture. If you look closely Sammy has some serious crazy hair, Audrie's pockets are hanging out as she shows off something by her face, Kaylee is doing something crazy with her hands and Tyler is holding a stick. One word. CLASSIC. Makes me giggle every time I look at it.

Along the highway in Indiana we stumbled across this amazing windmill farm. There were HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of these, across miles and miles. It was AWESOME. You can't even get the effect in the picture. You would need a panoramic lens and even then I'm not sure you could capture it. Stunning.

We dropped Andy off at the airport in Grand Rapids, MI so he could make it home in time for work on Monday. Yes. He drove 3 full days across the the United States and flew home, just because he is a wonderful husband like that. He's pretty amazing. Then the last 4.5 hours I drove to the Ford's little city of Alpena. When we got their they were in mid celebration of Independence Day, so we joined right in.

Mom, Dad, and Katie came up from Cincinnati, OH (where Katie was having all of her surgeries) and joined the festivities as well. It was really fun to have everyone there! Samantha needed a good lovey nap, which Grandma gladly obliged to :)

Samantha LOVES Katie. She doesn't like most people at this point in life. It's nothing personal just a little stranger anxiety, which is to be expected and totally developmentally appropriate. But she loves Katie. It's super cute and gives me a break!

After the fun picnic we went to a local museum. Clearly the kids had fun "saving" each other from the stormy seas.

Then of course fireworks were in order. Kaylee's face says it all. She was scared. The end.

Love this photo for two reasons. One, it's always cute to see Dad loving on my children. Two, because it captures Sammy's awesome, natural mohawk before we cut it. My only child who lost all their hair minus the front. Hilarious.

Kaylee and Mr. Cade dancing to the credits of Tangled, the movie we watched probably 25 times while we were in the Ford home. Loved by all. The funnest part of this was that Kaylee was SO SERIOUS while dancing. She literally did NOT take her eyes off of Cade as they twirled around. This was serious business after all :)

Sleeping Beauty. Such a sweetie.

All the cousin's minus Sam due to the prior engagement in the above picture.

So, one may ask ones self, "what does one do while in an extremely small town in northern Michigan?" Well we found lots to do:

1. We found bird eggs and nests. Lots of eggs, weird, but extremely adventurous for us Houston city folk.

2. Picked cherries.

Yes, that's me. I had to have a go at it too.

3. We sat and rocked a lot.

Yep this is me too with my terribly obese looking baby. She is fine. No obesity. Just a bad angle, just in case you were concerned.

4. We found local wild life.

5. We built huge bonfires...IN THE BACK YARD. I think we are a bit suburbanized.

6. We helped garden. Well mostly pick the harvest and ate it :) Awesome Garden Cam.

7. We did more fire. And of course Smores.

8. Cami got her baby fill and I got to have a second mom around. (I love being a twin!)

Ten Year Anniversary!

This is a BIG deal! TEN flippin' years! I feel like that is a HUGE accomplishment...so I tried to be creative. Granted my creative juices are limited, but I think it turned out to be a very fun night. We have talked about going on a big trip, but since the baby is still so little (and breast feeding, sorry TMI) we are going to have to push it off for a while.

I created somewhat of a scavenger hunt, reenacting some things from our wedding day, or adventures from our honeymoon. Little fun memories! So enjoy my elementary level poetic abilities :)

On the front door he found:

Clue 1.

"This evening is going to begin,

Are you ready, ready for a spin?"

Next in the entry way:

Clue 2.

"First stop is a place where we rest,

After a good long day has put us to the test."

Clue 3.

"Here you will find a few things,

That will remind you of that special day we got our rings."

(I put out lots of notes, pictures, gifts, memorabilia that we have kept over the years...)

There are several 'toilet paper notes' that I have kept from our dating days. I think Andy either spent a lot of time on the toilet, or was too poor to buy paper...but they are CLASSIC.

Clue 4.

"Next stop will be fun so make sure you're ready,

Your next clue is under a pink teddy."

Struggled a little hear, obviously! But I made it work!

(Also, please note my super model daughter. I swear she looks 20 int hat picture...oh the teenage years will be fun! Why does she have to be so pretty?)

Clue 5.

"5000 Katy Mills Cir, Katy TX"

Clue 6.

"Does this bring back memories of old?

Come on hurry lets go, I don't want you to worry about things getting cold"

Anyone that came to our wedding reception will recall that our car was STUFFED with balloons. I wasn't about the blow up enough balloons to stuff our van (that would have taken years), but we did get the front two seats pretty crammed! The kids had a BLAST helping me!

Clue 7.

"When you go in I want you to think what you wore,

After our wedding as we walked out the door."

In those VERY poor days Andy bought himself an outfit from Banana Republic, in which he looked mighty fine and spent a mighty dollar. So I told him once he got in the store he was to find something similar to what he wore then. It was a black button up with white cargo type dress pants...

...this is the closest thing we could come up with. Um. Yea. Styles have changed and not to our liking, he could barely get those pants on the legs were so tight. So I let him pick something else out, thank heavens.

Little Sammy had to come with due to the limited babysitting resources, so we had a little fun while waiting!

I made him change in the bathroom into his new digs, handsome eh?

Clue 8.

"If you recall a place called Park City,

You might just remember some first nights of giddy!

But this was the place we went out to eat,

Because we were poor it couldn't be beat!"

In the meantime we had a few mishaps with the car doors, wind and balloons...sorry everyone, but I guess the celebration needed to be shared! Balloons EVERYWHERE!

Clue 9.

"5304 Bell Patina Dr, Katy TX"

Clue 10.

"I love you sweet man, more than you know,

Because each passing year our love continues to grow.

Please always be near and never let go.

I don't think I could ever live without you ya'know!"

The kids helped decorate the car similar to our 'get away' from the reception, minus the oreo's and gummy bears! Supposedly this is what Kaylee wanted written, but due to Tyler's misspelling it came out a bit different than intended. It's supposed to say "Parents Rock!" But we will take "parots" too...hahaha.

From Ty.

From Audrie.

Poolside FUN!

As Mom, Dad and Katie were driving to Ohio they drove through Oklahoma City, so we met them there. It was quick, but oh so fun! Everyone had a lot of fun despite the quick turn around. I forgot my camera half the time so I didn't get many shots, but here are a few :)

Grandma and Audrie

G'ma and Kaylee...of course KK is being her "ham it up" self.

Then G'ma with little Samantha. I loved this shot!

This was actually a different day at the pool, but little Sammy looked so cute that I had to include it!

Tender Moments

Most of you know of my dear sweet sister Katie. She changed our lives 15.5 years ago; all of our lives, for the better. She has taught us and many untold lessons as she entered our family circle, lesson's I'm sure she doesn't even know she has taught. Well, today was yet another surgery for her...a repeat of a surgery attempted 7 years ago. The worst surgery I can think of anyone having. A lower jaw distraction. Horrible. Painful and heart wrenching to watch. I tell people that during the last attempt, it was the only time I was GLAD I didn't live close to home.

As I sit about a thousand miles away I have those same emotions, those same feelings of helplessness and complete sympathy for her. I YURN to take the pain away. I can't help but this of Heavenly Father knowingly letting his Son suffer because it needed to be done. The reality of that hit me pretty hard this time. Katie needs this done so she can eat and breath on her own, without medical intervention as she has her entire life.

The hardest part is knowing as they took her back she begged Mom and Dad not to go through with it. She knows what pain is like. She knows what this surgery is like and what person in their right mind would want to go through with something like that again? What courageous and valiant parents I have! My Dad mentioned how he could completely empathize this time, due to his own experience having to get his leg amputated. He could feel her fear and he couldn't contain his emotions.

This picture captures that tender moment as Katie clings onto our Daddy's arm. If you'd like to follow along her blog is here.

Please include her in your prayers. This is the first of several surgeries this one being the easier of the distractions. LOVE and prayers!!