Take a kid fishing day...

Dylan and Jayden participated in the "Take a kid fishing day" this year.  It was a great opportunity for them to get out on the big lake.  Of course they get to go fishing with Ryan regularly, but unfortunately, our boat is too small for salmon fishing.

Ryan helped pack up the fish...

Jayden got on a boat with a friend from church that we didn't even know was going to be there!  They caught 3 nice ones, and had a great time together!

The people who take the kids fishing volunteer their boat, gas and time for the day!  They had a hot dog lunch and each kid got a trophy, t-shirt, and a gift bag with lures and bobbers!

Dylan's boat caught 11 fish!  He didn't know the other kid on his boat, but had a great time with him and their crew.

Each kid came home with 2 big bags of fish!  If your kid ever has the chance to participate in an activity like this I highly recommend it!

Happy one year in the USA...

March 19, 2011 we arrived home from Colombia.
Yesterday Spencer was asking if we could go back to Colombia, and Lucy said "NO!"  We laughed, then he said,  "Can we go to Guatemala?" to which Lucy once again said "NO!" Then he said, "Can we stay here in the USA?" Lucy yelled "YES!"  Glad she likes it here!  Too funny, that girl. 

 We are totally enjoying this awesome weather.  We took the kids fishing at a pond near our house Saturday, we didn't catch anything, but had a great time.  Quincy took her first dip in the water, she was a bit nervous, but we had fun watching her!  Tonight, Ryan took the kids fishing to the stream nearby and they caught a bunch of fish, then we went to the lake and Quincy went swimming again. 

Shorts in March!!

the great outdoors...

 In another post, I will show you how many pictures it took to get this one with all of them smiling AND looking my way!

Nothing clears the heart and mind as well as a leisurely walk through the woods with the family.  Today we were waiting to hear about a bid we put on yet another house{still have not heard about that,} and our dear sweet dog Max is not doing well at all.  He had a tumor removed while I was in Colombia, and he now has another tumor, and we are afraid it may be cancer.  He is in a ton of pain so we took him back to the vet today and he gave us some stronger pain meds to make him comfortable.  So sad!  I have never really cared all that much for an animal before, but I absolutely adore Max!

 We thought we may be a tad late looking for morels, but Spencer was the first to spot one, and the next and the next...all together he found 35!!!

 I found a few, Lucy kept watching me stare at the ground, and bend over and pick up a morel so she would bend over and grab a few leaves and hand them to me.  I think she was totally confused as to what we were looking for!  Sweet girl.

 Jayden found a few too!

 Anaya kept saying "I found one!", but then she would say..."nope!"  Funny girl.

The boys were sucessful in turkey hunting this year, not the daddy though!!  He had his chance, but he just can't shoot straight!=)

 Jayden and his huge tom with a 9 and 3/4 inch beard!

 And Dylan shot this jake earlier in the season.

 The boys went out fishing and we had our first fish fry a few weeks ago!

Psalm 104:24 {The Message}

What a wildly wonderful world, God!
      You made it all, with Wisdom at your side,
      made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.

Weekend fun...

Can you believe the weather this weekend?!  It was by far the best Memorial Day weekend weather I can remember!  We the kids went swimming!  We took the boats over to the dunes and sat in the sun, the kids played and swam, it was an amazing weekend!

And of course there was fishing, but this time, even I got to go!!

Fun times!  I just love it when my family comes camping at our house!  I love to sit by the campfire, relax, eat tons of food, go to the beach, and then the best part...sleep in my own bed, shower in my own shower, and use my own bathroom!  Camping here is great!  My Dad taught the boys how to burn images into wood using only a magnifying glass!{He must not have taught me that as I didn't know it was possible!
  This is Dylan's creation.

The boys also started a fire with that magnifying glass{in the fire pit of course!}

Thanks for a great weekend family!!(minus Eric, Jen, and Olivia, we missed you!)

Guess what Ryan caught today...

Himself! (sorry, no picture of that one!)  He got this hook stuck in his index finger today just before leaving on a fishing date with Jayden!

He knew what needed to be done; {from all of his reading of outdoor magazines...} but I knew I would not be brave enough/strong enough to do it!  It was in there pretty deep!  I told him he needed..."a man, a manly man, a strong manly man!"  So, he drove down the driveway and enlisted the help of one of the guys from the shop below!  He came back up and hooked up the boat and took Jayden fishing as planned!  What a tough man he is!  A big thanks to Gary for being "the man" to yank it out!  In all his years of fishing he has never done this before{at least to himself!} He did manage to hook my mom's finger with a hook still in the package, {while standing in the kitchen of all places} way back when we were dating!  She ended up going to the emergency room to have it removed and had to have stitches!!

Jayden was a happy boy, while his date was a bit late getting started, he did catch this nice steelhead!  He picked out the lure, set the hook and reeled it in all by himself!

Our week in {scattered} review...

                     Friday we decorated Easter Eggs...              

and blew bubbles!  We are loving this awesome weather!

On Thursday night we went down and celebrated Easter with {part} of my family, we missed you Eric, Jen, Olivia and Taylor!  But the kids had a blast searching for Easter eggs.

Sunday night Ryan didn't have youth group so we were able to go fishing, and catch lots{80 in an hour!} of {little} fish!!

I was actually home with a few kids, but Ryan called and said they were catching lots of fish, so I headed straight down there.  I LOVE bobber fishing, even if they are little!

Last week Tuesday I had my date with Easton, he wanted to go to Chuckie Cheese and go to the grocery store to get a doughnut!  However, there isn't a Chuckie Cheese around here, but we found something not very similar and he was thrilled...

and tonight Ryan had his date with Anaya, yep, another tea party!!

Fishing...

I took Jayden out fishing for our date tonight. That boy is so patient. One guy came out just as we got there and he left after about 20 minutes, he said the fish weren't biting! He was right, but trying to convince Jayden of that fact was a tad more difficult! It was fun to spend time with him in his element, the great outdoors!

Labor Day 2009

Another fun holiday weekend "camping" with my family!



There was fishing of course,While the men caught the food, the women folk made laundry detergent. Yes, we felt somewhat little house on the prairieish, but not so much, because we had the internet to look up the ingredients, we had a heck of a time figuring out the measurements(because we didn't have the 5 gallon bucket,) and we used the food processor to make the soap into powder. Yes, we decided we would have died young if we were born back then, but we did have fun, and we got a ton of laundry soap out of the deal. So far it seems to be working well, we have done several loads of laundry with it!

More fishing...Some hair donated to "Locks of Love"Way to go Taylor, somebody is going to be very blessed to have your beautiful curly hair! On a side note, check out the sign on the hutch in the background, that I made. I finally(a year late)put my sisters wall words(of which, we both bought the exact same verse with out knowing it!)on a board which I painted and distressed. I have one almost identical, except we did get different fonts! How crazy is that, of all the verses in the Bible, we chose the same one!
5 birthdays celebrated...a trip to the beach with crazy kids swimming in freezing cold water...lots of great food, the boys were waiting~not so patiently~for their eggs!and of course... more fishing!The girls went shopping in Pentwater, while the boys caught up on their sleep from going to bed late and getting up so crazy early to go fishing! We had campfires, each with their own technical difficulties...one, we ran out of wood, and the next, well...let's just say there was an animal that was going to eat us girls so we left the fire and sat in the safety of the camper!(of course the guys were out fishing so they weren't there to protect us, we started out wielding wiener forks, but whatever it was kept coming closer and closer and faster, so we ran!) Thanks for coming up family! We had tons of fun!

Then to end out our fun weekend, my brother in law and sister in law came up with her parents and we went into the dunes. Yes, I rode up test hill...several times, even backwards...several times! YIKES! I always said I would never do that, but I did, and it was fun, scary, but fun. The boys loved it and Anaya started out scared, but ended up telling Robb to "GO!" Thanks so much guys, we had a great time!(I left my camera at home...BUMMER! It was definitely a sight to behold!)