My weekend away

So my super awesome sister Stephanie -"Sis" to me, we've always called each other that - flew me out to stay with her this past weekend as a birthday present. Awesome, I know! Anyway, she doesn't have any human children yet, but here are her "babies".



On the left are her huge puppies Baby
and Norris. Baby on the left is an English Mastiff weighing more than I do, and Norris is a big furry teddy bear, I mean Airedale. They're really sweet dogs.
She also has a crazy kitten named Jack. This was probably his only moment of stillness. :)


I flew in thursday and we stopped by the ER she's an RN at so she could show me around. Pretty cool my sister has a real job and works in a real hospital. We still seem so young to me, despite the fact I have 3 children :)

Friday morning we went to see the new Twilight, New Moon. It was great! And I even took home the next book in the series (I haven't read a book by choice in a LONG time) from her.







After some shopping we went to the Capital in Lansing for a Light Parade. Really cool, thing parade floats covered in Christmas lights. My favorite may have been the extended public bus made to look like a caterpillar as it weaved down the street. Fireworks after too!












Saturday morning we took the dogs to the DP or Dog Park. You have to say DP or the dogs go crazy. Pretty funny. Humorous to see just how big the dogs are as they hang out the back of the 4 runner.
Their dog park is neat. It's a long dirt path around a small lake all fenced in so you can take your dogs off leash. It was really fun to observe the different breeds and watch them all play.


I also managed to sneak away for an hour run around the city. It is such a fun way to explore! I was almost giddy running. It was perfect weather while I was there, high 40's low 50's, and foggy, but no rain or snow. I ran along a great paved trail around another lake and along the river. So neat how forested it seems everywhere there. Lovely!


Did I mention shopping? Yeah we did A LOT! It was lots of fun. So nice to have someone who actually cares to give you an opinion and who likes what you like. Totally nice not to have a loving yet bothersome husband calling to see how much longer I'll be. Fun!

We also got pedicures while out shopping. Love it! We ate out friday and saturday night at Steak n Shake and Chedders and aside from being very yummy! It was so great not to have anyone want my food or want me to cut theirs or spill it everywhere. Sunday we went to church. Awfully strange to drive 20 minutes to get there. Their stake boundaries are like 100 miles!! My sister taught the lesson and did great. It was fun to see her do that. We went back to the house for lunch then sadly it was time to go home. I had such a wonderful time. It was a perfect present, and one I hope to repay someday somehow. I hope to take the kids back in the summer, they'd love it.

Thanks again Sis, LOVE YOU!!!

A treasure hunt of sorts

So my sister sends out little care packages to the kids several times a year, but this time she sent me one - sweet girl! Here's what she sent -sorry for the turned pics, turn your head :)

Nail polish and nail stickers...

Gloves....

Michigan State University notebooks for the kids

Luggage Tags...

And a toy airplane for Talm

What do you get when you put all this together?

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A SUPER COOL Sister who is flying me out to see her in Michigan for our Birthday!!!

I'm so excited! I've never flown by myself, never seen her life away from 'home', never had a vacation to myself. I haven't told the kids yet because I don't want them to feel bad that we couldn't afford to fly them out, but maybe they'd take it better than I think. It'll be fun to spend some fun time with my sister, and they'll have a good time home with Dad, and hopefully we can take them out again next summer when its nice warm weather.

Anyway, I leave TOMORROW! The biggest question? What do I get her now???

Family Pictures! Pic Overload

I'm just warning you, there are lots of pics and not posted in any fancy way, just thrown up for your ooo and aww-ing pleasure :) My awesome friend Heidi took these. She's not a professional photographer.....but should be! Thanks again Heidi!

Below is the only picture with Jer not squinting. It wasn't that sunny out. Love you babe :)

PRECIOUS

Mr. GQ himself. LOVE it!

Happy Birthday Mckayla!

Happy Birthday Baby! 6 years old and more beautiful and wonderful everyday. We love you!!!

Halloween 09

We had a fun little party at our neighbor Jennifer's house. We all have 3 kids the same age so it's lots of fun. This pic already looks so busy and we're missing all the babies!

*Disclaimer* Sorry the pics from here on out aren't such great quality, we were bad parents and forgot the camera and had to take them with the camera phone :/

The kids had a great time this year. Everyone was happy with their costumes, mom didn't do any sewing this year, and still no face paint has been involved! All 3 were happy to trick or treat and I find their smaller buckets to be perfect. We were out for 90 minutes maybe and they were full and the kids were satisfied. Kaitlyn was funny, she'd only get out of the stroller for certain houses. We tried to send her up to a door once and she kept coming back before getting any candy. Silly parents, we forgot to give her her bucket. So she'd come retrieve it and then head back to the door and get her candy. It was so cute to watch her reach in and see her sign her sign language 'thank you'. That little girl has been the biggest stinker about candy. WAY more demanding for it than Mckayla and Talmage.