Outtakes

I am trying to get new pictures on my Etsy page to make it look a little better. Now that we can go outside and Cordelia can sit up, I can get better pictures. When I do this, I just snap a bunch of pictures until I get a few I can use. Today I got some pictures that weren't good for the Etsy shop, but so darn cute I had to share them. I'm not sure what she's thinking here. It looks like "mom you're so embarrassing," or "I can't believe I forgot..."
No, I did not just give her a lemon.
So big!

Living and breathing

So after a very long week and weekend, I am finally getting settled into my new place. I officially moved in last wednesday. Mom and dad came on Thursday evening, so it was a bit chaotic getting my stuff semi-organized and decent in time for their arrival. I had a great time while they here though. On friday, we had a very successful day of rummage sale shopping and getting random items for my apartment. We found an awesome 1940's green chair for $10 and a really cool folding coffee table for 7. I could not let that chair sit there though. It's so cool. We also found some random shelves and kitchen items. The first thing I found was a wine rack for a buck. I now have a little mini bar in my kitchen :D I also got a free lamp, folding table, and pillow :P There were so many sales, it was insane! I also found a wonderful farmer's market close to my house. Later that night Eric and us moved my bed into my apartment. We were all pretty exhausted from the numerous trips up to my apartment, so we went out for drinks at the Friday's five blocks from where I live. It was a good visit, and dad wasn't too hard on Eric, except for when he called him dumb :P Just kidding dad! But no really, he did. He also told him the "sailor" math problem (Eric is a math major). He came up with a theory, but unsatisfied with the answer, came up with a new one on Sunday *rolls eyes*. On saturday, mom, dad and I went to Lansing to do some antique shopping. The day was turning up little finds until our last stop. I found a loveseat! It was priced right, and in good condition. We managed to fit it into the CRV, but I had to sit in between mom and dad in the front all the way back to Grand Rapids (about an hour). It was pretty funny. In Lansing, I brought mom and dad to a really great burrito place called, Big Ten Burrito where they serve you burritos so big you cannot finish them. They enjoyed it. After moving my loveseat up to the sixth floor we relaxed with some amaretto and coke. Sunday, we went to Get Smart, and I drug Eric along. After the movie, I made supper for everyone, and we relaxed some more. It was a good visit for everyone, and it was really nice to see mom and dad! :) I miss my sisters now!!! Anyways, here are some pictures of the apartment. Enjoy :)

Moving stuff into the kitchen...


Stuff... eric and I cleared a path to the tv cause we wanted to watch a movie and have pizza and beer after moving in all my crap on wednesday


Finished product:


My awesome 10 dollar chair and seven dollar coffee table :D


My loveseat! My bedroom is in the background, but not ready for pictures :P


I like the kitchen floor, and of course the hardwood :D


The bathroom... it extends to the right where the you will find a sink and tile shower.


Southern exposure. Note all the church steeples. It really neat when the bells ring.


Western exposure. The big building closest to the front is the public library.


View from the sixth floor

No pictures!!

I got in trouble for taking this picture of dad in an Urban Outfitters. :P

Fun

Rion had his first soccer game tonight. It was a lot of fun to watch those little kids playing soccer. It seems like he has already gotten better at his soccer skills. During the game he mostly ran around. He didn't get in and try to steal the ball from anyone, but he'll learn. When we got home I had to feed Cordelia first and then planned on putting the boys in the bath and then to bed. Torii couldn't wait that long and he went to bed by himself and fell to sleep really fast. We had a beautiful weekend so we spent a lot of time outside. I got this water toy on clearance last winter so we had to try it out. It is suppose to be like a dunk tank. There are three balls and if you hit one of the red ovals, water sprays on the person standing on the other side. They got so wet, but had so much fun.
And this is just a picture of Cordelia eating carrots. She is such a good eater.

Do you know all 50 states?

http://www.ironicsans.com/state22.html

I missed five. How did you do?

Our neighborhood. Random pics.

Our neighborhood.

I finally got some simple chairs on our porch and some flowers. Brian and I sit outside with the furballs at night and the cats like to play in the grass and chase the lighting bugs. It's funny.

Pretty moon the other night. It was a perfect night for a nice glass of wine or beer, your choice, and just relax. It's been gorgeous weather around here lately and it's suppose to get warmer!

Brian's Birthday 6-14-08

For Brian's birthday we didn't do much. I had to work the morning of his birthday and there was no way for me to get the entire day off of work because we are that short handed. Oh well.

While I was at work, Brian went to an Air show in Rexburg, ID that's about 30 minutes from Idaho falls, then he went to a gun range to fire a few rounds. After I got off of work we drove to Jackson Hole, Wy to meet Mark. I guess mark was spending a week in Jackson Hole to help a resident there fly his own (yes own) plane. This guy must have some money. We met Mark in a local bar to pick him up after their flight and we briefly met the millianare who just bought his own small two engine plane;mark estimated some plane's these people buy are around $600,000+. I can't fathem buying my own personnal plane. Crazy rich people. It sounds like he's having a great time with his job. Mark said, flying over the Teton Mountains was so neat. I can't imagine flying right over the mountain range in Jackson, i'm a little jealous.

We didn't have much time to spend in Jackson but, we had a fun visit. We had a nice walk around town and I hope to get back there soon to shop a little bit. There's not much I could afford there, but I could find a few things I might like. :-) It was such a gorgeous drive there again. We just missed the snow storm they had about a week before, so most of the snow is gone.

Not much new around here. Otherwise the same old. Hope all is well everywhere.

Laurie~Hope your enjoying your new pad. Send some pictures soon! And hope you are having fun showing mom and dad around.

I made this for dessert on Sunday. Ooooooo, so good! German Chocolate Cheesecake.

For the Crust:
2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about two inner packages of graham crackers). Chocolate cookie crumbs may be substituted. 6 tablespoons butter, melted.

For the Filling:
2 1/2 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese~1 cup granulated sugar~2 tablespoons all-purpose flour~1/4 teaspoon salt~3 large eggs~1 teaspoon vanilla~

2 tablespoons milk.

For the Toppings: (I added coconut also).
1 cup chopped pecans or walnutsFor the chocolate topping, combine four ounces of sweet German chocolate with two tablespoons whipping cream and one tablespoon butter. Melt in a small saucepan and stir until smooth.For the caramel topping, melt 12 caramels with 1/3 cup cream in a small saucepan, stirring until smooth. Or use ice cream topping.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
1.) In a nine-inch spring form pan, mix the cracker crumbs and the melted butter. Press the crumb mixture into a crust across the bottom and about one inch up the sides. Bake the crust for eight minutes.

2.) In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese with the sugar. Add the flour and salt. Add the eggs, vanilla, and milk all at once. Mix until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Pour the filling mix into the crust.

3.) Bake for ten minutes at 450 degrees. Lower the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until the cheesecake filling is set.

4.) After the cheesecake has cooled for ten minutes, with a sharp knife, loosen the edges of the cheesecake from the pan so that the cake will pull away from the pan as it cools. Remove the rim of the pan after it has cooled for about forty-five minutes.

5.) Drizzle the cheesecake with caramel and then with chocolate. Sprinkle nuts on the cake. Refrigerate until completely cool before serving.

Random

Dad brought a new couch over the other day. We put Cordelia in the crib so she would be out of the way. When I looked over at her, she was peeking over the crib rail to see what she was missing.
On Saturday it was finally nice enough to put Cordelia in a little dress. She has so many cute ones, but if it continues to be cold I'm afraid she'll outgrow them before she gets to wear them. Maybe she'll have to wear them around the house, just to get some use out of them.
On Saturday we took a walk to a playground. On the way back Rion found a caterpiller. He was really interested in watching it. I told him to put his finger down and the caterpiller would crawl on it. It took some time, it was a stubborn caterpiller, but finally it crawled up on Rion's finger. Rion liked it, he said it was fuzzy. Torii wouldn't try it.
Torii must have grown some because his legs finally reach the width of the doorway. He has been trying for months to climb the doorway like big brother. Now he won't stop doing it.

And today we had a nice day. I made Fred crab legs for Father's Day. We also had bacon wrapped scallops on the grill, popcorn shrimp and Red Lobster biscuits. For dessert we had Fred's favorite: warm brownies with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Then we went outside and played soccer. Rion was doing really well kicking the ball. Then I would kick it back to him and he was doing good stopping the ball too. I like to play keep away with Torii, but he always dives on the ball. I told him only goalies could do that so we set up a goal and he really liked being the goalie.

More Beach

Yeah, so I have been going to the beach a lot lately. We've been having the perfect weather though! Some friends and I went last Saturday and grilled. It was a great time. :) Got sun burnt and all! :D Saturday was also the first time I've ever swam in the lake. It actually quite nice once you get into it. Cold at first, but that's jut part of swimming. The more I visit the lake, the more I like it. It is seriously an ocean without the salt. Really great!
Today I went on another geology field trip. We went to a coal power plant, which was kind of interesting. I remember going to a coal mine in elementary school, so it was kind of neat to see a plant now.
Not too much else going. still waiting to move into my apartment. Staying with some other friends right now (long story), but I hope to be settled into my place very soon. If not this week, next week for sure ;)

On the move

Cordelia is starting to pull herself up on things. The other day she climbed on Rion's back. Rion was so mad. He was really good and didn't move. I kept her there because I thought it was funny and I wanted to take a picture. She is getting into everything now.

Buggies and Blues

Today we went to Buggies and Blues. They had inflatables set up and the boys had fun on those. They got a wristband and could go on them as much as they wanted. Torii liked to go up the way Rion is going on the above picture, but it was kind of hard for him. I tried to tell him to go up the ladder, but he wanted to go up the harder way. He kept trying and he made it up all by himself.
Rion going down the back side of where they were climbing up. Torii going down a huge Titanic slide.
The boys standing by a cool car we found. Look familar?

Halloween in June

Today was Halloween at Fort Lincoln. Rion was Indiana Jones and Torii was a park ranger. Everyone really liked both costumes. And they were unique. I will probably get some better pictures at home tomorrow. Rion had the whip also and Torii has a park patch sewn on the sleeve. They both looked so good.
They played games and went on a pumpkin ride. They were already looking tired here.
This is Bubba and his wife. Bubba's ex-wife was camping at the next site. They were so funny. They really played the part of rednecks. Their campsite was a total mess, it looked like a redneck's trailer yard. They also had a riding toy up on blocks, but I can't find those pictures now.
There's the boys trick or treating at the redneck's site. The girl in the stripes was a box of popcorn. She won the grand prize in the costume contest.
Cordelia wasn't feeling well and crashed. I think she got some suntan lotion in her eye and that side of her face turned red. Then she threw up and went to sleep. She was much better after she woke up, but her eye was red all night.

We had a really good time at Halloween in June. The boys got a load of candy. Campers also decorated their campsites. There were some really unique ones. I can't wait to hear who won the best decorated site.

This and that

Mom and dad had a rummage sale this weekend. They had so much stuff. There was more in the garage too. Now everything they didn't sale is going to end up here. I want to have a rummage sale this summer too. We have so much junk and lots clothes that don't fit the kids anymore. Or me now that I think about it.





GG finished dad's quilt. It looks really nice. She also made a pillow with dad's retirement picture on it.

We are getting lots of good rain. I think rain is likely most of the week. I just hope it doesn't rain on Saturday. We have Halloween in June at the park this weekend. Rion is going to be Indiana Jones and Torii is going to be a park ranger.

Weekend

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was filled with sunshine:D It was a beautiful day on saturday so I went to the beach with my friend, Eric. He knew of a really great beach that not many people go to, so it was nice to just be lazy and enjoy the sun without the chaos of popular beaches. It was really nice. The sky was clear and the temp around 85. Perfect :D We also bought a soccer ball cause both of us used to play. The fun part is that he used to be a goalie, so I had a blast taking penalty shots in the sand. I forgot how strong my kick is haha.
I like Lake Michigan on the Michigan side cause the water is to the west, so sunsets are really nice. Snapped some pictures, so enjoy :)
Nothing else too exciting. Just basking in the sun :D
Oh, my friend Ellen just got back form Nigaragua and brought me some fair trade coffee :D Can't wait to try it. It smells nice and strong ;)

Nice beach :)

Loving the sun and the sand is SO soft!!

I like looking at the fading coastline... :)

Sunset