I'm baaaack!

Wow it has been a long time since I blogged! 

Here is a quick view of what we have been up to since January!

Feb. Took my DH's parents camper to Florida for them and spent a couple days! Took in two more foster kids when we return from Florida. All we can say is wow and out of control!

March-made some delish maple syrup...love that season, took a trip to Florida (I know it is the third trip for me & my DH this year) for spring break with Owen.  Fun time! We went fishing out on the ocean! OMG that was so fun and to think I didn't want to go :) Our oldest granddaughter Andi Jo turned 3!

April-We moved the foster kids back home! YAY!!  They were 3 years and 8 years old but knew way more then our grown kids knew when they graduated from high school. 

May-Owen our baby graduated from high school.  That was a rough 13 years :)  Our second granddaughter Raelin turn 1!   It rained and rained and rained so planting the crops has not been completed..it's getting late.  Of course we took our annual camping trip for Memorial weekend to the pond with friends and family.

June-Owen's open house. On the 18th our third granddaughter was born..Ruthie Josefina de Lara! She is so sweet!  Bonus for us Ruthie, her momma and daddy are living with us for the summer!  The crops are finally planted! YAY!

July-Our annual camping trip to Fort Custer in Battle Creek with the Brodbeck family.

August-The wedding!  Joshua and Alexis were married on Aug. 13th in a field back on property we own. It was a beautiful day!   Then on Aug 15th Mallorie, our second daughter, who is pregnant with her third child water broke.  Mal was only 19 weeks along. That was a very stressful day for the whole family. As of today Mal is on bed rest at Spectrum until little Gatlyn (yes we will have a grandson)is born.  Praying he stay where he is until Nov. he would be 34 weeks then.  But that too means Mal would have to be there until then.  Her hubby and sweet little girls miss having her home.  I miss having Mal just pop in with that Speedway in hand, Raelin on her hip and little Andi Jo following behind smiling.  Soon though I will have her popping in with Speedway in hand, Gatlyn on hip, Raelin and Andi following behind smiling :)

September-STELLA is suppose to make her arrival!  This would be our oldest Jamie's first baby!  We can hardly wait!!!  

Well there we are as of today!  It has been a journey or as I always told the kids growing up....what an adventure!  So life sometimes takes us on adventures we don't really want to take but we grow and learn on them!

My Nook

For my birthday my dear hubby brought me a Nook from Barnes and Noble.  He done lots of research and he thought the Nook would fit be best.  He was right!  I love it.  My daily devotional is on it, I have read two books in the last month and half.  Alex has purchased a book and is reading on it when I am not.  The battery last almost a week.  It was great on our last trip to Florida in Feb.  I took three books with me..which were all on my Nook!
Thanks Tim for the thoughtful gift!!

Jamie's Birthday Weekend

Tim and I headed to Chicago on the 7th to help our oldest celebrate her 24th birthday!  What a fun weekend! 
Since Jamie and Tim have lived in Chicago for a year and half already they know some fun spot and discover new ones weekly!  They love to take you on "tours" as long as you know where you what you want to see or do :)  (Jamie needs to know the plan!)
A couple highlights of this trip.....I O Comedy Club.  I was great laughs and it only cost $14 for three shows!  We had so much fun just setting back and laughing.  Jamie has made a bucket list before she turns 25 that she would like to complete.  One was go see "Wicked" so we done that too!  It is alway fun to go check out new eats too.  Chicago has so many "non-chain" resturants that you don't have to really search them out.  And the food is AWESOME!
That was our latest little weekend away and it was lots of fun!

Florida in December

Well hubby and I took a trip to Ft Lauderdale area in FL.  Found some cheap airline tickets so we thought why not!  Went to a travel agent to help us find a place to stay as we never had been to the area.  Love the area for the ocean side!! No crowds...quiet...beautiful beach...nice resort Beachcomber...great no chain restaurants too!
Eating at non chain restaurants is always a must with us!  Some of the places we ate at...Stained Glass Pub, Gianna's, Frank's, Brother Tuckers and I don't remember the pizza place.  The pizza was the best I have ever had.....brick stone pizza with fresh basil, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.  Recommend any of this places if you are in the area!

Great week of sunshine and relaxing!

John Deere Blanket

My first completed quilt!

Basement Project

Well in May the 150 year farm house we live in was lifted off it's foundation and the old basement taken away. 

Four weeks later a new foundation and basement was under our 150 year old farm house.

 It has been slow going but I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel!  Electrical is done, trim almost ready to hang, doors are on the rooms, carpet ordered. 

Oh it will be so nice to get it done so I can enjoy some projects that I have been wanting to do.

Girls weekend

This past weekend I got to travel down to Chicago with Alexis and Mallorie to spend some girl time with Jamie!!  It was a long drive down as we went 9 miles in 2 hours.  But did see something really funny in that traffic jam.....a pickup was riding the right shoulder trying to get to the head of the line...semi cuts him off....pick up driver pulls over leaving his door open and yells at the semi driver....semi driver weaves through traffic and took off the pick up drivers door!  Guess you should never leave your door open!  The pick up driver then runs after the semi yelling.  Not sure what happen after that because traffic started moving.

Delish snack by host Jamie, walking around the city, watching House, going to church and before we knew it....time to head back to Michigan.  Great weekend with my girls!!