My alarm rang...

...at 6 AM. Oh my goodness people, I am so not ready for early mornings. We had our first staff meeting this morning with the entire Hudsonville district. First time in months I have actually had to get up that early and get myelf ready in the morning. NO FUN!!! I have one week to get on the right schedule. No more late nights. Time for me to hit the hay early so I am ready to go when that alarm rings!

ENJOY these last days of summer vacation! Get in that last minute trip to the beach. School starts in only 8 days!

Polka Dot

This weekend Kari came to town. She spent the night at our house on Friday. We went to Fridays for dinner, came home and played some Guitar Hero (see her blog for this story)
http://thegirlwhodreams.blogspot.com/2009/08/june-bug.html

and...

... then we enjoyed my ever-so-favorite dessert, strawberry cheesecake and some wine! Polka dot wine!!! Is this not so perfect for me:) I LOVE polka dots, so why not try some wine with that in the title. It has to be good right? Well, it was delish!!! My new favorite!!! Kari even let me keep the bottle for decoration :) However, I will be buying more!


Thanks for a great night Kar! It's just what I needed! And we will get jobs...some time! Unfortunately we can not pick the time or place but God has a plan set in place, perfect for us!

"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you." Jeremiah 22: 11-12

(I have this verse posted by my computer. I read it every day and it reminds me to be patient. The time will come. This time of year is definitely the hardest though.)

Hudsonville Fair

Well, we only made it to the Hudsonville fair once this year. Total bummer, but it was so cold and rainy we didn't want to waste the money. However, you can't let a year go by and not go at all. That would just not be right :)Picture of us watching the derby. It's all nerdy and small, I think b/c I inserted it from an email. Just enjoy it like this :) Thanks for taking it Shel! I am a loser and brought my big camera, practically broke my back carrying it in my purse, took it out to take some pics and forgot to put the memory card in it. I was too busy blogging before I left :)

It's Fixed!

Okay, the ugliness is gone... sorry if you missed it, it was quite a site :) Yes, I am still at my computer and have not left, I was determined to fix this. Anyways, if you are looking for a new blog background, I found a good site: hotbliggityblog.com They have some very cute stuff.

On another note: today has not turned out as planned. It's rainy, so I told myself I would clean ALL day. Well, this had me distracted for quite awhile, and now we have a sick dog. NASTY! I have learned to clean up after kiddos, but dogs... this just disgusts me! I do feel bad for him, but EWWW. Jon's on his way home to take him to the vet. Two days of this is a bit much. So until Jon gets home I have covered the office with towels for Diesel to lay on and I guess I will just have to sit by the computer a little longer so he will stay put :)

Blog Issues

Okay, so since I have nothing to do today besides clean the house... of course I will procrastinate. I decided to update my blogs appearance. Well, I found a new website with cute blog backgrounds but I am having serious issues with font color. For some reason it is not letting me change the colors of many things especially on the side. Just bare with the ugliness until I can figure it out.

Detective Duke

This picture was taken only because I was laughing hysterically as I watched him leaning up against his bed just chillin' with the dog, talking to Noah.

Oh my goodness, I don't even know what else to write under these pictures! I LOVE THIS KID!!! He cracks me up daily! =)

Okay, the boys are obsessed with the TV show cash cab. If you haven't seen it, it's a game show that takes place inside a taxi cab. People have to answer questions on the way to their destination and depending on how difficult, they are worth different amounts of money. Jon and I can't figure out why they like it because the questions are usually really hard, we don't even know the answers.

Anyways, we had to stay home this morning because the boys had a dentist appointment right after lunch. So, we needed to come up with something to do. Noah decided we should play cash cab... To make a long story short, we did. I was the taxi driver and they "played the game."

So you are probably still wondering what this has to do with the above pictures. On the show the people in the cab are allowed two shout outs. This is where they ask other people for help on a question they don't know. The pictures are when it was Lukas' turn to be the " street shout out." He said he didn't want to look like a little boy so he wore detective clothes so people would think he was older... hahaha only Lukas! On top of that he carried around the house phone while the boys "in my taxi" had my cell phone so they could use the "mobile shout out" as well.

It was hilarious! I am laughing as I write this just thinking about this whole thing taking place. You kinda had to be there and know the show, but it definitely made my day!

Me, the detective and his ever-so-ferocious dog :)

It Makes Me Happy!

My new toy.... THE CRICUT!!!


Everyone loves getting new, BIG things! You have to admit, it just makes you happy! Why wouldn't it? I recently spent some of my saved up "wierda" money (that was suppose to be for a new laptop) and bought a cricut! I have wanted this for a long time but never wanted to spend the money. Well, I had plenty saved up, so decided to take the plunge. It definitely made me happy :) I even scrapbooked by myself today so that I could use it. (Now I have to re-save up for that much "needed" or wanted new laptop :)

Oober Obsessed!

Ha... the title is an inside joke...so just laugh :)
Okay, so I decided since the title of this blog is "Jon and Ash" I should probably throw something in here every once and awhile about Jon. We all know that when he gets his mind set on something he becomes a little OCD. He has many obsessions that come and go. These are not cheap obsessions either. They are things such as golf, hockey, birds, plants, hunting, etc. We own everything you need to golf, everything you need to play both roller and ice hockey, we have buckets beyond buckets of bird seed, endless pots of plants, multiple pairs of hunting clothes, a bow, a tree stand, and soon to be a gun. Well, his current obsession is plants. I dont know of anyone that can spend so much time in a itty bitty backyard. We have gone through so many plants in the last few months. He gets everything all set, leaves it for a couples weeks, and then decides he doesnt like it anymore and buys some more plants. Lovely!!! Well, we now have a new addition to our backyard... A Pond! Yes a pond, and not just a tiny pond, but one with a waterfall. I'm not gunna lie, it looks awesome, but our yard as I know it is shrinking. So, if anyone needs some yard work done, give him a call. Ours had officially run out of room!

On a side note: Jon and I both have a love for photography. I prefer people, he prefers wildlife. So, what a perfect post to finally show you some. These ones are all in our backyard.

Our Cozy Backyard

My New Do

I LOVE MY NEW HAIRCUT!!!! I got 3 inches cut off, highlighted and thinned! It feels wonderful. It was so thick and raggedy I couldn't even stand it. The poor hair had lived in a pony tail for months. It can finally be free. It now lays nice and I don't have 2 inches of brown at the top where my highlights grew out. I usually do this ever fall before school starts but we have family pictures next week so it had to be done now! I was so glad!

This was the best picture I could get. I am not a professional holder-outer like Kari :) And actually it really doesnt show how short it is. It is longer in the front and then a little shorter in the back. It is just under my shoulders (perfect spot in my opinion.) Look at MY right shoulder, the left one is a little shrugged up :)

Today's Thought

Okay, Whose dog will actually listen to you and sit still while you take a picture of him wearing sunglasses? Jon sure has diesel whipped ;) Gotta Love it!

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is probably right now my favorite game ever! I will play it any chance I get. It's kinda like scrabble except you are playing your only little group of words. It's hard to explain on here but the whole point of this blog is that I would highly recommend getting it :) And the best part, it comes in the cutest little banana case ever! And its small enough to carry around everwhere....thats what I do. It's in my purse wherever I go :)

Of course I had to spell the word CANDY! :)

Ludington

Thursday afternoon I ventured up to Ludington to spend time with Kari and her family. It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed relaxing in the sun, boat rides and bike rides, shopping downtown, hillbilly horseshoes (or dutch nuts as they call them), walking the pier, playing games and of course we had to end the night with ice cream, a tradition each night up there :) Thanks Kari and the VanDyke / (Vugteveen) Family for letting me join in on the fun!!!

The Ludington Lighthouse

You gotta have a holder-outer with Kari :)

Ice Cream at House of Flavors

Kari, Kris and I playing games at night. Bananagrams, then Nerts

Morning Bike Ride

Boat Ride

Playing Hillbilly Horseshoes (Look and that concentrarion) ha

Photoshoot with Kylynn. She was cracking me up :)

(These were all her ideas by the way)

Top Left: With our Veggie Straws; Top right: Cute holder-outer

Middle Left: Monkey Face; Middle Right: Tiger Face

Bottom Left: Elephant Face; Bottom Right: Fish Face

Sandy Pines... AGAIN!

Today was Luke, Jack and Jaegers turn to go to Sandy Pines. We did the typical... golf cart rides, water park, mini golf, slushies, etc. Here are some of the pictures to show our fun!

Mini Golf

Court and Jeff

Jon and I

Jeff retrieving Court's ball that flew into the water... hahaha

So... I like the look of these rocks and thought they would look cool in the background of a picture. I hired photographer Courtney to take our picture and this is what I get... The cool rocks... but also the nasty fake fountain with a yellow thing sticking up the middle. Now I have to say, the yellow thing was WAY uglier in person, but we cracked up when we saw how the picture turned out. (You kinda had to be there, but it really was funny)

Friendship Bracelets

Oh My Gosh, I can SO remember the time when freindship bracelets were the coolest thing ever. Court and I would make them all day long, and I hate to admit it, but we would wear Every... Single... One! Our ankles and wrists would be covered in the brightly colored string. Well...while babysitting the wierdas this week, there was one day I just had Gabrielle. I asked her to get out a craft. So what does she pull out? A basket overflowing with string to make friendship bracelets. I freaked.... I was so excited! She looked at me like I was a complete loser so I explained to her that I used to make them all the time when I was her age, she still stared at me with a weird look, I dont think she really seemed to care :( Anyways... We each made a matching friendship bracelets... or ankle rather :) Then to top it off... I gave her a hair wrap...now she thought I was cool. She even said that is was the best one that has ever been in her hair... Man did I feel good :) When I got home that night I dug through my basement and found all my old string. Oh the memories...

Naked Plates

Okay...I am finally remembering to blog. Last week Tuesday while at the Lindhouts, I was left with just Lukas. Oh I loved it! Brings back memories from when we used to hang out, just the two of us, while the other two boys were in school. He is such a little love when he is by himself without brothers to pick on him. It was kinda a rainy day so we needed to decide on an indoor activity. Since being home for two months on summer vacation, he claims he is "willy" bored with all his toys. So.... We headed to naked plates to paint some pottery. It took Lukas a REALLY long time to decide what to make but after he did, he loved his little masterpieces.

Lukas painting his little dino

My new coffee cup... of course I had to paint it turquoise and lime green, with polka dots :)

Lukie's pirate ship and dinosaur.

This picture is just to show you how small his little figurines are... My cup is average size :) He LOVED them though so whatever makes him happy!