under construction - yikes!

It has begun! We're praying that it gets finished quickly. And correctly, most of all!! Boy, when I saw that huge Caterpillar jump the curb and start digging up our nice green grass, I was in shock. Now most of our backyard is below 6' of dug up dirt... more pics to come, I'm sure. And we won't be having any backyard bbq's in the near future. There's about an 8' drop on either side of our concrete slab/porch in the back yard. Scary!

waddling

I look ridiculous. I am currently walking like a duck. I tried to switch up my current work out routine, and right now I cannot bend my knees (squat) without pain. So walking down stairs is quite interesting. Upstairs, I can go slow and use the railing... down is another story. I almost explained to the girl behind me on my way out of the parking garage this morning. It's quite embarrassing flinging myself down the stairs without bending my knees :) And tonight's work out should be interesting. I might just ban Steve from entering the room.

Well, it rained last night and so our basement fixing was not able to begin today. Weather.com says 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms tomorrow and Wednesday, so hopefully those will miss us! We really, really, really want the work to begin (and end) soon! It's almost over, after 2.5 yrs of leaky cracks in our basement.

more birthday pics

We did manage to get out of the house for ice cream on Steve's birthday. Yummy Silver Dipper. And I tried out the camera on my new phone. Not too shabby. Almost finished.



Oops, bad timing.


That's much better.


I guess I tried to take one too many pictures.


And here's a shot of Steve's "birthday" present. He bought it for himself, really. But found a good deal on Amazon.

another birthday

It's Steve's birthday today! Yay for birthdays. We got to meet my dad in Indianapolis for dinner on Wednesday, as he was there for a couple of days for a conference. We had an amazing dinner. And when I called to make reservations, they asked if we were celebrating any special occasion, I told them as a matter of fact, it is my husband's birthday that Friday. They asked what his name was, so when we got to the table we saw this:

(pardon the bad photography skills! in case you can't
see it, the menus said "Happy Birthday Steve")

So fun! I brought my camera along but wasn't able to get any pics that night because I didn't bring the extra batteries. I also brought my camera along to the fair yesterday evening, but again, forgot to change the batteries. So no pics of us working the LifeCare booth at the fair. It was pretty busy, so we got to see lots of people there, quite a fun night.

Blueberry picking

Last Friday night we went blueberry picking with another couple. It was fun, and we are now eating the fruits of our labor (not funny, I know). But seriously, I love blueberries on my cereal in the morning, and I've made muffins so far and am planning on making pancakes tonight. Yumm!

Anyway, a few of the comments/conversations I overheard were priceless!
Little Boy: Dad, I peed!
Dad: Where?
Little Boy: Right there! (in the middle of the field)

Dad: (after about an hour of random comments yelled by Little Boy) Son, do you realize that you're the loudest kid here?

Definitely had me laughing throughout the night.

We've had a lot going on lately, and it's been quite a fun summer so far. It looks like this week our basement will finally get fixed. We've been living in our house now for 3 years, and 2.5 years of it our basement has had several cracks which leak water. This week they'll dig around our foundation and fix the cracks from the outside. We're glad that it will finally get done, and hope that it doesn't wreck our yard unrepairably. We'll see what the end of the week brings.

Reunion time

Over the 4th of July weekend we took a few days off to head to Michigan for a family reunion. Here are a few highlights of our trip... Here is where you can see the exhaustive photo album. There are too many pics to put up here.

Pre trip:
My brother in law Joe and his wife Lara flew in from LA, and we picked them up in Indianapolis after a quick stop at my friend Holly's house to see her and her family. Then we headed back home and got to show Joe and Lara our house.


Day 1:
We headed up to Michigan, and stopped by to see my sister in law and brother in law, Laura and Cordelle. We got to see Cordelle's hometown, his mom and the house he grew up in. We went to the beach and walked along the pier and the beach shops and cafes.

Then we arrived at the reunion just in time for a family dinner. It was great to see everyone, and I think that there were about 25 of us in all.

Day 2:
The 4th of July consisted of games, fishing, golf, paddle boating, eating, etc. We played whiffle ball and I got Grandpa on video getting a hit! Grandma was the umpire and I think I faded out sometime in the middle of the 2nd inning. It was fun just taking pics and cheering... Some headed out to watch the fireworks in the evening.

Day 3:
In the morning the ladies had a shower for a new cousin in law, ate brunch, opened presents and played a quick game. Then we went kayaking and played a few more games. In the evening we had a huge bonfire, and roasted marshmallows. We sang Happy Birthday to Grandma, her 80th was a few months ago so this was a sort of celebration for that as well.

Day 4:
Several siblings and cousins left early Sunday morning. The rest of us headed to the lake for some boating, and sun. Some wakeboarded, tubed, skied. The finals of Wimbledon were on throughout the day, so we watched as much as we could. At this point my camera was out of memory from taking so many pictures.

Day 5:
More good bye's games, and good bye's. It started raining on Monday, but we had amazing weather the whole weekend for all of our outdoor activities. We took advantage of the morning rains to play some nertz. I'm not very good at Rook, Euchre, and those strategy games, but I get pretty into nertz. Next we headed back home to Indiana. Mike (Steve's bro) had a business trip here, so he actually flew in on Monday night. Lara and I passed on the computer games with the guys and watched the season finale of the Bachelorette. It was a late night!

Day 6:
We took Joe and Lara around town showing them our church and community center, and Steve's work. Then we headed down to downtown Indianapolis to walk around some and have lunch. We also were able to catch a movie before they caught their flight.

It was a wonderful, packed weekend! Tons of fun seeing family that we don't get to see all that often.