A Day to Catch Up...

Nothin' much new here. I'm just finishing up my 8th grad class this week and I'll be happy to be done with it! Only two more classes to go, plus a Capstone project and I'll be officially done with my Masters program.

This week I've been busy working on my final for class and trying to get things done for the holidays. This morning I woke up, showered, and started getting ready for work. Around 6:30, I checked my phone only to find that we have no school because of a power outage. I'm pretty grateful to have an extra day to get things done this week! I have a list of things to knock out before the weekend.

On Sunday, we went to the Lions game and this is a picture I took on my phone as we were walking to Hockeytown. I don't know what the plan is for this building, but only the front of the building is standing...made for a cool picture.

Thanksgiving!

We had a quick overnight trip to GR for Thanksgiving and then it was back to our side of the state. Gil's parents are awesome cooks, so of course we ate a ton for Thanksgiving dinner last night. Soooo good! They sent us back with lots of left overs, which I'm pretty excited to eat.

I also had a nice visit over at my mom's. She gave me a box and scrapbook of my old school stuff, which have been in her basement forever. It cracked me up to read some of my old stories from kindergarten and first grade. I will have to share later. One of the funnier stories was called "Princess Susan", in which I got a guinea pig named Cocoa (true story) and then referred to it as the "Royal Guinea Pig". Oh geez...

Tonight I (sadly) have a paper to write, which is due tomorrow. Since the college was closed for Thanksgiving, I'm pretty bitter that I still have homework and a paper due for my online class. I don't think that's fair at all!

Tomorrow we are going to tailgate at U of M and then we're going to the game (hence, I have to get the paper done tonight).

On another note, I can't believe how awesome the weather was today. It was so pretty in West Michigan and the temp was amazing. Laila was also happy on the way home...

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for! Enjoy the long weekend! :)

Happy 4th of July!

This weekend we brought Laila to Lake Michigan to try out swimming again. We brought her last year when she was just a little pup and the waves were a bit intimidating to her.

Laila at Lake Michigan Last Summer

First of all can I just say, sometimes I don't realize how much growing she did in a year until I look at baby pictures next to current pictures. Wow, she's large. Anyways, this year we thought she would handle it a lot better & that she'd be excited to dive in. Indulge me as I pretend to be my dog. I'll be honest, I spend a lot of my time narrating Laila's life. Go ahead and judge.

Laila: "I would love to roll in this sand right now. The beach is great!"

"Water? I could go for that."

"Wait a minute...I'm not so sure about this. Why is the water moving like that!?"

Sue: "Maybe if you go out, she'll follow you!" Fail.

Gil proceeded to lead her out to the water and she proceeded to lead him back to shore.

"I don't think so."

"You guys go, I'm good here."

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the next 30 minutes of beach time, but we decided that Laila was probably freaked out by having the leash on her in the water. We took her off the leash and threw the ball into the water and she practically dove in. It was pretty cute seeing her swim around. She played fetch and swam in the water for a while before she got too tired. So we had a rocky start, but she ended up loving it in the end.

Back in the Car...Crimpy Girl

Today we headed over to our friends house, where we grilled out and the dogs played. If you recall, Erin and Matt are the owners of Wrigley, who just happens to be Laila's boyfriend. Something we noticed today was how much our dogs have calmed down since they turned one. They played here and there, but spent a lot of the time sprawled out in the shade.

Erin & I

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

New Year, New Resolutions...

Hello 2011, I've got some new resolutions for you...

1. Run 211 miles over the course of the year (Nike + challenge)

2. Run in the Riverbank run (probably 10k)

3. Use My Fitness Pal regularly...helps me avoid junk food!

4. Stay organized

Number four has been a hard one for me since I started my grad program. I just always feel strapped for time, drained, and exhausted. As a result, our house has been more cluttered because I've been tired and therefore lazy about putting things away. A cluttered house stresses me out. I was also starting to put off doing homework and that left me feeling behind all the time. So to the best of my abilities, I'm going to stay on top of things so that I feel better in the long run.

I'm hoping that I'll feel more energized by working out and eating better. One thing I've noticed is that by the end of a teaching day, I'm usually really dehydrated and I think this is one of the most energy draining things for me. Bathroom breaks are a commodity during teaching hours, so I don't get nearly enough water.

So those are my goals for 2011 based on what was stressing me out in 2010! Here's to smooth sailing in the new year!

Christmas Parties Galore

I'm officially on break for two weeks! No teaching and no homework!!!

We kicked off the weekend by heading to Gil's work party at The Henry Hotel. It was black tie, so I got to buy a pretty dress for the part-ay. It's fun to dress up once in a while, although I was not a fan of leaving the house in 20 degree weather.

The next morning, we headed to Grand Rapids for my family's Christmas get togethers. We surprised my aunt with a card full of money for her birthday trip to the Bahamas. It's been a long running joke that all of the nieces and nephews would send her to the Bahamas for her 50th and that time has finally come!

Later on in the day, we headed to my mom's house for some more food, family, and presents. It was fun watching the babies play. I got some quality time playing with Maddie as she explored her feet. So cute!!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy Snow Day!

Well, I am one happy girl. Today was a snow day!! Snow days really are the best way to start a week...

I'm also glad that I could stay home with Laila one more day as she continues healing from surgery. Have I mentioned that it's nearly impossible to keep a 75 pound puppy from wanting to run, jump, and play? Well, those were the directions post-surgery. She isn't supposed to have a walk for 6-10 days. She's used to getting two walks a day. Yikes.

Right now she's lounging around and acting pretty sleepy though.

We finally got our Christmas tree decorated and it's pretty much my favorite. I love having our house decorated for the holidays.

I'm so thankful for an extra day off and I plan to get a lot done including:

• Cleaning the house

• Getting ahead with homework

• Laundry

• Start Christmas shopping (ahhh so behind this year!)

• Find a dress for the Gil's work Christmas party on Friday

Wish me lots of motivation today!

Where'd November Go?

Well, November came and went quickly and now I can't believe it's already almost time for Winter Break (hallelujah)! I don't know what it is about this school year (well yes I do, it's the kindergarteners) but I am exhausted all the time. I think trying to keep my patience all day is the really exhausting part! Exhausted as in- I fell asleep sitting up watching TV on Friday with Gil...at 9:45. Saturday I barely made it to 11 and if I'm being honest, I fell asleep about three times before actually going up to bed.

Last weekend we got our Christmas tree but we didn't decorate it until this weekend.

We contemplated getting a fakie this year, but in the end, we opted for the real thing and I'm glad we did. You really can't replace the smell of a real tree. I love when our house is decorated for Christmas. I just want to sit on the couch in front of a fire for the next 4 months. I really would hibernate if I could.

Gil got me a new camera for my birthday, so I will have to post new pictures more often. It's hard to get everything done after work when my bedtime has been 9:30 lately and I have homework to get done in there too. I definitely want to post pictures of Laila more often because she's getting to be sooo big. She's 7 months old now and she is getting spayed on Friday. I'm pretty nervous about that...getting her in and out of the car (she is 70+ pounds now) and keeping her still so she can heal afterwards. Hopefully everything will go well. Wish us luck!

Happy Halloween!

Our friends, Erin and Matt, came over today with their dog Wrigley. Wrig and Laila romped and tired each other out while we ate lunch out on the patio, made a bonfire, and carved pumpkins. Gil's pumpkin is a wolf & mine is covered with flowers. It was freezing carving pumpkins outside, but super fun.

We went to a costume party yesterday and I dressed up as one of the Kardashians, along with two other friends. It was pretty funny when you saw us all together...

We just got done passing out candy to trick or treaters. It was pretty lame. We only had about 15 in all. I just talked to Erin and she said they were up to 115 and still going. It was still fun to see the few kids who came out...especially the baby dressed as a peacock. So. Adorable.

Happy Halloween!!!

2009 Memories

2009 was a busy year as I continued my second year teaching second grade, we bought a new home, and Gil began working with a new client out of state.

I took my first trip to New York City to visit a friend in April.

The most exciting part of our year was moving from our apartment in Northville into our first home!

The house definitely kept us a lot busier than I had anticipated with all the little things like buying furniture, unpacking, and settling in. The bigger problems of home ownership kept us busy too, like redoing our entire basement only a couple of weeks after moving in!

But that's all behind us now. Life lessons, right?

We got in as much family time as possible with our busy schedules. Things were a lot easier when we all lived in the same city! This year was so fun watching my nieces get bigger and bigger.

Gil and I celebrated our first anniversary together (well, really almost 8 years but we had to start our count over when we got married) :).

I visited Gil in Seattle during one of his trips for work.
We celebrated the holidays with family in Grand Rapids.
It was hard to get a good picture with both babies. :)

And of course, we got to see our favorite pup in GR.
We finished off the year with a ski trip to Shanty Creek up North.
What will 2010 bring? Can't wait to find out!