4th of July

We enjoyed a beautiful 4th of July weekend up in Spring Lake - picture perfect weather and great company, including Tara, Mark and Myles and my Aunt Wilma who were all visiting from out of town. Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend!


cutie patootie


playing baggo (aka "cornhole")


"Mommy! I don't want to sit in the baggo hole so you can take another picture of me!"


enjoying the bonfire


the guys and tara enjoyed a morning outing of fishing on dad's new boat!


tim showing off his wakeboarding skills!


brooke enjoying an early morning slalom ski!

half a year

I am 6 months old today! :)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

tag, i'm it!

This is for you, Sarah,...because I laughed (more than once)!

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so since you’re not allowed to tag me back; let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird/random/odd facts, habits and goals.

Because I'm sure everyone cares...here goes:


1. I sleep with three pillows at night (two by my head, one body pillow). One pillow (head) in particular is very special to me. I have had it since I was probably in middle school (I know, gross). I have a very sentimental personality and this pillow has been with me on many trips and through many seasons of life. It's like my little security blanket. I actually left this pillow at a hotel during my honeymoon and I was devastated. Don't worry, I called the hotel when we got back home and they found it and shipped it to back to me. :) You can only imagine the joy I experienced in opening that box and seeing my precious pillow pop out in the midst of those styrofoam peanuts.

2. I hate the feeling of dry skin. I can be seen putting on body lotion and chapstick many times during the course of a day.

3. I met David Haselhoff while running on the beaches of Hawaii (no, I was not auditioning for Baywatch, but thank you to those that thought I could have been). Just because I mentioned this fact about me in a recent past posting, doesn't mean I'm that proud of this moment...just thought it was kind of funny seeing as The Hoff is making his comeback with America's Got Talent...and his new "romantics" CD coming out soon. I can't wait!

4. I enjoy an almost daily treat of graham crackers, chocolate chips and peanut butter. Graham crackers can be subsituted with apples. I also like brownies, evidenced by the fact that I've eaten half a pan (by myself) of them within the last 24 hours. Yikes!

5. I have a passion to love all people regardless of race, socioeconomic status, background etc. I cringe inside when I hear someone judging someone else or making themselves more superior than someone else (not to say that I haven't been guilty of this myself). I love making people feel encouraged and know that they have worth. I am passionate about this because Jesus was. And still is.

6. I love to daydream about things that rarely make it to fruition...like decorating projects around the house, business ideas, being more organized, reading more, getting more than just the "maintaining" done around the home. I have very detailed plans in my head regarding each of these areas. I can sometimes get upset that these things rarely end up happening...but then I remember that there are more important things to care about in this world and I am humbled and put back in my place.

7. I love our home and am so blessed to have it, however, for some reason, I enjoy looking through those free realty magazines as if we were planning to move and needed to find a new home. In fact, one of my favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon is drive around and look at different houses and land - whether they're for sale or not!

8. I love the private moments shared between Teagan and I during the day...the ones that no one else gets to see - like doing goofy dance moves, making weird faces and saying things that don't really make sense...all to see the eyes of a 6 month old squint up and a smile like sunshine radiating on her face...my greatest joy each day.

9. I am extremely indecisive. I can feel almost paralyzed when I'm shopping and needing to make a decision about something and don't have someone else there to tell me their opinion (one of the reasons that Tim LOVES shopping with me). I think this indecisive personality trait plays itself out in making me a non-opiniated kind of person (usually) :) and someone that, although I like to present myself as confident, I am more often than not second-guessing myself inside.

10. I'm really sensitive to noises - especially noises that are made by the mouth while eating. In fact, I am getting a litle irritated right now listening to Tim loudly lick his Captain Sundae ice cream spoon. :) Although he's not doing this intentionally right now, he knows how much this bothers me and will often exagerate any noise he can think of (lip smacking, sucking snot down his throat, sloppy chewing just to name a few) just to see me cringe. I try to show him how serious I am in telling him to stop, but the more I ask, the funnier he thinks it is and the more he'll do it. He saw a Dr. Phil episode once where a woman was like me in this way and Dr. Phil told her it was because she was so uptight inside. So, I think bugging me intentionally is his rationale for getting me to loosen up a bit. I know he's probably right and I'm grateful he puts up with me and all my quirks. :)

Tag You're It!! --> Allison A., Tara, Sara K., Katie Z., Kelly, Corrie.

camping trip

We enjoyed our annual camping trip to Hoffmaster State Park this past weekend. We've been going up there for the past 4 years with some dear friends...most of whom I've known since kindergarten! We had a great time roughin' it! Okay...I will admit that Teagan and I did not truly "rough it." We hesitantly endured the accommodations of warm, cozy beds in the cleanliness of a new home on a lake that was 10 minutes from the campground (thanks Mom and Dad O!). :) It was just easier to do this with Teagan b/c of feedings and needing her to get good sleep. It was a hard decision though....comfy bed in warm home or sleeping bag in a 2 person tent in the rain. Hmmmm...


watermelon beach bum!




Guess who likes to pull hair?!




Tim and Dave with their look-alikes! Teagan and Haley are 3 weeks apart!

the "girl next door"

So, we were watching "America's Got Talent" last night - mostly b/c of my favorite actor, David Hasselhoff, who is one of the judges...just kidding (although I've actually met "The Hoff" in person on the beaches of Hawaii but that's another story)...and was shocked when a girl who was my next door neighbor/friend growing up was on the show! Check out her "talent" here*. YIKES!

* not appropriate for young eyes. :)

weekend get-away

We enjoyed our annual get-away to beautiful Petoskey, MI this past weekend. We've been going up there for the past 7 years as Tim plays in a soccer tournament with some friends. We have our favorite places to go and visit, eat at, walk at etc. We had such a great time being up there with Teagan and just spending quality time with the 3 of us and being able to celebrate Tim's first Father's Day! Despite not getting to play soccer in a long time due to some "life changes," Tim played great and his team made it to the semi-finals but unfortunately they lost. Teagan and I had fun cheering him on!


Go Daddy!!


Daddy and his sweetie Teagie


Learning from Daddy about nature during our walk at the fish hatchery


Daddy showing me the fish swimming in the stream behind the glass wall!


Flower girls!


The sunset with rain coming!

on the move!

Just over a week ago, Teagan "mastered" rolling over and scooting. It seemed like this happened overnight! Her world is forever changed...and so is ours. The other day I set her down and I feel like I looked away for 2 seconds and she was already five feet off her play mat. I moved her just before she was going to put a power cord in her mouth. Yup...time to baby proof!! Every time we put her down on her back, she rolls immediately to her tummy. Now if she could only figure out that she just needs to roll back to her back at 2am instead of waking up on her tummy and crying until Mommy rescues her! :)


How can you not smile when you see this picture?! :)


Tangled up in her bumper toy after scooting off her play mat.


Up on all fours! We feel like she's going to crawl any day! Wow.


She loves to move!


Teagan woke up randomly at 11:30pm last night. Daddy (aka: Teagan's playmate) thought this would be a good time for her to try out her new "Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper" (we gave in to buying one since she's getting so bored on the ground!). Why go back to sleep when you have a jumper like this to play in? As you can see, she really liked it....but Mommy didn't so much like the lack of consistent sleep that followed the rest of the night. :)


This doesn't really go with the post but I thought it was a cute picture so I wanted to throw it in here. :)