how much have i seen?

came across this website that makes maps of where you have visited before, and i always like to check out how i am doing on the 'visiting all 50 states' quest!

visited 33 states (66%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
66% isnt too bad, but it looks like i have to do some more traveling soon!

i know its not very impressive, but i wanted to see how much of the world i have visited as well.

visited 8 states (3.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World

our stinky dog

when we were driving up to grand rapids last time poco didnt seem to understand the fact that you are supposed to sit facing forward in the car. he prefered to face backwards. it was a hot day and he was panting, which makes for a really silly picture!

our neighbors across the street have a cat that wanders over here from time to time. usually poco doesnt notice, but this day we had the blinds open for him and he and the cat had a bit of a stare down.

poco, as always, lounging around on the couch.

our little stinky dog keeping tabs on the neighborhood. our own little peeping tom!

me vs. the weeds

i kept forgetting to take before and after pictures of the work i did, but this is one of them that shows a little bit of what i was able to accomplish this week.
lots of weeds were torn out (by the root whenever possible!) and mulch was applied. looking good!

the forest has been removed between the house and the garage!

smooth sailing

mom leaning against the side, enjoying the beautiful view.
poco likes the boat rides too! he loves to stare off the front of the boat, and then run to the back to growl at the motor- its hilarious!
barbara and diana hang their feet in the water off the front of the boat. poco, the loyal watchdog, guards them from any boat ruffians that might sneak up on them...

everyone's invited

grandma allen relaxes and enjoys the time spent with barbara, dad, and diana!
well, since they were there, the grandma's decided to go out and enjoy a nice boat ride- or as bill called it: 'the senior cruise'!
a beautiful day on the lake. well, when you live on a lake, arent they all beautiful?
grandma allen even invited poco up on her lap for a little petting. he loved the attention, and she loved it too!

lawn talk

all hot and bothered, jeffry lee tries to find a cool spot under the tree.
poco was busy smelling around in the lawn and staring awkwardly at anyone who would pass by the house. ah, thats our special little dog!

sandy 4th

earlier in the weekend papa and tim worked on replacing some of the torn canvas of tim's cart shed. i helped for a bit, but it was way too hot to do that sort of thing this weekend! yikes!
papa and the kids playing out on the deck!
getting everything ready for the big grill out!
one of the guys had converted his pick-up truck onto a mobile hot tub! what?!?

the girls playing with sparklers before the fireworks began.

candy collecting

the kids try to collect candy while adam tries to get some for himself!
bubba and tweets eagerly prepare for the candy as the fire engine goes by.
bubba shows off his haul to papa!

4th flea

being the healthy people that we are (yeah, right...) we decided to walk over to the flea market!
there it is, in all of its glory!
tweets always loves to play the lollipop game- pick a sucker and win a prize!
bubba always cons his mom into getting him something at the flea market (i guess i dont help considering i usually give him a couple bucks before we even arrive!)

our gross dog

yes boys and girls, its that time once again! more poco pictures!!!here he is all balled up, just taking a nap. so cute!
just chillin' next to me in my chair watchin' some of his favorite tv shows. surprisingly enough, he loves stargate too! (hmm, maybe thats just me projecting my feelings on to him...)
somebody must have food, thats the only time he is ever this attentive!

for some reason he has recently taken to sitting on the armrest of the couch. strange dog indeed.

sister's keeper

diana, barbara, and our gross dog poco. so cute!
it must have been a rough day of shopping, because it only took about 10 seconds for the two of them to fall asleep on our couch!

my biggest fan

here is the old fan taken out. as you can see it was pretty dusty...
i had figured it would be a huge production for me to install it, putting the fan hood up in the attic and everything, so i had to borrow a ladder from a neighbor, go over in the other side of the duplex (that side has the only entrance to the attic), climb up there in that sweltering heat- i think i lost 3 pounds of sweat just in that 10 minutes i was up there!
turned out i didnt need to install the new hood because the old one was still attached and working fine. oh well, i'm glad i checked anyway. i hadnt ever been up to the attic since i bought the place anyway, so it was kind of cool to see it. it made me think of the movie 'paranormal activity', which freaked me out a bit...
when i finally realized how easy this project really was, it only took about 10 minutes to change the bracets and screw it into place. tah dah! suddenly we had a well ventilated bathroom again!

a lake break

mom and diana enjoying the water and the sun. i did actually venture in and enjoy the lake too. eventually.
diana, mom, and their friends going out and riding around the lake.

dye hair, dye!

diana puts the hair colorant on my hair. it actually looks purple while its on...
uh oh, what have i gotten myself in to?!?

blonde me!

i've tried taking quite a few pictures of it, but for some reason, it doesnt really show up on the camera as bright as it is in real life.