poke it with a stick. image gallery

more cabin shots

2012-01-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

this is a picture of adam taking a picture of rex. if i remember correctly, there was also a picture taken of me taking a picture of adam taking a picture of rex. why? why not!

dusty just hanging out in front of the local grocery store. for some reason, this photo reminds me of those ghostly dreadlocked twins from matrix reloaded. or maybe its just me..

by the end of the night keith was too lazy to actually use his hands to take a drink. we found a straw for him so he could just suck it out, but the straw as too short and fell all the way in to the bottle! ha!

rex taking a quick look outside the back door.

adam found a comfy play to lay for a while...

clean cabin

2012-01-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

we were mercifully snowless this year, which was a good thing considering one of the vehicles we took up probably wouldnt be able to handle the two-track path if there was much accumulation. here is a great shot of the front of the cabin, now featuring a new red steel roof! wave to the camera, adam and jeffry lee!

we made sure to leave the place looking its best. since we did such a good job of cleaning, i wanted to capture a few pictures of it looking nice and clean! thats the wood stove on the left, straight ahead is the table we play games on through the night, and all the couches and chairs we hang out in for the rest of the evening!

the living room area of the cabin.

here's the kitchen. we dont actually use the sink because we dont want to bother with starting the water pump. i've never actually used the stove either, but i'm sure it works!

guns!

2012-01-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

keith and aaron drove us up this year. it was pretty easy considering that there was absolutely no snow on the ground and the trail back to the cabin was not muddy at all- no fear of getting aaron's car stuck or anything! just past the vehicles you can see the guys shooting up the different targets we brought.

jeffry lee, in what seems to be a moment of reflection. guns seem to do that to him i guess...

off to the cabin

2012-01-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

one tradition that has strangely sprung up is the proliferation of silly hats. aaron started this by always having some sort of goofy hat that he would wear the whole time we were at the cabin. last year i cranked it up a notch by pulling out a full-on sombrero! this time jeffry lee came prepared with these strange face warmers designed to look like iron man and the green goblin. where did he find these?!?

gathered together at aaron's place, standing around waiting for everyone to pack up their stuff and get ready to go!

under the tree with care 2

2012-01-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

that night we set up a bed for ourselves in the living room. kinda strange, but totally comfortable!

oh, poco- even you got into the christmas spirit, huh?

under the tree with care 1

2012-01-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

we all gathered together in the living room for gift time! barbara wanted to be the gift elf (the person who gives out the gifts), so she started with her favorite sister!

dad was quite pleased by the insulated underwear we got him. kind of a strange gift, but its the only thing he wanted, so who are we to say no?

the gifts began to pile up!

dad got barbara a new set of ice skates- an awesome gift that barbara was so excited about!

and fun was had by all!

prizes! 2

2012-01-26T16:22:00.000-08:00

bubba digging in to the latest lego collections he got! i guess he's over the star wars sets because all he wanted this year were ones from the ninjago lego line. i dont get it, but he was pumped!

aves, getting a little help from her dad, opens up one of the big boxes!

every year there is one big prize that is given out. growing up, my brother and sister and i would always argue about who would be getting the big 'grand finale' prize that year. i must admit, it was often me (as the baby of the family, i was admittedly spoiled...). this tradition has even continued now with the kids. chad, jill, and i never get the big ones anymore, but now we love to give the big ones to the kids! usually mom and papa get something large for the kids to end the night on, but i was really pleased this year because the 'grand finale' gift was one that diana and i had gotten for the kids! the girls know that their aunt diana does hair, so this year we got them a little hair cutting station of their own! they were so thrilled that they can play 'aunt diana' now at home!

prizes! 1

2012-01-26T16:16:00.000-08:00

one of the first prizes aves got was a collection of little horses. she was really excited about them and wanted to get right to playing! we took them all out and she grabbed them one by one and told us why she loved each one!

the kids got some new pajamas as well- they sure look cute in their onesies! (as a side note, tweets doesnt actually need glasses, she just got a pair of them without lenses and loves to play with them!)

jilly was almost as excited as the kids by the toys they opened! not entirely sure why, but that reaction is priceless! (which probably means she would be mad at me for posting this one...)

ultrasound 2

2011-12-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

these pictures are so cool! in this one you ca see his profile as he chills out in there!

this is one of his foot. you can even make out all the individual bones that make up his little foot! looks like he's got all five toes on that one!

here's his profile again, this time he's scratching his head. must be confused as to what exactly the nurse is doing out here!

our little man already has his dad's sense of humor! 'how are things going in there, son?' his response: a thumbs up!

finishing touches

2011-12-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

diana wanted to have the crib by the window so our little guy would be able to enjoy the sunlight (perhaps she is trying to get him to not have his father's aversion to the outdoors...)

the shelves are ready for all the baby stuff that we will need as the big day draws nearer and nearer!

bowl me over

2011-12-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

larry took the bowling part very seriously- i think he even had his own ball and shoes! tim? not quite as dedicated to the art of bowling...

the girls chatting and enjoying the food, gifts, and fun of the work christmas party.

look at all that fried goodness! only at a bowling alley...

kat and tim. awe, dont they make such a cute couple?

crib in pieces

2011-12-10T09:42:00.001-08:00

after finding all the assorted hardware that fit the crib, i got busy putting that bad boy together!
turned out pretty nice, huh?

contained

2011-12-10T07:51:00.001-08:00

here's the shelves (looking a bit messy already) before we put the new containers up.

much better, huh? the key to diana's sanity is organization, and this will certainly do the trick!

brink thanksgiving

2011-12-10T07:38:00.001-08:00

bubba and i playing after sunday dinner. last time we were in town i showed him a fun card trick. he wanted to show it back to me and let me see how good he had gotten at it!

when diana and the girls came back down we all hung out in the living room- this is what our visits to grand rapids are all about: just sitting around with the family having fun and being silly together!

aves shows aunt diana what exactly she wants from the toys r us catalog that came in the paper earlier in the week!

all the while, poco is enjoying the nest of blankets and sheets he made down in the laundry room...

keenan thanksgiving

2011-12-10T07:30:00.001-08:00

barbara, dad, and diana all enjoying the holiday together.

dad, bill, and diana hanging out in the living room chatting it up while the food is being prepared.

diana, grandma, and grandma's friend in the living room.

our gross dog pretending that he's a baby for diana to hold. it works out pretty good, because that way diana and i can get some baby carrying practice in before the little one arrives. which i'm sure was poco's plan, right?

dressed for success

2011-12-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

well, the wife sure thinks its true, and who am i to argue?

kitchen handled

2011-12-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

got (almost) all the hinges on and its starting to take shape! that fresh coat of paint makes a world of difference!
now thats some pretty good lookin' hardware, huh?

shelf the idea

2011-11-15T17:20:00.001-08:00

the changing table used to be here, but now we have a ton of shelves instead! it seems a bit much, but we've got to use all the space we've got!
they are out of the way and will work really well for all the diapers/wipes/shoes/random baby stuff that we may need. now i'm feeling a bit better about the limited space we have.

office no more

2011-11-12T11:14:00.001-08:00

as you can see, the place is a terrible mess. there was hardly any floor space clear- you could barely see the carpet at all!

with all the floor space filled, i had, it seems, even filled up all the empty table space as well!

this is about half the stuff that i boxed up from the office. i had to go in shifts, i first boxed it in the office, then brought it out to the living room, then carried it out to the shed! poco was not too pleased about the whole thing...

barky

2011-11-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

this is a recording of our little guy's heartbeat!

it's (going to be) a boy!

2011-11-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

when we first got there we waited for a few minutes in the office with the secretary. there were a few random little baby things to buy so i ruffled through the baskets and shelves trying to keep myself distracted.
the room that we went in to had a projector so we could see the whole thing up on a big screen. it was so amazing to see our little man for the first time! its so crazy that that little guy is growing inside my wife. i know everyone says that, but when it happens to you its true!
we got a few stills from the ultrasound burned on a disc so we could check them out whenever we want. this one is pretty cool because you can totally make out his spine!here's our little guy just chillin' out saying 'hi!'

seven year repaint

2011-11-05T12:15:00.001-07:00

once i got the cabinet doors off i realized i didnt have anywhere to put them while i painted them! i rigged up a makeshift drying area, and put a couple coats on each side. it was pretty annoying, i had just spent an entire day cleaning out the office, and how here i was making it a mess again! i should probably get used to that, huh?

boat storage

2011-11-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

here's what the garage looked like after a summer of construction work on the house!
we hoped to fit the boat in the garage for the winter, so i needed to clean up all this mess.
ahoy sailors, captain mark is behind the wheel! i'm finally living out the mascot of my high school...

neither david nor i had the confidence to back the boat up into the garage, so david called up a friend of his who is a semi truck driver- very well versed in backing up trailers! he did a superb job. there was only about 2 inches of clearance on either side of the garage door and he did it flawlessly!

almost done

2011-11-05T08:47:00.001-07:00

the shower in its current state looked pretty bad, like someone had quickly thrown it up and didn't care at all about how it looked- they didnt even bother to put any edging on it so the screws were showing! well, we needed to take care of that!
david had found this cool wood that wasnt really wood. it looked and felt like wood, but was actually plastic! this was a perfect solution to edging the shower because then there wasn't any worry about and mold growing on it in the future. clever!
now that looks a ton better!

more poco 3

2011-11-01T22:04:00.001-07:00

after a recent scare of fleas, we immediately threw away his old bedding. in its place, he gets a totally rad transformers comforter. you're layin' in style now, dog!
recently poco has taken to sitting on the couch armrest. not sure why, it doesnt look all that comfortable.
chihuahuas like to burrow. that means that poco usually prefers to lay under his blankets instead of on them. strange.
here he is at mom and papas longingly looking out in the backyard after a bath!
he always seems to know when we are trying to take a picture of him. and he usually doesnt approve...

more poco 2

2011-11-01T21:51:00.001-07:00

his ears seem to have shriveled up!
at the edge of the couch, always ready for action! and by 'action' i mean 'food falling on the floor so he can quick gobble it up'!
seriously dog, put that tongue away!
this is what he looks like whenever he is under his blanket and hears the fridge open!

more poco 1

2011-11-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

here's our little pooch enjoying his blanket on the couch.
poco doing his best mother teresa impression...
please note the little tongue creeping out...
poor thing, he only gets to lay around and sleep for 23 1/2 hours a day- he must be exhausted!
ok poco, thats ridiculous. put that tongue away!

macs rock

2011-10-11T18:15:00.001-07:00

the elderly couples were so cute! there was one couple there who looked like they were both in their 90's, they didnt talk the whole time we were there, they just sat at their booth holding hands across the table, enjoying the music and each other. one day that will be diana and i, too old to dance, but still starry eyed over each other!
and when we left the sky was just perfect- the rain had stopped and the sun was below the clouds giving them a beautiful pink glow!

a picture (frame) worth a thousand words

2011-10-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

diana's beautiful handywork. we knew mom was going to go nuts when she saw this!
i always wanted to let mom and papa know in a fun way- i think we succeeded!
mom going nuts!

afternoon with uncle

2011-10-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

the kids totally loved watching the remote controlled cars zip around the track- those things get going so fast that they often shoot right off the course! dont worry, i soon told them to step back from the side, and its a good thing i did- about a minute later one flew out and would have hit them if they had still been standing there!
there is very little attention payed to the formal rules of mini golf with these three...
big smiles! i took this one myself, thus the terrible framing...
at the ice cream shop we met up with squeegee and his family, which was really nice. the kids seemed to enjoy stuffing their faces with 'small' ice cream cones. i hear the 'large' sized ones are almost a foot tall! yeesh!
a guy with his lot on the main sandy pines road has a really impressive train set-up. he hadnt been out much over the summer, so the kids were enjoying the whole set while the could!

ave's pictures 2

2011-09-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

aves took some amazing photos, but unfortunately, the camera it seems, did not want to accommodate... after taking a few photos, aves hands it to me and asks 'whats wrong with it?' good question, aves!
in case you've ever wondered, this is what a picture looks like from a broken camera...
fortunately, it was not broken for long! i turned it off and on a couple times, and it finally snapped back and has been working great ever since! (thankfully...)

ave's pictures

2011-09-17T18:47:00.001-07:00

aves wanted to have a turn taking pictures with the camera, so this post is filled with her amazing amateur photography:

aves did have a bit of trouble with her fingers over the lens...

there's that pesky finger over the lens again!

labor day pines

2011-09-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

everyone hanging out at mom and papa's place at sandy pines waiting for the food.
tweets wandering around saying hi to everyone!
after dinner- time for a bike ride!

fire guys

2011-09-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

at one point during the fire jeffry lee threw a box on it to get it blazing. the side of the box looked like a cute little face, which was quite sad to see as it was slowly engulfed in flames... with brains sitting by nodding in approval...
burn, baby, burn!
jeffry lee was quite pleased, since he was the best man at the wedding, he is claiming that he gets grandfathered in to be the child's uncle. i guess we can allow that, but i dont think i'm going to trust him alone with the baby for a very long time...
rex seems to be having an adverse reaction to the steak he's eating...
aaron made sure that we noted his amazing footwear. why yes, those are in fact generic cheetah print ugg boots, i'm glad you noticed! he told us there was some story behind them, but i figure the less we know about them the better.

too much light

2011-09-17T18:30:00.001-07:00

we waited in line outside the theater for a little while before the show started. this is what the place looks like. pretty unassuming other than the creepy kid staring back at you from the sign...
they only have a set number of seats, so they give up little place holders for those they let in. this night we all got little plastic doves or plastic snakes. once we enter the theater we had to give them back. diana was quite disappointed, she wanted to keep her little dove!
the show was a really strange experience, but a ton of fun! its always cool to see those performing give it their all!

the big easy

2011-09-17T18:26:00.001-07:00

jill, diana's boss, and her husband larry. larry seems to be quite confused by the whole 'picture taking' thing...
kat and the happy birthday boy having a blast remembering all the fun they had last time they went to new orleans!

brother surprise

2011-09-17T18:24:00.001-07:00

i've been holding on to this for far too long! this was originally intended to be a christmas gift, but i never did quite send it off to him... (man, i'm a terrible brother!) one of my brother's favorite musicians is morrissey and i found this crazy book that is an encyclopedia of all things morrissey! fortunately he loved it, so it might have been worth the wait... maybe.

gate con goodbye

2011-09-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

we had a blast, but by 6:00pm all the fun and festivities were drawing to a close. i guess 8 hours of stargate related nerdity was probably enough for one day, huh? please note: the girl on the right does in fact have a giant stargate tattoo on her back. not only is it huge, but it was really poorly done- the gate wasnt even a circle- it was more of an oval. and yes, this is the same girl with the furry purple boots...
brains and i both had an amazing time! i attended the gate con last year, but this year was so much better because i could share it all with brains- and there was someone to share the funny ridiculousness with! i am totally up for it again next year, and brains said he was in for next year too- sweet! i cant wait!

gate con quiz

2011-09-17T17:55:00.001-07:00

remember how i said that no one asked the super specific nerdy questions of the guests? well, thats because they saved them all up to ask during the trivia competition! i can honestly admit that i had no idea what the answers were to any of the questions asked! i did try to create the illusion of knowledge by pretending to think about it and pretending to talk it over with the other two people on stage with me. this made the other guy up on stage laugh because he was equally clueless about the questions, but my faking it made the uber-nerd girl super pissed! oh well, it was fun to be up there even if we didnt win the big prize.
we didnt win the big prize, but we did get a couple parting gifts! they had a table up there filled with random stargate stuff and we were allowed to take two of the items for participating! i went for two stargate sg-1 hats. i guess i am going to start wearing hats now...?

gate con jerky

2011-09-17T17:53:00.001-07:00

at one point brains got a hankering for some beef jerky and actually found a bag of it in the hotel gift shop! he was so excited!
excited, that is, until he realized how much it costed! ten bucks! undeterred, he went through with it and plunked down that ridiculously overpriced amount so that he could have some dehydrated meat. he said that for some reason it actually tasted better because of the grossly overpriced cost. well, it better have...

gate con gate segment

2011-09-17T17:49:00.001-07:00

during the stargate auction they hauled out this segment of the actual stargate from stargate atlantis! unfortunately we didn't hear how much it went for because we were in the vendor room when the auction started and missed it! i was hoping to bid on it, but i'm pretty sure diana would not have been too pleased with me if i had won...
after the auction we could go up and check it out!

gate con vendors

2011-09-17T17:42:00.001-07:00

there's not a whole lot of merchandise for stargate, which is a bit surprising considering it was on the air all together for 17 seasons! but because of the lack of stargate related stuff, the vendors room is pretty small. there was one booth of signed pictures, one with books and cds, one with random unrelated sci fi stuff, and one with stargate clothing. looking at everything only took about 15 minutes! last year i had saved up a bunch of money and bought about 11 stargate sg-1 novels, this year i used my stash to get six audio book plays of stargate as read by the actors themselves- pretty cool!
after their time up on stage, kavan smith and alex zahara both came to the vendor's room and signed stuff for the fans- pretty cool of them!

stargate guests

2011-09-17T17:33:00.001-07:00

the main draw this year as far as guests goes was definitely christopher judge. he played teal'c for 10 seasons on stargate sg-1 and did a great job. unfortunately he was pretty annoying in person and as he would share stories about life on set he. would. pause. after. almost. every. single. word. as. if. what. he. just. said. was. incredibly. profound. after about twenty minutes i couldnt stand it anymore and kind of tuned him out. what else didnt help the situation was that it seemed like almost every question asked of him was somehow related to practical jokes and farts. ugh.after his time on stage he headed outside and chatted with a few of the fans! at least here he talked like a normal person and was quite nice. please note the furry purple boots on the girl he is talking to in this picture...
i'm still mad at this guy so i wanted to put the picture up again.
brains and i just soaking in all the nerdy coolness. maybe not 'coolness', but definitely nerdy!

gate con 2011

2011-09-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

brains had no idea what to expect, but when we got there and found some seats in the main hall, he was pretty excited! we didnt get tickets in advance, so our seats were pretty far away from the stage. oh well, we were pumped for the good stuff anyway!
this is what a room full of stargate nerds looks like, in case you were wondering...
this was the typical view from our seats. it was not as close as we would have liked, but we still got to hear all the great stories and funny stuff!
heres the wrist band we had to wear that proved just how awesome we were!

fill the walls again

2011-08-21T12:38:00.001-07:00

with the theme being tools and builders, i made a big red toolbox with all kinds of stuff jumping out of it! i put the title 'tools of God' next to it and included a dozen or two different qualities of God and a passage that ties in with it. oh, and i scattered a few tools in there as well...
the toolbox explosion continues!
against the side wall i made an image for both of the different types of classes i am teaching this year. this one is the foundations class. you cant tell very well with this photo, but its a concrete truck pouring a foundation. get it? foundations? i know...
on the other side of the wall i made the framework of a building to go with our builder class. this one i really dont like at all. i had a great idea of making it 3D with two point perspective and everything, but after two and half hours, i finally scraped that idea and went with this very underwhelming 2D version instead.
heres what the side wall looks like with both the foundation/builder images

stinky dog

2011-08-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

when ever i've amassed a few pictures of our stinky dog, i feel compelled to post them, so here we go again!

this afternoon poco must have been missing his homeland because he wrapped himself up like a burrito!

i can hear him now: 'dad, why must you be bothering me, i am busy looking out my window. no pictures please!'
last time we took him with us to mom and davids and he found this rubber ducky! he was really confused by it because it made a squeaky noise, but it was not soft and furry like all his toys at home. hilarity ensued!

on deck 2

2011-08-21T12:21:00.001-07:00

once we got the posts in place we had to somehow secure the rest of the deck around the hot tub. there was a lot of guess work and brainstorming so we could get around the difficult shape of the hot tub!
my dad's mantra for construction work paid off again and again: "measure twice, cut once"!
its looking pretty good- and its really secure!

on deck 1

2011-08-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

first things first: we did a little clean up around the hot tub, getting rid of the weeds and other things that had accumulated since last summer.
this is where the current deck ends. our goal was to build the new level of the deck all the way to the end of the house, making sure we left room for the maintenance door of the hot tub and for the crawl space entrance of the house.
now that its all cleaned up, we are ready for the posts and cement to anchor the end of the deck.

coupling

2011-08-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

tim and cat's big pooch charlie. he's getting pretty big but he's still a puppy. the best part about charlie is watching him try to walk around in those big puppy paws of his! ha! he's starting to grow into them, but he's still pretty uncoordinated!
Diana and i in their living room enjoying the time together.

a major paint

2011-08-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

this is the back bedroom after the roof got painted, but before any of the wall painting was done. we tore out the edging around the bottom so we can replace it with some that actually looks good!
the walls and window frames are starting to look much better with that layer or two of paint, huh?
our paint supply mess and the torn off edging.
before we put the new stuff up i gave each one a couple coats of white paint so they look really sharp when we put them in place!

kitchen shuffle

2011-07-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

here's were the microwave has been since i first moved in here 8 years ago,
and here's what it looks like now- much much better! now we have twice as much counter space!
the trash has always been right next to the stove, so it was quite a challenge to get used to it in a new spot.
now we have the microwave cart there instead and we were even able to get some more cupboard space as well because we moved all our spices and cooking stuff underneath it instead!

its strange to realize just how much difference a small change can make!

sandy supper

2011-07-17T15:47:00.001-07:00

after dinner, timmy decided to go for a little bike ride...

aves golf

2011-07-17T15:45:00.001-07:00

timmy gets himself ready for such an important putt!
diana, mom, bubba, and tweets all went out into the lake riding this grand sea vessel!

fireworks!

2011-07-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

diana enjoying the beautiful sunset before the show began- she was giddy with anticipation!
aves and tweets, still sporting their 4th of july antlers, having a blast with the sparklers!
tweets loved to just wave those sparklers around and enjoy the light stream they create!
bubba decided to double fist it- sparkle on, big man!

pines potluck

2011-07-17T14:56:00.001-07:00

after the food is gone everyone still hangs out and just enjoys a bit of chatting.

once the dessert was brought out everyone quickly bum-rushed the table for a little bit of yum!

remember those diet coke and mentos videos? well, squeegee brought a 2 liter and some candy to show everyone that cool trick!

the kids were amazed- and so were the parents! man, that stuff shot up about thirty feet in the air- very impressive!

buried treasure

2011-07-17T14:51:00.001-07:00

bubba was finished swimming and had taken his towel to dry off. when he was sufficiently dry we found a fun way for him to wear it- looking good!

this was the funniest thing i saw all day: while enjoying the lake with a swimming noodle, aves and tweets started playing a game. they would submerge the noodle so that it got water inside the center hole then they would each put their mouths on an end and blow as hard as they could, causing one of them to get a face full of lake water! the thing is, aves never won a single time, but was more than willing to keep trying- wet face and all!

a ton of kids hunting through the sand for coins- what fun!

parade candy

2011-07-17T14:46:00.001-07:00

aves, ready for the parade, shows off her patriotic antlers!

tweets was excited about the parade, even though it may look like she is grimacing in pain...

after all these years 2

2011-07-17T13:39:00.001-07:00

some how adam found a video of us in 4th grade! well, we HAD to watch that together, right? oh, it was hilarious to see ourselves so little!

the dustman and myself, quite shocked at seeing everyone again after so long!

kristy and lauren, a couple of classmates the guys and i loved to torture! we sure were pests to the girls in our class- thankfully none of them seemed to still hold it against us... i think.

adam, aaron, and kevin just chillin out in the kitchen at the end of the night. we ended up staying there until almost 3:00am! now thats a lot of memories!

i wanted to take a picture of adam, who then insisted on holding up a random treat from the table. it looks lovely, adam, thanks. and thanks so much for the goofy idea of having an 18 year 8th grade reunion!

after all these years 1

2011-07-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

adam, our host, shares with everyone what he has been up to these past couple decades.

these two faces look pretty familiar... come to find out, staying close with your best friends from grade school is pretty unusual. dusty, aaron, adam and i have stayed close since our grade school days, but we seemed to be the exception. hardly any of the others in attendance have stayed in touch with their friends from that long ago. well, their loss!

of course the old kelloggsville yearbooks had to come out, right? with out them how could we properly make fun of our 8th grade pictures!

getting ready for the 'graduates today' shot. the surprising thing was seeing just how little each person changed. sure, we all got big and grown up, but those 13 year old faces are still in there!

back to work

2011-06-30T19:05:00.001-07:00

first of all, let me just say that the bed in mom and david's guest room is the most amazing bed in the entire world! its an amazingly soft king sized bed that diana and i always look forward to sleeping in when we go to visit! the funny thing about this bed is that its really high, so poco has a really tough time jumping up on it! poor thing! so we actually bring in a chair from the dinning room and set it next to the bed so our stinky dog can make it up there. ridiculous, i know...

another job i got to take care of while i was there was a bit of regrouting the chimney to try and fix a leak. while i was up there i got a great view of the lake!

diana and poco surveying the work that had been done so far. i know, honey, its not that impressive so far, but you just wait!

the ceiling looked a ton better after it had been repainted!

slowly but surely the place starts to take shape. diana picked out a color the walls and i spent the next couple days putting up as much of it as i could. will the painting never end?!? get out of my dreams paint!

big top

2011-06-30T18:57:00.001-07:00

the girls doin' their thing out on the dance floor! tim and i just watched and laughed along with them.

we were talking so much that the time just flew by! before we knew it they were calling for closing time. after seeing these games and rides so full just an hour or two ago, it was kind of strange to see everything so vacant!

goodbye kitchen!

2011-06-15T18:28:00.000-07:00

david and mom got this place so they could turn it into a rental property. my job, should i choose to accept it (which i did...) is to get this place in shape as soon as possible so they can start renting it out. the kitchen was disgusting and they wanted to replace everything in it, so it was my job to get rid of the old stuff.

the best part of any job: the demolition! i relieved a lot of stress that day, let me tell ya!

this used to be a kitchen, i'm pretty sure...

poco was being naughty at the house, so we brought him here to watch him. he didnt care for that one bit! he spent his time cowering by the wall- poor boy!

after everything was gone from the kitchen we covered up that nice flooring so we could get to work on the walls. i think thats enough work for one day, dont ya think? dont worry, i'll be back!

big chair

2011-06-15T18:18:00.001-07:00

we couldnt wait for fathers day, so diana's mom gave david his gift a little early- this enormous fold out camping chair! ha! david is really tall, so it was hilarious to see him dwarfed by the size of this thing! of course we each wanted to take a turn in it, feeling kid sized again!

little baby mom!

little baby me!

this was a photo diana sent me when she and mom first saw it and bought it for david a few weeks ago. let me tell you how much i laughed when she first sent this to me- i thought it was fake or something!

memorial weekend pics 2

2011-06-15T18:05:00.001-07:00

the kids, who we only saw for a minute, at the water park at sandy pines. they had been there for about 4 hours by this time and were visably exhausted- nap time!

tim and jill's place at sandy pines is pretty close to mom and papa's, so when they were coming over for dinner, tweets decided to rollerblade on over- so cute!

grillin up some fantastic brats, yum!

back in the day aaron would sometimes come out with me to sandy pines when we were younger and we would have a blast driving around his remote controlled car in front of the cart as we would ride around the park. well, now they have a remote controlled course! sweet! i've already told aaron that he needs to dust off that old car so we can try this course out!

um... this is a door to the bathrooms at sandy pines. please note that the company that makes the walls and doors for bathroom stalls is called 'hiny hiders'. just let that sink in for a moment...

memorial weekend pics 1

2011-06-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

some how the kids always seem to have a few extra dollars show up when they get to the flea market (thats how we make sure we remain their favorite uncle and aunt!), so the kids usually get some fun little toy that they play with for the rest of the day. this time bubba got a cool gyroscope car thingy that we had a great time playing with when we got back!

diana and the girls went up in the loft to play while dinner was being made. those girls have such an active imagination- they could play up there with their auntie for hours!

every time i pull out my camera my mom groans 'why do you always put embarrassing pictures of us up on your blog? its time to put a picture of yourself up there!' so this is the picture mom took of us at dinner!

(this would be the kind of embarrassing picture my mother was talking about above. you are welcome!)

hows that for an embarrassing picture of me? that should keep mom happy for a while!

boys and grills

2011-06-05T15:11:00.001-07:00

rex and freddie trying to make their best smiling faces. they both failed miserably...

allison and brains chillin out. i was a bit surprised brains didnt try to pull out his guitar and play some U2 for us- he's always trying to play U2, i think its his favorite band ever! (actually brains passionately hates U2, this is all a ploy to get him really mad at me...)

i'm not exactly sure what aaron is doing here. jeffry lee, diana, and keith dont seem to understand either...

an afternoon visit

2011-06-05T14:10:00.001-07:00

i made the fateful mistake of showing mom some of the fun games on diana's phone- she was hooked! poco doesnt seem to mind though, he's just kickin it on mom's lap!

barbara pulled out her laptop to show off some funny youtube clips- a staple whenever she comes to town! if you dont watch the youtube clips that barbara loves then you will not understand half the things she says- he is always quoting them!

stylist diana working her magic!

spring postcard

2011-06-05T14:03:00.001-07:00

here's the front of the postcard with the coupon on it and everything.

theres some important info on the back too (like the phone number to call for and appointment and stuff).

to serve

2011-05-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

one of the students got to change up the message on the sign outside!

here one student repaints a bench while a bunch of others help clean up the underbrush in the background.

a little weeding and planting of the new flowers for the season- looking good!

crash the easter bash

2011-05-24T18:51:00.001-07:00

you knew i couldnt talk about a puppy with out pictures, right? well, take a look at that little guy!

unfortunately i dont remember what kind of pouch he is, but i do know for sure that he is adorable!

new carpets

2011-05-24T18:21:00.001-07:00

tim got us some really nice commercial carpeting for the high traffic living room.

this is the place from the back of the apartment. its not so much a kitchen as it is a hallway...

tim got some really nice stuff for the back bedroom- the whole place looked amazing by the time he was done!

6th art trip

2011-05-24T18:16:00.001-07:00

right away when we arrived we were shepherded into this classroom in the art institute and broken down into groups so that we could follow along with the tour guide and check out some of the cool stuff they had to show us.

this work is based on the story 'the portrait of dorian gray'. if you are familiar with the story then you understand why it looks so disgusting! this work was actually used in a film adapatation of the book- cool!

this is one of those strange works that ive always found very interesting. its by magritte that says 'this is not a pipe'. its a statement on what is real and what is not. (yes, it is a pipe, but its not actually a pipe- its a painting of a pipe. get it?)

by the end of the day the kids were exhausted! we rallied them and got them together for one last picture before we got on the bus. not surprisingly, the ride home was a lot quieter than the ride there...

railroad dinner

2011-04-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

in the middle of tyler's tender they have a model train set up with the whole town and everything. they have controls on the sides for the kids to mess around with and everything!

ok, heres the best part: we had been telling the kids how we were excited to take them to this restaurant because there was even a train that they could ride in! all three of them were really excited about that idea! when we got there we realized the truth of the matter- there was a train for them to ride in, but it just went around this really lame oval track in the room. it was so pathetic that diana and i couldnt help but laugh the entire time! the kids when on it and the two girls had a blast, but i'm pretty sure bubba saw through the thin facade because he pouted the whole time- which of course caused diana and i to laugh even harder!!! the train would come around and we would see aves and tweets waving and grinning from ear to ear, and then in the back of the train car we saw bubba with his arms folded and pouting. and then the train would go around again, and we would see him pouting from the other side of the room... even now as i type this i am literally laughing out loud at the sight of this little guy's disappointment! poor fella...

during dinner i tried to put a positive spin on it for bubba, telling him that i thought it looked like fun and i wanted to go on it with them after we were done eating. well, he took the bait and was actually willing to go on it again! this time he was in a better mood and i think he was in on the joke, so there wasnt any pouting this time! and the girls? well, they were just happy to go on it again!

yes, thats the train on the other side of the room- what an amazing oval it is, huh?

the girls were happy as can be, unjaded by the lameness of the whole thing- ah, to be a kid again!

cabella's again

2011-04-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

at cabella's they have a whole room set up to look like a field filled with deer. they also have an animatronic hunter there who talks a bit about the wildlife. this always freaks out aves- so of course we have to check it out!

over by the shoe department they had this strange little booth. there is a ramp that must be there to simulate hiking? who knows, but the kids sure loved playing on it! aves even shows off the stuffed animal she was trying (successfully, i might add!) to get her mother to buy her.

tweets decided that she needed some new rugged outdoorsman boots. i think this is the right size...

bubba convinced his dad to get him a hat, so he wanted to model it for the camera!

here is one of the 'amazing' shots that bubba took because whenever i take out the camera he wants a turn! mom is quite surprised by the whole thing...

timmy's carpet co.

2011-04-12T14:47:00.001-07:00

mom, with a little help from aves, does a bit of spring cleaning! all the strips of old carpet are being put to good use- aves can get up high enough to help out!

tweets was loving the fact that she got to help out with scrapping the padding off the tiles in the bedroom. kinda looks like a game of shuffleboard, huh?

as you can see, bubba was really excited to help out as well...

once we got the new pads and carpet into the bedrooms we realized that the doors wouldnt be able to move! so papa pulled out his saw and shaved a little off the bottom. bubba finally put the nintendo ds aside to help out!

now that he was in on the fun, he was ready and willing to get some cleaning done. here he is washing the walls of the bedroom, getting everything to look nice!

the family arrives

2011-04-10T00:07:00.001-07:00

tweets was so excited to be at uncle mark and aunt diana's place that she could hardly finish her first piece of pizza!

bubba chowed down because he wanted to get to the good stuff: playing nintendo ds with his favorite uncle!

everybody had a good time except poor old poco! the kids are still a bit leary of him, so he had to stay behind the gate the whole time they were there. poor fella!

cuts and kids 2

2011-04-09T18:47:00.001-07:00

diana, the hair dresser extraordinaire, spend the afternoon taking care of business! she is so good at this stuff!

miranda showing off her new cute look!

mom always loves the job diana does with her hair- looks good!

i didnt get my hair cut, but diana kept telling me i needed a chin hair cut. not sure if i totally believe her or not...

cuts and kids 1

2011-04-09T18:43:00.001-07:00

big bad tav running around the living room showing off in front of all the guests!

tavish got this super cute little chair that he loves to sit in.

during the lull of the afternoon, tavish was getting pretty tired and just wanted to rest on gus (thats what he calls his grandpa david!).

try as i might, i couldnt convince him to go through this colorful little tunnel thingy!

the beard '11

2011-04-09T18:40:00.001-07:00

every year i grow a beard. i dont know why, i just do. i usually wait until first snowfall and then i let it grow. the past couple years i havent been able to grow it too long because diana starts yelling at me to trim it, but for some reason (which i am thankful for) diana just let me keep it growing this year! score!

it looks pretty majestic, no?

2nd anniversary

2011-04-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

on the wedding day my mom set aside a few pieces of cake for us to keep and eat on our anniversary. we had one last year and it was still delicious! this year's piece wasnt quite as good, but we ate it anyway out of tradition. we actually have one piece left. i'm not thinking that one is going to taste very good at all in a year... i've decided that we can consider ourselves newlyweds until the final piece of the cake is gone. most reasonable people can say that for the first year of their marriage, but since we had three pieces saved, we are still considering ourselves newlyweds until next year when we finish it all. why not, right? we still love each other like newlyweds, so it makes sense!

that little stinky dog of ours was pretty interested in the cake too! sorry poco, the cake is only for the married couple!

poco pics 2

2011-04-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

our gross little dog peeking out from under the covers while he and i get comfy in bed.

this is my favorite thing that he does: sometimes i will wake up in the middle of the night and poco will be sleeping right between diana and i and he will be laying on his side with his head sticking out from the covers! its soooo cute! he thinks he's people!

poco in a blanket is a constant source of cuteness!

yes poco, please be sure to stick your tongue out while you lay there, that way you can taste the blanket too...

peek-a-boo, i see you!

poco pics 1

2011-03-22T15:39:00.001-07:00

i'm not sure if i have put many pictures of our gross little dog online. i think i've probably only posted about 3,000 so far. just in case that isnt enough, here are a few more: poco chillin on the armrest of my chair.

when his auntie b came by with all those blankets, poco could hardly handle all that soft comfort! here he is atop that mountain of blankets!

when barbara got under the covers on the couch poco was all over that! he's getting sleepy...

this is what we call an extreme close-up! i think the flash may have blinded him for a minute or two...

another extreme close-up. he sure looks like a sea otter or something with his ears down, huh?

dad visits!

2011-03-22T15:36:00.001-07:00

barbara came earlier in the day and brought all kinds of blankets and pillows for sleeping and put them on the chair in the living room. dad figured it was as good of place as any to sit- and extra padding!

dad is not someone you would call tech savvy, so when we went to the phone store we looked for what ever phone had the least amount of buttons! it got really funny when a worker came over to help, she asked 'do you want a camera on your phone?' and dad's reply was 'my goodness, no!' we eventually found the phone that most looked like the jitterbug (its a really simple phone for elderly people that has really big numbers and nothing else to confuse them) and he was happy. no longer does he have to worry about the 'pay as you go' style of his old phone, which is going to save him a lot of hassle!

josh and sis

2011-03-22T15:16:00.001-07:00

josh and barbara getting their money in order after an important transaction that lead to josh being able to build devos halls on his properties (yes, the grand rapids monopoly is incredibly nerdy...)

everyone rushing to think of something in all the different categories during a rousing game of scattergories.

josh stayed on the air mattress in the second bedroom and sis stayed on the couch. poco made it his job to be her watchdog and keep her safe. as you can see, barbara is very pleased!

re lob papa

2011-03-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

this guy keeps an eye on the pool sticks at that cool cigar shop papa and i went to. now that i look at him i realize he kinda has a scared look on his face, huh? dont worry, buddy, we will return the sticks when we're done, promise!

diana, mom, and papa chillin at their hotel room after our dinner.

family thai's

2011-03-12T11:31:00.001-08:00

mom and david at the thai place happy to see us again!

diana and i ready to eat, as you can see i really dressed up for the occasion...

look at those blue eyes- what a cutie! he was so pumped all night- it had been 10 days since he last saw his mommy, so he was squirming all over the place with excitement!

book fair '11

2011-03-12T10:00:00.001-08:00

since it was circus related, i kind of liked the term 'book fair big top', so i made a couple banners to put at the end of the hall.

the books themselves fill up most of the wall space, so i just threw in a few accents with a bunch of balloons and a few popcorn boxes.

i thought that little orange hand coming out of the light switch box would be kind of funny. i dont know if anyone else really noticed it, but it made me laugh!

keeping the circus big top idea in mind, i made this big circus tent for the start of the hallway, this was the first thing the students would see as they walked over to the book fair. its not my best work, but i thought it was a decent addition to the book fair decor they provided.

presidents day off

2011-03-12T09:51:00.001-08:00

one of the times bub went up to spy on the girls he took this quick snapshot! i'm sure the girls were unawares of his stealthful sleuthing...

after we were done playing i noticed a deck of cards on the table, so i decided to show the kids a little card trick i picked up a few years back. they were blown away by it! i then proceeded to show them how it was done and they loved doing the trick themselves. it was so hilarious because they were surprised every time it worked- even when they were the ones doing it!

our gross little poco standing at the top of the steps looking so tiny!

violin tweets

2011-03-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

after we finished our game of life, tweets told us that she was learning how to play the violin! what?!? how awesome is that! she went and got her little mini violin to show off what she had learned so far. she's not very far along on the lessons, basically all she knows how to do so far is hold it properly, but we were still really impressed! they are renting to own a violin for her, but jill told us that they start her off on this little one and move up to the bigger ones as she gets older. how adorable is that? i'm pretty sure that when she learns to play that thing for real, she will easily bring her own papa to tears! there's nothing papa loves more than beautiful violin music. i've got to say, i feel the same way!
tweets showed us how she does her violin playing thing during this video.

livin the life

2011-03-03T16:48:00.001-08:00

aves takes her turn while tweets, diana, and bub all pose for the camera!

tweets adds a husband to her car. check out the massive amounts of money she's got rockin in front of her- she's a regular pro at this!

beltline

2011-03-03T16:40:00.001-08:00

bub got to sit right next to papa and kind of smiled for this picture. kind of.

he knows i wont put up with a sort-of smile, so he smiled really big for me- so big, in fact, that some food may have accidentally come out! gross!

after party

2011-03-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

aaron and keith chillin out in jills living room. and amazingly, they are not talking about cars!

i am still amazed every single day that she puts up with me...

still not sure how she puts up with him... (just kidding, brains. oops)

awe, dont they make a cute couple? she even puts up with his strange t-shirts! (actually, i loved his t-shirt- its a portrait of edger allen poe made out of ravens)

out

2011-03-03T16:21:00.001-08:00

rex, in his best freddy krueger sweater, and keith having a good time.

brains showing off his amazing new growth that is forming on his head. unfortunately you cant see it very well cause its covered in hair. he hopes it turns out to be an underdeveloped twin that he can talk to when he gets bored.

the lovely diana, looking beautiful as ever!

brains and i just rockin' out. please note the fake tie t shirt brains is wearing.

we were downtown and actually found a parking spot next to the huge calder sculpture. it was really cool to see at night. you cant really tell by this photo, mostly because i am terrible at holding a camera and taking my own picture.

blizzard '011

2011-02-09T18:22:00.001-08:00

the drift on the side of our house was over five feet high!

finally on thursday afternoon, i headed out there to shovel out the cars that had been buried in the driveway for the past day and a half!

it took me about an hour and a half, but i finally got the whole thing shoveled- papa would be proud! since the weather was back to normal, sun shining and everything, we did have to go back to work on friday. shoot, we almost got away with a two day work week! maybe next year...

a date, three years later

2011-02-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

this year our anniversary fell on a wednesday, so i had to go to work. i did however surprise her with three roses when i got home! she was very excited and happy to celebrate three years together.

we tried to figure out what we should to for our anniversary. diana remembered that great buffet place in michigan city, so off we went on our evening together!

diana for some reason really likes this shirt on me but i never wear it because i think its uncomfortable. but, it being our anniversary, i pulled it out and tried to look my prettiest for her! she didnt have to try very hard to look her prettiest for me, she always looks her best! it was a great day and a great time together. she was the love of my life then, and she is even more so now!

go bears

2011-02-03T17:51:00.000-08:00

my lovely wife! with frank and julie in the background enjoying the game.

look at the size of that thing! i have no idea how big it is, but its got to be over sixty inches! fortunately, they also have a huge basement, so it is the perfect fit.

some of frank and julie's friends who came over to enjoy the big game on the big screen.

tiny dog 2

2011-02-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

this is poco playing with his new giraffe toy that barbara got him for christmas!

it took him a little bit of time to wear it in, but now he is able to make it squeak when ever he wants to, which seems to be what he is looking for in a toy. squeak squeak!

poco and his little friend seem to have found a pretty comfy place!

tiny dog 1

2011-02-03T17:06:00.001-08:00

poco nestling in to my blanket at the foot of my chair.

poco always wants to burrow in to his favorite blanket, and gets quite upset when we fold it all nice because he cant dig into it then.

ah, much better! this is how he prefers to use his blanket! warmly nestled in for the night!

her family christmas

2011-01-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

gayle, denny, diana, and matt all enjoying the feast!

barbara opening up the many gifts diana had so much fun getting for her. i think that diana's favorite part of christmas is actually picking out gifts for her sister...

barbara was totally excited about being the christmas elf. thats the person who gets the gifts from under the tree and pass them out!

dad, diana, and barbara enjoying the afternoon together!

allen christmas

2011-01-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

little baby lucy was having a fantastic time opening all her gifts! being the only baby in the family, she got totally spoiled!

other then the coconuts, we also got this strange gift. its a tiki bobble head. strange. what exactly do we do with this now?