The February 10

Last week my sister blogged her attempt at 10 things that she likes about February, in an effort to find the good in a seemingly dreary month. This week my brother-in-law Dave did the same and then tagged me. So here's my effort at it.
Ten reasons I love February:
1. Super Bowl commercials (I don't think the Lions will actually be in the game, so I've settled on being a commercial fan)
2. Carrie's birthday
3. My anniversary
4. Sale on Valentine's candy after the 14th!
5. Snow fights (Ryan humored me with one this year)
6. Snow (I actually like the fluffy white stuff)
7. Tulips from Ryan (you've done it two years in a row...I think that you're going to have a hard time getting out of it next year)
8. Bowling
9. Hot chocolate
10. Crazy cake batter with milk (it doesn't have raw eggs, so I can actually have it! Much thanks to my mother-in-law for that one!)

I tag Ryan, Marni, Chris and my Dad for their February 10.

Nice to have a church...and a kitchenaid mixer

Since leaving Straightway VCF about a month ago, Ryan and I have been on a quest to find a new church. We tried out of a couple of different ones, and for different reasons, both of us didn't feel like we could call them "home". Finally last week we tried out a friend of mine's church, and we both really liked it. They had contemporary worship (and a lot of it spread throughout the service instead of just in one block which was both different and nice), a lot of friendly people, a lot of young couples with and without kids and a lot of ministries that we were both attracted to and could easily get involved in. The message was good, and was about building community, and that without community we can't make Jesus known. We decided to go back this week, but unfortunately Ryan had to work so I went alone. Again I was greeted by a number of people who were geniunely nice and intersted in why I/we had checked them out. I left today feeling refreshed that we may have found a church, and I'm looking forward to going back next week.


I came home after a quick stop at the grocery store and started to cook and bake. It was my mother-in-law's 50th birthday on Thursday and we're celebrating tonight with an Oscar's viewing party and birthday dinner. I was in charge of the cake and party potatoes, etc. Now, I usually dread making the party potatoes because I hate how cold the frozen hash browns make my hands. So today I had the brilliant idea of using my KitchenAid mixer to do the dirty work. Man I'm a genius! I whipped up the potatoes in no time, had them in a pan ready to go, and didn't even get my hands messy, let alone freezing! It was great. The KitchenAid also came in handy in making the cake batter. I hope that the cake turned out well, it's Robin's recipe, and I've never made it. We'll see how it goes.

Other than that I have the next hour or so to have a lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing to do but relax. I may even get a short nap in if I'm lucky!

Edited Madeline Pic using Picasa2

I found a new tool on google called "Picasa2", which is used for photo editing. It's not a real hi-tech tool, but it works for what I'm experimenting with right now, and that's fun. The first picture that I used it on was this one with Ana and Madeline. I think that the edit turned out pretty neat.

Welcome Madeline Grace!

Yesterday Gabe and Ana had a beautiful baby girl. She's 7 lbs 6 oz and is healthy and cute. Ryan and I headed up to the hospital yesterday to check her out. She's super cute, and it was great to get a baby fix in. We've got another 10 weeks to go, but it'll be nice to visit Madeline in the mean time to "help out" (or get a baby fix).

Back to school

Today is Ryan's first day of classes. I'm so proud of him.

Melodie's Bedding

After much debate and search, I finally found a bedroom set that I fell in love with and was excited about. Ryan was happy about the price, and so we ended up ordering it today and are expected to get it in a week or two. I can't wait to get it, and start getting ready to decorate for Melodie. It should be a lot of fun!

The weekend

Ryan and I celebrated our first anniversary this weekend in Holland. We had a wonderful time. We got in to town late Thursday night and had a full weekend after that. Friday night we spent with the Kuipers clan and it was a lot of fun. The girls were hillarious and insisted on dressing Ryan up with "crowns and necklaces". He was a good sport about it, and it was fun to watch him play with the girls. It was also nice to see all of the rennovations that Carrie and James have done on their house. They've done an incredible job, and we both were really impressed. We spent Saturday night with Ryan's Uncle Dale. We went out to a place called 'Til midnight, which had the best steak that I've ever had. Ryan had Texas Wild Boar Chops which he said were excellent, and Dale had something something venison. Everything was excellent, and I was just as impressed with their desert as I was with the main course. On Sunday we decided to celebrate our anniversary by going out to brunch at a place called BoatWerks. I LOVED it. The decor reminded me of my Dad's family, with the restaurant situated on Lake Macatawa and artwork being from ship wrecks and Chris Craft boats. The brunch was excellent, and well worth the price. However, the trip to the restaurant made both Ryan and I glad that we got married a year ago instead of this year on the 10th. I don't think anyone would have been able to make it to the wedding with the 0 degree temperatures and the blowing snow. We almost turned around right after leaving my parent's house because of the bad weather, but I'm glad that we ventured out. My mom taught me how to make burritos on Saturday, and so we made a triple batch. Orignally all of my siblings were going to come into town for a burrito night, as well as Uncle Dale and Dave's parents who were in town watching the girls while Ceci and Dave were in Africa for the week. Unfortunately Ben and Janet had to cancel because of the weather, Carrie and James also followed suit, which ended up being a good thing because of the 50 car pile up they would've run into had they come. So we had a much smaller gathering than anticipated, but it was still nice to see everyone. Unfortunately I got a bit sick Sunday night and Monday, but I've been feeling much better since. We had a great time, and I'm thankful that we got home safely. It's been quite a year since we got married, and I think that this coming year will only hold more adventures than the previous.

A good day

Ryan and I headed out to Waukesha today to have lunch with Ryan's brother Mike, and to take care of our taxes. Thankfully Ryan's dad has Turbo Tax, and we were able to do our taxes at his parent's house. After doing taxes with Turbo Tax I don't think that I'll EVER go back to doing them by hand again. That is a fantastic program! I especially like the little box in the upper corner that turns either Green or Red based on whether or not you are going to receive money or owe money to the government. We e-filed, and are glad that we're not going to have to wait weeks to have everything process through and get taken care of. It's also nice that I don't OWE anything this year, as opposed to last year's tax return.
As we were printing off our returns for our records, the ink cartridge ran out. We headed out to Target to get a new cartridge for the computer and on our way home I pulled up and stopped the car for Ryan to get out. We've had a lot of snow and rain recently, so the the sidewalk in front of his parent's house is pretty well flooded with icy puddles. Ryan insisted that I could pull up further, but I insisted that he get out to avoid the puddles, snowdrifts and ice. He shook his head, and got out which is when I finally realized that we were in front of the wrong house! My poor husband just walked the extra 200 feet to the house but we both got quite a good laugh out of it.
Finally, I love snow and this winter has been no disappointment. However, Ryan and I are headed back to Holland for a free and what we hope to be a fabulous anniversary dinner at 'Til Midnight. It was a year ago tomorrow that I left Milwaukee a single gal and headed home through terrible snow-blown roads to get back to Holland before our wedding. Tonight all the news can cover is the huge winter storm of anticipated 8-14 inches of snow coming tonight and tomorrow. I'm glad that we're not leaving until Thursday, and hopefully the roads will be clear by then.
Also, can I just give a shout out to my super amazing cousin who, on her first snowshoeing excursion attempted to summit Pike's Peak! Interestingly enough, a summit which Mr. Pike stated that he "should like to think no one will ever summit". And my cousin, on her first attempt at snowshoeing went for it! Way to go Marni! You ARE my hero!

Who to root for?

I'm torn between who to root for in todays game. While I almost always root for the underdog in the Super Bowl (mostly because I NEVER have a team I care about in the game), I don't like Eli Manning. I think that he whines too much, or if it's not whining...it sure looks like it with his constant head bobbing when things don't go his way. At the same time, I'm not a huge fan of the Patriots because they seem cocky and have won enough lately. Perhaps I should root for the Patriots simply because of Tom Brady's connection with Michigan and the picture below, but I can't get over rooting for the underdog. Ahhh, maybe I'll just root for the commercials.

I torn between who to root for in todays game. While I almost always root for the underdog in the Super Bowl