Detroit Zoo!

Today Scott took a vacation day today and we took the kids to the Detroit Zoo. It's been a while since I had been there and it was much better than I remembered:) The weather was great and we had a fun time. Of course I took way too many pictures...but here are just a few.

Letterboxing Adventures!

Today we went on our first letterboxing hunt and we had a blast! Letterboxing is basically a worldwide treasure hunt. People from all over the world plant "letterboxes" (there are estimated over 20,000) and then they go online and write clues to how to find their letterbox. Thanks to my friend Carrie for introducing us to letterboxing:)...I went to the websites www.letterboxing.org and www.atlasquest.com and we printed off clues to a few locations. We started at Huron Meadows Metropaark (which we never found the one there), then went to the Wildernest Store on Main Street in Brighton, and then to the Red Caboose in front of the store Wood-n-things. So we found two out of three letterboxes. So basically, once you find the letterbox (which contains a stamp, notepad, and pen inside a waterproof container), you take them out and stamp your own "Letterboxing Trail Journal" with the stamp and write where you found it/location...and then you stamp the book in the letterbox with your own stamp, and sign your name and write a note. Then you seal it up once more and put it back for someone else to find.

Tanner and Logan loved this little adventure. They kept saying they were detectives. We went to Target prior to this so they could pick their "trail journals" and they were so excited about their little journals with their stamps in them. Although, I think I was more excited than the kids were each time we found a box:)

So now, on days when we don't have much going on, we are going to go letterboxing! I already printed off the clues for about ten new places to go search for letterboxes...I'd highly recommend it! Once again...thanks Carrie for the idea!

Little Stinker!

Tanner was playing with stickers while I was on the phone today...I turned around and this is what I saw...Little Stinker! Preston didn't think it was so funny when I had to pull all the stickers off!

Fifteen Minutes of Fame:)

Today we were featured in the newspaper in the "Our Neighbors" section. My friend Heather Aeschliman is the public relations person for church and always tries to highlight church members or church events in the paper when she can. So she called the paper a while ago and they recently contacted me asking if they could do a story about us having two sets of twins. Kinda fun:) The link is below:

http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080921/NEWS01/809210325

BTW, we don't subscribe to the paper...so if anyone wants to save the article for us to cut out for our scrapbooks, I'd greatly appreciate it...thanks!

~julie

Happy Wife = Happy Life:)

Ok, so normally I don't just put one picture on my blog postings...but this time, sadly, there is only one:( The reason being that about a minute after this picture was taken, my camera broke and I couldn't take anymore:( Yesterday Scott took a half day off work and we went to the U of M Botanical Gardens to check them out since we hadn't been there before. As many of you know, I love taking pictures and had thought this would be a great place to take some nice outdoor pictures...well, right after this first picture, I put my camera on top of the stroller and it fell off and broke:( For me, this is like losing a limb...I loved my camera and it was less than a year old. Anyways, so after my camera broke I was ticked and couldn't enjoy the day. I have to admit I sulked the whole way home. I was expecting Scott might try to be funny and say something like..."well, at least you found the cure for your blogging addiction", or something like that, but he didn't. He was very sweet and he knows how mch I love to take pictures and that it makes me happy...so on the way home, he simply told me to go that evening and buy another camera. He knows me well and knows I'd be sad until I got another one:) I ended up getting a nicer camera than the one I had. I hated to spend the money on replacing my camera, but I'm thankful for Scott, that he is always trying to make me happy...he has joked "happy wife = happy life:)" hehe...so...I didn't even skip a beat...and I can continue to feed my picture taking and blogging addiction:) I'm not sure why I like taking pictures so much and posting them various places...it's just something I like to do...my hobby in a way...but I'm grateful for a husband that knows what makes me happy and supports me in every little thing I do. Love you Scottie!

Five Fun Fall Things For the First Day of Fall!

Five Fun Fall Things!! 1.) Fabulous Mums! 2.) Fun Foods! 3.) Fragrant Flowers! 4.) Fantastic Helpers! 5.)Festive Decor!

Last night we made some yummy caramel apples...the boys were in heaven! (and so was I!)...then today Tanner and Logan helped me cut down all the cornstalks, pumpkins, and sunflowers from our garden and we decorated the porch with them. It is very empowering to grow everything yourself. I loved having a garden this summer and want to do one each year. The boys were great helpers and we had alot of fun working hard and "bringing in the harvest" today:)

Have a great first day of Fall everyone!

Time to Make the Doughnuts!

Today Tanner, Logan and I made homemade doughnuts (going to all these apple orchards kind of put me in the mood to try that:) So here they are...with their messy hands...cutting donuts out, shaking all the cinnamon, sugar, and powdered sugar on, etc. We had a great time....not sure if they tasted all that wonderful, but it was sure fun making them!!)

Spicer's Orchard

Ok, so I'm a little obsessed...three orchards in three days...what is wrong with me??!! So we went to Spicer's today...I swear I'm cutting myself off...no more apple orchards for at least a week! But...the boys did have fun:)...they always love the sandbox and like the new haymaze they put up there...

Personal Progress Pajama Party...a.k.a. "P" Party!!

Tonight we had a "P" Party for Young Women's...a Personal Progress Pajama Party! Each of the girls wore as many P things as they could think of, and we had fun P-foods, like pretzels, popcorn, popsicles, punch, Paydays, etc. I think the girls liked it...thanks to my sister Kathy for the great idea! So here are the girls in all their P attire...aren't they such perfectly polished princesses:)

It fits!

Ok, I know this is totally tooting my own horn here...but let me explain. My family (parents, siblings, and brother-in-laws) have been doing a "biggest loser" competition for one month now. We are all trying to lose weight and see how much we can lose by mid-November (my brother Gary's wedding). So, we "weigh in" every MOnday morning and post our weights and share how our eating went that week/ encourage each other, etc. So, in the past month, I have lost 12 pounds. I still have lots more to go, but I am now the weight I was when I got married. Over the past couple years, I have lost about 30 pounds overall, and my wedding dress didn't fit for a while there!...but now it does! When I got on the scale and realized I was at my "wedding weight" again, I put on my dress and made Scott take a picture of me...so I could show proof to my family on our family website:) Anyways, my reason for sharing this on my blog, is for motivation for me:) Now that I've told people I'm trying to lose weight, it will help motivate me to keep going:)

Three Cedars Farm

After going to the apple orchard yesterday, it put me in the mood for fun fall things...so we went to Three Cedars Farm Orchard today. The weather was great!...They've built a whole new kids area which is awesome! They have this cool, plastic, lifesized cow that the kids can "milk" and water comes out. Also, check out the size of those pumpkins in the third picture...huge! It was a fun time...I love that place...mainly because it is so beautiful, the displays are awesome...it just oozes with charm!

Erwin's Apple Orchard

Today we went to Erwin's Apple Orchard for church playgroup. It was a perfect weather day...crisp, fall-like, and clear blue skies. The boys liked the hay maze, tractor trikes, the animals, the wagon ride through the orchard, and of course the yummy cider and donuts!:) I love fall...my favorite season...and visiting apple orchards and pupkin patches throughout the season is always a highlight...everyone had a great time!

Erwin's Apple Orchard (continued)

Here are some more pictures from the Apple Orchard:)

Mallory is Crawling & Preston's First Haircut

Mallory finally caught up to her brother and is crawling all over the place! I kind of forgot how crazy it is once they start moving. I can't turn my back for a minute! All of a sudden I am very aware of electrical cords and all the little things I didn't notice before. We need to get some gates...this house has lots of stairs which doesn't go well with two crawling babies!

Also, I just gave Preston his first haircut. His hair was getting a little too scraggly and it looked like he was getting a mullet and I couldn't stand it anymore:) I think he looks like a little gentleman now:)