Summer Blast!!!

I am completely wiped out ... but it is Friday, so that is fine!! This week we had Summer Blast Day Camp at church. About 110 kids, about 40 teen counselors, and a few adults. This was the first time Walloon Lake has tried to do a full day camp, and it went very well ... mostly thanks to our teens. Props to each of them! Here are some pictures I took the first day. The first one is Tiffany and Amanda's group.

Beth did a wonderful job with her boys. I have to admit, kids that age usually leave me irritated and anoyed. She has completely earned my respect!!!

Here is Candace's group playing the most popular name game of the week.

And one of the kids participating in our Morning Opening fun. Kelli did a great job getting the kids fired up for the day!

Those of you that know me will not be suprised when I say that I am already making plans for how to do things even better next year!!!

Counselor Training Lock In

I did not sleep at all last night. I only remember having been able to say one other time in my entire life. I really like to sleep. But last night I was in charge of a Lock-In to train our Summer Blast counselors, so I stayed up all night. The first half of the night was giving the kids information about what to expect next week. That was really fun and went really well. Here is a picture of the kids learning a new game.

The second half was just doing random things to stay awake since most of the kids were bound and determined not to fall asleep. One of those random things included Tanner actually helping some of the girls make bead necklaces for their teams. Isn't he sweet!!

I'm 27!!!

As of yesterday, I am 27 years old. I'll be honest, Tanner and I both worked yesterday, so we didn't do much in the way of celebration, but was was shocked and thrilled by the millions (ok, maybe it just seemed like millions, but it was a lot!) of birthday wishes I received. Julie pointed out that myspace and facebook probably had a lot to do with that, but still, it was wonderful. The real celebration will be this weekend when we rent a pontoon boat with some friends, but it was still a great day!

We (and when I say we, I mean mostly Tanner!) put up gutters this weekend. But as that doesn't make for an exciting picture, here is a picture I took yesterday of the dogs. It took a long time to get them to sit still and kinda look my direction long enough to take the shot. But anyway ... aren't they just adorable!

Garden and Neighbor

I was outside getting some pictures of my garden when I noticed that one of our neighbors, a big, loner bull was hanging out by the corner of the yard. He posed nicely for a picture!

Here is the garden. It is all perennials at this point, which means I have done nothing at all to it this year, and it still looks pretty good!

This is the annual garden. I'm not all that adventurous after killing hundreds of dollars worth of flowers in my very first garden ever in Oklahoma!

And here is a picture I forgot I had taken of the Kolb's visit.

And, just some fun news ... I am the head coach of Petosky High School's Cross Country teams!!! I'm pretty excited!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had lots of excitement going on here for Memorial Day Weekend! Tanner's parents and brother came up for a visit, which is always lots of fun. We did some walking around downtown and some hanging out out the house and some Penguins game watching (they lost, but it was just the first game of the series) while they were here. Tanner also put on a Strongman Competition for the high schoolers and our friends got some great pictures.

This one is called the Farmer's Walk.

My favorite was the Jeep pull. Tanner actually cleaned out the Jeep for this event. It probably would have weighed an extra hundred pounds if he hadn't! If you look close you can see Caleb in the drivers seat. His job for the day was to steer. Mine was to keep Drake out of trouble!
There were quite a few spectators. Even a guy who just read about it in the paper and wanted to check it out. I think Jon made his day by talking with him for quite a while!
What a great picture!!

Then, after Tanner's family headed home on Monday we met some friends down at the waterfront for food, fun, and bocce. It was a nice relaxing way to wrap up a busy weekend!

Trip to PA

I took a whole bunch of pictures this weekend. I'm kinda proud of myself. Usually, I just steal other peoples pictures, but since none of my nearly-professional-photographer friends were with me, I had to fend for myself. I was going to Harrisburg to my littlest sister Lori's graduation from my alma mater Messiah College. But to shorten the trip a bit, I stopped in Pittsburgh and got to see Amy and her first little baby, Maddie. I wasn't supposed to get to see Maddie on this trip, but she came a few days early just for me! I also got to hang out with Amber that night (we watched the Penguin's game, of course!), but I didn't get any pictures there unfortunately. Then it was off to Messiah. I got tons of pictures there. Lori is the one in the funny black graduation gown. She got rid of the cap and wouldn't take any pictures with it. Cameron looks so tall standing next to her ... or does she look short? Dad brought chairs for him and grandpa to sit on during the "Creekside Reception." We laughed at them, but really it was a smart idea! By the way, I had completely forgotten how good the cookies are at Messiah! Then we got a few more pictures of the three of us before Lori and I headed back to Pittsburgh. She is off to the Gulf Coast for a summer internship. Then to Dominica again to be a TA for the fall. She definitely got the brains of the family!!

I got "tagged"!

Dominique "tagged" me, and since I don't really have any great photos to share this week, I thought I would participate. Besides, to be honest, I kinda have fun with these things! Here are the rules if you want to play:
1. Link to your tagger (I don't know how to do that) and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. (Again, I don't know how to link people, and I'm not even sure if I know 7 people with blogs!)
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here we go:
1. I have a funny thing on one of my front teeth. It looks like a map of the US if you cut off Florida. It was there when the tooth came in and someone at some point called it a calcium spot. I don't really know what that means. I forget about it most of the time. Every now and then some little kid will ask me about it. I love thier curiosity!
2. I have my nose pierced becuase I lost a bet. It is a good story so feel free to ask, but it's too long to write here. I do like the piercing though. I have been such a goody-two-shoes all my life and it is fun to have something about me that is just a little bit edgy!
3. The diamond in my engagement ring came from a Super Bowl ring.
4. I have lots of rebels in my family tree. One got kicked out of Irelend for stirring up trouble with the English. Another was a general in the Confederate army. In fact, Jefferson Davis is indirectly related. He was somebody's cousin or something.
5. I am still good friends with my best friend from preschool. We were inseperable in grade school and were in each others weddings. The picture is of her and I taken about a year ago when I was back in the 'Burgh.

6. I struggle with spelling. (If you havn't already noticed!)

7. One of my main goals in life is to have a college caffeteria named after me.

Now, I'm supposed to tag 7 other people. I'm going to have to post this and come back to it when I have found 7 people to tag!!