a week in michigan

what a great wedding weekend! on friday night we went to dave and karissa (phelps) klyn's wedding in holland. it was the first time in 3 years that all of our senior year college roommates were able to be together in one place - what a great reunion! quite a bit has changed since then but it's crazy how easy it is to pick back up like we haven't missed a beat.

karissa and dave's wedding was on windmill island. it was a beautiful night!

saturday night was luke and ruth (nederhood) holtrop's wedding in grand rapids. it was so great to have our whole family together...we just had to go to michigan to do it! it's always such a beautiful thing to watch two people who love the Lord unit their lives in love.

i also took a group of girls to calvin volleyball camp this week. spending 5 days with 15 high school girls definitely proves to be a tiring week! i worked at the individual camp that was held during the day and then coached our girls for the team camp at night. i had to drive the girls back to chicago on friday morning after camp, repack my suitcase and come back to michigan for the weddings. so after a crazy, full week, it's great to be home and sleep in my own bed again!

earlier this month it was matt's birthday. he got to pick where we went out to eat, and not much to my surprise, he picked the fish co. restaurant that's in bass pro shops. :) they have a really cool 13,000 gallon fish tank and reeeally good food.

and my surprise birthday gift to him was this awesome painting, custom done by my cousin Elliot Slenk. pretty amazing, i'd say. our apartment has stark white walls right now, so it kinda looks like it's painted right on our walls, but when we change apartments in a few weeks, i'm sure it will have a very special spot.

that's about all for us....i hope everyone's having a great summer!

independence weekend

matt and i went to wisconsin for the weekend to meet up with his family at brent and becca's place in oostburg. we had a great time catching up with family and relaxing. we went to the beach to play some volleyball, freeze our bodies numb in lake michigan, watch some fireworks, and play some bocce ball. we also joined the record setting sales crowd at brent and becca's opening day for the sheboygan pizza ranch.

we also celebrated matt's birthday. here's my crazy husband with a couple of his presents and the wrapping paper that just kept on giving! :)

the sheboygan parade - here were a few of my favorite parts...first, the bagpipers

a dutch area parade is not complete without a few dutch dancers!

and the moment we all waited for - the pizza ranch car! brent's spreading the word of opening day

2 years!

it's hard to believe that our wedding was 2 years ago already! a lot has happened since then.....we've lived in 2 different states, 3 different apartments, i've had 2 different jobs (well, major jobs - i'm not counting dog walking and all those crazy part time ones i had when we first moved here!), and all in all we've had 2 wonderful years together. i thought i'd be fun to relive that day with a few pictures....

garage sales

i'm a big fan of garage sales, especially when neighborhoods have them together so you can avoid the drive five blocks, park the car, drive five blocks, park the car routine. matt and i made our first garage sale sweep of the summer this weekend. matt found a vhs he uses every fall for class, but otherwise we just enjoyed the adventure of hunting for a good deal. and you never know what you are going to see along the way....

like multiples of the same things - lotions, tshirts, jewelry, and brownie mixes....yes, brownie mixes. for a little while i thought this couple was running a mini convenience store right out of their garage.

it's just the beginning of the summer....who knows what we will find on weekends to come!

ahhhh...summer nights

it seemed to change to summer in a matter of a day and it's exciting to start smelling, hearing, and seeing everything i love about spring and summer....

the smell of mud....fresh cut grass....rain....flowers....
the sound of birds waking me up....cicadas at night....
late night sunsets....pink shoulders and noses....running barefoot in the grass....
riding with the window down and the music loud....
baseball....bags....grilling....bonfires....summer nights....

and the best thing of all? finishing that last day of school....matt's is next week wednesday and mine is june 11 - almost there!

this weekend i got to go up to michigan with my mom to play in a volleyball tournament and visit family. mom and i got a little more quality time in the car than we planned on, after crawling along I-80 around two different 5 car accidents within 1/4 mile of each other. oh, chicago traffic....you never seem to disappoint.

buying transportation

we have been in the business of buying transportation lately...

first was a bike. the last bike i had was the pink and purple 10 speed that i got as a birthday present in grade school. i had brought it to college and it served me well. but after the chain rusted out and you could hear it squeak from a mile away, i figured other college students would appreciate a free bike. so after saving up for a while, i was able to buy a new one....


and second was a car! much to matt's disappointment, it was time to trade in the beretta. but he had a very proud moment when the manager talked to us after he inspected it for trade in value. he said...and i quote "that's the best beretta i've seen in a long time. you must have loved that car!" i have a feeling they don't see many berettas come through there, so i have to give him props...he's a pretty good car salesman - obviously he knew just what to say to my husband!

when we were finally ready to go home, matt jumped into the driver's seat, turned the ignition, and..... instantly a look of confusion and concern. i could only think - you've go to be kidding me! we've owned this thing for 5 minutes and something is wrong?

me - "matt, what's wrong? something with the car?"
matt - "well i turned the car on, but i don't hear anything. is it on?!"
me - laughing hysterically .... the car was definitely on :)

i think this qualifies as a - you know you've had an older car for a LONG time when...... no worries, the car is just fine and it's running great.


now we are ready for summer road trips and bike rides! :) i hope everyone is having a wonderful spring!

spring break

last week was spring break for both of our schools, so i took off work and we headed out on a spring break adventure. we started off the week flying out to new mexico to visit tim & chels in zuni. it was great to see where they live, work, and the people they talk about. here's a few pictures...

we thought jeremiah looked pretty good in a twin's hat.....he only liked it for about 3 seconds. someday...

on monday, we hiked up DY, the mesa near zuni. zuni is in the background of the picture, and was awesome to get up that high and see for miles!

one night we also went to turtle rock to watch the sunset. once again....beautiful!


tuesday and wednesday we went to the grand canyon - matt and i's first time! on tuesday we went to a lot of lookout points and watched the sunset over the grand canyon at night. it was amazing just to take it all in! that night we camped out, and wednesday we hiked the kaibab trail. although a little chilly, we had a great time.


thursday we flew back to chicago, but not before i snapped a happy picture with jeremiah. the poor guy was working on 3 top teeth all week and usually just wanted chels. by the last day he was feeling better and i got a good smile. i told him he could practice saying my name for the next time we see him....but we just may have to visit again for that to happen! :)

after a few short hours of sleep, we unpacked and repacked our bags on friday morning and headed out to minneapolis for the 1st twins game in target field. zack, one of matt's college roommates, got us tickets.....matt was like a kid in a candy store. it was rainy all day, but as soon as we got to the stadium, the rain stopped and it was great weather!





and on our way home, we celebrated easter with family. this is just a little family game of carrot baseball. team siblings-with-spouses took the W this year, but team parents-and-unmarried-siblings did have an impressive showing....snapping the carrot top off the bat and breaking a ball in half.
and finally back to chicagoland. it was a great spring break....the only thing missing was a vacation day to recover from our vacation before monday rolled around!