Are You Ready For Some Football!!

Last night was the start of the Vicksburg Bulldog Varsity Football Season. Tony is a junior this year and is apart of this team. My husband looks forward to this time of year. I on the other hand am happy to support and yell with the best of them but, have to say I never have understood this game. To be quite honest the only thing that I do know is when our team has the ball and makes it into the end zone...That is a good thing! Last night they were able to do just that. They started their season off with a 14-6 win over Comstock. Good job Bulldogs! The team coming back tot he side lines after half time.

Getting pumped up for the Second half.

Tony's biggest fan!! For at least the first two quarters after that he is only interested in going home! It's a long time for a four year old to sit and watch something that he too knows nothing about. I'm hoping for a baseball boy out of him. Now that Mom understands!

Tony is in the middle with the red shirt. Talking with the guys on the sideline.

God's Beauty

God's beauty is something that I never get tired of. It never ceases to amaze me that he allows us to see and witness such amazing and beautiful things. Last Thursday we went to South Haven to pick Gabe up. He went camping for one night with his Grandma Fuller, sister, Aunt Myra and her girls. On the drive over I asked John if he would mind driving a little further into town so that we could watch the sunset at the pier. South Haven is where John purposed to me so it holds a special place in my heart for sure but to go there and to be able to get these shots. I call that a close to perfect night. This is Gabe's footprint in the sand. Couldn't help myself.
Gabe playing at the park with the sun setting behind him. He doesn't see the beauty in it but I'm sure someday he will.

The waves were just crashing in. I always thought that you could only get pictures of waves in Florida but the more time we spend at the big lake the more I see that we have just as much beauty right her in our own back yard.

This was one of my favorites from the night. I love how the bird flew in just as I was taking the picture and how the colors are so calming.

Happy 14th Birthday Dustin

Wow 14 already! How this happens I really don't know. Dustin was 7 years old when John and I met. Dustin and I have always had a special bond. He has a very soft heart and loving nature. He is a great big brother all be it a little rough at time and I'm sure his sister wouldn't say that about him. I think he is great. This is the third year in a row that Dustin has requested a Football Themed birthday. Needless to say my ideas are running out with what to do for Football birthday cakes all I can say is thank the Lord for Internet!!This is his Football "cup"cake!I had a few extra cup cakes so we decorated those with his favorite Football teams colors. If you ask Dustin he will tell you "Go Vikings!"
A Dustin birthday party would not be complete without a water balloon fight. This year I filled 200 water balloons. It took three hours to fill the balloons and about 15 minutes for them to disappear! Thankful Shenira is able to tie balloons this year so my figures were saved a little with her help. This would be Dustin running down the middle of the street trying to get away from his Dad. Dustin was able to stay pretty dry this year....until.........Yep, that's right a little brotherly love. Come her Dustin give big brother Tony a hug!!

However, Tony and Dad still didn't think that Dustin was quite wet enough so it was.....

You guessed it, off to the Pool to where he would be thrown in cloths and all. The best part about this was that Dustin wasn't able to get John in but Tony being sneaky once Dustin was in the pool pushed John in right behind him. Wallet and all. I'm pretty sure there will be some payback coming, it's just a matter of when!

Unofficial Crayon Holder

Sunday we took Gabe out for lunch at Outback Steakhouse. Daddy got a gift certificate from work so we decided to continue our weekend of Fun. While we were there they gave Gabe some crayons and a coloring menu. Gabe asked me if I would help him color but when I went to get a crayon I couldn't find any of them. I asked him if he dropped them on the floor when he looked at me and said "Nope just got them in there holders"! Had to get a picture of that. As you can see the "Holders" were behind his ears. What will that child come up with next???? Unofficial crayon holder

Anniversary Fun

August 15th was our 6 year anniversary. We decided to make a full day of it and ended up having lots of fun. Our first stop was to Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in Athens. They opened last year but this was the first time that we've been able to make it over. Probably because of some procrastination on Mom's part. Reptiles doesn't rank real high on my like list! But for today I sucked it up and headed out to take one for the team. To which made Gabriel's day.

This is Alphabet Soup..He has markings on him that look like letters and numbers which is how get got his name. Everyone in the group got a chance to hold him.

Gabe is touching the gators teeth! Pretty bad I'll let my kid do it but I didn't want any part of it! Gabe & Daddy getting their turn to hold the Alligator.

This is the owner bringing one of the big gators out of the pond so that everyone could see the things that he could do. This was Godzilla and he was very interesting as long as I was behind the fence and far away from him! After our visit we headed home for some lunch and nap time. After nap time John and I dropped Gabe off to a friends so that we could go to John's cousins wedding. If was nice to get all dressed up for our anniversary.

Couldn't resist getting a couple shots of the man I love more and more everyday. He is so good at turning little into much and today was no exception. I'm thankful everyday that we were brought together and that God found just the right one for me. For me I now know that the wait that I had to go through was so worth it. If you are waiting for something and wishing that it would happen right now, know that if God has put you into a waiting time he IS working on something great for you.
Couldn't let the night get away without a picture. After spending sometime at the reception we headed home to change and then it was off to a movie. What a great day.

Bike Fest 2009

On August 7 & 8 a group of 14 riders from our church after preparing for months took the Kal-Haven trail from Kalamazoo to South Haven. This was a 38 mile ride from the start of the trail in Kalamazoo to the Church that we stayed at overnight. John was one of the 14 to ride and I followed in the car with first aide & a bike rack just in case anyone needed it.

This is the group all ready to go.

Second check point all still have smiles and are having a great time. John is on the left in the back row.

Here they are almost at a stopping rest point. Where we had trail mix, fruit and water for them. They just have to get past the road to get to it!

John just coming into South Haven 33 miles down and only 5 more to get to the church. They stopped her for a few minutes to rest. At this point the rain had started to come down but all still had good spirits. Once we made it to the church it was off to a small park to eat dinner and then a little free time before we had to meet back at the church. This was a great boat that was in South Haven for the weekend.
These are good friends of ours. Left to Right: Pastor Dave Downs, Kelly Downs, Dale Dafoe, Becky Glenn, Ron Glenn, John and I. It was raining but that didn't stop us. What fun we had.
This is my exhausted husband. Being the terrific Dad that he is he on Thursday Aug. 6th took Tony to Bourbonnia IL to see the Chicago Bears training camp as Tony is a huge Bears fan. He then got up at 4:00 am Friday morning to drive back to Vicksburg so that Tony would be home in time for Football practice at 9:00 am and so that he would be back in time to go to a doctor appointment with me before he had to ride 38 miles that same day. Needless to say he was very ready for bed that night.

The above picture is 9 of the 14 that started to trip that on the next day got back on their bikes and made the 38 mile ride back to Kalamazoo in the pouring down rain! Not only did they have rain but also got caught in a big thunder storm on the way home and yes if you notice John is the second from the left in this picture. He was determined to finish the entire trip and did! This is Gabe killing time as we waited for 3 hours for them to get back to Kalamazoo. Because of the rain they were slowed down quite a big. But he was a trooper and never complained at all. We colored and made a fort in the back of the car, laid in the dashboard, and took lots of pictures!