• I'm doing great!
• Jim is doing great - he's in school 4 days a week for computer certification classes and he's loving it
• We did finally begin our new house project of adding on a family room
• Andrew has done fabulous in Boot Camp and I leave very early tomorrow morning to go see his graduation and spend Saturday with him. The few couple of weeks were the worst - getting used to not having him around and just missing him like crazy, but time went by quickly and now 9 weeks later we get to see him again. I'll tell all about that when I get back I'm sure

Sad Days

Summer days driftin' away, to uh-oh those summer nights

Uh Well-a well-a well-a huh

What's that? Tell you more? Sure thing

Another busy, busy week is almost to an end. I (we) have been working some more on getting things going for our addition. Not much to say there, just progress is finally being made on the paperwork/"permission" end of things - so that's good of course.

Wednesday we spent most of the day down in Ocean City with our friends Eric and Alison.

WINNER: Jim patiently waiting WINNER: Eric (it's important that they each win at something or else there's a lot of bragging and disappointment going on for the rest of the day, haha!)

Let me tell you - IT WAS THE MOST PERFECT BEACH DAY - I couldn't have asked for it to be better. The temperature was great, the spot we had on the beach was great, and even the water was great. Although Jim had to kick me out from splashing in the waves, b/c I was having some bathing suit issues that we won't discuss on here (let's just say the waves were a little more rough than I expected lol), much to my disappointment I got kicked out. :-\     I'll have to try again next time - hopefully the water will be just as warm.

Our surfer boys - LOL

After we were done at the beach we rushed home and went to help out with the Backyard Bible Clubs that our church was doing this week. There were so many kids, it was great! Last year our Backyard Clubs went so well, that our Junior "youth group" grew SO MUCH - with so many un-churched kids. God was really at work and I can't wait to see what His plans are for this year

Kirsten talking about being a good friend - Like Jonathan and David

 Jim and I after a long, fun-filled day.

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Thursday was yet another long day, but still fun. We worked all day, then Betty brought Izzy over for us to watch for a few hours, while Eric and Alison also came for dinner. Jim was a huge help with grilling up the food and helping with dinner. I'm so thankful for him and especially for how helpful he's been. Izzy was so good for us, but I know I would have been stressed out if I was watching her, preparing for guests and cooking dinner all by myself. Although, now that I think about it, it would have been good practice for my future I'm sure. LOL

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Tonight (Friday) we just cooked some more chicken up on the grill and had (almost) all the boys in Jim's family over for dinner. Jim's Mom and sister Rachel, along with his youngest nephew Ethan, are in N.C. for a family wedding. Which leaves Jim's Dad, brother Wayne, brother-in-law Rob, and nephew Dane all in one house - that many men alone in a house, that can't be good. LOL. So we had them all over and it was great.

These days I hardly ever get to see any of Jim's family, plus Wayne just got back home after being in Japan for a year, so it was good times catching up with everyone. I definitely enjoyed myelf.

Tomorrow it's another morning of work - then if there's time left in the early afternoon I will head over to church to help out with our Children's Fun Day. After that is my niece's 13th birthday party and then a night of doing laundry probably.

Everyone - enjoy your weekend and stay cool - it's going to be a hot one  (at least if you're in Jersey it's supposed to be)

Until Next time....

Fun-filled week

 This is the first I have a chance to write anything since...well, I last did. We've had such a busy week, but it's been good. I must admit I truly enjoyed my day at home today though - getting to relax a bit, plus I cleaned up and organized most of the basement and got lots of laundry done

So let's back up a bit:

Fourth of July was fun...we wen to a BBQ with my in-laws at their Pastor's house, where the food was out of this world. Ribs, chicken, crabs and salmon - all on the grill, plus all the other dishes. YUM! After that we came back home and had a BBQ at our house with Betty, Daniel and Iezzi. Jim made burgers, which he loves to do these days and then we watched a movie...don't ask which one, it was too long ago. haha

Sunday, the 6th, was our Picnic and Patriotic Concert at our church. We invited the soccer players which there were about 200-300 there playing soccer, or watching, when Jim and I arrived. About 40-50 stayed (I think) for the Concert where Pastor Andy had prepared a mini-sermon and a song all in Spanish. I'm sure that was a lot of work as he just taught himself Spanish to be able to do it, but he did great. I even had a nice surprise at the picnic when I saw a van pull up and watched the kids who I used to Nanny jump out of it. I haven't seen them in almost a year and I was soooooo EXCITED! Choir sang for the concert and did pretty well. I even surprised my Mom with the little solo line I had - which of course could have been better, but at least I pulled it off and it's over with

Monday I worked, then rushed home, showered, ate dinner, cleaned so that Jim's Aunt Paula and G-mom could stop by and see our house while his Aunt was in the area. Then at 9:30 we were in Eric and Alison's car headed for the Poconos. We truly had a great time with them and can't wait to do it again!

Both Tues. and Wed. Jim and Eric woke up around 5:30/6 am to go fishing with Alison's dad. They didn't really have any luck catching anything, but they still had a good time. The girls (me, Alison, and her mom) got to sleep in, watch movies, go to brunch and do some food/fun shopping both days. Very relaxing! Tuesday night we also went to see Hancock and Wed. night we went to a lake b/c the boys wanted to go swimming, even though Eric chickened out, saying the water was too cold, and left Jim to swim on his own We then left around 9:45 Wed. night, arrived back at home at about midnight.

Fishing

Playing Games

The view in the backyard

Another view...missed a pic of the fox though At the lake Eric and Alison

The gang having ice cream.yes, he's ADD..shh

                                                                                                       HAHA

Thursday we worked again, then rushed out of work at 5:00 (yes, there is a pattern going on here). I went to my sister's quickly, got changed and freshened up and was out the door by 5:40 on my way to Tim (Jim's cousin) and Betsy's Wedding. Then off to the reception where there was food, fun and dancing

The newlywed's

Rob and Rachel Betty, Daniel and Izzy Me and my love!

Bethany..so hungry that she asked Jim to take the red pepper off of the "display" as she then proceeded to cut it up and eat it....and yes, shared it with the hungry boy next to her. LOL

Friday - went to work - rushed home (yes, yet again) and prepared for Mike and Lisa to come over again. They treated us to Applebee's for dinner (thanks again guys!). We then came back to our house where we decided to put the fire pit together, that we bought back in February, and have a little sit by the fire. We ended the night with some games and more good times.

PHEW....I tried to keep it short and to the point...no energy for fun colors or anything tonight. LOL

Have a great week everyone!

TTFN

Happy 4th of July!!!

I haven't written anything in so long and I know that if I wait until the end of this day (or weekend) I won't remember, or won't have time to. So it's now or never!

Life is great, but it's SO BUSY these days. I seriously can't believe how quickly each day and week goes by and I certainly can't keep up with it anymore.

WORK: Since that's what takes up the most of our time we'll start there. My job is so much better than it was before. It's still something you can pray for me about, but at least I now enjoy it and don't come home miserable anymore. The prayer is needed though b/c when I first started I was shocked by how much gossip, caddiness, cursing, talk about drinking, etc there was. I didn't know if I would ever be able to last a day there without going crazy. Fortunately I have, but the worry is that I am used to all of that now and in a way have almost accepted it. I try to remember to walk away from those types of conversations or at least turn my back on them so that they know I don't want to be a part of it, but sometimes I'm (literally) stuck...b/c our work space is so tiny that there isn't really anywhere else to go most of the time - even if I walk away I can usually still hear what is being said. I think they have an understanding of who I am though and at times I feel like they've even calmed themselves down a bit when I'm there. So that's good

Pampered Chef has been fabulous! I had a ton of shows in June and was able to reach the mid-level of our June-sell-athon. Which all meant that I will be getting a lot of the new fall products for free - and so far, I don't even know what they are yet. haha!

JIM AND WORK - Jim has also been super busy with work and has even "officially" started his own PC Repair business. If you're in our area keep an eye out for "J&M PC SERVICE REPAIR" signs. So far he's doing really well with the business and making more money in one day than I do in a a week or two of work. LOL. You won't find me complaining though. God is really blessing us and we are so thankful.

HOUSE: I've been working at learning how to keep a tidy/clean house while working full-time and hardly ever being home. So far it's been working pretty well and Jim's been a big help. So that feels wonderful We're hoping to start an addition this summer, but it keeps getting pushed back. There are so many steps we need to take first that it's a bit overwhelming. Jim has now put me in charge of the paperwork though, so we'll see what happens...hopefully good things

LIFE IN GENERAL = BUSY BUT FUN - We've been hanging out a lot with our friends Eric and Alison and it's been great having another young couple who are in our same chapter of life - young, married, no kids, working full-time, fixing up a house, etc. We're actually getting ready to go up to the Poconos with them for a couple of days next week. If I find the time I'll try to remember to update on that next week, but no promises

This weekend is a busy one...today I'm getting my hair trimmed, then going to a BBQ at noon, then having a BBQ with Betty and Daniel at our house at 5. PHEW! I don't know if my parents will join us or not, but I did invite them last night, since my Mom called me at 11pm and said she was returning from the hospital after taking a bad fall and apparently breaking the bone that sticks out on your wrist and her elbow...such weird bones to break, but she did it. Now she is in a semi-cast from her shoulder to her finger tips until monday when she can go to Ortho and get a real one. The craziest thing about all of that is that yesterday at work I was asnwering the phone and I had 3 calls like that - kids at the radiologists after breaking their arm/foot/and having pneumonia. I never received those calls before and yesterday i had 3, then my Mom telling me the same, plus talking to my sister-in-law on Wed. and hearing that my oldest niece hurt her knee and will be in a cast for awhile too. This week was not good for some people. LOL I did tell my mom that July 3rd seems to be a memorable day each year though. 2 years ago on July 3rd I was doing my first Pampered Chef show and then finding out, right before it started, that Kaylee (our youth pastor's daughter) was just born, and yesterday was 4 months since I started my new job. Also my sister had work done on her jaw for some problems she has and Andrew, my oldest nephew had his wisdom teeth out. CRAZY DAY!

Well, I do believe I have made this long enough and I apologize if you got bored. That's usually the one lesson I learn when I don't blog for so long. :-\

However, I will end with a few pictures from the past few....weeks? months? Not sure, but enjoy

(PS - after looking for pics to upload, well yeah, apparently I haven't been taking pictures like I used to. LOL - so there's only a few, but I'll change that for next time)

My good friends (Paige and Steph) LOL

Me and my little nephew at his high school graduation. We only have the rest of the summer left with him before he ships out to Navy boot camp :-\ I'm gonna miss him like crazy!

And lastly, an old picture that I recently found and just really like...this was after I graduated from Cedarville and we stopped by West Virginia with my parents to "visit the property" haha.