Mount Rushmore

Our second stop was Mount Rushmore. We stayed in a campsite in this beautiful canyon the night before we went to the park. We woke up to a deer just 2 feet away from the door of the tent. I thought it was going to come on in. After we cleaned up camp we went to see Mount Rushmore. What a beautiful park!!! We took a hike just below the mountain and were able to see if from several different views. Jacob skinned a buffalo skin and the kids played in tepee's. We saw all there was to see so we decided to drive over to the Crazy Horse Monument. It was more money than we wanted to pay to get in to the park so we just drove by and took pictures.

The Bad Lands, South Dakota

We decided that our vacations are always planned around just seeing family and so we never really get to have an actual vacation. So this year we decided to take the scenic route out to Utah. Our first stop was The Bad Lands, South Dakota. The kids loved this stop. They had a blast climbing to their hearts content. We drove around the park and stopped along the way so that the kids could get out and climb. The Bad Lands were really cool. We saw tons of prarie dogs along the side of the road so of course the kids had to stop and see every single one. MaKayla wanted to catch one to bring it home. I told her, "Good Luck!!!" As we were leaving we realized that we had only seen a tiny portion of the park. We could have spent the whole day there and still not see it all. It was amazing!!!

Family Fun

My counsin Danielle and her cute family have lived 4 1/2 hours away from us in Indiana for the last 2 years, yet we have never been able to get together to see each other. She finally called us last month and said that they were comming to Michigan to go to the beach and wondered if we were going to be around. Of course I made sure we were going to be there so I could finally meet her adorable girls. They came up and we had Sunday dinner together and then for the next couple of days we did nothing but play. We went to the beach, watched the musical fountains in Grand Haven and picked strawberries, well actually Danielle and I picked and the rest of them wimped out on us and sat in the air conditioned van. Wimps!!!! We had a great time and we both wondered what took us so long to get together. We are so glad that they came and we got to spend time with them. Let's do it again real soon!!!!


MaKayla and Allie


Allie and MaKayla


Abby


Brinley


Abby and Brinley


I stole this picture collage from Danielle's blog. Thanks girl it's way cute!!!

The Flood

As I was leaving girls camp I got a phone call from Zach telling me that there was a huge storm in Holland and that there was water over all the roads. At first I thought he was just exaggerating but as we drove closer and closer to Holland we got hit with it. It was so bad I could barely see to drive. Eventually it passed and we continued home. We then got a phone call that my Bro in law's power was out and the sump pump doesn't work without power. We then proceeded to call around to see if anyone had a generator and finally found one. As we continued to get closer to my Bro-in-law's house the roads were awful. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get to their house because of all the rain and some of the roads were under water. We finally made it and found that their basement was taking on water and so we loaded up their 5 kids and took them to our house to stay while the men stayed and moved all the furniture to the upstairs level. This was around midnight on June 19th. Lucky for us my house had power and didn't have any flooding. However these are pictures of my backyard and the lake that made it's home there for a bit. My plants were under water and we had water about 4 feet away from our house. Holland recieved 7 1/2 inches of rain in 2 hours and there was flooding everywhere. Roads were out and some even collapsed and tons of houses flooded. Boy were we lucky!!!

Cub Game

The Cubs are always fun to watch play and what's even better is when they win. We had a crappy experience last time we went to a Cub's game so I was just hoping it wouldn't be bad. So on June 18th Zach, Jesse, Jacob and I decided to try it agian. We had great seats in the upper deck but we were on the frount row and didn't have anyone in front of us. We also were able to see an amazing game. CUBS WIN!!!!!

The Clutz Gene Hits Again!!!

Theses pictures were taken the day of.




This picture was taken a few days after the game.

I was asked to be an alternate on a softball team of a friend of mine and they asked if I could play last night. I have been wanting to play for a while and jumped at the chance. Zach helped by throwing the ball around and I also went to the batting cages for some practice. We got to the game and the other players were warming up when all of a sudden I notice that the 1st baseman was throwing the ball to me. I put out my glove to catch it and it hit it and bounce right into my eye. What luck!!! I shook it off and continued to play. After a couple of innings I touched my eye and was shocked that it had swollen to the size of a golf ball. Thank goodness for bangs and sunglasses or else everyone would have seen it. We lost but we were playing the best team in the league and our team had 4 alternates playing. I still had a great time and would love to play again. Next time I will make sure that I pay closer attention to where the ball is.

I Love The Beach!!!

The beach is the best thing about living here in Holland Michigan. It is so nice to walk in the sand and squish the sand between your toes. However I hate the sound it makes when you walk in it. It gives me the chills. Anyway, Sunday, Ryan and Emily were going to the beach so we decided to tag along. It was a pretty nice day and we were tired of being stuck in the house. When we got there we told the kids that they could get their feet wet but of course they came up with several excuses why they got wet. MaKayla's famous excuse was "I fell in". I actually saw her dive into the lake. I think that she forgot that she wasn't wearing her swimming suit. We had a great time but as we were leaving the kids decided that they were cold and Ryan and Emily's kids and Abigail whined all the way back to the car. What began as a great little outing turned into a whinefest. We still had a great time enjoying the view.

Abigail's Pre-school Field Trip

This year we did a co-op preschool with some moms from church. We would each take turns teaching in our homes. It was really fun for Abby. She really learned alot and also got to be with her friends. These are picturs of a field trip we took to the Zoo. They all had a great time.

OOOPS!!! I forgot Easter

The Family. OOPPS I almost cut MaKayla out of the pic. Sorry Sweetie.


Coloring Eggs


Abigail and her stash


MaKayla and her stash


Jacob and his loot

My beautiful kids. I am so lucky!!!

We had a great Easter this year. I thought that it would be our last one with the twins still in the dark about the Easter bunny but they still believe. Jacob was the first one to wake up and he came up the stairs and caught me with the egg carton wandering around the family room. I of course made up a silly excuse and he bought it. We waited for Abigail to wake up because you really don't want to wake her if you don't have to because she can be a real bitty. It always seems like there is one egg that goes missing each year. We had to look pretty hard for the last one, but finally found it. I wonder if it grows legs and hides itself sometimes. We went to church and then came home and took family pictures. We took a lot of them but the only one that everyone looked good in is the one where MaKayla is almost cut out of the picture. But it is better than the other ones. Sometimes I think my kids are possesed when it come to picture time. We hope everyone had a great Easter.

Tulip Time 2009

MaKayla and her 2nd grade class.


MaKayla, Cassidy, Alexis and Michaela B.


MaKayla and her best friend Hailey.


Jacob, MaKayla, Morgan(couin), and Abigail.


Jacob wearing a fishing hat he found at the craft fair.


The dutch dancers.

Well it was Tulip Time again. Every May we get to watch the Dutch dancers, eat greasy fried food, walk around downtown Holland and see all the beautiful tulips. We are so lucky. It is a beautiful time of year when everything starts to pop with color and family comes to visit to experience it for themselves. MaKayla was able to walk in the Kinderparade with her class from school. She was so excited. Grandma and Grandpa MacPherson visited and took in the sights. We love tulip time.

Jacob's First Pinewood Derby

Jacob was just like a kid in a candy store. He was so excited to race his 1st pinewood derby car that he and I had built out of a block of wood. I worked on the design and cut it out and Jacob painted it while at a scouting activity. We then added stickers and the final car looked pretty good for it being our first. I think I was just as excited to see him race. It was my first atempt at building a car. I have 4 younger brothers who were in scouts but never really remember experiencing the derby. Jacob was able to race quite a few times and in the end he got 5th place and an award for the most colorful car. Pretty good for his first time. I was excited because I built the car and wanted it to do well. Every race I was on the edge of my seat and cheering him on, well, cheering on the car. In the end it was a successful race and Jacob was happy with getting 5th place. I was estatic that he didn't end up in last. Well goes to show ya that girls can build derby cars too. And darn good ones. :)

Twins field trip

Jacob and MaKayla had their final field trip to the Meijer Butterfly Garden. We were able to go to the simple machines workshop and learn how the early settlers used different simple machines to help them make their jobs easier. They also were able to see some amazing butterflies. We visited the butterfly garden a little late in the season so there wasn't as many butterflies as we had hoped for but nonetheless we had a great time looking at all the different colors and sizes of butterflies. The kids wanted so badly for one to land on them but no such luck. We had a great time and hope to go back when there are more butterflies to see. MaKayla found a couple of baby squirrels in the garden and wanted to take them home with her. She is such an animal lover, she takes after her mom.