Mother Nature...I have a complaint!!

I didn't jump up and down and scream when we didn't get spring.....I might have made a few remarks about the summer we never had but gosh darn it, I am yelling from the roof tops this autumn because we aren't getting a fall!!!!!!! This is my favorite time of year and I have been jipped....I haven't gotten to go to the pumpkin patch, pick apples, play in the leaves or enjoy being outside in jeans and a sweatshirt because the last few weeks have been rainy with a high of 35......What's up with the 'ole Mother Nature dear? How can we go from 80 to 40 overnight? I want my 70's & 60's with the blue skys back.....it's just not fair!!!!!

I am now an ONU Tiger

Today was my first day of Grad School @ Olivet Nazarene University. It will take me 42 weeks to complete the program, I go once a week for 4 hours. I am really hoping this will help me get a reading teacher job next year! I am excited yet nervous to get back in the swing of going to class and doing homework!

Pumpkin Cheesecake and Girlfriends

Last night I had a girls night with Alyse, Lyndsey & Lisa. We went to the Olive Garden for dinner. We pigged out on lasagna frittas, pasta, salad and split pumpkin cheesecake & zippolis for dessert. After dinner, we rolled ourselves out and over to the theater to see Love Happens. Very cute movie, however, a little drug out at some points. It was a great night of lots of laughs, especially when Lisa danced out of the theater and all of our inside jokes. I am blessed with such humorous and loving friends!

Time for a Change

BEFORE

AFTER

4 Years

Today we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long but it's been GREAT! I came home to 2 dozen roses and a BIG HUG!! We celebrated by going to Domo 77 for dinner and then relaxed at home. Now that the first 4 years of eternity are behind us, here's to eternity more!!

I finished it!

It only took me 9 hours but I made my very first bag! I LOVE the pattern and it was so fun to make! Can't wait to make the next one, but I need to finish my quilt first!

What does one do with 15 pounds of free peaches?

CAN THEM OF COURSE!!!

I had my first canning lesson today. My good friend from church, Sylvia came over and helped me whip these beauties up! I can't wait to pop them open and eat them

Oh could it really be?

After 4 years, Dennis and I are finally taking our honeymoon! A friend is getting married in Cancun over Thanksgiving so we decided to go and make it our honeymoon! I am way excited!

A surprise that made my week!!!!

My sister brought Joey up to see us the day I got back from girls camp. They were only here for a short 24 hours but I really enjoyed getting to see him! He has grown so much. He doesn't even look like the same baby I saw last time we were down there. We took him to church with us and he slept almost the entire time. He turns 1 at the end of September and I was curious to see what he weighed so I put him on our scale. That little chunker is 20 pounds already!!

Metcalf 4th of July

Girls Camp 2009

JULY 7-11

Our Stake tried a new camp this year for Girl's Camp. Of course, I was the camp director for our ward again. We went to Camp Shaw-waw-nas-see in Manteno. It was nice because it was only an hour and 15 minute drive from home but it was smaller than Soni Springs in Michigan and it was infeste with scary looking spiders!! Not to mention it rained most of the time we were there or was cloudy. I think we had a day and a half of sunshine. This years theme was Scatter Sunshine (how appropriate for the lack of sunny weather!). During free time on Wednesday, we went to the pool, yea they had a pool, not to mention almost everyone there (minus me) was n a cabin. Jenny and I decided to bring out the 'ole tent and make it a true camping experience. So back to the pool, the water was FREEZING!!! Everyone was trying to puch everyone in. Kim pushed me in and then when Colleen and I tried to get her, she decided to just throw herself in! I pushed Amy in (fully clothed!)Their was a stake kitchen staff that cooked all of our food and it was delicious!
Friday was a littl scary. We got word that there were some pretty strong storms coming in. 70mph winds, quarter size hail and potential tornadoes. Those people who staid in tents decided to either move them under the big pavilion or take them down and move into cabins. Well, Jenny had her certification to do, leaving me to take our tent down, pack and move our stuff up camp to the stake cabin all by myself. After a few pulled shoulder muscles and a dozen bruises, I was up camp just in time to see the sky turn green before the heavens opened and downpoured for an hour. After the storm was over, we heard there was another one coming that would be twice as bad. The leaders all met and figured out if they could get their rides to camp in time to get the girls packed and home safely before the storm hit. It was decided that we were going home. The leaders had a prayer and right as they said amen, President Clark called to say that the storm disappeared. I was glad because Bishops night/Ward testimony night is the best part of camp.
This is what I took home out of camp. No matter how dark and gloomy the world is, it is up to us to scatter sunshine and uplift the world around us.

**Pictures to follow***

Florida Vacation Day 4- Everglades Tour

We took a tour of Everglades Holiday Park before we embarked on our long flight home. We already miss Florida. It's no surprise we want to move there. Dennis asked me while we were there...why do we live in Illions? That's a good question.

Florida Vacation Day 3- Naples

ok, so I said Day 2 was the best part of our vacation but Day 3 was just as good because we drove and hour over to Naples to see my sister Cassie, who I hadn't seen in 11 years. We got to Naples Pier early so we walked around a bit and saw a dolphin swimming at the end of the pier. Let me tell you, Naples was nasty hot and humid.
I instantly saw Cassie walking up and gave her a big hug. She is taller than me! How does that work? I am supposed to be the bigger sister here! We went to lunch @ a place called Cheeburger Cheeburger (no it't not a typo, there really are no s's in the title) After lunch we hit the pier again and then took a swim in the Gulf. I personally like the Atlantic better. The Gulf's temp was 91 same as the air temp. It felt like you were taking a bath not to mention the water was greenish and murky looking. We swam in it anyway and then did some shell hunting. Dennis was bound and determined to find me a sand dollar but we came to the conclusion that you have to get there pretty early in the morning to find a beauty like that. He did find some other cool stuff including a barnacle, giant shell, and a worm shell. I found my dream home while we were on the beach. It's the 2nd house from the pier, ocean front property baby! We took the scenic route home and even stopped off by the canal and found an alligator.

Florida Vacation Day 2 - Snorkeling in the Keys

Day 2 was by far the best day on our vacation. We woke up at 5am to drive down to Key Largo to rent a boat to go out and snorkel @ John PenneKamp State Park, the only under water state park! The cool thing about it is there are sunken ships, a ton of coral to explore and a 30 ton statue of Christ under water. We were so far out, the only thing you could see was water, no land in sight! We got to our first diving point and everyone jumped off and away they went...leaving me on the boat all by my lonesome. I HATE the idea of being in shark infested waters, there was no way I was jumping off the boat in the middle of the Atlantic. Well....I said what the heck you only live once, suited up, hyperventalated a bit and then in I went. Not to bad I thought. Dennis came and grabbed my hand and we swam out to see some coral. We saw some giant fish out there swimming. Before I knew it we were over 100 feet from the boat and after about 20 minutes I told Dennis I was ready to go back to the boat. Halfway back, my goggles fogged up so I tried to clean them off only to splash a good amount of salt water in the eyes. They fogged up again and BAM...I swam right into a bunch of loose seaweed and screamed!! I freaked out..Dennis flipped me over on my back and took me back to the boat. I was proud of myself for putting this fear behind me and going for it. I am glad I did.

After 4 hours on the boat and 1.5 hour ride home, Dennis, my cousin Kody and I went to POC, an all you can eat sushi buffet and grill. Let me tell you, it was awesome! I had hibatchi and a ton of shrimp. Dennis was in heaven! I have never seen so much crab leg or sushi before in my life! Day 2 was definately the best day of our vacation.

Florida Vacation day 1- Hollywood Beach

Our first day of vacation was pretty laid back but we managed to get sunburnt! We woke up early for breakfast and ventured down to Hollywood Beach, between Miami & Ft. Lauderdale. I decided to suck it up and get in the water. It was very nice I must say. The water was very clear and a good temp. We dug up some shells and saw some cool little fish swimming near by. Here comes the scary part.....after we got out of the water and were drying off, Dennis runs past me and asks for his shoes...then says "there's a sh...." WHAT! Then he stops after my uncles says its a sting ray. A 15ft wide sting ray(no joke on the size ladies and gents!) swims up close to shore in between all the people and no one in the water really notices! Crazy..I would have FREAKED OUT!!! We headed back to the resort and had a Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great thunderstorm right after dinner with high winds and crazy rain! There was so much rain that the man hole covers in the parking lot were bubbling. After the storm calmed down we went down to the pool to swim for a bit and had a watermelon eating contest.

Can it get any better??

Vacation location added!!!! While we are out in Florida, we will not only go to Key Largo but we will head over to Naples to visit my sister Cassie!!!!!! I am very excited not only because it's been over 10 years since I have seen her but Naples is absolutley GORGEOUS!!!! I am excited to take Dennis there. This is going to be the best vacation EVER!!!!

One fear conquered...one more to go......

As many may already know, I am DEATHLY afraid of going to the dentist, I would rather play with a snake than go to the dentist, and I REALLY hate snakes! I woke up yesturday with a swollen and tender gum. After talking with one of the parents at school, I got freaked that it might be an absess, resulting in having to get a tooth pulled and I even thought for a moment that it was mouth cancer or a tumor (see how horrible my mind is!) I told said mom that I HATED the dentist so she referred me to her's and said they were great with people who had a phobia of the dentist. So I called...and set up an appointment..for today. WOW, I put on my big girl pants and told myself I was going. The funny thing is that I told myself I would go in for a cleaning this summer. Anywho, I conquered my fear and went in today. After x-rays and an exam it was determined that I had an infection in my gum by my back molar. The culprit, a wisdom tooth I was told I didn't have when I was at the dentist 4 years ago. After more x-rays, they found another one on the bottom. So 2 bottom wisdom teeth later and I am now faced with having to be put under to get those puppies out.
Did I mention I have a fear of being put under?????

Why it pays to have a gym membership...

FREE FOOD!!!!!
Chipotle had a sweet deal today. Free salad, burrito or bowl with proof of your membership to LA Fitness..... it pays to work out!

Mother & Father of 5

Well we survived our 4 days of parenthood this past weekend! We had 4 boys and 1 girl ages 12,9,6 and 3 yr old twins. It was a blast but it's good to be back home. I have to say, I have a whole new look at motherhood. First, I told Dennis if he still wants 6 kids, he better find a better paying job cuz I am not working! Some friends of watched the twins while we were at work until I could get over to pick them up. I made them chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries & bananas. After cooking dinner, cleaning up and getting the kids ready for bed, I crashed. I woke up early to get everyone off to school and then I headed off to work, in which I had a headache all day from the fast paced morning!
It was a great weekend. We took the kids to mcDonalds for dinner on Friday and the guy behind the counter thought the kids were ours. What made it better was Mitchell, the oldest, walked over and said "dad, can we have this!" It's definetly a small fortune to feed a family at the golden arches.
Saturday we took the kids to the pool for most of the day. Dennis ended up getting pee'd on by Maquire! I was very impressed when I came down from the shower and Den had the kids clean the whole house! He was so great with the kids this weekend. He is going to be such a great dad!

It's been a while!

Wow, it's been a very long time since I have posted. Guess you can say I have been a little preoccupied. We have alot of fun stuff coming up and I am getting excited about it.

May 20th-24th we will be watching 5 kids while their parents are in Hawaii.
June 11th- Dennis' aunt and cousins and grandmother come to stay with us.
June 13th- Dennis' brother Josh gets married
June 17th-21st- we are off to Ft. Lauderdale
July 7-11th- off to Mareno for Girls Camp
August 1st- off to Nauvoo with some friends

That's our summer so far. I know it seems pretty busy but we are also going to plan a trip to the Dells, Starved Rock & camping in there somewhere. It's going to be FUN!