Kim here from Florida

Hello to all! Hanging out in Florida, just got back from my 1 hour total body massage!!! and I thought that I would update my blog a bit.

Christmas was a great day! Ryan and Alissa and the kids did NOT make it to the ER on Christmas Eve or Christmas day so perhaps the curse has been broken-however last year wasnt much of a curse! I woudl post pictures from Christmas but alas Chris has my camera so you are just gonna have to deal with it until I get home and plug my camera in then I will have Christmas and Florida!
Chris and I took off from Grand Rapids Sunday morning we flew into the Sanford Airport (near Orlando) Tabatha and Cody picked us up and we were off for Largo! Yesterday was nice we had sun so Chris and I went to the Bellaire Beach for a few hours to get some sun, after that we went back home and then we went on a Pirate Sunset cruise ship all the beer you could drink for 2 hours-so we did! :) All of us headed back to the house to have some beef brisket and stone crab-which is really good!
Today being New Years Eve I am not sure whats on but it will be fun for sure! Tomorrow we are heading for Orlando area where we will be staying two nights. Friday night Phil JR said something about the seawalk or skywalk IDK but I will find out tomorrow! Then on Saturday we are going to WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!! Chris and I are gonna go to the Epcot center then the Magic Kingdom! I am so excited I have never been before, and I think besides Alissa, I woudl be the first one to go to Walt Disney World!
Sunday Chris and I will be getting up very early and catching the first bus to the airport and the first plane outta Florida and back to snowy Michigan, stay posted for pics soon! :)

It's Christmas Time

Well December is definitly flying by. Every weekend poof gone and so is January's-as Chris and I are realizing!
The first weekend of December was nice I had my MMP christmas party at the Eagle Eye in Hawk Hollow, Chris and I were 1 number off from winning a $300 Boyne Mountain gift card! BOO MAN!
The second weekend I had a bit of the stomach bug not pleasant you don't need any detail I am sure! But the Bug went through our house rather quickly and the Spitzley Christmas was very nice, I made two baby quilts for the raffle to raise money. One was a Winnie the Pooh quilt the other a green and yellow John Deere quilt-very cute very fun and it was nice chatting with every one.
Last weekend, the 3rd weekend was the Lewis Christmas party up to my grandmas house. Again it was very nice seeign everyone and talking with them. Grandma made me a grogeous rose colored blanket that is heavy and soooo warm! Thank you Grandma!
Finally, this weekend is Christmas, my family will all be over on Cmas day for gifts, dinner, drinks and games. Oh adn Mykenna will be 1 year old on Christmas day! But we are celebrating on the 27th, I will unfortunatly me unable to attend-don't worry I still got a gift for her!
I will not be able to be there because Chris and I will be flyig to Florida for an entire week!!!!! Sherry and Big Phil bought us tickets for Christmas! So we will be flying out the 27th and coming home the 3rd. Chris's whole family will be there so it will be so nice to hang out in (keep your fingers crossed) SUNNY and WARM FLORIDA!

Where did November go?

OK so I did alot of fun stuff in November but what do you know...no pictures!

Chris was here ALOT! Bless his cute butt :)

Quick recap: Sarah Thelen's baby shower she is due with her little boy December 22! Can't wait to see him-she looked GORGEOUS!!! I hate her! :)

Then onto the bar night before Thanksgiving, good time Chris, Jenny, Louie, Diana and I went to the Oakwood. Tom Fink is engaged! Amanda (my cousin) is pregnant YAY!!!!! And Chris's cousin Stacey (from Alabama) is having twins! :)

Thanksgiving was fun it was at our house with Ryan, Alissa and the kids.

SHOPPING was awesome! Chris got a new 32 inch flat screen with a DVD player and I am pretty much all said and done for-for Christmas!

So yeah quick recap and here are some pictures of Lauren and Raina messing around!

AHHHH SWINE FLU!!!!!

I am so glad that October is FINALLY over!!! It was a LOOOOONNNGGGG month!

Swine flu has broken out and the office is CRAZY! Phones and questions all over the place, but I can handle it I work with a damn good group of people and really appreciate all that they do! Wahoo PFCC!! :)

So to back up a couple weeks here. I went up to Chris's and did some light house work and work in the yard-cleaned the pond out and stuff yipee. I even went on some sugar beet runs with Chris. It was sweetest day and I made home made heart shaped pizzas for Chris and Big Phil to eat while they were working. Good Time really!

On to my beautiful friend Katie...she finally turned 25! Its about time, welcome to the second half of your twenties Kate!

That following weekend Chris surprised me and came down. We were able to go to another MSU tailgate and had a good time there although it rained! :( and MSU lost!

Chris, Me, Jenny, Diana and Louie watched the game at the Oakwood in Pewamo. (this was just last week) as it were, the Oakwood was having their Halloween party. So we decided that we had to dress up, the 5 of us went as the: "Swine flu" WATCH OUT WE SPREAD!!!!

It was a good time but a long day.

Finally, on to this weekend. Chris again surprised me and came down with Aunt Steph! I was really happy that we could make it because Aunt Sam and Uncle Bob were having their Halloween party at their house-ALWAYS A GOOD TIME! :)

Alissa brought over the kids to trick or treat and take pictures. Damian was Batman, Cayden a Lion and Mykenna was Minnie Mouse-all of them were ADORABLE! :)

Jenny went as a pathetic Lions fan, Dewey was a Home Wrecker(based on the home depot), Katie was Batgirl, Mom was Abbey from NCIS(tv show) Dad was superman and someone was dressed as a black man. Go ahead and guess who that was!

Chris went as a Wal-Mart Wolverine (http://www.walmartwolverine.com/) check it out funny stuff.

Now, I went with the idea of being the Wicked Witch of the West....NO one knew who/what I was I have a long list of the things that people thought I was I will let you look and you can make your own costume ideas!!!

Chris won the 'horses ass' award and I won the best female costume! Very good time, very fun time and can't wait til next year-wonder what I am gonna be!!!

Click here for more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Kimsinanutshell/October2009?feat=directlink

Fall already?

Not that I really care, I actually like fall! The rain that comes with it, not so much but the clothes, blankets, harvest, HEAT! What can I say, I just like it :)

And now that we have the elliptical back and going again I like it even more and once Jenny gets her bedroom painted and put back together I will be able to enjoy the treadmill too! On the 'exercising' note I have to say that I have been getting up every other morning and working out on the elliptical, and its not that bad-which sucks because now I have no excuse like 'I'm not awake enough to work out' Oh well!

So where do I begin? Well since Labor Day I have been a busy girl! Mom and I had a mom to mom sale in Waverly at the High School, we had a good time, made some quick cash and got rid of some clothes then took the rest to the Goodwill. The following weekend we had the Spitzley Family reunion, not a HUGE turnout but for us Spitzley's it was quite a gathering. My cousin Craig brought a blow up bouncy castle which was a huge hit with the kids of all ages really...right BEN?? :) Chris was able to make it down for that which I was glad about because it was awhile before I saw him again after that. Next was my cousin, Gail Thelen's bachelorette party. It was really alot of fun, my classmates were there and it was nice to talk with them. We had dinner, games and gifts at Gail's matron of honors house then on a bus for a long us ride-AWESOME! to a bar in Greenville then back to the Oakwood in Pewamo. Again, alot of fun her wedding is actually this Saturday! Which I will be going to and again having fun!

This past weekend I went to Chris's because I hadn't been there all of September so I made the trip. We watched the MSU U of M game in Aunt Steph's garage, nailbiter and edge of seat game but MSU pulled it out of their you know whats so that was fun!

Oh HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERRY!!! (October4th)

And finally on this past Sunday the Lewis's gathered at Aunt Sam and Uncle Bob's house for the big Family photo-we were due, the last one was 8 years ago!

Sports, Sports, Sports

Its been a little bit, but I have been busy with Sports!

Chris and I and his family went down to Detroit for Chris's 27th!!!! Birthday. It was a nice day, but whent he sun went down it was cold!!! Detroit won and made Chris's brithday. After that we went out to dinner to celebrate his b-day some more and headed our seperate directions, I headed to my home, Chris to his. I was nice though to see everybody.

That next week was the last week of summer, so I asked Alissa if I could take the boys to a Lansing Lugnut baseball game, she said yes and I also asked if Britta and Barrett could come along. So Myself, Damian, Cayden, Britta, Barrett, Mom, Jenny and her friends went to the game, Jenny and her friends met up with us.

The boys had alot of fun together, I took them over to the playground area at the ball park so they could run around and we watched the end of the game. The Lugnuts lost but still the boys had a good time. Definitly something that should be done every year!

Well after that day it was time for Labor Day. Chris came down to spend that with me which was great! Friday we played golf with Louie and Shane in Portland. Saturday Chris and I headed into East Lansing to tailgate with Aunt Sam and Uncle Bob at their MSU tailgate. Again, beautiful weather! Tailgating was fun, good people, good food. We also were able to attend the game, MSU won and completing the good day! Chris and I then headed to Greenville to spend time with my family at the Lake. Sunday though, we took off for Rose Lake to see Aunt Noelle and Aunt Tina's families. Tia Monica and Uncle Scott were there too. I hadn't been their in probably 3-4 years so it was nice to go their and hang out with them. Monday we headed back to grandma;s to lay in the sun and play in the ice cold water, but it was time to go home so we did and then BAM! right back into work!

SEE MORE PICS HERE: http://picasaweb.google.com/Kimsinanutshell/BaseballAndFootball?feat=directlink

So yeah its been busy around here, yesterday mom and I went to Wavery high school for the fall mom to mom sale, we were selling clothing and stamps and whatever. It was busy and really a fun time. We got rid of a bunch of our clothes and took the rest to goodwill.

Next week is the Spitzley Reunion I will post for that one!

Second Half of My Vacation

Ok so its a bit over due but oh well...so for the second half of my vacation I headed up north to the Thumb on Tuesday night with mom and dad. Wednesday morning mom and I painted the remaining parts of the fence-which was alot of the fence let me tell you! But it looks great now, after that we headed up to Caseville for the Cheeseburger in Paradise Parade-this parade was two hours long and it proceeded to get me drunk! Dewey met up with us and Chris, Dewey and I stayed at the campsite so we wouldn't get busted! :)
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday consisted of the same thing: laying in the sun, going to the water and drinking soem beverages! Sunday was the same minus the beverages part. Chris and I had lots of family and friends up for the weekend. It was nice to see everybody and spend time with everyone, especially because the weather was TO DIE FOR!!!! Thursday night Chris and I had some family and friends over for a BBQ and to show off the back yard a bit, it just keeps getting better year by year!!!!
Sunday Chris and I went to DTE for a concert, I bought him tickets for his birthday, we saw Randy Travis at DTE. After getting lost trying to find it for over an hour and a half, we thought for sure we missed the whole concert, but to our amazement we walked up just as he was taking the stage! It was great and he sounds the same as he does on CD! Except that he did forget lyrics at one point to one of his gospel songs, but hey thats what you get for live music!
We made it to my house at 12:30 am and crashed until 7:00am. I headed to work and Chris headed home. That was it for my vacation; it was nice and definitly earned!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Kimsinanutshell/Cheeseburger2009?feat=directlink

The first week back to work was actually not so bad, I had a alot ot come back to, but I got htat taken acare of before 5:00 and headed for home. Then I slept from like 6:00 until the next morning for work!
Its blurry but its Randy Travis!

BABY ANNOUNCEMENTS
In July, Chris's cousin Nicole and Luc had their little girl, Sophia. Whom I still have to see!

On Friday morning, (the 14th) Heather and Chris had their little baby boy: Liam(Lee-am) Christopher. Mom, Jenny and I went to visit the new family and Liam is absolutely PERFECT!

August 19th, Eric and Heidi Yeager (friends of me and Chris's from the thumb area) had their little boy; Jace. Also a little tot I have to see!

Finally, My friends Ryan and Tara Hengesbach had their little girl: Audrey Taylor. I will be going to see her soon!

Congratulations to all of you! Can't wait to see you and your little bundles of joy!

The first half of my vacation

Thats right! First half!

My second half starts next Tuesday and I am going up to Chris's the whole time! Its cheeseburger time in Caseville!

Any ways, the 1st half of my vacation began on Friday (Dad's B-day) I left for Chris's and on Saturday we had a wedding in Saginaw. Very nice time! Tabatha and Phil (Chris's brotehr and sister-in-law) came up for their vacatin too! The wedding was nice and we had a good time, we stayed at a really nice hotel I would go back to Sagnasty for sure!

Sunday Chris and I took off for St. Ignace. Tabatha called and said that her and Phil will be meeting us up there at the hotel. We got up there about 5 or 6 perhaps. After we unpacked and lounged a little bit I asked if there were any water falls in Michigan? Phil said yeah, Tahquamenon Falls. So we made our way there. Now the Falls are approx 1 hour away from St. Ignace so we were in for a ride, but once we got there it was beautiful! We went to the lower falls by boat, row boat that is! And we walked around, Tab and Phil got ahead of us but we met up in the end. Chris and I took lots of pictures and even went into the falls a little bit.
Next, we headed to the upper falls, we could have walked but it would have been an 8 mile trip (round trip) so we got into the car instead. That was just as beautiful, I again took lots of pictures.
Monday was the big day to Mackinac Island. We got up, got dressed, had a nice continental breakfast ad headed for the Island at 10:00am. We didn't leave the island til 8:00! Long day man! Well, I went there when I was young, but the only things I remember from that was the ferry ride and the carriage tour on the island. So when we got there it was like I had never been there before! everything looked new to me! Oh and don't let me forget, Tabatha has never been there.

First we went to Fort Mackinac. We watched a cannon be fired off, a court marshalling and wondered through the buildings. Chris really enjoyed this, I guess he's interested in that kind of stuff. I liked it too! From there Chris and I wondered off from Phil and Tabatha, they went to check out the Grand Hotel-which they said was gorgeous! Me and Chris wondered around the shops downtown and well, shopped! Next stop was lunch for us and then the carriage tour. I always like guided tours because you can just learn so much! It was a two part tour. 1st was the down town area up to Surrey Hill. From there it took you to the park and out to Arch Rock. Which was a beautiful scene! Next stop was Fort Mackinac but Chris and I did that already so we went back to downtown and met up with Phil and Tab for some drinks. Of course they were thirsty because they rented a Tandum bike and rode aroudn the whole island!!! Phil said it was around 8 miles!!!! Chris and I took the bike for a spin ourselves, but Phil has those photos!

The last few things we did there was some more shopping and Old Fashion Photos! :)
Tabatha and I talked Chris and Phil into doing the 'Western bathtub scene' !!! So much fun!

Like I said we left the island at 8:00pm grabbed something to eat, the boys went to the casino and the ladies went to the pool.

Tuesday we got up ate and headed for home. Chris and I stopped at West Branch for some food then he dropped me off in Saginaw at my car and I headed for Portland. Long day, Long weekend but oh so much fun! A vacation like that truly does make those 'Pure Michigan' radio commercials make sense! Because the first half of my vacation was Pure Michigan!!!!

To see all of the photos from the trip click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Kimsinanutshell/PureMichigan?feat=directlink

Baby Hanks baby shower AND Cayden is 4!!!

Ok to start off, we had Heather and Chris's baby shower at grandmas this past weekend. Diana, Amanda and Aunt Sue did a great job. We started off by breaking into teams and making mobiles for baby Hank. Keep in mind that this was a co-ed baby shower so it got really interesing! Chris and Heather picked the winner of the mobile making contest, then we moved on to the Daddy Derby!

Each male that was up there dad or not a dad participated in this. To start off you had to grab a doll, run with it around some barrels, under a piece of wood then swaddle your doll. From there you ran to the back of the car to get your groceries (2 bags of canned goods); drop those off at the picnic table, drink a beer out of a baby bottle then grab a folding chair and your 'beach bag'. With the chair and beach bag and doll you had to run through some cones, tip toe through some rings adn take your doll to the paddle boats where you put a life jacket onto your doll and proceeded to paddle out to the raft. Once to the raft you had to put the dolls diaper on, keep the life jacket on and take it back to shore and deliver it to momma Heather as dry as possible!

Chris, Ben, Uncle Steve, Uncle Stu , Uncle Delbert and Chad all participated. Ben won with the fastest time but took second because only Chris could really be the #1 Daddy for Baby Hank! :)

***No his name will not be Hank its just a joke within the family***

Lunch and Present watching was fun. Barrett and Louie have a new fun way to play at the beach and that is naked so there are some pictures of that also Barrett was fishing naked with his dad at the end of the dock so don't be surprised when you come across those pictures in the slide show!

Sunday my family went to Ryan and Alissa's for Caydens big 4th birthday. Their children are growing up so fast it just doesn't seem real that Cayden is 4 already! I mean Mykenna is 7 months! Time just goes too fast. We ate, watched presents be opened, played with those presents then played some kick ball, I like kick ball its fun. :)

FYI: My leg is feeling much better, no scabbing and hopefully no scarring, I am using vitamin E and some mederma, to help with the no scarring! :)

Slideshow click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Kimsinanutshell/HankBabyShowerAndCayden4?feat=directlink

Ouchie Wally!!

So Monday nights I play slow pitch softball and we had a good game this last Monday. Long story short I hit an immaculate hit and as I was rounding second, the ball was just getting to the short stop-who was acting like a cut off. I made my decision and bolted to third base. I had to slide-which I normally don't do but I did it and I was SAFE!!!! I was great and it was a great

hit...HOWEVER....this is what happened:

Note to self: next time wear sliding shorts! :(

It looks alot better today, but man is it hard to get around, I can hardly put my own socks on and cleaning it...HA that was pretty sweet! :P

My triple knocked a run in so we had one point; we were down 12-1; I think. The next inning though ever one hit like maniacs! adn we caught up 12-11. The last inning Lisa Piggott hit and allowed the winning run in! We all screamed and cheered and jumped up and down-Wahoo and stuff! It was a nice win! :)

So the team we beat on Monday, beat us earlier in the season so we are head to head, but since they beat us by more points the first game, they take the league title. BUT next Monday is a rain game make-up followed by the league tournament, so our team has a chance to win the tournament which would be cool!

Farewell to the Hoopty

I know I can hardly believe it myself, but the suburban is no longer with us. :(

Mom and Dad traded the ol' Hoopty in for a Traverse-nice ride I might add. They turned roughly 201, 000 miles on her and sent her the old junk year in the sky. Well actually they traded it in for the 'junker clause' and got $4500 back on her towards a new vehicle. HOWEVER, in echange for this the suburban will be parted out and then smashed into a tiny pile of well man made machinery! It was a sad day for all of us! But a good day, mom is now riding in style!

A Day at Tawas and the Fair!

Big waves = lots of splashes

Rough seas and Charity Island in the backChris and I by the water fountain
near the beach in Tawas

No we didn't do both of these trips the same day or the same weekend, but I thought I'd share 'em just the same. A couple weekends ago Chris, Cody and I made the hour long trip to Tawas and back. Now keep in mind that since I am on my blood pressure medication i get sea sick pretty quick, I can't even spend more than 5 minutes in Lake Michigan for goodness sakes! ANY WAYS. Cody and Chris took turns driving and we made it there. It gets to be about 60 feet deep in the middle of the bay and the waves are coming from every angle! Mid way through Cody spotted something yellow off the Starboard side, and I knew waht it was right away, it was a baby floation device. I told Cody to go get it and when we were about to grab it with a pole cody says, ' maybe a baby is in there' I was freaked!! But of course there wasn't one in there:) When we made it to Tawas there was a classic car show going on, we walked through that and through the shops along the way. Then we ate at G's pizza-best ever! We made the trip back, it was colder this time becasue it was getting cloudier but it was really nice!


Chris blending in with the race fans


I am a cowgirl

This past Saturday Chris was down and he had never been to the Ionia Free Fair! I know I couldn't believe it myself so I took him to the fair! It was all and more than he ever expected!! When I got home I had to take a shower because I just felt 'dirty', at least my feet were. We then headed to Ryan and Tara Hengesbach's house for a couples baby shower. It was really fun, we split up at first the girls watched Tara open gifts while the guys played Bocce ball around the yard. We grilled and had dinner, drinks then played 'drinking' games. Chris and I shared a winning game with Jenny and my friend Katie(Arens). What we had to do was I stood behind Chris blind-folded and feed him beer! Chris and I and Jenny and Katie each tied with 11 cups!
It was the best and only couples baby shower I have been too!

New do and Common Ground

My new hair do!

Last Tuesday I got my hair cut, I went into see Katie with a new cut in mind but apparently she had more on her mind than just a cut!

Now yeah it is short, but I love it!!! And the color is dark, but its awesome! And the blue, purple and magenta she mixed and highlighted into my hair is f-ing sweet!!! Its definitly one of my favorites yet! I know its not a great picture but it'll do!

Me and my sisters at Common Ground
The lead signer from Framing Hanley
The Lewis Clan @ Common GroundBANG!!! What a picture!

Thursday me and my sisters went to Common Ground. We went to watch Taddy Porter, Framing Hanley, The Red and Saving Abel. Honestly, the ones that were the best to watch her Framing Hanley. About 20 minutes into Saving Abel, who went on last Dewey and I walked over to watch Sheryl Crow, she was really good, but we caught the end of her show.

We did run into Uncle Steve, Kelsey, Kayla, her bfriend, and Big E when we first arrived to Common ground so we ahve some fun shots from that. And with my Punked out hair we rocked out!!

Check it out: http://picasaweb.google.com/Kimsinanutshell/CommonGround2009?feat=directlink