2007 in Pictures

I really can't believe how fast 2007 went by. I thought I would highlight some events of each month. But first to show the biggest change of the year here are two pictures of Ohlie:

To me, that is amazing! And the 2nd picture is even from November, so it's not technically even a year. I have to stop looking, my mind is melting... :-D

On to the rest of the year:

January

Bowling with Laura, Marlene, and Matthew - we said we were going to do that more often, but I think that's the only time we went the whole year... :) Lacey, were you here too?? Maybe we tried to call you and you couldn't come... my mind has been melted mind you.

February
We were invited to a Valentine's Dinner. It was a mystery supper that was a lot of fun. :)


MarchSpring appeared with a BBQ at the Marshes'.


AprilJon went on a fishing trip with Ryan. Us girls went to a Maple Festival. :)


MayJason graduated from Ashland so we got to go see all the exciting new buildings that they had added since we left. There was alot more than I thought there would be. The picture is the entrance to the new Education building.

June
My favorite picture of our Florida vacation. The most fun I had all year.


JulyWe spent a weekend up at Ryan and Lana's. Action badmitten shots. :)

August

We had a hot roast at our place. Jonathan is, of course, playing with the fire. I think we boiling some 2 liters that day. :)

September

Swiss Fest apple fritters. Greatest picture of us ever... seriously.

October

Renaissance Festival. Again, fun times. Here Benny is getting into the stocks while Ted and Ryan demonstrate correct hand positioning. :)

November

We put the tree up right after Thanksgiving. Ohlen loved showing it to everyone that came.


DecemberOpening presents with Mom, Dad, Nate and Aubyn.

2007 was really a fun year. I really didn't think I would have an activity for each month. We were busy, which is probably why it went by so quickly. Hopefully 2008 will be just as fun filled.

Our Walk

Our place, yay the grass is finally growing.

Sophie doing one of her favorite things.

He just walked too much... :)

Creepy bird that seemed to be watching us, then all of a sudden he disappeared.

TV and tales of weekends past

Well, finally I feel like posting. I've been trying to the past week or so, but never had the drive to actually type one out. So finally, here I am.

First... I must let the dogs out... of course, when I actually sit down...

Ok, back. Now for the hopefully quick TV wrap up.

THE OFFICE - wow! I loved it. The only thing that I didn't like was that I thought they could have done more with Dwight taking over, although the Schrutebucks were pretty cool. Along with the Stanley nickels of course. I was so surprised that Pam actually spoke her true feelings. And the ending..sigh. Laura said it right "that ending was so for girls." :) Now the surprise of the evening was in the final seconds when Ryan gets the corporate job. So where does that leave Karen. I can't wait until next season!!

SCRUBS - I was disappointed. There were some laughs, but ugh, I almost wish it would have ended. And then to end it where it seems that JD and Elliot are going to throw everything away. Personally I think that they are going to stop themselves before they actually kiss and they will stick with their current person, but then again, who knows. So aggravating in my opinion.

GILMORE GIRLS - I thought they did good with this finale. They showed most all of the town characters. There was no blaring Luke and Lorelai are getting married moment, but I thought it definitely hinted in that direction. I love that the series ended with them at Luke's. I was also happy in the first couple minutes. Lorelai and Rory were discussing taking a Roller coaster trip and they said they were going to go ride the Millennium Force in Ohio. It made my night. :)

7th HEAVEN - I actually got to watch this one. I thought it was a kinda strange way to end the show. 10+ of the characters all piling into an RV for a trip across country.... I thought there would be appearances by some of the other "kids" but there wasn't. The show had a nice long run.

And lastly a quick note about Survivor. I was really glad that Earl won! And unanimously! Wow. I really wasn't expecting that. Overall a fairly good season. Australia is still my favorite though.

OK now to reality. Two weekends ago was a great weekend. We spent some time in Ashland. Jason graduated, so we went to see that. While we were there we got to check out the new buildings and additions. Absolutely amazing. Especially the new sports complex. There is a huge new pool that can be used by students pretty much whenever and a HUGE fitness center. Too bad we didn't wait a couple of years. We just missed that stuff. I made an album with pictures, check it out.

Then we went to a co-ed baby shower for the McGrady's. It was great seeing everyone! Unfortunately we had to leave before the Mexican Restaurant so we could pick up Ohlen and get home at a semi decent time. We had a lot of fun at the party, and I think that Jon's mom had a ton of fun watching Ohlen.

Then this past weekend Jon, Jon's dad, and Royce (Jon's Uncle) put up our deck! They aren't quite finished with the railing- so I can't take Ohlen out there yet, but it is super awesome. I can't wait to have people over and have supper out on the deck. Or to sit out on the deck with a cup of tea and a good book. :)

Ohlen is doing great. He had his first taste of cheese today, he enjoyed it. He can pull himself to a stand and can move around between the furniture. It's just a matter of time now before he will be toddling all over the place. Then no more calm days for me. :)

Well I think that is enough of an update for now. :) Everyone have a great week.

Tv Finales and Book Thoughts

First off, thanks to all the kind words in the comments on the previous post. I think Lacey hit it on the head. I feel that my fault in the matter is that there has never been a person to person apologetic conversation. It's all been email, which isn't quite as personal, but also not as scary. But anywho, I might have more to say on the whole idea of friendship later, but for now I want to delve into the frivolous world of television. :)

So, first off, SPOILERS!! I will talk about things that I have read online about future episodes of shows that you may or may not want to hear. :) Just a fair warning.

This is the time of year that our favorite TV shows come to an end for the season. And this year there is bound to be quite the doozies. So I am going to record all of my thoughts and predictions about these matters here, because I can. :) Please feel free to comment with your agreements, disagreements, or anything else you would like to say. :)

I will be discussing The Office, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, House, 7th Heaven, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (yes I know this isn't a show, but I want to talk about it anyways. Although, the whole topic of Harry Potter may need it's own post, though I might wait until I read the final book.)

THE OFFICE
I have come to love this show. In fact, last night I think I dreamed about it... I don't remember what happened, just that Pam and Jim were present. :) So I was reading the synopsis for this and next week(which is the last of this season) This week Michael finds out he may be in the run for a job at Corporate. He takes the Office to Scranton Lake where they have challenges to see who will take over for him at Scranton. Then, I saw a preview for the show where they are all around a camp fire and Pam says that she has decided she needs to be more honest. Then next weeks synopsis says that Jim, Karen, and Michael go to Corporate to fight for the position there. Wow, I can't wait. First off, I wish that the scene around the fire would be Pam declaring her feelings for Jim, but I think that that's what they want us to think. I don't think she has the nerve to do it. SOMEDAY SHE BETTER THOUGH, OR I'M GOING TO GO CRAZY!! That episode has the potential to be highly hilarious. Seriously though, I think that it's obvious that Karen will be leaving for Corporate. Whether we find that out in the finale or they wait until next season, I really don't think they will get rid of either Michael or Jim. I mean really, it just wouldn't be the Office without them. O, and Dwight runs Scranton while they are away, so that should be great! :) I am really looking forward to this ending.

SCRUBS
Jon and I fell in love with Scrubs last year sometime. We watched the first 6 seasons in a few months time. I think it's starting to lose its glow. This season just doesn't seem to have the same feeling as those first couple seasons. Watching them in quick succession like we did really brings it out. I really liked JD in the first seasons, but now he doesn't seem serious enough most of the time. And last weeks episode had its moments, but it just didn't get many laughs from us (Me, Jon, Laura). BUT, I still do like the show, and am curious to see where it goes. Rumors are flying about whether or not it will be returning next season. There are 3 more episodes this season, so hopefully we will find out soon. Basically I don't have too much to predict here. JD and Kim will meet again, so he will find out that he is, in fact, still a dad. So that will probably be the focus of the rest of the season. That and Elliot and Ethan, oops I mean Keith, planning their wedding. Oh, and if you got the Ethan reference, kudos to you. :) And of course, JD wondering if he should have let Elliot go, I really really hope that he doesn't mess this up for Elliot. Although, if he doesn't I'm not sure that the series will go much longer anyways. Honestly, if they could tie up loose ends in the next 3 episodes, I think it would probably be best for the show. I am looking forward to seeing how they play this all out. OH, and for the record, WHY did they take Lavern out of the show?? :(

(wow this is a super long post, oh well, if you are still reading, you are super awsome!)

GILMORE GIRLS
Well this show has taken me by storm. I had watched an episode here or there the past 6 years. And one girl at college LOVED it, but I had never been a faithful watcher. Now, I have seen seasons 1 and 5-current and am working my way through season 2. I really like this show. But, unfortunately it is coming to an end this season. Rumors are that the two main actresses couldn't make an agreement with the people in charge of that sort of thing with the show. So, no season 8. Which really, with Rory graduating, and I'm assuming moving away, it makes sense. However, I think that the writers were caught off guard as there are still quite a few loose ends to tie up and there is only 1 episode left. Personally I want to see Luke and Lorelai together. It is obvious from episode 1 that he is enamored by her. And soon that he is head over heals for her, even though he can't get it out. And then they were so close, and crap had to happen so the story line could stay fresh I imagine. But anyways, a preview for next week shows them kissing, so my hopes are high for them. My thoughts are that they will elope and go on the 6 week boat trip that he had originally planned for he and April. Even if they don't elope, I imagine the boat trip will still be on. Maybe in the final seconds of the show it will flash to a scene of them on the boat with Luke calling her Mrs. Danes. Wow, I can be a sap, but that would be pretty cool and would lend us all to believe that despite Lorelai's awful track record with men that they will live happily ever after. :) I've heard people say that they want Rory to end up with Jess, but really I haven't seen enough of that story to have an opinion. I did feel sorry for Logan last week, but he really picked the wrong time to ask. I think he should have talked to her first and really waited to see where her career was going to take her. But anyways, I'm looking forward to next week. I will miss the town of Star's Hollow. I want to move there. :) I wonder if there are still places like that in the world.

HOUSE
I wanted to include House because I love the show. Unfortunately, I have no intelligent things to say about it because I haven't seen it for about half of this season. Jonathan and I missed one episode and wanted to wait to watch again until we caught up and unfortunately it never happened. :( I have no idea what is going on there, although I heard there was some sort of Cameron and Chase thing going on. Which would be interesting. I always thought the idea of House and Cameron was interesting, but weird at the same time. :) On a different note, Chase at times looks somewhat like Jonathan's brother, weird. So, to all that still watch, enjoy the last episodes for me. Hopefully someday we will get to see them!

7th HEAVEN
Ok, no rolling eyes. Honestly I bring this show up only because it's been on for what 11 seasons. That's insane! And truthfully I have probably seen less than 1/4 of the episodes. I'm just sort of interested on how they will end a show that has been going on for so long. From what I have heard/seen they are all going to go on an RV tour of the US?? What.... Weird ending if you ask me, but no one did, so whatever. :) I also always hate teen love stories. Like in movies. You have people in high school who at the end of the movie, finally realize they love each other and they end the movie with them kissing. BUT in the back of my mind I'm always thinking, they're only 17, the likelihood that they are going stay together forever is not very good. I don't know, maybe I'm just cynical. This relates to this show because it seems that Martin and Ruthie may finally end up together in the end. After a bazillion seasons of us all knowing that Ruthie really likes him. But anyways, I do look forward to the finale, and might watch it next Sunday if Jonathan doesn't have a basketball game to watch... :)

and finally...

HARRY POTTER
I seriously have never looked forward to a book as much as I am looking forward to this one. I will probably boycott the internet until I read it as I'm sure that I will be tempted to read reviews and whatnot. Just some thoughts about what I want to happen: - Snape, I want him to be good. I think that there was a huge plot between he and Dumbledore. I think Dumbledore asked to be killed. Yeah a strange theory, but I just have a feeling. And I did when I was reading it. I think he knew he was going to die. Not sure of the reason as to why he would willingly die, though. - Death. Honestly I think that there will be a lot of death in this book, but I think it will be mostly non main characters. My predictions for main character deaths are Voldemort, Snape, Malfoy (both of which I think will be in an attempt to help Harry, I'm quite the optimist), one of the students - my guess being Luna or Neville, and possibly the Dursley's. Oh, and one of the Wesley's. My guess is probably one of the 3 oldest. I really really really don't want any of the main three to die. I think Harry especially deserves to have a happy ever after moment in the end. Once again, I am the eternal optimist. - Love stories. Ron and Hermonie please. It's been there most of the whole series and I would really like to see it come to fruition in this book. I realize this is a highschool romance like I described above, but I don't care. I have a feeling I won't be disappointed here. Ginny and Harry. I know they broke up in the HBP, but I think they still love each other and will get together at the end after it is all over. Really those are the two romances that I care the most about, although I'm sure there will be something about Lupin and Tonks and Bill and Fleur. - Horcruxes. Honestly I haven't put much brain power into this. There are tons of people who have, but really I don't want to think about it. :) lol - I certainly have my priorities straight. :) - Random ideas. I think that Dobby will have a role in the final book. I don't know what, but I think it will involve risking his life, and maybe losing it for Harry. OOOO, this just came to mind. I can see him trying to raise a house elf army to fight for Harry and the Order. How sweet would that be. :) I would love to see Neville's parents be miraculously cured, but I doubt that happening. At the end of the book, I think that regardless of how, Voldemort will be defeated and Hogwarts will go on. I think that Dumbledore's portrait at the school may have some words of wisdom. I mean, how much can they say, how aware are the portraits of what is going on. And is the pensive still there? What happened to all of Dumbledore's things? I am rereading HBP right now, so I might have missed it the first times I read it. (Hey, it can happen. I'm the one who completely missed the fact that Gollum bit Frodo's finger off, until I was at the end of the book and they were talked about Frodo and the nine fingers, or something like that, and I had to go back and reread. :)) Well anyways, I am stoked to read this book. I'm only 600 or so in line at the library to get it, so I might read it by September... :( But I will read it. :)

OK OK I'm done now. Thanks for reading my rambling thoughts about frivolous entertainment that really doesn't matter much :) I must go rescue my little boy from his boring crib. :)

Friends

Doing all those online surveys there is most always the question, What is your biggest regret? And usually I answer that everything happens for a reason, and I don't really regret anything. But that's not entirely true. What I regret the most are the friends that I've lost. Be it through lack of communication or hard feelings, it's just horrible.

There are two friendships especially that I wish I could have back, but I just don't know if it will happen. I let it go too long. And I know that both of the losses have been mostly my fault. I should have tried to keep the lines of communication open. Even now, I should probably talk to these people one on one, instead of writing vague references to them on a blog that neither will probably read. At least I don't know that either of them read this... If they do, cool. :)

I wish... Yes, I wish I would still have these friends, but it's just not the case. I have tried to reestablish connections, but I think it's just been too long. And for that I am remorseful.

But alas, all is not lost. I still have a plethora of great friends. :) I love them all, for all their different quirks and personalities. And mostly for their ability to put up with me and all my idiosyncrasies.

So I guess my point in all of this is to cherish your friends. Don't let petty things come between you, because they really aren't worth it. And don't wait too long to try and rekindle the friendship. Forgive and let go. We all know that forgetting is really not all that possible, but letting go is - it might take awhile, but it's possible.

Trivia and Capris

If you know me very well, you will know that I love trivia. I love the games that ask you questions, like Jeopardy. Ok, well I guess Jeopardy doesn't really ask questions, they give you the answers and you have to give the question, but anyways, you get my point. :) Today I found my Brain Quest decks! They are 7th grade questions, so they are really fun. Mostly because I can actually answer them. I remember we used these decks to practice for Academic Challenge and some of the questions during the Challenge were word for word off these decks. Hilarious. Especially when JT got too cocky and tried to answer a question before all the answer choices were given and they had tweaked the question. I think they were catching on by that point. :) But anywho, I, by the way, did not ever hit my buzzer the two years that I was in Academic Challenge... I was just too shy and not confident enough. I think I was in 6th and 7th grade years. I remember Matt was in the one year, because I remember he always wore this camouflage watch.. :-D Anyways, I will give you the Are you as Smart as a 7th grader quiz after 2 more ranting paragraphs.

First I would just like to say, relating to my love of trivia, that I now have three different versions of Trivial Pursuit. The regular, 90s version, and my most recent garage sale purchase, Book Lover's version! I would sooo totally love to throw a Book Lover's Trivial Pursuit party, but I don't know that anyone would show. Most of the time when I mention Trivial pursuit playing people roll their eyes. But I thought maybe because it was a book version I might be able to convince Brittany and Lacey to play, and possibly Erin if she were in the state. :) But anyways, maybe some day I will convince someone to play along. OOOO maybe I could mix up all the cards and have one huge Trivial pursuit extravaganza with all 3 boards going at once... I'm such a freaking nerd. :)

Next rant. Capris. I remember when these first came out a few years ago. I declared my dislike for them and swore I would never wear them. WHY? Why do I say these things, why do I make myself become a hypocrite? WHY??? I mean really why did I hate them so much? Ok, so I still don't think I like them on men, I mean honestly can you see Jonathan frolicking around in a pair of manpris. Hehe, I was just picturing him frolicking wearing his regular clothes and it made me giggle. :-D Anyways, back to the original point. I wore some last summer when I was pregnant, and they were a nice change from jeans and I better option for me than shorts. Now I have the perfect length of the capris I want, but I can never find them.. Oh well, I will continue my search until I find them.

And now for your trivia questions. The answers will be right below the questions, just highlight to see them. :)

1. Which is correct? 1. "Let go of my arm." 2. "Leave go of my arm."
1

2. How many pockets does a regular pool table have?
six

3. All colonies forbade teaching slaves to read or write. True or False?
false (Only some Southern colonies did.)

4. Is the frequency of sound waves measured in watts, hertz or curies?
hertz

5. What Greek letter symbolizes the ratio of circumference to diameter?
pi

6. From what country did Egypt gain its independence in 1923?
Great Britain

7. What device tells the direction of the wind?
a wind vane or weather vane

8. Which has a higher rate of population growth: the U.S. or India?
India

9. How musicians does a Bach trio require?
three

Weekend Fun

Well this past weekend was great. It started Friday night when I got to go see Garaway put on High School Musical. They did an excellent job! The only thing that was wrong was that I couldn't see a thing. :( I was 3 rows from the back and everyone in front of me was craning their necks to see, which meant everytime there was an opening and I could see, someone stuck their head in that opening... So that was rather frustrating! It's too bad they can't build an auditorium. I know that they probably don't have the money for it and all, but maybe the drama club and stuff could start saving now... But anyways it was a fun musical nonetheless.

Then Saturday Laura, Ohlen, and I headed to Mayfield Heights to spend the weekend with Lana Peterson! Ryan, her husband, and Jonathan (they are old college roomies and we are all friends :)) went on a fishing trip to PA with Ryan's dad. So, we went up to keep her company and have a fun girls and baby weekend. :) First she fed us some excellent lunch, then we traveled to Chardon for their Maple Festival. None of us had ever been there before, so it was quite the adventure. It was so much like the Swiss Festival except more crowded and more food stands. There were like 4 funnel cake stands and 2, yes 2!, fried Swiss cheese stands! Craziness. Anyways, their big thing is this Maple Stir, which is fresh made maple syrup that you stir with a tongue depressor until it gets to a frosting like consistency. Very sugary and good. It was a great time. We watched most of the parade. We were disappointed that they didn't throw candy to adults... Just to the kids sitting right on the curb. We saw the Swiss Festival queen in the parade which was exciting. :) Oh and a little boy threw a small rock at us, great times. :) So then we walked around and Lana bought a funnel cake, Laura bought a bloomin onion and I bought a HUGE lemonaide and we sat and ate/drank it all. bad idea. We all didn't feel so hot, especially with the sun. Then we went back to Lana's, made a Target run, ate a wholesome dinner, and went to bed ridiculously early. Sunday we went to their church, which was great, then ate lunch at Olive Garden. Then Laura and I headed back to Tusc county. And I got to see Nate and Aubyn at mom and dad's when I got back so that was a huge plus. :) Just a great weekend!

So I didn't mention Ohlen at all up there. That's because I was saving it for here. :) He was such a trooper!! He had some major firsts! It was the longest he has been outside at one time ever! So weird to think about. The first time he got to lay in the grass. First time in a strange nursery. He gave his first high five!!! Laura worked with him. He doesn't do it very well, but it is adorable. He basically just flails his arms and maybe will hit your hand. Although when Laura was working with him he would grab her hand with his right hand and then hit her hand with his left. :) I wish I pictures of him from the weekend, but Jonathan took the camera to PA. But that's ok, he got some good pictures there. OH, I will take this moment to thank the town of Chardon for having a Baby changing station available! That was completely awesome! You don't realize how nice that is until you have to change your babies diaper on the floor of a bathroom somewhere, gross.

So anyways, it was a great fun filled weekend. I hope you all had good ones as well. :) Looks like summer is finally approaching and I can plant all these wonderful seeds I have. :)