the gym...

ok-i'm the proud (?!) new owner of a gym membership. this is serious business! the last time i belonged to one was before i had kayt and my friend and i would go after work...then decide that having a milkshake was much more fun than the buns of steel class. but that was AFTER i bought all the cute outfits to work out in.

the reality? black gap yoga pants, favorite t's...not even new socks or shoes. tomorrow's the big first day...i'll let you know how it goes.

i'm starting to feel very, very tired!!

skating at bear mountain

Things I Believe

happy 2009

happy new year! we wish you all a wonderful 2009!

a new year. a clean slate. an unknown future. wouldn't you like to be able to look into the future? i don't know-probably not...we probably wouldn't be able to enjoy the moment.

ny resolutions anyone? nope, none here. can't stand failing (what IS that?!!). i'd like to be healthier, so i'm joining a spa/gym for women (ethos, for those who know it). gotta have that spa there to encourage me to get my bumbuski in there. and if i happen to stumple upon a facial or seaweed wrap, so be it...

and this blog-i warned you in my first post that i'll TRY to keep up...see-no expectations, no failing. :) i'll try harder, i promise.

Finally...!!!

no post since october??!! what a lame blogger! hey-i'm not afraid to admit it. and i will NOT compare to my perfect-blogging sister...i'm confident enough in myself...right traci?



just the regular stuff happening here but i'll try to post some pics in the next few days.



thanks to all of you for the pictures-one of my favorite parts of the holidays!!!!



on my way out to dinner w/my boyfriend...he's a real hottie too!! bye-ed's calling me that he's leaving w/out me if i don't hurry.

my favorite city in the world...chicago!

ed surprised me and took me to chicago for the weekend. who says marriage gets boring? we had a wonderful time-the weather was beautiful so we walked all over the place (he even bought me a new pair of shoes because my feet hurt...actually he sat while i wandered around the shoe dept at nordstrom-i almost needed new shoes just for that, it's so big.) we did some touristy things-things that we never did when we lived here. and we talked and talked and talked.

thanks honey, i needed that!

6 adults + 11 kids = 1 happy household

this past week was so great! we had my dad & mom here-what a treat!! we did a lot of just hanging out and relaxing...oh yea, mom and i and laura and barb went to a taping of

the martha stewart show-front row seats!!!

then on friday the ottens came with their gang. we had a blast-mom & dad got to meet them too and shared in our fun...until they (dad & mom) had to go home on sat :(.....

what a good-looking bunch, huh?

as always, there were lots of laughs, building our friendships and just plain fun.

the hike up to the old castle up cannonball trail:
the injured...

calvin fell (hiking) and both of his knees were bleeding-down his legs! it looked pretty bad!

liv sprained her ankle-again...hiking

shanyn fell too-ouch! :(

are we seeing a pattern here? THAT's why you shouldn't exercise-plus, a big bowl of ice cream makes me feel better than any treadmill ever could.

along the trail...

really roughing it up in the mountains, huh jake?

the beautiful nyc skyline

tawnya broke her arm before she came here and uncle ed took her cast off...what a mess those canadian casts are!

how many dutchmen can you fit in one treatment room?...

shanyn's birthday. happy birthday sweetie!

and just hanging out...

FOOD!!!

wow, christine, what form-glad to see you've still got it at your age!

phase 10 & settlers-watch out~this is serious competition!

don't blink!

i heard this song the other day titled 'don't blink'. ummm...what happened here? when did i blink? when did our baby grow up? 17??!! i took her for her driver's test this am (yes, 7:10am-now that's love) and we walked out with a little card that says the state of nj is going to let her out on the unsafe roads without her mommy...do they have ANY idea? my father-in-law says he already took out addt'l insurance on his car-just in case! not a bad idea....
she came home from school today saying that she was lonely driving by herself on the way to school-now if THAT doesn't sum up her personality!
on saturday night she had some of her really amazing friends who came to spend her birthday w/her ok, brendan came for the free food but, whatever!
for those of you with little kids-enjoy it because it goes WAY too fast! (i always HATED that when people said that to me when my kids were little-i figured they just didn't remember or if they did, they only remembered the times when they were dressed up all cute and forgot what brats they could be. i don't remember that much either, but who wants to? plus, senility is creeping up...

meet lancelot

our baby has a car!!!
lance has officially joined our family-isn't he cute?
he's a 2001 chevy cavalier with 31,000 miles
on it...all for the sweet deal of $3400-cash.
i'm so proud of her that she bought a car within
her budget. for a long time we've been telling her
she's wearing her car because she bought more
clothes than she saved-who DOES she take
after??!!

she's just a little excited about it...she
gets her license on mon. sept 29-the day
papa & beppe come!!!-but for now she
just keeps moving it around the driveway-
i guess picking the perfect parking spot.




and the best part...wind-up windows!!
at first she hated it, but then
she found out that some of her friends
have roll-ups so now it's not so bad..when did
she start caring what other people thought??!!
and the good part is the exercise reaching over
to unlock the passenger side-it almost counts
as a whole day of aerobics, don't you think?!


typical keys of a teenager!! i'm
sure she has plenty more to add!
thinking back, i'm surprised i didn't
pull out the steering column with all
the ones i had on mine!

we miss you, lynden family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes, take a good look...it's me-in overalls!!! who woulda thunk it?!

mommy, sissy & me

oh, how i love this man!

my sweet sam


love this pic of jackson!

back at you, crazy eli

zach &max-c'mon...smile for aunt lori

my mighty man max


does it get any better than this?!

2 of my favorite people

welcome to lynden aunt lori (i could go for this a LOT more often!!)

beautiful bailee

hang on, bo! (riding the mattresses down the stairs)