Wyatt

Today we had Eastyn's birthday party. He will be two soon. Josh and I arrived a little after four and went down to the backyard for the party. As I turned the corner, I heard, "Aunt Tonya! I love you!" As Wyatt came running to me. He's so cute. I just love him to death. 

We spent the day playing. Then Wyatt refused to go anywhere but home with me and Josh. He had all the answers for his mom. He wouldn't miss her and he'd see her tomorrow. He was a hoot. He packed his bag and away we went. 

In the car, Wyatt why do you like spending the night at our house? "Cause I love the iPad. I love you guys. Annnnnd cause you're nice!"

How can you not love the kid. 

Tonight as I'm laying her with him in our guest bed, I am reminded how precious our time with kids and family really is. I am very happy that our nephews and nieces love to spend the night at our house. I'm thankful we are an important part of their young lives. 

Today, I am thankful for my time with Wyatt!

Morning Off

Today I took the morning off. I ran some errands. I worked out. I went to lunch with some family and friends. I enjoy my time. I'm thankful for the morning off. 

Shopping

Tonight I did some shopping. I got some gifts I needed to grab and some alone time out and about. I enjoyed doing some shopping tonight. Target and Meijer are always a good time. I'm thankful for my shopping tonight. 

Larry Lewis

Today we lost power in half our house. It was very frustrating.  

After we tried everything, we had to call the one guy we knew could help us. Larry! He's awesome. He has all the right tools and can fix anything. Between him and Josh, they solved the problem. We bought a new part and fixed it. 

Thank goodness for Larry's willingness to help us at a phone call. :) Im thankful for our step dad larry!

Positive Speech

Today we heard a positive speaker. Mr. Draper was awesome. He did a great job motivating and showing the positive side to education. I was impressed by his speaking skills. It was very motivating.

I'm thankful we got to hear Mr. Draper speak today. 

Hot Days

Even though our office had no AC all day and my hair looked like an 80's rock band member, I was happy for the heat. I love hot days. It just feels good. No one wakes up saying, "man, I'm glad it's cold!" Heat makes people get up and go. I love it. I push mowed both Grandma's lawns too wiping sweat from my face. Loved it! I'm thankful for a hot day!

Kind Kids

Today I met my U10 softball team at Cascades. I'm coaching a Sunday learning league. I met over half my girls today. They were pretty athletic for age 10 or below. Some nice parents too. After we had our final meeting and dismissed them, almost all of them walked out a looked at me and said thank you! I was blown away by their kindness. They were really sweet. I was impressed my their manners today. Good parents I must say. I'm thankful that some parents are still teaching kindness and manners in today's world. :) I'm looking forward to more interactions with these young ladies. 

Back Yard Volleyball

Tonight we enjoyed some backyard volleyball with our friends. We played a few games with people ages 7 and beyond. It was a great time. I'm glad we hung out with our friends and played some volleyball. 

Benefit Dinner

I want my followers to know that my dang blogger app is not letting me post pictures. I can't fix it! Ugh! 

Tonight we went to the Thought 1 Scholarship dinner at Cascades Manor House. We were not going to be able to attend but the opportunity presented itself so we chose to go. We had a nice time talking to some community members and some friends. Dinner was really good too. Yummy. The speakers did a nice job too. 

The topic was cancer and how others had battled and faced it. It was nice to hear some of the people's messages about how they look at life in general. It was a nice evening event. 

I'm thankful we received the opportunity to attend this fundraiser tonight. 

Painting

Tonight we did a project with the boys. We painted some bird houses. The boys had a blast painting too. We got a little bit messy but it was a lot of fun. Something new.  I'm thankful for our painting tonight  

$14 of Fun

Tonight I ran into town to find some cheap entertainment for my nephews tomorrow night. 

Michael's had $1.00 items. I gladly picked up a bunch of items to paint and some fun learning work books. 

I'm thankful for my $14 of fun for tomorrow night!

Run

It was hot at 4pm when I got home from work. However, I made myself run the block. I needed a good workout today!! So I did. I pushed myself on the heat even though my iPod died, I kept on going. Finished the damn run. Felt good too. :)

I'm thankful my old self can still run and that I pushed myself today! 

Project

I'm thankful that Josh is persistent on our front porch project. I don't like painting and he did the whole thing for hours tonight. I appreciate all his hard work. After tomorrow, the front porch will look sweet! :)

Sunday List

I do not like grocery shopping.  Not a fan.  Today we had a list is things we needed to do. Laundry, grocery shopping, now the yard, clean, etc. We spent Friday and Saturday having fun with friends and family. 

So Sunday we got up with a list. However, it was sunny and hot. I can't stay inside during days like today. So when Tara asked me to the lake, I forgot about our list! Ha. Josh and I made a deal. He mowed and cleaned the shed then was going to spending the afternoon and evening fishing. I was going to spend the day on the lake and I would come come to do laundry and grocery shop. :) We did get most the list done and each enjoyed our day!

I'm thankful Josh and I worked together to get our Sunday list complete. :)

Dinner with Jenna

Today I had a busy day. Worked out, worked, mowed grandmas, then I met my friend Jenna in Ann Arbor for dinner. We did a little shopping then sat at a restaurant chatting. It's nice to talk with a friend you don't see that often. We had a real fun evening. I'm thankful for my friend Jenna. 

Paige's Birthday

Today we celebrated Paige's 2nd Birthday with our family and close friends. It was a beautiful sunny day. The kids had a ton of fun playing with the toys and  bounce house and a pinata. I saw some people I hadn't seen in a while too. Its always fun to catch up. Today I was thankful for all the nice people who gave us a hand passing out cake, tearing down tables and chairs, cleaning the kitchen, washing dishes, and even vacuuming. My mom was a huge help today too. She got their early and stayed late cleaning too. 

Paige was so nice today too. She loved her gifts and told everyone thank you with hugs and kisses. She also shared her toys with her cousins too. It was a fun day. 

I'm thankful for our fun day at Paige's birthday party. I'm also thankful for us being able to hang out with all our family and friends today. It was a fun day. 

Tigers Game

I love going to Tigers games. I just love the atmosphere.  Walking in you see people, young and old. Kids are riding on shoulders. People are wearing shirts to support their favorite Tiger. You see gloves on the young and old. It's just fun. Walking in you smell pizza, hot dogs, and fresh cut grass. There's nothing more exciting. Music is playing, people are happy. 

Josh and I got to enjoy our day at the ball park and not at work today. :)

 Thankful for our Tigers Game today'

Running Friends

I came home from work and did not feel much like running tonight. I was just tired. Blah. So I texted my friend Julie and asked if she had run yet. She had not. We decided to go quickly. I headed over and we ran 2.34 miles around Spring Arbor. She didn't want to run today and neither did I, but we pushed either to go. I'm thankful for running friends. I aways feel so much better after I run! :)

Fishing with the Boys

Tonight my mom and I got to fish with my nephews. Mom was watching the while Trish worked. We had a fun time. We fished and laughed and enjoyed a cold evening. 😬  I'm thankful we got to spend the evening with my mom and my nephews. 

Fast Monday

I'm thankful my Monday went by quickly. 

Project

I hate projects. Not a big fan. They take a lot of time. :/ Josh likes them or rather he enjoys doing them. 

We went to lowes this morning only for it to take close to an hour to purchase what we needed. However, the wait was so long that the lady gave us 20% off. That was sweet. Josh got home and started the long project on the porch. He worked hard all day. I appreciate the fact that he likes things done well. 

I'm thankful Josh is trying to get our porch project completed. 

Fair Night

(Pictures are not posting!)

So even though its not in one way shape or form heathy, I enjoy the yearly fair food. I love the lemonades and the fries. Yummy!! 

Tonight my family ventured down to the fair. We walked through the barns, ate, rode rides, and played games! It was a blast. The kids had so much fun. It was a hoot. My cousin Jordan joined us too along with my mom and dad. It was fun. 

I enjoyed watching the kids have fun and eating. :). I'm thankful the weather was nice and we could all enjoy the fair. 

Fishing

Today Josh and I took a fishing trip down the Kalamazoo River. He texted me today to ask if I wanted to go and I thought it'd be fun. So I said sure. Josh packed up the truck and trailer with the boat and fishing gear. We got dinner at Subway and packed in the cooler. 

The river was calm and peaceful. It was a nice sunny night. We fished for over and hour catching a few small fish. 

We had fun fishing tonight. I'm thankful we spent some time fishing tonight. 

Klavons

That name enough makes anyone happy.  We enjoyed dinner tonight with our friends Marni and Steve. We didn't even have to wait for a table. :) It was great to have dinner with our friends Marni and Steve.  I'm thankful for dinner with them tonight. 

Cascades Ice Cream

I am thankful that Josh and I went to Cascades for ice cream tonight. It was awesome!

 

Work Mode

Today unfortunately, I got into work mode. I worked from 9-4:15pm. I was not one bit ready to start back either. In fact, I'm still in denial. It's frustrating to work on nice day, but today was another shitty day so I didn't mind. I mean if the suns not shining, what's the point in staying home?! I got a lot done today thanks to the shitty weather. 

Today I'm thankful for the shitty summer weather so returning to work want too hard.  :) It actually put me in work mode!

Yard Work

I spent a good portion of my day doing yard work. Believe me, I wished it was hotter, but it wasn't. Ugh. I enjoy yard work. I even got suckered into doing some yard work for the neighbors too. I didn't mind. I enjoy taking a messy heap of over grown trees and bushes and trimming them to look fabulous. :) It almost annoys me when I see nice houses with shitty yard up keep. Like dude, what's the point in a nice house of your bushes are over grown and your mulch is 5 years faded? Not cool. LAZY! 

So I spent over an hour with the electric trimmers running. My arms were burning before I went into the neighbors backyard and finished up the bushes by hand. Man, do my grandmas and her neighbors yards look awesome! :) If I do say so myself. Ha!

I love yard work! I'm thankful to have a day to do yard work. 

'Old' People

Don't you just love old people? They are so cute and fragile. 

Today I had three encounters with old people. 

1.  I was sitting at Panera outside about 11am when an older gentlemen came up to the sitting area. He looked very confused and out of sorts. I instantly thought something was wrong. He came right up to me and asked if I had a cell phone. I was talking on it to my sister Trisha at the time. He then asked me again if I had one he could use. I hung up with Trish who also realized something was wrong with the older man. I jumped up to help him. He pulled out a little black book saying he had forgotten his phone at home. He then told me he was supposed to meet his daughter there, but didn't see her and wondered if she got in an accident or something. As he searched for her number, she pulled up. He thanked me and then went to greet her. He was so cute. I was happy to help him and hoped that if it were my grandma, someone would do the same. 

2. As I pulled into Meijer, I saw an old man, putting his groceries away.  This man was significantly older than the man 10 minutes ago at Panera. He was really struggling. I tried to help him as I walked right by him to the store. I watched as he limped ever so slowly to his driver side door as he leaned on his car the whole way. It was sad. I felt bad for his daily struggles. 

3. Josh was going to be home late and I didn't feel like cooking just for me. Ok, who am I kidding, I hate cooking for me or for anyone. It's such a waste of time. Anyway, I called up my grandma and asked her to go to dinner. We met at Andy's Pizza whereTrish was working. We shared a pizza and some fries. Yesterday marked seven years since my grandpa Steven's death. She told me that she was talking to him yesterday and  asked, 'why did you leave me so soon? What would our life be like now? What would we do?' That was so sad to hear. We ate and talked. As we left she hugged me and said, "thanks for calling me. It was fun. It's always nice to get out of the house." Sad. 

I like old people. When I see them I can't help but wonder what's their story. I am always kind to them too even if they are driving slow or taking forever in line. They are people too. Someday, we will be old and slow too. :/

Today, I'm sure God put those people in my path for a reason. Maybe to remind me to slow down or to enjoy little things like dinner with grandma on Sunday night!! I'm thankful for my day of 'old' people. 

Golfing

Today the weather was beautiful. It was sunny and warm and sunny. Oh did I mention SUNNY??!?!!?!!!!!! Whoop whoop. :)

It was fun to golf even though we came in about dead last. Ha! :) Putting was not our friend! But we had a good time and enjoyed a nice day!

I'm thankful our golf outing went very well and the weather was awesome!

Me Day

Today's weather sucked. I mean how many times this summer can we wake up to rain and clouds? Why does Mother Nature hate us so much this summer? I don't understand. Sad. 

So I changed my entire day to make it a me day. I didn't run...regretting that now. I had lunch with my friends at Panera. I had my favorite lunch food. Yum. Then I went to the driving range to practice for tomorrow. I came home did a little cleaning. I power napped. Loved it. I spend dinner with my dad and sister. Now I'm home in pjs, feed up, watching TV alone. Josh is fishing. 

I'm so thankful for my 'Me Day!'

Helpful

Have you ever done something for someone else? Just done it not caring what you get in return? Or done it with a absolutely not way to hold a grudge or want to be repaid later?

Does that even happen any more? I feel like the world has lost some 'do something for others' mentality. How did that happen?

Since this is my blog, I feel like its not rude when I write this. I like to do things for others. Looking back, I've probably been like this my whole life. 

I have friends who are very giving and then I have some who aren't as giving. I always wonder how that happens. What was their childhood like? Hmmm. 

Anyway, I've enjoyed spending time with my family especially my nephews and niece. I don't mind giving up my time to hang out with them or watch them so my sisters could work or run errands. They are only young for a while. The last two days, I spent time with them at the zoo then at my house for a while. They are so cute and impressionable. I enjoy spending time with them. I would probably give up most anything to spend time with them. :) I haven't kept count of how many hours I've watched them and I don't take money from my sisters. I just can't. It would feel wrong. I'm not bragging, I'm just curious how others don't feel the same way. How they don't get the same joy in helping others... Maybe I was raised by very giving people. :)

I'm thankful for people who don't mind doing things for others.