Traverse City

This past week Scott, Christine, Lance and I took at two day trip to Traverse City.  It was so much fun and it happened to fall on Scott's birthday which was an added bonus.  The first day we went wine tasting.  We visited several different wineries.  They were all beautiful!  And of course the wine was great!  Christine also used the time to take pictures.  She is becoming such an amazing photographer.  After we finished wine tasting we went to dinner at Apache Trout Grill.  It was so good, I would highly recommend it to anyone who is visiting Traverse City!  It is right on the bay, it is gorgeous and the food was fabulous!  We stayed at Leelanau Sands Casino.  Scott and I went to the casino with about 16 dollars in coins.  Needless to stay we left empty handed after about 15 minutes haha.  The next day we went shopping in Sutton's Bay for a little bit before we went golfing.  We golfed at Crown Golf Course.  The golf course was so beautiful.  And hard haha.  But not going to lie I'm on the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to golfing.  And it was so hot!  But we had a lot of fun anyway!  It was a great little trip.  We also received great news that Dean got a job working for Broadway!  Congrats to Dean!

Live and Love

Last week my grandfather had quadruple bypass heart surgery.  My grandfather and I have not had much of a relationship if any relationship at all since I was a little girl for various reasons....reasons that ironically I cannot even come up with.  That is how petty it all is.  And when something this big, this life altering more specifically life threatening really puts things into perspective.  You don't know how much time you have, which I know sounds so cliche, but seriously, you just don't know.  And when something like this stares you right in the face it makes you realize how worthless disagreements or grudges or grievances or whatever crap you might have in a relationship  really are.  I am embarrassed to say my children don't even know who my grandfather is.  There is no excuse for that.  Family is family.  Friends are friends.  You would think I would have learn how precious time was when we lost Merri.  So many passing conversations, laughs, moments that seemed so normal that I took for granted and now I would give anything just to have one more moment like that with her once again.  My grandfather made it through the surgery and he is recovering well.  I view that as God giving us a second chance.  To have a relationship, to introduce my children to their great grandfather, to put all that crap in the past.  Because the crap doesn't matter in the end, its the love.  I want to be the person who shows love, I want to be the person who teaches my children to show love, and to cherish each and every moment, no matter how big or small, because you just don't know how much time you have.  Shouldn't we all spend that time that we do have living and loving to the fullest?  It is my hope and prayer that when my time comes I can say that I lived and loved to the fullest.  Forget the crap.  Repair the broken relationships.  Cherish every moment.  Live and Love.

It been a while!

Things around the Stockwell house have been crazy lately!  But good crazy.  First in case you haven't already heard Scott got a job as an administrator at Hopkins!  He will be the dean of students for either the 6th and 7th grade or the 9th and 10th grade.  He will be interacting with the students in his assigned grade levels, getting to know all of them, keeping an eye on their grades, assisting those who may be struggling as well as praising those who are doing well,  interacting with the parents and teachers of those students, attending sporting events and other after school activities for the students.  He is very excited to have been given this job.  One of the first things he said was he wants to take a few hours each week and make phone calls home to tell parents are good their kids are!  He really wants to make a positive difference and I think he will do an amazing job.  I am so proud of him!

We also recently celebrated our 4th anniversary!  I can't believe it has been four years already!  And I love him even more today then the day we got married!  God has truly blessed us with a healthy, happy and exciting marriage and I can't wait to spend the next 75 years with Scott:)  We went golfing and took a day trip to Saugatuk.  It was a lot of fun!  (Although my golf skills need serious improvement:)

We had a very fun fourth of July weekend.  Scott got to go to the Tiger's game with Derek, Mike, and Jayme.    They had a lot of fun, and had some pretty funny stories:)  We also went to the annual fourth of July pool party at Uncle Todd's and Aunt Tammy's.  The weather was really nice and we had a lot of fun.  It is always fun to get together with your family!  On the Fourth of July we went to the parade.  It was so hot!  Gavin didn't really like it too much, he was hot and tired, plus he didn't like the loud noises.  But Logan and Tate had a lot of fun and they got a lot of candy!  We also went to Collin's pool party.  Again the weather was great!  When we got home we did some fireworks with the kids, and later the boys all went to the fireworks.  Gavin and I stayed home....he was a very tired little man!  It was a great weekend!

I have really been enjoying my time at home with the boys.  Gavin LOVES to be read to.  I think he would read all day long if he could!  And Logan really enjoys his daily homework haha.  We have been playing outside a lot.  They love to play in the kiddie pool and run through the sprinkler.  We have also been going to play dates with the Baars, Bushs, and Pippins.  We are trying to make that a weekly thing.  Its a lot of fun to see the kids play together and get to do some girl talk!  I still have a lot planned for this summer.  I want to take the boys to millennium park, Fredrick meijer gardens, the zoo and the children's museum a few times.  And hopefully one of these weekends we will make it out to the beach!  And we still have girls weekend up north and guys weekend up north.  Then Scott will start his job mid August.  It is crazy how fast this summer is going! I also just found out that Logan is going to be the ring bearer in his Aunt Leisel's wedding in October and he is excited about that!  He says he will look like a stud...and he will:)

Logan finished up tee-ball a few weeks ago.  He got a trophy that he of course was very proud of!  He did a great job this year!  He also learned how to ride his bike without training wheels!  My nieces Corine and Sydney attended nationals for Odyssey of the Mind and did a really great job!  They placed really high!  Very proud of them!  My nephew Carter is doing well, I enjoy getting to babysit him once in a while.  My other nephew Jack is adorable and I can't wait to meet him!  Kevin and Amy and the family are getting ready to move to Maryland in the next few months.  Kevin is graduating with his masters degree!  Congratulations to Kevin!  Uncle Brett and Matt had their commitment ceremony a few weeks ago and we got to see family their as well.  Congratulations to Brett and Matt!  Things are going well for both the Stockwell and LaFrenier families!  More to come!

Logan with his tee-ball trophy

Fred Flinstone:)