weekend with the malefyt's

Friday, Saturday and Sunday was a fun-filled few days with Joel and Gina. Friday night, after we were basically snowed-in all day...literally...Drew didn't have to work because of the massive snow storm that hit! Drew was getting cabin-fever and so we headed over to Joel and Gina's. We ate some chips and cheese and just chilled.

On Saturday, I went into work only to have the power go out for 1.5 hours. I was sent home because the powere wasn't scheduled to come back on until 11am, and the minute I pulled into my driveway, Brigette (a gal from work) called me back in becasue the power had turned back on. oh yay! I worked until 1pm and came home. We took Joel and Gina out to the Wash Park Grille and then got some drinks at Reiver's. By 10pm we were all a bit tired, but decided it would be great fun to head over to J and G's and have a sleep-over, since the next day the guys were going fly-fishing and the gals were headed to Boulder, CO just to hang! Boulder=hippie town...for sure!!

just smokin' reefers right on the street...just kidding...but they may as well have been. these street-players had some talent!
diggeridongs

could've been on America's Got Talent! This guy could sing!!

good 'ole Olds

just sign me up for "Better Homes & Garden"

I've been doing some odds & ends projects around the house lately and Monday was very productive. Drew and I have been living without curtains in our closet/extra bedroom as well as in our bedroom since we moved in. Let's just say, it can be a bit awkward at times ;) Anyway, I went to Home Depot and bought a 72" blind for our living room (I wouldn't recommend hanging it alone!!), took down the curtain rod and put that in the closet, and hung curtains in our room.


I also bought some things to start our garden. First we have to till some mushroom compost, then lay the treated wood (16 ft by 4 ft), and then we lay the soil. I started the seeds in a mini greenhouse and in about 3 weeks or whenever they sprout, we get to transplant them into the soil!
here is the mini greenhouse with all the little peats of soil and seeds inside
the different plants that we'll have are:
tomatoes
onions
beets
peppers
squash
cucumber
spinach
lettuce
garden bean
dill
cilantro
basil

okay, now out of the plants in bold, can you match their seeds in the pics below?

1.2.3.4.5.

what happens in mexico...

Before I start ranting about how amazing our trip to mexico was with the whole family, you can take a look at my shutterfly account at evieinthout.shutterfly.com to see all the pics.

Top 10 things about the trip (not in any particular order):

1. Speaking spanish with the natives
2. Jamie scared out of her mind to go snorkeling...and loving it in the end!
3. Dad...enough said!
4. Ashlyn becoming my best friend for the night after buying her a stuffed animal pink dolphin...who said money can't buy love?
5. Parasailing--This is a story in itself: We had to take seadoo's into the ocean to get to our boat (not a big deal right? there's more...) Kevin, Jamie, Drew, Taylor and I were going to parasail and Ashlyn and Olivia were along for the ride (mom, dad, nick, julie and eva in town at this point so we had to take the girls). Jamie gets the first ride with Taylor and Ash. They get to the "pick-up area" and just wait; meanwhile Ashlyn is bawling and there is a mexican boy who doesn't speak any english driving the seadoo. they get in...Ash still bawling! He picks up Drew and me. Then Kevin. Olivia is sound alseep as they are pulling up to the boat on the seadoo in Kevin's arms and the guide grabs her by her life vest and just HOISTS her on up. She cries. Anywho...you get the point...we all had to go back too!! haha. Needless to say, the view was insane!! Taylor went in the middle of Drew and me and J and Kev went together. I was so impressed with how relaxed Tay was...while I am sitting there gripping the hooks for my life!
6. Deep Sea fishing--Julie, Nick, Drew and I went to Playa del Carmen to slay some fishies. While we were strolling, we saw 4 GIGANTIC sea turtles (about 450 lbs said our guide, Juan), a bunch of flying fish, the bluest water I have ever seen, and on the end of Drew's line a....wait for it...35 lb Amber Jack fish. Nick fought a fish all the way to the surface and Herminio (other guide) let is slip. BUMMER! Juan filleted the fish right on the beach and we ate it 30 minutes later in a restaurant for only $15.
7. Taylor reading aloud to me...very impressive!
8. Hahaha....you had to be there but...Del Lago, one of the restaurants, put on a show...let's just say it should have been pg-13!! There was a LOT of booty shaking!
9. Seeing how much livi and Eva are growing up and TALKING!!
10. Spending time with some of the most important people in my life for an entire week...nonstop...what a blessing!! ...mom you weren't mentioned...but, just being with you is enough.

I could honestly go on and on, but I gave my top 10. It was simply spectacular. And now, top 10 pics (or some of my favorites):

home...home on the range...

I went home to Michigan last weekend for my cousin, Jennifer's wedding. It was anything but relaxing, but everything enjoyable! I flew in Thursday to have the rehearsal and dinner at Mangiamo's. Friday was the wedding. Jennifer looked absolutely gorgeous.

jenny getting her makeup done by tiffany

all smiles.

I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Richard Griffen!!

Saturday I hung out with Mom & Dad DV, Jaime, Julie, Steve and the gals. It was so great seeing everyone again. I now have 3 sisters-in-law that are pregnant. Jaime is due in 6 1/2 weeks now. She and Steve will be heading to Ann Arbor to deliver because the baby has hypo-plastic left heart syndrome. This means that the left ventricle in litte Sam, the baby boy's, heart is under-developed. They need some major prayers especially in the next few weeks.

Saturday night I went over to eat some pizza and hang out at J and Kev's house. The girls were mowing down on some cookie dough...entire hands dunked in the big bowl.

all she wants for Christmas are "her 2 front teeth" (Makenna)

they all gather around the bowl of cookie dough...so cute...I think J got 8 cookies our of it still!

Sunday I went to church and then the In't Houts got together for some good eatin' (of course). At about 4pm I got to go meet up with my girlfriends!! We went to Lora's home for some Sunday coffee and yummy coffee cake (thanks shar!). I am reminded that no matter the distance, good friends will always remain close. I enjoyed sitting back and listening to the hilarious stories shared. Back at home (9pm), the aunts and uncles were gathered around our kitchen table to share the last night with their dutch cousins, Rita en Ina. They were, of course, eating...herring, buns, cheese, dips, chips...dropjes...

Monday I ate breakfast by Opa and Oma, took their car to Mom DV, went to the mall with her and Makenna, and then back to Opa and Oma for lunch before my flight. As you can see, it was busy busy busy...but SO fantastic to see everyone.

a first for everything...dad in denver!

We had a pleasant surprise on thursday afternoon. Dad called and said he bought himself a ticket to d-town! He flew in yesterday afternoon. Joel picked him up from the airport and dropped him off at our house. Drew had brought me to work early in the morn, so dad had a car. After many wrong turns and much frustration with the GPS (I can only imagine), he ended up at Breakfast on Broadway. I was just finishing up my side work, so it was perfect timing! We took a mini tour and headed home to take naps!! Drew came home from work at 4pm and woke us both up.

It's Sunday night right now and we have done soooo much already! Last night we headed to our all-time favorite restaurant, Thai Basil. We grabbed some beers and a LOT of food, headed home, had intentions of going out but decided to put on our "comfy clothes" (thanks ash for coining that term). Needless to say, our beds called soon after that.

Today we woke up early, went to breakfast, church, then to the Tommy Knocker Brewery in a small mountain town. After hanging out in Idaho Springs (the town where the gold rush started) and going to a museum, we headed up to Loveland (where Drew and I have skied) to grab a beer and sit outside to soak up some rays. We left the mountain (dad was feeling a little altitude sickness coming on) and headed to the Coors Brewery. It was closed--bummer! We were going to quick stop home to change and what not, but got WAY to comfy WAY to quick. I headed to the store to get some goodies for the morning and picked up 2 movies. We are on our second one right now. I rented "The Transporter 3" and "Milk", but after the first one, dad and Drew wanted to watch more action, so we are watching Rambo (a little bit too much drama for dad I think...he's breathing heavy, leaning forward, and biting his nails while looking very intensely at the TV) ohhh man. anywho...here are some pics.
hanging out in the sunshine after our nap
Tommy Knocker Brewery in Idaho Springs

some good laughs

i swear we didn't just drink all day...although the pics tell a different story...

Clear Creek (what the guys are looking into for fish) is the water that Coors uses for their beer.

so good to see dad.

getting our latte's

Loveland

yep...that's really me!

decided.

I went to the library yesterday. On my way, I was trying to figure out what exactly it is that interests me...or at least what I wanted to read about. I didn't figure it out until I blurted to the librarian, "chinese...do you have any cassettes that teach chinese?" She directed me to number 476. I grabbed the cassette books to Mandarin Chinese & Italian. I turned around and there were about 40 books on photography. I grabbed 6 and picked a table for a couple of hours. It turns out, there is lots to learn about taking pictures! That said, today as the sun was setting, I went to take some pics down Gaylord street for some practice. Here are some of the photos.

one fine weekend

from across the street...Bonnie Brae ice cream shop...the line was out the door!Sunday morning Drew and I got to sleep in and catch the 11am service at DCC! We woke up at about 10:20 (ahh...). We walked into church just in time for anouncements and caught a seat next to some buddies, John and Rachel. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to have them over to grille. We picked up some steaks and j&r picked up asparagus and rolls. We had an excellent sunday dinner...mmm...
the first time we got to host sunday dinner. The new dining room table worked great!
As we were eating, Joe and Keri biked over to join in the fun! We were all stuffed but weren't willing to supress our sweet tooths, so we took a walk to Bonnie Brae ice cream shop. There ice cream is delicious; however, Hudsonville will never be out done in my mind. I got rum raisin. Drew stuck with his mint chocolate chip. $10 for two ice cream cones...little did we know that a waffle cone added $2.50 to the experience.

walking off some dinner in order to fill it with some other goodies

keri, rachel, & me

At home we took our sunday afternoon nap...hung out...off to bed! The perfect sunday!