I'm a Wilderness Girl

Anyone that knows me knows that camping is not something that I would consider a "fun" thing to do. I am not outdoorsy, I hate being hot, and I hate bugs. (Insert comment from Jill about how I would probably rather be sitting on a Cleopatra couch being fanned and fed grapes). Well, it's absolutely true. As you all know, I once lied in an interview for a camp job saying that I loved the outdoors. And we all know how that turned job turned out....
However, it is amazing the things we do for our children. Kinsey has wanted to go camping for a while now. I'm all about giving my kids real life experiences so....I had to go camping.
When we got to the camp site, I was hot. But somehow we got the tent set up. I'm not sure how because we had no idea what the heck we were doing. I kept thinking it was going to fall but it stayed up the whole night!
There was a lake that was right by where we set up our tent. These ducks kept coming up real close to the camp site. So brilliant me has this idea to feed the ducks some food that the girls didn't eat. When we first walked up to them, they kind of ran away so I assumed they would keep their distance. Not so. It was like a gang. When I threw the bread they all started running at us. Again, I'm not a real big animal person so wild ducks are really out of my comfort zone.
One of the best things about our camping trip was the camp fire and making s'mores. The girls have never had s'mores before so they had a good time roasting their marshmallow. They were fascinated with how gooey the marshmallow was and wanted to play with it more than eat it. But at least they got the experience.

We brought the air mattress to sleep on which I was so glad because I really didn't want the girls to sleep on the ground. However, when we got there we had no clue how we were going to blow it up with the pump we had because there was not outlet. So we made a quick trip to walmart and bought a different handheld blower upper for $25 (even though we already had one...it just needed to be plugged in)! We got back to camp and got our beds set up. As we were sitting around the fire, some other people started walking toward us with an air mattress in their hands. Literally, directly behind where we were set up-not even five feet-was an electrical outlet. These people started blowing up their bed and we about cried because we were sitting in front of this outlet the whole time and didn't even know it.
We had a very good time and the girls did too. I'm not going to say that I want to go again real soon, but I'm glad we were able to go so the girls could have the experience of sleeping in a tent.

Afternoon Lunch

First of all...I had a wonderful time this past weekend with a few of my favorite people that I wish I could see more often. Jill, Emma, Alyssa and I went to Red Robin for a nice lunch and then went shopping around the mall. Jill so nicely made a list of everything that everyone needed.


Second of all...according to Emma, she thinks my ring looks dirty because there is more "solid band." Unlike on hers where there are more diamonds on the band. So she's basically saying that she has more bling than me but I'm ok with that. As if that wasn't a low enough blow, as I was getting my earrings cleaned, Jill said "Who do you think you are? Princess Diana?" Holy cow girls! I am confident that those things were said out of love.


All in all, I got my "dirty ring" and my "Princess Diana" earrings cleaned. Thanks for a wonderful afternoon friends!

Good Bye Summer

Kellie and I

I have to say that this has been one of the best summers I've had in a long time. Partly because I really haven't done anything other than go to the pool with the girls, hang out with friends, celebrate weddings, and visit with family. This is pretty much the first summer that I didn't take classes or teach summer school. I'm finding that summer vacation is very relaxing. However, by nature I am a very busy person and always have to be doing something. So although this was a great summer, I am very ready to get back to school with a new group of 6th graders!

Of course before heading back to school, we had to have one last outing. Wednesday nights have become our karaoke night. There is a little bar down town in broadripple that we like for our Wednesday night adventures. As we start school on Monday, this was our last Wednesday that we could all go out. I have to say that I look forward to going out with this group of people because they are all crazy! Especially Kellie..who is responsible for forcing me to go out on Wednesday nights. Like a true friend, she takes no excuses from me..and I'm glad for that.

It was the DJ's wife's birthday and Bill's birthday (Bill is a regular at this bar...he's a funny old man). They had a huge cake that looked delicious. At some point, I turned to Kellie and told her I wanted some cake. Shortly after, crazy Bill came over and offered some cake to us. It was the best cake ever and I'm glad that I got to celebrate Bill and the DJ's wife's birthday with them (neither of whom I know). So Happy Birthday people I don't know...thanks for the cake! The delicious cake

It never fails that every time we are there, Meca always gets asked to dance by drunk old men (it might actually be the same man every time). This time it was funny because Trey was there. However, this did not matter to the dancing man. He loved him some Meca last night regardless of her husband sitting right beside her. Trey is a great sport and laughed the whole time. Meca is also a great sport because she was a fabulous dancer with this guy! Meca and Trey
Meca singing...she was very good!

I love when I get to watch Ryan sing at Mugshots! He could be the biggest crowd pleaser I know. He is nuts (not a huge surprise to anyone that knows him) but watching him sing "Psycho Killer" was hysterical. Heather took a video of him which I wish I could put on here for you all to see. You will have to settle for the picture but I'm sure you can imagine...
Ryan singing "Psycho Killer" Ryan posing in his nice jacket

Speaking of Heather...Love, love when I get to hang with her. She is probably one of the funniest new friends that I have met. Even though she thinks she sang the worst song of her karaoke career, I thought it was great. However, I think she really found her niche when she sang Gretchen Wilson "Here for the Party" in SC (we still don't know what that means) but I told her to always pick songs with SC after them now. So here's to you Heather! Heather...it took us three times to take this picture!
Kellie and Heather ... it also took three times to take this picture!

All in all, a wonderful night with wonderful people. I hope everyone's summer comes to a fantastic end!

So Many Congrats Are In Order

First of all, there are a few congrats that we need to take care of...

Congratulations...

Traci and Greg on your marriage! We wish you a blessed journey through life together and know that there are many good times to come for the two of you.

Jered and Molly on your news of a little Kurtz due in March! You will be fabulous parents and we can't wait to babysit :)

Chad and Courtney on your news of another little one also due in March! You know the joys of parenting are endless and our sincere congrats go out to you both!


Kevin and Jessie on finding out that I will have a niece in November!! Yes, it's a girl and I couldn't be more excited. Of course, she will be spoiled!

Weekend Happenings- Hollenbaugh Wedding

What an awesome wedding! I have to say that Traci was a very beautiful bride and Greg a handsome groom. The church was amazing and the reception was so much fun! Jason and I were fortunate that his parents were able to watch our girls for the evening so we could relax and catch up with our closest friends and celebrate with Traci and Greg.

Everything was perfect...the food was amazing (salad, chicken breast with a very good sauce, scalloped potatoes, string green beans, and different kinds of cake). After eating and drinking-a lot-Jason made his way to the dance floor where he swears he won a dance contest (I think he was the only one in the competition) by doing the canoe on the floor. Probably every person at the reception told me he was the funniest person they had ever met.

We were so happy to see so many of our friends that we don't get to see often enough!

Greg and I (Adam in the background)

Greg and Jason

Adam and Nanci

Karmen and Jak Chaney

The MC Baseball Guys

Minix, Jason, and Adam dancing and singing

Congratulations once again to the new bride and groom. Have fun and be careful at Lake Tahoe!

Long Time No Blog

Wow...it has been a long time since I have written anything. A lot has happened since the 4th of July so we'll just do an update.

Finally Married Again
Well, that sounds weird. I have been putting off having my wedding ring and engagement ring soldered together for quite some time now. Pretty much because I didn't want to be without them for a week. Recently I noticed that my rings were looking a little dingy and not as sparkly as when I got them. I took them into Kays and they suggested that I have them replated (they are white gold). So I finally sent them out and had them replated, thoroughly cleaned, and soldered together. I just got them back yesterday and they look brand new. I never take my rings off (I know Emma is cringing about that because she takes hers off for everything!) but mine never leave my finger. Needless to say, they really needed some work. But now they look great and I have them back!

Happenings
The Pfeiffers' spent last weekend in Fort Wayne visiting with family and friends. I was sooo excited that I got to spend some quality with my favorite person in the world, Sarah Ryan. I stole her for a while to get another pedicure and Starbucks. We also went bowling, which was very funny because Sarah doesn't have the strongest wrists (love you Sarah) for holding a bowling ball. Nonetheless, we all had fun and shared some laughs as usual.

House Update
Most of you know that we are not moving into the new house. It's a long story but probably for the best. We are going to stay put in Fishers for a while but continue to look again sometime in the near future. The whole process was so tiring and time consuming, we are not ready to start it all over again right now. With school getting ready to start, I want to wait until I have more time to dedicate to the whole buying process.

Hair Cut
I have been growing my hair out for a while now and it got pretty long (for me anyway). I really wanted it to have some length for Emma's Wedding so I could wear it up. Unfortunately, I just couldn't make it. I get so anxious when my hair is long and I just can't deal with it. It gets to a certain length and I just keep pulling it back. I had to get it cut. Normally, I have my cousin Sara cut it because she is the only one who knows how to cut it the way I like. But I was impulsive and just wanted it cut so I let someone I did not know cut it. It was the worst cut I have ever had. I had to go back the next day and have Sara recut it and take off another inch just to fix what the other girl did. However, I am really happy with the result.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

This is what the girls did instead of watching the fireworks

Jason tried to get in the picture with the fireworks but it was too late.

Kinsey and Kaitlyn loved their ice cream at Carmelfest

The girls had to sit in the back of the Commander because it started raining.

Jason sat with a Dora umbrella because it was raining.


This picture was taken 3 times because Ryan forgot how to take a nice picture.


This picture captured the one micro second that the girls actually sat down during the fireworks.
We had a very good 4th of July. We went to Carmelfest which was very fun. Last year we went to Fishers fireworks at Conner Prairie but I didn't think the show was that great. This year we went to Carmel with Kellie and Ryan. Kellie went with Jason, the girls, and me early to play games and eat. The girls got to play putt-putt, ring toss, and tic-tac-toe and for $10 they won little bear necklaces with bubbles in them and a sucker. However, they had a lot of fun. As soon as we were done at the fair we started walking back toward the cars and right when we got there it started raining. So we put the blankets in the back of the Jeep and had the girls hang out there for a while. We still had a little bit until the fireworks were supposed to start so we stuck around and hoped that the rain would stop. Luckily, it did and we were able to go across the street to the grass opening and watch the whole show. The Carmel fireworks were awesome! Even thought Kinsey and Kaitlyn talked about seeing fireworks the whole day, I don't think they even watched them. They were up dancing and running around. All in all it was a great weekend and we will definitely go back to Carmelfest again next year!

Favorite Dress

I just wanted to show everyone my favorite dress that the best mother-in-law in the world got for Kinsey for her birthday. This was the first thing that Kinsey wanted to wear of all her new outfits. Thanks Deb!