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And the family keeps growing and growing and growing...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Congratulations to the Camburns

Jon & Erin finally did it! They tied the knot this past weekend.
The rain held off until after the ceremony so only a few people got soaked. There was lots of eating, dancing & maybe even a little drinking. At the end of the night, everyone had a great time.
Congratulations Jon & Erin, we are all very happy for you!
The happy couple cutting the cake. There was minimal smashing going on here.

Then started the dancing. Phil, Mrs. Camburn & the groom.

Here the boys are dancing to Shout! Good thing the floor was relatively clean.

The girls at the end of the night. Look, we match!

Justin, Heather, Phil & I decorated their car.

The couple driving away to their hotel. I can't believe they are still smiling! I'm sure they went straight up to their room to sleep. :)

Friday, August 22, 2008

Happy Bachelorette Party Erin!

Last Saturday Kristin (Jon's sister) and I threw a bachelorette party for Erin. We started the day off with massages, manicures and pedicures. I had a very creepy experience with my massage lady... but I won't go into that here.

After our relaxation, we did some pre-partying at Kristin's house. We endulged in some love potion # 9, chips & salsa and no party would be complete without penis jello shots & penis cupcakes... very interesting. Erin opened presents & then we ventured out to downtown Kalamazoo.

We started off with a drink at the Union while we were waiting for our table at Fandango's. The bartenders loved Erin & kept bringing her shots & feeding her over pours from some other tables. The manager even made her his specialty, something with yogurt in it. (I know it sounds gross, but she said it was really good).

We had dinner at Fandango's then back to the Union for dessert & more drinks. One last stop to Shakespeare's pub to watch some Olympics, listen to music & more drinks. Then home to sleep it off.

The next day I woke Erin up bright & early to drive to Canton for some IKEA time with Aunt Laurie & the fam. It was a pretty eventful weekend.


Here is Erin opening her presents at Kristin's house. I made her this shirt (it says I love nerds). As a side note, I already had a picture of Jon looking like a nerd, so I didn't even have to pose him for one...


Here are the girls at our first bar stop of the night.


This is my favorite picture of the night. Erin drinking her "flirtini's".


Here we are at the last stop of the night... time to go home!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

White water rafting in California

After all of our Yosemite adventures, we decided to drive back up to Sacramento (Placerville actually) and do some white water rafting.  Yes, even my mom & Nate partook in the events.  At one point it was questionable whether my mom was going to drown after she got thrown from the boat, but not to worry, she's safe and sound.
I also lost a pair of my sunglasses.  I am jinxed.  I have to lose a pair of sunglasses into a body of water on every vacation.  I figured this out after my mom told me she lost her sunglasses into the ocean while she was pregnant with me...now it all makes sense and my destiny is clear.
Here are some pictures of our boat going down one of the rapids.  My crazy husband wanted to ride in the front, which made me a little nervous, but it all worked out fine.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Yosemite National Park Part 2

On top of all the hiking and sight seeing we did, we also did some horseback riding. We rode on a trail that went through the woods. It was so much fun, but also very dusty...as most of you know California is in a drought year, so the dust was all over the place, I think I inhaled most of it.
Aside from my mom's horse being a bully & trying to pick a fight with the horse in front of her, it was pretty uneventful, but fun!
Here is Phil showing off his cowboy skills.
Nate, Phil (wearing a pink helmet... shh don't tell him) and Gualy.
The girls afterwards. Annie, Em, Jenni & me.
The forest is so ginormous that we had to occasionally drive places to see all the sights we wanted to. Poor Emily was stuck in between Nate & Phil for a lot of this driving. I apologize for the mental harm they have caused you Em! You brave soul.
There were some really funny signs throughout the park. Here is one of my favorites. Phil & Nate are trying to re-enact the picture on the sign which says to be careful because the rocks are slippery.


This is another sign that was all over the park. They put one up everywhere a bear was killed by a car... very sad. Apparently that is the #1 killer of bears in the park. SLOW DOWN PEOPLE!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Yosemite National Forest Part 1

Here is the first of many posts regarding our amazing trip to Yosemite National Forest in California. First of all, I have about 600 pictures from the trip, so to pick only a few to put on here was very hard (you can see the rest of them herehttp://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=232698468/a=74959280/t_=74959280).

The trip was so much fun. We did all sorts of hiking, mainly up mountains. Some hikes were more treacherous than others (not that I was scared at all… ok maybe just a few times). But the views were indescribable. The pictures do not do it justice, but I tried. There were waterfalls (yes Grandma, there is still water in California) all over the place & we even found a few swimming holes… although the water was beyond Lake Michigan cold.

We hiked to the top of some very steep mountains and although there was some disappointment that we did not hike Half Dome (which is apparently very famous & also very steep), we did hike North Dome & had a really great view of Half Dome from there. I’m sure Phil would be happy to tell you the ancient Indian tales regarding this huge mountains.

One night after hiking, we went to Mariposa Grove to see the Giant Sequoias. They are really Giant! I’ve never seen any tree so huge, except for the cashew tree in Brazil that is a whole city block wide. But they are amazing!

Don’t worry, I will be posting more about our trip including rafting pictures. But for now, enjoy these.


This is the awesome swimming hole we found near our house. The water was cold, but bearable. We swam here almost everyday after our hikes. The water was so clear we could see straight to the bottom. There might have even been some king/queen of the rock going on at times.
Here is the view from one of our hikes (if you look closely you can see my dad & Jennifer at the top of the trail). Beautiful views.
Jenni & Nate hiking up some really cool stairs on one of our trips.
Phil resting at the top of our first hike (which we called Chihuahua Falls because we couldn't pronounce the actual name for it).
Here is the other swimming hole that Annie found at the top of Chihuahua Falls. This water was beyond freezing. It took your breath away as soon as you jumped in & you never got it back. You could only stay in for approximately 30 seconds at a time otherwise you would become an icecube. But even my mom got in! I know you are all amazed that the woman who won't swim in the pool until the water temp is above 80 got in! But I can vouch for her, she did!
Here is one of the treacherous parts I was talking about... it makes me nervous just looking at it.
Here are the boys at the top of North Dome (Half Dome is in the background).
Nate, Phil, Uncle Dave & Dad


This is the tunnel tree at the Giant Sequoias. Phil, Nate & Gual are standing beneath it.
This is a fallen Giant Sequoia Phil & I are standing in front of.
Don't worry... more to come.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Amsterburg 3rd Annual Family Reunion

Saturday was a busy day for us. After the triathalon, we made our way to the 3rd annual Amsterburg family reunion at Phil's dad's house. The whole fam was there, although it was a little smaller gathering than in previous years.

Our time there was short, since we left straight from the reunion to Detroit to catch our plane to California. But we still had a great time. The Maltby family even joined us for part of it.

There was lots of food & man was it HOT!

Phil & Robbie pretending not to be trouble makers.


Another highlight was we got to spend a little time with our nephew, Little Robbie. He just recently got glasses. Isn't he adorable! I think he has a slight resemblance to Chicken Little... too cute!


Here is some of the gang enjoying each other's company. Not sure what face that is Jon!


My three boys. Don't they look cute!

Monday, August 11, 2008

the Shermanator

Sorry I have been gone for a while, we took a family trip to Yosemite in California which I will post on later. For now I will quickly bring you up to speed on what happened before that trip.

Saturday morning, Phil, Jon, both my sisters & my cousin Staci decided to partake in the "Shermanator." Which is a sprint triathalon (meaning: swim 500 yards, bike 10 miles and then run 3.1 miles). Don't ask me what possessed them to do this.

They all did awesome with lots of friends & family there to cheer them on. I was very impressed with everyone's swimming, since not everyone actually "trained" for this part of the competition.

Here are some pictures of the event.

Phil & Jon trying on their swimming gear the night before.


My sisters getting ready for the race.


Here are the boys afterwards... they actually don't look too bad. Good job guys!


Here are all the participants after it was over. I can't believe they are smiling! I'm so proud.
Phil, Jon, Jennifer, Staci & Annie.


You can check out their times & results here in case you are interested in who "won."

http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?rsID=67272&orgID=216362