Family Bonding

Ok, I had to steal these pictures from my cousins website. This is too funny not to share with everyone!

This is the family bonding that took place at my parents house on Sunday for the Maltby family reunion.

Check out Phil's cheesin smile the whole time! Classic.

Maltby Family Reunion

Saturday morning Phil and my sister Annie ran 16 miles on the Kal-Haven trail, in the rain. I dropped them off 16 miles from the start and they ran back to their car. They are crazy, but they both made it out alive.

Annie & Phil pre-run

Then in the afternoon, we made our way to my parents house in Vicksburg for a little pre-family reunion festivities. My aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers-in-law and grandma all came over to eat and enjoy each others company. We played some paddle ball and had smores by the fire.

A family game of paddle ball

The sisters enjoying the afternoon.

Campfire in the backyard

Sunday the whole family came over for lunch and a few challenges to my cousin Ross's croquet & spoons title. We had a bbq outside, played some cards, had a croquet tournament (which Ross won again by the way... and I'm not sure exactly how), ate lots of cupcakes and swam until our lips turned purple.

The croquet tournament finalists

Cousin Greg, Brother Nathan, Sister Ann, Phil, Mom, Cousin Ross

Euchre anyone? Cousin Staci, Grandma, Uncle Jeff & Dad

Aunt Sharon, Corinna & Arianna (our flower girls)

Family chaos

Lansing Dinner

This weekend was a blast. Friday night we went to Lansing to have dinner with my good friends Shell & Nicole and their husbands. We had margaritas and yummy food at Reno's. It was so much fun to see them again, we used to hang out all the time when I lived in Lansing and since they've both had babies and I moved back to Kzoo, we don't see each other nearly as much as I'd like.

After dinner we went over to Nicole's and got to visit with her baby Braelynn and her new puppy. Both are adorable and Braelynn couldn't keep her hands off Phil (Not that I blame her)!

My friend Shell and her son Talan


Phil and Braelynn




Nicole & Braelynn

Storm Damage

So Thursday night a pretty huge storm came through southern Michigan and northern Indiana. About 36,000 homes were left without power for the whole weekend, most of them getting it back sometime on Sunday. Phil and I were lucky not to lose power during the storm, but his dad was not so lucky. He was without power for about 3 days.


We attempted to go see Galesburg (Phil's alma mater) play Gull Lake (Jon's alma mater) in high school soccer, so that the boys could talk trash to each other for a whole year based on who won the game. However, due to the storms it was cancelled. So we went to eat at pretty much the only place in Richland with power (can't remember the name of it right now) and it was very good.


Here are some pictures of the storm damage by our house. Crazy stuff!

Stampin Up

Tuesday night I went to a Stampin Up party at my friend Jessica's house. It was so much fun. We were helping her make cards to give away as prizes for an MS fundraiser that her sister-in-law is holding. She had to make 20 cards, so we all said we'd come over and help.

We each made a different card and just made multiple of that card. We finished them all in about an hour! After that we just visited and played with her new baby, Hannah Grace. She is adorable (although she did throw up a few times while we were there), it was still cute!

Here are the girls concentrating very hard on what our instructor Jill is telling them.... ahahah yeah right!

Here are the cards we made. I did the blue and green flowered one that says Thank You on it. It took forever to water color those stinkin flowers! I hope they like them.

After the party, I decided I was going to host a party for myself where everyone can come and make cards to take home with them... who doesn't need some extra birthday, thank you, wedding, etc. cards lying around the house for last minute things. Anyways, it will tenatively be held September 13th (that's a Thursday) after work... so keep your schedules open!

Breast Cancer Site

This is a site I visit everyday and I thought I'd share it. By going to this site and simply clicking on the pink box, you can help women receive free mammograms. You don't have to log in or anything, it is very simple and very important.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

There are multiple tabs for a few different causes (literacy, hunger, animals, rainforests, etc.) and you can actually click multiple times a day.

Everytime you click, the sponsors donate money to help these causes... it costs you nothing, but helps other people, isn't that wonderful?

Weekend o-Fun & Rain

This past weekend, Phil and I went camping at Fort Custer Recreational Park in Augusta, MI with our friends Jon & Erin. We checked in Friday night (doggies and all) got all set up and settled in for a few snacks and drinks.

The campfire.

Tula helping the boys gather sticks.

Saturday Erin and I left the boys to tend to the campsite and the doggies, while we went wedding dress shopping for her. She found one that she loved and looks great in! (sorry Jon no pictures for you). Then we had lunch at Coney Island with her mom, sister and grandma, which was awesome (minus the onions of course).

Erin & I looking fabulous after a night of camping.

We made it back to the boys in time to play some horse shoes and other games we brought before we got rained on. Once it started raining, we wimped out and packed up our things for home… I know it's not very adventurous of us, but none of us really felt like trying to cram into a little tent in the rain with wet dogs (yuck!). So instead, we went out to eat at the Blackhawk (down the road from our house) and then hung out in the nice warmth of our house for the rest of the night.

The boys and their horse shoes.

Me & Phil.

Sunday, Phil and I attended a 30th anniversary party for our friend Pam's parents, which had delicious food (including liquid cheese) and great company.

Then we headed off to Phil's mom's house for another meal. We hung out with her for a while and got to see her new sitting room and the work she's done on her basement (both look fabulous)! We ate dinner at Mainstreet Pub, which was also very yummy! It was nice to visit and see how much progress she is making on her sewing projects. :)

Pat, Phil and I in the new "tv room"

Teambuilding Fun

This week we had an off-site team building/training with my work. We went to a place called Yarrow near Augusta, MI. It is beautiful there! They have a golf course, lodging, big meeting rooms and also a bunch of outdoor activities.

We checked into our rooms on Tuesday night, then had some beer tasting and a bbq outside on the deck. After many drinks and dinner, we had some smores at the fire pit and then moved to the pub downstairs for some air conditioning and a lot more to drink!

After beer tasting & dinner, we played a little name that tune game!

Holly, Tina & I at the beer tasting.

Stacey (our lovely team event organizer!) and Tina our gimp.

A few people tried to test their sobriety by seeing who could do the best yoga in our room! Crazy!

I have to admit... I think Tish won!

The next morning we did some ice breakers after breakfast and then split up into teams. We got to do some wall climbing… a low ropes course (which was awesome) and a scavenger hunt. For the scavenger hunt we got to drive all around the campus on golf carts looking for the clues. It was a great time!

After that, we all got to choose an activity to finish off the day: golfing, lessons with a golf pro or pedicure and chair massage… I think you can all guess which one I picked! It was awesome…

Then after a nice relaxing pedicure… I had to rush off to take a final for my class :( Oh well, the rest was great and my class is now over!

the Maltburgs Simpsonized

Ok, so I totally stole this from my favorite cousins blog... but it was so cool... I just had to try it.

Here we are, Simpsonized.

Sunday Afternoon

Sunday we made our way back and had lunch with my parents, followed by some doggie's swimming in the lake and some people swimming in the pool. Both sisters are back in Michigan now so it was really nice to spend some time with both of them.

Tula in the back of the truck on the way to the lake.

Tula & Oba fighting over a stick in the lake.

Phil took a nap on the floor with Tula.

After lunch, we went to Phil's dad's house for dinner. Grandma Amsterburg, Aunt Merriel, Robbie, Rachel & baby Robbie also joined us for dinner. It was really nice to visit with them all and to see how big baby Robbie has gotten. He's standing on his own now and looking like he's going to walk soon!

Robbie, baby Robbie & Phil.

Baby Robbie eating cake. Too cute.

Grandpa feeding baby Robbie.

Chicago Trip & More Babies

Saturday morning my old college roommate (and friend) Kelly had her baby shower. It was really nice to visit with her and see how big her belly is getting. She is not due until October 27. They are expecting a girl to be named Tessa Ersi Northup.

Here is a picture of Kelly & I (of course Kelly is looking as cute as can be!)

After the baby shower, Phil and I made our way to South Bend to Jon & Erin's house. Erin and I then caught a bus with some of her co-workers to Chicago. Her work had planned an outing to go to Chicago, visit Navy Pier then have dinner on a boat and watch the fireworks from Lake Michigan. The trip itself was an adventure, but we had a great time! Our bus didn't have any air conditioning on the way there so it was beyond hot in the bus and the bathroom door was locked, so the bus driver at one point pulled over and turned the bus off, so he could use the ignition key to unlock the bathroom door…. it didn't work and it made the bus about a thousand times hotter!

Once we made it to Chicago, we walked all around Navy Pier and enjoyed the nice weather. We then met up with some of Erin's friends and had a drink by the river. Dinner on the boat followed and then fireworks… it was a great time. We did get a little sea sick… but I'm happy to say, no throwing up occurred on our part.

Erin & I on the boat.

View of the Navy Pier from the boat.

Grandpa Amsterburg

I am very sad to say that this past week we lost a wonderful man. Phil's grandfather, Robert Amsterburg II, passed away Wednesday morning (August 1, 2007). He was a little over a month away from turning 89. He lived a long, fulfilled life and although we are sad to see him go, we hold faith in the fact that we know he is in a better place.

Here is the link to his obituary in the Ludington Daily News. http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=37038

He also made the front page with an article, here is the link for that:
http://www.ludingtondailynews.com/news.php?story_id=37058

We joined Phil's family in Ludington for the visitation on Friday night and the funeral Saturday morning. The service was beautiful and afterwards, we all went to the church to share memories about him and visit.

He will be missed and our thoughts are with Grandma Amsterburg.

Family Reunion & Baby Robbie

This weekend we had a great time hanging out with Phil's side of the family... and I mean ALL of them! Phil's dad hosted a family reunion at his house in Galesburg. They had about 50 people there, mainly from his Grandma's family. I twas interesting to meet some of the new people and of course we had a great time with the regulars too.

The boys grilled barbeque chicken, we ate corn, veggies and dip and lots and lots of pies & cookies!

The best part about the whole weekend was getting to hang out with my nephew (yes Phil I'm allowed to call him that now that we're married!) Baby Robbie, a.k.a Number 5.

He is getting so big, I can't believe he is 9 months old now. He is interacting and smiling and seems like always trying to get someone's beer!

Here are some fun pictures from the party:

Phil, Curtie & Jon (we miss you Curtie!)

Phil and Baby Robbie

The group trying to organize for a group picture


Baby Robbie & his duck - he loves that thing




Aunt Merrie & Uncle Pete (came all the way from Boston)


The gang leader (Grandma) and her gang