Two Awesome Reasons to Celebrate!!!

Today our family had two good reasons to celebrate....Lee turned 21 and Sarah passed her driving test!!!!!

To celebrate Lee's 21st birthday, our family went out for dinner at Monelli's Italian Grill & Sports Bar in Byron Center. It was a calm birthday for Lee with only four shots. It was fun to watch his facial expression on a couple of the shots!! I think he enjoyed his birthday.

Lee doing his first shot, UV Bomb.

Lee's 2nd shot - Check out that facial expression.....

We were also able to celebrate with Sarah her good news of getting her drivers license back after many years without one. She has been working with Mary Free Bed for the past few weeks practicing her driving skills. Today she had her test at 3:00 and thankfully she passed! We are all very excited for her!!! God is good!!!

Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

Today Scot & I celebrated 7 years of marriage. We started our day by attending church and then had a wonderful brunch at Boatwerks in Holland. I think we both ate way to much!!! When we got home we spent the afternoon just lounging around. I tried to catch up on much needed sleep. Later in the afternoon, Scot & I went next door to do some fishing. Scot had fun helping our nephews reel in big bass. We ended the evening by watching fireworks that Dad Van Dam purchased in Alabama.

All the boys fishing on the pond.
Tristan & his big bass.

Dad and his big bass.

I am so glad we have one more day off work! And the extra bonus is that the weather is going to be GREAT! I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day to the fullest!

Four Birthdays

Sunday, August 30 our family got together to celebrate the following birthdays: Grandpa & Grandma Hoekstra, my dad, & Eli. Eli turned 2 and had a blast with all his new toys. He especially loved the John Deere Tractor from his grandparents. Of course, Grandpa had to give him corn kernels for the spreader. I don't think Amber was to excited about the bag of corn kernals.

20 Week Picture

Tuesday, August 25 marked my 20th week of pregnancy. Stripes are not the best choice......

Van Dam Girl Night

Tonight was our annual girls night at Mom Van Dam's. I love our girls night! It gives us a chance to catch up on with on another with no interruptions. Mom spoils us with a fancy spread of food. This year we had fruit salsa, chicken quesadilla, crab cheese dip, Texas cheese sticks, & a fruit truffle for dessert.

Mom surprises us with a fun gift bag! Our gift bags this year had fun recipe books, fuzzy socks, decorative soap, cute charm necklace, note pad, crotchet hangers, chocolate candy, and a few other fun items. (I missed the dress code for the evening - bright shirt & white pants)

We also surprised Mom with a gift bag of her own this year. Her gift bag included a wire hair massager, western candle holder, horse memo pad, Grandma's Prayers journal, bird candles, hamburger stir stick, and some other fun items.

We ended the evening with waxing our hands. My hands feel so nice and smooth.

THANKS Mom for the wonderful, relaxing evening!!!

2nd Ultrasound

Today Scot and I had our 19 week check up, which meant our 2nd ultra sound. Our ultra sound started at 9:30 and took till 10:50. The ultra sound tech, Laurie, said this would be our longest ultra sound during the pregnancy. She had to take a lot of pictures and measurements for the doctor. Thankfully, we heard two healthy heart beats & the twins are measuring exactly where they need to be. It was amazing to see their heart beats, hands, feet, & noses. We were given lots of pictures and a DVD of our visit.

Scot and I are not going to find out the sex of the twins and we are looking forward to the surprise in 4+ months. After the ultra sound I had a visit with the doctor and everything looks good there as well. I did gain double digits this time around & I was worried about that, but Dr. Zimmerman told me that I actually did some catching up & my weight gain is exactly where it should be.

My next appointment is in four weeks & I will have another ultra sound. I can't wait to see the progress!

Hoekstra Family Pictures

Thankfully the rain stopped in time for us to have our Hoekstra Family pictures. It was a little iffy if we were going to be able to pull it off, but thankfully pictures turned out just fine. There was a nice breeze and the sun wasn't shinning so no one was squinting. I can't wait to see the professional pics. Below are some of the shots we were able to get.