I Figured it Out!

I figured out how to link links to text. Don't use Safari. Firefox makes it easy. Want to see my new blog? It is still under construction. And here is the one I started for the Professional Photographers of West Michigan. Neither one is very exciting at this point, but there is potential!

Just for fun

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Well tonight was another shower for Katie! I decided since I don't usually have pictures to post that taking my camera tonight would be a good opportunity. It was a "basket"shower, so Katie was given gifts with all different themes. Quite interesting. :) Nothing like a room full of 25 women chatting away. (I think I know where Katie gets it from after tonight). Hehe. I was thinking how the Sportel women are all "set" now with Katie joining the family. That's pretty cool. We wish you were with us tonight Ashley!

Calling all Smart People

Hey all....
I'm trying to figure out how to imbed a link in a post. Anyone know how to do that?

2 feet of snow - 80 degrees on Sat./Sun.

Ben is accusing me of not posting anything yet but he just showed me how to do it. Yes, from the news you probably heard that we got 2 feet of snow yesterday! It's the really heavy, sticky, wet stuff too so it was not rainbows and butterflies for me to shovel today during naptime. Ben never made it home last night but stayed at his friend Andy's and then right back to work this morning. The roads were cleared off pretty well, but wouldn't you know that a 12x12x10 feet boulder (weighing over 50 tons!) fell onto highway 285, which is Ben's way home now. The best part was that they showed footage on the news last night of them using dynamite to blast the boulder into sizable pieces that they could move with big equipment. This sounds like a good way for one of you science teachers to entice students into a line of work that involves blowing things up!! Still, they did not reopen the highway until 2 or 3 in the morning. We also had a school bus stuck near the end of our driveway for about 5 hours yesterday because they didn't call off school until later (too many snowdays = endanger lives, I guess - good one Jefferson County); the driver came inside to talk and stay warm by the fireplace - she was kind of ticked :) Today's pictures are spring-white wonderland over here, but only until Sat. when it will be nearly 80 degrees - how crazy is that? And here's your lesson on the dreaded semicolon, which isn't so hard to understand: use them to link 2 independent clauses (when groups of words make a complete thought); the other rule is to use them in a series (when listing things), especially when you've already used commas in there. There, now you all can call me a NERD for teaching you grammar in this blog. Over and out!

chill time

I am finally done! still pretty busy with work and the like, but I can already tell how much les stressed I am: I have found multiple lost items i had considered lost for good. To make things even better, they were in obvious places. Maybe its the fresh air or something. I'll find something post pictures of sometime.

Heavy lifting

We have moved in. Ashley took a couple pictures of Avery and I realxing after the big move. There are still boxes all over the place but we are getting there. That's all for now.

Looks like the Ben family made it into their house.
Congratulations! Looks great.
That video of the kids... what can I say? So Sweet.

Look what we have in the briars and vines South of the studio. If Sam will quit scaring the mother duck off her nest, we could have some cute babies around soon.... We'll see.

The view from 8830ft

We finally got a clear day so I took a picture off the front deck. I will master this shot in time, but at leaset it gives you an idea of what you can expect when you come stay at the Lazy S Ranch.
We are living out of both places right now. The big day is saturday; I'm looking at about a 12 hour day of moving. Then we have the picture arranging and all that. I'm not to bummed about it though; After living in tight quarters again for a brief while, this is a pretty sweet feeling.
I hope I am using those semicolons correctly.
-1

THE slideshow

To all who read this-

Katie and I are beginning to gather pictures for our wedding slideshow thing. If you have some pics on your computer that involve Katie or Sam or even both of us at the same time, then please send me a copy of the picture. (see example of applicable photograph to the left) There are 50 days left! Time is beginning to move at a very brisk pace in our lives. Pretty soon Katie will have graduated and we will be gathering up the family to MI. Also, we need to pick out a couple beer varieties for the wedding. Any suggestions would be appreciated or Dad will just get his usual.

P.S. Hope men beat Calvin in Track and Field..... Ben you can't brag since you didn't help them.

2A is alive

.

It's been awhile, but yes I am here. Getting adjusted to a new job is tiring and time consuming!
Well it's hard to think about Christmas when we haven't even hardly finished with this cold weather yet, but I'm just wondering what everyone's tentative thoughts are on Christmas time this year... aka: are we possibly going out to Colorado? Due to how small the practice is that I work for now, I'm afraid that if I don't reuqest time off in the next while, I won't be able to. I already know that one nurse has vacation. So just give me your thoughts.
I don't have much else interesting to say... here are a few random pictures... the first is in Grand Haven in February by the bed & breakfast we stayed at for a weekend. The second shows the true nature of Brewster (no editing to the picture involved). No wonder our friend Matt hates our cat. Enough said.

First post = sad post

Hello family! Well, Katie had here second round interview yesterday at Westside Christian and she didn't get the job. It came down to experience, like usual. We are just happy she made it to the second round. We will just keep waiting, praying, trying for more. I am at home sick right now. I went to school, taught first period, then ended up going home. I am glad I did because within an hour of arriving home I started vomiting. At least today I can stand up without having to throw up..... I am getting observed tomorrow in class. That should be fun.
Adios

Closing Time

We closed on the house. We are finally homeowners again. We went over there after the procedures for dinner on the floor, and to do a little cleaning. We will move in gradually over the week and hopefully finish up with the big stuff tommorow. No real interesting pictures yet, it was snowing when we moved in. If anyone is free this weekend, come on down and help move!

Does anyone need a cable modem? We are switching to DSL in the new place.

Ghosts of Weddings Past

only half here

Ben, was you referencing the annoying song by Thousand Foot Krutch? (if you don't know the song, don't waste your time...)

Yes, I am still alive and have been reading regularly, but I only recently was invited to be an author, and was waiting until something exciting happened before I posted. I currently am down to 1 week left of regular classes, and both of my real finals the following monday. Before then I have a whole lot of juggling work and studying (I should be done in the darkrooms after tomorrow, thankfully). Also at some point soon I hope to check out my apartment find with my potential roommate. Cottonwood Forest Apartments in Jenison are pretty much everything I am looking for, cheap, small, many included utilities, and in between school, church and work.

I have had every hour of the past week planned out, and still pretty much do through finals. I am fried, but hopefully working at a concert tomorrow night and camp this weekend will be a refreshing break away from school. I am on the home stretch (of this year...)! That is all for now, back to the schedule

This is a Call

This is a call out to my little sister. Where is Mattie? Does she read this thing? I think it is high time she post something.

In other news, we are getting the snow tommorow. Hopefully we don't have any for moving day.

What spring should be

Maier orchard in spring 2006
So everyone has lots of nice pictures and I wanted to try too. I have this picture from early last May, which has been on my laptop background since then. It is an apple tree blossoming in front of the sunset. It was beautiful. Much nicer than the snow rain mix that resembles our Christmas weather. Spring will be here soon, hopefully.

Here is grandpa with the kids. There are some short videos of him with adeline on youtube that should be up by tommorow. He says to say hello to everyone and that he is looking forward to seeing the family at wedding time. It was hard to get a picture of Avery with grandpa because he did not sit still the 8 hours that we were there. That is not an exaggeration. He may need to be drugged for the wedding. I suppose I could have used a little something to calm the nerves at my wedding.

Only 40 more to go!

I am sitting in a hotel in Atlanta retouching the dust and scratches out of the negs I scanned of Reuben and Rachel's wedding photos. I'm trying to get an album made for them before I die! Anyway thought I'd share some memories. Good news is I'm retouching the colored shots now and they are MUCH easier. Almost there!

Gettin' Down!

I was putting together an album for Marcus and Emily Ringnalda and thought Ben especially might enjoy this photo. It has an effect on it to make it look illustrated. We'll see if it looks ok on the blog.
--Prime Mom

Spring?

Look at my poor sad Dafodils.

Sam is the Champions

Sam wins the family tourney. Thanks to everyone for playing. I certainly enjoyed it. Sam, you have to throw the water balloons at the person of your choice. You don't get to pick who throws them. But, if you need help, I'll step up.

Mom, I need to see more stairs in that picture. Not a lot more, but some. Maybe its just my screen. Is this picture a sequal to the other one with that girl? I'd be careful trying to repeat with the same subject. You may be trying to squeeze to much life out of one session. I don't know much about portraits, so I don't feel real comfortable about giving advice. Just try not to stress to much about it.
-ben

Not as Exciting as Baby Videos

Needs more work, the real one is darker, but... I need opinions one more time. Sam and Randy are sick of me asking them. I want to call this one, "Little Brothers Lack Sophistication." --Prime Wife

video

The link on the right will take you to our youtube channel. I'll put up movies of the kids every week or so. There are a couple short ones of Avery there right now and one of Adeline should be up by tommorow. The url is youtube.com/bjsportel.

World's longest game...

Just want to say thanks to Kate and Sam and Rachel and Reuben for a rousing game of Hand and Foot this afternoon...World's longeat game! *S* Actually I like it. Not much thinking involved, which is exactly why your dad hates it *S*. We played two games... actually one and 3/4's. The first game the women were so far ahead we quit early so the guys would quit whining. And, of course, they won the second game. Next time we'll take photos, Ben.
Nice to see Avery running outside in short sleeves. The nasty weather hit here this afternoon. Rain and snow all week.
I'm glad my little exclaimation (Judas Priest) was so memorable for you all. It's nice to be a source of entertainment.
We made a couple more wedding plans...
Rehersal dinner will be at the GR Brewing Company. We're having pizza, burgers, chicken, another chicken, salmon, or steak. Nice, we're having wine bottles decorating the reception tables, and rehersal dinner is at the brewing company. We sound a bit "lushy?" *S*
And a reminder to all the shower/sports day is Thursday, June 7. We have to pick a time so the people who have to work won't miss too much, and the people who have to go to other parties will be able to get out in time. The guys are in charge of the games again.
OK, I'm rambling.
--Prime Wife--

Springtime

Somebody else post some pictures to look at. I feel like a blog-hog.