First Hike of 2011

My husband's brother Keith and his wife, Katie, came to visit us for the weekend. We spent the morning at Grand Mere State Park enjoying weather that was FINALLY in the mid 50s. It was a fantastic morning.


Here's the view from the top of a very VERY tall dune.


While Keith and Katie's dog, Maddie, was digging a hole in the sand, we decided to have some fun with a pair of sunglasses.


These strange shells were attached to a piece of driftwood on the beach. Very cool!


Rhylah on the trail.


Rhylah was climbing the tree and having lots of fun. Don't worry, we were right there to support her, just in case!


Sweet Rhy.


Nate swinging on a low-hanging tree branch ... do boys ever grow up? I don't think so! :)


Me and my Rhy baby.


Me and my sweetie.


Three cute kiddos on a log of driftwood.


Keith and his lovely wife, Katie.


Auntie Katie and Rhylah.


All the Harrmanns, sittin' in a tree!


Climbing and climbing and climbing some more.


Nate carved the date in a big piece of driftwood on the beach.


Asher, looking cute as can be, next to the log after Nate carved the date.

Random Fun

We had a lot of fun in the last couple of weeks. Here's a quick recap.


Rhy threw a tea party for her dolls over Spring Break. Here they all are! Asher and mom joined her shortly after this picture was taken.


We went for our first fishing trip of the season in April. It was super cold, but fun!
We also had a picnic with fresh strawberries. Yum.


A boy and his fishin' pole, on the good old St. Joe River. No luck today, but we're gonna try a new location soon.


Asher was SOOOO excited to inherit the Spiderman pole. Too cute.


The boys practiced their casting in the backyard all afternoon.


Roxy fell asleep the other day while sitting up. She's such a lazy dog! Here, she's using the coffee table to prop up her head.


After cleaning out the garage, Nate made a tepee for the kids to play in. They were thrilled of course.

Belated Birthday Photos

I had a fantastic 32nd birthday at the end of February (this post is VERY belated). To celebrate, we went to IKEA and spent a lot of money on stuff for the house ... mirros and light fixtures, rugs and curtains ... things that just make the place look cozier. Nate got me a sheepskin rug to put by the bed. I named him Ollie (since he must be Swedish, coming from IKEA). It's DIVINE to sink my feet into my fluffy new rug every morning. It makes getting out of bed during the cold Michigan winters SO much easier.
My sister was able to make the trip up on my actual birthday, and we had a great time. For dinner, I had pan-seared sea scallops, made by my honey. He also made a mushroom risotto that was out of this world!
Then my sister made me my first birthday cake in YEARS! It was red velvet and was SOOOO yummy! What a fantastic day!



The weekend before my birthday, we drove to Chicago to go to IKEA, my new favorite store. Here we are! The kids somehow don't look as excited as I do, do they? :)


New curtains, and a new light fixture for my bedroom, were just some of the things we purchased.


Birthday cake! My first one in years! It looks like it's gonna go up in flames!








My lovely sister and me!