Birthday Girl!

Happy 6th Birthday to Princess Gracie!!!

We love you so much, darlin'! Your smile and sweet spirit are such a blessing in our home!

April Travels

The second weekend in April we took a trip up to Northern Michigan for Uncle Jed's (Mom's brother's) and Barb's wedding. When we left home it was nice and warm here, but we arrived at our destination in the middle of a snowstorm! It was quite an interesting trip; we didn't get there until 4am on Friday because of the slow going on the snowy roads. We did a lot of praying during the trip, and the Lord's protection was very evident!

On Friday morning Grandma Jackie brought Barb's daughters Olivia and Alice over to play with the girls while Grandma, Mom and I ran errands and then went to the church to decorate for the reception.

Olivia, Alice, Aleks, Zack and Jake

Grandpa Gene came from New Hampshire for the wedding and met Anja and Jake for the first time!

The wedding on Saturday was nice and simple, with only Barb's immediate family (which actually was a lot, because she is one of 12 children!) and some of Jed's extended family.

Sweet Anja!

Aunt Jana and Great-Grandma Hammond

Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Ken

Goofy cousins; Austin and Emmy

Alice, Aunt Barb, Uncle Jed and Olivia

Elsie and Grace - sweethearts!

We all enjoyed holding Aubrey Applekamp (Mom's cousin's daughter) for the first time!

Such a doll!

Great-Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and Austin

Sunday morning Grandpa Gene, Grandma Hammond, Aunt Jana and Austin joined us for breakfast before we left.

She was rubbing his back, and I guess she got a little carried away!

It was so good to see Grandma again!

We stayed in a cabin that weekend, and it was a lot of fun! It wasn't real big, which proved a little challenging. Strangely enough there were enough beds for all of us, plus a couple extra which is very unusual!

All the furniture was made out of logs!

We even had a fireplace, but we couldn't use it because otherwise it would mess up the thermostat

There was this beautiful mural on the wall, and several animal heads - it was our nature study for the weekend!

On our way home we stopped by Grandpa and Grandma Klahn's house for the afternoon. We were planning on stopping there on the way up, but because of the storm we weren't able to.

We celebrated Aleks' birthday with them, which was 3 days before.

Grandpa and the boys play cribbage while Jake looks on - it's never too young to learn!

Grandma made sandwiches for us from her delicious homemade bread!

Dad and the girls help out, too.

We enjoyed seeing lots of alive wildlife too, because Grandpa and Grandma live in the woods. Grace kept track of all the deer we saw on the trip and I think the total was somewhere around 17; too bad it wasn't hunting season!

This particular deer and turkey (in the backround; left side) are frequent visitors at Grandpa and Grandma's house. The turkey actually comes up on their deck!

We were able to see all 7 grandparents on this trip, as well as a lot of extended family!!