17 years!?!

My sister's wedding day was also our 17th anniversary.

Hard to believe it has been that long!?

It's been 17 great years of being married to my best friend!

My sister's wedding

Working hard to get everything ready

The decorations were so simple and beautiful

Wedding Ceremony

Our family

Yes, those are my children.

my mom, me, my sister, and my cousin

enjoying their sparkling grape juice a little too much...hmm.

Izzy was thrilled to use a fancy glass

the happy couple :)

the wedding cake

my other "sisters"

good looking boys

photo booth

What a beautiful day!

The Big 4-0

We celebrated Reed's 40th birthday this summer

(I'm behind in my posts...remember). 

I didn't try to surprise him or anything.

We just enjoyed a dinner out with family and then 

dessert at our house. Plenty of gag gifts were received

 including diapers, laxatives, denture 

cream, etc...  He was a good sport about it all.

OBX

In September, we took a family vacation to the Outer Banks (OBX), North Carolina.

When we were thinking about where we would want to go

 the kids all agreed that they wanted to see the ocean....

So we took them to the ocean! We had a great trip with

amazing weather. I have entirely too many pictures from our trip

 to post so gotta love the collage...these are the highlights.

On our way down south we visited Thomas Jefferson's house Monticello.

Then it was off to our rental house that was semi-oceanfront

 in Nags Head. The kids loved the big waves....Ethan, especially, he

hardly ever came out and would boogie board for hours!

We also enjoyed exploring the beach for shells and sand dollars.

We also visited a few historical sites while in the area

 including the Wright Brothers Memorial and two different

 lighthouses, one of which we were able to climb.

Unfortunately, we were unable travel further south

to places like Roanoke Island because the mosquitoes were terrible

 and beyond that the road was damaged from Hurricane Irene.

The flooding from the hurricane two weeks prior

apparently created the perfect mosquito breeding ground.

So that just meant more days relaxing at the beach

 which was okay with me. We left on Friday and went to visit

my cousin in Virginia. She exposed us to the sport of disc golf

 and then spent Saturday touring Mount Vernon, George Washington's

home with us. It was very fun. The kids really enjoyed

both presidential homes/tours.

Jr. Historians

I am months behind in posting but here are some pics

 from Hunter and Ethan's summer

volunteering as Jr. Historians

American Girl trip

In September we took a quick girl trip to Chicago to visit the American girl store. Izzy just loves her cousin and they both love American girls so they were really looking forward to this trip.

The train finally came! We boarded about an hour and forty minutes late :(

The girls were excited about their first train ride. Unfortunately it was longer than planned

because we had to stop for a power line that was blocking the track.

After a taxi ride from the train station....we made it!

Walking into the store was amazing and overwhelming.

 Here Izzy posed by the Rebecca section

with her Rebecca doll.

Two new historical dolls were going to be released in

a couple of weeks. The girls got to see the actual

dolls in the store.

Izzy had been saving her money for this trip for over a year!!

It didn't take her too long to spend it though!!

They both decided on American Girl "Just Like Me" dolls.

We bought the dolls before our lunch and

decided to shop for outfits and accessories after our meal.

We had a lunch reservation at the American Girl cafe. It was so fun. The dolls get their own

seat at the table. It is a beautifully decorated place.

Mini cinnamon roll appetizers...Izzy was excited about that!

Can you tell Izzy was having fun?

Dessert

The girls....what a great time!!

Checking out the Chicago skyline made out of legos at the Lego store.

We also visited the John Hancock Observatory. It had amazing views of Chicago...it was a beautiful day!

After our tour, we finished our trip by having some Chicago pizza and then off to the train station again.

Heading home on the train after a fun filled and tiring day....with all the loot!

Izzy didn't last long on the trip home. She fell asleep pretty quickly after this.

So happy and grateful to have a girl to do such fun girly things with....we had a great time and

it will be a memory we will definately cherish.

Little Eden

So many great memories were made during our week at Little Eden. I have so many pictures it is just easier to make a collage (and I have many more).  It is just the perfect family vacation! After all, I did not have to cook or think about cooking one single meal all week=dreamy!!! The kids love to run free around camp....playing games, racing their boats in the creek, crafting in the craft shop, and of course, swimming, fishing, and sailing.  They are busy from sun up to past sun down when enjoying ice cream from the snack shop at 9:30pm each night is a big deal for our kids. Did I mention how much I love Lake Michigan? I love Lake Michigan! Everytime I go I dream of what it would be like to live right on this amazing beach and watch sunsets every night....I can't imagine it would ever get old. It is so beautiful....we spent many hours there at the beach as well. Other highlights from this year include tubing/boating with family and friends, Hunter and Ethan winning the shuffleboard tournament (against their rivals who beat thenm last year), and visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes. We took a day trip to Sleeping Bear where we drove the 7 mile scenic tour, stopping at all the look out points. Reed and the kids climbed the 400 foot sand dune that they tell you NOT to climb but when you get there everyone IS climbing! The signs there say something to the effect of "Do not climb the sand dune but if you happen to, proceed with caution." And I mean everyone is on the dune. I chose not to climb it. Sure going down is great, but when I saw all the people trying to make it to the top afterwards and appearing to be in the midst of possible heart attacks, I knew I had made a good decision. I just stayed at the top and took pictures. We did, however, take a 3.5 mile round trip hike through sand dunes to Lake Michigan. I went into this dune trail very naive 7 uuaware of the length..... It was walking up and down hills thru the thick sand under the hot sun! Oh my! My calves were soooo sore for the next few days! If I had known how long it was I probably would not have gone but glad I did--well once anyway-will not happen again. The kids and Reed thought it was great and they were annoyingly not very affected by the strenous activity. I admit that I was relatively cranky on the way back from the lake, but had to admit it was an adventure.