Browsing Tag:

summer

Summer So Far

June 30, 2014

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We’ve been back in the States for about two and half weeks for our summer break. Here’s a peek at some of what we’ve been up to…

Eating fresh berries from Sam’s patch:

Grilling:

Spending time with two of our favorite people:

Meeting our niece Claire:

Hanging out with her brother Jonah and family:

We drove to Tennessee for my sister’s wedding (more photos from that soon):

Seeing my mom’s new property in Arkansas and the progress on her house:

Enjoying the lake near my mom’s:

Meeting up with dear friends from college:

Enjoying a Michigan summer at its finest:

Seeing David’s brother play ball:

What are your summer plams?

Summer Bits & Pieces

August 11, 2013

Leah

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What a blessing this summer has been! Our time at home always flies by too fast.

As we finish up the last 30 some hours of our break, here are a few bits and pieces and other favorites…

Oh, deer…

Sam shot this buck last year and got it shoulder mounted. This guy hung out in the living room for a while:

We celebrated our second anniversary in June. It was my turn to schedule the surprise trip. (Last year David planned a surprise trip to Dollywood.) We stayed at Kara’s Kottages in Kalamazoo and had dinner at Food Dance. We loved it!

Us with our nephew Jonah at Mooville:

King Kitty in all his glory:

Double rainbow!

Four generations! (David’s maternal grandparents, parents, brother Joe and his wife Brittany, and baby Jonah.)

Honey bee and Mom’s cone flowers:

Mom made blackberry cobbler in her mom’s pie dish:

My grandma’s cross stitch work on a pillow in my mom’s bedroom:

David reading to our other nephew Ethan:

John and Ethan:

A beautiful, sunny day and reflections in the pond:

Fried fish caught from the pond with homemade tarter sauce:

My mom found another typeset drawer when she was cleaning out the basement. More for my collection!

This is us. Get it?

Picking Michigan Blueberries

August 7, 2013

Leah

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While we were camping in South Haven, we stopped at DeGrandchamp Farms to pick blueberries! DeGrandchamp had a great you-pick area. They charged $1.75 a pound. After we got our buckets, we headed to the blueberry bushes. I think this was my first time picking blueberries – at least that I can remember!

Aren’t these berries just beautiful?

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DeGrandchamp also has a cute country store with lots of blueberry and cranberry products.

We picked about 20 pounds of blueberries! We enjoyed snacking on them and made blueberry pancakes the next morning. Yum!

South Haven, Michigan at Sunset

August 5, 2013

Leah

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We spent 5 days camping last week in Van Buren State Park in South Haven, Michigan with David’s family. South Haven is on the coast of Lake Michigan.

David’s family used their fifth wheel camper, but we had our own private camping suite. The Christmas after we got married, David’s parents gave us camping supplies including a huge 8-person Coleman tent. They also gave us a queen air mattress that takes up about half of the tent. It’s a great set up!

The first day was really overcast. When we went to check out the water, it was hard to find the horizon! We had some rain the next two days, but it made for good sleeping weather in the morning.

We spent our days biking, looking at shops in the downtown area, and swimming at the beach. David’s dad had to work during the day, but joined us in the evenings. After we made campfire and RVQ dinners, we’d head into town for ice cream. We ate twice at Captain Nemo’s for their delicious Sherman’s Finest ice cream! (We weren’t as impressed with Kilwins… it was good, but really overpriced.)

One evening we walked down the South Haven pier to catch the sunset.

We are so spoiled by Michigan beaches! Unsalted and so beautiful!

We watched the sailboats come into the dock for the night:

Pure Michigan:

Oh, haaaaay

August 2, 2013

Leah

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Oh, haaaaay. Well, not actually hay. In the past it was hay, but this year it was straw. (Hay is from alfalfa and straw is from wheat… the things I’ve learned since marrying David!)

There’s a field on the farm the Benedicts bales every year. After a combine separated the grain, the stalks were left for baling. A tractor pulled the baler, which picked up the straw, compressed it, tied it, then spit it out the back onto the trailer for stacking. I think Grandpa said the baler was 50 years old.

David loves working on the farm. I love seeing him in his element:

I was not a baler, but I hung around for moral support. I rode in the Gator with Grandpa to drop off some twine:

It was dusty, dusty work!

All ready for auction:

Detroit Tigers Game

July 29, 2013

Leah

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My dad lives in Georgia but was visiting Michigan for vacation. He invited us to the July 26 Detroit Tigers game. They played the Philadelphia Phillies. David, Mary, Patrick, and I visited with Dad and his family and then headed to Comerica Park.

Comerica Park is across the road from Ford Field:

We arrived early and got a free fan towel.

The weather was beautiful and it was a sold-out stadium.

Pure Michigan:

Tigers won, 2–1! We had a great time catching up with everyone, especially Dad, my brother Matt, and his wife Anna.

Meeting Baby Kenley!

July 27, 2013

Leah

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Our best friends Vicki and Rusty had their baby! We couldn’t be more thrilled for them! Their daughter arrived early Wednesday morning and they named her Kenley Elizabeth Harris. We got to meet her yesterday. She is absolutely beautiful:

She is so tiny! We met her when she was just two days old. It’s been a while since I held a newborn. I was nervous I was going to break her. David, on the other hand, was a natural:

I designed birth stats for Kenley with the same owl themed graphics I used for Vicki’s shower invitations:

Baby, mom, and dad are doing great. Such a beautiful family!

Vicki and Rusty did a fantastic job with her nursery. Vicki went with gray, coral, and owls for the theme. I got to help with a few things!

I designed two prints of prayers. One was a prayer Vicki’s dad said with her at night. The other she found on Pinterest. Again, these were based on the same graphics as the shower invitation:

Here’s a close up of one of them:

We’re so glad she arrived before we head back to Turkey. Congrats, Rusty and Vicki! Kenley is the luckiest little girl in the world to have you two as her parents! We are so excited to watch her grow.