arizona, nebraska, tennessee, south carolina family visit.

My mom and grandma

My brother (visiting from NE) and son

My sister-in-law, brother (NE), cousin and her boyfriend (TN)

Some of the most important women in my life after I had the chance to host my sister-in-law and brother's baby shower at my home 

(LtoR: my daughter, my mom, my little sister, myself, my cousin, my sister-in-law and my grandma). 

My dad and my kids

My beautiful parents and I (visiting from AZ)

My mom and dad (sunny AZ)

Uncle Scott and Aunt Robin (SC)

Jackson and Matthew (cousin from TN)

My husband and brother

I believe everyone who was visiting is pictured above (we also had the chance to see family we do not often see at my sister-in-law's baby shower).  Summers are a special time for my family and especially my kids because much of my immediate family lives out of state.  All of my husband's family and a large majority of my extended family live right close to us at home in Michigan and we are blessed to see them often.  During the summer we enjoy the large chunk of time we get with "mom's family".  This summer was no exception and we fit in so many delightful memories.  We were able to visit lots of family together, go shopping, ski, be on Lake Huron from multiple, loveable Michigan towns, work together on grandma and grandpa's farm, have a family reunion, have a baby shower, enjoy being together in my home, do sewing and craft projects, go antique-ing, garage sale-ing and estate sale shopping, find out the sex of both mine and my sister-in-law babies and celebrate one another.  It was exceptional! It is also why my blog has been sparse and I will be playing catch up for a few weeks.  I have a long list of blog topics and photos to share.  Thank you to my few, loyal followers who enjoy my updates.  As I have said before, something inside me has always made me a documenter of life's moments and this is one more outlet I get to enjoy.

a home in omaha.

My brother and his wife live in Omaha, Nebraska on an Air Force assignment.  They just moved into base housing and are doing so much with their new place.  I went to visit and wanted to blog about their home's style and what a great job they are doing.  They had only been moved in one week when I arrived and took these snapshots...great work guys!

kid's country fashions.

It has been awhile since I did a kid's fashion post and this past weekend's wedding pictures of my two children and niece left me inspired to update that.  Our families attended a country themed wedding for a family ceremony and the result were some adorable photo opportunities.  My son wore a handsome cowboy button down, fitted jeans and great cowboy boots.  He thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors, wagon wheels and country music.  My daughter wore a cotton printed dress, hand-me down cowgirl boots from a family friend and a huge head of curly hair.  She especially enjoyed running outside, posing for the camera and playing with her brother and cousin.  My niece wore a sweet, cotton gauze cream colored dress, brown boots (later white sandals) and a 5 toothed smile.  She enjoyed the pink balloons, food and dance floor. 

my succulent/rock garden.

There are some pavers between my carriage house and home that I envisioned as a rock/succulent garden since we moved in last year.  I have been adding to it and I am on my way to having the variety of succulents I want.  The idea was sparked from my love of hen and chicks and has really taken off as I have discovered a wide variety of succulents I love.  I am anxious to watch these pieces grow and fill in the space. 

growing a sweet potato vine.

My grandma is always teaching me old-timey tricks and recently she showed how easy it is to grow a sweet potato vine. My grandma's mother used to do this on the farm many years ago.  All you need to do is put a generous amount of water in a pot, set a large sweet potato in the pot and place the pot in a sunny window in your home.  Keep the water replenished and in a few weeks time it will be about the same size as the one pictured above.  Enjoy growing this old time vine in your kitchen!

springtime home decor.

It is such a refreshing time when the cold weather lifts and the opportunity to decorate for spring arrives.  My decorating style is obviously for a lighter and brighter color scheme and spring really gives me the opportunity to decorate with light colors and give my home a fresh facelift.  I used flowers, bunnies, light colored eggs, birdhouses, and wreaths to brighten my home and ring in Spring.  Above are a few pictures of some of the main areas of my home this year. 

bathroom makeover.

 before:

 after:

As you can tell from the above pictures, our bathroom was quite charming and green when we originally bought our home.  It looked as if some sweet, old lady really took her time coordinating the carpet, avocado tub and pink floral wallpaper.  While this was sweet, it is a far cry from our style so we gave our bathroom a clean, airy facelift to go with the rest of our home.  We took down the wallpaper, painted all the trim, hardware, cupboards and vanity and hung new mirrors. Redid or bought all the light fixtures, made new window treatments, took down shower doors and installed a shower curtain, got rid of the green toilet seat and put in brand new flooring.  A special thanks to my handy, dedicated husband-he did all the work himself.