The Faces of Fun!

For Christmas (and my birthday, Hannakah, anniversary, etc.) I got a new Canon Rebel camera . . .FUN! That's all I've got to say. Here are some pictures that I took over Christmas of some of our beloved family members. We've had so much fun entertaining this holiday season, every family Christmas was planned in the lodge. We're now preapring for more celebrations in the lodge this weekend. Happy New Years to everyone!

Brandon's parents look at the Pandora charms we got her.


Our cousin Mike.



Drink up!

Drew decides that he like Christmas! Or should I say Santa!

Grandpa snoozes.

Weekend Activities - Let the celebrating begin!

Here are a couple pictures from this weekends' activities. Enjoy!

I took Cody to Martell's to make a gingerbread house, we both had a blast!

Today we celebrated the Tillson Christmas, the white elephant gifts were better than ever, here is Aunt Julie showing off her toilet paper snowman. Lovely!

The whole fam!

A Must Read!

If you're going into the end of 2009 and thinking about some changes you'd like to make in 2010 - I might suggest a GREAT book for you. I've been reading "The Success Principles" by Jack Canfield (author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series). It provides a great start on setting goals, and making strides to improve most every area of your life. Pick it up at the bookstore, get it on Amazon or ask for it for Christmas - it's transformational!

So transformational infact that I'm teaching a class on the book to another organization! Get it soon.

Welcome December!

To kick off the month of December, I'll post some festive pictures of a cookie swap we did at my mom's house. We all bring a cookie recipe, make it and bake it and all swap cookies before we leave. It's the best, freeze the cookies and they are ready to go for the holiday! Thanks Nicki, Joy and Bridget for joining me in the festivities this year. Not to mention Harper and Brianna!

Giving Thanks!

We are so thankful to have had a wonderful Thanksgiving - and we hope you did too! Here are a couple pictures of the festivities including a 6 point buck that my cousin Jason got - his first buck on Thanksgiving morning. He was so excited and we were excited for him!

Below also is our "Christmas Letter" - sent on Thanksgiving.

Yum!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this day, I thought I'd change up my traditions of doing an email Christmas letter to an email Thanksgiving letter. The timing seems to be better, and since we're in a season of expressing gratitude, there's no time like the present to update you on our blessings this year. I'll keep it short since most of you have been tuned into our blog, Facebook, etc. Brandon and I continue to enjoy our home, new lodge, and our jobs.

We put all home improvement projects on hold this year as we started the lodge in April. We're hoping next year to do some landscaping and we're considering new windows (which we've been putting off for years). We have one more bathroom that is in dire need of a remodel, but it continues to go to the bottom of the to-do list. What's the saying about a cobbler and his shoes???

We've had many parties, celebratations, and moments of great entertaining already in the lodge. It provides us with an area to enjoy the company of other hunting folk! And my friends too as we've had scrapbooking, stamping, and spa parties out there already. For Christmas we will have all celebrations in the lodge, which is where I'll put my real tree and get a smaller tree for the house.

As for our jobs, I continue to do the marketing for Monarch Community Bank and made big strides this year in introducing social media. The bank has a blog, Facebook and Twitter page. I continue to be amazed at what you can do with so little. I took a course on goal setting this year and I loved it! So much so that I'm now teaching a course to another organization. I'm making strides in the banking industry and although it's not the easiest thing to market, it's providing me an opportunity to grow and learn. Brandon is still with M & K Plumbing and Heating, he made an attempt at his Master's Exam this year, but will need to take another attempt in 2010. It's a tough exam!

Our families are doing well, and again we're blessed to be surrounded by love and support. This week marks the 2 year anniversary of dad's death and we continue to miss him each and every day. Grief doesn't end after a month or a year - it's a longing that I still struggle with. This year, as every Thanksgiving, we are gathered together at my mom's with extended family and Brandon's family. It's our favorite holiday because we don't have to "pick" who's family we're going to be with.

Brandon and I have some wonderful things on the horizon for us this year and I'm excited to see what it brings. With the turning of "30", it puts a lot of things into prospective. I don't want to be boastful but I also don't want to pass up a great moment of gratitude; we are thankful for our family support, our loving marriage, our warm home, our fulfulling jobs, our faithful friends, our free country, our dedicated troops, food on our table, and love in our hearts. Our prayer is that you have the same this holiday season.

Take Care and cheers to 2010!

Courtney and Brandon

All in a Kid's Day!

Last weekend we took our nephews Cody and Drew for the weekend (Sat. till Sunday) and had a blast! Here are some pictures from the weekend. It was our Christmas gift to them last year to take them to the activity center - Kids N' Stuff in Albion. What an awesome place!! I'd love to take them back during the winter to get rid of "cabin fever". Do a google search and take your kids soon!!Drew is carrying a suitcase that says "Going to Grandma's" the same one I took when I would go to someone's house when I was little - love it!


Drew is obsessed with grocery shopping in the pretend store. You could even ring up your items on a real cash register. This would have been my favorite too - when I was little.

This is a LARGE water table that was also a favorite. I should have thought to strip off their shirts first though, even with the aprons they were wet.

Cody is on the human size game "Operation", while he was doing this Drew was pushing around a doll in a stroller. So much to do, so little time.

All in all, we had a wonderful time with our two smallest members of our family. We are blessed to have the boys in our lives, they are amazing kids that we're proud to call them our nephews!

Spooktacular Halloween

I hope you had a good Halloween too! It's been a while since Brandon and I dressed up for the holiday and it seemed fun to go to seek out the perfect outfits . . .at Goodwill! Check us out, and the dog too!

Happy Harvest Time!

Hello everyone - it's been a while, but I wanted to wish you all a happy harvest, halloween, fall time! I've come to the conclusion that fall is one of my favorite seasons, well, I guess I like all seasons EXCEPT . . .winter. And I think I'd like that season too if it didn't last 8 months! Anyways, we recently had a Harvest Party with our friends and their kids and here are some of the moments I captured.

A hayride!

The kids paint pumpkins from the pumpkins they picked in the field that we grew.

A super funny game of eating the donut, I didn't think it was going to be quite this difficult.

Miss Harper's first Harvest Party! Happy Halloween!

Wedding Bliss

This weekend we had two weddings for friends - Jeremiah and Nick. For Nick's wedding on Saturday, it took place at the beautiful Southern Exposure Herb Farm in Battle Creek. The air was crisp, the food was great, and the wine was flowing! Here are a couple of pictures that captures the serenity and celebration of the night. Congrats Nick and Jaime and Miah and Brandy!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Saugatuck this past weekend when we celebrated our 6th anniversary. We stayed in a cute (but LARGE) B&B. It was close to the water and just a short bike trip into town. On Sunday we traveled on down the coast and made a stop in South Haven. It was a much needed relaxing weekend to end the summer, although it doesn't seem like we enjoyed too much of our summer since we were working on the lodge. Oh well, always next year - right?

As promised

Here is a picture of my new office, although you can only see about 1/2 of it, it's a wall of windows overlooking the bank's parking lot and I-69, the view from this office is better than my last when I was gazing over a desolate parking lot. I feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful space to spend my week.

Also this past week we had our first guests stay in the lodge - Courtney's Aunt Sue, Uncle Mark and cousins. We had a blast riding 4-wheelers, playing ping pong, using the sling shots, and eating!

New Week, New Car, New Office

Last week was a busy week for me, not only did I get a new car since my lease was up and GM isn't doing leases, but I also moved offices. Here's a picture of my new Lincoln MKX . . .pictures of my new office will be posted as soon as rest of my furniture gets delivered. Lots of changes, but I was able to pull it off pretty smoothly. New car is loaded and I'm lovin' it! Who really needs air-conditioned seats anyways???

Lodge and Party Pictures

Whew! It's all done, we've got all of the final touches done on the lodge and it was fun for everyone to gather yesterday and see the finished project. Here are some pictures of the finished lodge.

Also, thanks to everyone that came to the party. Here are some pictures of those in attendance. I'm going to plan on continuing with the blog though to update everyone on upcoming parties/events. If our 800+ pumpkins get as big as we think they will, we'll plan on doing a Harvest Party again in October with good soup, pumpkin painting, hay rides, and a bonfire. Stay posted to the blog for more info.

Also, one of our friends Korey Wischmeyer, who is a pilot flew over the lodge and our property and took some arial pictures in the afternoon. Thanks Korey!

We're done pounding and painting and ready to party!

We've got a date set for an open house - although I'm waiting to send them out till I see cabinets in the lodge tomorrow! If you're in the area, plan to swing by and see us Saturday, August 22nd. We're looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family and welcoming them into our new space!

WE

Lights, Camera . . .

We are soooo close to having this project completed. Pendant lights are up and waiting for the kitchen cabinets and counter - which we'll have on MONDAY! We're so excited because this is the last step before we have an open house! We're so excited for all of you to see it! In the meantime while we've been waiting for the kitchen, we've had lots of time to do the final touches. Stay tuned for a look at the bathroom I'll show you soon!

A Sneak Peak

Here you go . . .a little sneak peak at the living room area of the lodge. We're getting things up on the walls, furniture is in it's place and we're just waiting for kitchen cabinets. More posts to come with exciting pics of our progress. Also, we're still on the search for a black fridge and black gas stove. If you know of anyone who has one - LET US KNOW! We're on the search.