Latest Happenings.....

A few weeks ago I bought some sponge curlers......just like the ones my mom use to put in my hair when I was little. :) Well, the girls were very excited to try them out.

Here is the before shot -right before bed. Em still had her whiskers on from celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday.

The after shot. She loved her curls!!

What a big girl!

Sisters!!!!!

Em's new love is washing the dishes. I'm not complaining. :)


Brad has started to finish off our basment. I am so excited to have a home for all the toys, more room for the kids to play, and for guests to stay. :)

Brad lifting the wall between the bedroom and the "hunting room".

Brad and our friend Jake after they cut the concrete in the basement for the bathroom plumbing. Jake let us borrow the concrete saw and was a BIG help. (His saw saved our home from being covered in concrete dust.) We are blessed to have such helpful friends and family. Brad has been working steady on the basement.....I'll keep you posted on our progress. :)

Our Baby is TWO!!!!!

February 27th Ashlyn Beth turned two years old. It's hard to believe our baby is turning into this amazing little girl. She has SOOOO much energy, and expression, and emotion, and well.....she's just amazing. :) We were so thankful that Grandma and Grandpa Dryer were able to come up and celebrate Ashlyn's big day with us.

Grandma Dryer and Emma, helping Ashlyn with her Hello Kitty cake.


"I'm two!" She can't hold her fingers in the standard 2 position, so her grandpas taught her how to use both hands.

First thing she did when she opened her new purse was walk over to Grandpa and say, "I need money". Smart girl. :)

She is Daddy's girl - no doubt.

Thanks for the presents everyone!



I hope these videos work. I took them just the other day when she got a package with more presents from our family in Grand Rapids. She was so exicted!! It's hard to get good video of her because she always wants to get behind the camera and "see momma, I wanna see". In the last video she had put on all the clothes she was given- too funny.

Thanks again for all the gifts and love!!!!

Off to the Races!!

This Saturday was the Chain of Lakes Annual Sled Race, held at my parents' neighbor's home. It was a fun day, filled with friendly competition, lots of laughs, and great food. Last year was Brad's first year competing, and this year Lindsey and Kyle were able to make it up, so Kyle could represent Straits Lake along with Brad.

Brad and Kyle, with their runner sled my dad got them this year. (Hard to find a classic like these.) They spent the pre-race time taking test runs, and waxing the runners to improve their speed.

Brad and Sonny (the event host).....On your mark, get set, GO!

Brad won this heat with Milo, the race mascot, running along side.

Here is Kyle taking on the champ from the last 2 years in a row. If you look really close you can see the champ wearing his track shoes, complete with spikes. This is serious business. :)

Linds, helping Ashlyn up the kids sledding hill.

Emma Kay. She outlasted her mom, grandma, aunt and sister, hanging at the race until the guys came home. She loved trying the runner sled, with dad's help.

Weeeee!!! Ashlyn loved "bottom" sliding down the hill.

Sisters!!

Although Brad and Kyle won some of their heats, they did not come home with the trophy this year. They are already planning their strategies for next year, to improve their sled and techniques. I heard them discussing aerodynamic clothing, and weighing themselves down........Gotta love a good ol' Yooper competition! :) Thanks to Sonny and Sharon for hosting every year and for including us in the action.

Before the big race, we had a small birthday celebration for Ashlyn, who will be two next Sunday. It is so hard for us to believe our baby is 2!!!!!

Ashlyn Beth, trying on her new coat and boots from Grandma and Grandpa Erickson.

Yeah for cake!!!! She was so excited!!

Snowmobile trip to Tahquamenon Falls

The last weekend in January we were able to get away for the weekend. My parents took the kids and we went up to Paradise with some friends (Joan and Jake Rivard). The guys rode up to Newberry on the snowmobiles Friday night while Joan and I took the truck with the other two sleds. We stayed in Newberry Friday night then all 4 of us rode to Paradise Saturday. Here our some highlights of the trip.

A Quick Review

Ok. So, it's been awhile. I thought I'd give you a quick review of the last few months. Here we go......

We visited the Hayes Corn Maze with our friends the Cains again this fall. It was a HOT day in October and we had a great time, as always.

Sammy, Em, and Andrew on top of the hay maze.

Aren't they cute? Sammy's shirt was long sleeved when she arrived, but in true Yooper fashion, Becky and I gave her a make over using a Swiss army knife. :)

Here is Ashlyn enjoying her Trick or Treat goodies. The girls really get spoiled by our neighbors!

Our bee and butterfly.

She was excited to carve the pumpkin.

Jump to Christmas. This year we had a Mexican Fiesta for our Erickson Christmas theme, complete with a pinata for the kids. Here is Ashlyn taking her turn.

Good form Em!

The Erickson cousins , getting ready to open their presents.

Jump to the Jones Christmas party. :) Here are Makalynn and Ashlyn snuggling up after a fun party.

Aunt Michelle and the girls.

Aunt Laura and a few of the crew. Our nephew Zack is the oldest of the grand kids, and Laura is expecting the youngest, due July 2011.....so FUN!!

Emma, Hallie and Makalynn.

The Jones grand kids, minus Ashlyn. She wasn't in the mood for a photo session. :)

Jump to New Year's Eve at the Blyths. The kids were settling down with some TV in James and Mandy's room.

Eli and Em. They are getting so big.

Caleb, Emma, Eli, and Ashlyn having fun on the "floof".

As you can see, time is flying fast and we are having fun. The Lord continues to bless us in so many ways- We have a new niece, Ellery Kristin Jones, born in January to Brad's brother Mark and his wife Amber, and another niece/nephew on the way; Our girls are continuing to grow healthy and strong, and make us smile everyday; Brad began his new electrical engineering position at Manistique Papers, Inc. last September, which has been a wonderful change for our family; I could keep this list going forever. As always, we never seem to have enough time to spend with everyone we love and miss. I consider this a blessing though- it just reminds me of how many amazing people I have in my life. Thank you all for being apart of this journey.

P.S. I'll do my best to keep up on the blog. Thanks for checking in on us.

Vacation Baby!!!!

We just finished an amazing week of vacation together. We tried to keep it simple, but fun, and enjoy the great things that surround us. So, we spent a day at Thunder Falls Water Park in Mackinaw City, a day on Lake Superior, and a few days camping at Van Riper State Park. Here are some highlights.

Emma, ready to hit the park!

Ashlyn and Mom. Ashlyn did enjoy the lazy river and wave pool when it was calm.

Em and Dad. We spent a lot of time in the lazy river. :)

I did get to go down one "big" slide.

Breakfast at the picnic table. We got rained out our last morning, but the girls enjoyed breakfast while mom and dad packed up camp between bouts of rain.

Brad and Ashlyn.

Ashlyn, multi-tasking. :)

Our site. Love our little tent.

Emma had a blast riding her bike around the campground. And yes, that is Ashlyn bringing her chair out to the middle of the road. Let's just say, she's busy. :)

"Who me?"

Brad and his girls on Lake Superior. It was an amazing day out on the water!

Crystal clear.......this was more than a few feet deep.

Napping on the big lake.

We beached the pontoon on Miner's Beach to play for a bit.

It really wasn't THAT cold, considering it was Lake Superior. :) We all went swimming without having to "work" at it.

Lover's Leap

Miner's Castle

We are so blessed to be surrounded by such beauty and were grateful to be able to use my parents' pontoon boat to get up close to some amazing cliffs. It was a gift to be able to spend a whole week together, and we enjoyed every adventure. Great memories made.