Ben's 29th Birthday

Celebrating with some friends
Happy Birthday Ben-I love you!

Ben's parents gave him an amazing piece of granite for our kitchen island. Above is the before...see below for middle and after.

Ben was so surprised by his gift from his family. Thank you Meg, Don, Nicole, and Savannah.

The finished product, painted black with decorative supports. It looks more amazing in person.

The last weekend we celebrated Ben's birthday. Friday I took him to our new favorite restaurant, the Cook's House and then met some friends for drinks. Saturday night we hung out with a bunch of friends for chili, bonfire and drinks-thanks for celebrating with us everyone. Then Sunday we had dinner with Ben's family. Happy 29th birthday. Next year we'll both be 30..YIKES!

Boat ride to Elk Rapids

View of the peninsula from East Bay

Savannah enjoying the wind

Meg and Don and Savannah joined us for the ride

Ben teaching Savannah how to drive

Labor Day birthday weekend and MSU Football

Celebrating my b-day at Siren's with the girls
Amanda and I with Sparty

MSU Stadium-we won 40 something to 3

Ben, me, Erik, Amanda, and Michael tailgating

Ben and I-GO GREEN!

Amanda and I

So I am one more year closer to 30!!! YIKES! But my 29th birthday was great and a fun-filled weekend thanks to Ben. Thursday night I went to dinner with my girlfriends and Ben surprised me when I got home with a new closet system for my present. Then we went to East Lansing and my met up with my good friend Amanda and her husband Michael. Ben got us tickets to my first MSU game in 5 years! It was really weird being back at my alma mater but it was so much fun to tailgate, go to the game, and walk around campus. Sunday night we had dinner with Ben's family and Monday we finished many house projects. I'll post some new pictures soon of the progress. Thanks Ben for making it such a memorable weekend.

TC Beer Fest

The Stage-even though it was raining we enjoyed the music!
Me, Molly, Lindsay and Macare trying to stay dry

Kate, Mac, Ben, Molly, Jeff, me, and Erik

The first TC Beer Fest was thrown by Porterhouse Productions at the State Hospital. Local breweries and music were featured and was such a fun way to sample local beers. It was a very rainy day but many residants still came to enjoy the party. We can't wait for more events like this to be in TC.

Visit from Mom and Dad

Dad and Mom at the very end of the Peninsula
The water was so blue here...

At the Wine Fest

Ben and I enjoying wine

Me with Mom and Dad-thanks for visiting!

My parents visited us for a long weekend. We had a great time going to the end of the peninsula, eating at the Cook's house (probably top 2 meals I have ever eaten!), shopping the local farmers market, and attending the Wine and Art Festival. Thanks for visiting and we can't wait for Pittsburgh in a few months!

5th Annual Cedarville Trip

A beautiful Cedarville Sunset

Green Team: Brian, Ben, Kate, and Macare

Grey Team: Mike, Jenna, Mac and Dusty

1st Annual Beer Olympic Teams...yellow won! Some of the events were flip cup, fruit pass relay, blind lemon drop race, and beer chug relay.

20 of 23 of us at dinner...the Islander.

All the ladies...

Ben and the boys at the beach

Ben driving us to Cedarville for $1 beers at Bumpas

the boats at Government Island...our favorite beach

Katie, Kirsten, Me and Lindsay all driving to the island on Anna's boat

Our 5th annual Cedarville trip was the biggest yet-23 of our close friends drove from near and far to enjoy a 3 day weekend of boating and relaxing to close off the summer. We had great weather to spend our days at Government Island and doing water sports. At night we grilled out and had campfires long into the night. We even had our first beer olympics, which one can imagine the hilarious-ness that ensued. As always, thanks to Mike's grandparents for opening up thier cottage to us...we look forward to next year.

Green Thumbs

Some of our herbs...I've already cut and dried some already. They have been great to cook with. Ben especially likes making pesto with the basil.

An upclose shot of green tomatoes-there are probably hundreds of these growing and we can't wait for them to turn red to make into salsa, mozzarela salad, and sandwiches.

A picture from above-next year we're building a bigger garden.

Zucchini as big as my forearm. This is just 1 of 5 I have picked so far. I have so many I'll be making zucchini bread for months.

Apparently we have green thumbs, who knew?! It has been fun to watch our garden grow and start using our vegetables and herbs. We've dried our herbs, made lots of zucchini bread, and are making pickles out of the cucumbers. We're excited for our tomatoes to turn red to make salsa...let's just hope the sun starts shining more.