Matt and Jennie come to visit!

Sorry I'm so late in posting this, but we had the pleasure of Matt, Jennie, and Micah coming to visit us on Easter weekend!  It was much anticipated and much too short!  We had a great time, though,  just wish they could've stayed longer...here's a few pictures of the weekend:

Hiking along the trail on state land

Looking over the rock bluff at some little falls

Don't get too close to the edge!

Prime camping spot :)

Family portrait :)

Bow enjoying the expansive rock face

Micah had it pretty easy on the hike

Our family portrait!  (We couldn't get Bow to face the camera, lol)

Trying to keep him from going into the water

Carney Lake-there are rustic campsites on this lake that we hope to use this summer!

Bow dog being a good boy

Throwing rocks into the lake

One final throw

One final look at the beautiful lake

Piers Gorge

Last week we were making the most of the awesome weather, and decided to finally check out a spot we had been told about by a few people.  It was about 80 degrees and we loaded up the Bow dog to hike around at Piers Gorge, in Norway, MI...about 10 minutes away.  It's a rocky trail along the Menominee River, where the river is forced into a tight gorge that results in a series of 4 rapids.  It was pretty incredible,  beautiful hiking, and just 10 minutes away from home!  We'll be sure to make the trip whenever we have family come up to visit!

The first little rapids

Trekking off the beaten path

Rapids #3

Enjoying the cool breeze coming off the water-it felt like air conditioning!

Rapids #3......these pictures do not do them justice

Riverside artwork

Don't worry, he wasn't about to shoot anybody ;)

Bow trying to keep cool by a tree. :) Abit of random sad news......Alex was out with Brian hiking in the woods and stump shooting when they spotted a porcupine in a tree.  Well, naturally, Alex wanted to kill it, so they had Olivia (Brian's daughter) hold Bow while Alex took a shot at it with his bow.  Well, Alex made a kill shot to the head, but when that porcupine started tumbling out of the tree Bow couldn't take it anymore, and Olivia couldn't hold onto him and he bounded after the porcupine.  Naturally, the porcupine did what porcupines do best and quilled Bow right in the nose and he got some in his paw, too.  I'm so glad I wasn't there to see it.  Alex did a good job of removing all the quills from Bow's nose and paw while    Bow just whimpered a little and licked Alex's hand as a sort of "thank you".  Then we got him home and gave him a much needed bath, some peroxide on his wounds, and lots of treats. :)

New job

For those of you who didn't know, I got a new part time job working at the local YMCA! I started last week and I work the front desk...which is more work than it sounds, because they expect you to know everything about all that's going on at the Y, and only pay minimum wage! Lol, but it's been nice to get out of the house and see some people in the community, and the free membership is great! In the meantime, though, I'm still looking for a job in X-ray or MRI...prayers would be appreciated! There's an outpatient clinic going up just down the road from where we are now, and it would be awesome if I could get in there.

Colorado Trip.........jk, this is the U.P.!

Alex discovered a new spot to hike around, and it's full of hills, and steep cliffs, cedar swamps, and a creek running through.  It is truly gorgeous and you feel more like you're out west when you're there.  There's even a sweet flat area of pines that overlooks a cliff and someone built a little fire ring of rocks that we are going to camp at when it gets a little warmer.

This is the flat area of pines that has an awesome view and the fire pit in the lower right corner

Looking over the cliff

This is one view from the "campsite"

The backside view--at the bottom of this cliff is the creek

Bow lives for our hikes :)

Colorado??

Hunter and his companion :)

Getting Crafty

One might ask, what does one do when one is unemployed and living in Iron Mountain?  Well, if she has any creativity in her bones she crafts!  I've taken to a few easy DIY projects and artwork the past few weeks, it breaks up the monotony of staring at the animals. :)

I don't even really remember where I got the idea for the stencil artwork, but it was pretty easy, because I just found pictures online that I liked, cut them out, and painted them on cute fabric with acrylic paints.  As for the owls, I think that was a Pinterest thing.

Pictures I found online

Pretty cheap artwork-just a small amount of fabric (you could use scraps pretty much), the picture was free,  the paint was about $1 and the frame was from Goodwill!  (whitey wanted to be in the picture)

All 3 that I've finished so far...notice Whitey's paws.....she's so curious :)

close up of fabric

Another close up....this one was actually painted on an old pillowcase I found at Goodwill (I go to Goodwill A LOT)  :)

I found these lovely guys at Goodwill, too!

Just your typical dated trinket

A little spray paint an voila! Much better!

Cute as bookends :)  Oh, and I found that little globe at Goodwill, too.  I thought it was charming.

Close up

So, yeah, that's what I've been doing in my free time lately.  I still have another stencil to paint, of a silhouette of a buck, but I haven't found the right frame at Goodwill yet.  And I'm waiting for a shipment of buttons from eBay to start on another craft that I found off Pinterest, so I'll post pictures of that one once I'm done!

Hiking

One might ask, what is there to do in Iron Mountain?  Well, not much, but there is definitely an abundance of good hiking-so that's what we have been doing in our free time!  Apparently, I need to do more, though, because I've gained a few pounds since we moved and have taken to renting the free fitness DVD's from Family Video!  Three words for you: Denise. Austin. Yoga.  lol, yeh, it's pretty bad, if you have ever done or seen either a denise austin video, or a yoga one you know what I'm talking about.  But, it must be working, because my legs are sore this morning!  Anyways, back on subject, just a few pics of us on another hiking outing.  

One of few pictures of us together...that's my dorky Goodwill hat that Alex says he can't take me seriously when I wear it---but it's so warm!!

Bow found a deer carcass and was gnawing on one of the legs.....yum!

Snow day!

So this past Monday was a snow day for area schools due to freezing rain and then a topping of snow.  Our friends Mick and Heidi invited us out to their house (Mick teaches high school math, so he had the day off) for some fun outside and dinner.  They live out in Hardwood, which is about 35 minutes out of town on 40 acres.  Heidi and I went for a short walk, it was so nice and warm and the sun came out, and as we walked we could hear all the snow melting and dripping of the pines, it was so gorgeous!  Anyways, here are a few pictures I snapped with my phone, because I'm so bad about remembering to bring my camera anywhere.

Alex playing the Wii with their son, Jared

Their cool old barn on the property

The view from their front porch