Happy Birthday to my Mom, the Night Owl

The cake I made for mom on her birthday. She liked it. Even Andrew was impressed.

Happy Birthday Andrew!!

To the new graduate: Happy Birthday!

The Big Pour- A New Driveway

After months of scheming, it is finally here. We were so blessed with tons of help. We even had some neighbors come over and help out, just to be nice- it was amazing. It was a big project; the cement truck had to bring 3 full loads and another half load just to finish the job.

We love it! A HUGE thank you to all who had a hand in this!!

Visitors from the South

Andrew's sister, Amanda came to visit- and did we ever have some fun! Amanda does flower parties, so naturally we did a few while she was here.

A few of our "creations."

One of our sweet sugar cookies.

It was great to see her and Zach and spend some quality time together!

Handy Andy Strikes Again

I did not get the "before" picture, but believe me- this is an upgrade. We had one board that went across the entire closet space. It was probably 3 feet deep and impossible to reach things in the back. Not to mention it wasn't very aesthetically pleasing. I love our new cabinets- thank you, Mr. Hughes.

Andrew enjoying a well-earned break.

The Best!

Andrew graduated from Grand Canyon University!!! He is done and we are super excited. I asked to get a picture of him (looking all smart), but he's camera shy. We took my parents to La Crosse, had a wonderful meal at Outback, and did some sight-seeing. The rock formations are beautiful. This time of the year, aqua blue ice can be seen hanging from the rock. It's quite stunning. Sorry about the non-quality pictures. I'm actually quite proud of them. I took them from the back seat of a moving vehicle. A for Effort.

So Stinkin' Cute

They are all here! Almost. It's a work in progress.

Happy Birthday Mom

To my mom, who is forever correcting our mistakes and willing to lend a helping hand, Happy Birthday. You're the best, now eat some cake... a lot of cake.

Not Halloween!

It has been way too long since I last posted. I suppose this has something to do with the rapid pace of life. The weeks seem to simply fly by.

Andrew and I are both doing well. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at my Aunt Sallee's. Andrew and my dad went deer hunting and my dad tagged a trophy buck. Apparently this deer was well known in the surrounding area as "The Goat Buck." My dad is particularly fond of the name and was answering to "Goat Buck Daddy" for a brief period of time. This deer was (no joke) 175 lbs field dressed.
I get hungry just thinking about it. Andrew was not as lucky and failed to see even so much as a squirrel in the woods. He did, however, manage to stay warm which is no small feat in the northwoods.

Before we were able to escape to the south, Wisconsin was hit by a bit of a snow storm, dropping around 20" on us. Luckily this all happened on a weekend. Unluckily, it was the weekend we had a Ferge get-together planned. We rescheduled. Church was cancelled. Snow plows were told to stay off the streets for their safety- you get the idea.

Christmas was spent in AZ this year. Through almost 3 weeks, we were able to see all of Andrew's immediate family. It was really nice. We headed to our local church more than once to allow everyone some extra space. We were even present to meet the newest Hughes- Carter, born on December 27th. How great! We were so grateful to be welcomed in so many places, some of them more than once- thanks a million!

Happy Halloween

Abby, the chicken. How fitting! All weekend in Manitowoc it was "I scared" and It's scary." This costume was so cute!

Kid Pics

I can hear you now, "Rachel, I love those pictures! They're so great, but don't you have, say, twice as many nieces and nephews?"
I DO. They don't have any representation because their PARENTS are hogging all their pictures. This bulletin board is in my office at work. I love to see all the kiddos every day!

Fall in Wisconsin

It was another beautiful fall day here in Wisconsin. It made me think of a quote I recently came across;
"Hardwood forests ablaze with color, geese on the wing, caramel apples from a roadside stand, barns bursting with the harvest, and everywhere everyone packing some extra fun into the last warm days of the year – that’s fall in Wisconsin."
I'm so glad to be living here. I absoutely love my morning drive to work, filled with fall colors. What an awesome time of year!

Trip to Tomahawk

Earlier this month, my aunt and uncle hosted a family get-together at their home in Tomahawk. They live on the Wisconsin River. It was great to see everyone. We enjoyed the (cooler) weather. These are pictures of my parents on the dock.

Fun Fact: A few years ago, Andrew hit a golf ball across the river at this very point.

Our Flowers

(hee, hee)

Flowers from my house and my mom's house. (Mostly my mom's.)

Eclipse

We made some time to see the movie while all together in Arizona. Here are a couple group pics. We're standing in front a picture of "Bella."

AZ Vay-Cay!

A typical Hughes get-together...

Rock band at Sandee's. They were pretty good.

Fun at Amanda's house.

Goofing around.