Tom & Brenda's Family Journal

After years of taking pictures with a small point and shoot camera, Tom and I bit the bullet and invested in a better camera to record our life. Now I just need to learn to take great pictures with it. It is a Nikon D5100 and I'm learning lots but have a long way to go. This is one of my first attempts at being artistic with the shot of our barn. We celebrated Jen & Tommy's birthdays last weekend. Madelynn made and dec orated the cake. We had a fun family time. We returned to the cabin on Sunday after a week in Alto that was packed with fun times. We were able to help Jennifer move into her house and she is starting to get settled. She seems as happy as can be to be back in her own space. We loved having her live with us the past year, but she is only a 1/4 mile away from us now. My parents came out to visit us at the cabin when we returned. We have lots of fun with them and I'm so thankful to spend so much time with them during the summer. Of course, I'm tr

Tom and I returned to the cabin after our busy month of June which culminated with the wedding of our daughter Kristen on June 29. But we didn't come alone. Our son, Tom, his wife, Sherry, and our 4 grandchildren traveled with us. They stayed all week and left yesterday to spend time with Sherry's parents in Curtis, Michigan. Here's a photo recap of our week. We visited my parents several times. My grandchildren are so blessed to have fun times with their great-grandparents. The girls love to do crafts. Anna had found a book at the Alto Library with some fun ideas. I brought the necessary supplies with me and we had a great time making them. Anna loves to do massages and we love to have one of her famous foot massages. She calls her business "World's Best Massage City." She really has a heart for service. It is amazing to see it in one so young. This is the doll stroller that my grandmother had for years for all us kids. Anna loved to give her teddy be

The 4th of July is always a special day for our family. Besides being our country's birthday, it is also Tom's birthday. Today I will share how we spent the day. It was very hot so we stayed inside except for early morning and late evening. Tom's parents bought this farm where we now live in 1948. T om moved here when he was one year old. They called it Busy B's Farm so we've taken that name for our home now. Busy B's was the theme of our 4th of July celebration this week. It was Tom's 65th birthday. We wanted to have a low key day after our busy week of the w edding but I wanted to make it very special for Tom. Everyone pitched in and did their part with some creative for the 4th of July. Madelynn and Jay decorated red, white and blue cookies. This included stars and bells that were in the freezer left from Christmas. Jen made red, white and blue strawberries that were pretty and tasty. We had seen them on Pinterest and found them easy to make.