I am really enjoying the I Heart Faces blog and photo contests. This weeks submission needed to be a "creative crop". I have both an adult entry and a child this week. I had so much fun doing this. It was so much fun!!!!!!!

For the Adult entry is a picture of my sister, Heather. We went to a Tea room together and we got to wear big pretty hats. This is the photo before I did anything to it.

This is her photo after. This is using Photoshop Elements 5.0. I thought the antique frame and sepia coloring made the photo that much more special.

This is a random photo of my children playing at a park in our hometown. I snap MANY photos as you never know when you will capture the sweetest expression. Children are constantly moving and changing. Sometimes it is a surprise to me when I load the photos onto my laptop to see the faces I captured. Here is the photo before.

I love my daughter's face in the lower left hand corner of the original shot. She is excitedly playing with her baby brother who is sitting up on some playground equipment. She has a look of mischief in her eyes : ) If you want to see the Week 9 creatively cropped faces go to I Heart Faces. Enjoy! Crystal

Hello All! I am back, sorry it has been awhile. I was away for the weekend with my sister, Heather and Hope (she is still pretty much attached to her Mommy). We went up to my favorite place, Traverse City, for a Mommy's away weekend. We participated in a wine tasting event put on by the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association. Heather and I just really enjoy driving around Leelanau County looking at the inland lakes and beautiful rolling hills filled with Cherry trees. Our hotel room was on the East arm of the Grand Traverse Bay. Both mornings we watched the sunrise. God's creation is so good!!! "Aunt" Heather, Hope and I had some relaxation and much girl talk time. I am so thankful to Kelly for this time away, you are the best Kel!!!!!! While I was gone the "Big Guy" took the oldest kids to The Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan.

I am also excited to share with you that I have bought my new camera, a Nikon D40. I LOVE it!!!! I am excited to share some of my recent photos with you all. I will post them soon. Enjoy your spring!! Don't forget to smell the Cherry trees and take time to look about you at God's creation. Love, Crystal

Hello All! I wanted to quickly update the blog as we are quickly moving from one trip to the next. I arrived home at eight o'clock on Saturday the 16th. I was so glad to hug my family and have a large beverage I could have cried. God Bless the good old U.S.A., there is no place like home. With that being said our time did improve after our initial canceled flights, lost luggage, missed rental car and riding a Hoppa bus from Heathrow to hunt down another rental car. The beginning of the trip was slightly overwhelming. I was so glad we didn't have children with us. Heather and I feel we have learned so many lessons as far as international travel. We are considering writing a book.

The pictures I have attached to this post were special to me. First, an English rose. This particular garden was so fragrant that you could smell the scent of roses long after departing. The garden was on Winston Churchill's birthplace and boyhood home.

The next image is of my sister and I in our little village of Winchcombe. These houses were so quaint with the lovely gardens and climbing roses. I sort of expected Miss Marple to pop out of the door and ask us to tea. If you don't know who Miss Marple is, than you better Google her : )

Sudeley Castle is the stately home in the next photo. It was two mile from the village of Winchcombe. Portions of it were built in the 11th century. It was absolutely beautiful and the grounds were breathtaking. Also of significance is the fact that King Henry the 8th's last wife Katherine Parr (who actually outlived old Henry) is buried in the church on Sudeley grounds. She died after the birth of her one and only daughter.

Lastly, is a picture of Blenheim Palace where Winston Churchill was born and raised. He even later proposed to his fiance on the grounds. It reminded me of Versailles in France. It was very neat to tour. Whole sections were closed to visitors due to the fact that a present day Duke and his family reside there. Heather and I had a great trip!! Best of all we got to spend quality time bonding as sisters should. She is and always will be my hero for many reasons. She was was a great travel companion!! At least much of it even at the time we could laugh about. you know what they say, what happens in Winchcombe stays in Winchcombe : ) I love you Heath!! Cheers!!!

Hello All! I just wanted to tell everyone we made it safely to England. It has been quite the adventure. When I return I will write more about the fiasco that was the beginning of our trip to England. For now, we look forward to tomorrow ! This picture is my sister, Heather behind the wheel of our rental car. All I can say is, she is my hero!! She drove from London to Winchcombe (about two hours) and she was amazing!!! Driving here is quite exciting and scary. Don't worry, we are still alive : )


The next picture is of me in front of our cottage. It is such a quaint and beautiful village. Both Heather and I got separated for our luggage and we have had the same clothes since Friday. So In most pictures of me I am in my red shirt. The good news is Heather's luggage arrived this evening at the cottage and mine is supposed to be arriving at London-Heathrow soon. Please pray that my luggage arrives tomorrow. It is hard to live in the same clothes for days. Don't worry we have been able to wash the clothes. So that has been a big blessing, at least the clothes are clean. It has been a comedy of errors in many ways. But we push on. Life has given us lemons, now we try hard to squeeze out lemonade. This last picture was taken by me of a neighboring home from our backyard. The roses are just so beautiful! Please pray for us : ) Love you all - Crystal

Hello and Goodbye All!! This is going to most likely be my last post for a little while. On Friday my sister, Heather and I are off to the U.K. The picture I have posted is the cottage in the village of Winchcombe we will be calling home during our stay. We will primarily be visiting castles, gardens and of course "Birdland" (http://www.birdland.co.uk/) in an area of England called the Cotswolds. The villages are the picture many people have in their mind's eye of the cozy, slow paced English countryside. God willing we will visit places like Sudeley Castle (http://www.sudeleycastle.co.uk/), Warwick Castle (http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/) and Bath with the famous Roman Baths popularized by the Romans between the 1st and 5th centuries. Both Heather and I are so excited to see all this . Hopefully we will be able to email and maybe even blog while in England. I will blog if at all possible. Please pray for Kelly, his parents and the kids as Mommy has some much needed time away. Kel's parents will watch the kids during the day and Kelly will be on all by himself for the nights and weekends. I am so thankful and blessed to have this time away. Thanks Kelly, Ken and Vera!! So for now Cheerio and please remember us in your prayers : ) Love, Crystal

Hello All! Well tomorrow is a big for Kelly and I. Tomorrow we leave for a weekend away to celebrate our seventh anniversary on the 19th. Our children have not been without us both this long in a long while. It was back before we had three and maybe back before we had two even. So it is a much needed break! Last year we tried to stay one night away, but it was not meant to be. We had a huge ice storm that weekend, lost power and the kids all had an upper respiratory infection of some sort. My mother ended up driving about 3 1/2 hours from the other side of the state to watch the Briden bunch. It ended she helped me out as Kelly got sick with a stomach bug that same weekend. I had prayed for months about that trip. As I have for this trip. My sister, Heather, is coming over from Midland to watch our trio. She is a great aunt to them, they will have a blast. Kelly and I are headed to one of my favorite spots on God's green earth, Traverse City, Michigan. Traverse City is north of us, still in the lower peninsula. We will be touring wineries and we have a fun trip planned through the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association, a snowshoe stomp. We get to hike through the vineyards for about two miles on snowshoes. It should be fun!! Traverse City is located on two large lake Michigan bays facing north. It has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. We are thrilled to be going, but please pray for the kiddos and Aunt Heather. I will let you know how it all turns out : ) If you want to check out the organization we are going to be touring with go to http://www.lpwines.com/ Love, Crystal