Our Property

Late last fall we purchased 40 acers in Michigan, a few minutes away from both of our parents.  It is a square piece of land with nothing on it and it's beautiful!  Half woods and half field, great trees, and a small creek that runs through it!  The best part about it...IT'S OURS!  Yay!  We finally own something in the state where we want to live instead of in a million different ones!  Anyway...we decided, after much debate, that we would build a barn with a two-bedroom apartment upstairs and a wood workshop and garage down stairs.  We are so excited to see it!  Our builder just started a little over a week ago.  With so many unknowns with our future we wanted to play it safe but still have a place to call our own.  With not being able to be there all the time we need something low maintenance.  We hope to one day build an actual house on our land, but a lot has to happen before then.  So, in the mean time, this will be our home sweet home!

Even without anything on the property (NOT EVEN A BATHROOM!!!) we soooooo enjoyed spending time on our land--especially Joe--my little woodsman husband!  Here are some pictures of some of the fun times we have had on the property in the year that we have owned it!

I set the camera on the truck bed and used the timer for this pic!  Not bad, huh?

Big land, Little boy

One night we even camped out there!  Joe's sister Danelle and her hubby Chris ventured the wilderness with us!  (We did cheat a little bit and made a bathroom run to Joe's parents house.  Some things are just a little too rustic for us, and the woods got really dark and intimidating after the sun set!)

We cooked super and breakfast over the fire too!  It was so yummy!  The menu was:  Pizza or Ruben HoBo pies and smores for dessert, and for breakfast:  Scrambled eggs, sausage, and cinnamon twists.  All over the fire, of course!  Fun and yum!

We had LOTS of camp fires out there.  It's funny that so many of our family and friends would show up even with out restrooms. (At least none that didn't involve leaves!  Ha!)

Here's some family...Joe's sister Danelle and husband Chris, Gavin, Mom Berger, Aunt Doreen, Grandpa Berger, cousins Ashley and Allison, cousin Carlee, Aunt Debbie, Mom and Dad, and my brother Andrew!

Danelle, trying to roast a marshmallow over the bon fire!

Joe--in his glory--when him and his dad rented a chipper!

One of the really pretty trees!

Last winter my parents, Doodles and Gavin & I went out on the property and went sledding!  I have an awsome picture of my mom flying down a hill, but unfortunately I couldn't find it.

Joe and my brother Andrew getting ready to head out to the property and freeze!

Gavin and Grandpa (Joe's dad) exploring the property.

Gavin and Papa (my dad) enjoying the property!

Joe, and Gavin in the stroller, on the bridge over our little creek that Joe built with his dad!  It's really cool--made with salvaged wood and two big logs.

How pretty is this apple tree on our property!  It was full of flowers this past summer!

We also have a motion sensitive camera attached to a tree in the woods.  It has been so cool to see all the wild life!  Deer, raccoons, squirrels, turkey, rabbits...very cool!

All that room to run!

I'm sure these are probably poisonous, but aren't they pretty?

Joe used the chips from the chipper they rented to "pave" the path through the woods.  It's a lot of work, but it really looks nice!

We also have cedar trees on the property.  Joe and his dad harvested some this past summer and we hope to use them in a house one day--either as furniture or closet walls, not really sure but it would be cool!

Poor Joe has his work truck out there that won't start because the transmission went out!  (Notice the sticker on the window says "Cowboy Up."  It was there when we bought it.)

So...construction has begun for our barn...

(bear with me because these pictures are a bit out of order and it's kind of hard to tell what's what)

Where the barn will be...

From our barn looking out to the road...

The view from our barn...

A bit more progress (and how it looks now)...

So, we should be able to live in it this winter with just a few more things to finish up, that Joe and his dad can work on.  We are very excited!  I also hope to post a picture of a sunset on our property.  It's so pretty!  I'll keep you all updated on the progress and hopefully the finished product!

Miss you all!  -Abby