Introduction

          So this is the first blog I've written, and I'm not sure how committed I am to this particular blog, but I want to create several linked pages to Croteau's Corners, our home and family hobby farm in Dryden, Michigan.  The family is a blended family.  My husband brings his two stepchildren and two children, and I bring my five kids.  Not all of them live with us, but the majority do, and life is very full around our house. 
          Mark and I met less than two months after my divorce was finalized in 2009, and although we hit it off, we both affirmed to each other that neither was interested in a long-term, committed relationship (read marriage).  Mark had been widowed for 10 years, and was done with flaky women.  I was coming off an eighteen year off and on marriage.  We were both looking for someone to have a drink with, play a little Buzztime trivia, and share a few laughs. 
          Fast forward to summer of 2011, when Mark and I, on a quick camping trip to a nearby park, decided that we really should spend the rest of our lives together.  Being the traditional souls that we are, that meant...you guessed it...marriage.  So in August of 2011, surrounded by loving friends and family, we were wed in a singularly spectacular outdoor wedding in Mark's sister's front yard.  Spectacular for us, anyway.  Stunningly simple and country-inspired, we began our new life together as husband and wife with Mason jar wineglasses, sunflower centerpieces, and a potluck buffet. 
          In the summer of 2012 we started house hunting, and found our dream home - a country-style ranch with a walkout on 4 1/2 rolling acres in rural Lapeer County, Michigan.  Over the winter we have planned our "farm" and began decorating the house.  The rest is our story.