A little bit of Fall next door

Josh and I enjoy taking walks through the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary that is right next door to us. They have beautiful property and woods, so it's nice to go hiking over there. Every time we walk over there we see deer which is awesome no matter how many times we have seen deer (which is now very often because they are always outside our apartment eating from the trees). This time we saw two large salmon that must have swam up stream after laying eggs and we think they were now dying. I guess this is a normal cycle for salmon. Sad to see, but it was also interesting to see a fish that big so close up. We climbed tree trunks over the creeks and hiked through the woods in the crunching leaves. These are some of my favorite pictures from that day.

The Pickard's visit

My parents came to visit a few weeks back and it was a great weekend. They took a trip through the UP and stopped at several different locations on their way around and enjoyed spending some days and nights enjoying the beautiful scenery such as Pictured Rocks and other areas on Lake Superior. They made their stop to visit us in WI and then when they left they continued through IL, IN and back to MI around the other side of the lake. They also enjoyed stopping at the air museum in Kalamazoo.

While they were visiting us we had a chance to try out some local restaurants that after a year of living hear Josh and I have just never tried. A local diner where we ate breakfast felt like everyone knew we were not regulars there, but it was good food and a friendly environment. We also tried out a pizza place down the street.  One of the days while Josh was studying for classes my parents and I went out to give him some quiet. We ended up going down to the 7 Mile Fair south of Milwaukee which is a giant flea market. It reminded me of a flea market that we went to as kids when we lived in California. There was your typical stands from produce, clothing, crafts, junk, knock-off electronics etc. It was fun to just walk around and enjoy time with my parents. They bought Josh a cool remote control helicopter that caused much laughter and fun as dad and Josh trying flying it around the apartment. Josh's goal is to someday fly it through the slats in our entryway:)

After the flea market we went down to the Third Ward area in Milwaukee. There are a lot of unique shops, markets and restaurants. We ate lunch a really modern Chinese restaurant with great food. Walked the river walk a little bit and went to some shops. I look forward to checking out the Third Ward again since we only walked through a little portion of that popular downtown community.

It was nice to spend time with my parents and I am glad they had such a good trip traveling around Lake Michigan.

Gumdrops and pillow covers

I continue to try to enjoy time making projects, crafts and my newest endeavor...homemade candy:) These projects are things I enjoy and with winter coming up I need to stock pile some good ideas for projects. My latest homemade projects were making homemade gumdrops and sewing pillow covers for our couch pillows.  The gumdrops took a lot of time and attention. They looked fun in the end and they even tasted yummy, however, they never really crystallized to be more firm like a gumdrop so it was kind of like biting into a really small sugar coated jell-o jiggler...lol. It was fun giving it a try though. I am looking forward to giving homemade caramels a try.

The pillow covers were a simple pocket style pattern. This way I can wash them and even change them out if I wanted to very easily. We needed a little bit more color in our living room rather than the neutrals in the pillows that came with the couches. So I didn't go too crazy with the pillow covers. But I have working on crocheting us a blanket to keep out on the couch that is a really fun bright blueish green color like in the striped pillow cover. That will bring a lot of color when I am done:) This was an rather easy and quick project that I did in one two night.  Here are a few pics of the results.

Labor Day with Good Friends

For Labor Day we had our good friends Ben and Sarah come an visit us from Sunday to Monday. It was great to see them and for them to enjoy some adult time while their boys stayed with grandma and grandpa. We check out a Venetian boat parade in Port Washington on Sunday night. We weren't really sure what it would be like. We walked the decks of the marina where all the boats were docked. Many of the boats for decorated with lights for the parade (at night). There was one boat that had a human "Jack in the Box." (That made us laugh for many reasons). The boats paraded by a judge tent that scored their decorations and lights and the crowd of people got to enjoy the boats parading by the shore.

On Monday, Sarah and I enjoyed a wonderful pedicure while Josh and Ben went golfing. Sarah and I decided to get our toenails painted with colors we normally didn't choose for the fun of it (purple and blue). The massage chair we got to sit in while getting our pedicure was awesome and the foot massage was very relaxing. Loved it!!! Afterwards the guys met up with us to get lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and of course we enjoyed some cheesecake after eating our delicious lunch:)

It was great to spend time with them and to have a day off work and school for that week.

4 Years of WE, 30 Years of ME

At the end of August we celebrated our 4th Anniversary and my 30th Birthday.

For our Anniversary, Josh made a special dinner. Homemade ravioli with three different types of filling. We enjoyed filling our ravioli noodles and then boiling them. The were delicious! Josh also made peach cobbler for dessert. He spent a lot of time on this special meal. It was nice to spend the evening together in the midst of busy schedules with school starting back up and my work being very hectic right now with a lot of changes going on. Thanks Josh for the special dinner and time together celebrating us. I'm okay with you making homemade ravioli anytime:)

For my Birthday, Josh took me to to zoo. I have been wanting to go since we moved here. I was very excited! My favorite animal that day was the GIANT brown bear laying in this hammock like structure just hanging out. It was hilarious! I also always really like the big cats. Watching the tigers interact was great.  I think there was a mother and her children. She was trying to wake them up from napping and one of them began wrestling with her while the other one kept avoiding her attempts to wake him up. Made me laugh thinking of them as teenagers or something. We watched one of the giraffes trying VERY hard to reach the tree leaves above him with his long tongue. So close, yet not close enough:)

A big celebration wasn't necessary for my 30th. I have actually enjoyed reminiscing over my life this past month. So many good memories about places I've lived, people that I have met and experiences that I have had. I cannot imagine my life happening any differently. Even the difficult times, I would not want replaced because they have made me who I am today. I thank the Lord for my family and friends and for the gifts and abilities he has given to me that I can use to help others and glorify Him in the process. I am so blessed and look back on 30 years feeling as though I have accomplished so much and still have so much too accomplish in life as well.

Thanks to all of you as family and friends who have shared in my 30 years for one or all seasons of my life:)

A great day for a walk

Not too long ago Josh and I enjoyed a beautiful Saturday outdoors by going to an nearby nature preserve and walking through the fields. There is a tower in the middle of the fields that has stairs to climb up to the top and look over the preserve. It was a simple activity that allowed us to be together and enjoy a break from our busy schedules.

We saw the largest butterfly (that I've ever seen in the wild). I wish I would have gotten a picture of it. It was goergous and maybe 6 inches wing span. That was awesome! On the way back to the car we picked a couple of the white wild flowers (don't know what they are called) because I wanted to replicate a childhood past time from my grandmas house. I remember picking these from the hill behing her house and then we would put them in water with a couple of drops of food coloring. After a a day or two the flowers would have a tint of the same coloring as the water. Of course I went for my favorite color...blue!

Thanks for the walk honey, it was a great day to spend together!

A week at Topsail Beach

Click below to see more pics of our trip:
http://www.slide.com/r/hiQXh76f7D-Fx5vgpLbhEkKNUYfznl7u?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

We just recently returned from a week at Topsail Beach in North Carolina with Josh's family. Despite the initial threat of a tropical storm and the fact that this beach is ranked in the top 10 for shark attacks...we had a GREAT time! The tropical storm diminished way out in the ocean so our weather was just about perfect for being at the beach every day. As far as the danger in the waters...well I think the risk of sand mites was higher.

I personally enjoyed walking on the beach each morning after waking up. It was great to hear the waves, feel the sand under my feet and enjoy a good hunt for some unique sea shells.  My favorite day was the day I finally decided I could go out in the water further than my calves. Most of the days the waves were pretty big and the undertow was strong so I avoided going swimming. Not to mention that the whole shark thing did linger in my mind. However, on my favorite day, the water was more calm and clear. I went out pretty far with Josh and we saw dolphins out in front of us about 50 feet or so. That was awesome! Also on my favorite day we went to a homemade Popsicle shop. I ate a pistachio pop dipped in milk chocolate with almonds. It was tasty. I need to figure out how to make some of these at home:)

Josh enjoyed swimming and doing so very far out in the water. He also got a kick out of doing many other beach activities other than swimming. He tried boogie boarding and another type of boarding where you move across the water close to the beach. He threw a football, built sand castles, flew a kite or two, let the kids bury his legs in the sand, surf fishing, shell searching, sand crab catching and he even let me take a few pictures of him.

Of our many walks on the beach, walking under the moonlight was a fun night together. It was low tide and their were crabs everywhere. We had flashlights, but the moonlight was almost bright enough to not need them. It's trickier at night to find the original spot you accessed the beach. We managed to find our way back after a couple crabs ran over Josh's feet.

We enjoyed the time spent with family catching up on each others lives, making memories together and relaxing. Thanks for Melissa, Eric and Mike we were able to play some board games as well:) I always like that no matter when I am. Unfortunately, Mike had recently broken his hand so he was in a cast, but that didn't stop him from having a good time at the beach. That's what a baggie and duct tape or good for:) The kids were so much fun at the beach and the cottage. Melissa took some great pictures of the kids at the beach. Uncle Josh had fun showing them the crabs he caught and playing in the sand with them. Maddie and Hannah were especially helpful in finding shells for me along with their own stash. Charlie really liked playing in the sand at the beach and I'm sure he would have been catching crabs with Eric and Josh had he been big enough to hang through the slats on the boardwalk with the net (lol). Thanks for Dad and Mom Moore for making this trip happen for all of us! They made a delicious surf & turf meal one night and one night they brought stuff to make s'mores over the grill.

Until next time Topsail Beach!