Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Our Summer Trip to the Lake ~ Part 1

Hey Ya'll,

I'm going to post these in two parts because I don't want to bore you with too much reading and there are a lot of pictures. I'm having to weed out a lot of good ones just because I don't want my posts to be a mile long! lol! 

We had a wonderful time on our little Summer vacation! We stayed Wednesday through Saturday on Rough River in a big, beautiful lake home owned by our friends, the sweet Dembek's. Shelly got to spend the first night and all day Thursday with us.


We arrived late Wednesday night due to Anthony having to work later than expected. That didn't stop us from partying, though! lol:) On the way down, we picked up Papa Johns pizza and an ice cream cake for his birthday. We were amazed by how huge the place was (It has 3 levels and sleeps 12!!!) and explored every room when we arrived. We were starving and stuffed ourselves with pizza. I filled the cake with candles-31 because we were one short- ha! Anthony had requested a DQ cake and I hadn't had time to get him a gift to go with it. But he was so thrilled about being at the lake for his birthday, he said that was enough!



The next day, (Thursday) Anthony got up early to go put his boat in and bring it to the dock behind the house. I was awakened by a Dish man who was scheduled to come and fix the TV in the basement. That was a bit weird for me to be alone with him. (Shelly and the boys were asleep.) But Eugene had called about it so that made me feel a little better. Andy (my "little" 20 year old bro...lol) showed up and Anthony soon after! We took them to the marina where Anthony had left his truck and trailer. Then we all ate at McD's! Afterwards, Shelly and I went to Wal-Mart for some much needed groceries. Anthony had invited Jacob and Jonelle (a young newly-wed couple from our Church) down and they got to the lake house shortly after us. We got our water gear on to head out on the pontoon! It was AWESOME and we're ready to trade Anthony's bass boat in for a pontoon ASAP! (haha) Jameson is scared of water that's over his head so the furthest he goes is the bottom step of the boat ladder. Landon, on the other hand, can't get enough of the water and literally tries to wriggle away from who is holding him in the lake! We swam until we were wrinkly and then went tubing. I laughed and smiled so much while watching the boys tube that my face hurt! lol! Andy, Jacob and I had never been and it was a BLAST.

 


I was a little scared and threatened my mischievous husband to GO SLOW AND STRAIGHT as not to throw me off! lol! It was SO fun and I'm ready to take it to the next level on our next trip! Jacob told Anthony quite the opposite of me. He said, "I want to to TRY to throw me off!" It was a RIOT! Jacob held on for dear life while Anthony gunned the motor and weaved sharply from left to right over and over again! Talk about FUN. Writing about it makes me wanna go back right now!



We spent hours on the water and even snacked on granola bars to make our hunger subside so we could stay out longer. We finally docked and came back to the house to grill hamburgers and hotdogs. Then we went right back down to the lake! lol! Shelly and I stayed around the dock to let Landon (our little boy who thinks he's a fish) "swim" while the others went out to let Andy and Jacob try knee boarding. They stayed out longer than us and it started to storm so they had a rough time getting every thing back to the house! We made coffee and hot chocolate and it felt good to be dry again! After the weather calmed, Andy, Jacob, Jonelle and Shelly (had to work Friday) left. We were exhausted and slept well to the sound of the rain hitting the roof! =) Jameson even slept in the top bunk downstairs in the basement all by himself! I was so proud of him and had to take pictures. (an easy excuse for checking on him;) He had wanted to sleep there the first night but was a little scared and ended up in our room on a pallet in the floor.


That wraps up the first part of our vacation........Part 2 coming next!

Hope you enjoy pictures and videos,

Michelle

Monday, August 13, 2012

2 more days-EEEK! (shriek of excitement;)

On Wednesday my sweet hubby will turn 32! This year, we are spending his birthday on the water, where he feels at home! Lol! As soon as he gets off work, we're heading down to begin our mini vacation on the lake. We're staying three nights in the Dembeks' lake house and coming home Saturday. I've got my meal plan lined out and I just can't wait to go! My sister in law, Shelly is spending the first night with us and my brother, Andy is coming down Thursday when we're going tubing for the first time! We've got new sunscreen and beach towels and I can't wait to start packing! So I'd better go and tackle this laundry first! Here are a couple of pictures of our home for the weekend but I'm sure I'll take a hundred while we're there!


Saturday, August 11, 2012

What's for dinner?

We had a couple of friends' birthdays and mostly ate out this week. However, I did cook tonight! I made spaghetti and meatballs with some easy toast on the side. This was actually the first time I've made meatballs and they were good. Anthony prefers the usual way I make spaghetti & meat sauce but I really enjoyed some thing different! Bon appetit!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Saturday's Accomplishments

Yay- I canned for the first time! I made dill pickles and my husband loves them. He even took a jar to work for his lunches this week. That's good enough for me! : ) I also made another jar of fridge bread & butters for Jameson since he loves them so much and the others are gone. I blanch and freeze my green beans but I'll try canning eventually. I froze some okra, too, but will soon be trying a recipe for canning them that I got from Sister LeAnn, a friend from Church.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Pick-n-Sweat!

I was behind on my gardening and look what I picked yesterday! It was great timing because we only had one bag of green beans left in the freezer. My wonderful Mother loaned me her water bath canner and her pressure canner so now I'll be able to can! I picked up a dill pickle mix last night that I'm excited to try. It'll soon be worth all of that sweating!

Friday, August 3, 2012

{fUn fAmILy fIsHiNg}

Anthony worked a half day and took us to our friends' place this evening to fish. He met them while installing their phone/internet about a year ago. They are awesome people and let us fish in their huge pond whenever we want. They also have a lake house that we'll be staying at for a couple of nights for Anthony's birthday. I wish these two weeks would hurry....after they showed us pictures tonight, I can't wait to go! The fish were biting like crazy! I caught two big bass, Anthony caught several, and Jameson even caught a couple of bluegill. It was SO much fun and the scenery made for some great pictures again. I recently joined Instagram so between that and Snapseed, (an awesome app my awesome Dad bought for me:) I've been having a blast playing with them! Here are a few of my favorites. If you'd like to follow me on Instagram, I'm mysong224.








Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Chicken Never Tasted So Good Before!

I don't know about you, but my family and I knew exactly where we'd be dining tonight! : )