Comfort.Lazy Days.Togetherness

This past week, I have been in Minnesota. I know I wrote about it in my last blog. I literally love this place and want to live here someday, or at least somewhere on a lake. I love the people that are here and also the wonderful atmosphere it has. I haven't done much this past week, just visited with old friends and caught up on what we missed this past year. I have done a lot of hanging out with the owner's kids and teaching them different games...such as euchre:) We play til the wee hours of the morning and just enjoy each other's company. Another thing I have done is read, read, and read some more. I have read 4 books already and I plan on reading more books throughout the next week. Reading is one of my favorite things to do and I absolutely LOVE Karen Kingsbury. Her books really speak to my heart and I cry in almost everyone of my books. Tonight, is the Pitch In (or some people call it the pigeon, cause they thought we were saying that instead of pitch in) haha. Afterwards, we are having our first talent show and I know it will bring lots of laughs. I love this place and I will for sure be bringing my family up here someday:)

First sunset:)

Sarah and I eating smores

My Future Home.

All my friends know that towards the end of May I start getting reall excited for summer! The reasoning for this is because I go to Hackensack, Minnesota. You may wonder what's in Hackensack, Minnesota. Well, I will inform you. Ever since I was two years old, my family and I have traveled the 14 hour drive to this wonderful place to stay at Sunset Bay Resort in a cabin on Baby Lake. This lake is located two hours south of the Canadian border and the nearest fast food restaurant is about 45 minutes away. This place is very secluded and the population of the town is only 223 (PRETTY SMALL). The first year we went there, my family met 4 other families that we have since become the best of friends with. Every year we would go the same two weeks and meet the same families. I grew up having friends from Iowa and Nebraska. I always look forward each year to be able to see these people. Each year when we see each other it's like nothing's new and we start up where we left off. I love that there is no weirdness between us because we haven't seen each other in a year. This vacation is literally the most relaxed vacation one can have. This is what a regular day consists of:

Wake up at 9 AM to my mom and the other mom's having coffee in the mornings and talking and laughing about the past year. 

9-12- sit on the dock and read and just really see the beautiful creations from God.

12-have a light lunch because you usually snack all day.

1-4- lay out, tube, and swim! 

5-DINNER time. 

6-9- fish or just hang around the resort.

10-whenever- sit by the fire and tell hilarious stories or play fun games.

This place is undescribable and I know I will continue the tradition by taking my family there someday. I hope to one day retire there because it is a wonderful place to be and I love everything about it. I always say that while I'm there, the rest of the world stops because it feels that way. The feelings I have there are amazing and I can't wait to experience yet another year on the lake.

Here are a couple pictures from last years BLT (Baby Lake Trip)

 

My Friend, Sarah, from Iowa

All the kids of the families that have gathered for 20 years, some are missing because they couldn't make it, and now some even have kids of their own.

One of the beautiful sunsets:)

I mean, afterall, they are the prettiest because the resort is called Sunset Bay.

Countdown to 2010 BLT- Less than 48 hours:)

Here is a link to look at the rest of the trips pictures.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118423&id=606743032

Starting Back Up

I know I have failed with my blog and not updated it in quite sometime. I know I have some unhappy readers (cough, Leslie Rideout:)) Well, for starters, my camera was at Kelsi Hatheway's house since this past Sunday so I have been unable to take any pictures and therefore, there was nothing to blog about. Last Wednesday, my forever friend, Kendra Shane Able drove back to Martinsville to stay for little over a week before she travels back to stay in Florida for an internship. I have been hanging out with her every second because I won't get to see her for another two months. In the past week, besides hanging out with Kendra, I have played a lot of euchre, not as much as usual, but still enough. I went to the Country Throwdown concert this past Sunday and I got to see soo many awesome artists.

Here is the list of who I saw...

• Montgomery Gentry
• Jamey Johnson
• Jack Ingram
• Little Big Town
• The Eli Young Band
• Eric Church
• The Lost Trailers
• Heidi Newfield
• Ryan Bingham
• Jonathan Singleton & The Grove
• Emily West
• Tyler Reeve

I was most excited for Eric Church because he is like my boyfriend:) He was awesome live as well. I got to meet the Eli Young Band and the drummer asked me what my name was...I was speechless because he was very attractive...haha

Anyway. I will try and keep this more updated...here are a couple pictures from the concert..

8 days til Minnesota:)

The whole group

Kendra Shane and I

AU Friends

I love Anderson!!! This past weekend I drove up on Friday to work the SOAR weekend. It was soo weird being there without all my favorite people. I missed them terribly, but i got the chance to really look at the school and really realize how beautiful it is. I drove around the town of Anderson and I got to see things that I never knew exsisted. It really is a pretty big town because I did get lost. haha. After I worked Friday, I drove to Fishers to stay with Kelsi Hatheway. We played with Zoey and I stayed up til midnight to get my Karen Kingsbury ticket:) I'm so excited to meet her in June. Then I woke up and drove back to Anderson to work for a couple more hours. After that, Alex Morris followed me to Fishers to hang out with Joe Wiard, Leslie Rideout, and Kelsi. Although, on the way to Fishers, we saw a deer get hit and killed, it was one of the most terrible things I have ever witnessed. The poor thing, I freaked out and of course Alex texts me and starts laughing! Once we got to Fishers, we went to pick up Leslie and Joe and drove around and hung out until Kelsi was done babysitting and then we hung out at the Town Center. It was nice to get to hang out with them. While I was at Anderson, I met my new soon to be best friend, Ben. He is great and I know we are going to be great friends:) We are just alike, kinda scary..haha.

Ben.

at the Town Center

Kelsi and Leslie

Leslie:)

I spend A LOT of time with these two:)

Well I have failed and haven't updated my blog since Monday so I guess I will just give you a run down of what I have been doing these past couple of days:) On Tuesday, I went to Bdubs with Emily, Kariann, Daniel, and Phillip and enjoyed some 45 cent wings! We drove around b-town before returning to Kariann's to hang out and of course play some euchre! That game is going to take over our summer that's for sure. I spent the night at Kariann's and we woke up on Wednesday and went to Daniel's house for the day because it was his birthday! He grilled out for us and made the best hamburgers we had ever eaten. We have decided that he is going to have the best parties when we are older because he is such a wonderful griller. We played euchre and then decided to go to B-town once again because Phillip wanted to get his lip pierced. I unfortunately did not take a picture of his lip piercing but I can atest and say that it looked okay on him:) We ate at the mall and then headed back to Daniel's to watch AVATAR which was simply AMAZING! I loved it and I have decided that I would love to be one for Halloween. I spent the night at Emily's and came home this morning. Once I got home, I saw the rental car that my dad had to rent to drive to Detroit for the weekend and it made me laugh...you will just have to see it at the bottom of all the pictures and you will understand, especially if you know my dad, you would know that he would hate to drive it. Ha Ha. Today has been a relaxing day and I have not played euchre yet today, but don't fret because I will be going to Emily's tonight to play:) We can't go more than a day apart or it seems that way lately. Well here are some pictures to display what I have been blabbering about!

Daniel eating the wings and not taking a break

skyping my wonderful roommate

Phillip with the table cloth on his head

Grillin' out

Daniel being the good hostess!

Mr. Hankins sleeping:)

Bahahaha!!!

Friends, Euchre, and a Picnic:)

Typical Kariann:)

Emily and I had this brilliant idea to go on a picnic with some friends because really we are trying to save money. We are calling this summer the fit and frugal summer because we want to save money and also lose weight. This is our plan:

• Put 25 dollars into an envelope each week and that's all you have to spend.
• If you spend less than 25 dollars, the money goes into a blow money envelope.
• Do at least a mile of something daily (i.e. running, biking, swimming, walking).
• Keep a journal and write down our diet.
• Say at least one good thing about yourself daily.

I'm hoping with this, I will become a healthier and happier!! So anyway, Emily, Kariann, Daniel, Tyler, and I went to the forestry by my house with our packed lunches and sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful day. We of course played euchre, which I can already tell we will be playing a lot of that this summer, and we also just played on the teeter totters and swung. It was really relaxing and a great way to start the summer:)

A couple pictures from the day

These two are going to make my summer:)

Happy Mother's Day!

My mom and I

For mother's day this year, we went to my sister, Tara's house. Her boyfriend, Craig's, family came as well. We had an awesome lunch consisting of hamburgers, grilled by Craig, party potatoes, corn caserrole, and fruit salad. It was a very yummy meal:) It was a very relaxing day and I got to read a lot of Take Two:) My mom and I ended up going on a walk with George once we got back. I was surprised by Daniel, Kariann, and Emily and played a couple hands of euchre. It was definitely a great way to end my day:)

Mom and her beautiful siblings

Mamaw and Papaw and the grandkids