1 Year

     A year went by already! HOW?! It truly went so fast and it defiantly had it's ups and downs. They say the first year of marriage is the hardest and I have to say, yes, yes it is.   That does not, in anyway, mean it was bad but it does hold new challenges that you have to learn to work together on.  We came out so much stronger.  I am so head-over-heals in love with this man.  He is my world, truly.  

     So to celebrate one year we ventured up to our wedding venue about 45 mins north of us.  They were setting up for a wedding so we hiked some of the trails.  I surprised him by starting a tradition for us - I took a nice box and placed our vows in there along with a few our favorite photos from our wedding.  I added our "Mr." and "Mrs." shot glasses and our Brennivin airplane bottle of liquor from our honeymoon that we were saving for our Anniversary.  I also put in our vow stone that we used on our wedding day.  We found a spot in the woods, sat down on the ground and opened the box together. He really loved it.  We snapped a few Polaroids to put in there for next year, downed the shot, read our vows to each other and enjoyed our photos then closed it up for next year - this is such a nice tradition to start and I'm excited to add photos each year and maybe try some new shots together!  

After Succop we went to Moraine State Park to bike and have a picnic.  I made all the food the night before so we could pack up the cooler in the morning, put our bikes on the car and get on our way bright and early!  Once we got to Moraine we hopped on our bikes and got about 6 miles in before I had an issue with one of my bike tires so we decided that it was time to find a place to eat.  

Yes, that thing was huge... ew.

So we found our picnic spot after driving up the road a few minutes.  We laid the blanket down and enjoyed each others company.  It was so nice to just STOP and enjoy without anything else going on.

 Ya for some reason I am holding the fork between my knees, I think I didn't want to set it down. Haha, I'm so weird! 

 So, once we got home we hung out with the dogs, ate some dinner together and then brought out the top of our wedding cake to eat.  It was actually pretty good still! We had a few bites and then threw it away- I felt bad for throwing that whole cake out but I don't think you're really suppose to eat the whole thing after a year in the freezer. 

 Since we share our Anniversary with my parents, I decided to make them a gift this year.  I saw a painting like this on Etsy but they wanted 70$ for it and I decided to try to paint something similar myself.  I was so proud of this!  Chance liked it too, he insisted on being in the photo! I put their wedding date and initials in the heart on the three- they hung it up in their living room- it made me so happy! 

  

So- here's to our one year and my parent's 41st!  :)

Thanks for reading! 

Conneaut Lake and North Park

First- Music talk- loving this song above... like obsessing...

okay.

I ventured to Conneaut Lake Friday night after I got off of work.  I stopped home for a quick bite to eat and pick up Chance (Bri stayed at home to help his parents Saturday morning).  We got on the road at about 7pm and was at the lake by 8:30pm.  My mom and I stayed up, had some wine and played Telepathy! We had a blast!

Chance got all sorts of love and cuddles from his grandparents! 

Saturday morning we got up, took a walk and ate breakfast! 

My grandfather built this cottage.  That big front window use to slide up so we could store the pontoon boat during the winter in the living room, now it's sealed and we no longer do that, but it was a great idea to do that!

The cottage has 5 bedrooms and as children we would go up there often- my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins would be there also- it was always a full house!

It was so beautiful out and my mother and I needed to get some fit bit steps in so we took a nice, long walk around the neighborhood and looked at all the cute cottages! 

Midway is the beach we belong to.  They keep it so nice - it use to be a very popular place to go in the summers but as I grew up, it became less and less of a place people went... It's kinda sad that it's not a destination place anymore.  I have had some of my very favorite memories there and would never trade spending my summers there for anything!

We arrived back to the cottage, changed and headed down to enjoy some beach time!

We call this "The Shed" and it opens around noon daily- they have all sorts of snack foods, slushies and games to play- When you go inside, you see writing all over the walls- people sign it with permanent marker that they have visited - our names are EVERYWHERE IN THERE! I mean we had so many friends and we would all sign it each time we were together for each year! ---AHHHH the good ol' days!

 Saw this in the book I am reading and it really resonated with me: 

Haha- just for fun ;) 

My Dad made me a blood mary! Thanks Dad!

Chance and I left Saturday night around 7:30pm and it took us two and a half hours to get home when it should only be an hour and a half.  The construction is TERRIBLE! 

But - once you get on the road up there- it's truly dreamy views:

On Sunday, Brian and I went to North Park with our new bike rack and Brian's new bike to meet our good friends Nikki and Matt!  

I made a video of us riding- I think next time I will stick the go pro to my helmet, I apologize for the rocking and shaking - I wanted to try it on the handle bars first... 

Side Note: Look how crazy this is- I checked it out while I was at the lake and while I was biking, I had to think how grateful I am to myself for quitting.  I mean it- I give myself a big old pat on the back for that one! 

You CAN quit if you really want to! Trust me, you're bigger than that! 

We biked about 9 miles - it says 8.31 since we forgot to sync our fit bits when we started. We remembered about a half mile in! 

Bear destroyed his new toy! Stuffing Everywhere! 

Summer nights :) 

My Sister graduated from Cal U! I am so proud of her!

I made her a big poster to show at the party

It's pretty busy around here lately- Summer is finally feeling like it's here and there are always loads of projects! I painted my dresser I have been wanting to paint for over a year today! I will show a before and after once I get all the hardware back on it.  

I hope things are going good for you, anything fun planned this summer? Leave me a comment!