Weekend Getaway!

As February 21 was our 1 year anniversary, we wanted to get away for the weekend. After our adventure of a honeymoon, we hoped that this year we could have a nice relaxing weekend with no crazy adventures!

We found a nice little cabin near Mackinaw City, and decided to try our luck one more time. This time, the cabin was perfect! (Plus, we brought enough food for the weekend, so we didn't have to worry about that!)

Isn't it cute? It's called the Cub Cabin.

The owners, Mike and Linda, are wonderful people. The cabin is right next door to their house, so they are nearby if you need anything. Linda even baked us some cookies; peanut butter and pumpkin chocolate chip. They were fantastic!

Here's a little tour:

I loved these stairs! They go up to the loft where the bed is.

We were at the cabin Saturday - Monday. Saturday we sat down to eat supper and two deer decided to join us. Can you spot them?

We even found some deer tracks outside the cabin.

Sunday we headed across the bridge (I have always loved the Mackinac Bridge) and stopped in St. Ignace for a quick lunch. There wasn't much going on there in February.

The lake was frozen on both sides in the shallows, but not frozen at all in the center. It looked really cold, though!

We had to stop and take a picture of the True Value we found in St. Ignace for my dad!

This beautiful house was across the street from where we stopped to eat our packed lunch. It's some sort of hotel now, and needs a little bit of help, but it still looks beautiful. 

After all that cold air, our feet needed some warming up!

We brought our wedding cake with us. This was the roll of plastic wrap that my parents wrapped it in to keep it fresh. 

It got a little smashed in it's travels...

But it was still fantastic!

It was a great, relaxing weekend, but over way too quickly!

If any of you readers are looking for a cute little cabin in northern Michigan, let me know. This was the perfect couples getaway. We loved it!

It's Been a Year?!

I'm not really sure where the last year has gone. I'm quite certain that Andrew and I just got married, and yet, as of this past Sunday, the 21st, we have been married for 1 year. 

It has been an adventure, right from the start. Last year we rented a cabin in the Smoky Mountains for our honeymoon. Boy was that a bad idea! On our way down, almost in the middle of nowhere, on the highway, we blew a tire. Luckily the exit we were near had a Walmart that had a tire shop open on Sunday (we left the morning after our wedding). After a couple hours we were back on our way.

Because of this delay, we ended up having to find our way to the cabin in the dark. Not good when you don't know where you are going. We eventually found our way up the mountain (very grateful that we had his truck and not my car!) and to our cabin. 

We had planned to spend the first day at the cabin and go out the next day. We turned off our phones and settled in, ignoring the outside world. Tuesday morning we got up and got ready to go out. We had brought some food, but not enough for the whole time we would be there, so we needed a grocery store. 

About this time the phone in our cabin rings. It's the rental agency informing us that the mayor has declared a state of emergency and we may not leave our cabin. 

Apparently, unnoticed by us, it had snowed. While I am looking out the window at the beautiful scenery, I hear Andrew saying,

"No, you don't understand. We can't stay here. My wife is diabetic and we don't have enough food."

That makes a person worried, doesn't it? We also were told that they couldn't even get emergency vehicles up the mountain to help people that had no power. Not good.

To make a long story short, after an hour or two, the rental agency found a guy with a big truck and chains on the tires to come up the mountain and rescue us. We were so happy to see that stranger! 

We ended up staying the rest of the week in a hotel in town instead of our perfect little cabin. The funny thing was, we got down the mountain and into town and the roads were just wet and there was not much snow to speak of. I guess we are just more prepared for snow up here in Michigan than they are in Tennessee. 

Next up: Our weekend anniversary getaway!

Why are you here?

We did have a little adventure Sunday night that I neglected to tell you about yesterday. So, here it is.

Once a month our church has an evening service. A couple times a year we also have a communion meal. Church usually provides the main dish and everyone else brings a dish to pass. We have communion before enjoying a meal together. 

After communion and a wonderful dinner with friends, we headed home for some tea and dessert. 

We park off the alley that runs behind our house and when we pulled into the alley we noticed 3 or 4 cop cars blocking the other end of the alley. Weird, right? We assumed they were at another house and parked and proceeded to get out of the car. 

That is when a police officer started walking towards us. Kinda worrisome. 

Officer: "Do you live here?"

Us: "Yes."

Officer: "What apartment?"

Us: "3"

Officer: "Okay. Just so you know there are some officers up there."

Us: "What's going on?"

Officer: "We are just looking to make contact with number 4."

That is all he would tell us. So, up to our apartment we went, wondering the whole way what in the sam hill was going on. 

When we got to the front porch 4 officers were walking out of the house. They were not at all concerned by our presence. They nodded at us and continued on their way.

That is all we ever found out. Nothing else has happened since. Both the guy and the girl that live in number 4 are still there. We have talked to them both. They seem like nice people. 

Hopefully that is the only time something like that happens while we are here!

Happy Birthday to...

Me!

So, Sunday was my birthday. I'm the big 30, now. Before you all start asking..yes, my birthday is on Valentine's Day. That is always the first thing that everyone says. So I'm just going to head off that comment. :)

Since our birthdays both fall on or near holidays (Andrew's is on December 30), we have agreed that birthdays are important and are not to be combined with any other holiday.

So, we went out and celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday. We enjoyed the buffet at Pizza Ranch. Not the most romantic place, but it is where we wanted to go.

Sunday was a busy day for us. Andrew is in the sound booth at church this month, so we were there all morning. As it was Valentine's Day, we didn't want to endure lunch at some over-crowded restaurant, so we came home and he made scrambled eggs and bacon. It was just what I wanted.

Isn't this fabulous?

This is a tea brewer, and it is my birthday gift from Andrew. You put your loose leaf tea in the little hanging basket and pour hot, boiling water in the pitcher. Let it steep for 3-5 minutes, and you have some of the best tea. 

It's kinda like having french press coffee compared to your regular coffee pot coffee. So much better.

Plus, isn't it cute? 

We have used it every night this week. In fact, I am enjoying some Irish Breakfast Tea as I write this. I was going to take the picture while it was full of tea, but I got a little excited to enjoy my tea and forgot!

Now I need to go out and get some more loose leaf tea!

Bag Challenge!

I spent the night yesterday with my dad's two sisters in their studio, or crafting room. 

I have recently taken up needle felting. Really fun and easy. Here is my first attempt at making something: an owl.

I had a problem, though. I had a ton of supplies: needles, pads to work on, books, and lots of wool roving, and all I had to carry it in was a couple plastic shopping bags. It just wasn't working.

Since my aunts are both very crafty and clever, I knew that they would help my make a bag big enough to hold it all, and still look fabulous and stylish. 

They love a good challenge and were thrilled to help. 

Between the three of us, this is what we made.

It is made out of two pairs of old jeans. We even used the waistbands; they are the handles. We used as much of the two jeans as we could. Almost everything, in fact. It is huge. It holds all my supplies, with room for more.

It was so much fun. Thanks for helping me out Aunt Karla and Aunt Diane. 

What a weekend!

Every year our church's youth group goes to a weekend event called Freeze Out. Andrew is a small group leader with our youth group, so he has gone on a number of these weekends. As it always takes place near the end of January, he was told last year, by our youth pastor, that he could not go. With our wedding only a few weeks away, he figured we had a lot to do, and I think he thought that Andrew wouldn't be much help at that point in time anyway!

So, since he couldn't go last year, I told him that I would go along this year. 

What a fun weekend. We stayed at Lake Ann Camp near Traverse City. It is a beautiful camp. There were a lot of snowy weather activities: tubing, snowshoeing, hockey, and a lot of snowball fights. A number of the girls (and a couple of the smaller middle school boys) got thrown into the snowbank for throwing snowballs. 

There was worship time with Heartsong, a group from Cedarville University in Ohio, and Ken Rudolph was there to teach us. It was an amazing learning experience for all of us. 

In the girls cabin, we did have a little issue Friday night when the plumbing had a problem and started backing up into our bathroom. We had a number of people there that night trying to fix it. Lights out is at midnight, but it wasn't until well after 1am before they finally left. We didn't get much sleep that night, and they still had to call someone in the next morning to fix the problem!

I was hoping to have more pictures to show you, but facebook is acting up and I am not able to see all the ones that my friend said she posted. So, for now, Enjoy the selfies. Two of them are my co-leaders, and the rest are our youth group girls. What an amazing group of girls!

We had a fun filled weekend, but I think we were all happy to get home and sleep in our own beds. Those camp mattresses are really hard! I still don't think I have caught up on my sleep.