Family Camping and Labor Day Weekend... we love being outside

I am still trying to catch up on my summer updates. I decided to throw a bunch of pictures on here at once. I think I have been writing too much lately and I wanted to just have a post filled with summer pictures. So, here you go.

This is up at the cottage in Pentwater MI. We have the best time up there ever. I love how beautiful it is up there. You can't be up there without seeing some of the most amazing sunsets and natural scenes. I love it.

I have this new habit of trying to take Lincoln and my picture while doing things like canoeing or riding our bikes. I am getting pretty good at it.

We had a great canoe ride all around Pentwater.

My family wanted to go on a little family camping trip. We had a great time and loved using all of our camping gear we got from our wedding. Thanks for the tent, Christy and Reza!

These two girls are so cute. They had the best time playing with the rocks and leaves.

The triplets were way too busy to pose for the camera. They were playing all these great imaginary games. It made me want to stop talking with the adult and join them in their games.

We are for sure the cool aunt and uncle who help the kids climb really big rocks and do things their mom freaks out about. I know I am in for it when we start having kids and my sister gets me back for all the things I do with her kids that she doesn't like. For example, climbing big rocks and convincing them it's time to pierce their ears.

This has been a great summer. I have loved all the canoeing and camping and hiking. It sure beats all the indoor stuff we will have to do once the Ohio winter hits.

PT Loser

I have always wanted a PT Cruiser. I never drove in one, I just liked they way it looked. I am not one of those car people who care about the horsepower or the tork(?) I just care about the color the shape and the stereo. I was in the market for a new car about two years ago and I was seriously wanting to look at a PT Cruiser. I was dating Lincoln at the time and he was adamant that I NOT get one. He hated the everything about them. We had sort of talked about marriage and stuff at this point, but we didn't really have the "talk" yet. It didn't really matter what he thought, but it sort of did. He started calling them "PT Losers" this basically ruined it for me. I ended up getting a totally awesome car that I am now in love with. I love the shape, the color, and the stereo. It is a Mitsubishi Outlander and it is perfect for me, even if it took me a few months to properly pronounce Mitsubishi.

Well, a few weeks ago I was being my safe driver self and I sort of got into a little fender bender. I don't want to get into any details because they are boring and I don't want to tarnish my name as a safe driver. Did I mention that I have NEVER gotten a speeding ticket? Well, Lincoln has been a total dream about everything. He has been just great. He has done everything with the insurance and since he works down at traffic court he is working on things so I might not have to go to court. It has been so great to have him be so calm and helpful. He even took care of taking the car into the shop and picking up the rental. He decided to just put it in his name since he was going to be picking it up and I would just drive his car. He is such a helper. Well, I am sure by now you can guess what the rental car was that we ended up getting... that's right, a PT Cruiser! My poor husband who has been doing so much ends up with his nightmare car. It was so funny when he came home to tell me. I was jumping up and down with joy and he was not happy at all. The poor guy has to deal with a wife who got into a stupid accident, take care of all the paperwork, and then drive a car he hates. I really owe him big for this.

Oh, and just for the record, after riding around in the PT I have decided that I made the right decision by not getting it. Thanks again Lincoln!

I HATE RODENTS

If you know me at all you will know that I struggle with a few things in life.

1. Singing in public-  I can sing in church next to Lincoln because he has a great voice and he usually drowns me out.  However, I really hate singing in choirs or small groups.  It just freaks me out.  Because of this I HATE kareoke, not just doing it, but watching people do it.  I think this is why I don't like American Idol.

2. I can't handle people touching my face.  I have always struggled with dirty hands and more importantly, those dirty hands getting on my face.  Lincoln is trying to rid me of this fear by touching my face every so often.  I can handle it sometimes, but I still freak when he does it in public or before I know he washed his hands.  It's a work in progress.

3. The number one thing that I can't handle is RODENTS!!!!!  I hate them.  I hate mice, rats, squarrels, rabbits, possums, chipmunks, you name it, I hate them.  They are creepy and dirty and I think that they have no reason to be on this earth.  Even spiders have a purpose, name one good reason for any rodent.  I hate them so much that when I talk about them, my feet automatically have to rise off the floor.  I can't talk about them without thinking they will run by and eat my toes.  

This has been the summer of the mouse!  That's right, it has been awful, well, the mouse part of the summer.  There has been some construction by our condo next to a field close by.  Well, you can only guess what that brings to our house.  We have only had two, but in my opinion, that is two too many.  We only had evidence of the first one with little signs here and there that we had a unwanted house guest.  Lincoln took care of that and we thought we were done.  Unfortunately, the other night I was sitting on my couch minding my own business crocheting a blanket and getting ready to watch Project Runway when I saw something in the corner of my eye.  I thought I was just imagining things when the disgusting thing actually had the nerve to run into my living room and hide behind the tv.  Well you can only imagine the mass hysteria that came out of me.  Lincoln was upstairs playing a live video game and was feeling really torn between rescuing his wife and finishing the task he was working on with his friends online.  I on the other hand was torn between taking my own life then and there or jumping out the window behind me.  I decided to do neither of those things (too messy) and after a few minutes of playing chicken with the mouse, I swear it was staring me down, I grabbed the things around me that meant the most to me and I bolted upstairs to safety.  After having a mini nervous breakdown I decided I could not go back downstairs until the matter was taken care of.  I made Lincoln run down and close our bedroom door so the mouse wouldn't get all cozy in our bed then go out right away and purchase the some mouse killing items.  I don't care what PETA says about it, I hate rodents!!  I spent a very restless night on the floor of the office having nightmares of little mice chewing at my fingernails and nesting in my hair.  I was a mess.  Before you judge, I need to remind you that fears are irrational and you too have a fear that I would laugh at.  Anyway, long story short, I have since done research on how to mouse proof our home and Lincoln was my hero by taking the very dangerous task of making it happen.  I am so grateful that he has been so good about not making any jokes about seeing a mouse and faking me out.  I am slowly getting my pulse down to the normal rhythm and I am back to sleeping in my own bed (but not after bleaching EVERYTHING.)  

I know this was a very long post, and posts without pictures are usually boring, but I didn't really want a picture of a creepy rodent on here.  I thought about putting a picture of my clean house on here to prove that my home is in good condition and not a place you would normally expect gross creatures to roam, but I thought that would seem a little desperate.  Just trust me, I don't deserve this!!  Nobody is perfect and we all deal with our own little fears and issues.  I think that by admitting I have a problem is the first step.  

sum sum summertime

I know, I get it, I am a slacker. I am still working on this blog thing. (Even after over a year of having it.) Here is a little rundown on Lincoln and my summer...

We basically had a summer dedicated to studying for the Bar, the dreaded Bar. This is only a few of Lincoln's MANY note cards he had to go through over and over. We tried hard to have a little fun in between the studying.

We had a great weekend in Michigan with the family.

We loved our bonfires at the cottage.

Lincoln and Jarren took the kids around the lake.

We were speedsters in our go-carts.

We love our little river by our house. Every time we drive over the river I have to comment on how it looks.

We enjoyed Jenny's ice cream, maybe a little too much since it they put one within walking distance of our house. The way I see it is if we walk there the calories work their way out of our system.

We enjoyed movies in the park....

and some wonderful games of whiffle ball with our friends.

All in all it was a pretty good time. Even with the major studying. I feel like our summer really began on August 1 once the test was over. I will blog about that soon... I promise. Now that I am mostly caught up I can start fresh and promise to be a more consistent blogger. I hope you all had a happy summer too.