A Day at the Lake

On November 1st, after a nice, fattening breakfast at Mary Lou's and casual stroll in the warm sunlight through the farmers market, I went with our friends Aaron and Bri Scott to go canoing while Danny worked on homework. I was watching our friends daughter Tamara that day so we all had a great time.

First, we went to campus lake and fed the ducks. Tamara and Aizley had a blast throwing pancakes at them (Aaron had found them in the garbage).





Then we rented a canoe from Base Camp and set out for Cedar Lake. It was so beautiful! Since we were crammed so tightly in there we couldn't do much maneuvering for picture purposes, but you'll get the idea. The leaves where changing colors, the sun was shining, Aizely was having a blast in the water, and the only thing that could have made it better was if Danny could have come.

Transformers!

That's right, Danny and I really are more than meets the eye. This year for Halloween, I turned Danny into Optimus Prime while I protected the streets sporting my Bumblebee attire. I cannot believe how long it took me to make these costumes, but they were quite amazing when all was said and done. Thanks to countless hours of work, spending more than I budgeted on paint and supplies, and lots of loving support and creative from my mom, here is the final product:

Too Funny to go Unmentioned

I'm not sure if any of you wives out there have a husband who suffers from the same condition as Danny, but if you do I know how you feel. I call it the "Hurry And Feed Me Before I Die" disease. Danny gets bad breakouts during the last 30 minutes of church. He becomes IMPOSSIBLE if I have a meeting after the block which further prevents him from consuming his antidote.

To make matters worse, Danny's condition is coupled with the "I Eat Like An 8-year Old Child" disorder. And recently, we rushed home from church, just in time might I add, to save Danny from certain doom. His medicine? A double decker peanut butter, honey and banana submarine sandwich. He was consuming it so quickly that he didn't even have time to stop and clean up his mess when the sandwich pooped bananas and peanut butter on his church socks. Don't worry, the dog cleaned it up.

Three Years of Heaven

On September 23rd, Danny and I celebrated 3 years of marital bliss. I think this means that we are no long newly weds and we'll soon have to enter the world of "Married with Children" to get any attention.

To celebrate this grand occasion, Danny and I set off for a camping trip at Crab Orchard Lake & Wildlife Refuge where we bummed a tent and free space off of my friends Colleen and John. They were awesome camping buddies. Especially since Danny and I were first time campers (meaning we haven't been camping since the last time our parents packed the gear). They were gracious enough to offer food and supplies that we had failed to remember. Oh, and they had an awning to sit under while it was pouring rain. We really became a camping family this trip!

Our anniversary present to ourselves was a nice dutch oven and skillet set! Therefore, you'd better believe I made a peach cobbler to christen the dutch oven (Thanks, Uncle Rob!). Oh and just so ya'll know, I'm a freaking awesome campfire chef. Like seriously. I've made burgers, cobbler, chicken and dumplings, pancakes, bacon and hashbrowns. If you're ever teetering on the idea of inviting us camping with you, let that fact tip the scales.

On this trip I also tried my hand at Kayaking. I was a real skeptic at first since I imagined myself either tipping over and drowning (very vividly might I add) or being pursued by a water moccasin. Thankfully, neither of these events occured and we had a wonderful trip! We can't wait until the weather is nice enough to go again!

Here's our car loaded up with the Kayaks


Here's our tent on the point looking at nothing but lake


My first cobbler!


Danny and his Kayak


Me in my Kayak


The view from where I sat

Sean, hiding under the picnic table


Danny having fun with a furry caterpillar

Where to begin....

Ok, so admittedly I've been a less than awesome blogger. I can't seem to commit to a schedule. I'm just going to do a brief overview of our recent picture-worthy activities...

Apple Festival
In early September, all of Southern Illinois flocks to Murphysboro for a gathering known as the Apple Festival. From my experience, it's really just a carnival where they happen to sell apple cider. And get this one: we have TONS of locally grown apples around here, but guess where they get the apples to sell at the festival. That's right, you guessed it: WALMART! Lame, right?

Anyway, Danny and I set out for the Apple Festival this year with one goal in mind: to eat everything that they deep fry. You have never before sampled the delacacies of carnie-fare until you've had a deep-fried Snickers bar or a handful of deep-fried Oreos.

Here's Danny trying the Snickers


Yours truly, indulging in a deep-fried Oreo


Here's me showing him how disgusting the Snickers looks inside


And finally here's Danny and I sweating to death and trying not to pass out from an overdose of sugar and fat


Here's our Review:
The Snickers was pretty good. I mean, who doesn't like a wad of melted chocolate, caramel and peanuts all contained inside a crusty shell and dusted with powdered sugar (thats right, I said powdered sugar. Do these people not realize how much sugar is already in this stuff???)
The Oreos were my personal favorite. They were less sweet and easier to eat without getting messy. Unfortunately since they were my favorite I ate most of them. Don't worry folks, we stopped after the Snickers and the Oreos and decided to take on the Milkyway and Twinkie another day.