Life

It's been awhile since I posted, so I thought I'd say hi real quick while I have some cookies in the oven. This week has been pretty rough. I've been extremely overwhelmed with grad school and I really haven't gotten to see much of Marcus at all. Each night I shut myself in the bedroom after dinner and do homework until I fall asleep at about 10. I had class all last weekend and again this weekend. Thankfully, after class got out today at 1:00, I've put the books away for the day and have spent the day with Marcus doing a whole bunch of nothing. We ordered Chinese for lunch, watched a movie, and laid around a bit. Then we went grocery shopping and came back for some frozen pizza and another movie! We're baking some cookies currently to enjoy during the movie (which is paused for a bit). It's been a great day.

On another note, if you want some good laughs, I want to recommend this website that my professor told us about today. It's pretty darn funny: www.despair.com. My favorite poster from the site is this one:Haha, doesn't that just sum things up right now?

If you think of it, please pray for my stress level and sanity. I have so much homework to do and I certainly will not be doing this to myself next semester! Have a good rest of the weekend!

Our Annual Pentwater, MI Trip

This weekend we took our annual fall vacation to Pentwater, MI this weekend. We go every Columbus Day weekend and it has become a tradition we greatly look forward to each fall. This fall we thought we weren't going to be able to go since I had a grad class scheduled...but thank goodness, I dropped it! It was a nice, relaxing time as always. It was so great to get away and have some down time! Take a look at the pics...

The beautiful fall colors are always breathtaking.

Just behind those trees is the beach we always go to.

We had beautiful almost summery weather.

We tried something new this year...on Sunday we headed up to the next city north of Pentwater for a couple of hours: Ludington, MI. It was a cute town, but still very small. We stopped for some ice cream after going to some antique stores.

We went the sand dunes again, but this time was different from last year. It was really cool...not quite as tall as the Silver Lake Dunes, but these were still fun.

We also went to Lewis Farms, which is an annual stop. We stopped at the petting zoo, picked our pumpkins, and enjoyed a caramel apple.

Marcus at one of the docks on Pentwater Lake (a small inlet of Lake Michigan)

Of course we had to watch the sunset, because in the words of Rachel Perrine, "Of course you watched the sunset...that's just what you do in Pentwater!"

The little gazebo is the center of the town of Pentwater. Look at the beautiful trees and the lake right behind them!

FYI- The following posts go in backwards order. :)

SUNDAY

Sunday was another super fun-filled day, but I didn't really take many pics. We started off the day with breakfast at Britt and Dan's. YUM YUM pancakes...and my fave quote from the morning was when my sis, while attempting to flip a pancake slipped a little and made a pancake into a pancake-burrito-omelette shaped thing, shouted, "This is a NIGHTMARE!!!" haha. I totally thought something was on fire or something. Don't worry, that did happen later in the cooking extravaganza. :)

Then, we headed to church with them. On the way out, I took this weird pic of Marcus. I completely cannot remember the context of this face.


I candidly snapped this one while walking across Clark Street. From right to left: Dan, Marcus, Brittney, Leah.

After church we headed up to Mundelein to Lindsey and Becca's apartment where we met up w/ the Anderson clan again- completed this time with Marcus's bro and his wife, Scott and Robin. From there we proceeded to Corner Bakery for a nice lunch.

Upon returning to our apartment around 5, we crashed for a quick nap, and then Marcus headed off to band practice and I headed off to Jewel. I stayed in my car in the parking lot listening to the Sox game until the very end.

THEY WON!!!!!!!!!!! GO WHITE SOX!!!!!

Now I am just waiting for Marcus to get back (and I will go do some homework) and then we will head out to meet some friends for coffee.

What a great weekend! I can't wait for next weekend...Pentwater, MI, here we come!!

SATURDAY

On Saturday the Anderson clan came into Deerfield for Trinity's homecoming. Marcus and I showed up a couple of hours before the Andersons along with Kevin and Rachel, and Brittney and Dan. It was really fun (and somewhat odd and definitely nostalgic, as well) to see so many alumni. It was really a special day. And to top it off, we definitely came home with sunburns!

Our niece Katie...the baby just keeps growing up!

The girls were rolling down the hills in an attempt to find entertainment at Travis's soccer game.

There's Travvy!! So cute, Team Captain!

The ref was...um...UNFAIR. Here is Travis disagreeing with him (I think).

My sis and me! Trinity Alum!

Fun times watching soccer.

One of my fave pics of Maddy's shoes...

Marcus and Travis

Becca and Travis

Later that night we went over to the hotel where Marcus's parents were staying so the girls could swim. We had fun socializing while the girls (and some adults) had fun swimming. :)

I'm not sure why, but Katie kept wanting to show me her rear end. :)

A totally cute sisters pic!

...and this one was Emma's idea for a pose...(Missy, let me know if you want this one OFF the internet!) I think they maybe had spent too much time with Uncle Marcus that day...

FRIDAY NIGHT

We had another fun and busy weekend! It was Trinity's homecoming this weekend, so Deerfield was full of activity and our friends and family in town were abundant. Friday night, Kevin and Rachel came into town and stayed with us. I didn't get too many good pics, but here's what I did get:Marcus was quite hyper...all weekend.

Turned out that the air mattress had a leak. Rachel thought it might worth a try to fold it and sleep on it. haha.

That didn't quite work, but they got creative and found a comfy solution by making a bed on the floor with all of our couch cushions. Can't wait till next time, guys!