44th Monthiversary

Some monthiversaries are more spectacular than others. Last month, we celebrated 43 months by attending my cousin's graduation open house, dining on homemade breaded tenderloins and watching a private fireworks show.

This month, Ryan mowed the lawn and I traveled to have the car serviced.

I'll go ahead and let you figure out which one was spectacular.

I'm generally adamant about a full-spectrum celebration ON THE ACTUAL DAY, but 44 months will just have to go down as low-key because the day demanded adulting.

We're preparing for my niece's wedding this weekend, so in order to be able to celebrate, real chores had to be done, and Tuesday was the day they had to be done.

We did squeeze in a photo shoot, and of course, Ryan had to be a ham in that. {Shocking to you, I'm sure.}

Then the day went downhill in a hurry...in a story we'll save for the podcast because it's just flat out funny when told out loud, but suffice it to say that my intention to hide in a corner of the car dealership and read my {intriguing} book was thwarted by car salesmen who mistook nose-in-book for an invitation to quiz me about our vehicular life and see if maybe we would be interested in any of the fine specimens on the lot.

And then I got gas and after punching in 29304820834092384 numbers on the quiz that apparently precedes pumping gas, I auto-pilot entered my old zip code and saw the words "TRANSACTION CANCELED! PLEASE SEE CASHIER." And the cashier said "I'll just cancel it and you can start over."

Sigh.

I came home to find Ryan putting away the push mower and dripping with sweat. I asked if he push mowed the whole yard, and he said, "Yeah, I forgot the keys to the other mower were with you in the car."

Happy monthiversary to us.

So we ate a grand dinner of nachos, and in case you're wondering, using broccoli as a chip-bed is no good. I normally use spinach in place of chips, but I discovered as I was plating dinner that ours had gone bad, so leftover steamed broccoli it was. That may go down as the worst monthiversary dinner ever.

But you know what wasn't a failure? Cuddling up on the couch with Ryan to watch DVR'd shows and being SO GRATEFUL for these last 44 months and all their adventure, spectacular and mundane.

This guy. He's my favorite.

Blog Friends...Now Real Life Friends!

Last Saturday, Ryan and I got up SO EARLY, because he planned to barefoot on the lake before the water got choppy from other boats, but his skiing partner called off the trip at the last minute, so we went down to the edge of the water to enjoy the stillness of the morning with our coffee.

I was every bit as cranky as I look in this picture. In fact, when I took it, I said to Ryan, "Let's go ahead and take a picture of a moment neither of us really wants to remember for life. LOL! I was cranky from lack of sleep, cranky from the canceled boat ride, cranky because we couldn't find the key to the family boat for us to sneak out for a quick private boat ride while everyone else was still asleep, and cranky most of all because the ladies on the deck at the cottage two doors down had a LOT to say and their voices carried more than my decaffeinated mind could handle. I finally had to go inside. No point in sitting by the stillness of the water when it's not still! HA!

Eventually I perked up, and it was good, because we had a fun day planned! My friend Natasha, who became my friend because of this blog, was on a road trip with her family, and they just happened to be driving through the lake area that day! We made plans leading up to our trip to meet together, and it was the highlight of our day!

Natasha, Dave, and their kids, Sam and Rachel, were real-life delights just as they are blog-friend delights!

GROUP PHOTO!!!!

It worked out that the weather held AND the boat was available between tubing trips so we could take them out on a boat ride! It was a fun way to start our time together:

When we were done with the boat, we came home and went out to eat together at a little pancake house in town...and then we took a walk through town. There was a festival that weekend, so there were little booths and vendors that were fun to visit.

And then...because it only seemed good and right and appropriate, we went to the coffee shop together to talk, enjoy air conditioning, and let the kids color and play games for a while.

And then we had to say goodbye. :( But what a fun time we had together while we had time!

Back at the cottage, everyone was hanging out on the deck and in the boat, so we got some cute pictures. {Bet you can't guess which one was Ryan's idea!}

We got to see the ski show this year, and thanks to my zoom lens, I got some fun shots of that!

We had ribs for dinner that night and it was fun to sit around watching the kids play before bed!

A Day on the Water

Double the lake love today: we've got podcast AND blog stories about our fun this weekend! Check it out!

Click here to listen

Last Friday was such a treat. To have Ryan with me all day and to be on the water {which was NOT as stormy as they predicted} was a joy!

We got up early and went down by the water to drink our coffee and just enjoy the view.

So beautiful and so peaceful and quiet beside the water. {And there was KIND of a sunrise, so that was a bonus!}

Ryan's brother and a couple of the kids came out for a morning boat ride, and we tagged along. It was a great ride - no choppy waters then! Donuts and coffee on the boat cannot be a bad way to start the day.

And then we just enjoyed the day. Long walks, some naps, reading, playing, enjoying the goodness of the day.

 Even though it was mostly cloudy all day, Ryan took me on a boat ride, and we went on a walk that landed us at the coffee house. {Imagine that!!}

It did get nice enough that afternoon to go tubing. {And by that, I mean Ryan went out in the tube and I stayed in the boat to take pictures.}

{This is Jenna giving the thumbs down for her dad to slow the boat down, and Ryan giving the thumbs up for him to speed up.}

It got a little rainy later that afternoon, so Ryan and I went shopping for a gift for my friend Natasha, because I was planning to meet up with her the next day!

By that evening, Ryan's entire family was there. That is a lot of family! Lots of cousins and their friends everywhere!

The evening ended with some edgy nerves...we started seeing emergency vehicle lights everywhere and learned they were investigating a possible drowning on the lake. After several hours, they called off the search, because the investigation began with a report of someone seeing a person in distress in the water, but they had been unable to locate anyone, and no one had been reported missing. I never heard that anything ever became of it, but it's still a little unnerving to watch!

A long day, and a busy day, but definitely a great day! {Even more so after we concluded everyone was safe!}