Weekend at the Lake

This weekend Danny and I headed to the lake with the puppy dog to visit Danny's parents, Doug and Kathy.  Kathy grew up visiting her grandparents at the lake and 30 years later, her and Doug decided to visit family members that still live at the lake last year. They loved it and decided to look into buying a lake house so they could have somewhere to visit in the summer. They bought the house last October so this is our first time spending a summer at the lake! We have so much fun up at the lake and this weekend was no different!

View from my kayak of the lake.

We started with a night of grilling out when we arrived Friday. Kathy got ingredients to make our own kabobs! They were delicious!

Kabobs and pasta salad.

Weight Watcher Peach cobbler. 

We had a busy Saturday. We started off with heading to one of my favorite places called, Campbell Pottery Store. They feature a lot of handmade pieces and creative art. We found a beautiful vase to add to our dining room/kitchen area. After we shopped, we headed to the art gallery where they were having the Lily Art Show. It featured local artists pieces that resembled Lilies. All the art was beautiful and it was neat since Kathy's cousin, Kathy Travis is among those local artists. She received an honorable mention for her beautiful watercolor.

Campbell Pottery Store

Campbell Pottery Store

Danny with our new vase.

Energy-Frequency-Vibration by Kathryn E. Travis

After the art show, we explored some of the little shops around town and got something to eat.

Posing in front of the city sign like tourists.

Danny and me at lunch.

After walking around town, we picked up the dogs and took them for a walk around the lake. Danny's parent's dog, Oscar is a black lab and loves to go swimming. We took them to the boat ramp to let Oscar swim and surprisingly enough Yogi got in too!! Our dog has been deathly afraid of any type of water (shower, pool, rain, etc.) so this was a mini miracle in my eyes and gave me hope for the future.

Danny walking Yogi to the lake.

Yogi watching Oscar swim in the lake.

Yogi in the lake!

After the puppy swim, we headed to dinner at the Sunset Grill which is an amazing restaurant that overlooks the lake. They had live music too so it was a nice and relaxing environment!

The view from dinner at Sunset Grill.

Kathy and Doug at dinner.

Once we returned home, I convinced Danny and Doug to go kayaking with me. Danny, being an avid blog reader, mentioned that we should go "cabrewing" since he knows it's on my 30 Before 30 list! What a great hubby! So we got in our kayaks with our beer (our kayaks even had a cup holder, it was perfect!) and set out camera in hand to explore the lake. This was special to me because I got to capture and share the amazing views that I see every time I go out on the lake. Below are some of the pictures I captured and even includes an amazing photo that my father-in-law took of me and Danny watching the sunset!

Danny in the kayak.

CABREWING!

Danny out on the lake.

Me on the lake.

Danny cabrewing.

Me and Danny.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Christmas 2012

This years Christmas was nothing short of amazing. I had the opportunity to be apart of two family Christmases this year which made things that more special for me. On Christmas Eve, we spent the time with Danny's Aunt and Uncle in Dayton. This was nice because I got to spend time with this side of the family more. Danny's cousin, Kristen is going to be a Bridesmaid in our wedding in March, so I had so much fun hanging out with her and getting to know her better. I also got to spend time with Danny's grandmother. Since I didn't get the chance to have grandparents growing up, it was so special to spend 1 on 1 time with her and talk with her. The Anderson's surprised me with a customized Green Bay Packers jersey with my future last name and Danny's college baseball number on it. It was quite the surprise that I was literally in awe. The rest of the night, we played games, ate good food, and even took a dip in the hot tub. It was a great night with my new family!


Me and Danny at the Anderson's

My Christmas present!

On Christmas, we drove to my parents house in Columbus to spend the day with them. Unfortunately, I had to log in and work from home for four hours throughout the day, but nothing was really going on, so it was no big deal. We preceded to open presents including a Bengals snuggie for Danny along with xbox games and some blu-rays. I got some really great gifts for my kitchen as well as things for our house!  Danny and I also got luggage to use on our honeymoon in March!  All in all, a fun Christmas morning!  There was a blizzard scheduled for that next day so instead of staying in Columbus to risk the possibility of being snowed in, we decided to leave that night for Cleveland.  Even though it was a short time together it was great to see my parents and share in the joy of Christmas.

Danny's new Bengals snuggie

At the Sharpnack's
Our attempt at a family picture with the cats

The weekend after Christmas, we concluded our Christmas week long celebration with Danny's parents at their lake house.  Since we had a blizzard in Cleveland a few days before that, there was definitely plenty of snow to go around up north at the lake house.  We got in Friday night and spent until Sunday morning with them.  We opened presents when we arrived on Friday which made me feel like part of the family with all of the thoughtful gifts they had bought for me.  Danny received a lot of IU gear to wear and for his future man cave! I received a lot of cute outfits that I can wear for work, including a major accessory, two coach wristlets! Both of our families definitely spoiled us this year.  We are so lucky to have family members that love us and know how to spoil us to make us feel loved! Thank you to everyone that made this Christmas truly special! It was an amazing holiday this year and it made Danny and I both feel so much more apart of each others families.


At the lake house with the Steele's