this pretty much sums up the whole weekend; me trying to sleep, mariah being mariah and always making everything funny, and kate...um im not really sure what she's doing...maybe trying to be a  mix of mariah and i?:)

This was taken the morning I hurt my foot, so I opted to sit in Yogi's picnic basket:)

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered -G.K. Chesterton

     So we went camping last weekend which was a ton of fun for me because 1. I just love love love camping, especially tent camping. And 2. it's fall now which means it's a lot cooler at night and I love camping on cold nights. I don't know, there's just something about bundling up in sweater shirts and and getting all cozy in the tent with lots of sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets that is so fun. Plus, Mariah, Kate and I have like a bazillion inside joke, so all one of us has to do is say like one phrase and we're all laughing hysterically, which just makes everything all the more fun. But as fun as the weekend was, it ended on not such an epic note. The morning we were leaving, Mi, Kate, Nate and I decided to go to the water slide one last time. And I'm still not sure how I managed to do this, but somehow I hurt my foot. Well more specifically, my the base joint of my right big toe. I think I sprained it or pulled something. It's kinda bruised and pretty swollen.
      Anyways, I've made this G. K. Chesterton quote my new motto:)  Because not being able to use my foot is normally an extreme inconvenience, but I'm choosing to look at this as an adventure. I'm finding it a lot easier to say then to actually do though. Because really I'd much rather be out and about hiking, running, dancing, driving, kicking soccer balls, playing volleyball and doing things that require two working feet. Even things that are like second nature have now before challenging. Take going up and down steps for example. I normally always run up the steps two at a time. I'm not really sure why, but I guess I just think that I have to get to the top, so I might as well get there as fast as I can. Also a lot of the time I forget stuff in my room, and I find my self rushing back upstairs to grab whatever I left behind. So you can imagine how frustrating it is to have to walk up the steps one at a time. You know how when a toddler is first learning how walk up or down steps for the first time they go really slow and have to have both feet on a step before they step to the next? Well that is pretty much how I am right now. But it's not all horrible. Mari, Kate, and Nate are keeping things funny. Mostly Mariah. The other day she and Kate were laughing and making fun of how I couldn't really walk. Then Mariah, and I have no idea what made her think of this, but she was like, "Will you do a cartwheel?! I want to what will happen! It could be on funniest home videos!" Gee thanks Mariah. But it did make me laugh, and I love to laugh:)

the last days of summer...

Well if you haven't already realize it, tomorrow is sadly, the very... last... day... of summer 2012. Okay, I know being slightly melodramatic, but I can't help wishing that summer could just last a little bit longer. But obviously summer doesn't care what I think, and just flies by anyway. I love summer, it's like my best friend, why oh why can't it last just a little bit longer?  I mean don't get me wrong, I absolutely love fall time too. Kate and I the other day were actually going back and for forth saying all the things  we love about fall, and we kept going until one of us couldn't think of something to say. We said things like colorful leaves, hot apple cider, pumpkin picking, apple picking, corn mazes, making apple sauce, leaf piles, going on walks, making pine needle slides, ya know classical fall activities like that. So yeah, I love fall but I still cant help feeling that summer just started like three weeks ago, not three months ago. But anyway, summer is leaving and me being mopey and talking about how I want it to stay isn't going to make it last any longer. So I might as well talk about something that doesnt make me feel quite so depressed, right? Right. So let's see....oh I know, I'll tell you about the twins birthday.

    Last Saturday my two adorable nieces, Brielle and Aurora, celebrated there second birthday. It's seems so crazy that they're already two. But they are so a part of my life now, that it also seems crazy that they weren't even here two years ago.  

 So on Friday, Dad, Mariah, Kate, and I flew back to PA for the weekend. The main reason for going back, was so we could go to Aunt Chara's funeral. But it also worked out that we were there for the twins party too, which was really great. We had a fun night playing with balloons, eating pizza, decorating cakes, and eating cake pops(which may have been my favorite part:)

Jen's awesome cake pops...and they tasted just as amazing as they look 

cake decorating!!!  mine and kate's was def the best:)

Some other highlights from the our trip home...

-Stoneleigh 

So besides getting to go to the twins party, another major highlight was going to Uncle John and Aunt Chara's beautiful home, Stoneleigh.

-big grassy fields

I love grass. And as some of you know we don't have a yard here in NC, so getting to run, spin, and cartwheel my through the fields there made me extremely happy. I was pretty much was like a kid in a candy store. At one point Kate and I were pretending to be like airplanes, running around with our arms out and hair blowing. People were probably wondering what in the world we were doing, but honestly we couldn't have cared less:)

-flowers

Following the Aunt Chara's memorial service, there was a reception at Stoneleigh. There they had tons of beautiful flower arrangements, and after it was over I got to take one of them home. I had to leave them at Anj and Jen's, but I enjoyed them while the lasted:)

some of my awesome sisters, nieces, and nephews

two reasons i love this picture:
1. the awesome field
and 2. my beloved flowers:)
Most of the picture we took Anna said the flowers didn't fit, but she let me hold them for last picture, which made me happy:)

Me in my element:)

Stoneleigh

       

I think our cake was def better then mariah's:)

Ummm summer? Could you do me a favor and slow down just a bit?

     Well, I think I can officially be classified as one of the worlds worst bloggers. I honestly had all these great intentions of writing about everything that been happening, but obviously I haven't. But nonetheless, I have new great intentions of writing about the second half of our six months here:) And since I haven't been writing about events as they've been happening, I think I'll just have to write a recap of everything that been happening this summer. But right now, I'm off to a community labor day picnic:)

So this weekend Anj and Jen (my brother and sister-in-law) came down for a visit. They have two adorable twin girls and baby boy.

Me and my buddies:) Aurora's on the left and Brielle's on the right

I'm pretty sure this guy is the smiliest baby ever