Camping Trip: Rifle River Recreation Area

This past weekend we drove a couple of hours north with some friends and had a wonderful weekend in the woods with mother nature and s'mores. Lots of s'mores!

Disclaimer: All of these pictures are stolen by Abbie because she was the only responsible one of the bunch who remembered to bring her camera. 

We left after work Friday and after fighting every other southeast Michigan resident for space on the highway we made it to the campsite about an hour before sunset. We set up the tents quickly and started the fire for dinner. The hungry boys wasted no time with burgers and brats. Nothing too fancy, but definitely delicious!

After a failed attempt at renting canoes Saturday morning we decided to spent the day sitting in inner tubes on the lake. Minus a slight incident with some broken glass it was an enjoyable day in the sun!

We soaked up the sunrise on Saturday night and it was absolutely beautiful! We are so grateful for weekends spent with such wonderful and hilarious friends!

Weekend Recap

This past weekend we headed back to State College for the Penn State vs. Nebraska football game. Even though they lost we still had a great time and got to see both sides of the family!! One reason I love PSU football so much is it always means I get to see people who mean so much to me. Saturday morning I got my first lesson in driving a stick shift and Jameson said I did better than expected. Although lets be real here he thought I would have a metal break down and start crying so the expectations weren't set to high. Considering I was learning on some hilly roads I think I did pretty good. I stalled about 4 times and only smelled the clutch burning once so I will consider that a success!

Behind the wheel!

After my car lesson the boys braved the cold and threw the football around briefly in the front yard. This is the highlight of Milton's weekend, he could chase a football back and forth FOREVER.

Even though it was freezing I made Jameson take a quick photo with me before he left for the game.

Yes you read correctly..I decided not to go to the game because, like my dad says, I am a G.R.I.T (girl raised in the south) and turn into a wimp in the cold. Last year before a November football game I thought to myself: You know what Val you are moving to Michigan very soon and you need to get yourself used to the cold. So I bundled up and thought I would be a tough soon-to-be Northern girl and brave the weather. Needless to say my southern roots took over after about 2 min of being in the stands and I was miserable. I put my best pathetic face on and convinced the boys to leave at halftime. And ever since then I have not lived in down. So I opted out of the 20 degree temperatures this time and enjoyed the game with the ladies from the comforts of home. PSU ended up losing in overtime but we still enjoyed the last home football weekend of the year.