Hocking Hills State Park

We decided to go camping last weekend. We got some camping gear for our wedding and we were excited to try it out! The leaves here are starting to change colors so we went to a state park about an hour away that a friend had recommended to us. We got there just in time to set up our tent as it was getting dark. It had rained all day Friday, so it wasn't as packed as we thought and we were able to pretty much have two sites to ourselves. It was perfect!

Curtis cooking his s'more.

Curtis loves that our air mattress fits in the tent. And yes... we used it. Best sleep camping I've ever had!

This is our dutch oven that Brian gave us for our wedding. We made apple crisp. Our coals ended up being a lot hotter than we thought and it cooked WAY faster than we thought it would... so we may have burnt the outside of the apple crisp, but the middle was delicious. :)

Saturday we went to the trails to do some hiking. Our 3 mile hike turned into a 6 mile hike when we realized half-way that we took a trail that looped around and half of the trail was closed...so we walked back the way we came.

The first thing we saw were some beautiful waterfalls.
Who would've known these were in Ohio?!?!?

This was a beautiful lake that we encountered on our hike. We loved how the clouds reflected in the water.

How cool is this??

Old Man's Cave

These pictures really don't do it justice of how incredible these rock formations were.

Lesson learned: Make sure to look at all camping gear and clean it before leaving home. Our pizza maker had rusted on the inside and we didn't realize it until opening it up to make dinner.... so this is the result...Curtis using a pan to cook pizza sandwiches! Good thing we were prepared and brought a pan and utensils! They actually turned out to be really yummy.

This was probably one of our favorite weekends we've had since being married. It was so nice to get away and just enjoy being together without any schedule or to-do list. We spent hours in the beautiful outdoors and were reminded of the many incredible creations that Heavenly Father made.

Sadness, disappointment, severe challenge are events in life, not life itself.

Do you take time to discover each day how beautiful your life can be? How long has it been since you watched the sun set? What of the wonder of a cloudless night when the Lord unveils the marvels of His heavens—the twinkling stars, the moonlight rays? When last did you observe a tiny rosebud form? You are one of the noblest of God’s creations. His intent is that your life be gloriously beautiful regardless of your circumstances. As you are grateful and obedient, you can become all that God intends you to be.

Sadness, disappointment, severe challenge are events in life, not life itself.

~Richard G. Scott (Special Witness: Finding Joy, April 1996)

The Honeymoon

So we're married!!!!! YAY!!!! Since we don't really have wedding pictures yet, those will have to wait. Our wedding day was beautiful though! The ceremony was wonderful and the reception was so much fun! It was great to see all our friends and family out in New York. After the reception, we headed to Niagara Falls for the weekend. Curtis is in the middle of a school semester and I had professional development for school the Monday after we got married... so we had a wonderful weekend away and then skipped a few days of school and work and headed back to Columbus on Tuesday. :) Niagara Falls was so much fun! We stayed on the Canadian side in a Marriott right on the falls. At night they lit up the falls and Sunday night they shot off fireworks over them. It was gorgeous!

The picture on the left are the American falls from the Canadian side. The picture on the right are the Canadian Falls.

 My hubby. :)

We went to Journey Behind the Falls. There are tunnels in the ground that take you right out by the Canadian side of the falls. It was obviously super wet and windy... as you can see by our ponchos.

This is the view from our hotel. The American Falls are on the left and the Canadian Falls are to the right, where all the steam is coming up. It was really breathtaking.

We are now home and have been back to real life for almost 2 weeks. We are loving being married. It is SO fun to be with your best friend all the time. Curtis takes his finals this week and I start school tomorrow with my 3rd graders. Even though it's been super busy, we are still finding time to spend together. We have started a new tradition for ourselves. We have now made home-made pizza two Saturdays in a row! We got a pizza stone for our wedding months ago and finally had a chance to make pizza with it. SO GOOD! 

Lessons learned so far while being married:

1. Do not turn on the oven when there is oven cleaner in there.... it makes for lots of toxic fumes and smoke...

2. Maybe Mindy should go to a dentist that isn't her husband. That way she can't tell the dentist how to do his job.

3. Rock, Paper, Scissors is a fun way to decide who says evening prayers...unless Mindy isn't in the mood for it... then Curtis gets to say it, even if he wins.

4. Mindy is afraid of the unseen mice in the basement laundry room. Curtis denies their existence...but Mindy senses their presence.

5. Curtis has learned the two most important words in marriage, "Yes, dear."

Columbus Temple

A week before the wedding, I went through the Columbus Temple. My family came in town for the weekend and everyone stayed at Curtis's condo... we totally took over the place. It was my parents, Nicole, Juston, baby Austin, Andrea, and my Aunt Betty and Uncle Ron. It was super fun to have everyone here.

 The Columbus Temple

 My family at the temple

This is a cute bridge near the Temple that goes over a little stream.

Catch up... Josh Groban!

August 5th Curtis and I went to Josh Groban! Curtis LOVES Josh Groban... probably almost as much as he loves me! He was able to get discount tickets with OSU, so we were super stoked! Josh started off the concert like 50 feet in front of us. He had a stage in the middle of the crowd and was super close!

We had a blast! It was a really nice concert and he's super entertaining.