Michigan!

We went to Michigan for the Labor Day weekend. It was going to be a surprise for the whole family but in the end it only ended up being a surprise for my dad and my brother John. But they were both completely surprised and didn't suspect a thing. My dad actually called us on his way home from work and could hear we were driving and asked us where we were. Lied a little but but it was totally worth it when we walked in the front door an hour after him and he was so surprised. He just stared at us for a minute with this look on his face that he recognized us but couldn't figure out who we were. It was awesome!

In addition to seeing family we also got to visit with a few friends from home. We got to see Kourtni and Josh's new baby girl and bring them dinner. They were so great to have us over even though they had only been home from the hospital a couple days and had a sick toddler. We also visited the Aamodts and Carolyn Carey. Some of my friends parents. Love them. Had a fun time chatting with them.

We also went to see Eat Pray Love. I read the book a few months ago and really enjoyed it and i really enjoyed the movie as well. I felt like they did a good job giving enough time to the story and each of the locations. It was done very well. I enjoyed it. A lot of people really don't like this book and the reasons I've heard are that they think she just abandoned her family etc. Which is true to a point, she left her husband (they didn't have kids), but, and maybe this is bad, she wasn't happy and she was honest enough with herself and her husband to make that change even though it was hard. That's my opinion of the book anyway and i enjoyed her journey of self discovery and balance. I now owe David a good guy movie!

I was hoping that weather for the trip would be nice for a beach trip. It wasn't, it rained everyday we were there and it was pretty cold but we went to the beach anyway. The whole family came on Friday and we went to see the huge wave and the pier in Grand Haven then headed up to Muskegon for our windy picnic. The waves were very huge, people were surfing, and it was fun to watch the wave crash on the pier. Our picnic was good, we had hamburgers and hot dogs and s'mores and we all huddled around the BBQ for warmth.

This is how windy it was. David almost got blown away!

We did a little nature hike that overlooked the lake. John came with us and was a goof like he always is.


On sunday it was a little nicer during the day so we thought we'd catch the sunset after dinner with my Aunt and her family. No such luck. Another storm was blowing in so we didn't see the sun at all but I still got a couple of good pictures.

The first thing i did in michigan after sleeping was go buy apples at the apple orchard with my dad. We always used to do this when i was little so it was fun to do it again. Good michigan apple from the orchard are one of the thing i miss the most about living in michigan so we bought a half bushel, baked some pies and brought the rest home with us to utah. I will be making delicous pie tomorrow. Yum!

Monday was the day we flew home but our flight wasn't until 7 pm. In stead of hang out in Michigan for a few hours we decided to head to chicago that morning and enjoy the day there. I really like chicago. I think that if we ever moved that city would be on my list of places to look.

We went to Michigan Avenue and there was a free event going on in Millenium Park so we hung out there for a litte while, got some free ice cream and listened to the orchestra for a bit. Then we went across the street to the Art Institute and enjoyed that for a few hours. I went there a few times in high school and i always enjoyed it. We enjoyed it just as much this time. Art is pretty awesome and it's cool that people preserve it and protect it. I'm a fan.

It was a great weekend. But now we're happy to be home again too. Back to real life for a couple months :)