Trash cans and beach engagements  

I feel like I constantly have ideas for blog topics, but never get around to writing them. Oops.

I am finally home for a little while. Until October 17, to be exact. That may not seem that far away, but when you've traveled as much as I did this summer, over a month at home with no travel is a nice break. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE traveling, but it makes friendships, community, church involvement, etc. a little hard. I am sure I'll get bitten by the travel bug again very soon, but for now, it is nice to have some consistency in my life. Still...Labor day weekend was a great time. Lauren and I (high school and current BFF) went to Chicago, my second visit of the summer. Amazing weather, amazing friend time, amazing city...well, you get the picture. Speaking of picture...wanna see one?? I thought so.


This past weekend was good. Spent some time with my family since my sister, bro-in-law, and the kids were in town. Natalie and Nathan are pretty much the cutest kids EVER and so freakin' funny. Nathan and I baked a cake together Saturday night. He's three and, actually pretty good in the kitchen. Funniest moment was when Nathan wouldn't stop talking to Natalie when they were supposed to be going to sleep. Brad went in to scare them into staying in bed and being quiet, and then at 11:30, when Nathan was still babbling, Elizabeth and I went in there only to find that Nathan had pooped. In the trash can. He was too scared to leave the room after Brad talked to them about staying in bed, so his alternative was to poop in the trash can. It is always so hard to keep a straight face when kids are in trouble for doing something that was "bad" but also realllllly funny. Good thing I'm just an aunt and not the mom.

Saturday, I started the day with a mock triathlon workout of shorter distances, since my tri is next weekend. I wanted to know what it is going to feel like to do all three events in a row. My cousins did their tri this past weekend, and so I enjoyed being able to read about their experience in preparation for mine.

After the workout, I headed to the beach with some great friends in order to help Mancel and Jaclyn get engaged. We had to do the set up and then had to blend into the beach-going crowd and take pictures during the actual proposal. After shocking Jaclyn with our presence, we all had fun just hanging at the beach. I'm so excited for them!! CONGRATS!