Happy 2 Years!

As of October 24, 2011 Jeff and I have been married for 2 years! Woo woo! I know it doesn't sound like a long time, it's still the "aww 2 years, you're practically newlyweds still, in the honeymoon stage, oh just wait until ..." My response, hooray for the best 2 years of my life, we are newlyweds, and always will be, and the honeymoon stage... I don't think it has to be a stage, more like a lifetime. Call me a romantic or an optimist but I love being married and in 30 years I hope to say that, with even more enthusiasm. And there's a lot of enthusiasm now when I say it, so just wait!

Anyway... off my soapbox.

I wanted to share a little bit of our anniversary weekend celebration. What?... this isn't about food!! Get a hold of yourself, it'll be ok, we'll work through this together. Don't worry I thew in some food pics... I couldn't resist!

Jeff and I hit the road on Saturday, the 22nd, for Grand Rapids, Michigan. What was in Grand Rapids you may be asking... David Crowder! He's on his last tour-ever! So we felt it was a must to see him one last time. Along with Crowder there were a few other bands that were pretty great too. One was Gungor. They have such amazing talent and were incredible live. Jeff even got a picture with the lead singer, Michael Gungor. He was just hanging out outside when we walked out. So cool.

Well, that's the only picture we have from the concert so... on with the rest of the weekend.

On Sunday we drove to our final destination. It was a surprise, all planned by my man. I had an idea of where we were going but didn't know what it looked like. It was a pleasant, more like awesome, surprise.

Where we were going was a little over 6 hours away from Grand Rapid in Southern Ohio. In the middle of nowhere, with the Amish, the corn fields, the cows... it was really great. And I'm being serious. It was so peaceful and quiet. The perfect place to get away with the one you love.

This is driving to the place, oh, the place being Murphin Ridge Inn.




















It was like riding a roller coaster. The roads were so hilly and curvy. When we got to Murphin Ridge we saw our cabin.

So quaint and homey... just kidding. But really we pulled up and this is the first thing we saw... We were a bit nervous. Until...

That's better, it has windows! The inn was set on acres and acres of land with 9 cabins and a guesthouse. All set in the woods. It was beautiful. The inside was just as surprising as the outside.

Granted the majority of this picture is us, aren't we cute, but you can see that everything was a light wood, floor to ceiling. It was all one big room but still felt so cozy. I was in love with it from the second I walked in the door!
They even had a giant checker board... I am not good at checkers. When I say not good that means, awful, terrible, zero strategy for this girl, why-bother-playing-me-it's-an-easy-win... yes, that bad.

Yeah, I look happy to be playing but the game didn't even start so I had a little hope... did it matter? No, my hope was crushed. Oh, notice the bottle cap on the game board... my one and only complaint, we were missing a playing piece. Now if that's the only complaint than this place must be good... it was.

There was a restaurant in the main building where we had dinner. In comes the food pictures...

Yum... the salad had a homemade dressing and the dinner was rosemary chicken on top of polenta. Yum again.

Since we got there when it was getting dark we took pictures of the area the next day. It is what I imagine fall to be and how it should be everywhere.

This view and the quiet, serene atmosphere made this place so wonderful.

We decided to check out a few of the small towns around where we stayed. It was lunch time too so we were hoping to find a restaurant to eat at. Well, the first stop we made didn't have a restaurant but it did have a great name... wait for it... Tater Ridge. I love it. I instantly thought tater tots, or really any type of potato... like I said it was lunch time. We stopped at a farm that sold pumpkins and antiques.

That last picture I'm entering into antique heaven, a beautiful place of old chairs, tools, trinkets you name it I was being drawn to it... not really it was a little chilly so I was getting my coat. Anyhoo....

I loved these blocks. I thought it would be neat to get a J for Jeff and an E for Emily. No luck.

Look at all those pots. You know how much cooking could be done in all those pots... a lot. I was fascinated by them and all the possibilities.

Oh, and apparently we missed the peacock crossing... I think they're the owner's pets

 

Along with this little guy.

I thought he was stuffed. I mean we've seen every antique imaginable at this place I thought this was another one. Then the nose started twitching and I slowly backed away... yeah, I was a little scared by it. It creeped me out, I imagined it leaping from its perch and attacking. Alright, I know my imagination is a bit out there but you would think the same thing.
Now, this last picture is what this farm/antique shop is all about...the Pumpkin Canon.

We asked this teenager who lived on the farm if they had ever seen where the pumpkins land. He said, "Oh, no, no one has ever seen where they land." (picture it being said in the most southern of accents.) The mysterious pumpkin launcher, dun dun duuuun!


After leaving the farm we headed to find a place to eat in a nearby town and then to one last stop. A historical landmark, the Serpent Mound.

Not much to say about the Serpent Mound, it was serpent-like and moundy... moundy? It wasn't as grand as we expected but still neat to see a piece of history.

After leaving the Serpent we headed back home. We stopped to get gas before getting on the highway and the gas station happened to be a United Dairy Farmers. And where there is UDF there is... ICE CREAM! Can I just say their cookies-and-cream ice cream was ah-ma-zing! Now, when I say I love ice cream it's a deep happy-feeling love. I smile, I grin when ice cream comes my way. But never in my wildest dreams did I think my ice cream would love me back.

I promise you I didn't make it look like that. I just gave it some lovin and it returned the gesture. I knew ice cream and I had a special bond.

Jeff said he had never seem me so happy as when I was eating that ice cream cone. I couldn't agree more.

So that's about it for our anniversary weekend. A wonderful time with my husband that I wouldn't trade for any smiley-face ice cream in the world.