Hello 2015!

Happy New Year everyone!! Good Lord has this been a year! Looking back on everything that's happened, it's hard to believe that it all happened in 2014. At the same time, this year seemed to fly by. 

I turned 20, Dan and I made it "facebook official" that we're a couple for the 4th time, I spent Easter with him. I got promoted to full time at my job. My dad moved up north and I moved in with my mom again. Dan surprised me at the end of August, I spent Halloween with him. We started putting together ACTUAL REAL LIFE PLANS TO MOVE IN TOGETHER!!! (Can you sense my excitement??) 

And finally, I wrapped 2014 up by spending it with my family and my boyfriend. We didn't do anything crazy, we just hung out and watched the ball drop, but being able to spend the last seconds of 2014 and the first ones of 2015 with them made it the best thing ever. 

This upcoming year is going to bring a huge amount of changes. And I literally mean HUGE changes! Like, moving to a new state kind of changes. I've been waiting for 2015 to come for such a long time that it's hard to believe it's actually here. This is the year Dan graduates college, this is the year my sister graduates high school. This is the year I pick up my life and move to a whole new state to start a life with the guy I love. I'm scared out of my mind, but I'm equally as excited and anxious for it to happen. They say if you're dreams don't scare you, you're not dreaming big enough. Well, my dreams must be freaking ginormous because I'm terrified. But that's a whole new blog post down the road a bit. 

Here's to 2015 - may it be the best year yet!

The Upper Penninsula - Memorial Weekend Recap

So I haven't been the best blogger, I know. I've been super busy! I spent all last week with Dan doing a whole bunch of different stuff, and then on Wednesday we decided that I was going to take a spontaneous road trip up north with him and stay the weekend. His dad lives up there, so it was mostly a trip to get him up there before he has to go back to Detroit for his internship.

So when we got there, his dad had a bonfire going and his aunt and uncle were up there. So all hung out for a while before everyone headed inside for bed. The next day I took a sauna (having a Finnish boyfriend has it's perks).

After that we took his 4-wheeler to go exploring around the area. And let me tell you, it gets really dusty out there. A lot of roads out there are dirt roads, so riding the 4-wheeler around, you kick up a bunch of dust and you get kind of dirty. For future reference, ya know. 

We stopped on a bridge that went over the Escanaba River, and then meandered under the bridge to continue exploring closer to the water. 

After we explored around the bridge we continued on our merry way to Boney Falls and the Boney Falls dam.

We finished our day off with watching both Madagascar movies. Because we're actually little kids. :)

On Sunday we went into town to spend a little time with Dan's grandpa and uncle. They live right on the Escanaba river, and they've got the most beautiful backyard. Dan did a little fishing while we were there, but didn't catch anything. 

After we got back from that, Dan and I loaded up the 4-wheeler again and took off, heading for a place to go fishing at. 

See a little peek of the river in that last picture? We found this cool set up way back in the woods, but the bugs were so horrible that we didn't stay for very long. We spent most of our time cruising around on all these back roads, and it was a really fun time. When we got back we took turns in the sauna again and watched a movie before bed time. Which I ended up falling asleep during. But can you blame me, with all the adventures going on here? 

Monday morning I got all my stuff packed up and said goodbye before I headed out. Leaving sucks, and it gets harder every time. At least I have a bunch of good memories to reflect on until I see him again. At least I got this pretty picture on the way home:

I took it as my own personal message from up there that soon we won't have to say goodbye anymore <3 

Holy Hill

Hey guys! I'm sure you're all wondering why I haven't been blogging this past weekend. No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway. This is why:

He's home! He got in on Friday night, so between spending time with him and (unfortunately) still having to work, I've been busy. Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to take a trip up to Holy Hill with my sister and her boyfriend for a double date of sorts. Holy Hill is this huge church around where I live, with Friars and everything. If you want to check it out, go here. Note: I'm not Catholic, I just really love the church.



Pretty awesome, huh? I really wanted to go inside, but there was a concert going on in there so we couldn't get in. If you want to see the inside, the website has a bunch of pictures. Since the church sits up on a bluff, the view from there is pretty spectacular. But even more so than that, the right tower you can see in the picture up there is open for people to climb. Let me tell you, I'm not afraid of heights, but climbing all the way up there is a little nerve-wracking but completely amazing at the same time. And the view, oh man.

It's one of those places that really make you think about how beautiful the world really is. When we look at it from the ground, we tend to miss the big picture. When you get to experience a view like this, though, you get a whole new perspective. 

Once we got back down from the tower, we checked out this area where it gave the whole history on the place, including the very first relic that was constructed in 1858. The cross was carried up the hill by the first reverend and his son-in-law. 

And then of course, there were some goofing offs after we left the park :)

I'm so in love with this guy.