Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Back into the Woods {a first anniversary get-away}

Camping. What better way for a poor, young couple to spend their first anniversary? 

On the 13th Matt and I celebrated one year of marriage...which is absolutely crazy to me, because I feel like our wedding day could have been yesterday. Anyways, to celebrate we headed out on a little camping trip to the beautiful East Arbutus Campground near Black River Falls, WI. 



God took care of us this last weekend for sure... what we had planned would have made me a cranky wife. We arrived at the campground that we had originally intended to stay at, and it was terrible! We thought it was $12 a night but it would have actually been $24 because we would have to pay for the vehicle too. The water was definitely un-swimable, it was miniature and weird, and I was not feeling it at all. 

When we got to that campground it was after 8:00 p.m. and so we had less than an hour of daylight left to figure out what we were going to do. I wanted to cry. We had picked up a camping information booklet at a road-side information stand in Black River Falls, and I told Matt that I was going to the bathroom and he better start calling some of the other campsites in the booklet because I was not staying at this one! (I can get a little sassy when I feel things are going wrong...)

I came back to the car and he had called East Arbutus Campground (a very nice campground that had showers and was on a nice, swimable, lake). They had 193 sites, and 10 of them were still available, and it would only cost us $15 a night! So we drove back the way we came 16 miles and set up our new tent in a beautiful little site! Yay!




Here is our new tent that we were so excited to use. It is a Coleman 4-person tent that we got for $35 at Aldi. When I was at Target I saw the same exact tent in a different color for $50! Woo-Hoo! Score!




We still don't own sleeping bags or a blow-up mattress so we hauled out the down bedding and our 3 inch memory foam topper - it was very comfortable! I feel like we were almost "Glamping"!
(Saturday evening it rained so we spend a lot of time in the tent playing cards.)



My beautiful view of the trees in the morning!




My husband's charming fire artwork. :) 




If you've been on the "outdoors" section of Pinterest, you've most likely seen these two popular fire starters.One is a TP roll stuffed with lint and wrapped in newspaper. The other is a cotton pad dipped in wax. I decided I would make both, let my pyromaniac husband use both, and give me his opinion to share with ya'll. 
And the verdict is....
The dipped cotton pad worked awesome!
In fact, he kinda hated the other one. He ended up taring it apart to just light the lint on fire.




Saturday morning we played tourist and got some ice cream at this adorable shop! They also had lots of cool candies, antiques, and home decor.




Oh and check out the original cash register...that they still use to check people out! 



I have that same clock...in storage somewhere.


While we were shopping at an antique store in BRF I got my first piece of Jadeite! I figured this was a good time to start my collection because I have wanted to collect Jadeite for a while, and when I saw some pieces at the shop I figured our 1st anniversary would be a good way to remember my first piece. I just love the color of it. Let the collecting begin!!


When we got back to La X, we got all cleaned up to go out to dinner.


Then we came home and got to eat our cake topper for dessert!
It survived its year in the freezer beautifully and tasted so wonderful!


It is Italian Wedding Cake and is extra special because Matt's mom made it and all the other cakes we had at our wedding. :) 

 We also opened presents. I got Matt an Acer Iconia tablet, (also partly his birthday gift) and he is loving it! He got me a T-shirt that says Trophy Wife and has a picture of a trophy on it. Hehehehe!

It was such a wonderful weekend for us! I am so happy to be his wife!!



Blessings, 
Olivia



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Monday, June 30, 2014

DIY: Rustic Bible Verse Flower Planters


With my first wedding anniversary fast approaching I thought I would start to do a few posts with all of the amazing pictures I have from that wonderful day!

These flower planters with 1 Corinthians 13 on them are quite lovable... and they were a complete family DIY project. My mom, my sister, and myself all painted the wood signs and my dad built the planters and attached the signs!

Before I say anymore I should mention that all of these amazing wedding pictures were taken by my wonderful photographer Sara Thiry of Wonderful Life Photography in Hayward, WI. Aren't they beautiful!?



I always knew that I wanted to incorporate these verses somewhere at my wedding. When we decided to get married out in the woods at my parent's house, the plan became to "scatter" the verse along the trail that led back to the ceremony site. 
Using pretty flower planters is how we did it!


Here they all are from the beginning of the trail to the end.

These scattered all along the edge of the woods from side to side.


They were one of the very first wedding projects we started working on, because we could paint inside during the long, cold winter.


Our wedding colors were plum, green, and white - I chose green specifically so that we could incorporate a lot of plants. I love plants!





We had the old, weathered wood for the signs next to a fire pit, ready to burn. Good thing we didn't burn it before we realized we needed them for this project!





My mom white washed the planters, which I think helped the signs to stand out more.





















And there ya have it! Love never fails.



And here I am with my love at the beginning of the trail as we were walking back to the front yard area for the reception. You can kind of see in this picture what the spacing of the planters was like on the trail. 


I hope to share more of my favorite day later on!



Blessings,
Olivia




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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Spring Time in the Country



I was back up north for my little sister's high school graduation this last weekend, and although summer is in full force here in southern WI, it was only just beginning up there.




The pond was so full from all the rain, and all of the trees were starting to bud out.




My sister and I spent many sunny days by the pond catching tadpoles, frogs, water bugs, and turtles.



This picture will either fascinate you or gross you out, but it is a true "spring time in the country picture". The thousands of tiny black dots that are inside of the intestine looking stuff would be little baby tadpoles! This is all along the edge of the pond...
I even saw a little dad frog helping to squeeze more eggs out of the big, fat mom frog. ;) it was like 6th grade science class all over again!




Now back to something a little cuter ...this little guy was the only one brave enough to stay as I took a picture. There were 4 other turtles on the stump (all different sizes) as I approached.



On second thought, maybe he was just stuck. Either way I'm glad I got the picture. He was cute, about 3" in diameter. (I had seen a super tiny and adorable one, about a 1" diameter shell earlier - that's when I ran to get my camera, but it was long gone when I got back.)




Duke and two of the ladies...




I adore the shelf of birdhouses my dad built. And they look even sweeter now that they are getting older. I think they are the same age as I am! (20). This last winter was a rough one and the shelf came crashing down...that would be why the wood brackets are bright and new.




Some beautiful blooms below the birdhouses (say that 10x fast!).




So welcoming... There is no place like home.




As if I wasn't lucky enough to grow up with a pond in the front yard, there is also a creek in the back yard!
The lovely... Mosquito Brook



I could sit down here and listen to the water all day ...if it weren't for the mosquitoes of course. And the fact that this chair could break at any moment. ;)


The Marsh Marigolds sure are beautiful, aren't they?


I hope you enjoyed the country tour!

Blessings,
Olivia


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Treasure Hunt Thursday
Show and Tell Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Fridays Unfolded
Sundays at Home