Michigan/Wisconsin Trip

I got to go visit my family back in Michigan and Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. We had tons of fun and ate tons of food! If there's one thing my family is good at - it's making fabulous food and making sure you are constantly eating this fabulous food! My aunt made her World Famous Lasagna (well, it's famous in our family anyway) and in my opinion the Olive Garden would pay her a fortune for her recipe. It's really *THAT* good! We went to my aunt's favorite smoothie place and got smoothies and shared a pecan pie bar. I'm not a fan of pecan pie, in fact, I try to avoid it at holiday gatherings. But, this was simply delicious! My uncle made his famous chili, but I didn't get to have any because he made it late the night before I left to come home and somehow the crockpot got unplugged so it wasn't ready when we left at 3am. I was soooooo sad. My aunt and uncle live in a small town and I have really surprised that the restaurants there served really good food. We stopped by Marquette, the city where my grandparents live and had muffins from Babycakes. They make the BEST sour cream chocolate chip muffins. I had missed them soooooo much. I had a great visit with my grandparents and it was good catching up with them. They fed me too. It was kind of pointless to try to stick to my diet. But, when I was visiting my grandparents I did eat something healthy - I had 1/2 a grapefruit. I didn't get to eat my favorite local food - pasties, but I bought some to take home with me, but I needed dry ice to keep them frozen during my trek home and the place that sold it was out of it the day we needed to buy it! I was sooooo sad! But, my aunt said she'll ship them to me when the weather gets cooler. If you don't know what a pasty is I'll tell you: A folded pastry case filled with seasoned meat and vegetables.It's usually made with beef (but other meat like steak can be used), potatoes, rutabaga, and onions. Needless to say with all this food I gained a few lbs. I'm back to my healthy eating habits now and I'm happy to say I've lost almost 5 lbs since I returned home.

This is a picture of a pasty!

Now, lest you think all I did was eat when I was on vacation, you're wrong. My aunt and I spent a lot of time going through dress patterns because she's going to make me a dress! She's an excellent seamstress. Also, we spent a lot of time at Wal-Mart (looking at fabric) and buying random stuff that she needed. We also spent quite a bit of time at bead stores. She's really into beading and her creations are really beautiful. I got to pick out some really nice different colored pink beads and she's going to use them to make me a necklace. She's also going to make me a bracelet. While I was there I made a simple pandora bracelet. (Basically, it's some big beads on a wire...nothing too difficult). And, I got a Michigan stone and tied a silk rope through it to use as a necklace.

Here are some more pictures from my trip. I should have taken more, but my phone kept dying or I kept forgetting to take it with me while we were out and about.

These are my aunt and uncle's cats. Dusti is the grey one and Webster is the black one. They were my constant companions during my visit. I slept on the couch and Dusti usually insisted on sleeping on my neck while Webster preferred to sleep ON my feet. But, sometimes they would both sleep ON my feet cuddled up together.

Webster is my favorite! He's so loving and just plain cute!

Marquette Harbor

The view from the car going into Marquette.

I had a really nice visit with my family and I'm glad Andrew gave it to me for my birthday present. I haven't seen most of my family in over 4 years. So, it was really good to be "home". It's so beautiful there and there are many good things there, but one thing I don't miss are the winters and all the S-N-O-W! I'm glad we live in Boise, and Boise's become home. We're so blessed here to live in such a nice place (with very mild winters and not a lot of snow). It's also beautiful here with all the trees and the mountains in view. I'm also grateful to live 2 miles from the Temple instead of 8 hours! I can't wait until they finish renovating it and we can go again. Last I heard it's going to be re-dedicated in November sometime. It's been closed for more than a year now. I really can't wait until it reopens! I even have family names I can bring now!