Fall in Brown County

Last fall we went to Brown County, Indiana for the first time and we loved it so much we wanted to go back this year. This time we went to Yellowwood State Forest and hiked about 8 miles. It was perfect hiking weather yesterday. I liked this location so much more than Brown County State Park. It's not as populated with hikers and it seemed more like we were hiking in the woods than a man-made trail. This hiking spot probably ranks #2 for me.
Eventhough we were pretty beat after hiking we still managed to walk through little Nashville and have lunch. I love southern Indiana in the fall.

Update

So I haven't blogged about the Biggest Loser at all. We are coming up on week 4 and it's going pretty good. We are both losing weight just at a slower pace than last time which was expected. Something that we did not do last time is allow any slip ups and this time we have because this is about a lifestyle change and in reality we will never give up ice cream for example so we just do the moderation thing. It's still working though. I was in the lead for the first couple of weeks and then Lana snuck up and took over. I've gotta watch out for her because I am determined to win this time.



Last weekend we went to Terre Haute to celebrate my brother's 18th B-day. We had a surprise party for him and he had no idea.( My family was actually able to keep a secret for a few weeks !!) We got to spend a lot of time with Cameron who is changing so fast. We babysat him Sunday morning for a while so he kept me and Uncle Matt very busy. He is very close to crawling but right now he just goes in circles on the floor. It's very funny to watch, he's not quite strong enough to get up on his knees. His new thing is jumping. His legs are very strong so he jumps pretty high off the ground while you are holding him.


Here is a sideways video of him jumping.

So this picture you will only understand and think is funny if you are a fan of "The Office". This week there was a wedding on the show that everyone has been waiting to happen since the show started. Kelly came up with the idea to have our own Office wedding party and dress up in wedding clothes. So here I am sporting a Bridesmaid dress. (So Kel we are looking forward to seeing pictures from your wedding party too since we couldn't make it to yours.)

This weekend we went to Turkey Run to do some hiking and enjoy the fall changes. These are the only pictures I could take before the camera died on me. Oops.

Sand Dunes and Pearl Jam

This weekend we went to Indiana Dunes to do some hiking. The weather was perfect and the sand dunes kicked our butts. Of course we started with the most rugged trail that had several tall dunes that you have to hike up but the views of Lake Michigan at the top were worth it. (I need to figure out a way to rig up a sand dune in our workout room or the backyard if I didn't mind the stares from the neighbors)
The water was freezing but due to the current they wouldn't let us swim anyway. So when we walked the beach I kept telling myself we were in Florida.

Sunday we drove to Chicago from the dunes to see.....you guessed it....Pearl Jam in concert. We both love going to Chicago. This time we stayed in Greektown since we did downtown last time. Our hotel room had a balcony and we had a pretty good view of about half of downtown. I loved our hotel room, it was a nice upgrade from the hotel the night before.

The concert was awesome and we had great seats thanks to Matt's seniority in the fan club. It was a great weekend and if we wouldn't mind giving up money, a backyard, and peace and quiet, we could move there so it looks like that's out.

In the weeks to come we are going to start another Biggest Loser competition so be prepared for me to express many frustrations and a little bit of progress on the blog. Although we have kept off most of the weight from the last one we need motivation to keep going from there. Wish me luck since Matt has been doing a lot of strength training I think I can beat him this time.

Paradise in my backyard

This evening I went on a quick trip to the beach........in my head. I was relaxing in our lounge chair out back and trying to get a little bit of sun when I started to feel like I was in paradise. The wind blowing through the willow trees could have passed as palms trees. The sun was hot and our pond was bright blue(granted our neighbor just treated it but oh well). If I squinted my eyes to only see the water in our pond I could pass that off for at least a lake. It was wonderful to not have to go that far for paradise. The only thing missing was white sand and a fruity drink with an umbrella! Hey if you don't have your dreams, than you have nothing right? Even Cody was enjoying the relaxation.

Summer Storms

So believe it or not every once in a while I like to take a break away from being a Forensic Photographer and capture life. We had a storm front coming over our house tonight and it truley looked like the heavens above so I had to capture it. Eventhough I hate storms they are amazing to watch. I hope these photos make you feel as peaceful as they made me.

Nashville Vaca

We just returned from our mini-vacation to Nashville, Tennessee and I would love to go back. We went there for a concert and did all the touristy Honky Tonk things. The weather was very hot and humid averaging about 96. The first day we stopped at this park that has a re-creation of the Parthenon in Greece. I have no idea why they built this in Nashville but it was really neat to see. Unfortunately these are the only pics we took while on our trip. We saw Eddie Vedder in concert and it was great. It was a very small theater and we were in the 8th row so you felt like he was singing directly to you. Nashville is known for their nightlife and they have several blocks of a variety of bars, most of them being country. We spent both of our evenings in the bars. I loved that you could go into 1 of probably 50 bars at any given time and hear live music at any time of the day. I would love to go back just for that. We were also able to tour the country music hall of fame and check out Opryland. It was a great vacation. I found a pic online of the main drag downtown.

Front Porch Refresh

I have been wanting a screen door for the front for a very long time. I am a windows wide open, fresh breeze in the house kind of girl. We finally bought a very nice storm door with the help of my friend Jennifer.(Thanks again Jennifer for the anniversary gift card!) There were some other things I wanted to do to the entry but we were going to put them off and just install the storm door. Well during the process we realized that our old lock would hit the new handle on the storm door so we decided to go ahead and replace the lock on the front door. It was old and lose anyway but man those things are expensive. Then we decided to go ahead and do everything we wanted to do originally so quickly the prices started adding up. I painted the door a darker red and painted the trim. Everything looks so much better and I love having my front door open now. Of course we ran into problems along the way and it ended up being a two day project but it just wouldn't be a Sondgeroth remodel if we didn't have problems. I don't really have before pics but you can see the front door in our Landscape Remodel post.



Last weekend we were in Terre Haute helping my aunt move and then my brother move so I got some cute pics of Cameron. He is a very strong and happy little boy.