Three Birds, One Trip

I made a trip home to see my little cousin (who isn't little at ALL anymore) get married.  What an amazing, relaxing, and rejuvenating vacation. Not only did I get to spend a bunch of time with my family, but I also knocked a few things off my 30 things list!

Including...

Planting a Tree!

So when I thought of planting a tree...I pictured doing some good in the Chicago area.  I thought I would go get some seeds, dig a little hole in a park that might need some shade 20 years from now, and just plant my tree.  But it turns out that's illegal.  There is actually quite a few hoops one has to jump through to plant a tree in this city...so instead I ended doing some free manual labor gardening for my parents.

We picked out the perfect tree and loaded it in the mini van

It turns out that digging a hole is really hard.  Those murder shows where they quickly dig a hole to bury the body are so misleading!

Yep!  I did that (with minimal help from my dad).

Then after digging all that dirt up, I had to put it all back in! This is like some sort of metaphor for my life...dig a hole and then HURRY, cover it back up!

Me and my tree! It's in my parents front yard forever...hopefully.

I also went hiking with my cousins and aunts and uncle!  We went to devil's bathtub and although it was a only a mile long, that hike was no joke.

So pretty!

We had to cross the creek several times.

This was at the beginning of the hike when we were still dry and clean

This tree was pregnant!

In the water?  Or scaling the rocks?

 When we got to the end of the hike we jumped in and went for a little swim.  

Action shot of Emily

The water is so clear and clean and SOOOO cold

After our adventure in the water!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was going fishing with my uncle and Dad!  I haven't been fishing since I was super little and sorta couldn't remember how to do it.  But I caught TWO fish!   

Fishing!

More fishing.

Fishing so hard!

Look at me...I am HOLDING a fish.  AHHH!  I held it just long enough for Dad to take a picture because...EWWW.

My cousins wedding was so lovely!  It poured and hailed for an hour before the wedding and then the sun appeared and made everything gorgeous!

Cody and his bride watching the hail.

Snowball game in the middle of July

Married!

If you are wondering who the skinny blonde is...it's my BROTHER.  I know, right?

Here he is again.  The only way to get him to smile in a picture is to make him laugh...and I got that part covered ;)

And here is my Grandma, Mom, and me.  Grandma was actually ready for this picture, which is a small miracle.  Usually pictures are like this one...

Haha, I love this.

Such a fun and productive trip.  I love my family so much!!!