Our honeymoon

It. Was. Perfect.

We spent our wedding night in our new house (rental), our first together. We were married on a Friday so the next day we had a cookout and close friends and family came over to watch us open presents. Then on Sunday, after Mass, we hit the road for a drive from north central Illinois to northern LP Michigan. We went to Mackinaw Island. Well actually we stayed in Mackinaw city because, well, we are cheap. I don't remember why we decided to go there even, but it was a great decision. We stayed in a nice suite right on the beach. It was beautiful! We had very rigid plans on our honeymoon and it went something like this. Sleep. Be intimate. Eat. Relax! Repeat. We basically just took it easy which was so nice because we worked hard the week of our wedding. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Did I mention our room had a giant jacuzzi?! It was 5 days of fun and relaxation with my new husband and best friend. We went swimming, ate out, went for walks, hiked, enjoyed nature, prayed, napped, and explored Mackinaw Island during Lilac Fest. I loved the old Catholic mission Church on the Island. And of course, because we are such big fans of the American Revolution, Fort Mackinac was awesome; we spent most of our day on the Island there.

The whole Island was like stepping back to a simpler time, and the scenery was breathtaking. One of my favorite parts of the trip though, was actually the time we spent in the car. We drove through Indiana and up Michigan on the way there, and just for fun, we drove a different route home. We took the ferry to the Upper Peninsula and drove down Wisconsin. It was beautiful and we had a great time (8 hours?) chatting, discussing our wedding day, and being silly.

I actually can't find like any pictures from our trip, but we did take lots of video. I have this awesome video I want to share. This was the first day of our honeymoon (other than the day driving before). I love it because it is just us enjoying each other and our surroundings. But mostly I like it because of what happens at 3:49. It's kind of long and maybe boring to those of you who aren't Geoff and Dacia, so if you don't want to watch the whole thing, just start at like 3:45, and listen.

Did you here something? That was my new husband's sacramental wedding ring falling into Lake Michigan! This was our fourth day of marriage, and the second time it was almost lost. The first time was on our wedding night in our bathroom sink. It was a little too big. Woops! Thankfully it didn't get washed away and we found it and promptly broke out into laughter over the hilariosity of it all.

Looking back, I was reflecting on what our Honeymoon meant to our marriage. The Honeymoon now-a-days (yep I'm 28 and just said now-a-days) is often just an expensive vacation. For us, it was so much more. We both lived with our parent's until our wedding night, and though we had our own jobs and were pretty self-sufficient in ways, we largely relied on our parents. This was our first trip on our own, our first hotel room, just the two of us. We made all the decisions together-where to eat, what roads to take, how late to sleep, how far to hike- as husband and wife. It allowed us, though we had been dating for 10 years, to get away from our usual town and surroundings, and to get to know each other in a brand new way. We were the same Geoff and Dacia, but somehow, we were very different. Joined as a covenant by and with our Heavenly Father, two become one flesh. It was a simple and humble honeymoon, a perfect start to our marriage.

Finally, I would be remiss not to say that this trip was funded completely by our friends and family via the dollar dance at our wedding. Not kidding, they were SO generous it paid for the whole thing. Thanks everyone!

I shared this as part of a linky-link. For other great honeymoon stories, check out one of my favorite blogs- Betty Beguiles.

Guardian Angel

Yesterday was the feast of the Guardian Angel.

Words cannot describe how loving God is to gives us our Heavenly Guardians.

They keep a constant vigil at our side, from conception until death.

Then if we go to Heaven, we get to meet our sweet Angel

and praise God with them for all eternity.

My Angel has done so much to protect and guide me.

I could never say thank you enough.

Stories for another day.

In the mean time, hear is an old Catholic prayer/hymn

that I put a new melody to.

Prayer:

Guardian Angel From Heaven So Bright
Watching beside me to lead me aright
Fold thy wings round me O guard me with love
Softly sing songs to me Of heav'n above

Chorus

Beautiful angel My guardian so mild
Tenderly guide me For I am thy Child

Oh may I never forget thou art near

Keeping me ever in love and in fear

Waking and sleeping In labor and rest
In thy sweet keeping my life shall be blest

So long thy power hath blest me

Sure it still will lead me on

'Or more and fen, 'or craig and torrent till the night is gone

And in the morning those angels smile

which I have loved long since and lost awhile

7 Quick Takes: Food and Fall

As always, check Jen out!
**1**
In Rockford, IL which is about 45 mins from my home, there is a horrific abortion mill. It isn't just a women's clinic or a place where babies are killed, it is truly a den of evil. For years now us pro-lifers in the area have been praying and fasting for it's closing. Priests in the area have also been saying prayers of exorcism over the place. The owner is a man filled with hate and anger for God and His people. My parish in Lent did a 40 Days for Life for the closing of this clinic and many wonderful people are always there praying. Well tonight, there is some great news. The state has shut down this clinic due to many health violations. Hopefully it is permanent, but only time will tell. I wanted to share this news with all of you because so often we don't see the fruits of our prayers. Praise God!

**2**
In lighter news, I finally used my bread machine for the first time! We got it as a wedding gift and I always wanted to use it, but I had to run it empty first and just never did that. Well my wonderful husband cleaned and ran it empty for me last week (while I napped with babykins!!) I just cut up our first loaf of whole wheat bread and it smelt and tasted AMAZING.

**3**
I'm never buying bread in the store again! It always bothers me when I look at the list of ingredients and it contains a bunch of stuff I've never heard of before. This way I know exactly what I am eating and giving to my husband and child. Plus I save money and it is much tastier! Bi-Winning.

**4**
I'm one step closer to never buying any foods in the store that I could easily make myself. I partly blame my farm upbringing and partly blame Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship. Love, Love, Love her site. If you haven't checked it out, do it! There is so much to read so you may want to pencil a few weeks in you calendar to absorb everything.

**5**
I also made cinnamon pumkin pancakes for dinner tonight. Yum Yum! I love this time of year. Though I have to say I am mourning the end of my garden. But I think I'm ready to embrace Fall.

**6**
Yesterday my family made homemade apple cider with homegrown apples and the ole cider press.

It is so tasty, and always brings back great childhood memories. Thanks to my grandpa and siblings for picking up all the apples!

**7**
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I'm in the midst of some intense spiritual warfare. I'm doing my best to keep the evil one at bay and am clining tight to sweet Jesus.  I've been going to adoration at least once a week and even made it to daily Mass today, where Dominic did great! I didn't have to take him out once and it was awesome. The battle rages on and St Michael, and my guardian angel are staying close.

Have a great weekend!

Today

Today it rained all. day. long. I actually kinda like cold rainy days. Dominic and I curled up all warm and attempted to watch a movie. I found Land Before Time V on Netflix (lolz), and since Doc LOOOOVES Dinosaurs I thought it might be a hit. Why I chose #5, I don't know. He liked it, for about 15 minutes or so and then he continued the song he'd been singing all morning long: "Go Wa, Wa". The poor kid wanted to go outside SO badly. I felt bad. I tried to teach him about the rain which was fun, but he didn't understand why he couldn't spend his usual hour or two outside. So here is what our day looked like being stuck inside.

Things Dominic used as a phone: a ball, a dish brush, garlic press, flashlight, MP3 player, and his hand. And I'm sure there where more things that I didn't catch.
He asked to go outside by saying "go wa wa", almost constantly.
Times Doc went bathroom in the potty: 5. Yay Doc!!

He got the hiccups from laughing so hard 4 times.

We played airplane, Doc flew in the air on my feet.

And then he threw up all over my face. and hair.

This has never happened before, I guess I just got a little to rough?

But I kid you not, Doc took one look at me after I was covered in his puke and CRACKED UP.

And he continued laughing as he watched me try and clean myself off.

What a stinker.

We took a glorious 2.5 hr nap.

Dominic helped me wash the dishes.

He ended up doing naked dishes because he just kept spilling water on himself.

We each had 3 wardrobe changes.

Dominic went down his impromtu indoor slide (which is a leaf to our dining room table) to satisfy his thirst for WEEEE.

We ate lots of yummy food-avacado, cheese, bananas, celery & peanut butter, Oberwiese chocolate milk (which is like a mik shake yum yum), and homemade chicken noodle soup.

We did 2 loads of laundry.

Said lots of prayers.

All in all, not bad for a cold rainy day.

Life is good with a little stinker to play with.

I hope you had a wonderful day too.

Playing Rockband with Uncle Corey (yesterday).

7 Quick Takes: Onomatopoeia

Thanks Jen! for hosting Quick Takes.

**1**
Okay so the Suds Fairy didn't come and clean up my dishwasher disaster so I had to take matters into my own hands. The trusty interwebs told me pour 1/2 cup olive oil on the bottom and run the wash cyle. It worked wonderfully! So thankful it wasn't too much of a headache. I went out and bought some dishwasher detergent today and before using it brought it to Geoff and made him confirm that it was in fact dishwasher detergent and not soap; not a mistake I want to make twice.

**2** 
The same day of the dishwasher disaster I had a visit from a friend from Switzerland! Helen was a foreign exchange student in High School and for a whole year we were great friends. Thanks to Facebook we got back in touch and I was so excited that she was coming to town for a week. It was so nice to catch up with and old friend. Dominic was in rare form and was obsessed with entertaining her and trying to make her laugh. She humored him a lot and we had a great time.

**3**
Dominic LOVES talking on the phone and has for quite some time now. Since we don't often let him play with our phones however, he uses anything and everything he can as a phone, sometimes even his hand. Example, last Sunday while I was getting ready for Mass:



 **4**
Dominic has always been a talker, but it is so fun hearing him say actual words. I love it!! Everyday he says something new. Yesterday during lunch he said "soup", which is no suprise since we looove soup and eat it often. He also loves saying bug, truck, down, juice, and of course Onomatopoeia.

**5**
Okay so he may not SAY onomatopoeia but boy does he have the exclamations down. I'll never tire of hearing him say "WHOOAA!" and pointing to the sky when he hears an airplane. Another favorite is "WEEEEEE" which he exclaims whilst swinging, and even seeing a swing. In fact he calls swings and slides "weee".

**6**
 Since we have Netflix for TV, Dominic doesn't watch a whole lot of it. He'd would much rather be outside, and would be all day if I let him. Going for walks:

Playing with sticks

 

Going down the Weeee

Unfortunately I gots important stuff to do inside, like make sudsy messes in the kitchen, so we do have to be inside part of the day. Often when I am cleaning and stuff he helps out. Like when I am washing dishes he rinses the dishes and puts them in the drain board, and then back in the water, and sometimes on the floor. He also helps me put stuff away and cook. When he does get to watch a TV show though, there is only one he loves and asks for by name. Yo Gabba Gabba. I hated this show at first but I have to say it has grown on me. There is a lot of singing and some of the music is tolerable at best, while some of it I really enjoy. Here is my favorite song from guest band The Roots.

**7**
Whoa! That wasn't such a quick take. So I will shut it and leave you with a few more cute pics. :)