Camping trip and catching up

Last week was a busy week. 
Sunday, I spent all day in Princeville with Nathan's family for mother's day. 

Monday, Kaylyn, Joy, and I went on a short camping trip to celebrate Graduation. Joy and I got to the campsite early to check in and set up camp. Kaylyn a little later...with a surprise. She brought Katie W! 
Tuesday was my birthday. That's right. I'm 22 now.
We didn't do anything special, but, It was a wonderful birthday- sitting in the sun, hanging out around the campfire, and eating good food. :)

campfire stew... :) so good

breakfast :)

Everything tastes better when cooked over a fire :)

Me, Katie, Joy, and Kaylyn

We packed up late Wednesday morning and I headed down to Champaign. After church Wednesday night, the few of us that were around headed out for ice cream :)

I made it back home Thursday morning and spent the rest of the day hanging out with Kacie, Jenny, and Cecily. 

Friday, I started registering. Yay. It's kind of fun to hold the scanner gun.  Nathan came up in the evening and we headed to Bible study.

Saturday, I took a group of bridesmaids in for measurements. Which is always interesting. If the dresses turn out to look like I want them to, I think they'll be really cute. :) 
That evening Nathan and I drove around going to graduation parties. We went to Kirk's, Seth's (mainly to see Troy and Ellie), and Troy's. And then we spent the rest of the evening just hanging out with family.

Yesterday, was Sydney and Amit's wedding in Champaign. The decorations were pretty and the food was good.  :)

And, today was my first day at my summer internship. I think I'm going to enjoy it. 

In Christ

~Michelle

Graduation

I Graduated. I'm done. :) Eek.

My graduation was on Saturday. 

I officially have a BSW :)

Me and Nathan :)

Kendra came along and sat through my graduation ceremony for me.

:)

The ceremony was rather boring but, oh well.  It was a good way to end my two years at U of I. My father is rather proud of me. I am his fourth child to graduate from his Alma Mater. 

Hail to the Orange,

Hail to the Blue,

Hail Alma Mater,

Ever so true! (So true)

We love no other

So let our motto be

Victory, Illinois! Varsity!

I am officially an alumni :) I can now sing the echo! yay. :)

 And, then we went out to Za's to celebrate my graduation and my birthday. :) yup, I'm getting older. 

Friday, I was home for Emily's personal shower. It was great to be back with my high school friends. :)

Katy, me, Emily, Haley, Katie, Joy

We're all growing up. *sniff* 

In Christ

~Michelle

sunshine and free time

With my internship pretty much over, I've had a lot of free time these past few weeks.

Have I ever mentioned how beautiful Urbana is this time of year? If not, it's gorgeous.  I spend a lot of time sitting on our front stoop in the sunshine. 

:)

Ah... I am nearly finished reading LOTR. :)

Last Thursday,  we has the yg over to the Upper Room for the Senior Breakfast.  It was a lot of fun, probably one of the best yg turn outs all year. 

I spent the day at home on Saturday, catching up on wedding planning and sleep. :) 
Sunday, my family was gone and Clayton's family was gone so we decided to hang out. We walked around the farm a bit and then I took him up the grain leg for his first time. I think he was impressed by it's height. 

way up there

don't look down

 We were hungry so, we grilled burgers for supper. 

Clayton the grill master 

Monday, Jenny and Cecily came over and we drove up to Chicago. There is a huge fabric warehouse that we were hoping to find wedding fabrics at.  It wasn't as successful of a trip as I had hoped but, we did get fabric for the bridesmaid dresses. 

Last evening Nathan and I took a picnic to Meadowbrook park. It's a beautiful park and it has some really nice walking trails. 

:) I'm slightly obsessed with flowering trees.

and we finally got another picture. :) 

This is actually probably some of the last free time I'll get for a long time. I have a summer internship coming up, a wedding, as you know, and then hopefully I'll get a job. 

In Christ
~Michelle

Family

I spent last weekend back home in Washington. 

My cousin Scott and his fiance, Joy, were going to be in town and I wanted to meet her. 

Saturday evening we had a family gathering for birthdays. I don't know what was in the water but we were all very hyper. 

Some quotes from the evening:

"Pearl, what can you wiggle that shouldn't?" 

"How did they know you gave them the Depends?" "I guess it leaked."

It was definitely a typical Wyss family gathering. :)

Troy and Kirk pulling taffy with many onlookers

Joy learning the art of taffy pulling

the men discussing weighty matters...actually I think it may 

have had to do with fishing or something of that nature. :)

Oh, and hello there Kyle.

Time is flying by!

I met for the last time with some of the staff from the Hope Center. They gave us interns presents and took us out for coffee. One of the older staff members liked to talk to me about reading, particularly Russian literature, so he gave me a book of Russian short stories. I'm excited.

It's so weird. I'm almost completely done!

And, last night Nathan brought me these. Needless to say, I was extremely excited. :)  Thanks to his mom's gardening abilities, these are all fresh. :)

they so pretty :)

10 more days until I graduate. Woah.

In Christ,

~Michelle

Stars and Visiters

This week was a fun week. Again. :)

My internship is rather slow to start with and it is slowing down even more. So, I don't have much homework to do.

Sunday night I had a bunch of the young group girls over late at night for star gazing. It was supposed to be a beautiful meteor shower that night, but sadly there where too many clouds and we couldn't see anything.  But, we had a wonderful time staring at the sky chatting away. :)

us star-gazers

cuddled up with blankets to keep warm

oh look! you can kind of see the moon. :)

Monday, I went for my first wedding dress consultation. I think it went well, but over the next few weeks I'll be looking for fabric and lace.

The other night, I introduced Nathan to Jane Austen. I think he liked it. :) yay. hehe.

Thursday, Jenny and Cecily came for a visit.  We ate a Za's, walked the quad, and baked a pan of bars.

playing on the window seat.

And, sporting an Illini t-shirt. :)

on the quad. 

these trees are beyond beautiful :)

Cecily enjoying Baby Eisenstein :) hehe

Yesterday, Kendra came down to run the 10k at the Illinois marathon. So, I hosted a game night here at the Upper Room.  It was a lot of fun. I'm glad Kendra finally got to see my apartment, since I've been here two years now. :)

In Christ
~Michelle

Young Group fun

We've been having a lot of fun down here at U of I lately. 

A few Fridays ago, April 6th, some of us went out to eat at Meatheads for supper. They have awesome burgers and fries and a really cool pop dispenser. :) 
Afterwards, we played volleyball at the sand courts. It wasn't very cold outside but, the sand was freezing so the game didn't last as long as it normally does.  It's really hard to run when you can't feel your toes. 

That Saturday, was college weekend.  I am so thankful I was able to take a less active roll. I was able to socialize and introduce Nathan to Kacie and some of my friends. Kacie informed me that she approves. :)
Everyone in the yg did a phenomenal job hosting and being sociable, which is sometimes difficult for our engineer minded yg. ;)  
The weekend's theme was "Bound to Christ."  The talks were all really thought provoking.  The talks were: Sweet Surrender, Salt of the Earth, Supporting the Body, and Glorying in Infirmities. 

Sunday, Nathan and I drove back to Princeville for church. It was slightly overwhelming meeting everyone as   his fiance but, they were so welcoming. I don't think I'll remember any of their names though. 
That evening we had our official "engagement supper" with both families.

Last week, due to weather cancellations we had a game night and a Perkins night. I taught some in the yg how to play Bang. I think it was a hit. :) 

Saturday, Jenny, Lena, my mom and I, got together to figure out wedding stuff. 
I drove back to Champaign that afternoon. And, I spent the evening hanging out with the yg. 

Today, after church, a group of us played soccer for a while. Then we had an impromptu cookout at Baytown. I got to watch some of the guys attempt to grill. Which was funny but, slightly scary too. :)

Well, that was a quick catch up of the past few weeks. 

Four weeks until I graduate!  :)

In Christ
~Michelle

count down

No, it is not a count down to my wedding. I haven't gotten there yet.

 31 days. Until I graduate! :) I'm slightly thrilled. 
 I cannot wait until summer. 

In Christ 
~Michelle