Kid-less Halloween

A few days before Halloween I asked Matt what we were going to do for Halloween and he said, "Halloween isn't fun unless you have kids."  Well, I'm always up for a challenge so I set out to prove him wrong.  :)  We LOVE the Harry Potter movies and I figured those were Halloweeny, so I borrowed those from a friend and we started a Harry Potter Marathon a few days before Halloween!

 AND, what's a Harry Potter marathon without festive treats, candles, comfy sweats, and a Halloween coloring contest??

Apples with Caramel

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread--my favorite!!

Matt Coloring Frankenstein

Me Coloring Witch Shoes and Tights :)

The Finished Products--boo yah!

And seriously, Halloween without dirt cups??  Impossible.

And last, but not least, comfy ND sweats and pumpkin ice cream!

*The Pumpkin Ice Cream wasn't our favorite.*

It's good I married my best friend or Halloween WOULD be lame without kids.  :)  So, here's to *hopefully* one of our last "kid-less" Halloweens!!  :)

Sort of Like a River

One of the days my parents were here we decided to go kayaking down the St. Joseph River.  It weaves right through South Bend, so it's really close to our place.  The shuttle leaves from St. Patrick's park and you get to wear their AWESOME orange life vests.

Here we are--ready to start our trip :)

It is a really pretty river and it was fun to just enjoy the scenery.  Matt liked taking me on adventures to look for fish near the banks.

Dad and Mom in their kayaks

Matt and I

Then I took this lovely self portrait.

After a little while, paddling got really tiring!  It's a lot of work!  And, this river is NOTHING like the Provo river that runs out of the mountains my friends.  We don't have any hills in Indiana so it's basically at a standstill.  I'm convinced that it would take the same amount of effort to paddle upstream as it would down.  Near the end Matt tied my kayak to the back of his and pulled me down the river--he's too good to me. :)

This picture was taken right before these boys asked, "Woah, did they get stuck together like that on their own??"  My response: "Yes, yes they did."

And, here we are looking awesome with our paddles.  :)

Campus Walk :)

The last day that Matt's parents where visiting his brother James pulled through with his moving truck (he and his family were moving from Pittsburgh to Provo).  It was fun to have him visit, even if it was only for a day.  We had lots of yummy food and went for a walk around the campus.

James & Mom on the left, Dad and Matt on the right :)

We got some famous dome pictures...

And, of course we fed the campus squirrels.

 It's amazing how they'll eat right out of your hand!!  During the summer Matt and I would eat our lunch on a bench outside and feed these squirrels.  Sometimes it freaked me out though because they will come and sit on your feet!  That's a little too close if you ask me!

And, we had to get a picture of all the attorneys/future attorney in front of the ND law school.

People always tell me how much James and Matt look alike--especially with their goatees. :)

The pictures didn't turn out very well for some reason, but I'm glad we got a few anyway.  Matt and James may or may not have had some bonding time playing xbox later that night--even though it was Sunday. ;)  They had to live it up since these best buds hadn't seen each other since last December and won't be seeing each other until next December--man we need to live closer once we're done with school!

Scenes from Our Life

Shortly after we arrived in South Bend last summer, Matt and I took a walk on campus and I snapped a few shots.  I stumbled upon them the other day and thought I would share them with all of you.  I'm constantly in awe of this beautiful place where we work and study each day.  The architecture and landscaping is breath taking.  We feel so blessed.

Tennis Balls

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you our tennis balls.

The geese in our pond, that we dislike so much, actually produce ADORABLE offspring!  Why are little things so cute?  Matt has been at home studying for finals all week and he gives me periodic updates on what he calls the "tennis balls" because they look like tennis balls with feet.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

 CHRISTMAS! :)  We finally had a legitimate snow fall last night and woke up to this beautiful sight!  We couldn't be happier about it.  To celebrate we are staying inside all day (while Matt studies :P) and I'm going to make soup (more on my soup marathon and yummy recipes later).  I love this time of year.

The Graham Family

Oh. My. Goodness.  I just can't get enough of this gorgeous family!  Click here to see more from this fun family shoot over at my photography blog!

I just LOVE Will's squished face in this first photo.  :)

Will - 6 Months

One of my favorite things about Will is how excited he gets.  Sometimes he screams at his toys or bites them because he has so much energy built up in that tiny body and doesn't know what to do with it.  I think we are kindred spirits because I've been known to bite Matt (gently) when I get scared or excited.  Click here to see more!

Check out those cheeks!! :)

What I've Been Up To

I recently designed some labeling/packaging for my photo discs and I think they turned out pretty cute, so I thought I would share. :)

Thanksgiving

We had a pretty laid back Thanksgiving this year.  Our friends, Eric, Cambria, and their baby Will came over to eat with us.  Great Friends + Yummy Food = a Great Thanksgiving.

 The table all set for dinner :)

I didn't take pictures of all the yummy food, just some of my favorites.  Matt LOVES these rolls and asks me to make them pretty much every day.  Recipe found here.

We decided to just make turkey breasts since we don't really like dark meat.  This recipe was amazing.

This is my favorite jello salad of all time.  You can find the recipe for Frog Eye Salad here.

Baby Henry

I've been a blog slacker lately - sorry.  I've been finding so many fun things to keep me busy!  I will do better.  I have several fun posts planned, but until then, hop over here to see more pictures from Henry's newborn shoot.  (Don't forget to "follow" my photography blog!)  He has the chubbiest cheeks and cutest little toes!

*CAUTION* These pictures may cause severe baby hunger.

The Stewart Family

This gorgeous family was almost more than I could handle!  Here is a little sneak peak of what you'll find on my photography blog. :)

Make sure you stop by and "follow" that blog too!  This will help me a lot because when people search "photographer in South Bend" I'll be higher on the list!  And, while your at it take a second to "like" Stephanie Purcell Photography on facebook.  Thank you so much!  :)

Let me know what you think of the new blog!

The Final Days

Sorry it has taken me so long to finish the posts about my parents visits!  So let's wrap this up because I have so many other posts to catch up on as well. :) 

On Tuesday morning we woke up and made the drive to Shipshewana (a local Amish town).  The drive was beautiful with Fall being at it's peak.  It was fun to see all the little buggies and the flea market.  We also ate lunch at this restaurant that had been recommended for having amazing fried chicken.  They had amazing fried chicken!!  Oh and the cream pies?  To die for.

We spent the evening relaxing and eating more delicious food and desserts.

On Wednesday we slept in.  We had a yummy breakfast and then headed to Notre Dame to hit up the bookstore for some souvenirs.  We were planning to go on a campus tour, but it was chucking rain, so we went out to lunch instead at Red Lobster. :)  Yum.  Then we came home to get ready to take mom and dad to the airport. :(  Their flight was delayed and they would miss their connecting flight, so they ALMOST got to spend another night with us, but they found a flight with another airline just in time to make it back for work the next day - BOO!  :)  We sure loved having them come and visit and welcome all visitors to South Bend!!

Pancakes. Beaches. Shopping.

On Saturday morning we slept in and then made our way to the very highly recommended "American Pancake House"... 

(Sorry this isn't the best picture)

Photo via.
Let's just say the recommendation remains in tact.  It was AMAZING.  We drive past it pretty much everyday and I stare at it longingly.  I had the french toast and the fresh squeezed OJ.  Matt had the egg, bacon, and cheese panini.  They were both incredible.  And the best part was that we didn't feel sick after like we usually do after a big breakfast.


After breakfast we made our way to Silver Beach on Lake Michigan.  One word: WINDY!  It was crazy, as I'm sure you'll gather from the pictures.  It was still gorgeous and I'm sure we'll never forget it because of how windy it was.  Matt and I can't wait to go back in the summer.  I really tried to capture the beauty and the wind.

The waves were massive!

There were some really cute houses along the pier.

And some interesting artwork. :)

Walking down the pier.

Once we were back in the car and removed the sand from our shoes, ears, eyes, hair, etc. we made our way to the outlet mall in Michigan City.  We spent about three hours in the car this day, but it was one of our favorite parts.  The scenery was beautiful.  

Later Saturday evening we walked the five strides or so to Meijer.

Photo via.

 My mom had been talking about going since the moment she saw it and I'm pretty sure she snuck out to go shopping there in the middle of the night a couple of times.  :)  I think she just liked that it was so big and SO close.  Matt and Dad were so patient while we perused every part of the store and bought some more junk food (as if we didn't already have enough).  These five days were filled with SO much yummy food.

More fun to come...