suuummer time: part 1

June was a crazy social month for wes and i. #gettingpopular
ha! just kidding.

anyways. the first weekend in June, i went to cincinnati for a REDS GAME with my family. even gram and grandpa came! they were in town for abby's graduation that weekend so the timing was perfect. mom and kelly stayed home tho... boo! mom didn't want to risk getting a migrane and missing abby's party the next day and kelly stayed with greyson. it would have been a long night, i think hes a little too young for a reds game just yet. but the last time we all went to a game was back in 2007. oh boy, do we look different! dad and i got skyline cheese coneys at the game, it felt necessary. ha! we almost got free la roses pizza for 11 strikeouts, but fell one short. the reds lost terribly, i don't think they got a single run the whole game. i don't care too much about baseball anyways, i just went to be with family. and since it was a friday night game, we got to see some pretty fantastic fireworks at the end. it was really fun screaming chants, clapping, doing the wave, and goofing off. i had a great time.

the next day, i stayed in cincy for abby's GRADUATION PARTY. it was extravagant! catered chick-fil-a, a slushie machine, cotton candy machine, huge inflatable slip n slide, natalie made two different types of cupcakes. it was super fun! i can't believe my baby cousin is graduated from high school, that sounds crazy! definitely makes me feel old. so proud of you abby, you are turning into a beautiful young lady. unfortunately, wes missed out on this fun filled family weekend. he was playing in a wedding back in indy. he had fun, wedding are always fun. but we've decided being apart always makes things less fun than if we would have done them together. #marriedlife

the second weekend in June, we celebrated my niece's second birthday! we all went over to wes' brother's house and had a minnie mouse themed party, super cute. nora was adorable! we sang happy birthday, opened presents, chatted, and played with the girls. emma asked her aunts, bonnie and myself, to play "princesses" with her. we each had a doll and emerged ourselves into the world of make believe. kids are so good at it! i felt a little rusty, but nonetheless it was fun.

after the party, wes and i headed over to a friends house for a cheese themed dinner party! this was our second theme night with this particular group of friends, the first was mexican night. so everyone brought part of the meal which included caprese salad, queso dip and chips, grilled cheese sandwiches, strawberries with mascarpone dip and chocolate chip cheesecake for dessert. so much cheese!! everything was delicious! and everyone was stuffed. we were introduced to kan jam that night. a game involving a frisbee, and two plastic barrels. i am TERRIBLE! just so terrible. 9 times out of 10 my frisbee throw resulted in someone walking around the fence to retrieve it. #sorryfriends just helping everyone work off the cheese dinner. it was a great night, we love our friends.

the third weekend in June, we went to KINGS ISLAND! woop woop. always a blast. i love roller coasters. we went with wes' sister bonnie and her husband david. we only rode three rides together all day. david and i can't go on rides that spin and bonnie is a little weary of roller coasters.

we started with the adventure express. it could almost be considered a kid roller coaster, but it is so much fun! i totally love it. so glad we went on this together and even more glad that bonnie and david sat behind wes and i. we got to hear bonnie scream the entire ride. it was hilarious! not because she was screaming, just how she screamed. it was like short bursts of noise were erupting out of her mouth uncontrollably. so funny. but she did a great job! first ride and first roller coaster of the day. bonnie and wes rode some spiny rides. the scrambler and the swings. #barffest. and then we did our next roller coaster, the bat. definitely a step up from adventure express. and one of my favorites! bonnie, again, did a great job. she conquered the bat! and even liked it, a little! we rode the BANSHEE after that, minus bonnie. its the newest ride at kings island and the longest inverted roller coaster, now wes' new favorite ride. its smooth and exciting. david was green when we got off, a few too many loops and twists for him. he was basically done for the day. i needed a short break after that one myself. great ride, but for someone that gets sick with spinning, the inverted loops kinda got to me. we had la roses pizza for lunch and then hit some more rides. we parted ways for the next couple coasters. wes and i rode the vortex, my all time favorite roller coaster, the beast, and the racer. i decided i do not like the racer. all those little hills really mess with my stomach. and its awfully jerky. a different kind of jerky than the beast, i like the beast. we met back up with bonnie and david and went up the eiffel tower and finished the day with a water ride, white water canyon! always get soaked on that one. it was a fantastic day! enjoyed spending time with bonnie and david, and wes of course.

the fourth weekend in June... well thursday before the weekend was wes' birthday! 28! he went to work. i had the day off so i cleaned the apartment, did the laundry, baked a cake, decorated the apartment, and threw together a little party. we had plans to go to Bone Fish Grill with dave and kelsey. love them, we spent wes' birthday with them last year. so we did that, had a blast! and then headed back to the apartment for cake and ice cream. i told wes i invited some people over because i couldn't hide my excitement, i just didn't tell him who all was coming. so around 830 our tiny apartment filled with friends. we had about 12 people over. i made everyone sing happy birthday to wes, which was funny. we ate delicious funfetti cake with ice cream, played mario cart, kan jam, and chatted. i think wes was happily surprised. i hope he felt special and loved.

on friday, the next day, we were invited to Symphony on the Prairie with folks from leavener. somehow i had never been before. it was the eagles night, so everything was 70s themed. we had tables up front and did a dinner pitch in. so much food. and such a great group of people to hang out with! music was good, and i knew some of the songs! on sunday we hung out with more folks from leavener in the target parking lot for the fishers freedom festival fireworks. great company, kinda terrible fireworks. but its fine, we weren't really there to see the fireworks anyways.
we just like hanging out with people.

i know its mid July. part 2 coming soon! wait for it...

garden update.

i have not been blessed with a green thumb. gardening is hard! and if not, then i am clearly doing something wrong. my hanging baskets dried up, the potted flowers also died, our cilantro, basil, and spicy globe basil flowered very quickly. and the stem of the sweet basil plant turned brown.

on a more positive note, jalapeno is rocking just like last year. and the tomatoes are doing okay. i wish they were taller and i noticed that the stems have little bumps on them, not sure what thats about... but we haven't seen any tomato worms this year so i consider that a win. there's an ant colony that keeps surrounding the base of the tomato barrel, i wish they would go away. i don't think they're hurting it, but there are seriously a million ants on the patio all the time. its not my favorite thing. wes and i tried sprinkling cayenne pepper around the barrel, google said that sometimes deters them, but the ants came back the next day. so mission failed. i just sweep them away with the broom now, not very effective and pretty mean. they scatter and climb on my feet and up my legs and for the rest of the day i feel like i have ants in my pants, probably because i do. i should really just stop doing that.

anyways, i ended up buying new hanging baskets and flowers. i just want a successful flower experience! i thought it would be best to buy ones that were already matured since my first attempt failed. its only been about two weeks, but they seem happy thus far. except i did find out while pruning them that moths are attracted to that type of flower. or maybe they were just attracted to me on that particular day. i had been attacked by one at work, twice actually by the same moth. and then when i got home and opened the front door to get the mail, one flew into the apartment from our wreath. and then later that night when i was pruning the flowers, four more flew at me. one of my coworkers and my husband witnessed the attacks and the super weird dance i did to get the moths away from me. i was laughed at both times. its fine, i know i looked ridiculous.

anyways back to the garden, summer isn't over and there is still time to save these plants! there has been plenty of sunshine and water this past week. ☀️ God is taking care of these plants!

anniversary no.2!

at the end of May, wes and I celebrated our two year anniversary! we took a long weekend over memorial day and caravanned to Hilton Head with my parents, kelly, and baby greyson to visit my grandparents who moved there last November. we drove in on thursday. it was wonderful to see my grandparents! i hadn't seen them since Christmas, which was much longer than it would've been if they still lived in Cincinnati. it was about a 12 hour drive, we stopped for gas and lunch and stretching! greyson did really well in the car, course wes and i were in a different car but we didn't stop because of him.

once we arrived on thursday afternoon, we settled in and went to dinner at steamers, a restaurant that my family always goes to on the first night of vacation. i love their bull bite house salad! so yummy! after dinner we went to rita's for delicious custard, it is seriously the best custard ever! i'm not even kidding, it is so good.

friday morning, wes, kelly, and I went on a beautiful 15 mile bike ride around my grandparents neighborhood and on the beach. it was low tide so we found a million tiny crabs and our shoes sunk into the mucky sand, but it was fun and gorgeous. that afternoon some of us went to the coligny public beach. Greyson stayed home with "gigi" (great grandma) so kelly had the afternoon off from mommy duty. we laid out like old times and got some sun! for dinner we went to skull creek boathouse. the wait was super long so we went in the gift shop and hung out on the dock.

on saturday we woke up and dad wanted to go for a bike ride. so wes, dad, and i rode our bikes around the island on bike paths for about 12 miles. oh man, were my butt and thighs tired after two days of that!

we got back to the house, cleaned up and wes and i headed to Savannah to spend the day together for our anniversary. its about a 50 minute to hour drive. having spent a week in Savannah for our honeymoon we got to know the city quite well. we parked in the same garage near the hotel we stayed at which is pretty central to everything. we walked city market, did some shopping, walked through some of the squares, and went down to river street where there was a memorial day weekend street festival. one of our goals for this trip was to find a sock monster for our future child. we went in this interior design store while on our honeymoon and found these adorable toys. i figured i would just order one when we were ready for kids. weeellllll you can't get them online. so we searched for the store, found it, and they don't carry the stuffed sock monsters anymore. you can only get them in Charleston, where the woman who makes them lives. sad day. guess we will just have to go to Charleston now!

while shopping, we found this really neat cookie store. they sold packaged cookies in the strangest flavors, key lime pie, jalapeno something, cheese, red velvet, etc. we bought the key lime pie cookies... sounds weird, but they were soooo yummy! about an hour before dinner time we started discussing our food options. Savannah has a pretty terrible food scene. its quite sad actually. we wanted to go someplace local, but in the end after about two hours are searching and trip advisor reviews, we ended up at outback. ha! sounds so lame, but we enjoyed ourselves.

after dinner we went back to Lulu's Chocolate Bar. our favorite place in Savannah. great atmosphere, cool people, annnd delicious desserts and drinks. wes ordered a cheesecake and i got a huge slice of cookie cake. we also got a milky way martini, good but too much alcohol taste for me. after that we headed back to the car, on the way i tried to steal a man's kitten. tiny kitty on a leash, looked just like cleo. the man who owned it was a hot mess, like homeless traveler kind of hot mess. poor cat. would've been better off with me. but we arrived back to the car, kittenless, and drove to back hilton head. we arrived at my grandparents house before too late and sat outside talking until the mosquitoes started biting. then we all went to bed.

sunday was our last day and we planned on taking baby greyson to the beach! his first beach experience. oh boy! we loaded up the car with beach chairs, umbrellas, and towels. got to the beach, unloaded and walked to find a spot. since its a public beach and memorial day weekend kickoffs the busy season, it was crowded. but it wasn't high tide until later so people were still kinda spread out. we found a spot, laid out a beach blanket, unfolded chairs, and attempted to put up an umbrella for baby g. while wes and dad struggled, i figured out a contraption with the chair and its umbrella for him. he was asleep before wes and dad gave up on the big umbrella. greyson slept while the rest of us enjoyed the ocean breeze, toes in the sand, and sun on our skin. ahhh i love the beach. the ocean, well thats a different story. i go about knee deep and stand there. it is absolutely beautiful to look at, but that one bad experience with jellies and not being about to see the bottom... i just can't do it.

when greyson woke up from his nap we had about an hour before it was time to feed him. so kelly wanted to dip his toes in the ocean and get a few beach pictures with him. surprise, surprise... he hated it. absolutely hated it. but we got some cute pictures! we headed back to gram and gramp's for lunch. the rest of our afternoon was pretty lazy. we hung out around the house, i fell asleep by the pool. and then it was about dinner time. gram made her famous spaghetti! i don't know what she does to that sauce, but it is so good.

after dinner we thought it might be fun to play some putt putt. greyson stayed home with gigi and grandpa and the rest of the fam went putt putting. tradition, you have to go putt putting in hilton head. we went to pirates island. they do a great job making you feel like a pirate... or on a pirate island? ha! we goofed off, took ridiculous pictures, and kind of played putt putt. all i know is mom won and wes found the perfect place to plank. we headed back, hung out with gram and grandpa for a little while and then said our goodbyes before bed because we were planning on leaving early.

monday morning when my alarm went off, i was not ready to leave. the weekend went by WAY too fast. i miss my grandparents being in Cincinnati. yes its nice that they have a house in the perfect place to vacation, but i see them less and that makes me sad. and yes the trip was wonderful. i enjoyed vacationing with my family, it has been years since we've done that together. when we both have to work full time, 11 hours is too long of a drive for a quick weekend. speaking of driving, the drive home was long and slow, the excitement and anticipation of the trip was gone. luckily, we had dinner plans to look forward to! we were driving through Louisville, so it only made sense to see two of our dearest friends! we ended up having dinner at chuys with Rachel and Jeremy. i just love them! it was a short visit, but hey at least we got to see them! still wish we lived closer. #alwayswill

wes and i arrived home around 10 o'clock monday night. oh my gosh, what a long day! work the next day was a draggg. i was so tired and sore i don't even remember going. ha!

our actually anniversary was monday. we spent it in the car. which sounds kinda terrible, but it was actually kinda nice. we spent the WHOLE day together. talking and singing and being weirdos together. i love my husband so much! and thank God for him every day. i am blessed to be his wife and love spending our lives together. and to think this is only our second anniversary, we have so much more to look forward to together... forever and for always!

gardening.

Wes and I love our cute little apartment. its cheap, requires little to no maintenance, and is mostly quiet. of course there are things about living in an apartment that kinda suck. like having to pay for laundry, not being able paint all the walls, or permanently hang things, etc. but! we live on the first floor and have a patio that faces south, which lets plenty of sun in the apartment and just happens to be perfect for a small garden. a garden in the ground in our backyard of a house would be awesome! one day...

anyways, last year Wes and I planted a potted garden with herbs, jalapenos, tomatoes, and some flowers. we had more jalapenos then we could use. our flowers died, not sure if we watered them enough. and our tomato plant got infested with the gross tomato hornworm. I told Wes we weren't doing tomatoes again, I was so grossed out. I'd post a picture, but I don't want that on my blog. just google it.


this past weekend we shopped around and decided on our plants and how we were doing our garden. we bought two good size barrels, one for tomatoes and the other for herbs. I know I said no tomatoes, but we use them so often and I do love them! we used the same pot as last year for the jalapenos since it did so well. I used hanging baskets and some pots for my flowers. everything is planted and we are excited to see how things turn out this year! maybe we will even win the apartment patio contest, if they do it again. last year we got third place with a $25 gift card. so that was nice.

I love spring. the sunshine. and even the rain! I hope I have a "green thumb" this year! our plants look so pretty, I want them to grow big and survive the season! yay!

Baby Grey

one week ago my nephew was born at 7:28pm on March 25, 2014.
he was 8 pounds, 3 ounces and 20.5 inches.

his name is Greyson Michael. and he is the most precious little man! i love him to pieces already. Kelly is a mommy now, and that still sounds weird. hah! i am so proud of her, she went through a lot that day. 12 hours of labor and after all that, she had to have a c-section. Greyson was too big, and now knowing exactly how big he was no one was surprised it came down to that. they are both healthy and doing great.

i wish i didn't live over an hour away. i would be over there ALL the time. then i'd get my baby fix and wouldn't have such a strong desire to have my own yet. yah you read that right, i have serious baby fever! so thanks Kelly. Greyson is such a cute boy. God made him perfect and he is a beautiful blessing!

Wes and i are still not quite ready for one of our own. ever since Greyson was born, i want a baby right now. but being pregnant on our vacation in August to Jamaica would be less than ideal. so until then... no babies. at least thats our plan. and who knows, maybe this time next year i could be pregnant. Wes will be such a cute daddy! one day...


another picture of Greyson. taken today in his swing at one week old!

in other news! Wes is heading to Rwanda on friday :( more international travel. except this trip is shorter and his boss will be going with him. we also have iphones now, so it will be easier for us to communicate anytime of the day. please pray for safe travels, peace of mind, and that we remember to focus on the Lord. Wes will come home sunday the 13th, we would both really appreciate your thoughts and prayers! thanks.

and thanks for reading! :)

March DIY

a present for my nephew. who should be here any day now!

because kelly's due date is this month, i dedicated my march DIY to greyson. it was another easy project, i completed it in one day. but totally adorable!

a letter with his name and a few animals to match his nursery. yellow and gray! i found it on pinterest and had planned to make it for my own children, however greyson will be here first! i'm already an aunt, but this is the first baby on my side of the family and the first boy.

every day we get a little closer to meeting him and every day i get a little more excited! 

i hope kelly likes it!

February DIY

monogrammed wreath!

sooo there has been a wreath hanger on our front door for months with nothing hanging on it.  i have a fall wreath with pumpkins and leaves, but i only use it for a few months out of the year.  i realized a monogrammed wreath would be perfect for the rest of the year! its pretty easy and cheap.

supplies: wreath, flowers, ribbon, initial, spray paint (color of your choice), and scissors.

first, i intertwined the flowers and used twine to secure them.

 

next, i tied the bow. i used wired ribbon. it was difficult to tie, but i think it will hold its shape better over time. i wish i could've found a white and gray chevron ribbon, i'm obsessed with it right now. still pretty.

then, i painted the letter. let it dry. and secured it to the wreath. my letter wasn't quite big enough to rest both ends on the wreath so i collected sticks from outside, shoved one end into the wreath and hot glued the other to the back on the letter. i probably could've thought of something a little sturdier, but it works. hah

the finished project! i totally love it! and if you think i'm super creative, don't be fooled. i found this idea on pinterest :)

sunshine

it has been a seriously long winter - record breaking amounts of snow, freezing cold temperatures, and many days of cloudy grey. bleh! my least favorite season.  but today the sun was shining and temperatures got into the 50's! only in Indiana would there have been an ice storm and more snow the day before this wonderful warm front, but it's fine because everything is melting!

spring is around the corner my friends, i can feel it. today i worked up the motivation to workout. this is good news! i have been a rut of sorts. i would just come home from work, eat dinner, watch tv, and go to bed. seriously lazy, so much netflix! this is a turning point...

plus i need to look good in my bikini for Wes and i's exciting vacation in August. we booked a trip to Sandals Grand Riveria, Ocho Rios, Jamaica! our first, and probably last, all inclusive vacation. we wanted to get in a luxurious and exciting adventure before we have kids and have no money. hah! its going to be awesome :)

anyways, 10 days until march and then it will be officially almost spring, march 20. i cannot wait for green grass, flowers, birds chirping, open windows, spring cleaning, washing my very dirty car, running outside, gardening, and vitamin D on my skin!

thank you Lord for today's sunshine and warmer temperatures. we all needed it. hooray for feeling refreshed.

January DIY

scrapbook!

i have finally started working on a wedding scrapbook. its still a work in progress. i've got all the pictures in place, i just need to spice up the pages!

and of course cleo helped the whole time, she goes where mommy goes.

i have absolutely enjoyed doing this little project. this was the perfect day for us to always remember. just looking through all the pictures gave me goosebumps. thank you to everyone who was a part of our wedding and to everyone who has been a part of our lives as a married couple. we are beyond blessed!

snowed in.

early sunday morning the snow began to fall...

it's now tuesday and i'm on my third snow day.  it's been called a winter storm, snowpocalypse, and the polar vortex.  we received about 11 inches, on top of the snow we already had, and temperatures have gotten down to -20 degrees with a wind chill of -50 or so.

i enjoyed the first snow day. the second was kind of funny. but today, i need out! i have serious cabin fever. i've watched a ridiculous amount of tv, cooked a couple meals, baked some cookies, and cleaned the house... a few times. wes and i went out sunday evening for a walk in the snow blizzard... it was still coming down at this point and the temperature was in the 20s. monday we hibernated, there was nooo way i was leaving the apartment in negative degree weather with a foot of snow on the ground. and today we went out for maybe 10 minutes; we took out the trash, started our cars, and snapped a few pictures. it was 2 degrees outside! yucckk. don't get me wrong, i've loved the time spent with wes. how often do you get stuck at home for 3 days in a row.

however, this weather is crap. i hate snow. and ice. and these cold temperatures. and this stupid winter storm knocked over my favorite lion king tree outside of our apartment complex building!

take me someplace warm.