Summer has arrived!

The day after Kaila's birthday, we headed over to Grams' to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the pool! Although summer is supposed to be just about over, the weather has finally started to FEEL like summer! It's absolutely fabulous! I'll take what we can get!

Thursday night was another beautiful evening, so I asked Taylor if he'd join me for a picnic date! I picked up some Meconi's sandwiches, we packed up our picnic basket (our gift from Aunt Alison for our wedding that is absolutely FABULOUS!) and headed to Falls Terrace! It's always fun to people watch. As if our evening wasn't romantic enough, there was an older couple...not "cute old" just older, that were making out for at least 30 minutes! NONSTOP! EWWW!

After dinner, we went for a walk with Alli and just enjoyed the evening. I'm so thankful for my sweet husband. He brings so much joy into my life.

I love summer!!!

My BABY sister turns 21! AHH!

My baby sister turned 21 on the 23rd of July! To celebrate, Mom hosted a BBQ in Kaila's honor. She had friends and family come and partake in some yummy food, visiting and delicious ICE CREAM cake! Afterwards, she went out with friends. With all of the ones she scored with her gifts, she should have hit up the strip clubs! She landed some pretty sweet booze, recovery kit and button to get some free drinks while out on the town. Here some pics of the BBQ:

Opening gifts

Grams and Taylor

Money money munEY

Moola

Booze

Awesome button to score free drinks

Booze!

Hangover/recovery kit

Friends/family

Birthday girl with her bday cake

Embarrassed at Aunt Cheryl's AWESOME singing voice

Miss LC with Auntie Kari

Nieceypoo, Papa and Me

Me and the one and only PAPA

Dorky face and all, he loves me

Picking on me

Sweet Papa

Love Him

The weather was splendid for Kaila's birthday. She's fortunate to have a late July birthday. I can't believe she's already 21! Happy birthday Sis! Love you tons

Me with the 21 year old BIRTHDAY GIRL!

All-nighter with my Niecey-Poo

I was so thrilled when my sister asked if I would be willing to LC-sit Saturday night! I haven't had many opportunities to be around here since she's been born so I was really really excited.
My sister and her friend RJ dropped my niecey-poo off around 11:15am. We visited for a bit and once my sis left, we played and played, and ate and napped, and played, and played, and ate, and shopped, and ate and played and then did NOT sleep :-)

Uncle Taylor really wanted to show off our sweetie pie visitor so we decided to do our typical Sunday shopping on Saturday night with LC. Prior to leaving my sister had called to check on LC and told me that she typically takes a long nap in the late afternoon. Well it was already early evening and she recommended that if she tried to fall asleep after 6pm, to only let her sleep for a bit so she would fall asleep around 10-11pm (way past my usual bedtime...I'm such an old-timer!)

Well we headed in to town around 6pm and she slept a little on the way. Taylor was determined to get her a jacket because of the weather and she didn't have a long sleeve shirt of coat- so to Target we went. Uncle Taylor picked out the cutest little outfit. He changed her in the car after we picked up a few other items on our list. Unfortunately I picked up the 9month size since she is almost 12 months old, but it was WAY too big, so I ran back into Target and exchanged it for the 6 month. Uncle Taylor also wanted to buy something for her cute little locks, so HEEE picked out some cute little bows. Once we got her all dolled up, we headed to Safeway. We did our grocery shopping, picked up some dinner and headed home.

Cute Bow Uncle Taylor bought me

Cute outfit Uncle Taylor picked

9:30 rolled around and she finally appeared to be getting sleepy so we mellowed down the play time and tried some relaxing time. (that didn't really work) Around 10 or probably a little after, I took her to bed with me, but she was NOT having it. I think we over-exhausted the poor thing! Not to mention she was in a new place. So finally at close to 11 Taylor suggested we take her for a ride. This did the trick. We drove around and she was OUT. We laid her down and I hit the sac too. At about 1:30am, she woke up and could not stop crying so I brought her to bed with us. She slept really rough and woke up every thirty minutes or so. I haven't watched a young baby over night since I was a teenager! So finally at 4:30am when she woke up and didn't appear to want to go back to sleep, I got up, made her a bottle, turned on Bee Movie and she fell asleep. Although she still tossed and turned, she did sleep until 8:10am. She woke up happy as could be...but it truly felt like we got barely any sleep!

This morning we played and played, took a bath, played some more and she went home with her mommy. It was so fun to have her around! We are looking forward to one day becoming parents, but in the meantime, spoiling other little ones and being able to nap after they are gone is also quite satisfying!

Thanks LC for sleeping over with Auntie Kari. I am thankful your Mommy asked if you could over.
Can't wait til next time! Love yah

Lakefair 2011

Taylor and I headed down to Lakefair for dinner on Thursday night. We decided to splurge and boy did we ever. I had the worst child-like stomach ache pretty much all day Friday, it was terrible.

The weather hadn't been great, but fortunately it wasn't raining while we were down there. We saw Bill and Heidi who take Haylee each year to Lakefair. We visited for a bit but then hit the food stands:

First stop:
Corn Dog- Kari
Chili Dog- Taylor
Curly Fries - we shared

Second stop:
Shrine cheeseburger/single - Kari
Shrine cheeseburger/double - Taylor

Third stop:
Elephant Ear - Kari
Elephant Ear - Taylor

Fourth stop:
Roastbeef sandwich - Taylor

Fifth stop:
Mud pie - Kari & Taylor shared

Now you see why I had such a terrible stomach ache Friday and truly felt like I was going to barf on Thursday night....imagine if we would have gone on rides!!!!! It was so fun though! We are good team of eaters! Haha

Saturday was the Lakefair 8k Race (remember that is 5 miles). Last week I only ran two times in preparation of the race because the weather has been SO freakin' terrible. I like to run, but I'm not so in love with it that I enjoy running in the rain. Not to mention I run on my lunch breaks which would mean I'd be a mess for the 2nd half of my days. I was worried about Saturday's race, but when I ran on Friday I had a really good time for the 2 mile route we take, so I thought I'd be okay.

Well, I woke up Saturday morning and it was POURING. I wanted to bail but I had already paid so sucked it up, grabbed a jacket and headed out. Fortunately the rain subsided a bit, but it was pretty much misty/drizzly the entire way. I do not have my time yet, but I'm pretty confident I beat my goal of 50 minutes. That's all I wanted! Even if it was 49:59, I'll be happy. I timed it with my phone and it appears I beat my time, but the app I use on my phone also showed that I ran through Capitol Lake so I don't know. We'll have to wait and see.

Taylor met me at the finish line. I love how supportive he is of me! There he was, cheering me on, waving and taking photos. He's truly the best!!!

We didn't stay for the award ceremony because I had to get home to shower, pickup the house and anxiously await the arrival of our Niecey-Poo LC! She was spending the night!!!..........................

Here I come!

ALMOOOOST

Me, Angel and Nicole

Angel and Me



My sweet Taylor and me



The 4th of July Weekend

For the Fourth of July weekend, Taylor had the Friday before off, so his weekend was a 4 day weekend! Lucky guy!
Saturday the 3rd, we went out to Pelligrino's for breakfast: we used to go to breakfast all the time but we've since cut back on that expense and the extra calories. The weather was beautiful so we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed a lovely breakfast together.
Taylor schedule for the firewood to be dropped off on this day too, so when we got home, he was busy cutting up the wood with his chainsaw while I weeded the front of yard near the road. I couldn't believe how overgrown it was! Unfortunately I didn't get an after shot, but I did get a before: Embarrassing!

I did manage to get it all cleaned out so it looks beautiful again. There is just so much yard work to do...it's truly never ending.

Sunday we went and saw T R A N S F Ormers 3 - in IMAX 3D! The movie wasn't as good as I had hoped, but it had good entertainment value.

On Monday the Fourth, we joined the Zabel's at their lake property to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. We relaxed, went on the boat and just visited while absorbing some much needed vitamin D. After the lake we headed to a BBQ with them and from there went to their place to do fireworks with them and their family. Our very first 4th was also spent with the Zabel's...we love them so much.

We were splashed by the freezing cold water! YIKES!

Firewood

Taylor has been really anxious to purchase some logs for firewood for the upcoming winter. I harass him for being so responsible, but I'm truly so thankful for his dedication to our little family.

When the weather wasn't TERRIBLE, as it recently has been, we managed to purchase the logs, he got them cut up and WE got it all split. We are ready for winter! From the looks/feel of it, it may be just around the corner!

May not look like much, but it was a giant truck load full!3 cords total

After cutting it all up with his fancy chainsaw

Using the Log Splitter

Last piece on the log splitter

Go baby, go!

At the end of the first day



Only a little left for the next day



Winter Firewood

Taylor's buddy from work let us borrow his wood splitter for the weekend. We got started pretty early on Saturday morning (7-9-2011) and finished up Sunday morning. Fortunately the weather was beautiful so we worked on our tans and got some major work done. We had a nice little system going which made the overall time really good considering we split and stacked it all. The weekend was really fun - I was glad I could actually help out Taylor with such a big project.
I am so thankful for Taylor, I can't stress that enough. I love him with my whole entire heart :-) And it's going to be a nice and warm heart this winter!!!
A big thanks to Larry for saving us time and money by letting us borrow the wood splitter: you're a lifesaver!

Father's Day

For Father's Day this year, Heidi wanted to surprise Bill on Saturday night, by having all of the kids show up to their weekly bowling night. All of the kids and even Haylee were able to make it! Bill was definitely surprised to see us all - Heidi's gift was a hit!
Sunday morning was Father's Day breakfast at Dom, Chris and Haylee's place. Haylee was spending the day with her Daddy, so it was just the 6 of us (PK has been experiencing some health issues, so was unable to make it). We brought some goodies, but Chris prepared the majority of the breakfast. We had toast, eggs, chili, sausage, fried potatoes and fruit. Full bellies were had by all afterwards!
As for the gifts, Heidi gave Bill a few new shirts, Dom made her dad a shirt, and we bought him a new "over shirt" and a Blu-Ray "Battle Los Angeles". Probably Bill's best gift was that after the breakfast was over, they bought a new PUPPY! Her name is Callie and she is so freakin' adorable. She is a pure bread Rottweiler. Unfortunately the week before Father's Day Bill and Heidi had to put both of their dogs down- so the added addition really helped heal some broken hearts.

We failed to take any pictures on the day of the evening, but right before we all headed out, Heidi managed to get two:

After breakfast we headed over to Taylor's Grandpa Johnston's house to visit with him. It's always fun to hear Grandpa's war stories, and his comparison's on the costs of things today from when he was young. After our visit, I called my Papa to see if we could meet up with him, but he was headed back to Elma. He said that our family had a Father's Day/Graduation breakfast and then helped my Aunt move; I hadn't heard of the event so was unable to meet up with him there to give him his Father's Day hug, kiss, and gift. He promised he'd call me the next time he was in town and yesterday, he did! Taylor was working, so I headed to The Blvd. We visited for a couple hours and he even let me get two pics! It truly did my heart good to see him, as it has been quite a while. He means so much to me.


The sun was RIGHT in our eyes!



My handsome Papa

Grandpa Fred and I are getting together for lunch for his Father's Day gift. I didn't get the chance to see him, but I will at lunch! Where to go, where to go...

Me and Gpa Fred

Grandpa Johnston with his Grandkids

Papa giving me away

Happy Father's Day to all the Grandpa's, Dads and Dads-to-Be. Your commitment to your families is so appreciated...we love you!!