The Hubs is 30!

The hubster turned the big ol' 3-0 a couple of weeks ago.  I was planning a surprise party.  Until I ruined it by accident.  In hind's sight thought, it was a lot easier to pull off with him knowing about it.

As equally great as I am about keeping invitations hidden (*ahem*), I'm also equally great about taking lots of pictures at events like this.  :/  So here is just a small glimpse of our (very hot, but super fun) birthday party! :)

 Her "cheese" face

Sista love

This is the most brilliant way to eat watermelon!  I will never again serve watermelon any other way!  I used a knife to cut a slit in the rind so the popsicle stick slid in easier.  Then you freeze them for a yummy, healthy "melon-sicle".  Easy, hardly any mess for the kiddos, and so fun!  I'm pretty sure my child ate 5 or 6 pieces.  Gave this momma a scare the next morning when I changed a bright red diaper. 

Grown ups enjoy eating their watermelon this was as well. 

Can't stop giggling at E's face!  What is she doing??

 

We love playing with our friends!!

Not even a picture of the birthday boy??? *Eesh* I will now give up rights to my camera.  

Brilliant

I will never serve watermelon any other way from now on. Non-messy, kid-friendly, and cute ta boot! Hello summer!!

WIW: Flabbergasted

Last week I didn't weigh.  I forgot in the morning, and honestly I assumed the scale hadn't moved again (or had gone up)...  Life is now starting to resemble "normal" for us again (even though it's a new normal), but I have not been very good about going to the gym. 

I got on the scale this morning and stared at the number trying to let it compute for literally 20 seconds.  At first I was trying to figure out how much I had gained, but there was a new number next to the first number... A number I haven't seen in a very long time.  Like maybe 4 years?  So I stood on the scale while my brain played catch up.  Four pounds lost!  So that brings the total since I started officially tracking: 8.  Total since my body "settled" after having a kid: 15. 

I told my mom that maybe stress should be my new diet plan.  I'm only kidding, but I'm still perplexed as to how those four pounds left.  I am not (and have NEVER been) one of those people that weight loss comes easy.  Sometimes I feel like I have to work four times as hard as someone else to get the same result.  I mean c'mon, if a dessert is within 50 radial feet of me I gain a pound.  If I just smell a cookie that's an automatic three pounds.  A bite?  I'm done for.  The only explanation I can think of is that I've been better than I though about calorie intake.  I have been carefully watching what I eat (and what I don't eat)...  And I haven't been eating much in the evenings (unless it's a fruit slushie or fruit snacks, haha!)

This week's weigh-in has definitely encouraged me to get back in the exercise saddle again.  I've rearranged my house so that my treadmill isn't adorning the living room (yeah! I have my living room back!!).  It's in the basement all set up and ready to go (just need a little tv/dvd to really motivate me) :)

The Lost Has Been Found!!

My daughter found my lost diamond earring the other day!  On the floor. The floor that I have swept at least twice since losing the earring. Something tells me I may need a new vacuum. But that's another post for another day.  Or never.  

The Lake (Part 1?)

I said a couple of posts ago that life has been kind of crazy lately.  One of the reasons is that a few weekends ago (May 18th to be exact) was the last weekend we had with the family cabin.  It happened more quickly than any of us anticipated, but it had to be sold to continue health care for Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandpa and Grandma bought a lot on a small private lake in 1981 and built a little A-frame cabin on it...

{looking back from the dock}

I had a grandeur idea to write this wonderful eloquent post full of the memories from my 28 years of summers at the lake... But words are failing me.  If only I could plug my brain in and just transfer the memories like videos on a flash drive.  Now that I think about it, maybe I'll do a "Lake Chronicles."  That seems a little less intimidating.  :)

{This welcomes everyone who visits the cabin}

My siblings and I would often get to go with Grandma and Grandpa for a whole week to the lake.  Sometimes it was a couple of us, sometimes all four, and sometimes it was just the girl cousins and we would have a fashion show down by the lake with Grandma's old bikini from the 70's.  One of my favorite parts of being at the lake was that there was no inhibitions.  You didn't have to dress a certain way (heck, you didn't have to dress at all, you could wear your swimsuit all day if you wanted, which we did most of the time) or act a certain way, and you could just do what you wanted all day.  Those were the days. :)

On the drive there, Grandma would always pack towels for us to use as blankets.  Grandpa always froze us out. ;)  To this day I'm not sure why she used towels... Maybe because they were smaller than a blanket?  Maybe since we were going to need towels when we got there, she was killing two birds with one stone?  This last trip up my daughter and I rode with my parents (Chris wasn't able to make it)...  I got a bit chilly and the very first thought I had was to cover up with a towel.

{Momma making her traditional "Flag Brownie" for the 4th}

The drive to the cabin was one of my favorite parts...  I can't count the times I've driven it alone with my music cranked, leaving the world and its worries behind.  At 2 1/2 hours, it was the perfect amount of time to figure out your life and sort out your thoughts.  Then when you got to the cabin, all you had to do was relax. :)  My husband and I had a tradition of listening to Josh's Turner's "Would You Go With Me" song (really loud) when we turned off the main highway and onto the 30 minute stretch of back country roads.  Once you're on those country roads, you can almost guarantee that any car that passes you will give you the friendly farmer wave.  Oh, how I love the farmer wave.  Pointer finger lifted off the steering wheel.  Such a simple gesture, but it just does something to my heart....

Early Father's Day & Birthday for the Man of the House

The hubs has had the same grill for 6 years now (got is as a wedding gift), and it was looking pretty pathetic.  So I thought it was due time to upgrade him.  Well I couldn't wait until Father's Day/his birthday (June 14th), so a few weeks ago (when he still had a job and was gone for the day) I went out and bought it, then called my brother to see if he could help me put it together (thank you Jesus that he could).  I text Chris to see if he wanted to cook out that evening, and of course he obliged...  We like to cook out around here. ;)  So I put the cover on the grill and took it to the back porch, closed the curtains and waited for him to get home...  Well, then I waited forever for him to get hungry so he'd start grilling!  I kept saying, "anytime you're hungry, I'm ready to eat!"...

First part of the video he says "you got a cover for the smoker" before he realizes it's just a whole new (very large) grill... Along with his old grill, we also had a separate smoker.  Now it's just all-in-one.  :)