It's A Great Day To Be Alive

Well wowsers, can't believe it has been a week since I last posted.  I've been up to lots and lots.  Some worth documenting, some were lame. We went down for the official Gordon Family Reunion at Cherry Hill this year.  I'd never been to Cherry Hill...and I'll be honest, I'm good with that being the first, and only time. Daren was being ornery for some reason.  It was incredibly hot/storming when we were there so he just wanted to sit in the trailer.  Oh well.  It's always a good time getting together with his dad's side of the family. It's so big, something which I am NOT use to.  I don't think Daren realizes how much fun it is for me since I have less cousins then he has aunts and uncles.

 

On Saturday, Kelsi, Chris, Mikey and I went on an adventure to Pepperidge Farm.  We left a little disappointed so we went to Gossners and 711 to make it worth it.  My, oh my, Gossners have jalapeno cheese curds.  Seriously, I'm in love!  Slurpees...not so much. Anyways, I forgot how much fun you can have going on the adventures around Logan.   I also attempted another "remake" from the thrift store up here.  Notice, no picture.  Yes, it ended up in the garbage.

In other news.  We got air conditioning installed a couple weeks.  Oh my glorious air.  Best money we've spent all summer.  Thank goodness our neighbor has a yappy dog, meaning it makes noise in the middle of the night when our windows are open(which I still make him open them during night, so it doesn't help necessarily) so it finally broke Daren down enough to get it installed. 

And also, I wanted to post pictures of my current living room.  I feel like it has changed so much, yet not at the same time.  And I'm sure there are some people out there who care....especially since I very rarely have visitors. 

I'm Daren's Little Mistress

Ok, he really meant seamstress but I'll take whatever Daren wants to claim me as.  Alright, so back tracking quite a bit.... Kelsi and I both managed to run into this website.  To give you the gist of what the website is.. this girl gave herself 365 days with $365 to make a new item of clothing out of something else.  Did that make sense? Wow, maybe you should just go look at the website.  Anyways, Kelsi and I both have come across that website and thought it would be an awesome project to try.  However, it was prior to Kelsi's wedding and she wanted to wait until after the wedding.  I said ok, little did I think it would get put on the back burner.  So, this past weekend.  I decided to forge ahead alone. 

I made my brother go to the DI with me to find my hidden treasure.  There were some GREAT fabrics to work with but I decided to go with an actual fabric I thought I would wear rather than material.  So, I got this awesome dress for $5 bucks.  It seemed obvious what I had to do to get it something I would wear.

 

I was excited and got working on it asap.  I unstitched a lot and cut away quite a bit of material.  I even sewed my finger in the process.  I'm impressed I didn't use any sort of pattern I just winged it. 

This is the end result.  Did I learn from some mistakes of what not to do next time? You betcha! But I'm currently wearing this shirt at work and I think it's super! Less than 24 hours time and only $5 bucks and you get a new shirt! I'm definitely going to be stopping by the local thrift stores more often.  This really was SO much fun!

That's One Hot Dog...

For the 24th this year we took the dogs on a hike up Millville.  On the way up there Meli actually jumped out Daren's car window....snatched herself a treat, someone's old half eaten hot dog.  Sweet.  She is a bad dog.  But they enjoyed running through the water. They were filthy.

Daren took a pretty good stumble when we were heading back down the mountain. He's ankles just aren't the same since that fight with Reece back at Christmas time.  I had to help him hobble down. Good grief.

Even after her snack before the hike, Meli found another hot dog on the hike.  Sick. This dog is trouble with a capital T!  She ate a bunch of grass/weeds as well....which she later threw up.

Kona took a good fall as well, her neck ended up bleeding.  We never did find an actual sore on her neck.  Not sure what happened but my family is falling apart.

Now, I need some help...hope someone out there can be some HUGE help for me.  As you know I hate camping.  Which means, I know NOTHING. Seriously, nothing.  But for our anniversary this year I want to SURPRISE(seriously, keep quiet- wouldn't you hate to be the one to ruin it?) Daren with an over night camping excursion...dogs and all.  However, there is a chance I'll back out of this, there is still a month for me to change my mind.  But do you reserve places? cost? Are some places where dog aren't allowed? I'm meaning serious roughing it.  Ha, maybe I'm in over my head.  Any information anyone can give me about this adventure I'm ready to embark on would be greatly appreciated!

July

I have had a really busy July! But I haven't quite figured out the best way to carry my camera around everywhere I go. One day...

We had a fire in my parents back yard on the 2nd so we could watch the stadium fireworks.  I forget how much I hate the smell of fire.  But nothing is better than a roasted marshmallow.  I'm not patient enough though to get it to that perfect golden brown. Bummer.

I had the whole week off after the 4th because my dad had meetings in New Orleans.  I got caught up on so many things around the house.  And TV :) 

My dad surprised Michael with a "really awesome gaming computer" I, of course, was in on the whole thing.  I even got the info needed from Michael for what his dream computer would need.  I don't think I have ever seen Michael so excited.  It was sweet. 

I went to a play at the Lyric theater with Whit and her mom.  We went and saw Blithe Spirit.  It was a good time! Whit is getting married in October and having her and Anita talk about her wedding is a hoot!

The next night I went to the Sound of Music at the Ellen Eccles Theater.  We went out to eat at Iron Gate Grill first.  It wasn't as disappointing as I thought it was going to be, dinner not the show.  The show was STUPENDOUS! But I really love the Sound of Music.  I felt so mature and I don't know the other word for going to two performances in a row.

Then over this past weekend we went to Lagoon! yay! I think Disneyland changed Daren's mind about amusement parks. I was hesitant to go this year but he was determined to go. 

It was a HOT day! Thankfully, it was pretty cloudy so it was a muggy heat and not super sunny. 

It was Kelsi, Chris, Mikey, AJ and us.  It was for Kelsi's work and once again I DID NOT WIN AT BINGO! Seriously, everyone else did.  It was no fun. But we finished the day off by going to Maddox for dinner. Yum!

Look at my grass! I really didn't think it was growing that much until I saw the picture from the last time I posted it. This picture was actually even taken about 2 weeks ago.  I'm impressed!

My Feet Are Aching

Weddings are A LOT of work... Especially if you are sister of the bride, it's being held in your parents backyard, and you were the chosen one to be in charge.  The day ran smoothly, if I do say so myself.  
 I can't wait to see all the pictures that they had taken, I was far too busy to even think of it so this is just a teaser of what actually happened!

I have to give a big thanks to Kelley and Andria for helping out SO much!  And here's to it being the last sister of the bride wedding!!!  

Congrats Kelsi and Chris!!! I hope I made it as perfect as possible!

Burn Out

I am currently experiencing  some major burn out.  I am (feel) incredibly overworked and lazy. I actually believe it all stemmed from Insanity.  Alright, I can't put all the blame on that.  I think I tried hard to do everything.  I finally see the light when people have a hard time putting themselves first.  There are a lot of things that have taken priority....

 Kelsi's Wedding

 Don't you love this picture of studly Michael.  He was mad...notice he took my phone away because I was trying to take his picture.

 

More of Kelsi's Wedding... 

We tied the balloons onto Charlie...he was terrified and it was adorable

My yard....

OH MY HECK! Grow grass grow.  But look how fantastic it looks thus far? I mowed the entire yard(well mostly) over the weekend and it wore me out.  What will I do when it's actual grass and not just weeds. Those suckers grow quickly and spread like wildfire. One day I'll have a beautiful yard ;)

My dogs....

I really want to get back into the running thing.  But I can't justify not taking my dogs on a walk...they deserve it and it is just as good as a run I suppose.  But the weather isn't cooperating with that either....

But really, I can't bring myself to do anything.  And I'm kind of a brat these days. So I apologize for it ;)  And really Kelsi's wedding hasn't taken over my life.  Nothing has...I don't do anything.  I'm just too dang lazy and burnt out to do anything.  It's a miracle I remembered to get some laundry done over the weekend.  Hopefully one of these days I'll get my head screwed on straight.

Next post hopefully I'll have a picture two snazzy girls(me and my niece Audrey) in our really snazzy dresses I made! Everyone pray for good weather please!

What A Weekend

Seth and Megan came for a visit this past weekend.  They came up so Seth could go turkey hunting with Daren.  The boys woke up at 3:30 to go out.  That's WAAAAY too early! We got to go to Texas Roadhouse that night though.  I love that place!

Oh Daren and his smile. 

On Saturday Kelsi's friends, Ashley and Katie, threw her a bridal shower.  What a great bridal shower.  There were wontons, you can't go wrong with wontons! And, of course, us Boston's know how to party. 

I loved the gifts Kelsi got. She finally got the quesadilla maker she's been dying for.  I also loved how embarrassed Leslie got at the gift she bought for Kelsi. Kelsi didn't get embarrassed.

Kennady got to be one of the ladies with us! She didn't want to know what happened on the wedding night. She was so cute when she got a little embarrassed.

After the shower we headed to Kelsi's apartment to look at Kelsi's bridals I got to be the assistant and help them with them.  You should go look at them and leave a comment.  They are super fantastic!

And most importantly, I got my braces off!!!!! Did anyone really notice in the previous pictures?  Kennady also got her braces off this week.  How wonderful it is to be able to eat whatever I want and not worry it's getting stuck in them.  Or do you know how great it is to be able to floss regularly?  Corn on the cob is just calling my name!!