I had fun surprising Arnold for Father's Day this year. I had put a little money from my paycheck back and picked out a charcoal grill for him.. he had been talking about wanting one for awhile. I also picked out a few new outfits for church for him and some IPA beer. I really didn't know at all what I was looking at, so I just read reviews online to help me pick a grill. Luckily the day I went into Target they had ONE left on the shelf! It was actually pretty heavy and I probably looked very silly loading it into my cart.. but oh well. I then spent forever on the beer aisle picking something out because I know NOTHING about beer! But Arnold ended up liking it all, and I was so happy I was able to keep the surprise ;)
Father's Day weekend we took the kids to the Lake Lure beach for the day. Lake Lure is in the NC mountains, and it is actually where I grew up vacationing every year with my parents. They had a condo up there and we went a few times a year. There is also a "beach" area there that is open for the public. The view is breathtaking, and the prices are actually very reasonable! Thanks to COVID, they were limiting the amount of people on the beach when we went, so we got there early and had to wait in a really long line to get in.. but it was worth it!! We took a cooler and had a picnic lunch.. then the kids got in the lake for awhile and went down the water slides. We stayed until we saw storm clouds, and we ended up getting back to the car JUST before the storm broke loose! We headed to a nearby place for icecream, then headed back home. It was such a fun family day, and we plan to go back soon.
Our sweet Sheldon Petey turned 7!! We love him bunches and he has brought all of us such joy! Arnold agreed to let me get him back when Rachel started school, because I said I would be sad and lonely and needed a buddy ;) He sure was just what I needed!!! :)
My brother and Sister-in-law came into town the last weekend of June and stayed with my mom and dad. While they were there Mom and I were able to throw Christina a baby shower.. although it wasn't really a shower so much as a very very small gathering with our family.. once again, thanks to COVID! But I wasn't going to let my SIL go without some sort of celebrating for baby Roman! They were also able to go out with us for my birthday.. which made me SO HAPPY because they usually aren't in town at that time!!
Ever since Christina told me she was pregnant I was on pinterest looking for shower ideas ;) I saw a bear theme and I thought it was adorable, so decided to roll with that. I ordered gold bear picks to go in the cupcakes, we had snacks and gummy bears of course, and we made homemade bear suckers. Brooke also helped me make this fruit shaped bear idea I saw. It turned out pretty cute!
We also made this bear out of a cheese ball! My sweet mom went back out to the store to get a cheese ball just for this, when she saw how into this theme I was, haha! Everyone knows I am a little crazy but I get intense with planning when I have an idea in mind!! At first it looked a little creepy and not like a bear at all, but Alex helped us smoosh the eyes in further :D
I turned 35 on July 1st! Brooke always says I am totally "extra" and that may be true.. but I love birthdays and I love celebrating. We went downtown and she took some pictures of me.
Mom made her famous homemade lasagna for me, just like every year! And this year Alex was actually in town to have some! Usually I take pics and send them to him to pick on him! Mom and I have a pic like this every year, for the past 10-15 years I think! It has become a family tradition. Dad laughs at me every year, but he knows I have to have my picture!
We went out to dinner at Dos amigos, one of my favorite restaurants, and had dinner. It was me, Arnie, the kids, mom and dad, Alex and Christina and a few of my friends. Sadly a few people didn't get to come due to vacations or sickness. But we still had fun! They told the waiter it was my birthday and they ended coming up behind me, put a sombrero on my head, and smashed whipped cream in my face!! Everyone got quite the kick out of it. Usually I get very embarrassed by things like that, but at least we were in the back party room at the time!!
My sweet friend Ana from work gave me a panera gift card for my birthday. I had taken the day of my birthday off, so I went there for lunch with Arnold. I got a grilled cheese.
Then I made Arnold go shopping with me. Bath and Body works had been closed FOREVER and finally opened back up, so I HAD to go get more soaps and wallflowers!
On the 4th of July we went to Mom and Dad's house and had ribs. well everyone there did except ME because I DONT eat meat on the bone!!!!! But we had a good time. And then our crazy neighbors kept putting off fireworks late into the evening.
Arnold and I are going through the process with our bank to try to refinance our house, and also to get a loan to help with some home improvements, and to pay off some debt. It was a WAY harder process than we had imagined. They did credit checks on both of us, made us fill out a HUGE stack of paperwork, turn in pay stubs, and then have a house appraisal done. Which we had to pay for by the way, and it was NOT cheap!!!! We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but we went crazy for 2 weeks trying to make the house look nice, and to fix up things, before the guy came out to look. Poor Arnold was so stressed and stayed up so late most nights, to get things done. The house actually does look pretty nice! We had the appraisal done Wednesday and we are now waiting to hear back from the bank!!! Wish us lots of luck and send prayers! This would be amazing for us and our future.
Here is Arnold picking out paint at Lowe's. Actually this is totally staged, as you can tell ;) He's used to me taking pics for my blogs! We just ended up with a darker version of the blue we already had in our living room, but it looks pretty good! We were able to cover up a lot of dents, and scratches, and other things that didn't look good!
Here is the living room after the fresh paint! Arnold did a great job! And Caleb even helped him do the trimwork! As you can see, I have my summertime pillows out ;) And that butterfly on the wall came from Hobby Lobby. It was actually an "outdoor" piece of art but I really loved it, so it works! I hope to eventually do a gallery wall in this room, and down our hallway. If anything, this whole process got me obsessed with fixing things up, and decorating. So I have a million ideas pinned on Pinterest for our next projects to accomplish. Poor Arnold!! ;)
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