Kitchen Reno ...

When we bought our house a year and a half ago we had toyed with the idea of redoing the kitchen.  Don't get me wrong, the kitchen was completely functional however; being in such an old house there is limited storage space and this included limited space in the kitchen. 

Seeing as my dad designs kitchens it only made sense to talk to him about it.  He measured, drew up plans, and gave us a quote.  And then, we saved saved saved :)  

We decided that doing the reno right at the completion would be the perfect time ... right?! ;)

So, after school got out I packed up our kitchen and then two days later - our new kitchen was delivered! 

It was a WHOLE lot of cabinets!  But, first - we had to demo {or rather the hubs had to demo!}

And that he did, with a little help from the pup ...

And a little help from both our dads! 

The next day - mom and I headed to our cousin's graduation open house and let the boys begin the install! 

They worked SO hard ALL day! 

I think the highlight for the hubs was using the nailer - which now he swears he needs one of his own :)

Work continued the next day ....

After taking my parents out for breakfast {as a thank you for ALL their help with the install}, the hubs definitely passed out!  I just noticed now in this picture that apparently Otis thought he should cuddle with one of his toys - he put his hot dog on his back, ha! 

Later that evening more work continued as we added the pulls to the drawers ...

AND then a week later - our counter-top was delivered and the hubs dad came down to help install that. 

This project definitely would not have happened without the help of our dads, and the hubs hard work too!  While we still have white cabinets on the wall - we enlarged the island {a ton!} and changed that to grey cabinets along with adding a pantry cabinet.  We are still going to redo the backsplash and change our lighting ... but that probably will wait until fall to be completed.

I cannot wait to use our new countertop to bake cookies galore on!! :)

And of course I must include a picture of the pup.  He was a trooper as our house was a construction zone and earned a new giraffe {his favorite toy}.  He disappeared at one point while we were working and apparently decided giraffe had to see the great outdoors :)

2 years down ...

This past Monday the hubs and I celebrated two years of married bliss.  How it can already be TWO years, well, it's beyond me! Time sure has flown by while we're having fun! 

We decided to just do a little get away for dinner that evening - seeing as it was a BEAUTIFUL day - and our kitchen is still a disaster {more on that later} - we thought finding some place different for dinner would be the perfect way to celebrate.  

So we ventured off to Frankfort.

It was a bit of a drive but it was so beautiful out that neither one of us really minded at all ...

We walked the pier.  Met a new friend {RJ} who was reeling in some big fish. Watched the waves crash. And just enjoyed some time just the two of us. 

It really was a the perfect little spot with not to many people to just slow down and enjoy.  After the business of wrapping up the school year I think both of us just needed a little time away from "our town" :)

We made reservations at The Fusion downtown and OH MY GOODNESS was the food AMAZING!!!  We of course got some sushi - and wantons - and pot stickers - and the hubs got some pad Thai ....

And after ... well ... we were FULL FULL FULL! 

A perfect little summer evening and a place we will definitely be visiting again! 

Oh so hot ...

Someone tried to steal my spot in bed - so so hot out! 

The Hub's sister got married last weekend -- and it was an absolutely gorgeous day! 

We reunited with friends from the Hub's college days ...

We headed out to the cherry fields for pictures ... 

I cannot wait to see the professional pictures, it was an absolutely perfect setting! 

We rode the party bus and pretended we were in college again {which we paid for the next day ... or two ...} 

We had fun with friends ... 

And, yes - my dress by the end of the night was trashed! ;) 

But it was a fun night, a good night, a night to remember! 

A sports filled Saturday ...

One of the hardest things is being so far away from my little loves.  During college I was in the same town as my sister - which meant when the first niece arrived I was there.  In fact, I even LIVED with them for awhile.

It is always hard on me when I realize that life is now busy - I'm not living the carefree college life and have work and other obligations which means I don't get down to see the little ones nearly as much as I'd like.  But, I guess that's what happens as we get older and life just happens to get busier. :)

So this weekend, I was beyond excited that I was going to be able to see all THREE of my sister's kiddos playing in their sporting events.

We started with Kylynn playing softball.

And went back and forth to watch Easton playing T-Ball.

It was chilly out - oh so chilly - but we had warm drinks, warm clothing, and it was the perfect excuse to get in some cuddles ;)

Later on we were able to watch Addisyn in her soccer game! 

We then enjoyed some time at my sister's new house - helping them unpack and enjoying time with the family.  My brother came to town with his two little loves - who were cracking us up! 

And apparently moving is exhausting work for Easton - poor little buddy!

When returning home we picked up the pup - who after getting a bath {he had WAY too much fun at Frank's!} has been sleeping ever since. 

A funfilled weekend in deed! 

Day lilies for days ...

I am not a gardener.  I kill anything that's green - not on purpose.  But even my succulents, which apparently are SO easy to keep alive and require little work, yeah, I killed those.  I have ONE plant that I've managed to keep alive, and for that - I'm pretty darn proud.

SO, when it comes to the great outdoors I love that our yard is pretty much a cut-everything-back in the spring and it will reappear {many thanks to the previous owners!}.  But, apparently our day lilies were getting a little out of hand - and who knew they're not suppose to be right up against the house because they can ruin the foundation?!? Yeah, this girl didn't know that!  

So this past weekend I dug - and dug - and dug out day lilies. 

And when I say dug and dug - oh I mean DUG and DUG!  These little suckers are HARD to get out.  And, a word of advice if you'd like it - this is not to be done with a hand shovel.  We might have had to make a home depot run to get a larger shovel {which we didn't have} after I bent the hand shovel time and time again --- oops! 

But I'm happy to say that I succeeded in taking out an entire row of day lilies.  There are still PLENTY left, but now there is a nice space between the flowers and the house.  And my body - oh how my body still aches from squatting and digging - and digging and squatting ...

As a bonus - I was able to gift some of the day lilies to people - yes, we sure did have day lilies for DAYS! :)