Stickin' it to the man...

Who LOVES these?!?!

Me. I saw these in a catalog a long time ago and this picture has been on my fridge since then. Thinking that perhaps I could recreate them?! Seeing as how they are $80-$100?!?!

My awesome sister-in-law, Angie, gave me this cork board months ago because she wasn't going to use it, so I gladly accepted.

And for just under $10 I made my own version. I found a great stencil and got some paint and got this final result!!

I love stickin' it to the man...

Let There Be Light!!

Because I am just so excited about this I have to share...

My friend James was so nice to change my out my hideous round light fixture in my kitchen for a pretty track light from IKEA!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

AHHHHHH...Did you hear the angels singing???

Well I did. It's just a beautiful thing and I just love it!!!

Beach, Nose, 4th of July!!!!

I am going to try to sum up the last few weeks in pictures. I went to the beach with the family in June and we had a wonderful week!!

Here's Uncle Patrick with Ethan, he spent most of the week with his hands in the air just as happy as he could be.

Here are the guys looking out and I think they were all wearing Star Wars shirts...

Our favorite beach visitor, Al, came for a couple of days and brought another amazing dinner!!

I also got my nose pierced last week with a couple of girl friends from work. I've always wanted to do it so I just went for it!! Here is the BEFORE pic:

DURING:

(I really am not crying. I was actually giggling knowing how silly I looked.)

AFTER:

This is my good friend Sherry and I had to include this picture because of the guy who I let put a needle through my nose. I could not stop staring at his "ears"!!! Do your ears hang low??

These pictures are from the 5th of July with the family at my parents house. The kids were fun as always. And Ethan is a walker!!!!

And here is the 4th of July out at the Branch Ranch. We grilled out, fished, kayaked, hung out, fellowshipped, and fireworked!!!

Nathan touching a fish for the first time...

And one more 4th of July celebration at Eric's house with lots of friends...

Ashleigh got to come!!

And my American flag cake that I made!! Very yummy and so fun looking!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th!!!

Lately

I've been up to lots of things lately!!!

This week is currently the LONGEST week of the year just because I have vacation next week!! WHOOO!!!

Here is the Mastroianni family at the Alabama Slamma Party. They are moving to Alabama after being here for 3 years. Melissa has been a great friend and it's been so fun watching both of her kiddos grow up!! They are both so beautiful!! I will miss you Melissa!!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being with the Mills family for their big wedding activities!!! This one is from the Bridal Luncheon at the Branches house.

Her Hosteses

And here is one of my sweet niece. She is so beautiful and is all about me trying out my new camera on her!!

I haven't updated in a while!

I will start off with my exciting trip to IKEA a few weeks ago! Me and my friend Ashleigh from work met in Salisbury and drove down together. We didn't get the memo about starting on the top floor and working your way down, so we ended up seeing the downstairs 3 times!! But we got some great stuff and shared a $1 meatball plate with a piece of cake and a fun Sparkling Pear drink!! Thanks for a fun time Ash!!! I've been spending a lot of time with my new friend (even though we have known eachother for about 3 years now)! She's become my photographing buddy and guru, my workout buddy, and my go-to friend at work. Love you friend!

So super excited!!!

Last weekend me and my brother made our mom and nice Mother's Day dinner. We had a nice time and any time I get to spend with the kiddos is wonderful! Ethan is crawling like crazy and is so giggly and sweet I couldn't put him down!!

And on Mother's Day we had a big cookout/hangout at the Branch Ranch because Byron and Sarah came home for vacation! It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we sat, walked, talked, caught up with everyone. It was such a great time and it was great to get to spend time with everyone!

Here's my friend Ashling a.k.a Flower Princess. She's one of the sweetest kids I have ever been around. Yesterday I was holding her during church and she played with my earlobes like she does with anyone in her family, so you know she really likes you when she gets that comfy! Such a sweet girl!!

And Nathan made a new friend with Bunny Groves! He loved that animal!!! And his mommy ; )

And from this weekend, here's me and Luke!

The next few weekends are going to be very fun!! This weekend I am going to Charlotte with some friends, Bowman Gray race on Saturday, and Brittany's wedding shower on Sunday! Then the next weekend probably going to a Nascar race in Charlotte and a Memorial Day party and then Brittany gets married the next weekend! And then the beach with the fam!!! I am loving summer so far!!

Hope everyone has been doing great!!!

WHOO!!

Isn't this pretty??? Hopefully we will see more of this as I learn about my new camera and what all I can do! I'm a little overwhelmed, but it will be my new hobby!!

Spring is in full force!! So that means lots of being outside!! Last weekend I spent Sunday with my family. Ava and Jackson wanted to ride in the car with me and insisted to have all the windows down and the sunroof open so they grabbed their booster seats and hopped right in!!

Jackson wanted some shades...and he just looked too cute with his plaid pants on!!

After lunch we went home and headed to the park to spend the beautiful day outside!! Ethan had a blast!! Ethan also started crawling the day before I was there so I got to see that!!!

And today I walked the Hopsice Hope 5K run/walk in town. We had a big group from our church participate and out of 1,500 people our church won the prize for the largest church group!!! We were pretty excited and the weather was great and it was for such a good cause! This was a first for me and it was really cool to see the community joining together for something so great.

My walking buddy Kelly...

The whole group!

I have also been on a weight loss program and so far I have lost 12 pounds!!! I'm really noticing a difference in my clothes and my energy, so give me a couple more months and I will be looking like one hottie...haha just kidding!