Memorial Day Recap & A Yummy Recipe

 

My brother and his wife came to visit us for Memorial Day. When they got into town Saturday night, we had dinner on the patio and played a game then watched a movie. We got up early Sunday and took their boat and our kayaks out on a fishing adventure on Veteran's Lake (a fitting name for a lake on Memorial Day).

 

 My brother got the catch of the day on his third cast. He caught a few smaller ones after that. Aaron and I didn't get so lucky :(

 Yes, I believe in flotation devices. Especially when the water is high and there are storms brewing in the distance. I don't take any chances.

 It was so relaxing and I managed to get quite the sunburn despite the clouds.

 Love these two and so thankful for the relationship we have with them.

Cuties!

 

Sausage and Shells Recipe:

I made a new recipe for them on Saturday night. I have been following Mix and Match Mama's blog since I found out she was Sean Lowe's (the Bachelor) sister, but I've never looked at her cooking blog or tried any of her recipes. I always drool over her pictures of food at the end of her posts, but I decided to try one of her recipes and it was SOO good and easy.

 

 

You can find the recipe here. I will definitely be trying more of her recipes soon.

Currently....

Since I've been struggling to get back into the weekly blog post routine, here's my latest monthly update.

-My mom and I took a girl's trip to Galveston, TX to photograph the vow renewal of my friend/previous boss Robbin and her husband Rick. They celebrated 35 years with a beach vow renewal and then a cruise. It was fun to celebrate with them and capture their sweet day. Their daughter and her husband also participated in the renewal after 3 years of marriage.

 

-The following weekend, we were supposed to have another girl's weekend in Ft. Worth with my  cousin and aunt, but we had to cancel due to the weather. Although Aaron and I had to hang out in our storm shelter for a while and we lost power, we still had a wonderful weekend at home. We got to relax and get the house unpacked and situated some. Here are a few pics of the house, it is still a work in progress, but it's starting to come together.

 This might be my favorite part of the living room. I found a new use for my mattress springs and I love the way it turned out.

The dining room.

 The back patio. This is probably the space we have used most. We bought a small patio set and put up patio lights for cookouts and gatherings. I read in the hammock all the time out there since it's now covered and I've caught Aaron sleeping out there a few times. We have pretty much eaten every dinner outside since we moved in. It is glorious!

 The den. This room still needs some work. I've got a lot of blank space to fill and I have to figure out the best way to arrange the furniture and fireplace mantle.

 Our bedroom. Wish I had the guts and time to tackle painting the bedroom set, but I don't know if that will ever happen. I would also like to find another night stand for my side of the bed.

 The guest bedroom. Also still needs some work, but I can decide where to hang everything yet.

 This is in the front entryway. We really don't know what to do with this formal living space because we don't have any furniture to fill it so this is pretty much all I've got for now. I have some ideas in my head, but I don't want to buy a bunch of new stuff for a rent house.

 The front entry way table, also in the formal living room.

I did find these clear acrylic chairs for the entryway. I told Aaron I found the exact chairs I was looking for and I couldn't pass them up. I found them for a really good deal at Ross. When I brought them home Aaron was appalled. He thinks they are terribly ugly and serve no purpose. It is now a running joke and every time he walks into that room he acts like he stubbed his toe on the chairs since they are "invisible." You probably also think I'm crazy for buying these, but I plan on getting a cute table to put in between the chairs and I want to get white fur pillows to put on them. I think they will be cute once it all comes together....we'll see.

 

-Last weekend we had our first over night guests. Our friends from Mammoth came to visit us as well as our friends Nick and Paige. The boys went fishing while the girls went shopping. We stayed up way too late both nights and we took a swim in "daddy's secret pond." You would have had to been there to catch on to that one. ;)

Samson got lots of attention all weekend and he was so exhausted after everyone left.

 

-This weekend my aunt came to stay with us. We just relaxed and stayed inside most of the weekend due to the rain, but we got to show her around and try out some new restaurants. She brought her three doggies and they played and played and played.

 The sweetest cousin pups!

Handsome boys.

 

-Now, we are waiting on my brother and sister-in-law to get here. They are coming to see the new place and then we are going to spend Memorial Day kayak fishing on the lake.

 

Please say a prayer for everyone in Oklahoma (and everywhere else) dealing with all the flooding. I have seen so many crazy stories and pictures and I pray that everyone stays safe and the rain subsides.

 

Hope you all have a happy and safe Memorial Day!

The New House: Before Pictures

I thought I would share a few before pictures of the new house. My blog is one of the best motivators for me to get things done and put together as far as my home is concerned. I'm hoping this will help me get things marked off my to-do list since I will be sharing after pictures. Since it is a rent house we won't be doing a lot of stuff to the house, mainly just decorating. It is killing me not to paint the walls and wood work because I do not like the colors at all, but I'll just have to get over that. So far we've moved all our big furniture in and we have all the boxes and stuff put away. We still have a few more loads of small stuff to bring over from the "love shack" and we have to unload the rest of the small things from our storage unit. 

 

 Here is the backyard and the patio. Please ignore the jungle....this was before we got it mowed. Aaron bought a riding lawn mower because there was no way he was going to push mow the whole thing. Samson is so happy here because he finally has a yard to run free in and he has taken full advantage of it. He never wants to come inside and he waits by the back door a lot.

 Another view of the patio. We bought a patio set yesterday and we got that and our hammock set up under the patio. We are looking forward to grilling out a ton this summer.

 Here is the kitchen. We finally have a kitchen that holds all of our stuff. Behind the fridge is another back door and the laundry room. The laundry room also has tons of storage and a pantry.

 This is the front formal entry sitting area. We have no clue what we are going to do with this space because we don't have any furniture to put in it so right now it's just a big blank room.

 Another view of the kitchen and dining room.

 If you go right from the front entry way, you will step down into the den. I'm so excited to have a fireplace!! This room is huge and it makes our furniture look like Barbie doll furniture.

 Another view of the den.

 Here is one of the three bedrooms. They all are pretty much the same size and look like this.

The guest bathroom. I'm loving all the storage because I have WAY too much hair/makeup/bath&body stuff.

 The master bathroom. Hooray for having two bathrooms again!!!

The master vanity/sink.

 

Anyway, as I get the house put together and decorated I will post the after pictures. Now that we have the space, we would love to have visitors and we can't wait to host a house warming party/cookout this summer with friends!