Summer 2011 - Top Ten

This might be the longest post ever. EVER.

1. Celebrating SIX years together with my awesome husband. Things aren't always rosy up in here, but I love him. He gets it. He's my lobster.


August 6th, 2011

We went out to his parents' for swimming and then Jenny, Kirsten and I went to the mall. GLORIOUS DAY. I bought new shoes and some jewelry at Forever 21. I felt like a rock star. Then we all went out to dinner at Red, Hot and Blue. It was a perfect day.



Have you not been to a restaurant with The Hud? Oh. You should try it sometime. It's fun. Luckily Red, Hot and Blue is never super crowded when we go and he can run around without ruining people's supper!



Maddy and her Oreo face -




If you happen to notice that her skirt is a bit short, well, it's size 18 months. !!! Too cute on her, but it's about time to give it up.




2. Craft nights with friends -

We ate way too much crap, stayed up way too late, and spent too much money! (Well, I did.) But this summer, we bonded, big-time, and I love it. If I can't have a lot of family nearby, this is definitely the next best thing.

June

Stacie's husband was out of town for a month or so early on in the summer. We knew that in order to get her at the craft night, and let her creativity rain down on us, we had to gather at her place. :) We did it a few times and it was awesome!



Holly had us over one night to watch The Bachelorette and make a cute 4th of July craft. Holly fancies herself a woodcutter. She does great work!



July

One Friday night, Shannon got her husband and kids a hotel room (gasp!) and we all had a sleepover!! We stayed up til like, 3 AM - talking, crafting, laughing our guts out, eating, oh June!! It was a blast!



Shannon was so cute, her and Shellie (our Scentsy SuperStar Director!) hooked us up with some stuff.







3. Awesome concerts

Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton & Jerrod Niemann

Spence and Heather bought two too many tickets to this concert so they invited us to go. It. Was. Incredible. Does anyone else feel like after they see someone in concert, they know them on a first-name basis? We'd seen Brad Paisley before, way back before we were married, I think, and since we'd been at that concert all day / night, we left while he was playing. The person I was most excited to see was Jerrod. I have... well, kind of a deep love for him. His songs are amazing and he's a great songwriter too, which really gets me. Oh, and did I happen to mention that these seats were on the floor? 17th row?! Thankyouverymuch. Yes, indeed.

Of course Texas had been going through this 'One Million Days of 100*+ Weather' so we waited until the last minute to go. People were sun stroked right and left. Friends! Heat + Alcohol = NO GOOD! Even with the heat, the sun and all the stinky people, we loved it.






Kix Brooks, Jerrod Niemann, Steve Holy & Bradley Gaskin

Marlee's sister stalked some radio station people until they finally gave her tickets to the Last Blast of Summer concert, only to find out that she was too young to go!!! Since the concert was at the Glass Cactus (a bar), she had to be 21. Well her misfortune was my fortune!! Heh. Marlee's other family members bowed out and Karen, Shannon & I gladly snatched those bad boys up.

We got there early enough so the place wasn't completely full. Half of us were pregnant so we went out on the patio and ordered some food to tide us over til 4th meal. ;) When the music started we went in and found ourselves a place on the dance floor. The first two acts (Bradley Gaskin & Steve Holy) were great, but what I was really waiting for was Jerrod. Oh Jerrod. *swoon* After he was done singing, all the girls were saying I should try and get his autograph - he was signing stuff and we were pretty close to the stage. I had a t-shirt from the radio station, and finally, after minutes of complete mental anguish, I did it. I walked up there and shoved my shirt at him. I was sweating, shaking and SO nervous. He was talking to some dumb chick who, 'supposedly had a birthday that day,' so I wasn't able to make eye contact with him. (!!! What am I saying?! What did I think that was going to accomplish?) But he signed my shirt and then moved on to the next groupie. A night I'll never forget, to be sure!




Chocolate cake before a concert? Don't mind if I do!




Taking the shirt from me without even looking at me. Just because I wasn't screaming, 'Jerrod! Jerrod! It's my birthday!!!' Liar.


Signing my shirt! And he's left-handed. Cool, eh?

It was such a fun night. It's so nice to get out and be ME. I love it that I can do that. I have some of the best friends!

4. Shellie's shower

When Shellie found out she was having another girl (number 3!!), the cutest idea for a shower popped into my head - Southern Belle. I know whoever says you're not supposed to have a shower after the first baby, but I wanted to do something nice for her. She said all she needed was diapers, so we had a diaper shower, and suggested the guests participate in a diaper cake decorating contest (ie, bringing the cakes already put together).







Thanks to my awesome friends, we were able to pull off a pretty awesome shower. I came up with different names for all the food (which I've always wanted to do), decorated my first-ever diaper cake, and had a fabulous time with friends and family of Shellie's.




My partners in crime





Sooo. Funny story. The night before the shower, all the boys decided to have a Guys Night. I guess they were super jealous of all our fun a couple weeks before. They got pizza, snuck in the church to play basketball, ate snacks, played video games, whatever. Well, right before all of the boys were supposed to go to Shannon's, their A/C went out. !!! In the midst of 30+ days of over 100* weather. ICK. The guys still went on with their Guys Night, and Shannon still wanted the shower at her place. So we trucked on. IT. WAS. UNBEARABLE. I truly felt like I was in another time. (I had just read The Help, so that might have added to it.) There I was, all gussied up, Southern Belle-style, and sweating like a pig. We said that after it was over, we were all going to jump in the pool. Aaaaand, we did.



SO FUN!!!

5. Splash pad time

July

Just Stacie and I this time, but still fun. Aside from the kids coming up to us every other second (not an exaggeration) and saying they wanted a snack... Not a big deal, really, just... well, you know.





Our kids get along so well. I know Maddy loves hanging out with the boys. Takes after her mama, I suppose. ;) And Hudson and Linc follow each other around - it's just adorable.

August

We came to the splash pad and then all they wanted to do was play on the playground. Worked for me because I got to get wet afterwards, but UGH. That playground equipment gets dang hot!


Pouting over something, I forget what...




Finally in the water. RELIEF.



September

Our last trip to the splash pad for the summer. :( It's really okay though because Maddy has had those swim shoes for two (could it be three?) years, and there's a hole forming in the toe on one of them. ;)





6. The kids and their friends

Maddy's first sleepover at a friend's! Eeek. Her friend Kate invited her over in July, and I honestly didn't think she would make it through. She did stay there all night, but she was the last one to finally fall asleep (1130 PM!), tried to give herself a concussion by walking right into a bed frame, and was VERY cranky the next day. Oh, and she was also the first one to wake up. Haha. Poor Karen.



One night in August, Mike kept {all!!} the kids so Stacie and I could go to JoAnns. (She's helping me to sew in a straight line.) When I got back, I found all these pictures on my camera of them being superheroes. I love that he does stuff like that! The kids had a blast.







And then last week Jack and Linc came over to play for a bit. Jack and Maddy were CRAZY. But they were having fun, so I guess that's what important, right?

Totally unprompted -



I KNOW. Can you imagine if they really do get married like Maddy wants? They will have the blondest-haired, bluest-eyed children ever in the history of the world.


So comfortable with each other. :)

7. Pool time

Shannon & Keith had everyone over one last time before their kids started school. It was nice to get into that 98* pool - quite refreshing! :)


Rocking this swimsuit one last time. (I hope.)




I had to get this one of Jack and Missy. Jack instinctively put his arm around his cousin and looked right at the camera. His mother must be a photographer.

Shannon busted out some popsicles for the kids and I tried to tell Hudson to LICK it, not take a bite.


Brain freeze, much?

Look at this face -


Poor buddy

8. Seeing old friends

Our friends Kevin and Katie came out from Miami and invited us over to Kevin's parents' house for dinner. I know how it is going home, and trying to fit 1,000 things in, so I'm so glad we were able to see them! I don't talk to Katie too often, but when I do, it's like nothing has changed. She is so incredible. I admire her so much, and wish I could be (or look!) like her. (She is a supermodel for sure.)


Maddy & Hudson just flocked to Katie. They LOVE her!




Kevin & Mike are dorks.

Kevin's sister and her husband were there too (along with tons of other random people, haha) and were SO cute to play with my kids. I know they are going to be AMAZING parents.





Meadors - We'll see y'all out there in May!!! ;)

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Thanks to the power of Facebook, I found out my old friend Luke was working in town. He was able to come with us to church one Sunday in August, and then stayed for dinner and dessert. It's funny, because we only really knew each other for awhile in high school (he moved away), but he really is an awesome guy. It's crazy when someone comes out of your past like that.



9. Temple night

On ward temple night in July, they asked if any of us wanted to do baptisms. My friends and I signed up to do that, not knowing that you can't if you're pregnant. (I AM NOT. But a lot of them are.) I hadn't done baptisms since the single's ward and it was really cool. Afterwards we all went to Purple Cow and had fun. It was a nice break from the world.


I think we should be sisters. Don't you?



And finally, number ten. The last one. And the worst one.

10. Getting Maddy ready to start school

Blah. :( Getting her in preschool was kind of a last minute thing. First off, we didn't know if we would have the money. (I guess we still don't, HAHA.) Secondly, she has an October birthday, so she won't start kindergarten until Fall 2013 - that would equal TWO years of preschool. Sounds a bit redundant to me, especially considering the money situation. Thirdly, a couple of my friends sent their kids to this particular preschool last year and didn't say it was totally amazing and worth the money. It turns out though, that the teacher from last year retired, and a lady that I know of through church was the new teacher. *Thanks for the heads up on that, Leslie! We enrolled Maddy, and I just tried to push it to the back of my mind. A couple weeks later, Leslie let me know they were having a Meet & Greet for the kids (genius), so on the first of September, I took her in to see what it was all about. She showed a teeny bit of hesitation at first, but was fine.






Hudson did very well also. Ha.

I can't believe she's ready for this!