Memorial Day Ventures

We had all sorts of adventures over Memorial Day weekend. We went up to a cabin in Fruitland with some of the other football wives Friday and Saturday. I shot a gun for the first time, Matt shot a pistol for the first time. We played games, ate lots of food, and went off-roading in a Ranger.

I can't remember what we did on Sunday ... we'll pretend it was something super cool and tons of fun.

Monday we went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens and just enjoyed the scenery and being with each other. Matt went golfing with one of his coaches later that day.

We took about a bajillion pictures ... I don't think these are even half of them.

And there's lots more coming - we've done tons of stuff and taken a million pictures. Lets see how fast I can get all of it blogged.

Watch Our Garden Grow

I'd like to present just one of the many plants in our garden this summer. This pretty little flower was blooming and I just couldn't resist capturing it's everyday growth ... and a photo opp with our new camera.

There's a 2 day gap between these 2 photos

Craftastic

I was itching for a craft or something to create so we went to Joanne's and came back with this awhile back -

Before:

After:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTY!

I'm a little late - her birthday was actually last Friday but in my defense I was at work all day and we left right after to go spend the evening with her.

But she's awesome and I'm lucky to have her example in my life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Before

As you can see ... our bedroom needs a serious makeover. And so we are doing it ... this is actually a little bit into the process - we already sold our headboard and downsized our king bed to a nicer queen (which is why the comforter looks waaayy too big) and changed the color of the sheets (that you can't really see).

So we're performing our own episode of ColorSplash and we'll be giving it character and color and pizazz and the happiness it desperately needs. We got back from Ikea not too long ago where we spent way too much money on new decor but the room should look pretty much amazing once we're all finished.

Here's a little taste of what's to come:

This is what we are basing the room off of. And it was all completely made by Matt ... I forgot to take the before picture of this one. He spray painted the canvases and cut up the vinyl and made this cool design.

It's our work in progress for the next couple weeks ... come back later to see the reveal of our new haven

Mother's Day

Maybe I'll like Mother's Day more when Matt and I have kids of our own and I'm the mom. It's probably 1 of 2 days out of the year I'm guaranteed to bawl my eyes out for a few hours of the day and not be able to kick myself out of a somber mood.

Today was interesting. It was the first Mother's Day I've spent without my dad or my brothers ... there's usually a silent bond of understanding between us and we enjoy being with each other and kinda distracting each other from the sad day or reflecting on the good times with home videos and what not. Instead, we spent the day with Matt's family to be with his mom ... we had a great time but I couldn't be myself no matter how hard I tried and I couldn't burst into tears at any given moment and have everyone understand. I love Matt's family ... I got so lucky to have such great in-laws and my mother-in-law definitely deserved a day of celebration in her honor.

I've had some amazing mother figures throughout my life. My mom is my hero. I may have only known her for 9 1/2 years of my life but I know enough to know how great of a person she is ... and I continue to learn more about her all the time from people's stories and her journals. I would give anything to spend another day with her or to talk to her about what is going on in my life, or for her to meet Matt, and the list goes on. I miss her more than words can express.

My stepmom, Christy, has been with me since the beginning of my teen years. She was there for me through all the high school drama and knows what it's like to lose someone. My mother-in-law, Becky, has been a great example to me since the moment I met her. She's taught me a lot. There's been a lot of other women that I've considered to be mother figures throughout my life - my best friend's mom, my 5th grade teacher, my mom's best friend, etc.

There's a lot of amazing women out there that deserve lots of recognition on Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there. And daughters - don't take them for granted.