find the time

find the time

The time to read,

to smell the flowers, 

to paint your dream, 

to have coffee with a friend, 

to learn a new craft, 

to write a letter, 

to bake a surprise cake, 

to go somewhere special, 

to REALLY be with the person you love, 

or even do nothing for a
while...

I like this and thought I would share - hope everyone is well!

internet

woohoo.
we finally have [our own] internet!
posts are due!

movie night

JILL:
Blustery winds throughout the night combined with a house without a basement = sleepless night with thoughts of this:

♫ da-da-da-da-da-dan  ♫

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦•♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

MARK:

Blustery winds throughout the night combined with a house without a basement = restful night with thoughts of this:

 

"Hooray! Up and away!"

...zzzZZzz

Thankful to report no damage occurred in our area last night.
Hope everyone is safe wherever you are!

Dining Room: reveal

Here are some pictures of our recently (ahem...October) finished dining room.

A man named Sherwin helped me pick out the paint color: Jonquil

I'm pretty tight with Sherwin.

I made centerpieces out of our "wedding buckets" and artificial boxwood from Michaels.

 I also re-did the frame below. It is a beautiful hunky-chunky frame and I spray painted it Ivory then painted the inside cardboard with a chalkboard spray paint. I am working on a few more chalkboard projects right now - so fun and really easy!

 

Happy Spring!

I think this is my new favorite room in the house.

    I love entertaining in here!

Whirlwind Weekend

The weekend flew by!
Mark and I arrived in Chicago Friday night and made it in time to catch the end of the rehearsal.
The rehearsal dinner was great! It was held at a cute little mexican restaurant only 3 blocks from the church.
Steve (the groom) is a huge prankster so that made the evening all the more entertaining. (sadly, I have no pictures from this event - ugh)

Saturday morning was swell. Mark and I took a walk around their lake - cold, but very peaceful and relaxing for us subdivisioners.

We were able to hang out; all the grandkids at Grampa and Gramma's house!

I love that Mark and my little brother get along (really well). They make fun of each other (a lot) but they also bond over things, weird things.
My Gramma told Mark and Jonathan that if they shot a gray squirrel, she would pay them $10 per squirrel.
...She says they eat all of the bird seed.

1 = $10.00

Mark - $5.00    Jonathan - $5.00

We all got ready and headed off to the wedding. The squirrel stayed home.

bulky camera = no other pictures :(

I will post pictures when I get some from other people. The wedding was absolutley gorgeous.

My Aunt was stunning in her dress and the reception was over-the-top! We really enjoyed seeing family and friends from far away.

We had to take off early on Sunday but we did get to see the newlyweds!

Mark, me, Denise, Steve, and their dog, Mazy.

We left around 10:30 and made it to Youth Group at 5:15 (phew!)

We had a scavenger hunt around town - so much fun!

The groups had to go to as many schools in one hour.

Here are some pictures from my group:

Smith School Bears - whoop whoop!

 (above) this one pretty much somes up these 5 girls, so silly!

HA!

Working with the youth group has been amazing. It's incredible how much I have learned about them and from them.

These pictures don't include all of my girls, but they all have touched my heart and I love them!

my aunt, the bride!

My Aunt is getting married tomorrow!

 The beautiful bride-to-be at her shower in February.

our new garden

This past weekend was B-E-A-utiful.
The sun was shining and the temperature was very spring-like.
Saturday started off early with the first yard sales of the season. HOORAY!
The first yard sale was a dud but the hosts were friendly.
The second yard sale was...interesting. Listen:
Moving Sale.
His stuff in the garage.
Her stuff inside the house.
If you buy something from her, pay her.
If you buy something from him, pay him.
Definitely the most awkward sale EVER, but we got some really good stuff!

After the sale, we built our raised garden bed. We were pretty excited because two things we still needed, we got at the awkward sale.  

Here are some pictures on that.

Yep, one buck for all of that!

Ready for soil.

many more pictures when we plant!