Sunday, July 6. I got in the mood to do some cleaning and organizing, so I went through all of the cabinets in the kitchen and did just that. Now I have all of my baking stuff together.
Monday, July 7. In keeping with the cleaning and organizing mood, I went through the desk in the living room and cleaned and organized it. Now it is much neater than it was. You can actually sit at the desk and use it!
Tuesday, July 8. I went to school and painted one of the chalk boards yellow while I organized my desk. But I didnt have my camera to take a picture of it. So I thought I would take a picture of my babydog, Sophie. She is so cute. And she loves to take her picture! Sydni refused, she kept hiding her face but Sophie kept following me around to take her picture.
Wednesday, July 9. Keri came down and we painted my bathroom and my dad's bathroom. It pretty much took all day. I'm glad she came down cause I really didn't realize how long it would take to paint such a small room! This is my dad's bathroom.
Thursday, July 10. This morning, Heidi called me to tell me she was in labor!!!! I was so excited when she called. So for some reason that meant I needed to start cleaning the house. I finished some painting in my dad's bathroom and then I spent 3 hours cleaning my bathroom and putting everything back. This is the finished product! I'm so excited! I love it! I'm going to get a different shower curtain cause the colors don't really match, but it's at least better than the ducks! I also went and played cards with some friends and while I was there Ellie was FINALLY born! Then my cousin Amy called to tell me that she and her husband are expecting a baby February 16th. I am so excited about that too!!!!!

Friday, July 11. I took Sophie to get her hair cut today. After I dropped her off I went and got a pedicure, which was very relaxing. While I was there I ran into one of my good friends who I've known since I was born. She asked me to take pictures of her daughter!!! I'm so excited. She likes my pictures! Yay! I went to see baby Ellie and Heidi and Brent. It was so great! I love seeing the proud parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles when a new baby comes into the world. Ellie is beautiful! She is absolutely perfect. I got to hold her for a good while. She's so sweet and cute. I just can't stop gushing about her cuteness!Here's a close up shot of her. She is adorable. Her little face is just perfect. She is a perfect mix of Brent and Heidi. I can't wait to watch her grow up.

After I left the hospital, I met up with Julie, Daniel, Christopher, and Anna to celebrate Christopher's 27th birthday! We went to SATCo, which I have never been to before, but I really liked it! Christopher had a birthdy cake that someone had gotten him earlier in the day, but he saved his part of the cake. I thought it was hilarious! Happy Birthday Christopher!

We are leaving for Colorado in a couple of hours. I'll post pictures from today and the trip when I get back. Have a great week!!!!

Thursday, July 3. Today was my Dad's birthday. He turned 53. Sophie absolutely adores him and while he was asleep on the floor, she cuddled up next to him and took a nap too.
Friday, July 4. The next several pictures are from the 4th of July. Every year, my family goes to the river and has a picnic and swims for a couple of hours. It hasn't rained in quite a while, but we woke up to the ping, ping, pinging of rain this morning. I immediately hopped on the computer trying to find radar scans to see if any more rain was coming, and I was happy to see that it was waaaaaayyyyy over in Arkansas. So, the trip was still on. We got over to my Granny's to get everyone and everything together. My cousin and his family from CA decided not to go because it was supposed to rain (which it DIDN'T!) We got down to the river and set up the picnic, took a swim, and then decided to eat. Well, we brought the BBQ, the beans, the desserts, the drinks, but we forgot one important item. UTENSILS!!!! So, my dad, the eternal Boy Scout, cut some cane poles and began to carve us some sporks.
Our eating utensils! This is going to be a new dinnerware we are going to develop for Target and we will also market it as the new diet plan cause you can only eat one bean at a time and one piece of slaw at a time. Very effective! By the time you get through the first 5 beans, you are so exhausted from the whole process that you just decide you are full.
Julie eating her bean (singular) with her cane spork.
While we were wading in the river, my dad found this egg. We weren't sure if it was a turtle or a snake egg, but there was not an embryo in it. It was really cool to touch though cause it was mushy like a hard boiled egg instead of hard like a regular egg.

While all of my cousins and sister brought their significan others, I did the next best thing and brought my single friends, and guess what? We had a blast!After the river, we got ready for a wonderful 4th of July party at Nikki's. In full fashion, it's the 4th and I wanted to celebrate with my sparkly sparkler hair bow circa 1989.So, I like pictures of myself and I'm going to put them up if I want to!This was a cool picture I took during the fireworks show put on my Jimmy and friends. One of the kids was shooting a Roman candle but I have no idea where the rest of the craziness came from. Very interesting though.

Best friends forever. Nikki was being an awesome hostess and we couldn't find her for this one. For some reason I was talking. I had a great time though!Saturday, July 5. My dad and I went to Lowe's this morning to look at some wood to use to redo our front porch. Then we headed over to Granny's house to pull up some old flooring in her living room. She has decided after over 50 years, to pull up the linoleum and finish the original hardwood flooring underneath it. It is gorgeous! It was pretty easy to pull up most of the linoleum but there are some places that were glued at seams that we are going to have to scrap off, but oh my gosh, it is gorgeous hardwood flooring!

So then I was inspired to come home and start a project of painting my bathroom, which I've been wanting to do for a year. So I started the process of pulling off the wallpaper. It was actually pretty easy! There were a couple of places that we had to really sit and scrap but for the msot part it came off in big sheets of it. I'm excited. I'm thinking a cute green color. I'm excited!

Saturday, June 28. Today I volunteered at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital with an organization called Saving Little Hearts. It's an organization for children who are born with congenital heart defects. Basically, what we did was babysit abotu 25 small children in one room while their parents were in a seminar. It was quite interesting! But I got to spend it with friends like Holly...
and Nicki! I love these girls!
Sunday, June 29. Lazy baby Sophie lounging on the couch. She loves to lay on her Sesame Street pillow.
And Sydni loves to lay in my spot on the couch. She didn't want me to take her picture so she tried to hide her head behind the pillow. Today we went to my Granny's and my cousin who lives in CA was there visiting. His little boy has gotten so big! We played some baseball in the back yard, looked at the cows, and just visited. Of course, I didn't take my camera with me! So I didn't get a picture, but it was great to see them. Afterward, my dad and I went to the river where we are going for the 4th of July. Somehow, in the short distance we walked in some grass, I was attached by seed ticks. Not fun! I am still scratching the fire out of my legs from where they bit me!
Monday, June 30. So, Keri and I have been planning to have dinner for my mom's 50th birthday tonight because Keri is getting her wisdom teeth out on mom's actually birthday. We decided to surprise her and have her friends meet us at the restaurant. I figured I would make a cake to celebrate. So I got to bust out awesome mixer and mix the batter for the carrot cake and....

the icing. I love cream cheese icing!Yum!We took the cake in the restaurant. I wasn't sure if they would let us actually eat it, but the place we went was a little mom and pop type place, we were the only people left in the restaurant and we bribed the waiters with a slice of cake. The birthday princess on her almost 50th birthday!

All of us girls celebrating my mom's half century bdayMom and her crazy friends. I'm so used to saying, "ok, now make a silly face." This is what we got.She may be 50, but she acts every bit of a 20 year old.Tuesday, July 1. My mom and I spent the day together. We did some shopping and had lunch. Then she decided that she wanted to take her dogs up to the Y to see her friends. She dressed them up in these super cute dresses. Don't let that cuteness fool ya. She has trained them to only like certain people. hehe.Me and my mom on her 50th year on Earth. Yay! I love you Mom!
Wednesday, July 2. I went to school today and actually got a lot of little things done. I cleaned the boards that I plan on painting, I organized my posters for the year and laid out what I'm going to hang up for the beginning of the year. I also spent a good chunk of time laminating posters and folder centers that I'm going to use for the year. I brought it home to cut out while I watch tv. It may take me until next year (just kidding) but I will get it done!