Monday, November 5, 2018

MY SWEET NANNY

On Sunday, October 21st my sweet nanny passed away. On Friday, October 19th she suffered a massive stroke. She fought hard that whole weekend to stay with us, but passed peacefully in her sleep late Sunday morning. After 59 years she is finally reunited with her baby boy and after 17 years she is finally reunited with her husband.


When I think of nanny I think of trying on all her jewelry when I was a child. I think of the small butterscotch pieces of candy she would always have in her purse. I think of her giving me and my sisters a dollar each to put in the offering plate every Sunday. I think of watching ER and Golden Girl reruns, because those were her favorite. I think of seeing her in the stands at all of our softball games. I think of her dumplings and red cinnamon apples at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think of her calling me every single year on my birthday and singing happy birthday to me. I think of how every Wednesday she would get her hair done and then come over for dinner, and every other Wednesday, she’d get her nails done. ❤️ But most of all, I think about how big of a heart she had. She was one of the most caring ladies I know, always looking out for others. She never once hesitated to tell us how proud of us she was and just how much she loved us. I found an old voicemail, from a year ago, from her on my phone the night of her funeral, and it was her calling to check on me because she heard I had a migraine. At the end of the voicemail she said something I’ve heard her say hundreds of times, “nanny loves you hon”. My heart rejoiced and broke all over again. Love you forever, nanny. I’m so thankful you were mine. ❤️

Thanksgiving last year

This picture was taken by my aunt on her phone at our wedding. We had no idea she was taking it and it is one of my favorites. I wish I could remember what we were talking about here!

I took some time off from blogging, understandably, but I couldn't just pick up where I left off without sharing a little bit about my nanny. We are heartbroken that she isn't with us anymore, but also at peace, as we know she isn't suffering anymore. 

Monday, October 15, 2018

WEEKEND RECAP | FALL FUN WEEKEND

Friday night I went to dinner with some friends from work downtown. I am so thankful for these girls and so happy that I have coworkers who I actually want to hangout with outside of the office- they are so fun!

Saturday morning we did stuff around the house and I made it out to three different grocery stores in under two hours...on a Saturday morning...I'd say that's pretty good! Saturday afternoon we went to my parents for my cousin's birthday party and it was a lot of fun! She wanted to do all the fall fun things, so that's what we did. We had our first outside fire of the season to keep us warm and for the hot dogs and s'mores. She had some friends over too, which she really enjoyed and she told me later that this was the best birthday, EVER! Woo hoo for turning 12!

We missed my other sister, who was at the beach for fall break!


My dad has always made a pretty fall setup in our yard every year, and this year he made a huge one. How cute is this?!
 a closer look at this...part of a tree that he hallowed out to sit flowers down in- so cute!

I also got to get some of the sweetest baby cuddles in from my cousin. He is almost 5 months now!

On Sunday morning I taught the kindergarten class at church and they were just the sweetest and funniest group of kiddos! I am so excited to be teaching them some this quarter! After church we came home and I made a big pot of chicken and dumplings- cooler weather means all the comfort food! Sunday was also Reagan's gotcha day (I can't believe we brought her home 2 years ago this past weekend!) and our best friends birthday. Since they were in town we celebrated her birthday with milkshakes at The Legendairy Milkshake Bar! So fun and the shakes were delicious. Matthew and I definitely split one though, because they were HUGE! We got 'Rolling in the Cookie Dough'.

We ended the weekend with a big pot of chili!

Such a fun fall weekend!


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Monday, October 8, 2018

CURTAINS + VALANCES

A couple of months ago we decided to purchase some curtains for our living room. Our living room can get a tad bit dark when the blinds are closed or it's dark out, so my only request when it came to new curtains was that they would be light and airy, or at least not darken the room anymore, and these curtains checked all of that off. We are so happy with them and they get a 10/10 in our book! 

We liked them so much that we ordered another set and took them to our seamstress and she sewed them up into valances for our kitchen!

Since the living room opens up to the kitchen we wanted everything to match and flow. 
We're so happy with how they look!

The pattern is a favorite and I love the white and grey!

Another Amazon purchase for the win!


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Friday, October 5, 2018

5 ON FRIDAY

Happy Friday! It has been a good week around here, some exciting news in our world....I finished an intense 20 week training program at work! So thankful to be officially done with training and for all the support I received from my new company over these past 20 weeks. Also, Matthew is so close to wrapping up his fall busy season and then it should be a lot slower for the rest of the year for him - woo hoo! Quick side note: with my new company and new role, my busy seasons will align with Matthew's busy seasons. That has it's pros and cons, but we will make it work! I'm happy that both of our non busy seasons will be at the same time!

| ONE | 
We are having fall pictures made this weekend and I am thrilled to have them done so early so that I can get Christmas cards ordered within the next few weeks. Getting those in early means I can get them addressed and out the door at a reasonable time! 
Matthew is wearing blue gingham, I have a burgundy sweater (fingers crossed I don't sweat through it lol) and I am hoping to find Reagan a gold bandana today! I love this color combination!


| TWO |
Reagan will sleep on the couch for hours and then wake up and be very hyper for a good 30 minutes before she's back to side sleeping on the couch. It's hilarious and we love when she brings us toys to play with her. She's the sweetest!
This is her winding down, but still wants to play phase...she just lays on or by her toy for a little bit lol

| THREE | 
Sweet Evelyn turned two weeks old yesterday and I got to get in some of the sweetest baby cuddles with her! 
Back in April, Sarah and I went with Kathleen to find out what she was having, as it was a surprise to Braden. After we found out Evelyn was a girl we went shopping for baby GIRL clothes. Kathleen had planned a surprise party for Braden's birthday later that week and his present was a box of pink baby girl clothes to reveal to him and the whole family the gender of their baby. I picked up the cutest onesie that said 'My aunt is my BFF' and Kat had Evelyn in that onesie yesterday - so fun to see her in it!

Pictures from back in April
 and pictures from last night!


| FOUR | 
If you are planning a trip to Disney soon be sure to get in touch with my sister-in-law, Christina! She is a travel agent for Dream Makers Travel and has a ton of experience and knowledge when it comes to all things Disney!


| FIVE | 

We are getting our mums and pumpkins this weekend and I am beyond thrilled! Although this week it really warmed back up...it's close to the 90's today and it looks like it's going to stay warm until the middle of next week or so. Fingers crossed the cooler temps are coming soon!
Picture of last years mums, because they are just my favorite, also the cutest bumblebee.

Happy weekend!


Wednesday, October 3, 2018

FRIENDSGIVING INVITATION | 2018

It's no secret that Friendsgiving is our favorite event to host year after year and this year's event is right around the corner. A month from today, actually, so I am sharing this years invitation with you today!


As you can see from the invitation, we are going with navy and gold for the two main colors this year. I love this color combination so much and I am so excited for Friendsgiving this year!




Monday, October 1, 2018

LIFE LATELY | ROUNDING OUT SEPTEMBER

Life has been full speed lately and this past weekend was the first weekend in months where we had zero plans. We took advantage of that and other than running a few errands on Saturday afternoon and church on Sunday, we stayed in the whole weekend!

Since it's been a little bit since I did a 'life lately' post, here are a few snip-its from the past couple of weeks to round out September.

Last Saturday we went to 'Family Fourth' at Matthew's parents house and then we all went bowling. It was a really fun time and the perfect activity to do since it was a rainy day out.

The rain continued on into the week and I do believe it rained every single day of last week. The rain did bring cooler weather and I did not mind it one bit while I worked from home. I opened the window in my office and listened to it rain all day while the cooler weather came in. So relaxing and a nice change from the HOT weather. 

Reagan was a huge fan of it too. Her favorite place to stay when I work from home, in one of our dining room chairs I brought up to my office by the window. 

Working from home is great until they ask to use cameras and you are in your comfy clothes and have no makeup on lol!

One afternoon last week my uncle surprised me by stopping by the house with this ADORABLE wreath that he found at Home Goods! He knew that we hosted Friendsgiving every year and said I needed it. He's the sweetest!

No political talk here, but I watched the whole senate hearing last Thursday and snapped this picture of Reagan at the perfect moment- it looks like she is watching it too here lol.

I have been doing a lot of painting projects recently. I forgot how much I love painting. Reagan has not been enjoying that because she can't sit in my lap while I paint. I snapped this picture Saturday morning because I took a break from painting and she jumped in my lap as soon as I put the paint brush down, ha!

Matthew grilled us delicious burgers for dinner on Saturday (we had plenty for leftovers too -woo hoo!) night and we watched the State vs. Florida game.

Reagan found a turtle in our backyard while Matthew was grilling. We had to put her inside to get the little fella to safety....away from her and on the OTHER side of the fence. 

We bought new curtains for our living room last month and we absolutely LOVE them. Since our kitchen opens up to our living room I wanted to use the same design. We bought another pair (Amazon for the win!) and I took it to my seamstress in town and she made them into valances for us. They turned out beautifully and I hung them up Saturday night. We are so happy with them and only regret not doing this sooner. I'll share more soon!



Sunday, September 23, 2018

WELCOMING EVELYN KYNDNESS

 I got to be a part of and witness one of the most incredible moments of my life, my best friend welcomed her precious daughter, Evelyn Kyndness, into this world at 12:40pm last Thursday afternoon.

See the baby shower I helped host for her a couple of months ago, here.

I'll back up to February of this year. I met my two best friends for dinner and Kathleen surprised us and told us she was pregnant and due in September. Needless to say we were shocked and beyond THRILLED. She also asked me if I would be in there with her and her husband during the delivery to make pictures....!!!!!! I was even more surprised and so honored that she would want me to be a part of a special moment, of course I said yes. We have been best friends since third grade, we've been in each other's weddings, been on vacation together, and we have done just about every step of life together. I am so thankful for her friendship!

On to last Thursday....she was induced bright and early at 5:00am and I arrived at the hospital around 6:30. Her family was there and I got started on taking pictures of details and we all hung out in her room chatting all morning. Around lunch I went down to the cafe with her brother to grab lunch when her husband called and said I needed to come back up to her room, she was fixing to start pushing. Thankfully I booked it back up there because Evelyn was here 25 minutes later!!!! 
Kathleen did so incredibly well and is a total rockstar. Her husband was right there encouraging her and after 20 minutes of pushing, their baby girl was here. 

9 lbs 5 oz. 21.75 inches and absolutely perfect in every way.


The prettiest sunrise on my drive to the hospital Thursday morning


Truly one of the sweetest moments and I have a ton of respect for all you mama's out there!


The rest of the day went by quickly and by late afternoon I got to hold her for the first time and on Friday night Matthew got to meet her and hold her too! Kathleen and Matthew grew up together as well, so it was a sweet moment for all. 

The prettiest sunset on my way home Thursday afternoon



We are so incredibly happy for our best friends and so incredibly thankful that Evelyn is here and HEALTHY!