JULY 4TH WEEKEND | 2017

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments on my exciting news a couple of weeks ago! I unexpectedly took a blogging break last week. Training at work is well under way and going great, but left me with zero energy after work each day. There were a couple of days last week where I came straight home from work and took a nap. Thankfully, Matthew is so, so sweet and good to me that he picked up my slack and never once complained. Grateful for him is an understatement!!
Saturday I had plans to go down to the pool for a few hours, but it was cloudy and rained off an on, so we had a lazy Saturday morning before heading home for the rest of the weekend. We spent Saturday afternoon at my families house for my grandmother's birthday dinner. 

 Reagan was rocking the topknot look on the ride home.

Sunday we went to church with Matthew's family and then took Reagan to get groomed. Poor girl needed it badly, as you can see in the picture above lol. 
I had to work a half day on Monday so when I got home from the office Reagan was very happy to see me...she kept popping her head over my laptop.

We decided to stay at our house this year for the 4th since it was on a Tuesday and we didn't take off anymore this week. We went out to lunch on Tuesday only to discover a lot of restaurants were closed for the holiday. Chipotle wasn't closed and I had never been there so we decided to give it a try. Matthew has had it before and said it was just okay, but I wasn't a fan of it at all. Blue Coast girl forever I suppose! 
We stopped by the store and got a few things for dinner and then came home and watched a movie before starting dinner. Poor Reagan was terrified of all the fireworks and shook all night long. She stayed right up under one of us most of the night. So sad seeing her so scared but she managed well. Our July 4th celebrations looked much different this year, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
July 4th | 2016 July 4th | 2014 July 4th | 2013

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JULY 4TH WEEKEND | 2017

4TH OF JULY WEEKEND | 2016

Our weekend started early on Friday. Matthew had a half day and so did I. My company does this awesome thing called, "leave early days" and those days are always the day before a holiday. As long as all of our work is completed we can leave early and get a head start on our holiday. Have I mentioned before how much I love the company I work for? Because I do :)

Thursday night I decorated our front yard a little and our mailbox. My sister came over and stayed the night with us and helped me! My mom had some left over red, white, and blue mesh so she let me have it and I picked up the small bows at the Dollar Tree.

 I tried to get a few pictures from different angles.

For just a couple of dollars, I was really pleased with how it turned out!

Speaking of mailboxes...I really want to get a vinyl sticker similar to this one for our mailbox. I love how classy it looks and of course I love personalizing stuff ;)

I found the small flags at Walmart and put out along out sidewalk and in front of our house. I also found the bows at Walmart to put on our planters. The flags were a little bit smaller than I wanted, but I waited until the last minute so they had to work lol.

We took a nap with Ellie as soon as we got home Friday (she was so tired and in a cuddling mood, so what Ellie wanted Ellie got!)  and then got up and packed for our long weekend in Murfreesboro with our families. We had been looking forward to this long weekend with everyone for a long time so we were really exited it was finally here! Friday night we ate dinner with Matthew's family and just relaxed for the night and caught up with everyone. Saturday morning we woke up and took it easy all morning. We had sandwiches for lunch since we had big plans for dinner.

Matthew's dad cooking the sandwiches on his new flat top grill.

Saturday after lunch we headed to my parents house to celebrate my nanny's birthday. Despite the heat it was a good time with everyone. We had to leave a little early to get dressed and ready in our costumes for our murder mystery dinner party we were going to! Matthew's parents hosted the best murder mystery party, EVER. We have never been to one before, but this was absolutely incredible. So incredible that it deserves a whole post, so come back later this week to see all about it. For now, here is a sneak peak!

Our characters were a spunky cheerleading coach and a S.W.A.T team member!

 The tablescape was absolutely beautiful!

Sunday we went to church and napped off and on. We love our Sunday naps! Monday we woke up and had a delicious breakfast that Matthew's dad made on the flat top. We got ready and headed to my parents house a little after lunch time for a July 4th cookout and fireworks. Thankfully the weather cooperated with us. It rained really hard right before we ate and then started raining again as we were finishing up fireworks. My dad shot the fireworks and it was a good show. My parents neighbors also shot some fireworks and we got to see them, too! We pulled in our driveway last night a little after 10pm and was excited to get back into our routine. 

We love long holiday weekends, especially with family! This was our 7th July 4th together. I just LOVE my handsome man!!

I have a lot of catching up to do this week, so come back to see recaps on our Hilton Head girls trip, the Murder Mystery Dinner party, and July goals. 

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4TH OF JULY WEEKEND | 2016

Probably the latest recap...ever

But whatevs!!!!!!! I am going to share with y'all my 4th of July fun!! Well if you lived anywhere in Tennessee then I am almost positive that you had rain a torrential downpour too.  SADDEST. THING. EVER. We had to eat inside and all hangout out inside.  We did sneak out on the front porch to make a few pictures though ;)

With these two being 15 months apart, they are going to be the best of friends when they get older and hit high school. Love it.

I have the same pose in every picture. lolololol. and then that night...thank the good Lord above our town did NOT cancel the fireworks!!!!  I look forward to going and watching them and we have gone for as long as I can remember.

Friday I had to go back to work...welcome to the big girl world, Shelbs.  But happy Friday to me, we got off an hour early!! Friday night we had a July 4th party at the SOC (Servants Of Christ) house with the college group from church. It was a lot of fun and we had a great turn out AND the rain stayed away...for the most part. I made a banner and painted some mason jars that I absolutely L O V E D

Olivia, you made your big debut on my blog!! ;)

the gril.....F I N E grill master ;)

the fireworks!!

I LOVE HOW THEY TURNED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

 The girls!!

Our fourth July 4th together!

Overall it was a great July 4th and 5th!

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Probably the latest recap...ever

July 4th pinning...

July 4th has to be one of my favorite holidays.  It's the perfect day to get together with family and friends and to have a big cookout, homemade ice cream, some fresh strawberries and end the night with a sky full of fireworks.  Can you think of a better way to celebrate our freedom? Well as usual I have been stalking Pinterest to find the newest cutest July 4th decorations and here is what I have found that I am absolutely LOVING (None of these pictures are mine, I don't take any credit for them) I am LOVING these table set ups! How cute are all these decorations?!?!!

These would look so dang cute hanging off the deck at my apartment!!

 Adorable and would be a great hit for the kiddos!

These centerpieces are adorable! I am going to try to make something similar this week!

  I think my dad has some extra wood laying around somewhere I can paint on this week... :)

 Can you imagine the look on the kid's faces when they saw these at your cookout?

 If you know me then you know that I am in LOVE with mason jars so as soon as I saw these on Pinterest the wheels in my head started turning...I can't wait to make these!!

How are y'all celebrating our freedom this Thursday? Any fun cookouts or barbecues?

I can't wait to see everyone's pictures on Instagram!!

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July 4th pinning...

Happy (late) 4th of July!

The past month has been absolutely crazy for me, in most ways good.

I have accepted a new job, quit my old job, came down with the stomach virus, went on vacation, holidays, etc.

So this post is a few days overdue...sorry!

Matthew's parents had a cookout the night before July 4th so I woke up on the 3rd and raced to the store to make something festive....and this is what I came up with! I got it off of pinterest, of course but like always I added a few things to make it my way.

.It is very simple and very quick to make last minute like I did before I had to go to work.

Here is all you will need!

These aren't really the sprinkles I wanted to use but I was on a time crunch and this was all good ol wal mart had..so it had to do.

After you mis up the cake mix like it says on the box just divide it into thirds..so that you end up with three different bowls of cake mix.

Leave on plain and then take the red and blur food coloring and in the second bowl add blue or red coloring ( I didn't measure..Just go by your judgment) and in the third bowl add the last color. Make sure you mix the food coloring in very well.

RED, WHITE, & BLUE is what I had to keep telling myself so I wouldn't get the layers mixed up. Use a tablespoon to add in each layer and carefully spread it out...but not too much or it will mix together.

Next is white...then red on top.

Then just pop them in the oven for 12-14 minutes!

And this is the outcome!! I was so excited to see they turned out well.

Wait about 25-30 mins to let them cool before you put the icing on.

I cheated and used the icing out of a can...just so it would look better.

After you icing them just add sprinkles, if you want.

I had to cut one in half just so I could see it and I was SO pleased with the outcome!

So there ya have it..a few ingredients and about an hour!

They were a hit and I was pleased!



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Happy (late) 4th of July!