Day 212: Back to It

Well, I have completely falling off the exercise wagon :( doing pretty much NOTHING as far as working out and I can definitely feel it! So I've been working on getting back to running/walking, loving some Jillian Michaels and my handy dandy weights! Hopefully I'll get back into a good routine--maybe I need to sign up for a 5K??

Day 211: New Plates

Well today I went to get new plates for my car and other care related things... time to retire JESE 88 :( I now have a generic license plate with random numbers and letters.

Day 210: CapriSun

We had bought a bunch of Capri-Suns a while back to have on hand when our neighbor kids or friends with kids from church we over. Well they have remained unopened and I decided I wanted one myself! I've been weirdly addicted to them the past few days! We'll have to buy more for when the kids actually are over here again because I'll have them all drank by then!  oops

Day 209: Yard Re-Do

Steven joined me at the hospital for lunch today..it was a very nice surprise! :) After work, we worked in the house/yard and just had a lazy evening. We've decided we are going to pull out quite a bit of the yard landscaping. I hate to do it because the previous owners put so much time/money into it but--1. I don't have the time to maintain it or keep it ALL looking nice 2. We would rather have a big open yard than all chopped up.. So we are going to work on pulling up some up the different bushes and such--leaving the trees. Hopefully with less to manage we'll be able to stay on top of it and keep it looking nice! :) 

Day 208: Fun with Abby

After a long day at work, I was excited to meet up with Steven over at Mark and Emily's house for a fun evening of watching Abby! They were headed out to a wedding and we were happy to be able to watch Abby for a while! The night was filled with swings-trains-walks-bedtime stories-and not so happy times going to sleep :( She sure loves her buddy "TEEVE"

Day 207: Sweet Corn

When we met up with my parents and Jenna earlier this week, they brought us some sweet corn!! :) Yummy! :) Can't believe Steven doesn't like it--oh well, more to myself!

Day 206: Empty House

Our guests left today and our house is a little quieter..the guest bedrooms are empty again. We had a great time having them here and will miss them a lot. We got used to having an extra guy and girl around to hang out with and talk too--but it will be nice to just have it the two of us again.

Day 205: Last Night

Tonight is David's last night at the Spencer House so we decided to have a campfire. I'm sure Steven is proud that David wanted to use his propane torch to get the fire going in his absence! haha We had a nice campfire-with Reese's smores again :) 

Day 204: Last Wings

Steven left this morning to go to Ohio with his dad and brothers for a few days of fun at a Nascar race or something--won't be back til sometime on Thursday :(  So after work, David, Kelsey and I headed to Dana to get wings one last time before they leave themselves later this week.  We had a great time just hanging out with my parents and Jenna, eating wings and the night concluded with them signing the MENS bathroom stall and getting a picture with their wings and the sign. Oh to think that they fell in love so much with little ole Dana! haha

Day 203: Bailey Goes to School

Bailey had her first day of obedience class tonight! I was very nervous about how she would do with all the other dogs around. She loves people but doesn't like other dogs and has tried to attach the neighbor dog, a dog walking by, and even CHICO! But the trainer running the class had it completely under control and it was basically an individual dog class that just had a dozen dogs. The trainer told everyone to not let a dog sniff another dog or get in another dogs personally space and we'd all be good..and the night went fine! Steven and Bailey worked together while I sat on the sidelines. Tonight they worked on "Down" and walking correctly on the leash and sitting when told. Bailey does not like doing into the Down position but hopefully after we work this week it will get better! :)

Day 202: Back with Friends

After church today, we went out to eat with our group of friends and then hung out and played some games. We were almost all together again! Since Maddie's birthday we've been gone on vacations-trips-working weekends-or just busy and we haven't been in the same place at once. It was nice to just hang out together again. Maddie is almost walking and it's so fun to watch her play and have fun! 

Day 201: A Whole Year

Well.. today marks a year of Homeownership for us!! It's been an interesting first year! The first 3 months were a bachelor pad while Steven was here by himself--I tried moving stuff in on weekends when I was home from school. The next 5 months included me officially moving in after we were married, finishing my last clinical, finishing school, and then taking the boards. This left really no time to work on the house other than the bare minimum maintenance type things. The next couple of months slowed down a little and we got into a nice routine with me starting my new jobs and such and just getting used to this how married life thing.. and now we've been in the house a year!

I have all these ideas and plans that I would love to do with the house--ideas from Pinterest and other websites for painting and organization etc. I have lots of ideas but get frustrated when I don't always have the "eye" to bring projects together so hopefully will be able to work together to make our house even more of a HOME in this next year.

I think our 1st project is going to be painting/re-organizing the living room. It's the room we spend the most time in ..and is also the space we share with guests. We already have furniture that we bought with our wedding money so can't go back on that.. but I want to paint the room. It's currently a brown/tan color that has and I want to lighten it up a bit and possible have an accent wall with a green color! I'm just so nervous that the green will be the wrong color!! AHHH  

First Step: Taking Down the Valence, and blinds, and we are going to put up curtains :) 

Day 200: Just Us

After Steven hung out with a co-worker at our house for a while to vent after work, it was just us! No roomies, a quiet house, a no plans! We decided to just head uptown for a quick dinner and then were lazy and went to bed super early! It was WONDERFUL! The night wasn't too hot either and we were able to sit outside for a while and enjoy it before going to bed. 

Day 199: Singing

After work today, I had choir practice for church on Sunday. It's been fun being in an organized singing group again, even if it is only once a month or so. 

Day 198: Baja Blast

Tonight, Steven and I did a fast trip to get some groceries so that I could have some stuff for lunch. I've been lame the past week or so and have bee going to the cafeteria because I haven't had much to make my own lunch so I restock on my meals for work and such. Then Steven wanted to stop at TacoBell and get BajaBlast--the ONLY place that carries this special kind of Mountain Dew! He and David wanted to try it out with UV Blue tonight. So Steven and I went through the drive-thru and the only the we got we 2 large BajaBlasts and 1 large Baja-Freeze! When the guy gave us the drinks he looked at us like we were crazy! It was pretty funny!! haha  The drinks were pretty good..or so I heard! As you can see, and probably already know--my husband loves his Mountain Dew! :) 

Day 197: Random Roses

After helping David find a Horseshoe for supper (he's from Colorado and has never had a horseshoe before and even I didn't know they originated in Springfield, IL and generally found in Illinois and surrounding states)--we went to get a few groceries. While Kelsey and I were grabbing a few last minute things, Steven came up behind me with a bouquet of roses!! It was quite comical but cute at the same time, so as we checked out Steven bought them for me and I carried them out! For no reason at all, and an interesting delivery I must say, random occasion flowers are the best! :) 

Day 196: Prayer Journal

Along with trying to keep up with regular journal-ing, I've been wanting to start up with Prayer Journaling. Something we have talked about in my women's Bible study and we met up for a get together again tonight for the first time in 2 months and it reminded me that I had been wanting to do it! I went to Target before our get together to get a snack to share and look what I found.. a prayer journal! So I just had to grab it :) 

Day 195: Family and Flowers

After church today, Steven and I met up with my parents and Jenna for lunch. It was the first time in probably a month that we have all been together! CRAZY! With all our busy schedules it's just hard to get together. It was nice to visit for a while..plus watch the official wedding and reception videos! It was fun to watch some of it together and remember the fun day not so long ago :)

I've also got yet another type of flower coming up in my yard! Very exotic looking :) 

Day 194: Fishing

After Steven and I got home and took a much needed nap to catch up on sleep, our neighbor came over with his 2 young kids to go fishing on the lake behind our house. We had a lot of fun enjoying the beautiful weather and the kids were able to catch some fish! We found out Bailey likes to swim too! We hadn't let her go in yet because we weren't sure if she could swim--well she chased after someone's bobber when they cast out their fishing pole and before you knew it she was under the water swimming away. But man she was smelly, the water was full moss and algae, so then we had to hook he up on her leash and spray her down with the hose at the end of the night which she did not like.

Day 193: Lock-In Chaperones

Well, we are officially adults.. Steven and I were asked to be chaperones at a high school church lock in tonight! We got there about 8pm and I didn't get any sleep! It wasn't as bad as I thought it was and we actually had a little bit of fun! :) Took a picture when it was after 1 AM..haha..there were 13 high school kids running around that we were "in charge" of.. but Steven's sister had games and such planned so we didn't really have to do anything :)

Day 192: New Creation

Round 2 of firepit including smore's again.. this time with Reese's Peanut Butter cups! David had suggested last night that they are really good for smores so I just had to try it and oh gosh were they good! Steven had another night of fun with his propane torch! It was such a nice night to just sit up by the lake too--considering it's right in the back yard you would think we would sit there every night but we don't. We need to start doing that more often and just enjoy the simple things in life! :)

Day 191: Firepit

Tonight was a wonderful night for a fire..our first ever in our firepit!! It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the fire and some nice marshmellows too! Steven though had a little too much fun with his propane torch! Kelsey and I stood back while David and Steven had fun playing with fire. I suppose boys will be boys but I was just waiting for our neighbors to call the fire department or something. We don't live in the country anymore! Jeez! haha

Day 190: Best Wings...EVER

For Kelsey's Birthday which technically isn't until Friday, she wanted to go and get wings. She and David were talking about going to BWW's for wings and I suggested that if she wanted to go get really good wings, and somewhere that she had NEVER gone before and wouldn't be able to go again, we should drive to the podunk town of Dana. They thought that sounded like a great plan so we met up with my parents and after waiting quite awhile--they were REALLY busy--we got some GREAT wings! Kelsey kept saying how they were the best wings she had ever had :) and they were both glad we had come. They both want to come back at least one more time before they leave. They are only 2 more weeks so we have 2 more Tuesday's to come! We finished off 40 wings in honor of Kelsey's birthday! 

Day 189: Just for Bailey

Today at work a coworker came up to me and had made treats for all the therapists who had dogs!! She remembered all the dogs by name too which I thought was even more impressive!! She said "I made Bailey these special treats, I hope she likes them. It's all edible so you can try them if you really want too! :)". They look like really cookies so I thought about trying them.. I know Jenna would.. but I didn't. Bailey of course loved them.. she thinks she's getting real people food! 

Day 188: Picnic and Carpet

Today we had a fun community picnic after church, which means POTLUCK! There was so much yummy food and desserts! Plus a bounce house for the kids! We got home and worked for a while--I cleaned up the carpets with some new stuff we got yesterday and it worked really well! YAY! We still had a few spots on the carpet from Bailey accidents that I could still see residue and have been trying to get them out and feel pretty happy with with how this did! :) 

Day 187: Productive Day

Today Steven and I planned to stay home all day and work in the house and the yard.. and we did just that! We got the yard mowed, the bushes trimmed, the downstairs dusted, vacuumed, cleaned, windows washed. We were SO productive! Gosh it feels good! :) To treat ourselves we went to Monicals for supper and got icecream for dessert. 

Before and After Pic of Some Bushes

Day 186: Little Tykes Time, Friendly Competition

Steven and I went to Mark and Emily's for dinner tonight. While we were getting food ready, Steven and Abby (1.5 y.o.) played like CRAZY!! Abby was running all over the house, screaming and giggling, trying to get away from Steven, but then as soon as he would turn away she would come and pull on him to come and get her again.When it was time for her to go to bed she went and got her bedtime book and wanted Steven to read it to her. It was so cute :) someday...

After the Abbster went to bed, the big kids had a friendly, but competitive game of Parchessi! It was down to the wire, but I won! :)

Day 185: Hapyy 4th of July!

The morning started off with the parade in Minonk and Steven and Mathew driving tractors. I was lame and didn't think to take pictures..actually I did think to take them but I was busy taking care of Bailey and didn't have a second hand to get a quick picture. Yes, we took Bailey to the parade and she actually did quite good. There was a little Chihuahua dog that the owner kept letting go crazy but Bailey didn't do her normal "attack" type thing, just got really anxious and hyper about it. She thought the flying candy were toys she was supposed to catch but she figured it out soon enough that she couldn't eat it anyway and gave up. The only thing she didn't like in the parade were the drums in the marching band..she tried to run in the street, started barking like crazy and everything..weird. I felt like a "dog mom"--had my bag of treats, water, leash, toys, etc. oh my! 

After the parade we made our way to a 60th birthday/4th of July celebration! This was not your typical 60th birthday celebration! It was full of games such as: frying pan toss, hay bale rolling, cane sticking, nail driving, yawning (who yawns the biggest), CRAZY FAST bingo!, blindfold chocolate eating, clothes to dress up for pictures--it was a GREAT afternoon! We saw Fireworks last Friday at the baseball game and we didn't feel like driving back into Peoria and getting stuck for several hours trying to get home, so we just stayed home and didn't go see Fireworks anywhere. 

Day 184: Lazy Night

Our "roomies" left after work today to head home for a long weekend so we have our home all to ourselves. Steven ended up having to work quite late so we just drove to get food for supper rather than bother with making something. We were both happy to just veg out on the couch, curl up in a blanket, and watch the season finale of Justified! And search Netflix for something to watch since there wasn't anything good on our 4 channels of TV!We are now all caught up!

Day 183: Friends Reunion--New Neighbors

After work today, Steven and I met up with some old friends of our from Bradley--Sara and Bryce! They have been in multiple states since we graduated 3 years ago (CRAZY!) and we've only seen them maybe once a year. They got married last December in Peoria so that was the last time we saw them before they headed back out to Peoria. We were excited to hear that they were moving back to Illinois to be closer to family, both getting jobs in Peoria, and chose to live...in Germantown!! They are only 3 minutes away! We are so happy and excited to have more friends close by and another couple to do things with. So we met up at their place tonight and played Sequence! and just enjoyed catching up on each other's lives!We have our friends back--and great new neighbors!

Day 182: Maddie's Birthday

After work today, Steven and I headed over to our friends house in Peoria to celebrate Maddie's first birthday!! It was a wonderful evening celebrating a sweet little girls 1st year of life! She thoroughly enjoyed her birthday cupcake-getting it all over face! She got some cute new books and bath toys!