Production at its Finest

This weekend was absolutely A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! The hubster and I were super productive and we had tons of fun along the way as well. The weekend started on Friday night when we had a date night. Hubster parents were heading to CT to visit Kelli and David. They had Loons tickets for Friday night and asked if we would want to go in their place. Well, of course.... the hubster and I LOVE baseball! When I got home from work hubster took me out to dinner at Logan's and then we headed to the game. The best part was that there was firework's after the game. I absolutely LOVE fireworks. They seem so magical to me, I love the glow they cast on the faces of those gazing at them, the sound of the booms and pops and the graceful way they float through the night sky.

Saturday started with the hubster watering his parents flowers, getting my oil changed and then picking me up to go shop for flowers for our yard. We headed to Essexville and left with beautiful blooms. We then headed back for our planting adventures. Before the planting began hubster power washed the house. My hubby is absolutely amazing and dug each hole and placed each flower in the ground as I handed them to him in the order of color that I wanted and told him where they went. (It seems he is very particular about how to plant flowers.... which makes our yard look great) We had great teamwork and knocked it out in no time. I will add pictures shortly of the finished product. In all we planted light purple and white Alysum around our light post in the front yard, a planter for our front porch that include pink and white geraniums, ivy, impatiens and a spiky plant thing, a strip of flowers along the sidewalk and side of the house that include snapdraons in shades of pink, orange, yellow and white. Next we planted shades of pink and white impatiens by our fence and rose bushes and lastly we planted two plantes for by our back door and the back corner of our yard. These included pink and white geraniums, diamond frost, ivy, spiky things and pink impatients. The day was interrupted briefly when I locked us out of the house and had to climb through a window to get back in.
Such a fun and productive day.

Saturday evening we headed to Brent's house for a cookout and hanging out. Talk about a fun time filled with ladder golf, ladderball, redneck golf... whatever you call it and simply sitting around and talking with friends.

Sunday we had church and then hit up Pride and Country Village of Unique Shops on the way home. We had a gift certificate from our wedding and we had to use it by August. They had some of the cutest stuff. I have a hidden love for country decor and that is exactly what this was. I found some really cute stuff including a large red star for our door and a candle holder. It was a great sacrifice on the hubsters part, definitely not up his alley. :) Then we headed home to paint his Grandpa's shed. It was HOT, but we got it done. We just have to paint the roof. As we were painting the hubster said we needed to get it done at a certain time because we were going on a date that night. :) WHAT?!?! Sweet!
We headed home to shower and then jumped in the car headed for Frankenmuth. They were having the Dog Bowl festival and there was Hot air balloons there. They had a balloon glow and fireworks at night. It was so much fun. We had dinner at Tiffany's and it was so nice to not leave smelling like smoke... thank you Michigan Smokeless Law.

The fun continued on Monday as we headed home for a party with old friends. My youth pastor from high school moved to PA when I was a senior and he was coming back to visit. So we got the old group back together for a party. It was good to see some old faces again.

What a weekend!! It was a lot of fun, a lot of work and well worth it. Now I start the adventure's of Gems by Em and working every weekend! Oh well, I will just focus on the moola!

Pictures will be added to this post at a later time, but for now enjoy the mental pictures.

Birthday Hoopla

These past two weeks have been jammed packed with birthdays and celebrations. Starting with my A-M-A-Z-I-N-G husband that recently reached 25 (or a quarter of a century) whichever you like best. :) If you haven't heard the "surprise" party was RUINED, but it was still a great time and my second attempt at an ice cream cake. (Which was yet again, scrumptious.) The night ended with a little more dreaming with some fun couples about a possibly vacay in December. (If the price is right, of course)

Today is my cute little nephews 1st birthday. I cannot believe he is one already. It seems like just yesterday we were taking picture with the few-minutes-old Alex with my brace face and all. My how a year changes things and how quickly it flies by. His cuteness is now crawling everywhere and pulling himself up to everything. To check out his one year pictures go here and use your own email to sign in with the password avw. So cute!!! For a sneak peek (in case you are lazy and don't want to check them out yourself look below. )


His b-day party will be held on Sunday at Dave and Buster's. So fun!!

You may be asking yourself why I said the past weeks have been FILLED with celebrations when there was only two. Well, there was one more.

Sadly, this one passed as if no one knew. The day went on as normal and even I forgot until my head was hitting the pillow that night. For this celebration there was no balloons, no cake, no ice cream, no party hats, no noise makes, and no presents. No, this birthday did not have a party, did not have invitations and simply continued on like no one even noticed it. However, my friends this birthday was one of the best birthdays a person could ever have. This birthday was one that changed a life of one person and in turn this person touched so many other lives because of it. This birthday gave someone a purpose, a plan, a direction and guidance.

My friends, this birthday was my spiritual birthday. April 13, 1998 was the day that I accepted Christ as my personal Savior and the day the story of my life and its ending changed drastically. (And it is my Uncle Jay's birthday :) ) It's funny how much emphasis we place on our birthdays with present and cake and parties. But if we really stop and think, why don't we do it for our spiritual birthdays too. I think it deserves more hoopla, if you ask me.

One day when I have children of my own and they have their own spiritual birthdays.... we will have cake and ice cream and they will get a present. I want them to know how special that day really is and I want them to cherish and thank God for it. On that day "Happy Birthday" will not be a song, but instead a prayer of thanks.

Any other ideas out there for spiritual birthday celebrations?