montana here we come

just putting the finishing touches on my montana playlist, packing enough books for the plane ride, remembering to pack pajamas..... we are leaving for montana momentarily... and i am so excited..... we get to see my family, mat's family, my darling rona.... and lots of other friends and family. it'll be a busy week, but a good one. just wanted to bid y'all adieu (however you spell that) and i'll post a ton of pictures next week when we are back.
adios!

note to self

When sending a birthday gift.....or any gift for that matter, in july....... don't send chocolate.....
while i totally love chocolate in all it's forms, varieties and colors..... the presentation of this is a little.....lacking. no fun chocolate seashells or sea horses as originally intended... just chocolate blobs. dont' get me wrong, we are still partaking in the deliciousness. it is just a little messier. my darling cryssy sent me this deliciousness for my birthday. now our freezer is fully stocked of all sorts of abstract chocolate shapes, just waiting to be devoured.

yum!!

also, in a stroke of inspiration from sarah, i have finally done something with the blank wall by our dining room table. i personally think it turned out beautifully.

i'm very proud of myself for my little spark of creativity. i got some papers at hobby lobby, got that darling little "no place like home" sign at hallmark (75% off!!! how could i pass that up?!?!) and got the mirror for a $5 steal at target. i love it. it makes the room appear so much bigger too. it's great.

so, i got another promotion at work and started shifting into that this week. i am now an asset specialist, which means i work more closely with agents and brokers and the properties getting them ready for market. so far, i'm very overwhelmed, but that's to be expected. most of the week i was doing my old position (contract prepping) full time, while trying to stay caught up with the tasks for my new position (the girl who was in it quit suddenly on monday...) and train the temp who is taking my place. it was a hectic week, but i think the change is for the better. i think i'll get a raise, and it's always good to be advancing and learning new things and being challenged. this one will definitely challenge me to be making decisions better, making phone calls and not letting broker intimidate me. we'll see how it goes!

our house is still a million degrees, nothing seems to help. i think i have convinced mat to get our a/c unit out of the garage and put it in our bedroom so we can sleep in our bed as opposed to the basement guest bed, where we've been sleeping for the past week. call me crazy, i just prefer sleeping in our own bedroom. hopefully we can get that up and running this weekend and make it more bearable upstairs.

we are leaving in 11 days for montana....i can't hardly wait. i am so excited to see mysha and my family and mat's family...... i just can't wait. it'll be a busy week, but so worth it. we'll get to see my cousins, my cousins' baby (who is 1 1/2....hardly a baby anymore!!!) it'll be great. i'm really looking forward to it. plus, what a great break from work. i'll be in my new position for 2 1/2 weeks and then leave for a week..... i'll feel bad for all the people who'll have to cover for me, but it'll be well deserved break! but, before that, we are going to heavenfest.....mat finally decided he could take saturday the 26th off, even tho we leave on the 30th for montana. i'm so so so so excited to go!! can't effing wait!!

can't get enough of:
thunderstorms (i think there is one brewing right as we speak!)
neon pink toenails
reading for pleasure....until august 25th at least!
the fresh prince of bel-air
confetti

birthday

thirty two ounces of coffee.... does it get much better than that?!?!

flowers from my momma, daddy and sister

this was my desk when i came in on monday afternoon. crazy confetti, strawberry shortcake doll, pinwheels, balloons...the whole nine yards.

birthday explosion!!



yes, my husband got me a princess cake. jaidyn had an amazing pricess/castle birthday cake extravaganza, which totally made me crazy jealous. so mat, being the amazing husband he is, gave in to my childish desires and got me my very own princess cake. he's the best!

loving right now:

my crocs primas, from my hubby. they are amazing!!

reese's pieces and dark chocolate m&m's....yum!

summer...... i am mostly appreciative of this because i just registered for classes for fall semester....start august 25th. trying to grasp onto every bit of summer i have left...

The new clintons cd, "Have Another" from my sis-in-law katie....such a great cd. i love it. it makes me smile.

i still smell smoke.....

the smell of campfire is haunting me today. immediately upon stepping out of the shower it was in my nostrils, and even now, after having worked for 6 hours, and both of us took a shower, i still smell it in our house. hopefully it will linger no longer once i wash the laundry. all that complaining to say we had an excellent time camping!! it was so much fun. i really enjoy camping, i've forgotten how much i like it. and hanging out with the kids was so much fun too. they are fun little kiddos. other than their meltdown sunday morning, they were great. so much fun. only two snafu's on the weekend--a broken waverunner and forgotten utensils on our "dinner pontoon boat" but other than that, it was a great weekend.

he wanted to take the runaway truck ramp so badly.... i wouldn't let him!

happy birthday america....
and then me....
and then geri
(sis-in-law katie corrected me...geri's birthday is the 7th (today))

here are the kiddos.... playing in the dirt. ain't they cute?!?!

yum.....smores and a bud select.....

so excited for smores!!!

beautiful colorado

more photos

he'd had enough!
yum-o!
brrrr.....the lake was so cold!
on the boat. it was such a great trip. i love my husband and his family. they are good people. i luff them lots!

here are some other things i love:

my decorated desk at work, courtesy of my co-workers

my sugar scrub on my dirty dirty feet

ice cold corona-with lime-in the mountains

etsy...enough said.

spinach artichoke calzone from old chicago....where we are headed tonite! yum!

advantage smith

we played tennis last night. not unusual, except for that i actually learned how to keep score and we played a full set (i think that's right.....more than a game, less than a match....) mat won 6-2. i put up a good fight. it's funny how much more serious he gets when we actually keep score. he was serving really hard and just taking it very seriously. silly competitive boy. i think i plyaed pretty well. sometimes my lack of hand-eye coordination is astounding. it makes me mad, but overall i have a good time. and if i pitch too much of a fit, it'll be like golf--another sport we are not allowed to play together. so i keep my cool.

this is apparently where we are going camping this weekend. hopefully i can capture some picturesque photos like these.....

i am really looking forward to camping; i haven't slept in a tent for a few years. there is just something to sleeping in the outdoors, sleep so good. and we'll have air mattresses, which'll make it even better. i'm sure mat's back will be really happy with him monday..... :) and we will have the wave runner, two little kiddos, crab legs, and.........

birthday s'mores!!! geri's birthday--mat's aunt--is on the 5th and mine is on the 6th so we'll definitely do some celebrating up at the lake. excellent! she and i always "argue" about how to make the best s'mores. let the battle begin.

.........pink lemonade, orange slices, fireworks, swim suits and flip flops. it's going to be a good weekend!