Family Reunion

What happens when two grandparents, six of their children plus their six spouses and 20+ grandchildren descend on a small farm in Marietta, Ohio? Craziness ensues. Recently, Jared and I had the pleasure of attending a three-day family reunion with his parents, siblings, spouses and many of our nieces and nephews. The weekend's non-stop events included friendly competitions of skill and wit, four wheeling, scavenger hunting, popsicle eating, swimming, earth-oven-pizza-cooking, water-balloon throwing, barrel rolling (with people inside), homemade icecream making and of course lots of laughing. It's a wonder someone wasn't injured throughout the course of events but surprisingly everyone left in one piece- healthy, happy and looking forward to the next reunion.

(Jared showing off on his new toy.)

(My brave sister-in-law getting ready to roll down the hill.)

(Another brave soul, my 10 year old neice, getting ready to roll.)

(Grandpa

(My niece dodging a water balloon.)






(Prepping the Earth oven.)


(Mitchell's first sparkler.)




THE END.

500 Days of Summer

I want to see this movie. So. Stinking. Bad. Unfortunately the closest movie theater showing it is 2 hours away. To add to my pain, I just discovered that it has a musical-esque scene choreographed to a classic Hall and Oates hit. (I love musicals and I love Hall and Oates) No fair.

Mirror Turned Chalkboard

I've had a vintage-y chalk board project in the back of my mind ever since I saw this post on design*sponge. Lucky for me, I found an old mirror that I thought would be perfect for said project at the flea market last weekend. I didn't take a before picture, but here are some photos of the finished product. It was such quick and easy task! (Seriously, I think it took longer to upload these pictures into blogger than it did to do everything else from start to finish.) To do it, I removed the mirror and spray painted the frame white. Then, I covered the smooth side of the fiber board that was behind the mirror with chalkboard paint and reassembled it. That's all! I'm thinking I'll use it for to do lists in my kitchen. :)

Flea Market Weekend

Last weekend my friend Nicole introduced me to some new Marietta favorites: The River City Farmer's Market which was full of fresh flowers, crafts, baked goods and lots of fresh, local produce and Rinks, an old dept store turned flea market. I snagged these cute owl salt and pepper shakers at Rinks and since I was in the thrifting mood, I decided to take the boys up the highway to an outdoor flea market called Valley View Trade Days. The Trade Days had a little bit of everything from antique furniture and farm stuff to toy cars, guns and even puppies for sale. The boys loved the dealer with the metal Tonka trucks and the booth with a dune buggy and a mini four wheeler. In fact, they loved it so much that Spencer had a total melt down when it was time to take him off. Needless to say, we left shortly after but not before I snagged an old mirror that will be perfect for a chalkboard project I've had in mind for awhile. Score! I do love me some good flea market shopping.

New Photos

Lots of new images are up on my photography blog: a wedding, a couple of families and an engagement session. Also, I still need to post the pictures from four different weddings so check back over the next few weeks!

Stuck in the Middle

Right now I'm between...

houses (we're renting)
hairstyles (trying to grow my hair out-argh!)
seasons (is it fall yet?)
kids (taking a little break from the baby having)
careers (Jared says he's in his new career.
I say, until he's making money at it, we're between.)

Too many betweens. Wishing I were on one side or the other, especially in the hairstyle dept. Seriously, of all the betweens, I think growing my hair out is currently the most grueling.

Mailing List

Several people have expressed interest in my photography so I have decided to make a few trips to Columbus in the upcoming months for baby/child/family portraits. If you would like to stay apprised of the dates I will be in town, leave me a comment with your e-mail address (or you send it to me directly at hellokphoto@gmail.com) and I will put you on my mailing list!

Bedroom Update

I'm in the midst of updating the look of our bedroom. Slowly but surely it is coming along. I just ordered these white lanterns, mostly because I like them but also because I'm planning to use them for party decoration. However, when they came in the mail today, I just couldn't not hang them up immediately so they have found a new home above my bed. For now anway. Also, remember the throw quilt I started awhile back? Well, it still isn't finished but I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel! Once the quilt is finished, the next thing on my list is to paint our sad Craigslist dressers a fun, bold hue and add some new hardware. Decorating a rental is a little tricky so I'm trying to contain myself and not let myself get into anything too crazy. (Remember my ceiling scraping project? Nuff said.) Although, right now I have a dining room that is begging me to strip it's wallpaper. Seriously. Begging me. I'll see if I can hold out. I'll keep you updated on my progress. For now, here are a few images from my bedroom:

(Sorry, couldn't resist a couple of Polaroids as well!)