Sleeping Patterns

This is the way the Little Squirt likes to sleep at night…

 

And this is the way she likes to wake up in the morning…

 

What can I say? The dog takes her sleeping, and waking up process very seriously!

:)

Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Before and After – Front and Backyard Edition

We’ve been in our house for a little over two years. When we first moved in the front and backyards left a lot to be desired! Our landlords had already put a decent amount of money into the home with the renovations they did, so they weren’t too keen on throwing down more money for the yards, unfortunately. And since we’re renting, we weren’t to keen on throwing down a bunch of money on something that isn’t technically “ours.”

So the solution we came up with was that our landlords would provide us with grass seed and we Kevin would do the work to get the lawns looking good.

Here is a before of our backyard right before we moved in…

Kind of sad-looking. As you can see, the fence was two different colors. There were also a number of rocks and foreign objects strewn about the grass…or rather all the weeds that looked like grass. The patio area was also super uneven.

This was the backyard at it’s worst…

We learned real quick that the backyard required a lot of watering. This was the Summer that Kevin fixed all the sprinklers, he raked out all the crap that was in the lawn, I cut back all the ivy and painted the fence, and now…

We have a nice, green backyard that we get to enjoy when it gets warmer. We also laid some cement in the cracks in the patio so our patio furniture (when it’s out) doesn’t wobble.

Our front yard wasn’t any better. This was the front before we moved in…

Again, tons of rocks and foreign stuff in the lawn and flower beds. As you can see, there wasn’t really much lawn left.

This was the front about a year later. It was a little better. We pulled out the green shrubs that were under the windows and I experimented with some flowers and plants (which looking at it now just looked sloppy, ha!)….

And now, here is our front yard after! :)

Last Summer Kevin and Dad installed automatic sprinklers and that made a world of difference. I also tore out all the other plants I had in there and planted more sturdy, nice-looking plants (versus flowers) that would last year-round.

Here’s to hoping we can keep this up this Summer!

Easter Weekend

We spent Easter weekend with Kevin’s family. We always have a great time when we visit. I love big families!

Kevin’s grandpa (aka Bubba Joe) coloring eggs with the family. He was being so funny and took his egg coloring very seriously!

Kevin’s grandma Helen and cousin Lauren partaking in the festivities.

Bubba Joe, Courtney and Danny

The green squiggly one on the right is the one I made. I think it’s safe to say that I am not artistically inclined. ;)

On Sunday we had plans to be at church by 10. Well the devil was trying to do everything he could to not let us go. We had to turn back around twice for one reason or the other. Then when we finally did make it to church it started raining as hard as I’ve ever seen it rain the second we stepped out of the car. We were late, but we were there and it was a great Easter service.

Our little family on Easter morning.

Some of the spread

Matt being silly with Kahlua. They were outfit twins. ;)

After church and brunch I took about a three hour nap and it was glorious! Then I went outside and helped Kevin cut wood … not so glorious. But it was good exercise!

Hope you all enjoyed your Easter!

Blogging Stuff

You may or may not have noticed that I’ve started adding a “Chasers of Kaysers” watermark to my photos. There have been some bloggers who’ve had their pictures from their blog essentially stolen and used elsewhere, by crazies on Facebook and such. Granted, these bloggers have hundreds of followers, but I still want to err on the side of safety and keep my photos as protected as possible. Any that involve a baby, child, friend or family I’ll watermark in the center of the photo from now on. I’m also working to disable the right-click option so someone can’t save a photo to their computer to use elsewhere. I’m sure there is still a way to get photos off a blog, but hopefully this will make it harder for the crazies if it ever comes up. ;)

I’m also working on completely redesigning my blog. I could pay someone, but I’m pretty confident I can do it myself. It may take me a month or two to finish it, but once it’s done Chasers of Kaysers will be original! And hopefully more interactive and user-friendly. So stay tuned! :)

Overdue for Some Updates!

Hope you all had a great Easter! I haven't done an update in quite some time so I think I'm due.

1. I wish I had today off. I am dragging and I have about 1,239,064 things to get done this week; both at work and at home.

2. We got our engagement photos in and we love them! What a relief. I'm going to share them with you all as soon as we get the digital ones in from our photographer.

3. Remember when I asked you guys about your wedding song? Well, we decided to go with the one by Tom Petty. We even practiced dancing to it for a quick minute at home one night and I almost started crying. Not a good sign of my emotional state come the day of the wedding. Ha!

4. Kevin and I officially put our finances together on Saturday. I think it'll work out great for us. :)

5. We get our invitations on Wednesday. We won't be sending them out until the middle of May, but I'm just itching to show them to you! So I will probably give you a peek a week or so after we send them out, once most of our guests have received theirs.

6. I was in a HORRIBLE mood on Friday. I'd go into details but it would turn into a small novel and I know you guys have more important things to do than read about me complaining. ;) The whole day I just kept trying to remind myself that Jesus died. on. the. cross! And what I was dealing with was nothing compared to what he did for all of us. Perspective, people.

7. Last night I somehow managed to close the car door on my face. I saw stars. Then I thought I broke a tooth soon thereafter. My teeth are still intact so all is well. I have a killer bruise on my jaw though. Fun times!

8. I just went through my calendar, and it appears that I only have nine free weekends between now and November. *sad face* It is such a crazy year! I'll probably have less than that once more of my girlfriends schedule their showers. Oh well, it's just a season of life and I'm enjoying it. :)

9. The twins are doing great! Last week (after only one week old, and being born 10 weeks early) they were moved from "intensive care" to "special care." They are such miracles! One of the twins even got to wear clothes for the first time (preemies are usually only in diapers for a while, so that was big news ;))!

10. My first bridal shower is in two weeks and I'm so excited!

11. This weekend I'm volunteering at an all-women's trail ride. I don't do any of the riding of trails; I leave that to the professionals. But what I volunteer doing is working as a bartender for the weekend. It's my sixth year doing it and it's a lot of work - but always fun. I think this will be my last year though. Hopefully a baby will be on the way next year so I'll have a good excuse not to do it. ;)

12. I helped Kevin cut wood yesterday at his mom's house and I am so SORE today. It's a pathetic reminder of how out of shape I am. Today is the day where I start full-on exercise and eating right for the wedding and all the events in between. I know I keep saying that, but there really is no more time to waste considering we're coming up on three months now. Eeep!

13. I'm usually a nail biter (gross, I know). I was doing so well for the longest time at not biting my nails and they were nice and long. But as of late, I've been biting them a lot. Ugh! Looks like I'll be sporting these for a time until I stop stressing and can let my nails grow on their own again.

14. Kevin's gone for the week for work, so I won't be seeing him until Sunday night. :( I always have to make sure I don't watch any scary shows while he's gone. Otherwise, I really freak myself out when nighttime comes around and I hear strange noises.

15. Mom is back at work today after being on medical leave for two weeks. I hope she's able to take it easy.

16. Anyone ever do a spray tan? I'm incredibly pale and I don't want to fake-and-bake (not good for the skin) but I have events coming up that require dresses and I'd like to be somewhat bronzed. Have you had good experiences with spray tans? Let me know!

Hugs,

He is Risen…

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath

begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

 

 

Have a blessed Easter,

My Week In Review

Thursday, April 14th. It’s over a week ago, but I liked the picture and wanted to share. :) I was waiting at SFO, getting ready to board the plane for LA.

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Friday, April 15th. Flower shopping.

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Passed-out-milk-face!

Baby feet!

Look at those little knuckle dimples!

Saturday, April 16th. I took pictures of a baby (aka Kyra).

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I don’t have any pictures from Sunday, so you get another one from Saturday. ;)

Sunday, April 17th AKA April 16th. Riding around in Maygan’s Mustang convertible on a beautiful, sunny LA day!

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Monday, April 18th. My baby watching me unpack with concern.

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Tuesday, April 19th. Strawberries. Yummmm! :)

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Wednesday, April 20th. Wedding items that are slowly but surely taking over our office.

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Thursday, April 21st. The kitchen that I really did not want to clean.

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Friday, April 22nd. The “lovely” train that I get to ride to and from work each day. I’m not complaining though because it beats paying for gas and parking! :)

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How was your week?

Playing With Flowers

The night of our flower shopping excursion we decided to see what kind of bouquets and such we could come up with.

Like I said, my wedding flowers are red and white (or cream) roses. Maygan’s wedding flowers are pink and white roses.

Some of the roses laid out. It took quite a while to rid them of the leaves and thorns.

I had originally thought that for my wedding I’d hold a bouquet of just white roses, and my bridesmaids would hold bouquets of just red roses. But after talking with Maygan she had a good idea to incorporate some white roses in with the red roses for the bridesmaids, and that my bouquet should be all red so it’d stand out more against my dress and that way it’d match the red shoes I’ll be wearing (which are so cute by the way – can’t wait to show you them).

Finished product

It certainly isn’t perfect. Keep in mind we had about four glasses of Bacardi and Diet Coke prior to starting on the flower making business. So I was a little tipsy and tired; but you get the idea. ;) The stems of the bridesmaid bouquets will be wrapped in black, satin ribbon. The stems of my bouquet will be wrapped in ivory, satin ribbon. I also have some pretty rhinestone things to put in the center of each rose to add a little sparkle on the day of the wedding.

Since we had a lot of leftover roses, I made a big arrangement in a vase. I’ll probably put a few arrangements like this around the ceremony and reception sites for my wedding.

Here’s an idea of Maygan’s flowers. Aren’t they pretty?!

I also tried my hand at making a couple boutonnières. I thought they would be a lot harder than they were. They were fairly easy to make, which was a relief.

Maygan’s attempt at a corsage. It turned out pretty nice. She would ideally attach this to a wrist thing and have a nice bow where her fingers are, to cover the flower tape.

Maygan and I are each doing our own flowers for our wedding because it’s much cheaper than going through a florist. I think if I was really dead-set on having extravagant centerpieces and bouquets that I would shell out the money for a florist. However, that’s not me. I am completely happy with getting our roses through Costco and having my family and Kevin’s family help with them. The flowers add a nice touch, but that’s not the most important part of that day to me.

It feels good to get this task out of the way and I’m so glad I had Maygan there to bounce ideas off of!