Family Reunion - Emigrant Lake in Oregon

The last week of June, Scott, Will & I drove up to Oregon for a family reunion.

Here's our 5 days in (a lot of) pictures - there was a lot of playing in the sand & water, & for me, resting in the 5th-wheel. We had a great time & loved seeing everyone.

throwing water on Grandma & sword-fighting with Ben

FHE: Nikki, Will, Grandpa, Abbygail, Barbie, & Grandma

Aunt Karen bought Will an awesome Lightning McQueen bed.

- - - putting my feet up & enjoying the view

making sand castles/pancakes & searching for "buggies"

hating the life jacket

taking the baby-bump for a ride

Grandma spoiled Will with peanut butter & honey sandwiches. He ate about 4 in a row. All that sun & sand will make a boy hungry!

Going on a tube ride: Joy, Ben, Scott & Will, Mark

I loved going on the wave-runner with our little family - just the 4 of us.

some of the cousins (Kayla had to leave early): Kyle, Ben, Jessie, Noelle, Abbygail, Barbie, Nikki

Gail & her sister, Aunt Marilyn

Gail ended up in the water after trying to throw Jessie in.

Dennis, Michelle, Scott, & Mark - - - Karen, Gail, & Marilyn

On our last night at Emigrant Lake, we celebrated Grandpa's 70th birthday with cake & a pinata.

Thanks for the fun everyone!

back off perfectionism - I want to try something new

I'm the type of person who if something can't be done perfectly, it's hard for me to do anything at all. I second-guess & over-analyze to the point where hardly anything (as far as projects go) gets done. I am, in a sense, paralyzed by fear of failure or the inability to be perfect at something when first setting out to try it. My dad has even asked me (many times), "So, what have you done to fail lately?" His point in saying this is to tell me to take risks & to not be afraid of failure.

After all, "A life lived in fear is a life half-lived" (my favorite quote from Strictly Ballroom).

Yesterday, I had the thought come to me that I should try one thing each week that I've never tried before, whether it's reupholstering some chairs or discovering a new shop in town (today, it was Icing On the Cupcake - Will & I both devoured our confetti cupcakes.). I am always amazed at other people's talents & successes & wish so badly to have those same talents, but if I'm even going to have a shot at them, I need to have the courage to start & patience with myself for not being stellar my first go-around (or my second, or third, or . . .).

I've wanted to take art classes for such a long time. I loved art in elementary & middle school, but my interest kind of died down in high school when dance took over. When I finally remembered how much I loved art, I decided to fill my extra elective class up with an art class, which turned out to be run by the worst teacher ever. Let's just say she didn't last long at the school, & I learned squat.

For some reason, I never tried an art class in college - I was probably too intimidated by the fact that so many people in those classes already knew what they were doing (or did they?). So, years later, here I am trying to block out all the excuses, & just jump on in. Nothing has to be perfect, I just need to start & enjoy the process.

Lately, the thing to catch my eye has been watercolor (which I thought was weird since I always wanted to learn oils). I know absolutely nothing about this outside of the Crayola paint box, so I was shocked to find that watercolors came in tubes just like acrylics & oils! Who knew?! . . . probably everyone but me - should I really be getting involved in this? I spent way too long in the art supply aisle of JoAnn's today trying to figure out what the heck I was supposed to start with & finally flipped through a beginner's watercolor book & read their list of supplies. Done. Paints, brushes, & other "things" that I don't understand in the cart, out the store, & in my home.

the materials

look dad! i tried something intimidating & completely foreign to me (& had a blast even though it wasn't done perfectly)!

Month of July - Interesting Holidays/Events

I was thinking of ways to be more creative in my everyday life & hoping to come up with something that would incorporate some fun activities for Will. I had the thought to look up a calendar of "significant holidays or dates in July," & came across a lot of interesting (or not) holidays/celebrations I had no clue existed. This list should give me plenty of ideas to work with for the upcoming month. I'll be happy if I can do something related to at least one thing on this list, but the more, the better!

National Blueberry Month

National Ice Cream Month

National Picnic Month

6th - 1st Picture Postcard Made

8th - Video Games Day

9th - National Sugar Cookie Day

10th - Barn Day

11th - Cheer Up the Lonely Day

13th - Go West Day

17th - Sewing Machine Patented

18th - Cow Appreciation Day

20th - Armstrong & Aldrin land on the moon

29th - National Lasagna Day

30th - National Cheesecake Day

a change of color

When I was originally looking at fabrics for the nursery, I decided to base everything off of the central fabric in the picture below: Amy Butler's Water Bouquet in midnight. But the more I've looked at it & rearranged fabrics, I kept thinking it was just a little too neon for me. I love the fabric, but I don't know that I want to be surrounded by it.

Last night at my baby shower, I got an amazingly cute doll made by my friend Julia . . . and the colors were exactly what I kept going back to in my mind. I am such an orange/coral & blue type of person. So today, I went to Beverly's to see if they had the same Water Bouquet, but in the mint colorway. Surprisingly, they did! I couldn't resist, & I bought it, along with a couple more coordinating fabrics. I am much happier when I look at the color combos together now. It just feels so much more like me.

Isn't this doll so cute?!!

I finally drafted the quilt out today, so I hope to get this bad boy knocked out in the next couple weeks.

It's finally starting to hit me that I'm having a baby girl, & I'm getting really excited!