We've been busy!

We have had a really busy - but fun! - month. It seems like we've had fun things going on every weekend, and sometimes on weeknights in between.

Last weekend, my in-laws came to visit us. My father-in-law is a prostate cancer survivor, so when we found out the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge was coming to Cincinnati, we were quick to sign up.

Zac and I each ran the 5K (you can't see Derby, but he's off to the side! He ran with me), and my in-laws both walked the whole 3.1 miles. They're awesome!

It was pretty dreary for the first half of the day, but by the time we crossed the finish line, it was sunny and starting to warm up.

Just curious - who do you like Zac looks more like?

Naptime was a necessity after waking up early to run a 5K, but so was what happened next... Beer Fest!! We headed downtown to Fountain Square for an outdoor beer festival. They had a ton of booths, and there's absolutely no way we could have used our 25 sample tickets -- each!

My beautiful friend Tory modeling the sizes of our cups!

A view of the square

We had a blast, but man.... there's a chance we're getting too old for all this fun! I'm beat! More to come soon...

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my parent's 29th wedding anniversary! They are an incredible couple - loving, fun, supportive, and joyful. They have been the most tremendous model of a loving marriage for their children, and I'm so grateful to have grown up with parents who made their marriage a priority.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! We love you so much!

Today is another anniversary of sorts, also. A year ago today, this little booger came to live with us...

I've told you before that I'm not a dog person.... but folks, I get it now. I get why people are dog people. Derby brings so much love to our house - I can't imagine coming home now without a puppy over the moon to see me. I don't think there's anyone in this world who loves us as much as this dog does, and we love him right back. 

Happy living-with-us-anniversary, bud. We love you tons and we're glad you're in our family. 

Beth's Graduation

My little sister Beth graduated last weekend from Ohio University. She is a rock star... she majored in fashion merchandising and started her first "big girl" job this week at Abercrombie's corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. I am so proud of her!!

Sistas

My family. Love.

Beth and our parents

I love this picture. She was so hot and kept calling this her cape.

Gramma is so cute!!

Aunt Barb, Beth, and Andrea

My sweet baby sista

Nick (Beth's boyfriend), Beth, me, Zac, Ryan (Em's boyfriend), Emily, Andrea

This is my every day.

We still count as newlyweds, right??

Andrea was jealous she didn't have a boyfriend with her... if she did, she would have kissed him like this.

Congratulations, Beth! We're so proud of you!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to my amazing father...

who is the very best dad I ever could have asked for. He's amazing. This man was meant to be the father of girls, and would have been totally wasted on sons. He's thoughtful, comforting, available, supportive, and just plain wonderful.

My father-in-law is pretty amazing, too...

and I sure do love my Papa.

I'm a pretty lucky girl to have so many wonderful, loving, supportive men in my life. Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads who put band-aids on boo-boos, coach soccer games, pick up the pieces of broken hearts, and serve as their children's biggest cheerleaders. 

A special Mother's Day (or any day) gift

It's hard to find a gift for my mother. She's one of those women who has a little bit of everything. She's always grateful and loves everything we give her, but I want our gifts to be special.

This year, we went simple. I purchased a pretty glass jar and asked my sisters to send me lists of reasons why they love our mom, things they were grateful for, etc. We all hand wrote them so that she'd recognize our handwriting. Even Zac added a few!

Some were sweet, some where funny. My mom isn't an overly sentimental person, so I wasn't sure what she was going to think!

When she opened it, she liked it. She read a few (shout out to Zac to writing the ones that cased the most "awwws!"), and then set it aside. Later, she got home and read them all...

And that's when my not very sentimental mom declared it to be the best gift ever. She loved them all, re-rolled them, and put the whole jar smack on her mantle. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y is mine! We wanted to do it for Zac's mom too, but his brother and sister-in-law are still travelling and we wanted to wait until everyone could participate.

Want to make your own? Buy a pretty jar, write things you love, cut them into strips, and roll them all pretty around a pen. Perfect for any birthday, anniversary, mother's day, father's day, graduation, or other fun day!

Did you give or receive any special Mother's Day gifts? It's not too early for me to start planning for next year...

Click HERE to see the blog parties where I'm linking!

A Happy Mother's Day Brunch

One of the best things about being finished with school is how much extra time I feel like I have. I'm sure it will fill up quickly, but for now, I feel like I just have extra hours in my day. And it's awesome.

Zac and I invited our families to our house for a Mother's Day Brunch. We live just about halfway between both of our parents, which is ideal for us. We love when everyone comes to our house. We don't have to travel, and I love entertaining.

We had so much fun planning this brunch, but it was a lot of work. I have a new appreciation for the graduation parties my mother threw us - which had about twenty times the amount of guests. We really wanted it to be special for our moms, so we spent a lot of time preparing.

Our menu was very Pinterest inspired, of course...

• Mini breakfast casseroles
• Mini coffee cakes - a recipe I can't give you because it's from my mom's good friend who doesn't want her to have it!
• Veggie tray
• Fruit kabobs
• Warm brie cups
• Salted white chocolate chip cookies
• Make your own fruit pizzas

I found navy blue and hot pink tablecloths at Homegoods, and I used that to set the theme for the brunch.

The drink station. We had bloody marys, mimosas, coffee, soda, and lemon water.

Check out the skewers on the fruit kabobs. I colored water with food coloring and soaked them for a few hours and voila! Hot pink to match the theme!

These mason jars belonged to my grandmother, who gave them to me last summer. I love them!! If you ever put flowers in a mason jar, use small carnations like these. They look perfect!

HOW CUTE ARE THESE?!? I made them using this pan.

I found these flower balloons on Pinterest. Do you like my take on them?

My pretty mom enjoying a mini fruit pizza.

My wonderful mother in law opening her presents.

Our moms loved their brunch, and we had a blast spending time with our families. Do you need proof of how hard we worked? This is what I found about 30 minutes after everyone had left:

Happy birthday Derby!

Yesterday, Derby turned one. When we adopted him from a farm, the owner of Derby's mother told us that Derby and his siblings had been born on Mother's Day. Awww.

I've told you before that I'm just not a dog person. I don't automatically love every dog I see. I'm sort of afraid of big dogs and dogs that jump on me. And yet...

Sometime over the past few months (ok, let's be honest. Less than 24 hours after we brought him home.) I completely fell in love.

Here's what we started with:

And now... happy birthday to Derby!

This is what a one year old puppy looks like!

Yummy dog treat that I spent way too much money on.

How good is this dog that I can take this picture?? I just noticed that he's literally licking his chops!

Thanks for my new toy, mom and dad!

This sounds so cheesy, but I was completely unprepared for all the good that he would bring to our lives. He kept Zac company while I was gone all the time. It's impossible to have a bad day when he tries to lick your face. He keeps my feet warm in the winter. Running with him helped us all get healthier. He helps me feel safe when I'm home alone. 

When did I become that person??

Happy birthday Derby. We love you, and we're so glad that we get to be your people!

Oh what a weekend!

My first post-school weekend was so much fun! It kicked off with a girl's night on Friday night, which was just what the doctor ordered.

The second half of my weekend was spent at Ohio University visiting my sister. OU throws a huge Mom's Weekend, and I was happy to crash the party! My Aunt Ellen joined us, and so did my mom's friend Judy. We had a blast! I'll let the pictures tell most of the story...

Mom started trading glow bracelets for drinks!

After I got home on Sunday, we did some major start-of-the-season cleaning in the backyard. We're hosting a brunch for Mother's Day, so we want everything to look great!

This guy celebrates a big milestone tomorrow -- his first birthday! Can you believe it? He was born on Mother's day last year. 

And... just in case you want a reminder...

Couldn't resist!