Weekend Update

Its 7:30 on Sunday evening and its really the first time I've sat down all weekend!

We had our garage sale on Saturday morning, so we spent Friday evening setting up tables, pricing the last minute sale additions, making signs and posting them on the street corners and getting the cash box organized. Then, we woke up bright and early on Saturday; I went to fetch breakfast (a chocolate donut for Brandon and a Panera bagel for me) while Brandon set the patio set out in the front yard and drug all of the tables onto the driveway.

Once I got back, we hung out on the driveway and waited for our customers.

We had a steady stream of cusomters most of the day. There were a couple of times when we had a crowd, but for the most part, it was pretty calm.

Koby hung out with us all day. We kept ourselves entertained by throwing a plastic bottle in the air and watching him try to catch it with his paws (again, the photos are posted in reverse order - grr!).

All in all, we did pretty good with the garage sale, but we still had a truckload of stuff to take to Goodwill!

Saturday evening, we headed to Newton to have dinner with Brandon's sister, her husband and his parents. It was fun to see their house all finished and to see her in-laws again. We also got a sneak peek of her new classroom and the dogs had fun playing! Brandon's parents arrived later in the evening, just in time for dessert and then we all headed back to Wichita.

Then, this morning, Brandon's parents and us got up for church, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed to the golf course for a couple of hours.

The boys played nine holes and Pam and I cheered them on. The weather was a little more berable today, so we enjoyed being outside and just relaxing. The guys played pretty well, so I think the day was a success!

And, we've spent the rest of the day sorting and doing laundry, picking and laying out slate for our next house project and making dinner. Now, it is about time for me to head to bed since I have to be up and at the golf course by 6:30 am tomorrow for the Annual Chamber Golf Open. Yawn....It's going to be an early, early morning!

Long Time, No Blog

**Edit - for some reason, Blogger keeps posting my pictures backwards - does anyone know how to fix that??**

I noticed that the last time I blogged was May 11th - Yikes! I can't even believe it is almost June; where has May gone?? Despite my lack of blogging, life has certainly been busy! Here is a brief re-cap:

On May 9th, Brandon ran the Riverfest River Run 10k! He was one of thousands who ran and he beat his goal by 8 minutes! Next year, he would like to shave off a couple more minutes.

Also on May 9th, I helped my uncle scheme to throw a surprise birthday party for my anunt Sharon. Most of you know Sharon and know how much she and her family have done for Brandon and I since we've lived here (and even before), so it was only fitting that we did it up right! My mom and I got her out of the house and treated her to a new haircut, lunch and a new outfit. She didn't really want to put on the new outfit, but my "persuasive" mom talked her into it. After we went shopping, we headed back to her house for the party. I think she was surprised!

The following weekend, we spent the day in Manhattan. We took my Grandpa Bohn to lunch and spent a couple of hours with him, then we went to Brandon's cousin's college graduation party. It was fun to see family we hadn't seen in a while and we always enjoy a trip to the Little Apple! Unfortunately, we have no pictures from the weekend :( Brandon also helped his dad lay tile at his sister's new house in Newton. Brandon really enjoys putting his new talent to use, so he was happy to help out, I think.

And finally, this past weekend, we spent a good portion of the weekend doing house work (read about it here). We decided since we had some time, we would go ahead and paint the living room/kitchen/dining room. We also cleaned out the garage and planted flowers. However, amidst all the work, we had a little fun, too.

Brandon's parents finished their work in Newton a day or so early, so they came to town to spend some time with us. We took them to Imbiss Grille, a German restaurant in Old Town. Brandon wasn't so sure he was going to like it, but I think everyone was very pleased! After dinner, we walked around Old Town a little bit, got some gelato and headed to the Keeper of the Plains on the river.

We also had Ashley, Brandon's sister, over for a Memorial Day lunch. We grilled hamburgers and had all the fixings - we actually had food for probably eight people and there were only three of us eating (her husband was working). We all did a little shopping afterwards and everyone ended up with a little something :) I got new placemats. After Ashley left, we finished our yard work and then my parents stopped by on their way home from the lake, so we had dinner with them too (leftovers!). We were sad to miss out on a friend's bbq, but by the time my parents left it was close to 8:00 and we hadn't showered. I don't think our friends would have appreciated us gracing them with our presence!

This weekend, we're planning to have our postponed garage sale. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate, as I've had the sale items stashed in the basement since the first weekend in May. I'm pretty much ready to get rid of the piles.

So, there you have it! The month of May in a nutshell. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of a very busy summer!

Hmmm

Okay, well, I haven't been so committed to capturing my five graces everyday. So, instead of beating myself up over it, I've just decided that I'm going to write them as they come to me and not worry about doing it every day. I think the purpose of this little (failed) exercise was to be mindful of the good things in your life and not to dwell on the bad things. So, that is what I'm going to do - hopefully you won't miss them too much...

However, today, we experienced a HUGE grace! We are so thankful that Brandon and I are both employed in this crazy world we live in today. As we keep hearing of new lay-offs and seeing those layoffs affect people we are close to, we are so thankful that the Lord has continued to provide for us. Our hearts go out to all the people who have not been so fortunate.

I will have a weekend wrap up, with pictures, sometime soon. It was a busy one - Riverfest Parade, Riverfest 10k (Brandon is the man!), a mini makeover, a surprise birthday party, a trip to Newton and a trip to Pratt! Whew!

Grace Day 9

I still don't have the picture I need for Monday's post, but I will post it, I promise. In the mean time, yesterday was a great day!

Grace Day 9
1. Productivity at work - I got a lot done and done well!
2. We're trying to cut back on our spending in a few areas and one of those areas is eating out. So, I've been bringing my lunch to work everyday lately and yesterday, as I sat in the break room with the rest of the "lunch ladies" I realized that I've gotten to know these women more than I would have otherwise. But, I still don't like to eat leftovers everyday ;)
3. An honest conversation to express concern - its nice to be able to just talk things out sometimes
4. A good small group discussion
5. Our friend's baby boy who was so fun to play with last night

Grace Days 7 and 8

I need some serious discipline! I'm behind again, but it is okay with me - it gives me time to really think about what stood out in my days.

Grace Day 7 (Sunday)
1. Strawberry smoothie before church
2. Listening to some of my favorite praise songs being led by Phil Stacey - we were working in the elementary department at church, so we could only hear the praise music
3. This salad - another food item, but it was amazing!
4. Brandon's excitement for the Royals
5. Taking a bath and crawling into clean sheets

I can't write about yesterday because there is a photo that I HAVE to share, just so you can see why it made it on the list. So, I will post that tonight :)

Grace Day 6

Today was a good day!

Grace Day 6
1. A slow morning to do nothing
2. Some shopping and lunch with a friend
3. A steal of a deal during said shopping trip
4. The rain that didn't come (even though I cancelled our garage sale) 5. Visiting and laughing with friends who we haven't seen in a while

Grace Day 5

I'm on top of this today!! Today was a great day, so I have had lots of positive things happen today :)

Grace Day 5
1. Staying dry during the torrential down-pour today.
2. Getting through our presentation this morning!
3. A brief moment of sunshine this evening.
4. Painting my toe nails.
5. My mandarin cranberry Yankee candle - it smells sooo good!

I"ve been slacking in my "normal" posts lately, but it is mostly because I haven't been doing anything post-worthy. Life has been pretty boring these days, but work should be settling down and we have a lot planned in the next couple of months, so I will have lots to talk about!

In the mean time, I have been updating over at domestichaven.blogspot.com. There's new recipes and projects that we've been working on.

Grace Days 3 and 4

Okay, I slacked. I was thinking about these, but I had to prepare for a presentation this morning and it consumed me the past few days. So, here I am today, on Day 5 writing my five items for Days 3 and 4.

Grace Day 3
1. Fruit smoothie for breakfast - yum yum!
2. A productive day
3. Crate and Barrel catalog in the mailbox
4. A break in the rain
5. My soft pillow to lay my aching head on

Grace Day 4
1. The adoption of an adorable Boston Terrier who might have been killed otherwise (Long story - we didn't adopt but I assisted in finding someone who could!)
2. A tasty orange - you should really buy some right now!
3. An answer to prayer
4. Spontaneous staff pizza party
5. The thought "Tomorrow is Friday!" (this was yesterday, by the way)