4th of July

As I mentioned, we spent the 4th of July at Tablerock with my family and my mom's sister and her family.  This is always a fun weekend to relax, spend time on the lake, spend time with family we don't see much throughout the year and to watch really fun fireworks!

On Friday, we went to Eureka Springs, AR for the day.  We haven't downloaded our pics yet so I had to steal these pics from Natalie.  And the only picture with most of the group in it is this one:

And as you will notice, only "Bohns" are in the picture since we were standing under a "Crazy Bone" sign.  Very funny on the in-law's (Brandon and Natalie) part!  Eureka Springs is a quaint little town with lots of unique shops and pretty buildings.  As you can see, the guys were thoroughly enjoying our time there:

Brandon took several other pics while we were there so I'll have to post those another time. 

On Saturday, we spent time on the lake, but the weather was a little yucky so our lake time got cut short.

That evening, we grilled the biggest steaks I've ever seen for dinner! 

A few of us were eating outside on the deck while the rest of the family (including my dad) were eating inside.  About half way through dinner, Brandon gets up to go inside.  He opened the refrigerator, trying to look normal as he looked for A-1 sauce for his steak.  Well, my dad happened to notice Brandon was looking for something and asked him what he needed.  Brandon tried to play it off until my dad realized what he was looking for.  As you can imagine my dad was apalled that Brandon wanted to doctor up his steak with A-1 sauce!!  And, as you probably can figure out, beef families don't keep A-1 sauce around.  This became the joke for the rest of the weekend!!

Sunday, we spent more time on the lake but cut it short again to get ready for the big 4th of July celebration.  Off and on in years past, my mom has bought us all festive 4th of July shirts, but this year, we all got MATCHING 4th of July shirts!  So, here we are for our annual 4th of July family picture (Natalie made the girls' adorable dresses so they wore those, but they also had shirts).

(we were re-enacting an engagment pose)

(this was the result of Natalie saying "Brandon, were you looking for A-1 sauce?" ha ha ha!)

Here is the one we were actually going for!

My aunt's family didn't quite get in the spirit this year, though:

If you think we are crazy dog people, they had SEVEN dogs at their house for the week compared to our family's four! 

After dinner, we headed down to the shore for the firework's display, courtesy of some neighbors.  We all got together and ate homemade ice cream and other desserts while we watched the fireworks show!

(this was only a sampling of the fireworks!)

(This is my cousin's daughter)

It was sure hard to get back into the swing of things when we got home on Monday.  The lake is such a relaxing place (most of the time) so we definitely take advantage of sleeping in, leisurely mornings, no make-up, etc.  It's not looking like we'll get back down there this summer, but we're hoping to make another trip in the fall!

Out of Town

We have been out of town for the past few days and I took today off to get a few things done around the house.  I will have a fun 4th of July post soon, complete with pictures.  But for now, I must get to the grocery store and tend to laundry...fun day off, huh?!?!

Happy Birthday to Koby

Today is Koby's 4th Birthday!!! It's hard to believe he is getting so old...

Here he is on the day we brought him home (although he was born on June 30, we didn't get him until September).  Doesn't he look so tiny and cute?!?

Our little Koby is quite the charmer.  Just yesterday we were at the vet and he was shaking before the vet and the assistant came into the room, but the minute they stepped in he was putting on a show!  By the time we left I think he had consumed 6 or 8 treats!

 

And because he is our only "child" at this point, we have to embarrass him from time to time.  He still cowers at the sight of this lobster costume!

Koby is also quite possibly the quirkiest dog ever!  As I mentioned the other day he is scared of the toaster and often hides from it.  He also makes monkey noises when he's excited or wanting to play fetch.  We find him in the position above while he's playing with his toys and he usually gets stuck on his back.  He likes to be tucked into his bed or covered with blankets.  Since he doesn't have a tail, he wags his booty when he's excited and it looks like he's dancing.  Whenver we get peanut butter out of the cabinet he comes running and won't let us let him out of our sight until he gets a lick.  The stories could go on and on...

We love Koby and we aren't afraid to hide it.  I'm not sure what we would do without this guy greeting us every day when we get home from work, accompanying us when we work in the yard, snuggling up with us in the evenings and being a down right awesome source of entertainment! 

5 Random Things on a Monday

I'm the only person in my department today and our offices are located on a different floor than all of the other departments so I'm a little bit disengaged and isolated, thus a random thought post:

1.  I managed to do something productive today.  I searched high and low for these discontinued vases.

And when I said I searched high and low, I literally meant I called the C&B store in KC, I scoured the internet for them, I tried the online store and I finally broke down and called the catalog phone number.  The nice customer service rep informed me that they were discontinued but that she was able to find a couple somewhere in the C&B system and they will be delivered to my house in three to seven business days! Yahoo!!

2. 

I have iPhone envy and Brandon has told me I need to come up with five good reasons that I "need" the phone and the needs cannot be "wants".  So far, I have two: 1) the iPhone allows me to be more social with my friends and family by sending good pictures to them 2) AT&T (the carrier of the iPhone) is taking over the Verizon service in Pratt and 45 other counties in Kansas (which I'm sure Finney is one of them).  The only reason we still have Alltel/Verizon is because our phone calls to our parents are free since they have the same service.  So, this is a very good reason!  Now, I still need three more!  I told B that the iPhone would provide me with accurate weather radar when I'm traveling alone but for some reason, my personal safety doesn't matter.

3.  I am still trying to figure out how I can cross #9 off of my Summer Must-Do list.  A lady at work told me that she and her husband save every dime they get back in change for vacation.  She said it really doesn't take them long to save $300 or more, but I'm thinking if I want to accomplish this task this summer I should have started saving my dimes a long time ago. 

4.  I'm going to be using this for the first time ever tonight!

Do you know what it is??  I'll give you a hint - I'm using it in stir-fry.  Brandon is less than thrilled, but I think it will add a nice touch. 

5.  Our dog is scared of the toaster.  I've known this for a while now, but today I made two pieces of toast for breakfast and when I went to look for Koby, I found him hiding in our closet.  I so wish I would have snapped a picture!  He might be the weirdest dog I know!

Okay, that is all for now.  I think it is getting close to "shut down" time.

Summer Must-Do Progress Report

A few weeks ago I listed my Summer Must-Do List.  I'm happy to report I've knocked a few items off the ol' list!

1. Host a big backyard BBQ bash
2. Visit the Farmer's Market on a regular basis
3. Celebrate our 4th anniversary (check!)
   * We had a great anniversary weekend! We visited the farmer's market, had a picnic and went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.  And, we exchanged gifts with a $10 limit - I got popsicle molds (to complete #6) and Brandon got frosty beer mugs.
4. Go to a Royal's game
   *We've got this one scheduled!
5. Sit on the patio and enjoy the summer evenings more frequently - with bug spray of course.
   *The completion of the patio got us one step closer to being able to really enjoy our backyard.
6. Make popsicles
   *I'm not going to officially cross this one off the list yet because I've only made one batch and I have several other recipes I want to try out before I cross it off.
7. Work on my tan
8. Wear breezy dresses more often in an effort to break out of my norm
9. Take an unexpected weekend trip somewhere new, but within driving distance - just the two of us
10. Pray for a different person everyday
11. Make mojitos (a good use of fresh mint from the Farmer's Market)
12. Take Koby to the new dog park
13. Visit my bff
    *Megan and her family spent this weekend in Wichita and we had a great time!  It's always fun to spend time with them, even if it is just relaxing around the house.  The guys did get in a little golf and Megan and I snuck off to get pedicures yesterday afternoon, but beyond that we just did a lot of hanging out and playing with Gabe. 
14. Get the basement decor finished
15. Go to a bonfire and make smores

It Is Finished!

We have been working on a new patio project for a couple of weeks now and we finally got it finished this week!!  This all started when we decided to spruce up the backyard.  We had initially planned to build an arbor over our deck but soon realized it would cost a lot more money than we initially thought and we didn't really want to deal with the up-keep of staining it.  Then we got to looking at our sad little brick paved patio.

The patio was on the smallish side, the brick pavers were a little loose and we had weeds growing up in between them.  So, with the help of one of Brandon's sub-contractors, we decided to give it a face lift! 

Brandon began the whole process by pulling up all of the pavers and digging out a 17' x 22' area (we extended the patio to the end of the house).  Once that was done he asked a friend from work to come help him form up the area and get the sand down.

And then, because we were getting the labor as a favor from the concrete company, we waited.  And we waited some more.  Finally, two weeks after this huge sand box was made, the concrete truck showed up early Wednesday morning!

They strung a huge hose all the way back to the patio area and pumped the concrete in that way.  It was pretty fun to watch them pour it and smoosh it around.

If you are wondering, we chose to do a colored concrete which is why the concrete looks brown.  As you can see, our poor strawberries took a beating!

After they got the concrete poured, they leveled it out to make it even and then they let it set for about an hour before they started the next step.

These are the stamps they used to make the patio look like flagstone.  Unfortunately, we both had to go to work so we didn't get to see them stamp the patio.  But, from what I hear, they have to let the concrete set up enough to walk on it before they can stamp it.  Then, they throw this colored powder over the concrete to help release the stamps (and the powder gives the concrete a little character when it is all said and done).  Then, they place these rubber stamps on the concrete, tamp them down and pull them back up to get the pattern.  They have stamps in all different patterns - brick, slate tile, cobblestone and even wood grain planks.

The finished patio looks awesome!!  I was a little nervous about the color we chose, but I think it is perfect!

Brandon had just power washed the patio in these pictures so that is why it is wet.  We still have to seal it which will give it a nice shiny appearance and it will really bring out the colors and the character of the stamp. 

We are so pleased with the outcome and can't wait to get out there and make use of our new space!

Minute to Win It

Have you ever seen the NBC game show "Minute to Win It"?  If not, you should try to catch it sometime because it is pretty entertaining.  Basically, contestants have 60 seconds to complete random challenges that get more difficult with each level.  Most of the challenges use basic things that people have in their homes - balloons, Kleenex, ping pong balls, pencils, etc.

Well, this summer our small group is getting together once a month for a social time and this month was our turn to host and we recreated an at-home Minute to Win It game.  We didn't really follow the rules or the scoring system but we definitely used a few of the games and we had everyone compete against each other (girls vs. girls, boys vs. boys). 

The first game we did was Face the Cookie (watch the demo video or read the instructions).  We modified this challenge and only required players to move one cookie from their forehead to their mouth.

 

Even though we didn't get a picture, I'm proud to say I won this challenge for the girls!!

The next game we played was "This Blows".  The goal was blow up a balloon and use the air to blow plastic cups off of a table. 

Some of us were able to complete this challenge without any problems, while others of us need to practice blowing up balloons!!

The next game we played was "Rapid Fire".  Basically, we had to shoot rubber bands at a pyramid of empty cans and try to get all of the cans knocked off of the table.

Saved

The girls weren't so good at this game and we decided that was because the boys had lots of practice in shooting rubber bands in school!

The last game we played was "Nutstacker".  The goal of this game was to stack 10 nuts on top of each other using only one hand and a chopstick. 

None of us completed this challenge in 60 seconds, but I am PROUD to say my tower was the only one to remain standing once I got all 10 nuts stacked :)

After we finished playing games, we had an ice cream sundae bar and enjoyed the evening outside!