Trees and Boxes

Sorry it has been two weeks since my last time on here. The last couple of weeks became rather busy and I didn't make the time to update on here.

A week ago Monday we learned that Stone Creek Nursery is closing its branch here in McPherson. I was so sad when I heard the news, but when I heard that every plant was 70% off, the news became bittersweet. Mom, Avery, and I all ventured out there Tuesday morning to look around. Three trips later and Wednesday after work, we bought a maple tree to replace our pine tree that coincidentally was cut down the same day we found out about Stone Creek. I also got a great deal on some shrubs for our front yard landscaping. We are doing our best to keep everything alive during these VERY hot days, and hopefully everything will be able to be planted this fall.

Every time I go over to Mom's house, I'm reminded of the fact that I have several boxes in her storage room that need to be gone through and taken away. After putting her off for several years, and now having the space in our house to keep all these treasures, I decided I would finally appease her request and am actually enjoying going through all my junk from high school and college. I haven't found much worth keeping but am finding plenty to sell at our garage sale I'm planning on having later this summer or fall.

Father's Day weekend was great; Dad stopped by for a bit on Saturday on his way up to Topeka. And Sunday we had Chris's family over for dinner. We were busy, but it was nice to see everybody. Avery had fun spending time with Chris; here's a picture of them the night before Father's Day doing Avery's favorite thing: READING! (YAY!)

This week has been more of the same, going through more boxes at Mom's and keeping up with the housework. Avery and I went through some of her old clothes and I got some cute pics while doing that. Unfortunately the pictures are not of her going through the clothes; she decided the camera strap was a lot more fun to play with. She's probably right. Here they are:

(Had to add this last one, look at those gorgeous eyes!)

Friday is here!

Finally, another weekend to enjoy! It's been a long 5 day week with Chris going to work. Maybe because we haven't really had much to keep us busy. Last weekend was spent painting the house (again) and then this week we've had rain (again), so we have been spending a lot more time inside. We've got more rain forecasted for this weekend, so the painting might be on standstill even longer. I'm not going to lie, having a weekend off doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world.

Yesterday Mom, Avery, and I went to Salina. It was Avery's first trip north of McPherson. We went to Target and Sam's Club where I FINALLY got a membership. I hadn't been to Sam's for so long; it was kind of like Christmas walking around and seeing everything. I'm not really sure why, but everything looks so much neater when it's in a package 5X the size you would see at Walmart. I only bought one thing that wasn't on my list though-I'll probably never be able to turn down the big plastic tub of Laffy Taffy.

Sounds like Dad is planning on coming to town tomorrow and then leaving to go to New Mexico for a week. He wants to make sure he gets to see us and Avery before he leaves. Mom is leaving Sunday to help Zach with the big move. Probably by the next time I blog, I'll have another brother living in Kansas City!

Progress!

The 3 day weekend gave us the boost we needed to continue painting on the house. We are nearly done with the front and sides, just another coat of trim in some areas, and hopefully we can call it done! The back is another story, but we have some other work to do on the back porch before we will start painting there. I would post a picture, but I want to wait until we are completely done with the front before showing off the amazing transformation!

It really was all about the painting this weekend. Chris was on call, so we wouldn't have been able to go out of town even if we had wanted to. We had Mom and Dad over for dinner on Saturday, went to a barbecue at Ron and Pam's on Sunday, and we fed ourselves last night.

Chris is now on summer hours, which is great. He goes in to work at 7 and is off at 4 which gives us extra time with him in the evening. One hour shouldn't seem to make that big of a difference, but it really does when it comes to mowing the yard or making dinner.

Avery had her 9 month pictures taken last week (I know, she's almost 10 months) and they turned out adorable. We went to Memorial Park to have them done and the park looks just as great as the day we got married there. Here is the link to see her pictures:

http://www.sundance-photo.com/Births

Just for comparison, here is one of her newborn pics when she was 3 1/2 weeks old!