Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July everyone! This past weekend we had our '2nd annual'4th of July cookout. We (especially me) had a great time hosting and hope everyone had fun! We are so lucky to have such great friends that all live close. Since we never really had officially celebrated Kellen passing his PE (YAAHOOOOO), I also decided to surprise Kel and also celebrate that in addition to the 4th. Stacie made his favorite cake, people brought surprises (thanks Meg for the carnivorous squirrel), and I got balloons and had his official certificate framed for everyone to see. Here are some pictures of the night and some pics of my attempt at creativity.

All ready to go!

We had tiki torches lit on both sides of our driveway so no one would go to the wrong house :)

Fire pit set up in the back

Food tents anxiously waiting for food!

Kellen's certificate finally arrived that day while he was at work! So I framed it as part of his surprise.

You can't see it very well here, but I had sand buckets everywhere for decoration (stuffed with multicolored tissue paper) or for trash; by the bottles I had one for bottle caps.

The drink table all ready to go....
complete with the sparklers in a vase wrapped in a bright red bow for some color.

Summer mantle

I had an old Uppercase Living expression I hadn't used yet, so I found an old wooden crate, stained it, and applied it to the bottom. It turned out pretty cute!

The centerpieces were made out of baby watermelons!

Another view

Captain sporting a fashionable tye-dyed red, white, and blue bandanna

Great friends

Group shot of the ladies

Kel is so proud (or embarrassed of me, not quite sure)
As you can see, this was the 1st balloon I tried to write on, as evidenced by the mangy 'P'

We tried to get couples pics and didn't get very far...so sorry if we missed you!

Jason and Gretchen

Leo and Megan

Michael and Liz

Okay so I know they aren't a couple..but beautiful ladies at least ;)

What 4th of July party would be complete without...
SPARKLERS!


Kel and his P.E. cake

Megan is so cute
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I had to include this picture...this is what happens when you bring a bunch of balloons inside the house! oops

Farmer's Market Feast

'Tis the season for farmer's markets! We love going to Carmel's farmers market every Saturday morning we are able. It is close to our house, and sometimes we ride our bikes since its right off the Monon. Last night we enjoyed a simple and fresh dinner- compliments of our recent trip.


We had fresh made red wine papperdelle pasta (from one of our favorite vendors Nicole-Taylor's pasta market), a fresh heirloom tomato, and some homegrown broccoli. We added some of our own grilled chicken and feta. YUM

Garden Update

I wanted to send out a quick garden update! It seems like overnight it has just turned into a crazy mess! All the hot and humid weather has really helped I think (not to mention the TLC i give it every night ;)) Keep in mind the last pics on my previous post were taken only 2 weeks ago. As you will see, I think I over-planted a little bit- but things still seem to be growing fine. We are already making plans for adding a second plot right next to this one next year.

As you can see, the cucumbers and zucchini have gone up and over the trellis and are now attacking our yard!

We have plenty of zuchini blooms! They are like little surprises when you pull back the heavy leaves. Not sure what to watch out for next, I hope I don't miss the fruit!

Craziness! The marigolds along the front are also out of control- who would have thought tiny seeds would turn into this! I also have a large sunflower in the far left corner that is getting bigger each day. I think it will be so pretty at the end of summer.

The morning glories and moon flowers are almost at the top of the trellis already.

And now are my beauties- hydrangeas!

My favorite part about growing my own flowers- I can enjoy them inside!

Kel put this one on my nightstand- I enjoy every night and morning :)

Last year I dried some of my favorite blooms (above) and they turned out so pretty. The colors are so rich. We enjoyed them all winter. I am hoping to do that again this year too.

Sweet Summertime

I always forget how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Indiana summers until every year when it rolls around again! This last weekend we enjoyed a great weekend with the sunshine and good friends.

On Saturday night, we went to the Brad Paisley concert with Jason and Gretchen. We got their early, tailgated a bit, and went in to see the headliners on a side stage. It was the H2O tour and it was cool because they had boats everywhere (haha Jay kept telling Gretch she would look good on the front of every boat, while she just rolled her eyes) and even had an inflatable slip-and-slide! It was so hot and humid, it was very tempting. Let's just say country concerts can bring out the 'best' of us Hoosiers... especially when there is a slip-and-slide involved. Ha

Kel grew a fu-man-chu for the occasion. Thanks babe.

In front of the stage for the early concert-
we were so impressed with Easton Corbin!

Brad Paisley suprised everyone and came out to do one song with Easton- the whole crowd went nuts. By that time we had moved up pretty close to the stage, so it was really neat to be so close to them!

Brad had the coolest guitars- and had a new one with each song!

They put on a great show....and as Kel said that was probably the closest we will ever be to the stage!

On Sunday, we decided to go fishing across the street at the Monon Center. We had quite a nice little day.

My all-American boys

First line of the day!

Beautiful day to fish

Somebody (who happened to have had his 2nd birthday that day!) was hot.

So we had only had 2 bites all day, but didn't catch any fish. We did, however, catch a turtle! It was hilarious! He was very interested in Kellen's bobber. Every time he would cast, we would see him follow it all the way up to the bank, then head back under the water. Sure enough, next cast, he was back! It was too funny. Not sure if you can see it here, but the red thing is Kel's bobber and behind it in the water is our little friend.

Great way to end a great weekend!