4th of July Preview

I recently decided that July is probably one of my favorite months. I don't think I could pick just one month to be a favorite so I will stick with one of my favorites. 

What's not to love about July? (Besides, the sunburns, sweltering heat, and someone stealing the last pool chair, obviously.)

It's the middle of the summer and the livings easy. The days just seem to slide on by without a care in the world. 

The month starts out with a bang (literally) when the Fourth of July arrives. The 4th makes me happier than an ADD kid with a paper bag full of explosives and a fistful of matches. In case you're wondering, that's pretty damn excited. 

Around these parts we have a huge family reunion with my grandpa's family (on my mom's side). My grandpa is one of 10 kids and each of those kids now has kids, grandkids and great grandkids and they all show up. Just my Grandpa alone has 7 kids (6 are married), with 34 grandkids (lots are married now) and probably a dozen or so great grandkids. And I'm sure you're confused so, let's just say, there's a lot of people. 

The tables in the garage are piled high with KFC chicken, pasta salads, baked beans, fruit and veggie trays, and more desserts than the home page of Pinterest. Before eating we all gather underneath my Grandma's flag pole and say the Pledge of Allegiance and sometimes break into a hearty rendition of America the Beautiful (Oh beautiful for spacious skies...) because we're patriotic like that. 

After the fingers have been licked and the beers have been cracked, we recline in our lawn chairs to catch up on the good ole' days and make fun of each other. Once we can discretely re-button our top button, half the group heads across the street to the local ball fields to start up a friendly game of softball. The in-laws vs. the out-laws. The other half squeezes our fat butts slips gracefully into swimsuits to go relax in the local pool where the softball half later joins us. 

The evening arrives before we know it and we are back at the food table devouring munching the leftovers and bringing out more food for the people who decided to stay for the fireworks. Our chairs are packed onto the bug-free driveway and the little kids are shoved onto flammable blankets, with sparklers in hand. We all break our necks staring into the sky as we ooh and aah at the city fireworks display as well as the competing neighbors dynamite sticks.  It's a literal surround sound of explosions and terror and utter delight as we soak in the glorious days of summer. 

If that didn't get you all nostalgic for the most patriotic day of days, check out these 15 people who probably love America a little more than you do. 

I dare you to argue this guy doesn't love Americuh!

I'll tell my (Army Sergeant) brother you said "thanks" for fighting for your freedom to enjoy this great country we proudly call America!

He's single ladies:) (and back in the states)

7 Quick Takes {6} (and a few past engagement photos!)

1. It's the weekend. Ohhh YEAH! Let's just say I'm super pumped for the weekend. I really have no idea why I'm this excited because I have no big plans but I'm just excited. Oh, and Downton Abbey Season 3 came in, sooooo... it's safe to say this will most likely be an unproductive weekend:)

No, I don't live in Ottawa, inter-library loan is a lovely thing:)

2. How cute is my littlest (age, not size) brother? I mean seriously I just love that boy (even when he's a butt head). 

He's in the army and currently stationed at Ft. Hood right now so I don't get to see him much. 

Super old, really bad photo of both of us from the day before his bootcamp graduation in 2009.
It's hard to take updated photos when I never get to see him:(

3. There are approximately 7, give or take 12, craft projects cluttering up my house and garage right now. I should be ashamed, but I'm not. 

4. I recently introduced my mom to blogs (and the copy/paste feature) and obviously she hasn't read many because she thinks I'm just HILARIOUS. To prove that my hilarious-ness is a figment of her imagination I sent her over to read Grace's blog Camp Patton. That women is truly hilarious. Oh, and Hi Mom!! 

5. Does anyone else ever get overwhelmed by all the things they want/need to do that they end up doing none of them? Yep, I have that problem and I have it bad. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that my list of favorite tv shoes is longer than my list of to-do's, right? That's what I thought. 

6. This Pinterest chicken recipe is so good that I have made it twice this week. Twice in the past 3 days really. Go. Make it. Enjoy. You're welcome. (p.s. use less vinegar)

Who needs a side dish when you have chicken this good?

7. It's so hard to think up a #7 and I have no idea why since I have a million ideas but they all seem lame. So, I leave you with this...avoid poison ivy. It sucks and is itchy:( If you insist on getting poison ivy, I advise this: Scrub with a loofah or something similar to open up the little bubbles of poison and wash it with Dawn dish soap to get the oils out of your skin. While I'm not a doctor I was given this information from a pharmacist once, so I trust it, but you don't have to. It will save you from clawing the skin of your arms and legs though. Fortunately I have only gotten it twice but the first time was during engagement photos (2nd time right now hence the reason for this #7) so it was totally worth it:)

Most likely poison ivy culprit right here. 

See? Totally worth it! (Photographer here)

Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease!

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary. 

Insta-Drop

I decided to do a new series I'm calling "Insta-Drop." Haven't googled the name so it's probably not original but oh well. I like it and that's what I'm calling it. Anyways...I'm just going to drop some/all of my Instagram photos from the past week or so on here. 

Feel free to follow me on Instagram and leave your "Insta-Name" below in the comments so I can follow you too:)

This was from #throwbackthursday. That's me on the left, my brother Joe in the middle and my youngest brother Mike on the right. As you can see my mom was fond of overalls. Lucky for me, I love them too. Probably a good thing because 9 out of 10 photos of myself as a child involve a pair of overalls. And don't be too jealous of Mike's hair, it didn't stay like that when he grew up, unfortunately. 

The sky near my house last week as the sun was setting. There were too many trees blocking my view so I jumped in my car and drove half a mile down the road so I could snap this. Country livin' at it's best folks. 

Dinner several days. Brown rice, garlic baked chicken and
steamed broccoli that I threw in a pan to sauté with diced red peppers. Yum. 

My nephew Ryder. The ladies better watch out for his big brown eyes.  Love this kid!

My cute husband catching while his little brother practices his pitching skills. Seth was a pitcher back in his college days and still loves the game. Never-mind his work clothes, no time to change before the game.

The necklace I used to wear in high school. Seth and I started dating in high school and he was #5 on the baseball team. Apparently I used to be a jersey chaser. And cool.

Leave your "Insta-Names" below so I can check out your photos!