July Recap

The summer is more than half over now, as is 2014, and to be honest, I'm not at all ready for that. The cooler temps of this past week have been reminding me that fall is right around the corner, and it makes me wonder if I've done everything I wanted to get done before entering the season of darkness where we feel confined and bored and all locked up. And yeah - way to get depressing, Amy lol

July has been good and crazy and busy and tiring. I feel like I spent the entire month working on our deck, even if it was a small portion of my time. But in reality, it just seems like everything else that happened this month was much longer ago than just weeks: It feels like distant memories because of the deck. But the good news is that (for the most part), it's DONE!

Beyond that, we had quite a few open weekends, and we had a good time celebrating a few special events: Our Church's annual 4th of July picnic (on the 6th), I spent two days in Minneapolis by myself for work meetings at our corporate office and then two separate days catching up with old, dear friends from college Mandy and Steff. We were thrilled to finally get a new grill, and we had a nice visit with Mark's brother and his family from California, during which I threw a surprise 35th birthday party for Mark, although his birthday wasn't technically for another week.

4th of July Weekend (July 4-6)

We had a very laid-back holiday weekend that ended with our annual church picnic. The boys played in the pool on the deck, and I started my big staining project that took pretty much the rest of the month.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Work Meetings in Bloomington (July 15-16)

I had two days of work meetings at our corporate office in Bloomington while Mark stayed home with the boys. The meetings were good and informative, but the days were long. We enjoyed a yummy dinner out at Chino Latino that evening. Apparently Mark managed to get up, dressed, both boys ready, out the door, dropped off at daycare and to work in 40 minutes after he missed his alarm.

Shopping Day with Mandy (July 17)

I took a day off work to spend with my dear friend Mandy. We started out in Saint Peter and finished the day in Mankato, making it home by 4pm. FUN day!

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Orange City with Steff (July 19)

I had a fun day catching up with Steff with a long walking tour of Northwestern College, my Alma Mater. After our long walk, we made our way over to Blue Mountain for supper and had a delicious meal before parting ways.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Staining the Deck (The Entire Month of July)

The whole thing made me a little bug-eyed, but it's (mostly) done! Normal home maintenance kinda makes me overly giddy, so excuse my over-excitement about this particular project.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Surprise Party for Mark (July 26)

I somehow managed to throw together a surprise birthday party for Mark in just two days. We all had a great time at the party.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

California Visitors (July 24-27)

We enjoyed having Mark's brother and family visiting from California for a few days at the end of the month. It was fun having them able to join us for the surprise party for Mark, and Daniel helped keep Mark out of the house while we got ready. I know Cashel is going to miss his cousin Sofie when they go home.

Click here for a full recap with pictures!

Looking Ahead...

August should be a lot more laid-back than July for us, and we're hoping the temperatures remain mild enough to be outside, but warm enough for the pool to feel good. We're starting the month with Mark's actual 35th birthday and supper at Bergen without the kiddos, then cake and ice cream back at the house.

Sunday the 3rd we'll be celebrating Kendrick's "baby" dedication at our church then grilling for a few of the out of town family at our home.

We're trying to figure out a weekend for the boys to spend with Grandpa and Grandma in Worthington while Mark and I finish some house projects and enjoy some of those things we used to love to do but don't have the luxury anymore with two kids: long walks, dinners out, naps, watching movies, finishing projects, getting things organized and donations taken to Goodwill or the shelters, and sleeping in with lazy mornings. We initially talked about getting away and going somewhere for the weekend, but we both feel like we'd appreciate the time just being home more than having to pack a bag and leave. But we're still so undecided that who knows what the weekend will bring lol

Mark will be entering into playoffs next week for softball, and by mid-month, that should be wrapped up for him.

Of course, at the end of the month, I'm really sad to report that we'll be throwing Kendrick's first birthday party. I'm excited for it, really, but sad at the same time that he is no longer a baby. I'm not sure how many we will have, but I'd like to have it on our back deck if it's not too beastly hot: The end of August is so unpredictable in Minnesota.

That's about it for now!

Staining the Deck (July)

I have spent the better part of this entire month staining our decks. The upper one took about 6 hours total (including a single coat of stain and Thompson Water Seal), but the lower one dragged on and on, as it required two coats of stain and the Thompson Water Seal. Oh MAN am I glad to be finished with that project!

Here are some before and after pics!

Before

I did a really bad job of taking any official "before" pictures, as I just couldn't wait to dive right in. I found a few that I had taken earlier this year during different events unintentionally that sort of show how bad the deck had gotten:

And here is a progress shot about halfway through the month: What a HUGE difference! And that was only after one coat of stain.

After

How about a little side-by-side comparison?

Upper Deck

Lower Deck

If you look close, I still do have a little lattice on the left side of the deck stairs. (It was covered by branches that we burned up this past weekend, so I couldn't get to it on short notice) I also feel like the railing needs a second coat of stain, so I might sand the water seal off and re-stain that before applying another coat of water seal. I also do need to water seal the stairs and a small portion of the lower deck, but the stain itself does have a weather seal in it, so it's not an urgent thing. If I get really ambitious, I might put a second coat on the lattice, but I think it looks pretty great as it is!

California Visitors (July 24-27)

Mark's brother and his family came for about a week and a half and stayed with us for 3 nights from July 24-27. It was a crazy busy time for all of us, but we had some great times and memories, including a fun evening at the park, jet skiing and tubing, and a little time at the pool as well. We also enjoyed celebrating Mark's 35th birthday both with a surprise party a week beforehand and with dinner out to Bergen Bar & Grill and cake, ice cream and presents. We enjoyed walks, games, good food, and I took Sofie for her first pedicure before they left.

It really is a pity that they live halfway across the country so that we can't see them more frequently in smaller chunks of time and not have to cram a years' worth of memories into one crazy week. I can guarantee Cashel would love to "play with" his cousin Sofie for sure!

Here are a few highlights of their visit while they stayed with us.

Cousins at Island Park

Daniel and his family

The boys on the walk to Island Park

Sofie having fun!

Chillin' at the Windom Pool

On our way to the races in Jackson


Iryna and I out for a long walk while the boys napped in the stroller

Cashel and cousin Sofie reading

Sofie tackling the slip 'n slide at Mark's party


Sunday night at Husets

Daniel and Sofie having a blast tubing

Mark's Birthday Supper at Bergen

Cake and Ice Cream with some of Mark's family

Mark, his Mom and his brother

Silly cousins

Sofie's first pedicure

Bros :)

Surprise 35th Birthday Party for Mark (July 26)

To be honest with you, I think I'm a little bit messed up in the head. Because really, my life is pretty chaotic right about now. If working full time, having two little toddlers and house guests, I thought throwing in planning a last-minute surprise party for my husband would be a good idea too. A surprise party in our back yard on the deck I hadn't yet finished staining. Yeah, messed up in the head. But you guys, I somehow managed to pull it off, and without Mark having the slightest idea. Granted, with only 2 days' notice, there wasn't a huge group there, but the group we did have was just the right size, so I was pretty pleased with that.

I could probably write another 20 minutes worth of post about all the craziness that ensued leading up to the party, but in a nutshell, the deck DID get done, the cupcakes DID get made, and at least from my perspective, everyone had a really great time :)

With the humidity that morning being 88%, we started out setting up for the party inside while Mark was out golfing with his brother Daniel, who was visiting from California.

Mark was definitely surprised! I have a video somewhere of the actual surprise, but you're crazy if you think I have the time to go and figure out what it was on, sit down for 15 minutes at my computer to download it, upload it to YouTube and then post the link on here.

Oh, and I totally have to highlight our niece Sofie's sweet addition to Mark's special birthday cupcake - the writing and candles :) Mark is actually 35 this year, but I hadn't thought to buy the "5" candle before the party, so we just put the 4 on and added a single candle haha :) We joked that he is still technically 34 anyways until Friday.

I was SO thankful that it started getting nicer outside about an hour into the party (the humidity knocked off, and a light breeze picked up), so we moved the party outside to the back yard and deck. Sofie and I worked on water balloons after Pam and Sofie helped wipe the water off the deck. We set everything up and got it looking celebratory, then encouraged everyone to go on outside. It really turned into the perfect little party. I threw on some music, set up the slip 'n slide and kiddie pool, moved the hammock into place in the yard, and just had fun.

The slip 'n slide was probably more of a hit for my niece Sofie than for Cashel or his friend Madelyn, but they still had fun with it. Crazy-haired Kendrick just looked at it longingly and hung out in his bucket.

And ya know, I know I say it a lot on here, but seriously - thank goodness for Jessica and Pam. They are SO awesome with our kiddos, and it really helped to have some extra hands and eyes to watch them while I was able to focus on entertaining.

I seriously could just not get enough of Kendrick's crazy hair haha

Around 5pm, we ordered some pizza from Casey's and pulled up a few extra chairs to the deck. This was what I had envisioned would begin happening on our deck, really. It was the reason I had worked so feverishly to get it finished before the party. I know that a deck is a deck is a deck, but to me, it is now a really great place to hang out, and without it being an eyesore, I think it's a really fun place to just hang out. I'm looking forward to entertaining more and more the rest of this summer and into the fall.

After eating and visiting a little more, we left the kiddos with Grandma Pam and Aunt Jess and took off in the Tahoe for Jackson to hit the sprint races.

The evening started off a little warm, especially after running around like crazy trying to get everything put away and the boys settled at home before leaving. But we really had a great time. The sunset was gorgeous, and they even had fireworks after, which was nice, since we missed seeing any fireworks for the 4th of July this year. (Granted, I did a really horrible job of taking any decent pictures of them - forgive me)

All in all, it was really a very nice day, and I'm looking forward to celebrating a little more on Friday, Mark's actual birthday, with a yummy supper at Bergen (bring on the steak!), and giving him his gifts and maybe having a little more cake :)