My niece has turned 6. SIX!! She'll even be starting first grade on September 1st. Its unbelievable that she's grown up so much. McKenna is so smart, funny, so cute, loves to be active and creative, and is a great big sister! Happy Birthday, McKenna!

Oh! I forgot to mention how stylish she is! As you can see, she's passing it right down to her little sister as well.

Its unfathomable to me that people get to take "vacations." A week in another city, state, country? Maybe someday. For now we settle for two nights away in another state that only took us about 2 hours to get there. If this is what "vacations" are like, sign me up. We spent the weekend at the Wilderness Bay Resort. Mike has fallen in love with this place after he reconnected with a long lost friend from college whom he found out ran a resort (one his family actually built and later sold). This was Mike's 3rd time there and my first. I'm sure it won't be our last.

We went fishing in the morning for a few hours and this was pretty much the only catch. It was nice though, and I didn't get sea sick! We were even able to dock at a restaurant on the lake and have lunch. Also, the lakes were filled with all kinds of gorgeous wildlife.
Or this gorgeous loon. I don't know if there is a much more peaceful sound at night than a loon on a lake and there were quite a few of them.

Mike, my captain, was itching to get back out on the lake after a little break back at the cabin so out we went. We went through all of these little channels that would land us in a secluded little lake. Honestly, I can say it was one of the most beautiful places I've been with the lake that was like glass, as they say.


This just happens to be one of my favorite pictures. I've never seen so many lily pads in my life!

Towards the end of our trip my nervous self kicked into gear knowing that we had to go back through the very narrow channels and it was hinting at darkness. What if something happened and my very new captain (love you Mike!) didn't know what to do?



P.S. These are pictures taken with an iPhone. Who needs an actual camera?

So this weekend was a VERY BUSY and hectic time. It was the town festival that myself and a couple other people helped plan and execute. To say the week prior was a little stressful is a correct statement. All in all, the event seemed to go over well with a few things to tweak for next year.

Also, we held a surprise 75th birthday party for my grandma. I volunteered to make decorations. Why volunteer when I was already so busy with festival planning? Well, its because I love having an excuse to make crafts. So here some of what I made.

Remember the green, purple, and doily theme I decided to go with? Well I stuck pretty close to it with these "windsocks" which were spray painted coffee cans that had crepe paper taped inside.

I also made these little topiary type things for centerpieces on some of the tables. They are cupcake liners hot glued to foam balls in painted pots. Everything but the stencil for the pots was bought at the $1 store. YAY for that!


I also made this banner using doilies (of course) and paint chips that I cut and wrote on. This cost me about a dollar to make.
Use a picture frame, put some cute paper in it and write away with some dry erase markers. So SIMPLE!

So that's most of what I made. While I wish I could have made more, (so many more ideas!) time just got away from me. I think my grandma was pleasantly surprised and had a good time, even though she initially refused to get out of the car. Oh, Grandma :)