4th of July

I was supposed to be in Minnesota for the 4th of July, but after the many trips of June I realized it was just too much to be gone again. So we stayed in Lincoln (well, kind of) for the 4th. I missed my sister's family a ton, but we made the best of it. Mom and Dad came down for a lunchtime bbq. We made bison burgers and some of us (not Steven!) had asian slaw and marinated cucumbers. Then we had some incredible brownie sundaes. We topped the day off going to the weirdest movie I've seen, Moonrise Kingdom. My mom thought it was hilarious. After the movie I made some unsuspecting teenager take our photo. Everyone was confused why I was doing this, but of course it was for the sake of the blog. 

 

After this stunning photo, Steven and I headed to Seward, Nebraska home of "the 4th of July" to visit with Amy and watch their fireworks show. 

Disney World

We took a belated 1st anniversary trip to Disney World last week. It was so nice to get away, just the two of us. You would think life would have slowed down when we move to Nebraska but we are keeping extremely busy. I'm not complaining, though, I love being busy and I love living in Nebraska. However, this trip was a great recharge.

Steven wanted to get a silhouette done while we were in the Magic Kingdom. This artist was amazing. The picture below is the result.

We saw the Electrical Light Parade our first night at Magic Kingdom. It was been years since I'd seen it.

Magic Kingdom has a new show before the fireworks. It's called Memories and they use the castle as a backdrop. It was a very cool show.

The "wishes" fireworks!

We had a little breakfast with Mickey.

And, of course, ate an anniversary cupcake at 8:30 in the morning.

Steven's "other" girlfriend.

Someone was extremely happy to have his parents home. He also got the cutest haircut while at the kennel. We just love him!

Summertime

We've been trying hard to get the yard in shape this summer. It's quite hard with giant Maple trees in the back and front yards dropping spinners and growing everywhere.

Here's a little yard tchatchke that we purchased in Portland. It's a glass piece on top of a piece of rebar. 

A closer look. I think the blue was a good choice to compliment the "somewhat" green lawn.

The newest lawn ornament courtesy of the antique shop in Fremont is Mr. Alligator the trumpeter. I find him hilarious.

Denver Trip

Mom, Steven, and I made a quick trip to Denver to visit cousin Norma. She took us out to a wonderful meal after 7 hot hours on the road. 

This is my amazing dinner. Chicken stuffed with cheese and roasted red peppers on a bed of arugula.  

The next night it was pizza on the porch after a trip to Leadville, CO at 10,200 feet. Norma's husband, Wayne, was inducted into the Mining Hall of Fame last year and it's located in Leadville.

This picture does not do Norma's backyard justice.

One of Steven's great fires. Norma's fire pit is the best!

A wonderful exhibit at DAM (Denver Art Museum). We also saw Madeleine Albright's pin exhibit.

Our wedding gift from Norma made by her friend Ella. She is a talented artist and this picture does not do this mosaic any justice.

Portland Trip

We took a little family trip to see my Aunt and Uncle in Portland, Oregon.

Here's a photo of my delicious Ethiopian food from the Portland Saturday Market. Definitely a staple in every Portland visit.

Martin was little cold watching the Starlight parade so I repurposed a toga and made him this fancy blanket. We all took turns putting the boys on our shoulders for them to have excellent viewing.

A little tire horse on one of our walks. 

This is Martin's shopping style during our trip to the Columbia outlet. I was so happy that they came in my size too. Steven, the voice of reason, was sure we didn't have room to pack these beautiful boots.

Mr. Copley keeping guard.

Kitchen Remodel begins among other things

 This is what our kitchen looks like right now. We're waiting on the person who's coming to redo the ceiling. Then we rip out those lower cabinets, redo the floor, and start putting in the fun stuff!

However, for now we're all going crazy. All the stuff from the kitchen and dining room (which has to get a ceiling redo as well) are in the den and living room. We're crashing into stuff all day.

Springtime

It's been quite an eventful spring. Steven and I just celebrated our first anniversary (5/7/11)! We enjoyed all the messages and cards we received. I especially enjoyed my beautiful red roses and our trip to Kansas City to see the Yankees play the Royals. It was a great weekend with perfectly timed rain and some quality time with Amy.

I believe it was still about 80 degrees at 7 pm when this photo was taken. If it's this hot in May, what's it going to be like in July?!

We got Copley a new toy and he's in love. Here he is sleeping with his buddy. He's already busted it open and I just finished performing some surgery. I'm guessing this could become a common thing.

Our yard is starting to look decent. We need to do some major landscaping renovations at sometime, but not this summer. I pruned this rose bush in March and it looks great right now.

Who knew we had these peonies? They just bloomed last week and they look fantastic!